Tag: nba

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Other Sports

NBA Recap and Playoff Preview

The 2015-2016 NBA regular season is in the books and the Golden State Warriors went 73-9.  

That’s it.  Post over.  I just dropped my laptop on a coffee stained concrete floor and I’m heading for the door.  Adios.  Bulseyeview out. Thanks for reading.

 

 

Got to admit, it felt pretty good to see the CD tray bust out on impact and the screen go gray and fuzzy, but now I’m starting to have droppers remorse.  Do you see any advertising on this site?  So maybe it wasn’t the right call but it was worth it to see the reaction from the guy next to me sporting the waxed mustache, Beats headphones and custom fur trapper boots.

But it’s worth stating again….The Golden State Warriors went 73-9.  No team has ever gone 73-9.  Not Bill Russell’s 10 time Champion Boston Celtics, not the Showtime Lakers, Larry Birds crew, MJ’s Bulls, Pops Spurs, the Shaq-Kobe Lakers, not even any of the 5 teams who The Great Michael Cage played for.  That is simply amazing.  And this coming off of a championship year when it seemed that they had reached the pinnacle of 3 point shooting, motion basketball.  How could they possibly improve upon last years brilliant season?  How could Curry go from a regular human MVP to some sort of 3-D Shooting Clone who can pull from anywhere, anytime, over anybody and have a 49% chance of it going in?  Half court runner, no problem.  Dribble out of a double team and then step back and release with a 7 footer running at him, sure.  Drive the lane and flip it 15 ft in the air ala Gervin, done.  And if he pulls a look away 3 ball in the Finals in Dellavedova’s face and it splashes, I’m diving head first through my living room window.  

Didn’t anybody on the roster go on a post title 2 month bender on a tropical island or get into the studio with Wiz Khalifa to lay down some tracks?  I was expecting Bogut to show up to camp with a Foster’s oil drum boiler and a Crocodile Dundee knife belt.  I thought for sure Draymond would go back to Mama Babers cooking and return as the lovable pudgy rookie from Michigan St.  But no, this is an extraordinary collection of guys and not just in every facet of basketball, but in life in general.  They are the epitome of team and I’ll bet Steve Kerr will be getting offered some outrageous sums of money to go talk to the ranks at places like Apple, Google, FB, etc. in the near future.  Come on everybody, Do It The Warrior Way!

(Can I get a ™ for that?  You heard it here first).

But tomorrow the Warriors are 0-0 and the soap opera that is the NBA playoffs is about to begin.  The road ahead to the repeat will be brutal with the likely opponents being Houston, Clippers, Spurs and Cavs.  My head is swirling just thinking about the physicality required over the next two months to deal with the likes of Harding, Dwight, Paul, D Jordan, Kawai, LA, Timmy, LeBron, Tristan Thompson and that pesky Aussie, Deli.  The talking heads in the media will be trying to knock down the champs on a daily basis, and teams are going to throw the whole kitchen sink at Curry to try and upset his flow just enough to impose their will on the smaller team.  As with every year, the stars will have to step up, but the games will be decided by the odd role player who gets hot.  They will need HB, Iggy, Festus, S.Dot and the like to fill that role and knock down the daggers.  

It’s going to be fun and Ron Harper’s quote, “It don’t mean a thing if you ain’t got that ring”  will be whispered after every playoff setback.  Let’s tip it up.

I will more than likely declare the Warriors finished after every loss and will send out a slew of panicky texts,, but here is my calm before the storm call:

Round 1:

W’s over Rockets in 5.  Dwight gets ejected for a flagrant on Curry in game one trying to set the tone.  Beasley and Josh Smith get arrested in a nightclub after game 3 at 5:00am.  James Harden somehow scores 30 a game on 21% shooting after getting to the foul line 24 times/gm.  When Curry hits the final dagger in game 5, he steals Harden’s signature move and starts sauteing some veggies to the delight of the Oracle crowd.

Round 2:

W’s over Clips in a rough 5.  Chris Paul does everything but coldcock Curry and Blake Griffin plays like he’s at Wrestle Mania.  Clippers blow another large lead in game 4, causing Steve Ballmer to jump on the refs back after the game and the Clips then go easy in game 5.

Round 3:

W’s over San Antonio in a brutal 6.  Each team will hold their home court until the W’s sneak one out in game 6 on the road. Timmy D, Manu and Pop will call it good and Parker will be traded for draft picks.

Finals:

W’s over Clev in another knockdown, drag out 6.  This is what the W’s have been dreaming about all year long.  No more talk about last year being luck due to Kyrie and Love being out.  This is what fuels Draymond and Curry and it will take all of LeBron’s otherworldly talent to prevent a sweep.  After the last game, the weight of being 2-5 in the NBA finals will be so disheartening to LeBron that he will abruptly also retire, only to come back 2 months later.

 

Here are a couple of other NBA random observations after a long winter on the couch with Rick Kamala, 3D Dennis Scott, Kenny, Charles, Ernie, Shaq, Brent Barry, et al.

-How did  George Karl make it through a whole season in Sacramento with Boogie and Rondo?  That must have been the happiest pink slip moment of all time.  (note: I think Boogie and Rondo could be a cool name for a new cop buddy show).

