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freenewstoday · 4 years

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New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/03/04/team-lebron-or-team-durant-how-the-nba-all-star-captains-drafted-their-rosters/

Team LeBron or Team Durant? How the NBA All-Star captains drafted their rosters

The 2021 NBA All-Star Game will be held Sunday, March 7, in Atlanta. But because of COVID-19, a weekend’s worth of events will be compressed into a single night — the skills challenge and 3-point contest will take place pregame, while the dunk contest will act as the halftime show.

All-Star voting began on Jan. 28, and All-Star starters — determined through fan voting (which accounts for 50% of the vote), media voting (25%) and player voting (25%) — were announced Jan. 18 on TNT. The reserves — which are voted on by the NBA’s coaches — were announced Tuesday on TNT.

After its thrilling debut in last season’s All-Star Game in Chicago, the “Elam Ending” will return. So will captains, with the Brooklyn Nets‘ Kevin Durant and Los Angeles Lakers‘ LeBron James — the top fan vote-getters in their respective conferences — making their selections for the showdown at State Farm Arena.

Here is everything you need to know, including the pick-by-pick breakdown.

MORE: Pick the winners! Play ESPN’s All-Star Challenge

The NBA All-Star draft is complete

LeBron James and Kevin Durant assembled their superstar rosters. Here’s the pick-by-pick breakdown:

Team LeBron

Captain: LeBron James, Lakers

Pick 1: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks

Pick 2: Stephen Curry, Warriors

Pick 3: Luka Doncic, Mavericks

Pick 4: Nikola Jokic, Nuggets

Pick 5: Damian Lillard, Trail Blazers

Pick 6: Ben Simmons, 76ers

Pick 7: Chris Paul, Suns

Pick 8: Jaylen Brown, Celtics

Pick 9: Paul George, Clippers

Pick 10: Domantas Sabonis, Pacers

Pick 11: Rudy Gobert, Jazz

Team Durant

Captain: Kevin Durant, Nets (injured, will not play)

Pick 1: Kyrie Irving, Nets

Pick 2: Joel Embiid, 76ers

Pick 3: Kawhi Leonard, Clippers

Pick 4: Bradley Beal, Wizards

Pick 5: Jayson Tatum, Celtics

Pick 6: James Harden, Nets

Pick 7: Devin Booker, Suns

Pick 8: Zion Williamson, Pelicans

Pick 9: Zach LaVine, Bulls

Pick 10: Julius Randle, Knicks

Pick 11: Nikola Vucevic, Magic

Pick 12: Donovan Mitchell, Jazz

No love for the Jazz?

The Utah Jazz have the NBA’s best record at 27-9. They have one of the most potent duos in the league in Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. And they were the last picks in the draft? LeBron and KD have some explaining to do:

LeBron said there is no Utah Jazz slander 😅 #NBAAllStar pic.twitter.com/3pYICBbj8d

— ESPN (@espn) March 5, 2021

Which team has the edge?

Both rosters are loaded, but which team should be considered the favorites heading into Sunday’s All-Star Game? ESPN Stats & Information breaks down both squads:

Tale of the tape: Team LeBron vs. Team Durant

Team LeBron Team Durant Points 9,492 10,100 Rebounds 3,269 2,770 Assists 2,603 1,958 Blocks 304 209 Steals 459 422 FG% 51.4 49.5 3PT FG 824 888 3PT% 38.3 39.2 Dunks 375 219 PER 24.34 23.68

* Heading into play Thursday (not including Durant, who will not play)

Team Durant has the edge in points. Team LeBron has the edge in assists, field goal percentage and dunks.

Collectively, Team LeBron has won eight total MVPs (four from James and two each from Curry and Antetokounmpo). With Durant out, Harden is the only player on Team Durant with a MVP award.

Team LeBron and Team Durant each have five of the top 10 scorers in the NBA this season. Team LeBron also has 26 total first-team All-NBA selections. Team Durant (minus Durant) has eight.

Team LeBron has combined for 29 triple-doubles this season (six different players have had multiple triple-doubles). Team Durant has combined for 10 triple-doubles this season (the only player with multiple triple-doubles is Harden, who has eight of the 10).

All-Star event rosters

Dunk contest

3-point contest

Skills contest

With the dunk contest set for halftime of Sunday’s All-Star Game this season, we asked our group of NBA insiders to vote on the most iconic dunker for each franchise. Let the debate begin.

