The Wild Wild West

The 2012-13 Western Conference champions may have just about been determined this weekend with one trade.  After many difficulties in negotiating a contract extension, the Thunder ultimately made the decision to ship James Harden off to the Houston Rockets.  Also involved in the trade for the Thunder were Cole Aldrich, Daequan Cook and Lazar Hayward.  In return, Oklahoma City will receive Kevin Martin, rookie Jeremy Lamb, 2 first-round draft picks and an additional second-round pick.

I don’t necessarily blame the Thunder for making this move.  They couldn’t come to terms on a new deal with Harden and they needed to give him up this season so they could still get something in return.  It’s just upsetting because this will hurt their chances of keeping up with the Lakers if they should meet in the playoffs, and they were one of the few teams in the West that would have been able to.  Even though I know it won’t be impossible, especially since we haven’t seen any of these revamped teams from the West play together in the regular season yet, but I do think the Lakers will have a much easier time making it to the finals with Harden out of the picture in OKC.

The Thunder are far from down and out though.  We haven’t seen Kevin Durant hit his peak yet, and the same goes for Serge Ibaka.  It will also be interesting to see how Kevin Martin will fit in with this roster.  He’s had quite a few ups and downs from one season to the next, but this will be his first time playing on a strong team.  The other elements of the trade though, a rookie and 3 draft picks, seem more like something a team would trade for when they’re in the rebuilding process, not following up a finals appearance.

As for the Rockets, I’m sure that they couldn’t be happier with this trade.  After failed attempts at picking up Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol this summer, they’ve finally managed to pick up a player that will restore their playoff hopes.  Signing Jeremy Lin was a smart move for Houston as well, despite the fact that it's still uncertain how well he will perform this season.  Having Harden playing alongside him in the backcourt will be a big aid to Lin's game though.  This could be a good opportunity for both of these players to truly breakout, even if it may not be this season.

Overall, this trade will be a fairly big shake-up to the Western Conference.  It won't have the massive effect that the Dwight and Nash moves will, but it will still cause quite the shift in standings at the end of the season.  I will be in attendance for the Pistons home opener against the Rockets, and I’m about ten times more excited to go now that they’ve added Harden to the team.  They still won’t be having any impact in the playoffs, but they’ll continue their usual run of bordering on a playoff spot.  As usual, that playoff spot will just depend on how well the rest of the Western Conference ends up performing this season.  I haven't been much of a Rockets fan in years past, but I think I'll be pulling for them to get one of those last playoff spots this season.

The Last of the Real Power Forwards

This past Friday I was watching a couple of preseason games on NBA TV, the Pistons vs. the Raptors and the Suns vs. the Trail Blazers.  Of course this is the preseason, so we don’t quite get to see the full play of the best from around the league.  While watching though, I was reminded of something when I saw both Greg Monroe and LaMarcus Aldridge playing.

With the drafting of Andre Drummond this summer, it was clear that Joe Dumars wanted to pick up somebody who would allow Greg Monroe to move from center to the power forward position.  Aldridge has already been thriving at this position for the entirety of his career, but Monroe will really be able to break out now that he has truly defined what position he plays.  What I like so much about both Monroe and Aldridge is that they’re the last good players who play power forward the way it was meant to be played.

The power forward position used to be filled by athletes whose game was similar to that of a center, but were just a bit shorter.  Today, it usually goes to guys who play like shooting guards or small forwards, but are just taller.  Let’s take a look at some of the people who currently play the four position.

Dirk Nowitzki

At 7 feet tall, Dirk is taller than many centers in the NBA.  He can also handle the ball better than most of them and can shoot better than any down low player, well, ever.  Usually when he posts up, it’s from further outside than a player normally would.  He also tends to end his post ups with a fade away rather than going up strong to the hoop like a typical power forward would.  His rebounding and defensive game could use some work too, though it’s not terrible.  His game would probably best be described as a “power guard,” more than a power forward.

Blake Griffin

BG is quicker than probably anybody else playing this position today.  He’s a high-flying dunker who likes to slash his way to the hoop for most of his buckets.  The preference in his scoring is to use his quickness to avoid defenders instead of out-powering them.  Plus he looks like he’s trying to add more range to his shooting lately.  His game is closer to that of a small forward.  Look at Josh Smith if you want an example of a guy with a similar style of play.

Pau Gasol

Pau is a great example of the classic Euro-big man.  Though it's limited, he does have a bit of range in his shot that he likes to use quite often.  Even though I don’t think he’s as soft as many people say he is, I find that he’s more likely to shoot for the sake of drawing a foul than putting the ball in the hoop.  True power forwards just shouldn't be playing that way.  Luis Scola’s game could be closely compared to his as well.

