NBA First Month Thoughts

About a month of the NBA season has already gone by. The typical powerhouses are around the top of the league, with a few surprises. I am going to touch on a few that I like or didn't see coming.

LA Clippers: The LA Clippers have the best record in the NBA as of right now at 10:00 AM on 11/18/2016. Now that's really not a big deal, being that it's so early in the season, but maybe we are seeing the Clippers finally putting the pieces together to make it to the WCF. I bet is that they'll slip on and choke in the playoffs as they normally do. I would love to see them knock of the Spurs or Warriors, but I won't give them the benefit of the doubt until they do.

Golden State Warriors: After their embarrassing loss to the Spurs on opening night, the Warriors are right where they left off last season, dominating. They are currently on a 5 game winning streak and play the Boston Celtics tonight, the team that ended their 54-game regular season home winning streak. That was last year, but don't think the Warriors core hasn't forgot about that loss. I think it will be a close one tonight in Boston.

One thing I wanted to touch on was the drop in PPG by Klay Thompson. Everybody knew that with the signing of KD, somebody would be losing some touches/shots per game. I think it's most noticeably Klay Thompson. Yes, it's early in the season, but he is currently averaging 18.5. Last year he averaged 22.1. I had a discussion with my basketball minded friend Erik Sandberg (@Esands6) regarding what possibilities GS could do with Klay and KD. One scenario was to sign KD long term and trade Klay Thompson for some solid defenders and role player that would make an immediate impact. I don't think that is too improbable, but probably won't happen.

James Harden moving to point guard might be the best move a coach has ever made for his usage. He already has 3 triple-doubles this season. Although his defense hasn't seemed to improve, his offensive play and mindset has the Rockets poised to return to the playoffs after missing them last year.

LA Lakers: Similar to the Clippers, but in a different position, both are starting off really well and are surprising everyone with their success thus far. Like the Clippers, they will have to prove they are legit before anybody even considers them a threat, but as of now, they look like they could be on the edge of a #8 seed. I personally don't think they can sustain this success and make the playoffs, but I love how the young players like Russell and Julius Randle are playing.

As for the East:

The Cavs look like they will be the #1 seed at the end of the year. The Hawks seem like they built the perfect nest for Dwight Howard to flourish. They are currently tied for the best record in the East. The Hornets have to be the biggest surprise with their early success. Kemba is really becoming a superstar that can control the game. I hope they continue to win and be a top 5 seed in the playoffs. The "super-team" Knicks are a laughing stock right now. It seems KP is coming around and starting to score more. The Celtics' struggles are disappointing. Obviously it's early, but I for sure thought they would end up as Top 4 seed. Lastly, DeMar DeRozan is on Jordan like scoring terror.

Those are just some of my thoughts at this point in the season. I'm always up for discussion. Tweet me @jpsweets and @basketballguy61 and make sure to like my Facebook page Basketball Guy JP.

NBA Draft 2015 and Mock Draft

Thursday, June 25th, 2015 the 2015 NBA Draft will happen in NY. This year is headlined by 2 promising big men. Either could go #1 but it seems that Karl-Anthony Towns will most likely be selected by the MN Timberwolves as the #1 pick over Jahlil Okafor.

Earlier this year I wrote a piece about Okafor being the #1 pick and that any team that doesn't pick him would make a big mistake. I have to change my mind on that after watching Towns more closely at the end of the year. Don't get me wrong, Okafor is a lock at #1 or #2, but I believe Towns has way more versatility than Okafor has. Especially with the NBA merging into a small ball game, with a PF that can play Center because he can also switch on picks to guard other players. Okafor is a traditional big man with tremendous back to the basket skills, which the team that picks him will utilize him for. The thing is that with the transformation of the small ball game with evidence that it works, (i.e.watch NBA Finals Golden State) the traditional center is losing its value and need. Phil Jackson is not a fan of small ball and would take Okafor before Towns because he is still a believer in working the ball inside out, getting penetration, and get post touches.

It might be my Minnesota bias to why I'm changing my mind from drafting Okafor to now Towns, but I truly believe Towns has so much more potential to become a legitimate super star within a few years. To me he is the next Anthony Davis. He has all the same attributes, minus the offensive abilty that Davis has, but he has a nice mid range jump shot and a decent back to the basket game already. He is a little raw on offense, but will a little NBA help he will become a 20-10 guy within 3 years.