-It was almost fun to see Kobe go out with a bang but who was that new giddy, goofy, almost dorky Kobe in the post game press conference?  Has he been been fooling us with this villain-Mamba persona for all these years?  I went to his final performance in Oakland this year and I’m a devout Kobe hater, but somehow even I had to get up and cheer when he checked out for the final time and I may have had a misty eye.  Weird feelings that need to be dealt with by a licensed professional.

-Is next year the year of the T-Wolf?  Those kids don’t even know how good they can be and they are just barely scratching the surface of their potential.  Towns, Wiggins and LaVine could be the next Big 3 if they get some direction. Dieng, Bjelica and Shabazz also look like keepers so there is a rotation of 6 all under 23?  I’d love to see what the Warriors staff could do with those kids.  

-Conversely, are the Lakers going to be cellar dwellers for the next 5 years?  😉

-Look out for the team that Stan The Man Van Gundy is putting together in Detroit.  They may give the Cavs a rough time in this first round.  They are a classic big, bruising East Coast team that resembles some of the past Piston teams.  They just need to find a leader with a chip on his shoulder and get a few guys to buy into doing the dirty work.  S.T.M.V.G should bring in Laimbeer, Isiah, Mahorn and Rodman to instruct these kids in the art of dirty man ball.  “Leave the balls on the rack.  First off young man, you need a mustache.  Then let’s get to work on some great wrestling holds and teach you how to use that butt as a weapon.”

-Joe Kavanaugh loves Devon Booker and I concur.  If Bledsoe and Knight are healthy next year Phoenix will have a nice small ball team.  Booker’s late season garbage time flurry was impressive.

-Lillard and CJ McCollum took some scrubs and have them as the 5 seed in the West.  That is amazing.  Both Lillard and coach Stotts should be in the conversation for MVP and Coach of the Year.  And how cool was it watching Lillard drop 50 something on the W’s in Rip City?

-North of the border in Toronto, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan are working miracles similar to the duo in Portland.

-The disappearance of the Pelicans was a big surprise.  Anthony Davis may still be the future of the NBA, but he took a step back this year with injuries and a new system, and now I’m wondering if Towns and Godzingas may be in the same league in a year or two?
Good stuff.  It’s officially the era of the little man who can shoot and look for the best shooter ever to do it again.

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Other Sports

LET’S GO WARRIORS!

I may not have cartwheeled head first onto the hardwood like Steph Curry or taken a flying knee to the ear like Klay Thompson did in the rough and tumble 5 game series with the Rockets, but in the aftermath of last Wednesday’s Western Conference clinching victory, I’ve felt sort of numb and confused.  I mean for the love of Manute Bol, are the Golden State Warriors really about to play for the NBA title?  This whole business with the Warriors achieving greatness has been so sudden.  Like the dynasty on the diamond in SF, greatness just sort of materialized out of nowhere.  One year ago the Warriors were firing a 51 win coach who had totally changed the lackadaisical culture that prevailed in Nellie’s final years and were bringing in a rookie coach who seemed destined to fail.  It was the classic scenario that all Warrior fans have grown accustomed to for the better part of 40 years:

  • Team makes a personnel announcement
  • Fans express shock and outrage
  • People break off into their personal Warrior discussion groups to vent
  • Team finds itself back in the cellar

But the Firm known as Lacob, Guber, Myers & West have this game figured out.  It almost seemed comical when Joe Lacob took over the team in 2010 and stated that the singular organizational goal was to win NBA titles.  NBA titles?  Didn’t he realize that you needed superstar players and genius coaches to achieve titles?  Titles were for The Lakers, The Spurs, The Heat.  Certainly not the Golden State Warriors.  Golden State was synonymous with basketball anonymity, essentially a witness protection program for NBA players.  Like Beach Blanket Babylon, the Warriors were exclusively a Bay Area thing.  A tragicomedy played to an adoring local audience who kept coming back annually hoping that somehow, against all rational judgement, the team’s fortunes would change for the better.

Fast forward five years and the Warriors are the model franchise in the NBA, on the brink of carving out a new chapter in Bay Area sports lore and finding their place among the all time great teams in the NBA.  Their 67-15 regular season record puts them in a tie for the 6th best record ever.  They have the League MVP, the GM of the year and a coach who looks like a surefire bet to become a perennial coach of the year candidate.  They have a new SF waterfront arena in the works.  They have 123 straight sell-outs and the entire region worked into a frenzy.  They play a beautiful style that is bringing fans back to the game in droves who had grown tired of watching one on one isolation basketball.  Even the Warriors D-League team, The Santa Cruz Warriors, won the title this year!

All of the necessary ingredients for winning are there.  I would start organizing the parade today if it weren’t for that one man from Akron, Ohio. Standing in their way is a 250 lbs basketball savant, the King of the Eastern Conference, LeBron James.  Curry may be the league MVP, but LeBron will be the best player on the floor.  Take a look at the Cav’s roster and ask yourself if there is another player in the league who could even lead this crew into the playoffs, let alone march right through the East with a 12-2 record?  Seriously, I don’t even think Magic, Michael, Bird or Bill Russell in their prime could have pulled off what LeBron just did over the past month.   LeBron’s leadership and willingness to get every man involved has dramatically changed the fortunes of this 33 win team from just a year ago and I have a strong suspicion that this could be the first of multiple championship battles over the next half decade between the two clubs.