Kevin Love

This guy is one of the best hustler’s and toughest rebounders around, and he just might be my favorite player in the league.  On offense though, most of his game tends to take place at or near the 3-point line.  You can’t blame him though, jumpers are just his strength out there.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not knockin’ these guys at all.  In fact, every single person I’ve named off is a phenomenal player.  I’m just applauding Monroe and Aldridge for being among the last power forwards to play hard, tough and close the rim on both ends of the court.  And sure, there’s other guys left who play that way too, but Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Jermaine O’Neal and Elton Brand are reaching the down-swing of their careers.  Unfortunately, Zack Randolph and Carlos Boozer seem to be also.

Aldrige is still just hitting his peak though; and Monroe is still building up to his.  Even though I do like guys like BG, Kevin Love and Dirk, I would also like to see the position filled by stronger post athletes.  Remember some of the power forwards from back in the ‘90s?  There was Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Dennis Rodman, Larry Johnson, Shawn Kemp, Derrick Coleman, Chris Webber, and as previously mentioned, KG and Tim Duncan.

It’s not like big men couldn’t step out to the 3-point line back then, but I think it’s safe to say that guys who could shoot from deep, like Bill Laimbeer and Rasheed Wallace, were still some of the toughest and strongest around, as evidenced here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZenCOljfSzU) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4g1NCqt1cM).  Until the NBA gets to be filled with down-low strength again though, I’ll just sit back and continue to enjoy watching Monroe and Aldridge hang tough. 

2012-13 Season Preview, Pt. 3

   16.     Utah Jazz

There’s not much to say about the Jazz.  They were a middle-of-the-road, borderline playoff team last year, and I expect the same this year.  Al Jefferson was pretty exciting to watch at the end of the season though.  He worked hard enough to slip the team into the playoffs, and he deserved that postseason appearance.  I hope to see more of that hunger out of him this year.

   17.     Detroit Pistons

The post-Chauncey rebuilding is finally going to start looking up a bit more this year.  Greg Monroe put up numbers that were comparable to, if not better than, Roy Hibbert, who earned an all star spot over Monroe last year.  Andre Drummond won’t be great this year, but he’ll be enough to take some pressure off Monroe so he can get those numbers up even more.  Watch out for a more experienced Brandon Knight this year as well.

   18.     Philadelphia 76ers

The spotlight in Philly is on Andrew Bynum, who will be taking on the role of team-star for the first time in his career.  Based on the maturity he’s shown in the past, I don’t expect that to go to well.  He’ll have plenty of strong games, and Jrue Holiday will be a good help to him.  But with the next best player being a slowly aging Jason Richardson, this team won’t be anything special in their first year together.

   19.     Portland Trail Blazers

This team is just struggling to get healthy talent.  Their future was bright a few years ago when the team carried plenty of youth like Brandon Roy, Greg Oden, Rudy Fernandez, LaMarcus Aldridge and Travis Outlaw.  Things just didn’t work out though, for various reasons, and now only Aldridge is left.  Potential Rookie of the Year Damian Lillard should give him them a bit of a boost though.

   20.     Golden State Warriors

The Warriors seem like a team that’s in constant rebuilding mode.  They always manage to find good rookies and then get rid of them before they can be of help to the team.  Look at Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison, Monta Ellis, Jason Richardson, and even back in the ‘90s with Chris Webber and Latrell Spreewell.   We may see the same happening for Harrison Barnes and (to a lesser extent of greatness) Draymond Green.

To give them some hope though, Stephen Curry shows spurts of being a great floor general.  He also seems to like his role in Golden State.

   21.     New Orleans Hornets

Anthony Davis will be likely to get all the attention here, but I don’t think that will be saying much.  Davis will be okay, as will guys like Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon.  Overall though, I see this team struggling most of the season.  That's not necessarily bad though, the team is young and has some learning to do before they can excel.

   22.     Milwaukee Bucks

Nobody will be fearing the dear this season.  Monta Eliis is a tremendous shooter, but lacks game outside of that.  Brandon Jennings seems to have gone nowhere since his bright rookie season.  We saw some good play from Ersan Ilyasova at the end of last season, but that won’t be nearly enough for a playoff push.  Maybe Ersan should try a career as a body-double for James Franco instead.

   23.     Sacramento Kings

Lack of maturity will surely do this team in.  DeMarcus Cousins needs to learn to control himself on the court, as does Tyreke Evans off the court.  I think this team is full of players who will be great when they’re dispersed elsewhere, but not all on the same team.

   24.     Washington Wizards

This team has some decent talent in guys like John Wall, Nene and Jordan Crawford.  They really can’t get it together though, and that always leaves them in the bottom 10 in the league.  Their GMs may want to use that talent to make some moves quick this season.