As for the Timberwolves, this pick is a no-brainer. Towns will fit right in with the Wolves. With the rapid development of Wiggins, a young, talented co-star like Wiggins could become one of the best duos in the league for the next 10 years! Yes, that is an optimistic thought, but a very realistic thought if Towns pans out. Having KG will also be very important for the development of Towns. KG has more wisdom than anybody left in the NBA, so for Towns to learn from him, he could become a very tough, young player early in his career. The Wolves also have a lot of assets they are willing to trade to get some more pieces to the puzzle. Possibly trading former #1 pick Anthony Bennett for a draft pick or a proven vet could really be exactly what the Wolves need. A Ricky Rubio and Pekovic package trade for the Knicks #4 pick and a little extra would not be a bad idea either because both Rubio and Pek are injury prone and take up a lot of the Wolves' salary cap.


For the rest of the draft and the reason I wanted to write this post is due to European players, particularly the buzz around Latvian prospect Kristaps Porzingis. Another year, another draft class with tall Europeans that can shoot the 3 and be a swing 4. Every year this happens and do you how many of them turn out??? Andrea Bargnani? NOPE! NONE! Dirk is the sole reason for this false sense of over excitement for tall Europeans. Because he (Dirk) was a pioneer of a big man from Europe who could knock down the 3 consistently, now every draft analysis thinks any tall European that can shoot the 3 will be the next Dirk. It literally drives me crazy. Dirk is the 1/100 European swing 4's that turns out. The rest are drafted and back in Europe within 2 maybe 3 years. Look at the tweet from Jay Bilas and try to argue against it, you CAN'T !! European big guys that can shoot are the worse fallacy in the NBA. These scouts who call themselves professions, literally are delusional to how bad European basketball is compared to the NBA and NCAA Division 1 college basketball. Until one of these draft picks proves otherwise, I will keep this opinion.

Here's a list of NBA Busts http://www.thescore.com/nba/news/783326

Here is an article that has a similar take on European players http://www.lostlettermen.com/article/what-if-frank-kaminsky-was-european

Sleepers:

Sleepers are my favorite type of draftees because nobody expects them to be great and it gives the player motivation to work hard to prove to teams they missed out on them. My biggest sleepers this year are JP Tokoto from UNC, Rakeem Christmas from Syracuse, and Anthony Brown from Stanford. Tokoto is my favorite among anyone. He is extremely athletic, long, and can defend. Limited and raw offensively, but with some NBA help he could turn into a lock down defender on a championship team, coming off the bench for energy. I would compare him to a more athletic, but not as good of shooter as Matt Barnes.


My NBA Mock Draft (1-10):

1. Minnesota Timberwolves: Karl-Anthony Towns

2. Los Angeles Lakers: Jahlil Okafor

3. Philadelphia 76ers: D'Angelo Russell

4. New York Knicks: Emmanuel Mudiay

5. Orlando Magic: Justise Winslow,

6. Sacramento Kings: Kristaps Porzingis

7. Denver Nuggets: Willey Cauley-Stein

8. Detroit Pistons: Mario Hezonja

9. Charlotte Hornets: Stanley Johnson

10. Miami Heat: Kelly Oubre

Final thoughts:

The NBA draft is a life changing event for players and teams. Some players turn out to be superstars while the majority end up having short lived NBA careers, but being drafted is an amazing accomplishment that every player that gets drafted should be proud of.

Mark my words: If Emmanuel Mudiay goes to Sacramento he will be a bust.

Trey Lyles will be an interesting pick. I see him becoming a starter within 3 years on a middle of the pack team. A lot of potential for him.

I included Oubre in the top 10 because I think he has a lot of potential to be a scorer in the league within a few years. To me he is a steal or bust.

On one mock draft, I saw 2 of the sleepers I like going to MN. Anthony Brown and Rakeem Christmas.

Next week free agency starts so I wouldn't be surprised if any of these picks were traded for some already proven players such as the Lakers trading their pick to Sacramento for DeMarcus Cousins.

Free Agents for this summer: http://www.sbnation.com/a/nba-free-agents-2015

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NBA: Free Agency LA Lakers

Now that Kevin Love just opted out of his contract maybe we will finally see the Lakers revamp their roster before Kobe goes out.

I wrote about the Lakers landing a huge free agent last summer, but it never happened, which is why they were so bad last season. I'm hoping with all the free agents this summer LA is bound to pick up one and get back to a respectful team.