Unfortunately, there are only 24 All-Star spots. The Undefeated presents its annual squad of deserving players who didn’t make the cut.

All-Star news and analysis

Source

#daily #Kevin Durant #LeBron James #NBA #NBA All-Star Game

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junker-town · 5 years

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T.J. Warren is reclaiming the mid-range in the NBA

The Pacers forward loves mid-range shooting, and doesn’t care what you think.

T.J. Warren does not want to talk about his shot selection. To be more specific, don’t ask him why he’s back to primarily attacking from the mid-range after finally embracing the three-point line last season with the Phoenix Suns. To Warren, the subject is tired and trivial.

Also: “It’s very annoying,” he mumbled, sitting at his locker before the Indiana Pacers beat the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night. “But it is what it is. I don’t think it’s a big deal. It’s basketball. I take what the defense gives me. If they want to let me shoot a three I’m gonna shoot it. If I can get in a pull up then I’ll shoot that. I mean, it’s not really rocket science to me.”

Warren is unconventionally conventional; very few can dine out on the shots he takes, at the volume he takes them, and still be a net-positive presence, but through 14 games that’s what he’s been. Warren is averaging about the same amount of points as he did in 2019, his net rating is positive for the first time in his career, and he hasn’t completely abandoned the three-point line. He’s still launching 3.1 of them per 36 minutes, which is only 1.7 fewer attempts than last year. But it’s still curious to see someone enjoy the most efficient season of their career and then respond by rejecting the clearest reason why. Right now, only 42.5 percent of all Warren’s shots are either threes or at the rim, which, among all players who’ve logged at least 250 minutes this season, is only behind DeMar DeRozan, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Kawhi Leonard.

On its face this feels like devolution, the decision to stockpile DVDs one year into a Netflix subscription. The mid-range has value, but in limited doses. Barring a couple rare examples, it’s no longer a primary option for any player who wants to play a lot of minutes. Warren evidently feels like he can be one of them, and it makes sense for him to be sensitive about something that’s so tightly intertwined with his basketball identity. Warren entered the NBA as a master of runners, floaters, and off-the-dribble pick-me-ups that have essentially been outlawed by several teams. An old-school mid-range specialist, this season he’s turned that area of the floor into a warm bath.

Of all players who are taking at least six pull-up jumpers per game, only Buddy Hield boasts a higher field goal percentage than Warren’s 48.5 percent. This number is absurd, and a lot higher than anything he’s ever shot before. Also, nobody has attempted more field goals between 8-16 feet — Warren’s money zone. These looks are objectively worse than the spot-up threes he drilled at an impressive clip one year ago, but very few of them grind Indiana’s offense to a halt. Warren doesn’t over dribble and moves well off the ball, always seeking out comfortable sweet spots that fewer and fewer players are even allowed to exploit. His bread and butter comes just above the free-throw line. Warren will either run a pick-and-roll or dribble hand-off that frees him up for a short jumper.

If the big drops he’ll shovel the ball into the rim with a delicate touch that can’t/is no longer taught.

If there’s a switch, he’ll put it on the deck and operate in space — balanced, smooth, and in total command of what he wants to do.

Defenses want these shots, but they also aren’t easy to stop. The Pacers don’t mind them, and so long as Warren replaces the punch that was provided by Bojan Bogdanovic, they’ll accept his points however they come. Stylistically, they never had any qualms about how his skill-set would fit into their offense. Only one team (the San Antonio Spurs) takes less advantage of the three-point line and just a handful favor methodical half-court offense over opportunities in transition more than Indiana. In layman’s terms, this team is big, slow, and proud of it.

“I want him to put the ball in the basket, whether that’s shoot threes or shoot twos,” Pacers head coach Nate McMillan said. “There are opportunities for him to do both in our offense, when he’s spreading and when he’s playing with the ball. I think right now he’s playing pretty much like he was a couple years ago in Phoenix, where he’s looking to attack. He’s been known as a mid-range guy, and that’s what he’s doing right now for us. So we want both.”

The more bothersome question before the season began was how Warren would work on the defensive end, where Indy’s more appreciable strengths materialize. In Phoenix, Warren had never been part of a good defense, let alone one that solely relied on stops to win. The Suns were also better with him on the bench, but those teams were a total mess in ways that absolve any one player of blame.

