Knicks get Lamarcus Aldridge; Cavs get Carmelo Anthony; Spurs get Kevin Love.
The salaries aren't perfect but they're just a few 2nd round picks away from being close enough. Think about it, it kinda makes sense all around.
Thursday, June 22, 2017
(Pre) 2017 NBA Draft
I've had so little time to go over this year's draft and it's killing me! The shenanigans are the best in years and I'll try to keep it going with a coupla shenanigan ideas of my own. Let's see how they play out.
#1 ) Sixers -- Markelle Fultz. That one's in the bag at this point though clearly Jahlil Okafor is still dangling like an overripe peach. Who wants him enough for Philly to get back in this draft (Okafor, #36 and 2018 1st rounder enough to pry #9 away from Dallas?)
#2) Lakers -- DeAron Fox. Follow my thinking here: it was reported that earlier this week the Lakers tried to swap #2 for #5 and #10 and Sacramento balked. But everyone knows the Kings want Fox, do they want him bad enough to pay a Laker ransom? I say the Lakers take it easy on them: Fox and Luol Deng for #5 (does Lonzo drop to 5?) and Aron Aflalo. I think that's actually a reasonable swap: the Lakers get the guy they want at #5 money instead of #2 money and they take a crappy one year vet instead of a crappy two year vet; the Kings get the guy they want, get to keep #10 and all they gotta do is swallow some salary. Actually not a bad deal for them (but it won't taste so great when the Lakers shove it down their throats).
#3) (Somebody?) -- Josh Jackson. I think the Celtics trade this pick. Either this is part of a package to NYK for the Lativian Gangbanger or maybe they can trick the Kings or Suns into making a panic move (or how about Denver sending over Kenneth Faried, #13 (Celtics take Justin Jackson) and a 2018 1st rounder?). I think the Celtics have got enough future and are looking for some now and I don't think #3 is now enough for them. Personally I think Josh Jackson is the best player in this draft and I think a lot of GMs out there agree with me (though I suspect Danny Ainge wants Jonathon Isaac).
#4) Suns trade #4 to Minnesota for #7 and Zach Lavine. Wolves take Jonathon Isaac,
#5 ) Kings -- Lonzo Ball. (See #2) Kings get Fox, Lakers get Lonzo, Kings still manage to get the short end of the deal but its not too bad (by Kings standards). So it all works out,
#6) Magic -- Dennis Smith. I think that kid might be really good, probably gonna go to waste in Orlando.
#7) Wolves trade the pick to Phoenix. Suns take Malik Monk. Think about it: Malik Monk and Devin Booker together? Oh....man...that....yes. And they get to take a last look at Lavine in his contract year.
#8) Knicks -- Jaysun Tatum. Nail in the coffin of Melo's tenure in New York.
#9) Mavs -- Frank Ntilikana. I dunno, he just seems like the kinda guy the Mavs would take, you know? I can see them trading this pick though.
#10) Kings -- Lari Markennen. They're in the mode of drafting big guys they don't need, seems like Markennen fits the bill for them.
#11) Hornets -- Luke Kennard. Jordan loves him so big useless white guys so naturally I assumed Zach Collins was a lock here. But since they just traded for Dwight Howard (darker skinned than Jordan generally likes but plenty big and useless), kinda leaves this spot up for grabs. Luke Kennard fits the white part and he's kinda big. (I bet they'd love to trade up and grab #3 but I can't imagine they have anything Danny Ainge wants)
#12) Pistons -- Donovan Mitchell. He's been rising up the draft boards lately and I bet Stan Van is eager to move on from Reggie Jax. I don't think matters what the Pistons do, they're doomed for a coupla more years anyway.
#13) Nuggets -- Justin Jackson. I think Jackson is really underrated. I get it: he's a weird looking dude, he doesn't look like a big time baller, but he's big and smart and has good instincts on the court (could be the next...Kenneth Faried? Would the Celtics be interesting in Faried?). I think the Heat are dying to get their hands on him, that alone makes me think the Nuggets grab him and throw in him into their mix of young talent.
#14) Heat -- Harry Giles. Miami is not that concerned about the draft, they're concerned about how to get from under Chris Bosh's massive contract. So when Riles looks up and realizes another all-world Duke prospect has fallen in his lap, he'll bring him in and throw him in the rotation. If it helps lure in Blake Griffin, that'll do.
#15) Blazers -- (trade). Blazers have 3 1st round picks and tons of salary to dump...if you were ever looking for the third wheel in a 3-team trade, call Portland. Do you realize how far over the salary cap the Blazers are? They are Prokhorov-ish-ly drowning in taxes for the foreseeable future. And they have three 1st round picks in this draft! If they figure out how to renounce half their roster, that'd be a dream come true. But I don't see it happening. Blazers have got to wheel and deal, got to listen to any offer. I don't see anyone at #15 that fits what the Blazers need, no one they've just got have, so I think this pick is destined to be a throw-in for some other team.
