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NBA Preview: Off-topic topics and predictions
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You will let the Beard do what he does. Or else get slapped again.
Entering the new NBA season, discussion centers around several popular questions- Can the Lakers repeat? Will Lebron win his first title (and stay in Cleveland)? If not the Cavs, does Boston or Orlando come out of the East? Can a re-tooled San Antonio make one last run with the Duncan/Ginobili/Parker trio at the lead?
Since those topics have been exhausted during the offseason, here are some other questions/ideas/requests for 2009-2010:
Free Baron Davis.
Please Mike Dunleavy, we're begging you. You've assembled (or in the case of the draft lottery, lucked into) a pretty decent roster. You drafted Blake Griffin, somehow got rid of Zach Randolph, and picked up Rasual Butler for the most ridiculous conditional draft pick I've ever heard of (more on that later). Chris Kaman and Marcus Camby are relatively healthy.
The last step- to fear the beard. Let Baron do his thing. Remember this? And this? Look at Baron's face at 1:13 of the first video, and :26 of the second. Does that look like a guy who needs to be told what to do on a basketball court? Didn't think so.
This year, just back off. You don't need to control every second of the game. Let Baron find Griffin with a pass inside, one to Gordon on the outside, or just dish it to himself.
Let him play coach...Let him play.
Will the Hornets be any good?
The Hornets project to be a playoff team. But what happens if David West misses time? Or the combo of Julian Wright/Peja Stojakovic doesn't produce? Or, the worst possible scenario, Chris Paul gets hurt?
This team does not have much depth at all. Emeka Okafor didn't play during the preseason. And because of luxury tax problems, they're forced to make trades like this:
Rasual Butler to the Clippers, for a conditional second round draft pick.
What are the conditions on that pick? According to John Hollinger, the pick is in the 2016 draft, and the Hornets only receive it if the pick falls between 56-60 in the second round. Also known as, we don't care what you give us, as long as we can dump salary.
Butler is not Lebron James. But he's a solid rotation guy, and dumping him for the facade of a secound round draft pick suggests that no matter who goes down with injury during the season, the Hornets will not be interested in picking up help via trade, because of their luxury tax situation.
Assuming everyone on the roster stays relatively healthy, I think the Hornets will sneak into the playoffs solely because of Chris Paul. But if anything goes wrong, I think this team is primed for a free-fall.
Will the Pistons summer spending pay off?
When the Pistons traded Chauncey Billups, one of the faces of the franchise for years, to the Nuggets for Allen Iverson, the trade supposedly set the team up with financial flexibility to help rebuild the team.
Over the summer, they use that flexibility to sign...Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva. Not bad players by any means. But this is what they get for dealing Chauncey Billups?
Also, consider this: Over the summer, Boston reportedly offered the Pistons Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen for Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, and Rodney Stuckey. Detroit immediately turned it down.
If that trade had gone through, the Pistons starting lineup would look like this:
PG: Rajon Rondo, SG: Ben Gordon, SF: Ray Allen, PF: Charlie Villanueva, C: Kwame Brown.
Ben Gordon would actually be starting instead of coming off the bench behind Rip, Allen adds another dangerous shooter at the 3 spot (check out his production by position- he's solid at small forward), and you add an exciting young point guard who almost averaged a triple double during the playoffs last year.
Not only that, but Allen's 19.8 million comes off the books after this season, and Rip's 3 year, 36.5 million contract would also be gone, along with the 2 years and 21 million Prince has left. So the trade would've kept the financial flexibility that the Billups trade created.
That money could've been used on a solid center like Marcin Gortat this summer for the mid-level exception, and left room for another free-agent acquisition next summer.
Instead, you still have Hamilton splitting time with Gordon, and nothing resembling a plan for the future.
Who will have the better rookie season, Hasheem Thabeet or Dejaun Blair?
I hope for Thabeet's sake that he proves the naysayers wrong, and validates being selected number two overall in the draft. But I have a feeling he won't.
Meanwhile, Thabeet's former Big East rival Dejuan Blair slid to 37th overall, and looks like the steal of the draft.
During the pre-season, Blair averaged 13.9 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 1.4 steals in 17.7 minutes per game. Thabeet averaged 3.4 points, 4 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks in 16.8 minutes per game. Preseason stats don't necessarily reflect what that player will do during the season, but those numbers don't represent players that should've been seperated by 35 picks.
Additionally, Memphis could've had Blair along with Thabeet. One spot before the Spurs selected Blair, the Grizzlies took his Pittsburgh teammate, Sam Young. I'm not saying that Young won't become a solid pro. But he's older than three of the Grizzlies starters from last year (O.J. Mayo, Rudy Gay, and Mike Conley), and late in the first round the Grizzliese drafted Demarre Carroll, a better player who plays the same position and is also a year younger than Young.
Demarre Carroll
I couldn't write an NBA preview without mentioning the 2009 Big Twelve tournament Most Outstanding Player. I watched just about every game Demarre played at Mizzou the past two years, and really belive the Grizzlies drafted a solid player that can help them win. On a team full of shoot first, ask questions later players, Carroll can provide the hustle and energy plays that every team needs.
Check out these highlights from last years Missouri-Oklahoma game, Mizzou's last home game of the season. You see Carroll pushing the ball up the court and dishing for an assist, a nice re-post move for a bucket against Blake Griffin (who tried to draw a charge on the play), a corner three, and at least four offensive rebounds for putback scores, including one off a fastbreak he started with a steal.
You can call me a homer, but Demarre's two years playing Mizzou's "Fastest Forty Minutes in Basketball" showed me a player who's going to give the Grizzlies maximum effort every night, doing whatever his team needs from him for a win. And it sounds like the Junkyard Dog is already becoming a fan favorite in Memphis.
Predictions
East
1. Orlando
2. Cleveland
3. Boston
4. Atlanta
5. Philadelphia
6. Chicago
7. Miami
8. Washington
9. Toronto
10. Detroit
11. Indiana
12. Charlotte
13. New Jersey
14. New York
15. Milwaukee
West
1. LA Lakers
2. San Antonio
3. Utah
4. Denver
5. Portland
6. Dallas
7. LA Clippers
8. New Orleans
9. Phoenix
10. Houston
11. Oklahoma City
12. Memphis
13. Minnesota
14. Golden State
15. Sacramento Kings
East Playoffs:
First Round: Orlando beats Washington, Cleveland beats Miami, Boston beats Chicago, Atlanta beats Philadelphia.
Second Round: Orlando beats Atlanta, Boston beats Cleveland.
Third Round: Orlando beats Boston.
West Playoffs:
First Round: LA Lakers beats New Orleans, San Antonio beats LA Clippers, Utah beats Dallas, Portland beats Denver.
Second Round: LA Lakers beats Portland, San Antonio beats Utah.
Third Round: San Antonio beats LA Lakers.
Finals:
San Antonio beats Orlando.
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