To date, Indiana is happy with everything it’s seen from Warren’s defense, particularly his effort and focus. He’s combining the size and strength that theoretically makes him valuable with the energy and play-to-play commitment of someone who can actually bolster a solid scheme. Against the Nets, he chased Joe Harris around screens and cut off Spencer Dinwiddie drives. It was the type of individual elbow grease that goes a long way for a team that’s hanging on by a thread, with a tough schedule looming in December. (Indiana has played the easiest schedule in the entire NBA so far, according to ESPN)

All seems well at the moment, but unless Warren continues to make over half his mid-range shots — something that Kawhi Leonard or Kevin Durant would struggle to accomplish for an entire season on so many attempts — some type of adjustment will be necessary. Math is math, and even though Indy won’t force Warren to operate in ways that interrupt his rhythm — “We’re not asking him to shoot eight threes a game,” Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan told me — it would be helpful if a couple tough elbow jumpers eventually turned into open threes. Unless he starts to draw fouls, get his teammates involved (he has one of the 10 worst assist-to-usage ratios in the league), or attack the rim more than he does, this pretty much has to happen.

Aside from personal preference, the best explanation for Warren’s reversion isn’t complicated: Last season 99 percent of his minutes came at the four, where his job was to space the floor and shoot when someone passed him the ball. “That’s all I was really able to do,” Warren said. “Catch and shoot.” Now, on a team that’s seized a bygone brand of basketball by playing two traditional big men more often than not, it’s down to 41 percent, per Cleaning the Glass.

“I’m back at my regular position,” Warren said. “I’m comfortable.”

Time will tell as the season goes along how much that may evolve. The Pacers have been ravaged by injuries. Their opening night starting five has only appeared in one other game all season, and their conservative approach has become a life raft: The nightly goal is to outlive their opponent, not explode past them.

When Victor Oladipo and Malcolm Brogdon (who’s assisted 30 of Warren’s baskets, more than every teammate duo except LeBron James to Anthony Davis, and Fred VanVleet to Pascal Siakam) are both on the floor, Warren should find cleaner outside looks, particularly from the corners. If he’s able to space the court, attack closeouts, and benefit from wider driving lanes, imagine how difficult it will be to stop Warren when he’s next to Brogdon, Oladipo, Jeremy Lamb/Doug McDermott, Domantas Sabonis/Myles Turner. Right now he usually finds himself squaring off against the opposing team’s top wing defender, but that won’t happen with Oladipo drawing a majority of the opponent’s attention.

Until then, in recasting himself as a relic, Warren has helped Indiana weather a difficult situation by being himself. And outside of his tangible impact on whether they win or lose, it’s enjoyable to see someone stand out from a pool of players that are increasingly homogenous and interchangeable. His effort to go against the grain has blurred the line between stubborn and bold. Bravo.

He’s also never shot this well on all the pull ups and push shots that make up most of his diet. Sustaining this hot start for a meaningful stretch — at least until Oladipo gets back — will not be easy. And assuming he sinks into an inevitable slump, Warren will eventually need to embrace a more sensible and efficient shot selection if the Pacers are to become the very best team they can be.

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jillmckenzie1 · 5 years

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Jokic and Murray—The Dynamic Duo

For some reason, my editor frowned upon my original idea entitled, “Who Doesn’t Want a Threesome?” so, I dropped it to a duo. With Paul George teaming up with Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers, and Lebron having tacos with Anthony Davis and the Lakers, the question begs the answer: where does the duo of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray rank among the NBA elite?

The rules are simple. Some guys are old, some guys are injured, but if you were starting a team tomorrow and had the choice of the following dynamic duos, how would they rank? Here’s how I see it.

Lebron James and Anthony Davis—Los Angeles Lakers In case I need to remind you, Lebron is a 15-time All-NBA, 6-time All-Defensive Team, 4-time MVP, and 3-time NBA Champion. At 34 years-of-age his game may be slipping a bit. James only averaged 27 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists last year, shooting 51%. Anthony Davis is a 6’10 PF who played point guard in high school, averaged 26 points, 12 rebounds, and 4 assists last season. Pick and Roll, transition game, post, three, whatever—this duo will dominate assuming Lebron stays healthy. This duo gets the nod over Kawhi and George for one reason. Lebron is still the best player in the NBA, assuming he is transitioning to life in LA, not retiring there.