#16) Bulls -- (I dunno). If the Bulls can lure in Kyle Lowry, then maybe they got something next year. Terrence Ferguson seems like the most intriguing guy here but they'd rather have Lowry and D-Wade, not sure Ferguson does anything for them. Adebayo and Allen and Onunby don't stand out from each other, so who do they pick? I dunno.
#17) Bucks -- OG Anunby. If Giles or Justin Jackson falls to this point, I'd say the Bucks will snatch one of them up. But I don't see that happening. Personally I love Caleb Swanigan, but I understand people being hesitant about his...uh....body. I don't feel like they need the scoring of Terrence Ferguson. Ivan Rabb might fit here but I think they'll go with a wing defender and they could be Anunby.
#18) Pacers -- Terrence Ferguson. They need take a swing on some scoring. Doesn't feel like Teague will be back (or George Hill for that matter), so why not see if this kid Ferguson can fill it up?
#19) Hawks -- (anything). Remember when the 49ers were young, talented, and deep at every position and then, like, 2 years later they were utterly terrible? Yeah, that's how the Hawks are going. Danny Ferry put together a pretty good squad there and they ran him outta town and dismantled his team and now they got nothing (jeez, they don't have even have Dwight Howard any more!). They need anything and everything, so much so that it almost doesn't even matter who they get at #19.
#20) Blazers -- (again?). Yeah, same problem. Three 1st round picks would be great if they could get rid of 2-3 guys they've already got.
(Yeah, I'm already bored of this exercise. Once you get past the first 8-9 guys in this draft it becomes a lot less about the young talent and a lot more about that salary cap not rising the way everyone thought it would. So this year's draft will be less about adding and more about subtracting. Kinda depressing and a lot more unpredictable. And there's nobody that really strikes me as a sleeper out there. Oh sure, Melo Trimble could be this year's Yogi Ferrell but outside of that, the 2nd round looks like a long day's journey into Knicks fans booing randomly. Okay, one more)
#29) Spurs -- Caleb Swanigan. Probably not gonna happen, they'll probably take some kid from Finland I've never heard of. But, man, I really liked Swanigan in the tourney, loved his smarts, loved his passing, think he'd be such a good pickup for the Spurs.
#1 ) Sixers -- Markelle Fultz. That one's in the bag at this point though clearly Jahlil Okafor is still dangling like an overripe peach. Who wants him enough for Philly to get back in this draft (Okafor, #36 and 2018 1st rounder enough to pry #9 away from Dallas?)
#2) Lakers -- DeAron Fox. Follow my thinking here: it was reported that earlier this week the Lakers tried to swap #2 for #5 and #10 and Sacramento balked. But everyone knows the Kings want Fox, do they want him bad enough to pay a Laker ransom? I say the Lakers take it easy on them: Fox and Luol Deng for #5 (does Lonzo drop to 5?) and Aron Aflalo. I think that's actually a reasonable swap: the Lakers get the guy they want at #5 money instead of #2 money and they take a crappy one year vet instead of a crappy two year vet; the Kings get the guy they want, get to keep #10 and all they gotta do is swallow some salary. Actually not a bad deal for them (but it won't taste so great when the Lakers shove it down their throats).
#3) (Somebody?) -- Josh Jackson. I think the Celtics trade this pick. Either this is part of a package to NYK for the Lativian Gangbanger or maybe they can trick the Kings or Suns into making a panic move (or how about Denver sending over Kenneth Faried, #13 (Celtics take Justin Jackson) and a 2018 1st rounder?). I think the Celtics have got enough future and are looking for some now and I don't think #3 is now enough for them. Personally I think Josh Jackson is the best player in this draft and I think a lot of GMs out there agree with me (though I suspect Danny Ainge wants Jonathon Isaac).
#4) Suns trade #4 to Minnesota for #7 and Zach Lavine. Wolves take Jonathon Isaac,
#5 ) Kings -- Lonzo Ball. (See #2) Kings get Fox, Lakers get Lonzo, Kings still manage to get the short end of the deal but its not too bad (by Kings standards). So it all works out,
#6) Magic -- Dennis Smith. I think that kid might be really good, probably gonna go to waste in Orlando.
#7) Wolves trade the pick to Phoenix. Suns take Malik Monk. Think about it: Malik Monk and Devin Booker together? Oh....man...that....yes. And they get to take a last look at Lavine in his contract year.
#8) Knicks -- Jaysun Tatum. Nail in the coffin of Melo's tenure in New York.