If dreams came true for LA:
1) Trade their #2 pick for DeMarcus Cousins
2) Sign Jimmy Butler
3) Sign Kevin Love or LaMarcus Adridge


OK now that probably won't happen but hopefully one of those events will.

If all 3 did happen, imagine the Lakers Roster:

C: DeMarcus Cousins
PF: Kevin Love/LaMarcus Aldridge
SF: Jimmy Butler
SG: Kobe Bryant
PG: Jordan Clarkson

Bench:
Nick Young as back up SG and legitimate scoring threat
Jeremy Lin: back up PG
Julius Randle: has yet to play, but would be in a great position to come off the bench
Ed Davis, Jordan Hill and Ryan Kelly would fight for the back up positions, but provide depth and flexibility.
Wayne Ellington: Back up SF/SG

Lakers need to get rid of Boozer.

Just remember this is a hypothetical dream scenario that has little to no chance of ever happening, but it sure would be a way to get the Lakers back to championship caliber.

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Stephen Curry KIA NBA MVP 2015

Steph Curry NBA MVP

Steph Curry was the obvious MVP of the 2014-2015 NBA season. He lead his team to the best record in the league and was top 6 in scoring and assist per game. He had an unbelievable season that can only get better if the Golden State Warriors win the NBA Finals. Hopefully the Houston Rockets advance to the Western Conference Finals to have a battle between the 1st and 2nd place vote-getters Curry and James Harden.
I predicted the MVP results in March correctly. Here are the results:

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NBA PLAYOFFS 2015 2nd Round

Round 2 is going to be awesome! Game 7 of the Spurs-Clippers series was one of the best games of recent NBA Playoffs. I was very shocked the Clippers pulled it off, but hats off to them. I think the Spurs losing surprised the majority. I had them beating Houston in the second round and eventually going to seven with the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals. Now with the Spurs out, I think the Rockets have a lot better chance of advancing against the Clippers. With that being said here are my predictions of the 2nd round:

GS vs MEM 
Earlier in the season I had the Grizzlies as the #2 seed. This is the series of better teams, because whoever wins this series will be the Western Conference champion. The Grizzlies are going to struggle with the pace when they play at Golden State, but they are one of the top defensive teams in the league. If they grind it out by dumping it down low, I believe Memphis can keep it close and steal one on the road. GS wins 4-3

HOU vs LA
This series is really up for grabs. Houston played very well against Dallas and the Clippers were sensational in their seven game series against the Spurs. Chris Paul being a tad beat up could hinder the outcome of the series. I also believe that because LA played a brutal seven game series will make them start down 0-1. Game 2 could be a chance to even the series, but I think the Clippers with go back to LA down 0-2. Even down two games, LA will even the series after Game 4. The deciding factor will be Houston owning home court advantage and winning Game 7 to advance to the Western Conference Finals. HOU wins 4-3

ATL vs WASH
After watching Atlanta struggle against Brooklyn, I am very hesitant to pick them to beat the scorching hot Wizards. How Atlanta plays is why I think they will win the series. They are a good defensive team and an excellent offensive team that shares the ball. The scary thing is that the Wizards are playing unbelievably. Sweeping the higher seed Raptors and averaging nearly 10 point more per game is a recipe for success. I wouldn't be surprised if Washington won, but I think Atlanta is the better team. ATL wins 4-3

CLE vs CHI
This will be the most popular series of the 2nd round. The Cavs are on role after sweeping the Celtics and the Bulls won convincingly against the Bucks after 2 games of missed opportunities.There are a few concerns for both teams. The biggest: Kevin Love out for the rest of the playoffs. Though he has has under performing season, his importance and role on the court hasn't changed. His ability to stretch the floor enabling Lebron and Kyrie to get to the hoop, will be seriously jeopardized now that he is out. I think James Jones and Mike Miller will play big roles in this series filling in for Love, but they don't bring the rebounding ability as Love does. Lebron and Kyrie will have to up their games and production in order to move on.
The Bulls have concerns as well. Blowing game 4 and 5 didn't help them at all. Yes game 6 was a convincing win, but that put more wear on the whole team and especially Derrick Rose. Rose will be the deciding factor in this series. If he can play near his former MVP self that we saw glimpses of in the Milwaukee series, I think they have a good shot of winning. I still don't think they will beat Cleveland, but expect this series to be a physical one. CLE wins 4-2

Christmas Day

Christmas is the season of giving so what better way for the NBA to do that by giving us 5 games tomorrow! I am stoked! Though 2 of the games are pretty anti-climatic, who knows maybe a Christmas miracle could happen in the Bulls-Lakers game (doubt it). 2/5 of these games are horrendous match-ups and the CLE-MIA really isn't that good of game with how bad the HEAT are and with out Chris Bosh. The OKC-SA game will be worth a watch though Kevin Durant is not suppose to play, so that game drops a few ratings in my book. The best game to watch will be the late game between GS and the LA Clippers. This game will be the best of the day.