Kawhi Leonard and Paul George—Los Angeles Clippers Technically, I call this 1B. Kawhi is the defending NBA MVP, a two-time Defensive Player of the Year, 5-time All-Defensive Team, and—oh yeah, he averaged 27 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists last year at the age of 27. Paul George is pretty much a lesser version of Kawhi with handles. 5-time All-NBA, 4-time All-Defense, the 29-year-old averaged 29 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists last year. Kawhi Leonard is as proven as it gets, minus a year off boycotting the San Antonio Spurs. But George has yet to prove himself as a lost star in Indiana, and as a Robin to Batman with Russell Westbrook in OKC.

Klay and Steph—Golden State Warriors Like Dan and Shay, these two don’t need last names to represent on this list. A combined six rings and 4,281 three-pointers made, Thompson and Curry look to come back healthy, with a wink towards KD, and prove they belong even higher.

Russell Westbrook and James Harden—Houston Rockets Together, these two individuals are going to be the most unstoppable offensive force the NBA has ever seen. Defensively, the duo will be the worst defensive backcourt the NBA has never seen. Generally, a terrific duo implies two people that work as a cohesive unit, complement each other, gel as one. With Westbrook and Harden, one ball isn’t going to be enough.

Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving—Brooklyn Nets These guys fall to five with KD’s injury, but KD is arguably the best player in the game, and Kyrie is Kyrie. If KD wouldn’t have hurt himself in the finals, this list could look dramatically different.

Damion Lillard and CJ McCollum—Portland Trailblazers These two spent six years in the backcourt together, averaged 20 points plus last year, and advanced to the NBA Conference finals. The product of big-time programs, Weber State and Lehigh? Looking at the list above, CJ may not be a superstar, but after Lillard’s playoff buzzer-beater over OKC and Paul George, Damon sure is.

Joel Embid and Ben Simmons—Philadelphia 76ers Apologies to Nikola Jokic, Embid is arguably the top center in the league. And little PG Ben Simmons….is 6’10 and can pass like Magic Johnson. If Embid can stay healthy and Simmons develop a jump shot? Seven is way too low.

Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray—Denver Nuggets Jokic was first-team All-NBA. That implies that he’s the best center in the NBA. Jokic provides spacing with his mid-range game and finds targets with his pinpoint passing, while Murray has increased his scoring average every year, including almost 19 PPG in 2019.

Luka Doncic and Kristop Porzingas—Dallas Mavericks A little European flavor as the Rookie of the Year and the Unicorn team up in Dallas. Would have loved to add some Greek flavoring to this list, but Khris Middleton wasn’t quite enough to compliment Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson—Memphis Grizzlies Jaren Jackson Jr. is a 19-year-old that you’ve never heard of. Ja Morant is a 19-year-old you’ve maybe heard of. Believe me, they are really good, and they will be heard of.

Images via forbes.com, heatnation.com, clutchpoints.com, nbc.sports.com, yahoo!sports.com, nbc.boston.com

from Blog https://ondenver.com/jokic-and-murray-the-dynamic-duo/

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gyrlversion · 5 years

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Curry, Warriors take Game 1 of Western Conference finals

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Stephen Curry had all kinds of room for a change and capitalized, finding his shooting touch in a hurry to get Golden State on a roll. Portland’s defenders were too far back in the paint or a step behind all night.

“Practice shots,” Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard said of Curry’s wide-open chances.

So far, the Warriors are showing they can keep winning until Kevin Durant gets healthy.

Making it look easy again, Curry knocked down nine 3-pointers on his way to 36 points, leading the two-time defending champions past the Trail Blazers 116-94 on Tuesday night in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.

“I know what I’m capable of on the floor. The situation calls for me to be a little bit more aggressive and hopefully that’ll continue,” said Curry, who came in shooting 37.1% on 3s this postseason. “Obviously it’s nice to see the ball go in. I didn’t shoot the ball well for 4 1/2 games the last series and got off to a good start tonight. I want to maintain that. Every game is different, you’ve got to re-establish yourself. That’s my perspective no matter how I play.”

Curry shot 12 for 23 in his fourth 30-point performance this postseason, finding far more open looks than he had in the last round against Houston. The two-time NBA MVP outplayed the Portland duo of Lillard and CJ McCollum, who combined to go 11 for 31 against a strong Golden State defense.