#9) Mavs -- Frank Ntilikana. I dunno, he just seems like the kinda guy the Mavs would take, you know? I can see them trading this pick though.
#10) Kings -- Lari Markennen. They're in the mode of drafting big guys they don't need, seems like Markennen fits the bill for them.
#11) Hornets -- Luke Kennard. Jordan loves him so big useless white guys so naturally I assumed Zach Collins was a lock here. But since they just traded for Dwight Howard (darker skinned than Jordan generally likes but plenty big and useless), kinda leaves this spot up for grabs. Luke Kennard fits the white part and he's kinda big. (I bet they'd love to trade up and grab #3 but I can't imagine they have anything Danny Ainge wants)
#12) Pistons -- Donovan Mitchell. He's been rising up the draft boards lately and I bet Stan Van is eager to move on from Reggie Jax. I don't think matters what the Pistons do, they're doomed for a coupla more years anyway.
#13) Nuggets -- Justin Jackson. I think Jackson is really underrated. I get it: he's a weird looking dude, he doesn't look like a big time baller, but he's big and smart and has good instincts on the court (could be the next...Kenneth Faried? Would the Celtics be interesting in Faried?). I think the Heat are dying to get their hands on him, that alone makes me think the Nuggets grab him and throw in him into their mix of young talent.
#14) Heat -- Harry Giles. Miami is not that concerned about the draft, they're concerned about how to get from under Chris Bosh's massive contract. So when Riles looks up and realizes another all-world Duke prospect has fallen in his lap, he'll bring him in and throw him in the rotation. If it helps lure in Blake Griffin, that'll do.
#15) Blazers -- (trade). Blazers have 3 1st round picks and tons of salary to dump...if you were ever looking for the third wheel in a 3-team trade, call Portland. Do you realize how far over the salary cap the Blazers are? They are Prokhorov-ish-ly drowning in taxes for the foreseeable future. And they have three 1st round picks in this draft! If they figure out how to renounce half their roster, that'd be a dream come true. But I don't see it happening. Blazers have got to wheel and deal, got to listen to any offer. I don't see anyone at #15 that fits what the Blazers need, no one they've just got have, so I think this pick is destined to be a throw-in for some other team.
#16) Bulls -- (I dunno). If the Bulls can lure in Kyle Lowry, then maybe they got something next year. Terrence Ferguson seems like the most intriguing guy here but they'd rather have Lowry and D-Wade, not sure Ferguson does anything for them. Adebayo and Allen and Onunby don't stand out from each other, so who do they pick? I dunno.
#17) Bucks -- OG Anunby. If Giles or Justin Jackson falls to this point, I'd say the Bucks will snatch one of them up. But I don't see that happening. Personally I love Caleb Swanigan, but I understand people being hesitant about his...uh....body. I don't feel like they need the scoring of Terrence Ferguson. Ivan Rabb might fit here but I think they'll go with a wing defender and they could be Anunby.
#18) Pacers -- Terrence Ferguson. They need take a swing on some scoring. Doesn't feel like Teague will be back (or George Hill for that matter), so why not see if this kid Ferguson can fill it up?
#19) Hawks -- (anything). Remember when the 49ers were young, talented, and deep at every position and then, like, 2 years later they were utterly terrible? Yeah, that's how the Hawks are going. Danny Ferry put together a pretty good squad there and they ran him outta town and dismantled his team and now they got nothing (jeez, they don't have even have Dwight Howard any more!). They need anything and everything, so much so that it almost doesn't even matter who they get at #19.
#20) Blazers -- (again?). Yeah, same problem. Three 1st round picks would be great if they could get rid of 2-3 guys they've already got.
(Yeah, I'm already bored of this exercise. Once you get past the first 8-9 guys in this draft it becomes a lot less about the young talent and a lot more about that salary cap not rising the way everyone thought it would. So this year's draft will be less about adding and more about subtracting. Kinda depressing and a lot more unpredictable. And there's nobody that really strikes me as a sleeper out there. Oh sure, Melo Trimble could be this year's Yogi Ferrell but outside of that, the 2nd round looks like a long day's journey into Knicks fans booing randomly. Okay, one more)
#29) Spurs -- Caleb Swanigan. Probably not gonna happen, they'll probably take some kid from Finland I've never heard of. But, man, I really liked Swanigan in the tourney, loved his smarts, loved his passing, think he'd be such a good pickup for the Spurs.