For Round 1 between these two heavyweights, the Warriors have the superior top to bottom roster, the superior coaching staff and the home court advantage.  The better team will always prevail in a 7 game series and the Warriors simply have too many weapons to lose, even to a player as great as LBJ.  On any given night the Warriors will have 3 players rolling while getting key contributions from 3-4 more guys. The load will be too much for LeBron to bear when the Warriors get the ball moving with the precision of a fine Swiss watch and start knocking down 3’s.  I expect the Cav’s to put up a fight and possibly drag this to a game 7, but as Curry and the W’s have demonstrated over their own remarkable 12-3 march through the mighty Western Conference, they are a gritty bunch savoring the moment and have their eyes on the prize.

 

Here is the Official Bulseyeview Breakdown of the match up, unofficially brought to you by Little Remedies Products: Everything they need.  Nothing they don’t.

 

OFFENSE:  In the simplest terms possible, or analytics for dummies, the team that makes the most shots wins.  What will happen is Curry, Klay and Draymond will match LeBron, Kyrie and JR Smith in scoring output.  Each of those combos will average close to 65 pts per game and therefore negate each other.  So the that leaves Cleveland with Mozgov, Dellavedova, Thompson, James Jones and Iman Shumpert having to try and match the production of Barnes, Bogut, Iguodola, Livingston, Festus, The Brazilian Blur Leandrinho, Mo Speights and David Lee.  I just don’t see it happening over 7 games.

DEFENSE:  Defense wins championships.  While Kawai Leonard may be the only guy in the league who can bother LeBron, the Warriors triumvirate of Draymond, Barnes and Iguodola with Bogut and Festus on the second line is the next best thing.  If they can keep The King out of the paint and force him into dribbling the shot clock out and taking contested jumpers, they should be set.  For Cleveland, it’s pick your poison.  If they throw everybody at Curry, that will leave Klay and a wing with open looks all night.  If they play Curry straight up with Dellavedova or a gimpy Irving, they just better pray that he misses.

REBOUNDING:  The Cavs are a bruising physical group who get after it, with Tristan Thompson just a beast on the offensive glass, but regardless of what Charles Barkley likes to say, the Warriors also enjoy a little contact.  Draymond brings that Michigan St Sparty toughness to the arena on a nightly basis and may just be the best under 6’6” rebounder since Sir Charles.  If the W’s can secure the boards when LeBron launches a 20 something footer at the end of a 24 clock and limit the Cavs possessions, they will be in the drivers seat.

Final Thoughts:  There will be moments when the Warriors look rushed and miss quick shots early in the possession or make their customary careless turnovers, giving the Cavs life, but with Coach Kerr and his staff guiding them through those moments I don’t think this team can lose over 7 games.  There it’s decided, Warriors are the 2015 NBA Champions!

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Midnite Blogger

When The Chain Goes Awry

I always love it when a personal workday email chain suddenly gathers some life and makes me forget that I’m a 40 something “professional” with grown up responsibilities.  This morning a friend back East sent out this shot of Dr. J to a small group of guys and the ensuing reply’s had me laughing for hours.  Below is a classic example of a chain gone awry.

 

DB:

 

1408619-julius_erving

 

 

EJ:  Past his prime, two bulky knee braces, shoes with zero support, and yet the Dr. still has a 50″ vertical, forehead at rim level, ‘fro six inches above the goal.  Honestly?!  Absolutely amazing!

DB:  The shorts, the knee “sleeves,” and the socks are notable.  The vertical is not normal.

SB:  We’re all clear this is photoshop, right?

DM:  Is that Will Perdue?

DB:  Thought no one would get that.  Amazing.  The lighting makes him look like Julius, but you’re absolutely right.  That is Will Perdue, with the Bulls, in 95.  Had no idea he could jump like that.  And I have no clue why he’s wearing a 76ers jersey.  Must have been the All-Star game … or Halloween.  Funny guy that Will Perdue.

DM:  

The all-star game was ON Halloween in ’95.  Duh.  Everybody knows that.
And no one had mad risers like Will “Rafters” Perdue.
I once saw him dunk left-handed on John Starks.

 

BB:  No doubt Perdue had sick hops back in the day but nobody could jump like Larry Bird in the pic below:

 

tom-chambers

 

 

DB:

How about Serena Williams in this shot at Wimbledon in 07 …

ny_dhoward_08

DM:  Serena is amazing… On GRASS.  Not so much on clay.

DB:  All this is true.  Sort of the way you were once straight.

BB:

In this dunk Chambers took off vert and hovered like that for 2.3 secs before windmilling.  God they were cool back then.  Didn’t need jet packs in the ’80’s!

DB:

Here’s Chambers again, throwing down on two of the lead singers from ABBA and one of their lighting dudes. 

 gilmore-dunk

DB: By the way, can we talk about Nance’s left thigh in the shot above?  Holy schnitkers

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From the Darkside - The EJ Files

Klay Thompson Breakdown by EJ

Editors Note:  The following post is the work of a bonafide sports nut currently residing in DC.  This person, EJ, was a college soccer goal keeper, a lover of King Cobra and once crashed his bike badly en route to interview with Lute Olson for the role of Basketball Team Manager, but still managed to make the interview in ripped pants and a blood stained shirt.  He didn’t get the job.