  

   25.   Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cavs are historically awful.  It just so happens that sometimes they’re so awful that a superstar falls into their lap.  With numerous lottery picks in the past 2 years, they have a few of those stars-in-training like Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters.  For now, we’ll just have to sit back and watch more of that training from them.

   26.   Phoenix Suns

There’s not much to expect from a team that’s going to be lead by Marcin Gortat.  He is one of the better centers in the NBA, but I can't see anything exciting happening in Phoenix this year.

   27.   Houston Rockets

The Rockets are usually creeping up close to a playoff spot.  With Luis Scola and Kyle Lowry gone, I don’t think we’ll see that this year.  We may get another flash of Linsanity this year though.

   28.   Toronto Raptors

The team added the previously mentioned Kyle Lowry, along with Landry Fields, which should give them a boost.  Then again, Lowry didn’t give the Rockets enough of a boost to reach the playoffs, and the Raptors are embarrassingly weak outside of those two.

   29.   Charlotte Bobcats

It will be interesting to see how Michael Kidd-Gilchrist does this year.  I expect him and Lillard to be the top candidates for Rookie of the Year.  They’re still bad though, and things will remain that way until Michael Jordan is out of the GM position.

   30.   Orlando Magic

The one bright spot for Orlando is that guys like Glen Davis and Aaron Afflalo still look like they want to work their tails off for the team.  They won’t necessarily have the worst record in the league, but this season will be pre-rebuilding for them.  Remember the Cavs the year after LeBron left?  It was just kind of play some games, wait for that disastrous season to be over, get a good lottery pick and then start the post-Dwight rebuilding next year.  This will be a pretty meaningless season for this team.

And there you have it folks, my previews and predictions for the upcoming NBA season.  Keep reading, and watch out for the start of the NBA season on October 30th.

2012-13 Season Preview, Pt. 2

   1.     Miami Heat

The rest of the elite teams in the NBA beefed up this offseason (I’ll get to the rest of those down the list), and the Heat did just the same for their upcoming championship defense. Dwyane Wade is about even with Kobe as the game’s top shooting guard and Bosh is among the best power forwards, but it doesn’t end there.

With both Shane Battier and Mike Miller returning, along with the additions of Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis, they will likely be able to add the distinction of “best 3-point shooting team,” to their resume.  Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole are far from the best point guards in the league, but they can get the job done for what Miami’s working with.  Udonis Haslem does some pretty solid work coming off the bench as well.

The only area where this team lacks is in their centers, where they really have nothing to work with.  Joel Anthony, Dexter Pittman and Mickell Gladness averaged a combined 6.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game for the Heat last year.  Even if rookie Justin Hamilton turns out okay, there’s no way they can match the powerhouse frontcourts of teams like the Lakers, Thunder and Knicks.  Oh, but that LeBron guy has played pretty well lately.  That should make up for the lack of a post game.

   2.     Oklahoma City Thunder

This young team has come a long way since their move to Oklahoma City.  They didn’t make too many big moves to their roster, but they are returning most of the team that won a conference championship and featured 3 gold medal Olympians (can’t forget Ibaka’s silver medal as well).

The only problem I see this team facing is whether or not Russell Westbrook will be able to contain himself.  His late game takeover attempts cost the team a few wins last season.  The West is also full of stacked teams, and they should expect some heavy competition on a nightly basis.

   3.     Los Angeles Lakers

On paper, the Lakers have unquestionably the best starting 5 in the league, possibly ever.  Steve Nash is one of the best floor leaders around and Dwight Howard is untouchable to any other center.  Kobe’s still among the best scorers in the league and although I find Antawn Jamison to be pretty overrated, he’ll be great as a 5^th option on the court.

So what’s the problem then?  The NBA is full of the monster rosters today, and one’s that have already worked well together in the past.  Dwight’s never had to share the spotlight before and we really don’t know how well it will go. We all saw what a big baby he could be when things don’t go his way over the past couple years in Orlando with his strict trade demands.  And we all should remember how the little Kobe-Shaq feud ended.  Of course, they did get a few championships in the process, and if Kobe and Dwight can coexist, get ready for some dominance this season.

   4.     Los Angeles Clippers

Lob City was fun to watch last year.  They weren’t just exciting either, they were good.  They lead the Pacific Division for most of the season before losing Chauncey Billups to injury in February.  Chauncey’s clearly past his prime, but he still has a strong leadership effect on whatever team he joins.  He’s expected to return about a month or so into the season and that will help the team a lot.  The Clippers will also see success with their many offseason pickups.

This team might also have more depth than anybody in the league.  Besides CP3 and Jamal Crawford in the backcourt, they also have backup from Eric Bledsoe and Willie Green.  At the small forward they have Caron Butler returning, as well as Matt Barnes and Grant Hill, who may be taking his last shot at a championship this season.  Ryan Hollins, Lamar Odom and Ronny Turiaf will back up the big men this year.  Starting men Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan just need to step their games up.  BG is already great; he just needs to get a bit tougher in the post for his team's sake.  DeAndre has the size and athleticism to be one of the NBA’s best centers; he just needs to sharpen all of his skills to get there.