Thursday, June 15, 2017
NBA Season 2016-2017
Technically the 2016-2017 season extends through the draft, then ends with the annual July shutdown. A week later the 2017-2018 season will be born. But all the playing on the court is over. Now is normally the time for coach firings (and contract renunciations) but there wasn't a single firing in the NBA this year. I know I just said the season isn't quite over but none of the potential hot seats (Knicks, Pelicans) seem that hot mainly because I don't see any coach out there that needs to have an NBA job. I suppose the insiders could name a few assistants ready to ascend but I don't know those guys and none of them at the moment are big enough to seem like gotta-have guys. And I think Hornacek and Gentry can still be fine coaches, the problems with those teams are not their fault. As for contract renunciations, we'll see a few of those by draft day.
Let's look back over the season as a whole. Bearing in mind I didn't watch nearly as much basketball as in previous years (a mistake I plan not to make again any time soon).
Finals (Warriors over Cavs in 5)
Well I predicted the Cavs would take a game off the Warriors (yeah, I predicted it but I'm not sure I ever thought the Warriors would lose a game), and they did. It was Game Four not Game Three but whatever, I said it be so and it was. Good for me. But the Warriors were by far the superior team. The Cavs played an all-time great game in Game Four and Steph, Draymond, Livingston and Iggy all kinda sucked. That's what it took to win one stinking game off these Warriors: an all-time great effort combined with one of GSW's worst games of the year. That's just to keep them from going undefeated in the playoffs. In its way its every bit as big as NYG beating the Pats (but then again not even close).
This GSW team is the best single team I ever saw. Ever. I have no doubt they could've and should've beaten the best of the Moses/Doctor Sixers, Magic's Lakers, Bird's Celtics, Isiah's Pistons, Jordan's Bulls, Barkley's (anythings), Stockton/Malone Jazz, Hakeem's Rockets, Ewing's Knicks, Reggie's Pacers, Duncan's Spurs, Shaq/Kobe Lakers, Nash's Suns, Billups' Pistons, Kobe/Pau Lakers, the big 3 Celtics, the later Spurs incarnations, even the Big 3 Heat wouldn't have put a dent in this GSW team. In short, the fact that Lebron took one off these guys is his legacy. Lebron got a ring off the Warriors in 2016! Everybody is lately talking legacy, hey man, Jordan never beat anybody this good and I think even Jordan/Pippen would be looking like Lebron out there this year: the performance and numbers would be legendary, but they'd lose in 5 too.
This GSW squad is just so good and so deep and so versatile and such good scorers all over the court, smart defenders, good teammates, no one could hang with this team. This team could run with some USA Teams from over the years. (Which Olympic teams would fall to GSW? I bet a few of 'em would)
Durant was always awesome at all times in all five games, deservedly the MVP. The other guys each had a crappy game (even Steph sucked in Game Four) somewhere along the way but KD was untouchable, man.
Post-Season
I like the idea of a separate set of awards for the post-season. All of 'em: MVP, 1st and 2nd All-Pro, Coach, Executive, 6th Man from each conference. Obviously the Finalists would dominate but they deserve to, so fine with me.
West
MVP - Durant
1st (Steph, Klay, Durant, Draymond, Aldridge)
* 2nd (Kawhi, Harden, Iguodala, Hayward, Simmons)
6th Man: Iguodala
Coach: Popovich (Mike Brown, Quin Snyder)
East
MVP - Lebron
**1st (Kyrie, Wall, Lebron, Isiah, Beal)
2nd (Love, Tristan, Bradley, Smart, Porter)
6th Man: Smart (Oubre)
Coach: Stevens (Celtics), Brooks (Wizards)
Jazz over the Clippers was pretty memorable. I thought the home teams would dominate and it was exactly the opposite: teams were afraid to win at home! Weird series, not at all surprised that Jazz won but how they won I didn't see coming.
Celtics over Wizards was a good series. I thought the Wizards best was better than the Celtics best but the Celtics ordinary was better than the Wizards ordinary. And since you knew the series was gonna be a grind, not a surprise that lunch pail beat action hero.
Spurs over Rockets was a fun series. Sorta. Watching Aldridge go off in Game Six was an unexpected development.
Cavs over Raptors was memorable...not competitive, but memorably un-competitive.
Celtics over Bulls was kinda depressing actually. Bulls didn't deserve those first two W's.
Rockets over Thunder was strangely anti-climactic. Felt like it was gonna be funner than it turned out to be.
Thinking back over the playoffs that just concluded, I'm a little bummed we didn't get to see the Miami Heat. I feel like they would've been more interesting than some of the teams we got: Pacers were so uninspiring, Bulls had two fluke games and then reverted back to form, Hawks were not particularly impressive, Raptors did not go out looking good. Wouldn't you rather have seen what Goran and Dion and Whiteside could've cooked up? (I'm not feeling the Gordon Hayward buzz, I think it's a play for someone else (Celtics for Hayward, Blake Griffin for Miami?)
(*) Screw the guards, I can't see putting Hill or Paul or Conley in there.