Later in life he joined the Peace Corps and at one point was the head women’s basketball coach at a Russian University.  He speaks multiple languages, has worked in Afghanistan, has a pilots license, and enjoys a pint or two of Vodka with his Uzbek father in law.

He is the worlds most interesting man and somebody that I’m proud to call a new columnist for Bulseyeview.com.  Enjoy his first post below and be sure to check out his own category, “From The Dark Side.”

 

From the Dark Side

EJ

For those of you living on the east coast, you’ll understand.  It’s rare when you are rewarded by staying up well past midnight to catch a west coast game.  I usually find myself at 1 am wondering why the hell I’m not sleeping as the Gaels of Saint Mary’s are blowing out UTEP or the Dons of USF and Portland Pilots are battling at 48-48 in the 4th quarter.  It’s brutal.  And I can understand why nobody on the east coast cares about west coast hoops.  There just isn’t anybody to care about or worth staying up late for!  Even hoop junkies are just plain nuts to be watching these games.  Is a Nugget/Blazer game really that exciting?

But, the hoop Gods did reward us with a special, once in a lifetime show Friday night.  I’m not sure anybody outside of the Bay Area actually watched Klay Thompson and the Warriors game, but this was the stuff of legends.  Actually, it became an instant legend.  37 points in 12 minutes?!  Are you kidding me?  In an NBA game against actual NBA talent?  13-13 FG?!  9-9 3-point shots?!  Thompson’s career high 52 wasn’t even in the same conversation.  37 points in an NBA quarter is downright magical.  Draymon Green probably summed it up best, “You don’t get that hot in ‘(NBA) 2K”.

It was exactly like a video game, but even better.  Come on!  The previous high was set by the Iceman Gervin in 1978 and it was only 33!  This was headshaking stuff.  I tried to put this in perspective and it was difficult because this scoring outburst was so insane.   Last year, no NBA team averaged more than 28 points a quarter!  When Wilt was on his way to his century mark back in 1962, the most he scored in a quarter was 31.  Of course he averaged over 50 that season, won 33 games in a row at one stretch and secured 55 rebounds in a game.  John Stockton once had 38 assists in a single game.  These records, much like Thompson’s 37 in a quarter, will most likely never be broken.  That’s how incredible of a performance this was.

I loved what Warriors Coach Steve Kerr had to say afterwards, “I was one of the luckiest NBA players ever to play with Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan, David Robinson and some of the greatest players ever.  As many spectacular things as Michael did, which he did nightly, I never saw him do that.”

MJ never came close to touching this scoring highlight.  That’s what makes this even more unreal.  And it wasn’t just a spectacular basketball record.  I’m talking any sport.  We’ve seen 5 TD’s thrown in a quarter (Tom Brady), 4 goals scored in a period during an NHL game, a couple HRs in an inning during an MLB game, and even the great Olympos striker Panagiotis Pontikos from Greece, bang in 16 goals against SEK Ayios Athanasios FC to help his side win 24-3 in a Cypriot third division game in 2007.  He scored 12 in the second half.  But are we really going to compare those feats with what we witnessed on Friday night?  Not a chance.  This was history making on a different level.  Period.

Granted, I did find some other comparable, legendary basketball feats like Lisa Leslie scoring 49 in the 1st quarter and 52 in the 2nd for her Morningside High squad on their way to a 102-24 victory.  Or, Clarence “Bevo” Francis of Rio Grande College fame, go for 55 in a quarter back on Jan. 9, 1953, on his way to scoring 116 against Ashland College.  And then there was Mats Wermelin, who back on Feb. 5, 1974, went for 272 points in a game in Stockholm.  But my point is simple…Klay Thompson’s 37 in an NBA quarter equals or betters all of these.  That’s how special of a night it was.  I’m already looking forward to that Utah at Washington State game next week with the midnight tip-off!  You just never know.

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Midnite Blogger

3 Point Plan for NCAA Hoops

Midnight Blogger here to voice a complaint:  NCAA Division I College Basketball is broken.  What was arguably the best sport in the land in the 80-90’s’s is now just a shell of it’s former self.  Do you remember when Big Monday was a big deal?   When a dreary January Monday would suddenly transform into something special with a Big East, Big 10 and Mountain West (UNLV) must see triple header?  I was raised on Big Monday.  Because of Big Monday, I was barely granted admission into an average out of state public university.  Because of Big Monday, I never had a date in high school. Because of Big Monday, I developed a rare sleeping disorder where I would unconsciously jump out of bed and post up my dresser in the middle of the night.  Okay one of those is a fib but seriously, who studied when Stevie Thompson and Sherman Douglas were on TV?  I’m proud of my decision dammit.

Fast Forward 25 years: Tonight I saw a Big Monday battle between UNC/Syracuse in the TV guide and I glossed over it as if it were a televised mano a mano high stakes poker game between a fat white guy chomping on a stogie and a Asian woman in shades with a startling amount of cleavage peeking out.  I was bothered by my lack of interest.  So after embracing this concern and practicing a tranquil 20 minute mindfulness session, here are three easy fixes to bring the game back to the forefront.

One:  Stop realigning the leagues every 3 years.  Enough of the money grab from these University presidents.  Something isn’t right when the only people in the country who know what league the top 50 teams play in are the Vegas oddsmakers.  Syracuse in the ACC?  Maryland in the Big 10?  Stop it.  Just stop it.  I want my rivalries back.