“It’s good to see Steph have a game like that at a time that obviously we need him most,” Draymond Green said.

Klay Thompson had 26 points, including a late one-handed slam. Green established the energy on both ends early for the well-rested Warriors, finishing with 12 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, three blocks and two steals.

Lillard scored 19 points back home in Oakland, just miles away from where he grew up. He appreciated all the support but wants to stick to basketball.

“That’s part of what makes it special, I’m from here,” Lillard said. “I could walk home from here if I wanted to, that tells you how close it is.”

McCollum had 17 and missed five of his six 3s as the cold-shooting Blazers went just 7 for 28 from long range.

Game 2 is Thursday night, and the Warriors are unlikely to have Durant back from a strained right calf. An update on Durant’s status is expected that day once the two-time reigning NBA Finals MVP is re-examined.

“I think we played a terrible game and we still had a chance going into the fourth quarter,” McCollum said, “so we need to tighten some things up and look forward to the game on Thursday.”

Curry came off screens with authority and matched his postseason career high for 3s, also accomplished in Game 1 of last year’s finals against Cleveland. He found his groove far earlier than in the Game 6 clincher at Houston on Friday night, when he scored all 33 of his points in the second half.

Little brother Seth struggled with three points for Portland, which shot 36.1% overall.

“It’s not one-and-done. We’ve got a series, it’s one loss,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. “We’ve got to play better, particularly at the offensive end, but we’ve got to be better at both ends.”

Lillard hit a game-winning 3-pointer with 6.3 seconds remaining in overtime Dec. 27 in his last regular-season game at Oracle Arena. He averaged 28.3 points and 6.5 assists in four regular-season games against Golden State this season.

He arrived for Game 1 in a custom Oakland Athletics baseball jersey having averaged 30 points in his nine previous playoff matchups against the Warriors.

Green has at least 10 rebounds in six straight playoff games, matching his postseason career-best streak of six also done last year.

“This series is going to get tougher and tougher,” Green said.

FAMILY AFFAIR

Between warmup shots, Seth Curry stole a glance to the other end as his big brother went through his own pregame routine.

Back in the locker room, Stephen Curry said, “That was wild.” Then, he joked, “Only me and Seth are going to score, the whole series.”

The Currys became the first brothers to ever face off in a conference final and the first in any round since Marc Gasol for the Grizzlies against Pau Gasol and the Spurs in the first round of the 2017 playoffs.

“I caught myself a couple times looking up in the stands at my parents,” Stephen Curry said.

ON THE ROAD

Coach Steve Kerr certainly thought the rest benefited the Warriors.

“The schedule favored us but I thought we took advantage of the situation and got off to a good start,” Kerr said.

The Blazers traveled straight to the Bay Area from Denver after winning Game 7 on Sunday rather than return to Portland.

“Denver seems like a week ago now,” Stotts said.

TIP-INS

Trail Blazers: Portland committed four quick turnovers and finished with 21 for 31 Golden State points. … G Rodney Hood, who suffered a bone bruise in his left knee Sunday against the Nuggets, scored 17 points. … Portland is 1-9 all-time against Golden State in the playoffs.

Warriors: Damian Jones, who began the season as starting center, returned from a torn left pectoral muscle to play in his first game since Dec. 1. … Golden State is 18-1 in Game 1 of a playoff series dating to the 2015 title run, having won the last 12 postseason openers.

___

More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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1g1e0 · 6 years

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Boston Celtics vs Cleveland Cavaliers Game 5 score, TV channel, how to watch live stream

Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James (23) drives past Boston Celtics’ Al Horford (42). ( Houston Rockets bounce back vs Golden State Warriors, even Western Conference finals at 2-2 Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) gestures during the first half of Game 4 of the NBA basketball Western Conference Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Rockets in Oakland, Calif., Tuesday, May 22, 2018.

The Houston Rockets bounced back from a 41-point drubbing in Game 3 Sunday night, rallying to beat the Golden State Warriors 95-92 Tuesday to even the Western Conference finals 2-2.

James Harden scored 30 points, Chris Paul added 27 and the Rockets, who opened the game in a 12-0 hole and rallied from a 12-point deficit early in the fourth quarter, hung on in a must-win Game 4.

Stephen Curry had 28 to lead Golden State, which was without reserve Andre Iguodala (left knee). Kevin Durant added 27 and 12 rebounds for the Warriors.