(**) Screw all positions, I'm just going top five
Regular Season
MVP
I'd vote for James Harden. I thought Harden should've won 2 years ago when Curry won his 1st. And while Westbrook's year was amazing, Harden had an even better year on a better team making even more of difference on the success of his team. I thought 2 years ago and again this year: Harden is the most unstoppable player in the league. Harden is either gonna get his shot, set up his assist or get fouled. (Reminds me of Lionel Messi: if you don't foul him he's just gonna go right by you)
Westbrook had one of the most captivating seasons ever, Kawhi is great and getting greater, Lebron is still great, Chris Paul had a quietly great year, Antetokounpo blew up, Isiah Thomas is killin' it, Wall is finally getting some notice. (No Warriors in my top 8...wow) But Harden is the most unstoppable of all, the most dangerous, the most reliable, not necessarily the funnest to watch (not one of my favorite players to watch), but by pretty much any metric, Harden is the man.
ROY
I'd vote for Joel Embiid. I made this argument a coupla years ago, I'll make it again now: the Rookie of the Year Award is a forward-looking prize, not a backward-looking one. To me this is acknowledging who is the most promising rookie going forward, not which rookie had the single best year. Who cares what this year was for any of particular rookie? None of them made the all-star team, none of them led the league in any significant stat, none of them are dragging their teams into the playoffs. So who cares which guy had the best year? None of them had years that were really all that notable. I thought Embiid was the most promising rookie I saw this year. Yeah, he didn't play that much, I don't care, I liked what I saw enough to say he was the best rookie I saw this year.
I'd put Malcolm Brogdon, Dario Saric, Buddy Hield, Jamal Murray up there too. All promising young players.
Defensive Player
I'd vote Draymond Green. He does so much for the Warriors all over the court, but the way he controls traffic on D is more Mike Singletary or Ray Lewis than any b-baller I can think of.
Kawhi is great, one of the great wing-stoppers of my lifetime. Gobert is one of the great rim-protectors of recent memory. I kinda think Deandre Jordan has gone from underrated to overrated back to underrated, still one of the purest rebounders in the League and that's not insignificant.
6th Man
Uh...honestly I don't have a feel for that at all this year. I haven't crunched any kind of numbers, I watched maybe 1/3 of the games I watched the year before, I have virtually no exposure to talk radio or the Twitterverse, I just don't know where to go on that one this year.
Coach
I'd vote for Popovich. The Spurs are always great but at this point they're basically a rebuilding team. You don't notice the rebuild because the culture itself is so sturdy. That's Popovich. Give him some ingredients and he'll turn into a meal.
Spoelstra (Heat), Snyder (Jazz), D'antoni (Rockets), Stevens (Celtics), Kerr (Warriors), Brooks (Wizards), Kidd (Bucks), Casey (Raptors), Fitzdale (Grizzlies) rounds out my top ten.
Executive of Year
(In general I think of this award as cumulative. Not merely what they did this season but what a particular regime has done over the years to bring the squad to its current state. That said I'd vote for:)
Bob Myers (Warriors) solely because he signed Durant last year. He won the off-season by a mile when he already had the best team.
Dennis Lindsey (Jazz) (love the homegrown thing they've got there, the bloom may be off soon but personally I hope it continues to flourish), David Griffin (Cavs) (the mid-season pickups were really good this year, they handled the East comfortably because of those moves), Danny Ainge (Celtics) (I love the symbiosis between Ainge and Stevens: Ainge knows what Stevens needs and Stevens knows how to handle what Ainge gives him), Sam Presti (Thunder) (I thought they recovered well from losing one of the great players of all-time).
Not sure what to think of the Pelicans landing Demarcus Cousins, can't give them an A+ just yet; I suspect the steal of the year may be the Mavs getting Nerlens Noel for not much at all; and, boy, the Raptors getting Serge and PJ Tucker doesn't seem like such a big deal now.
What I missed most about this season was the brilliant maturation of Giannis Antetokounpo (Bucks), dang, that guy is gonna be so good, hasn't even gotten going yet but took a big step forward this year. Also, wish I caught more of Jokic (Nuggets), I was so impressed with that kid the year before, sounds like he blew up this year. I also wish I'd wish I'd watched more of the Heat and the Spurs, they were the two most interesting teams to me this year.
Let's look back over the season as a whole. Bearing in mind I didn't watch nearly as much basketball as in previous years (a mistake I plan not to make again any time soon).
Finals (Warriors over Cavs in 5)
Well I predicted the Cavs would take a game off the Warriors (yeah, I predicted it but I'm not sure I ever thought the Warriors would lose a game), and they did. It was Game Four not Game Three but whatever, I said it be so and it was. Good for me. But the Warriors were by far the superior team. The Cavs played an all-time great game in Game Four and Steph, Draymond, Livingston and Iggy all kinda sucked. That's what it took to win one stinking game off these Warriors: an all-time great effort combined with one of GSW's worst games of the year. That's just to keep them from going undefeated in the playoffs. In its way its every bit as big as NYG beating the Pats (but then again not even close).