Two:  Enough already with the TIMEOUTS!  There are now 8 automatic TV timeouts and 5 (One 60 sec and four 30 sec) for each school per game.  I’ll repeat, 8 soul crushing, flow killing TV stoppages of the action.  That’s just plain greedy on the NCAA’s part if you ask me.  How many dollars from Little Caesars and Appleby’s do these guys need to keep the lights on over at corporate headquarters? And as a fan, how do you expect me to stay engaged in a close game with 18 timeouts? Jiminy Christmas the game is only 40 minutes long.  This isn’t football.  These kids aren’t even breaking a sweat.  Why it’s the poor kids standing in the student section and the cheerleaders who are getting the workout.  I’d like to see a Fitbit cardio battle between the power forward on the floor and the kid doing cartwheels in the Gator mascot suite on the sidelines.

So, if the NCAA has to keep their 8 TO’s to pay the bills, then the schools only get 1 TO for the entire game.  I know that these are amateur athletes in a teaching environment, but come now, let these kids learn to be creative and resilient under fire and figure it out on their own.  Everybody will benefit. And think of the added excitement it will bring watching the poor $3,000,000/year coaches sweat over when to use their lone TO.

Three:  The NCAA, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and the NBA Players Association  must broker a deal that requires a kid to play 3 full seasons of college ball or be 21 in order to enter the draft.  I know I’m a horrible, un-American, Commie rat bastard for taking away a young man’s right to earn a living for he and his family, but think back to the days when kids stayed three years.  Ewing will always be synonymous with Georgetown.  Jordan with UNC.  Larry Johnson with Vegas.  College ball was more exciting than the NBA, which is no longer the case.  Today’s good college teams are decimated annually in the draft and as a fan, it’s hard to get used to an entire new cast of characters every season.

Case in point:  Wouldn’t you like to see a Kansas team this season with McLemore, Wiggins and Embiid on the floor.  Or how about this Duke team with Parker and Hood.  Arizona with Drew Gordon.  Kentucky with Julius Randle, Nerlens Noel and James Young.  Michigan with Stauskas, McGary and Glenn Robinson III.  Shoot even a UCLA team with Shabazz, Zach LaVine, Jordan Adams and Kyle Anderson would be fresh.

Enough.  Somebody make it happen.

Midnight Blogger Out

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Other Sports

NBA Halftime Report

The NBA regular season is already halfway through and I’m feeling the need to type my way into your life.  I think it may have something to do with the sad truth that my go to hoop conversationalist, Joe Kavanaugh, has gone AWOL since The Great Alaskan Shootout!  I mean, we were basically The Starters before the current Starters came to be.  (note: you have to watch a lot of NBA TV to get that reference).  Now I’m reduced to internal debates over things like will Andrew Wiggins be better than Ben McLemore in his rookie season?

You laugh but let’s look at the numbers at KU:

McLemore: 6’5”, 195lbs – 15.9pts, 5.2rb, 2ast and 49.5% from the floor

Wiggy: 6’8”, 200lbs – 16.5pts. 6.1rb, 1.5ast and 46.2% from the floor

Advantage Wiggy, but Joe would have an answer and it would usually be backed by quotes from Rivals.com and detailed stats from play in a Maxpreps holiday tourney during Wiggins junior year when his team went up against a team led by McLemore.  Of course for the sake of argument, I would have to disagree.

So, to get into the official opinionated, know-it-all blog mode, I’m stripping down to my tighty whities and grabbing a bowl of Honey-Nut O’s.  For future posts I need to get my hands on an old school sports writers visor and start smoking while I write this mumbo jumbo.  The more I can distance myself from any semblance of athleticism, the better the blog.

Okay let’s tip this shit off:

Warriors – Grade B-.  They are just about where they were last year in terms of record, but with the heightened expectations coming into the season, the team is dragging a bit.  The Western conference is brutal and the W’s are currently in the 7 spot with teams like Memphis 2.5 games behind and quickly rounding into shape.  Bottom line, the playoffs are not a lock.

Curry’s wizardry on the offensive end is approaching Steve Nash in his prime, but he leads the league in turnovers.  Thompson is an amazing streak shooter and is second only to Curry in 3pt FG’s made this season, but he still hasn’t really developed much of a game off the dribble and is very limited in his ability to create for others..  The Black Falcon started the year hurt and hasn’t really progressed in his soph year.  A.I. is the glue man but his offense has vanished the past few weeks.  The bench is weak.  They rely too much on jacking the ball rather than working inside out.  How about Bogut and Lee getting the ball on the block to initiate the offense?  What would Hubie Brown do?