Game 5 is Thursday in Houston.

[Read the AP recap here]

…

Get the live scoreboard and stats as the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors meet in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals:

What: Houston Rockets vs. Golden State Warriors, Western Conference finals Game 4

When: Tuesday, May 22 at 6 p.m. PT

Where: Oracle Arena, Oakland

TV: TNT

Live stream: Watch TNT and the TNT app

Line: GSW -8.5

Over: 224

Series: Warriors lead 2-1

Complete schedule for the Western Conference finals:

Game 1: Warriors 119, Rockets 106

Game 2: Rockets 127, Warriors 105

Game 3: Warriors 126, Rockets 85

Game 4: Tuesday, May 22 | Houston at Golden State | 6 p.m. PT on TNT

Game 5: Thursday, May 24 | Golden State at Houston | 6 p.m. PT on TNT

Game 6: Saturday, May 26 | Houston at Golden State | 6 p.m. PT on TNT

Game 7: Monday, May 28 | Golden State at Houston | 6 p.m. PT on TNT

Is it time for the Portland Trail Blazers to explore breaking up their prolific backcourt duo and trade CJ McCollum in order to balance the roster and build a team better equipped to compete in the NBA Playoffs? (Sean Meagher/Staff)

A light dose of Portland Trail Blazers links for Tuesday, May 22.

* Over at The Ringer, Bill Simmons and ESPN’s Zach Lowe talk plenty of NBA, including a look ahead to the summer and discuss the possibility of the Blazers moving CJ McCollum (h/t to Blazersedge.com for the transcription):

Bill Simmons: Is CJ McCollum on the Blazers next year?

Zach Lowe: I’m going to say no.

Simmons: I’m going to no as well.

Lowe: Again, you’re forcing me at metaphorical gunpoint to make these calls, but I’m going to say no. I’ve said before there’s going to be crazy stuff that happens in the offseason because teams are taxed out and just kind of unhappy about life and Portland fits that to a T, so I’ll say no.

The two kick around a few trade ideas involving McCollum, but none that will set your hair on fire:

Simmons: Is there another team we’re missing?

Lowe: The McCollum deal I floated once and is a favorite among league insiders is McCollum for Drummond–sort of two teams just exchanging big money contracts and trying to reset themselves.

Simmons: I wouldn’t do that.

Simmons: He is!

Lowe: I don’t think they’re wrong. And they think Collins is going to be a really good stretch five. So I just don’t see it.

Simmons: If you were running Portland, would you keep McCollum and trade Lillard because he has more value?

Lowe: No.

Podcast and video of Simmons and Lowe available at The Ringer.

* Trail Blazers President of Basketball Operations Neil Olshey joined Dwight Jaynes and Aaron Fentress of Rip City Radio/NBC Sports Northwest on Monday to discuss everything from the draft combine, to the playoff upset, to Portland’s pick at No. 24 and much more. You can listen to the entire 24-minute interview here. A few of Olshey’s answers below:

Olshey on draft depth: "We do see a lot of depth, we see guys that can contribute, we see guys that positionally can be fits for our organization. We also see a lot of teams that are building, that are looking for multiple picks, that potentially we could get involved in some deals like we did a couple years ago when we moved the 23rd pick for Mason Plumlee, and find an impact player because while we see the draft depth this year, I think other teams do as well. There are teams that are really trying to build with youth and take a longer lens to this thing. I think our pick will have value both ways, whether we select and add a young player we think can grow and contribute to the organization or whether we use that piece as an asset to acquire a veteran player with an established body of work that can step into a playoff team and contribute in April."

Olshey on how the first-round loss to the Pelicans provided a wake-up call: "I think the way that series went provided a really clear lens as far as what we need to do this offseason to build the roster to avoid that in the future. And knowing that some of the futures plays in terms of youth, trade exceptions, draft picks, maybe the focus needs to be shifted toward guys we know hit certain benchmarks and have bodies of work that we can rely on when we get into April and take some of the risk out of the room when we get into playoff series."