This GSW team is the best single team I ever saw. Ever. I have no doubt they could've and should've beaten the best of the Moses/Doctor Sixers, Magic's Lakers, Bird's Celtics, Isiah's Pistons, Jordan's Bulls, Barkley's (anythings), Stockton/Malone Jazz, Hakeem's Rockets, Ewing's Knicks, Reggie's Pacers, Duncan's Spurs, Shaq/Kobe Lakers, Nash's Suns, Billups' Pistons, Kobe/Pau Lakers, the big 3 Celtics, the later Spurs incarnations, even the Big 3 Heat wouldn't have put a dent in this GSW team. In short, the fact that Lebron took one off these guys is his legacy. Lebron got a ring off the Warriors in 2016! Everybody is lately talking legacy, hey man, Jordan never beat anybody this good and I think even Jordan/Pippen would be looking like Lebron out there this year: the performance and numbers would be legendary, but they'd lose in 5 too.
This GSW squad is just so good and so deep and so versatile and such good scorers all over the court, smart defenders, good teammates, no one could hang with this team. This team could run with some USA Teams from over the years. (Which Olympic teams would fall to GSW? I bet a few of 'em would)
Durant was always awesome at all times in all five games, deservedly the MVP. The other guys each had a crappy game (even Steph sucked in Game Four) somewhere along the way but KD was untouchable, man.
Post-Season
I like the idea of a separate set of awards for the post-season. All of 'em: MVP, 1st and 2nd All-Pro, Coach, Executive, 6th Man from each conference. Obviously the Finalists would dominate but they deserve to, so fine with me.
West
MVP - Durant
1st (Steph, Klay, Durant, Draymond, Aldridge)
* 2nd (Kawhi, Harden, Iguodala, Hayward, Simmons)
6th Man: Iguodala
Coach: Popovich (Mike Brown, Quin Snyder)
Executive: Bob Myers (Warriors) (he's the only guy that signed KD, he's the winner)
East
MVP - Lebron
**1st (Kyrie, Wall, Lebron, Isiah, Beal)
2nd (Love, Tristan, Bradley, Smart, Porter)
6th Man: Smart (Oubre)
Coach: Stevens (Celtics), Brooks (Wizards)
Executive: Danny Ainge (Celtics) (he's relying on his coach to complete his experiments, it's really a marvelous pairing)
Jazz over the Clippers was pretty memorable. I thought the home teams would dominate and it was exactly the opposite: teams were afraid to win at home! Weird series, not at all surprised that Jazz won but how they won I didn't see coming.
Celtics over Wizards was a good series. I thought the Wizards best was better than the Celtics best but the Celtics ordinary was better than the Wizards ordinary. And since you knew the series was gonna be a grind, not a surprise that lunch pail beat action hero.
Spurs over Rockets was a fun series. Sorta. Watching Aldridge go off in Game Six was an unexpected development.
Cavs over Raptors was memorable...not competitive, but memorably un-competitive.
Rockets over Thunder was strangely anti-climactic. Felt like it was gonna be funner than it turned out to be.
Thinking back over the playoffs that just concluded, I'm a little bummed we didn't get to see the Miami Heat. I feel like they would've been more interesting than some of the teams we got: Pacers were so uninspiring, Bulls had two fluke games and then reverted back to form, Hawks were not particularly impressive, Raptors did not go out looking good. Wouldn't you rather have seen what Goran and Dion and Whiteside could've cooked up? (I'm not feeling the Gordon Hayward buzz, I think it's a play for someone else (Celtics for Hayward, Blake Griffin for Miami?)
(*) Screw the guards, I can't see putting Hill or Paul or Conley in there.
(**) Screw all positions, I'm just going top five
Regular Season
MVP
I'd vote for James Harden. I thought Harden should've won 2 years ago when Curry won his 1st. And while Westbrook's year was amazing, Harden had an even better year on a better team making even more of difference on the success of his team. I thought 2 years ago and again this year: Harden is the most unstoppable player in the league. Harden is either gonna get his shot, set up his assist or get fouled. (Reminds me of Lionel Messi: if you don't foul him he's just gonna go right by you)
Westbrook had one of the most captivating seasons ever, Kawhi is great and getting greater, Lebron is still great, Chris Paul had a quietly great year, Antetokounpo blew up, Isiah Thomas is killin' it, Wall is finally getting some notice. (No Warriors in my top 8...wow) But Harden is the most unstoppable of all, the most dangerous, the most reliable, not necessarily the funnest to watch (not one of my favorite players to watch), but by pretty much any metric, Harden is the man.