The landscape throughout the rest of the league is basically what you would expect with two major exceptions.  In Rip City, the Blazers are on fire.  How did this team just materialize out of nowhere?  Aldridge was a disgruntled big looking for a way out of town last year but this core of Lillard, Matthews, Lopez and Batum have made him into an MVP candidate.  GM Neil Olshey deserves a medal for assembling this crew.  This is Sam Presti like.  I love it and firmly believe that Lillard’s supreme confidence will carry over into the playoffs and make these guys a contender.  Grade A+

The other ball boggler is the play of Phoenix!  They should be down there with Utah and the Lakers (Love to say that!!) but instead find themselves currently in the 6 spot in the West.  Huh?.  Jeff Hornacek is the Bulseyeview coach of the year.  And keep in mind, the Suns lost their best player in Eric Bledsoe and have continued their winning ways.  Really?  The Morris twins and Miles Plumlee down low??  Channing Frye jacking?  Goran Dragic and Gerald “reject” Green handling the guard duties?  It makes the old saying “This is why they play the games” seem that much more relevant.  Grade A+

The Indy Pacers get an A+.  You now have to say “Well there is Lebron and KD and hmmm…Paul George!”  He’s that good.  Amazing to think that a guy who was lightly recruited out of HS and slipped to #10 in the draft could blossom into an elite ball player.  (Great Wiki stat:  Paul George originally committed to play at Santa Clara!).  The rest of the Pacers are built to win ugly in the playoffs.  Lance Stephenson is becoming a star and if Granger gets his rhythm, it will be curtains for LeBron.

The OKC’s get an A+.  Kevin Durant, the solo artist, has raised his game to a new realm bordering on the absurd while Westbrook is down with knee troubles.  He’s a 25 year old cold blooded assassin on the hardwood.  And Sam Presti has unearthed more gems in Reggie Jackson and Steven Adams to go along with the steady grinders Ibaka, Snafalufagus, Perk and Collison.  If Lamb keeps improving and Westbrook gets back into the flow, I think we are looking at Indy/OKC.

Other Random Thoughts:

Reading a page full of box scores over coffee in the morning is the perfect way to greet the new day and my new immediate go to box score is that of the T-Wolves and Kevin Love.  Love is a stat sheet stuffer supreme!  25 pts and 12.9 rbs per game is just nuts.  Plus I’m always intrigued with Nikola Pekovic (18 and 9) and Rubio (8.2 assists and 2.6 steals to lead the league).  Of course, my favorite active box score filler is Rondo.  I’ve always had a soft spot for the triple double guys like  Magic, J. Kidd and Rondo.  Seeing 11 pts, 13 rebounds and 17 assists can somehow make a day seem bright!  Michael Carter-Williams….I’m counting on you to continue this style of play.

Speaking of shocking box scores, How did Quinton Ross go for 51 against the Clippers last week??  This is a promising young man averaging just 6 something per game.  Stat geeks could write papers on a deviation like that.   In fact, he was the first player in the history of the NBA to score 50+ while averaging under 10pts/gm.  

Are the Heat and Spurs just sandbagging and conserving all of their energy to make another run in June?  Will Tony, Timmy and Manu snuff the life out of poor KD come May?  Will the Heat make that one extra play again to put them over the top in game 7?  It should be a classic.

If you had to draft between Lillard, Irving and John Wall, who would you pick?  I’m going Lillard.  He has that Oakland swagger that Kidd and Payton had and he seems to be all business.  Just win baby.  I wonder if he prefers Too Short to E40 or if he’s more of a Toni Toni Tone guy?

Is Anthony “Brow” Davis three years away from being the best player in the league?  KD may have something to say about that but his ascension to the top of the heap will not be denied.  His blend of height, quicks, timing and soft hands are genetic wonders and when he grows into those Michael Cage like shoulders of his and develops the physicality to own his space anywhere on the floor, it will be curtains for the rest of the PF’s in the league.

David Stern is officially retired as commissioner but his final draft call of, “With the number 1 pick in the 2013 NBA draft, The Cleveland Cavaliers select Anthony Bennett from UNLV” may live in infamy as the biggest bust of his entire 30 year tenure of greeting young superstars at the podium.  Nobody in this draft was a sure fire star but Bennett seems like a lost cause already.  When I heard that he suffers from Asthma and Sleep Apnea and arrived to camp 30lbs overweight, my bust meter went to 10.  

Under the Radar:  After a tumultuous rookie year that involved limited playing time, a stint in the D-League and some off court run-ins with the law, Terrence Jones is developing into a nice player in Houston. The former Kentucky Wildcat has season averages of 11 and 7, but his numbers have spiked in January (17 and 8) while Chandler Parsons was out with injury.  Keep an eye on the #18 pick in the 2012 draft as the Rockets make a move to lock up a home playoff seed.

IR Report:  Sad to see Rose, Kobe and Westbrook go down in just a few games after lengthy rehab stints.  Their shoes are irreplaceable.  And a shout out to Gallinari and Tiny Nate, both missing in action to the Nuggets for the rest of the season due to ACL’s.

  Pick the winning team: All players in their prime.  They get three weeks of practice and then play a best of 7.

Team 1: Magic, Kareem, Larry, McHale and Jordan.  Bench: Dr J, Andrew Tony, Barkley, Isaiah, Parish  Coach: Chuck Daly

vs

Team 2: Tony Parker, Duncan, LeBron, Durant and Kobe  Bench: Wade, Westbrook, Howard, Dirk, Curry   Coach: Pop

College Update to come soon!

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NBA Season Preview

I get it, the world doesn’t really need another guy with a blog sitting in his underwear with a bowl of Cheerios making NBA predictions, but I just can’t seem to lay off the subject matter and I’m experiencing some sort of energetic pull to make my unfounded observations known to the great blogosphere wasteland.