Olshey on drafting talent vs. need: "I think it’s about adding talent. I think when you’re in a market like ours, when it’s far more difficult to buy your way out of trouble with free agency, you have to find your talent through the draft. And I think if you do your job properly, you can get a far more talented, better player longterm out of the draft than you can via trade or the other vehicles we have. I think you’ve got to go all in on talent — talent figures it out, it finds a way and it always starts there. Character is big for us up here obviously and the chemistry with our group and how guys would fit in. I think at the end of the day talent finds its way onto the court. It’s our job to acquire it and Terry and the coaches do a great job developing the young guys and then putting them in the position to maximize their potential."

* Frank Urbina of Hoops Hype looks at potential landing spots for free agent-to-be Jusuf Nurkic, listing, along with the Blazers, the Dallas Mavericks, Atlanta Hawks and Washington Wizards as teams who could be interested in the Bosnian Beast. Urbina ultimately identifies the Blazers as the most likely outcome:

And because of how cap-space poor the rest of the league will find itself this summer, it could come at an even cheaper price than they could have ever imagined when they traded for the big man.

It’s tough to envision any team shelling out cash to sign Nurkic. His play thus far as a professional has been inconsistent, and his affinity for awkward floaters as opposed to dunks and long mid-range jumpers instead of three-pointers hurt his future outlook.

Nurkic himself probably wants to prove he can be at least close to an elite center before agreeing to his next contract.

That’s why Nurkic taking the qualifying offer (a move another young big man, Nerlens Noel, tried last offseason) for 2018-19 and testing out the market again next summer could be his wisest course of action.

The qualifying offer would pay Nurkic a measly $4.8 million next year, but it would allow him to become an unrestricted free agent in 2019, when more teams will have money to spend.

Best-case scenario, Nurkic excels with the Blazers, showing all-out effort on a nightly basis while averaging a double-double on efficient shooting splits, and helping lead Portland to the second round of the playoffs for just the third time since Lillard’s arrival.

* According to ESPN, Damian Lillard ranks 51st among the 100 most famous athletes in the world.

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jodyedgarus · 7 years

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The Pistons’ Trade For Blake Griffin Was A Desperate Move — And It May Backfire

As if the Clippers weren’t an easy enough target already, as one of the worst franchises in the history of North American professional sports, instances like Monday night happen and drive the point home even further.

A quick recap, in case you missed it: The Clips swung a blockbuster trade, sending five-time All-Star Blake Griffin and spare pieces to the Detroit Pistons — all this just seven months after Los Angeles put on an elaborate free-agency pitch for Griffin, complete with a mock ceremony in which the team pumped in noise and lifted a banner into the arena rafters to simulate retiring his jersey.

The optics of this are embarrassing for Los Angeles, a franchise that’s already overfed its fans with humiliation. Still, as cringeworthy as the change of direction seems, the Pistons could be the ones left with egg on their face as the deal all but puts a hard ceiling on the development of this club, which also gave up what could end up being a valuable first-round pick1.

Depending on who you ask, the Pistons look either smart or desperate here. If you buy into the notion that this move was smart for them, it’s because you believe Griffin is still one of the 10-to-15 biggest stars in the league, and that the 28-year-old has simply been hindered by fluke injuries in recent seasons. If you feel it reeks of desperation, it’s because you see the writing on the wall: That the Pistons have lost eight in a row, and that Stan Van Gundy, one of the few men in the NBA who holds a dual title as both coach and team president, may need a playoff run to justify holding onto both of those jobs.

In any case, this certainly qualifies as a shakeup, and it’s undoubtedly one that could quickly reap benefits. Griffin brings a playmaking ability that the Pistons lacked badly prior to the deal.

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On paper, Detroit’s offense — at 21st in the league out of 30 — is bad, but not awful (Van Gundy, without injured starting point guard Reggie Jackson for the past month, has in turn given speedy backup Ish Smith an unthinkable 30 minutes per game). But a deep dive, both statistically and on film, shows how much of a challenge it can be for the Pistons to score; particularly in half-court scenarios, where they’re forced to grind things out. They rank 29th out of 30 in average length of possession in half-court offense after surrendering a made shot and are almost just as bad — 27th out of 30 — in efficiency following an opponent score, according to advanced stats site Inpredictable.