ROY
I'd vote for Joel Embiid. I made this argument a coupla years ago, I'll make it again now: the Rookie of the Year Award is a forward-looking prize, not a backward-looking one. To me this is acknowledging who is the most promising rookie going forward, not which rookie had the single best year. Who cares what this year was for any of particular rookie? None of them made the all-star team, none of them led the league in any significant stat, none of them are dragging their teams into the playoffs. So who cares which guy had the best year? None of them had years that were really all that notable. I thought Embiid was the most promising rookie I saw this year. Yeah, he didn't play that much, I don't care, I liked what I saw enough to say he was the best rookie I saw this year.
I'd put Malcolm Brogdon, Dario Saric, Buddy Hield, Jamal Murray up there too. All promising young players.
Defensive Player
I'd vote Draymond Green. He does so much for the Warriors all over the court, but the way he controls traffic on D is more Mike Singletary or Ray Lewis than any b-baller I can think of.
Kawhi is great, one of the great wing-stoppers of my lifetime. Gobert is one of the great rim-protectors of recent memory. I kinda think Deandre Jordan has gone from underrated to overrated back to underrated, still one of the purest rebounders in the League and that's not insignificant.
6th Man
Uh...honestly I don't have a feel for that at all this year. I haven't crunched any kind of numbers, I watched maybe 1/3 of the games I watched the year before, I have virtually no exposure to talk radio or the Twitterverse, I just don't know where to go on that one this year.
Coach
I'd vote for Popovich. The Spurs are always great but at this point they're basically a rebuilding team. You don't notice the rebuild because the culture itself is so sturdy. That's Popovich. Give him some ingredients and he'll turn into a meal.
Spoelstra (Heat), Snyder (Jazz), D'antoni (Rockets), Stevens (Celtics), Kerr (Warriors), Brooks (Wizards), Kidd (Bucks), Casey (Raptors), Fitzdale (Grizzlies) rounds out my top ten.
Executive of Year
(In general I think of this award as cumulative. Not merely what they did this season but what a particular regime has done over the years to bring the squad to its current state. That said I'd vote for:)
Bob Myers (Warriors) solely because he signed Durant last year. He won the off-season by a mile when he already had the best team.
Not sure what to think of the Pelicans landing Demarcus Cousins, can't give them an A+ just yet; I suspect the steal of the year may be the Mavs getting Nerlens Noel for not much at all; and, boy, the Raptors getting Serge and PJ Tucker doesn't seem like such a big deal now.
What I missed most about this season was the brilliant maturation of Giannis Antetokounpo (Bucks), dang, that guy is gonna be so good, hasn't even gotten going yet but took a big step forward this year. Also, wish I caught more of Jokic (Nuggets), I was so impressed with that kid the year before, sounds like he blew up this year. I also wish I'd wish I'd watched more of the Heat and the Spurs, they were the two most interesting teams to me this year.
Saturday, June 3, 2017
NBA Finals
(Yes, I'm a day late but Game One didn't really change my mind)
In each round of the playoffs so far I've taken the Warriors in 5. I gave the Blazers a game because I thought they'd have one great shooting night and the Warriors would have one bad shooting night, just thought they might be on the same night. Ditto against the Jazz, who possess a solid home court advantage and have played as good as anyone against GSW lately. Ditto against the Spurs because, shit, man they're the Spurs but they can't keep up with the Warrior offense.
Ditto the Cavs, who are better than last year's Cavs that beat the Warriors (I'll say it: in one of the all time flukes of all time), but they aren't any better than this year's Spurs team that just curb stomped. I gave the Warriors one L in each series in the same way: Game Three. Thought in each series that would be the weakest moment for the Warrior crew, if they were gonna lose it'd be that one. So far they're 3-0 in Game Three, I expect them to go 4-0.
After one game it looks like the Cavs might be in the midst of a smoking, a four game swept kinda smoking. Durant is an upgrade on Harrison Barnes. It is kinda weird to not see Andrew Bogut out there but otherwise everyone is good and does their job. I think this Warrior team without Durant would be still be the favorite over this year's Cavs. With Durant this Warrior team is a clear favorite every time they take the court.
This Warrior team is the best team I've ever seen. Lebron, Duncan, Shaq, Jordan, Bird, Magic, Isiah, Stockon/Malone, Dirk, Nash, KG, Hakeem never played on a team better than this one. I would take this full strength team (and they don't even have their coach right now) over any team I ever saw. I'd give Jordan's Bulls, Magic's Lakers, Isiah's Pistons the best chance to hang but I think the combo of Draymond, KD, Steph, Klay, Livingston, and any other 5 dudes would take out even the best of the Jordan squads. This squad reminds me of Gretzky's Oilers, Jimmy Johnson's Cowboys, the back-to-back Florida Gator teams: high level of dominance that's built to last.