   5.     Dallas Mavericks

A lot of people are writing this team off after last season, but not me.  Dirk won’t let last year’s sorry performance happen again.  No, they didn’t get the free agents that they hoped for this summer, but their roster still added some key assets.

OJ Mayo can be pretty good coming off the bench, as I expect the team to keep Vince Carter starting.  Darren Collison hasn’t matched his performance from the season he filled in for Chris Paul in New Orleans, but he can still hold his own running the point on a playoff team.  Chris Kaman is due for another good season, and him and Dirk will work pretty well together down low.  Elton Brand will be nice in more of a role-player position than he’s used to as well.  I’m interested to see how this team may surprise some people.

   6.     Boston Celtics

They were hurting from the loss of Ray Allen at first, but Jason Terry is a great replacement.  Him and Rondo seem like they will fit well together at the guard positions.  They’re both scrappers who already have championships under their belts.  Fab Melo and Jared Sullinger have a great breeding ground for their talents on this team as well.  Plus Paul Pierce seems to be ageless as the teams top offensive option for the past decade and Garnett is just as tough as he’s ever been. Don’t expect age to slow this team up quite yet.

   7.     San Antonio Spurs

I never really watch the Spurs too much because, quite frankly, they are BORING.  It’s nothing but fundamentals on the court with this team, but that’s also why they do so great year after year.  This will be year 11 of playing together for the Duncan-Parker-Ginobili combo.  They’re usually surrounded with some pretty good role players, too.  The only trouble they face is the strength of the Western Conference.

   8.     New York Knicks

This is another team that I expect more out of than most other fans seem to.  The reason for that is the addition of Jason Kidd.  Kidd is one of the best options to force a team to start getting along on the court.  Adding Marcus Camby to the bench will help the team out quite a bit as well.  Plus, I couldn’t be happier for the return of Rasheed Wallace.

   9.     Denver Nuggets

Andre Iguodala finally gets relieved of the pressure to be the team star.  Instead, he gets to be on the team whose main focus was having no star player.  By the end of last season, Kenneth Faried proved himself as the best big man out of the rookie class.  George Karl limited playing time for Manimal during the first half of last season.  That caused him to miss last year's rookie challenge during all star weekend, but he still managed to get an all-rookie first team selection.  If Javale McGee can learn to play smarter, it will be a tremendous help to the team’s post play.

   10.   Brooklyn Nets

Here we go, the flashy, cool new team from Brooklyn.  New city, new arena, new jerseys, and they have Jay-Z boosting their popularity on top of that.  With Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, Gerald Wallace and Brooke Lopez together, they’ve built a pretty nice foundation to start the new look Nets with.  They’ll be good, but this roster is only mediocre compared to many of the other super-teams around the league.

   11.  Minnesota Timberwolves

Now this is a team I like.  Kevin Love is already outstanding, and Ricky Rubio could be the next Jason Kidd.  Hopefully his injury last year won’t carry over too far into this season.

Speaking of injuries, it’s great to see that Brandon Roy didn’t let his sideline him for good.  Bringing in him and recent Olympics standout Andre Kirilenko will be big for this team.

   12.  Indiana Pacers

I’m still not a big fan of this team, though I have come around to them a little more since the players from the Palace brawl era aren’t with the team anymore.

Danny Granger’s playing took a hit last season, but the rest of his team helped to make up for it.  If he can get back to old form, this team’s rank could be a few places higher.  Plus they still have plenty of youth on their side.

   13.   Atlanta Hawks

The Hawks are never quite as good as they could be.  Something seems to always fall apart for them come playoff time, which has resulted in getting no further than the second round since the team moved to Atlanta in the 60's.

Regardless, Josh Smith and Al Horford will perform well enough to get them into the playoffs; just don’t expect much beyond that.

   14.   Memphis Grizzlies

This team hasn’t made many changes to their regular rotation in the last couple years, and they really don’t need to either.  The current players continue to grow and get better together.  The only problem is the rest of the Western Conference did make moves and change up their rotations for the better.

Tough break Grizz, they just need to hope to see Rudy Gay fully realize the size and ability he has to turn into a potential MVP candidate.  Personally, I'd love to see that happen as well.

   15.   Chicago Bulls

People will call me crazy for this one, but Derrick Rose will likely be out for quite a while, which means that Chicago is stuck with the lineup that went 1-4 against a barely-.500 76ers team in last year's first round.

With Rose, they’re top 2 in the East.  With him gone, they’ll be lucky to escape the first round.