 First order of business, The Golden State Warriors.  Last year the likable little shooting assassins finally captured the nation’s attention with their upset playoff series win over the 3 seeded Denver Nuggets.  Curry became a breakout star and the play of Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes marked the Warriors as a new world power.  In the off-season the terrific management team miraculously unloaded the obscene contracts for Andreas Biedrens and Richard Jefferson and added an all-star caliber wing in Andre Iguodala.  But, and there is always a but when it comes to the Warriors, they lost two key veterans in Jarrett Jack and Carl Landry to free agency.  So where do they now stand?  My questionable scientific NBA team predictor algorithm has the W’s battling Houston for the 5-6 seed in the West and compiling a 48-34 mark for the regular season.  My emotions are begging me to give them a higher seed but rational thinking tells me they are essentially a very good starting 5 with a major drop-off at point and center if the oft injured Curry and Bogut miss some time.  What a difference a year makes though, last year at this time I could have been arrested for proclaiming the Warrior’s the 5 seed in the West.

In the overall scheme of things here are a few quick pointers:

  1. The West will be a war just to make the playoffs.

  2. The East is a 4 pony race.

  3. LeBron is still “The King” until somebody can beat him in a 7 game series.

  4. The race to return from season ending injuries last year will determine this year: Rose, Westbrook, Rondo, Love, Granger, Gallanari, Bynum and The Mamba will all be trying to get back into game shape while on the job.

  5. There are no rookies ready to take the league by storm but it will be fascinating to see who emerges as a potential all-star of the future.

Regular Season Predictions:

Western Conference:

 

  1. San Antonio Spurs:  They are getting old, but the brilliant play of Kawhi Leonard and the marksmanship of Danny Green, combined with their Big 3, should keep them at the top.  The big key will be Marco Bellinelli replacing the departing Gary Neal.  Neal has been clutch in the payoffs and Marco will need to step up when needed.  Pop will have them ready.

  2. LA Clippers:  There are a lot of new pieces in Clipperland that may take a little time to mesh, but having CP3 out there leading the club should make the transition for Doc Rivers a smooth one.  I like the pickups of Jared Dudly, JJ Reddick and Darren Collison.  Come playoff time the limitations of Griffith and Jordan may keep them out of the finals, but Lob City should be in full force for the 82 game grind.

  3. OKC Thunder:  Losing Kevin Martin in the off-season looked like a blow to the Thunder but I never doubt the maneuvering by their ace GM Sam Presti.  If he thinks Jeremy Lamb is ready to step up, then I believe Jeremy Lamb is ready to step up.  KD will be brilliant as always.  The keys will be Westbrook returning from a torn ACL, the development of Serge Ibaka as a post player and the defensive/rebounding presence of Kiwi rookie Steven Adams.

  4. Memphis Grizz:  Same core, different coach from last years conference finals team.  If the new coach, promoted assistant David Joerger, can keep Z-Bo happy and Tony Allen on planet earth, they should be very good again.  I like their additions of Mike Miller, Nick Calathes and SDSU long sleeve shirt rockin alum, Jamaal Franklin.

  5. GS Warriors:  See above for my thoughts on the W’s

  6. Houston Rockets:  I’m guessing we are going to see a much better Dwight Howard than the shell of Dwight Howard that we witnessed in LA last year.  Escaping Kobe’s doghouse to the loving tutelage of Kevin McHale and Hakeem Olajuwon should work wonders for the gentle giant’s delicate psyche.  Harden is a star and Chandler Parson’s should thrive playing with these two monsters.  J. Lin and Asik are the big question marks.

  7. Denver Nuggets:  Most are writing the Nuggets off after losing Coach Karl and A.I. but if Gallinari can return from his injuries, I still like their core of Lawson, Faried, Andre Miller and Wilson Chandler.  As a bonus, in addition to having the most entertaining player in basketball, JaVale McGee, and the enigma that is Anthony Randolph, they now have mighty Nate Robinson running around wreaking havoc.

  8. Minnesota T-Wolves:  What an interesting roster if they can avoid the injury bug.  Love is a stud, Nikola Pekovic is a beast and Rubio is just a joy to watch pass the ball.  Rick Adelman should be able to coax this bunch into the playoffs.

 

Other points of intrigue in the West:

 

  • The Pelicans!  GM Dell Demp’s acquisitions of Tyreke Evans and Jrue Holiday could be genius or a major flop and The Brow (Anthony Davis) is ready to become a star.  Can Eric Gordon stay healthy?

  • Will Dirk remain a happy camper in Dallas?

  • Are the Suns the worst team in the NBA?

  • Damian Lillard

  • If Kobe can’t return and Gasol gets hurt, should the Lakers be relegated to the D-League?

Eastern Conference:

 

  1. The Heat:  The Champs made no major off-season moves but should still get it done again.  I would love to see their gamble on Greg Oden pay dividends.  Will Pat Riley get to cash in on his trademarked “Three-Peat”?

  2. Indiana Pacers:  Same rugged club as last year with more experience. I like the pickup of Luis Scola to replace Psycho T (Tyler Hansborough) and look for Paul George to blow up.  If Danny Granger can get back to the player he was a few years ago and mesh with this new style, the Heat are in trouble.

  3. The Bulls:  While totally dependent on Rose’s knee, this is another rugged club ready to make life miserable for the Heat.