Meanwhile, the Cavs don't have any clear competition in the East for 2-3 more years. The Celtics are the closest, they could pull something together but they haven't yet. The Bucks have an exciting young core but are at least 2 years from being better than Lebron. The Sixers have a shot at becoming something great, but could also be rebuilding forever. The Raptors were as good as they've ever been this year and it did not happen, I don't know how they even come close to the Cavs any time soon. The Wizards will likely be doomed with a lameass bench for a while. The Heat would seem to be closer than anyone thought they'd be, but they also seem like a faulty concoction that could get re-concocted at a moment's notice. Hawks, Pacers, Knicks, Pistons, Hornets...I mean, nah...
So right now I fully expect to see Wariors-Cavs IV next year. And right now I don't know why we wouldn't get Warriors-Cavs V the year after that. In three years the Cavs might slow down enough for a rising East team to catch them, in three years maybe the mileage on the Warrior roster might begin to leave them in the reach of the Spurs or Rockets. Bur I doubt it, I'll stick with Warriors-Cavs for the foreseeable future.
And, yeah, for no reason at all I'll still stick by the Cavs catching the Warriors in Game Three (maybe even in OT, that'd be cool). Kyrie can pretty much do whatever he wants out there, still hard to imagine him outscoring the Warriors by himself but I gave the Cavs a game, I'll stick by it.
In each round of the playoffs so far I've taken the Warriors in 5. I gave the Blazers a game because I thought they'd have one great shooting night and the Warriors would have one bad shooting night, just thought they might be on the same night. Ditto against the Jazz, who possess a solid home court advantage and have played as good as anyone against GSW lately. Ditto against the Spurs because, shit, man they're the Spurs but they can't keep up with the Warrior offense.
Ditto the Cavs, who are better than last year's Cavs that beat the Warriors (I'll say it: in one of the all time flukes of all time), but they aren't any better than this year's Spurs team that just curb stomped. I gave the Warriors one L in each series in the same way: Game Three. Thought in each series that would be the weakest moment for the Warrior crew, if they were gonna lose it'd be that one. So far they're 3-0 in Game Three, I expect them to go 4-0.
After one game it looks like the Cavs might be in the midst of a smoking, a four game swept kinda smoking. Durant is an upgrade on Harrison Barnes. It is kinda weird to not see Andrew Bogut out there but otherwise everyone is good and does their job. I think this Warrior team without Durant would be still be the favorite over this year's Cavs. With Durant this Warrior team is a clear favorite every time they take the court.
This Warrior team is the best team I've ever seen. Lebron, Duncan, Shaq, Jordan, Bird, Magic, Isiah, Stockon/Malone, Dirk, Nash, KG, Hakeem never played on a team better than this one. I would take this full strength team (and they don't even have their coach right now) over any team I ever saw. I'd give Jordan's Bulls, Magic's Lakers, Isiah's Pistons the best chance to hang but I think the combo of Draymond, KD, Steph, Klay, Livingston, and any other 5 dudes would take out even the best of the Jordan squads. This squad reminds me of Gretzky's Oilers, Jimmy Johnson's Cowboys, the back-to-back Florida Gator teams: high level of dominance that's built to last.
Meanwhile, the Cavs don't have any clear competition in the East for 2-3 more years. The Celtics are the closest, they could pull something together but they haven't yet. The Bucks have an exciting young core but are at least 2 years from being better than Lebron. The Sixers have a shot at becoming something great, but could also be rebuilding forever. The Raptors were as good as they've ever been this year and it did not happen, I don't know how they even come close to the Cavs any time soon. The Wizards will likely be doomed with a lameass bench for a while. The Heat would seem to be closer than anyone thought they'd be, but they also seem like a faulty concoction that could get re-concocted at a moment's notice. Hawks, Pacers, Knicks, Pistons, Hornets...I mean, nah...
So right now I fully expect to see Wariors-Cavs IV next year. And right now I don't know why we wouldn't get Warriors-Cavs V the year after that. In three years the Cavs might slow down enough for a rising East team to catch them, in three years maybe the mileage on the Warrior roster might begin to leave them in the reach of the Spurs or Rockets. Bur I doubt it, I'll stick with Warriors-Cavs for the foreseeable future.
And, yeah, for no reason at all I'll still stick by the Cavs catching the Warriors in Game Three (maybe even in OT, that'd be cool). Kyrie can pretty much do whatever he wants out there, still hard to imagine him outscoring the Warriors by himself but I gave the Cavs a game, I'll stick by it.
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