Washington Wizards at New York Knicks:

I don't even want to talk about this game, that is how bad it will be. The Knicks are bad and Washington is good. I expect a big scoring performance out of Melo, but a Knicks loss is for certain. The Wiz are just to good and play great defense to lose to a horrendous Knicks team. John Wall is going to have a hay day.

OKC Thunder at San Antonio Spurs:

Spurs win this one. No Durant for the Thunder and Tony Parker back for the Spurs, I'll expect a good game, but it will take an MVP like performance from Russell Westbrook for the Thunder to win this one in San Antonio. A win for the Spurs will get them back on track for a top 3 seed in the West after their recent 4 game losing streak.

Cleveland at Miami:

The most OVERRATED game of the NBA season. There is little to no hate for LeBron from the fans of Miami. They even are supposedly giving him a video tribute. This return is no-where close to when LeBron returned to Cleveland in his first season on the HEAT. He didn't leave the fans devastated and he did bring the city 2 more championships. There is really nothing for them to be mad at and that's why they aren't. The game itself isn't that good of a match-up to begin with. The HEAT have definitely struggled since the departure of LeBron, including a loss at home to Philly earlier in the week when they were up 23 at one point. That burns (pun intended). I expect the game to be very competitive with big runs to keep the game close, but in the end the Cavs are a much better overall team and will pull away in the 4th. As for LeBron, I don't expect anything above average because he doesn't have anything to prove. 

LA Lakers at Chicago Bulls

Do I dare say that if Kobe doesn't play the Lakers have a chance? It worked against Golden State, the NBA's best team. I don't think it will make a difference because the Bulls are playing well with a healthy Derrick Rose and a top defense, I expect we will have a 20 point blowout in Chicago. If Kobe plays, he'll get his 20, but tat wont be an easy 20. He'll take more than 20 shots and convert less than half. The Bulls can already chalk this one up as a win. 

Golden State Warriors at LA Clippers:

Same court, different team for the Warriors. The best game of the night! This game will be a playoff like game between two of the more entertaining teams to watch in the league. Golden State looking to bounce back after an ugly loss to the Kobe-less Lakers. The Steph Curry-Chris Paul battle will be enticing. I am going to go with the home team because the front court advantage for the Clippers will be the difference with the backcourt cancelling each other out.

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Merry Christmas!

NBA Western Conference: The Week before Christmas

The Memphis Grizzlies are rolling. They ended the 16 game win steak of the Golden State Warriors and then the next day beat the Spurs at San Antonio in 3 OT.  Their coach has them clicking on all cylinders. I  think they will get the #2 seed in the western conference playoffs which is a scary seed with OKC most likely to be a #7 or 8 Seed. That would be a exciting first round match up. This is how I predict the playoffs will end up.
#1 warriors
#2 grizz
#3 spurs
#4 clippers
#5 houston
#6 portland
#7 okc
#8dallas

GSW-Mavs:  The Mavs will put up a fight, but the warriors are too yong, fast, and can shut down Dallas and its offense. Tyson chandler can't guard the rim and 3 point line. Probably Dirk's last run at the playoffs. GSW wins in 5.
 Grizzlies-OKC this is the best match up of the first round. If KD and Russell wouldn't have missed all those games at the beginning of the season I think OKC would be in that 2 spot. The battle of bigs will be fun to watch and can Tony Allen contain KD like he did last year?


These Predictions were made on Wednesday 12/17/2014 before the Rajon Rondo trade and Corey Brewer trade.


As of now 12/20/2014 I see a slight change in the Western Conference Playoff seeding.


#1 GS Warriors
#2 Memphis
#3 Houston
#4 San Antonio
#5 LA Clippers
#6 Dallas
#7 Portland
#8 OKC

The West is very hard to determine right now because we're still in December and there are a lot of situations that could change. The Corey Brewer addition to Houston was a very smart move by the Rockets that could very well get them through to the second round and possibly to a Western Conference Final.