  4. The Brooklyn Nets:  It will be fun to watch Jason Kidd coach his contemporaries and former rivals in KG and Paul Pierce.  On paper this team looks amazing but I’m just not sold.  Their fortunes will depend on D. Williams getting back to the elite PG level and feeding their horse Brook Lopez on the block.

  5. Who cares?

  6. Really, does it matter?

 

OK I feel like I’m shortchanging the East.  Call it my liberal West Coast bias.  But the bottom line is the Knicks, Pistons, Hawks, Cavs and Wizards are not very good.

 Other points of intrigue in the East:

 

  • Kyrie Irving!  He’s incredible when healthy.  Here’s a raise of the milk in the cereal bowl to the Cavs having a healthy year and getting Bynum on the floor.

  • The Wiz backcourt of Wall and Beal.  These two young thoroughbreds should be nightly staples on Sports Center.

  • The Pistons starting 5: Chauncey, Brandon Jennings, Andre Drummond, Josh Smith and Greg Monroe!  It’s fun to say that out loud like each name is a more shocking revelation.   Almost makes me wish I still had the NBA package.  Maybe Dumars has his magic back?

  • Are the 76ers the worst team in the NBA?

  • Will former Butler coach Brad Stevens make it through a full season in Boston?

Well there you have it hoop fans.  It’s time to sit back and be amazed and get reacquainted with Charles, Ernie, The Jet, Rick Kamla, Steve Smitty and my personal favorite, Jim Barnett, for another exciting season of NBA basketball.  I will check back in for the playoffs.

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We May Just Finally Belong

For the better part of the past quarter century the Golden State Warriors provided the blueprint for failure in the NBA.  Hidden at the bottom of the Western Conference and far removed from the East Coast media spotlight, the Warriors quietly went about about making some of the most head scratching personnel decisions in the history of professional sport.  There should be a collegiate sports management course dedicated solely to the Warriors utter ineptitude from ‘78 to 2012.  For a great refresher and a laugh out loud read check out Bill Simmons, “How to Annoy a Fan Base in 60 Easy Steps”.

How to Annoy a Fan Base in 60 Easy Steps

But the purpose of this tale isn’t to reminisce about the horror that I witnessed 82 times a year for most of my adult life.  I’ve recovered from the days of watching point guards named Mookie, Bimbo, BJ and Speedy crush my soul with costly turnovers late in games.  I’m done with the “What If” game in pubs all over the Bay Area where everybody has a go reciting their favorite front office gaffe.  Todd

Fuller Keeping Shaq at Bay
Fuller Keeping Shaq at Bay

Fuller over Kobe?  Check.  Joe Smith over Kevin Garnett?  Check.  Purvis Short over junior eligible Larry Bird?  Check.  Trust me I’m trying not to go there but old habits die hard.

The point I’m trying to make here is that not only is this Warrior team a legit contender in these 2013 playoffs, the organization now has a solid foundation in place to become a marquee billing on the Sunday ABC game of the week.  This isn’t the 2007 team of Nellie and his band of mercenaries who shocked the top seeded Dallas Mavs and then quickly faded into oblivion.  If the Warriors start the 2013-14 season with a healthy lineup of Curry, Thompson, Barnes, Lee and Bogut, they will be fighting for home court advantage come playoff time.  This team is no longer fodder for Charles Barkley to rip on air for being soft and playing limited defense.

From the top down, the Warriors organization is magically solid.  Two competitive owners with big egos who want to win, a consultant named Jerry West, a GM who has looked Sam Presti like in his brief tenure, a second year coach who can inspire and match x’s and o’s with anybody, a budding superstar and a supporting cast of character guys who check their egos at the door and work relentlessly on their craft.  This isn’t a team where each guy arrives with an entourage and plays to get his numbers.  These guys actually listen to their coach during timeouts and cheer for one another from the bench.  Boring?  Maybe but ask Greg Popovich and his Spurs organization how that has worked out over the years.

There will be growing pains.  For years we had to watch Michael Jordan get knocked around by veteran clubs that understood how to play playoff basketball.  We had to watch LeBron James suffer crushing defeats throughout his ascension to the top.  My heart now goes out to Kevin Durant as he embarks upon the seemingly impossible journey to reach the pinnacle.  Like these megastars, Curry and the Warriors will have to take their lumps along the way.  They will still need an additional piece or two in order to be hoisting the trophy and spraying champagne in June, but they are on track.

Yes they were once on track back in ‘94 with Nellie at the helm and a roster that included Webber, Mullin, Hardaway, Sprewell and Billy Owens but that implosion was rapid and by ‘95 they were back in the dregs.  Somehow I believe that this time it’s going to work out.  The basketball Gods will be kind to Steph Curry’s dainty ankles and allow Andrew Bogut to round back to 100%.  Bob Meyers will find a way to lock up Thompson and Barnes to long term deals and they will continue to develop into big time role players.  Mark Jackson will stay planted right here in the Bay when the Knicks and Lakers of the world come calling.  Somehow, someway, we may just finally belong in the upper echelon of the NBA.  And for somebody who grew up rooting for Dave Feitl over Larry Bird, Joe Barry Carroll over Kareem and Chris Porter over Michael Jordan, this is enough for now.  Besides, I don’t think my nerves or my liver could handle a run deep into June.

 

Washburn Has Seen Enough
Washburn Has Seen Enough