Who are you Reggie Miller

Kobe is the 2nd greatest player of all time as of now IMO. He is the closest thing to MJ we will ever see in terms of skill. He has 5 rings! For Reggie miller to say "Michael Jordan on his worst day is 10X better than Kobe Bryant on his best day," 2 days after saying "Congrats to the Black Mamba (Kobe) on passing the Black Cat (MJ), two of the best to ever  do it.. #GreatnessPersonified" is a disgrace to Kobe and to the basketball community. 

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NBA Eastern Conference Top 5 teams

After about 6 weeks of the NBA season, I have came to some thoughts. The Eastern Conference is totally up for grabs between Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Toronto, and the Wizards. Those 5 are the only good teams in the East. I left the Miami Heat off because without LeBron they are now just an average Eastern Conference team. Now let me breakdown the 5 teams I mentioned.

Atlanta Hawks: I don't know how they are on a 9 game winning streak, but whatever they are doing keep doing it. They are .5 a game behind Toronto for the #1 seed. I don't see them as being a real contender for the Eastern Conference Championship, but they will be tough to go through if they keep playing as they are for the rest of the season.

Chicago Bulls: On paper they look really good and they are really good. They have maybe the most complete team in the East. They are the favorite to a lot of journalist to win the East and they certainly can, but their playoff success depends on the health of Derrick Rose. Last night, he looked really good against a very good Western Conference team, the Portland Trailblazers. Dropping 31 was a great sign for him and the team. As a fan of the game I hope he gets back to his MVP form, but that's highly unlikely. Rose has struggled this season. He is shooting a very low FG% and 3P%. Those number's need to increase closer to 48% and 35%. I would say the biggest concern that I can see are the amount of free throws attempted. He has only one game this season with 10 FTA. His average FTA is only slightly lower than his career FTA, but I personally think that the scoring PG that he is should be getting to the FT at least 6 times per game. It's early in the season, so there is a lot of time to improve and get back to his peak, but that will take proper rest from coach Thibodeau in terms of minutes played and games played. The addition of Pau Gasol has been a great compliment to both Jokim Noah and Taj Gibson. The emergence of Jimmy Butler as premier defender and legit offensive threat has been impressive. The Bulls are a serious contender that could possibly knock King James off his throne.

Cleveland Cavaliers: Sitting at the #5 seed in the East, you would think this team will make it to the playoffs and then bow out in the first or maybe second round. That is not the case. The Cavs just ended a remarkable 8 game winning streak that truly showed us (the fans and league) what this team is capable of doing. After their sluggish start, they finally showed that they can be a sound defensive team and high powered offensive team that we all could predict when the new Big 3 (James, Irving, Love) teamed up. Blatt has finally figured out a game plan that will play to his team's strengths. With a defense first mindset, the Cavs can easily rise to a #1 o#2 seed in the East. Last night was an MVP like performance from Mr. James. 17/24 from the floor is quite spectacular. LeBron is playing great, it's his teammates that need to step up as it's always his teammates that need to step up where ever he goes. DeJaVu? When the Big 3 are all clicking, this team is pretty tough to stop, but it's the guys like Tristan Thompson and Varejo that are the X factors of the Cavs winning these regular season games. Thompson is a very important key to the Cavs success. If Thompson, Love, and Varejo can control the boards, the Cavs will be very successful. Getting Delladova back is a huge addition for the Cavs. He will be able to take some pressure off Kyrie Irving when Irving is on the bench or at the SG position.

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Lebron's Homecoming

Well that was ugly. I know it was just this first game of the season, but that had to be so disappointing to the city of Cleveland. Lebron looked like he had never played with his teammates and he didn't want to upset them by playing like his usual self. He literally played like an average SF in the league that was just there to get occasional shots. It seemed as if the game plan was for him to play off his teammates rather than his teammates play off him. If the Cavs want to be serious championship contenders David Blatt is going to need to change his game plans.
This was a rare outing from Lebron and I expect a huge game from him tonight, but it wont be easy going to the revamped Chicago Bulls for their home opener and Derrick Rose back. Kyrie will have his hands full with Rose and vice versa.

Can't wait to watch ESPN @ 7:00 PM CT Cavs at Bulls

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