Van Gundy and his assistants revamped the Pistons’ offense before the season to include more handoffs and ball movement, a strategy that might have gone overboard at times, given who the recipients were. Detroit sometimes looked as if it was bending over backwards to create shots for Avery Bradley by running dozens of off-ball screens for him — the most in the NBA, at 51.5 per 100 possessions, per Second Spectrum and NBA Advanced Stats — even though he’s been below average as a shooter this year.

https://espnfivethirtyeight.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/avery.mp4

In trading both Bradley and Tobias Harris, who’s in the middle of a career year and leads Detroit in scoring, the Pistons might need a while to figure out the pecking order with the remaining roster — particularly among their younger wing players like Stanley Johnson, Reggie Bullock and Luke Kennard. With Jackson still out, Griffin will be called upon to handle the ball a ton, meaning it will likely being out of the hands of Andre Drummond a bit more, despite him having nearly quadrupled his assist rate this season.

That dynamic between Griffin and Drummond is the enormous bet here; one that resembles a less versatile version of what the Pelicans decided they’d do last season when trading for DeMarcus Cousins to pair him with Anthony Davis. One where a club’s two best players are both big men, despite the league having moved in a direction that seems to favor smaller, quicker teams.

The gamble, though, is a less a matter of tactics and more of sheer cost. By the 2019-20 season, Griffin and Drummond alone will cost more than $61 million in salary. To give that context, as of right now, that would make the Griffin-Drummond duo just one of five NBA pairings that exceeds the $60 million mark2 in combined salary during that season, according to ESPN front-office insider Bobby Marks. Looking at the others — Washington’s John Wall and Bradley Beal; Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook and Steven Adams; Boston’s Al Horford and Gordon Hayward; and Toronto’s Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan — highlights that other clubs who’ve invested in that way have already had perennial playoff success to justify that spending. It’s unclear whether Detroit would ever reach that point; especially without cap space to address the backcourt imbalance.

Griffin and Drummond themselves will likely fit just fine. Griffin has shot uncharacteristically bad from midrange — at 24 percent, he’s the second-worst in the NBA from there among players with 50 attempts or more — but he knocks down 3s at a decent enough clip to create space between him and Drummond. Both men are good passers, and Drummond, one of the best rebounders in the game — approximates some of what DeAndre Jordan does on offense for the Clippers, as far as rolling to the basket and catching lobs. (Drummond isn’t nearly as good as Jordan on the other end of the court, and is a bit inconsistent with how he aggressively he defends pick and rolls.)

Whether the Pistons can develop or find the right talent to put around these two remains to be seen. By trading Harris, Bradley (who was slated to be a high-priced free agent this summer anyway) and Boban Marjanovich — who is the most efficient scorer ever, but often unplayable — Van Gundy made this roster more top-heavy than before, which is risky, given Griffin’s injury history. The ex-Clipper has only played in 66 percent of his games the past four seasons after playing in 99 percent of his contests during his first four years in the association, according to ESPN Stats & Information Group. Detroit’s first-round pick — one that could easily land in the lottery — could also be valuable for the rebuilding Clippers, too, given how many of those Doc Rivers essentially gave away in recent years.

The deal is far easier to make sense of from the Clippers’ perspective: They’re finally embracing the idea of a full-on rebuild, and didn’t want to continue to carry the burden of the 5-year, $171-million contract they gave him in July. (The decision to offer Griffin a fifth year in exchange for leaving out the no-trade clause here looks brilliant in hindsight.) If anything, this deal should further embolden them to see what sorts of packages they can get in return for Jordan and Lou Williams, who is all but a lock for the Sixth Man of the Year award, and narrowly missed out on making the All-Star team. Depending on who all they get back in such deals, there’s a slight chance they could even remain in playoff contention while building a strong foundation — one that looks far different now that they’ll have the cap space to make runs at star-level free agents in the near future.

For the Clippers, it was about knowing when to abandon ship, and finding a partner to help them kickstart the process. Only time will tell whether this enormous gamble pays off for Van Gundy and his Detroit club. By trading for Griffin and the weighty contract that comes with him, the Pistons just went all-in on something that might only marginally improve their hopes of reaching the playoffs this season and beyond.

from News About Sports https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-pistons-trade-for-blake-griffin-was-a-desperate-move-and-it-may-backfire/

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flauntpage · 7 years

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DeMarcus Cousins Might be the NBA's MVP, and That's a Huge Deal

Three weeks into the 2017-18 NBA season, DeMarcus Cousins has been no worse than the league’s fifth-best player. He’s 27 years old, off to the most efficient start of his career, on a team that would make the playoffs if the season ended today.

Before you write him and New Orleans off for all the rational reasons one might lean towards doing just that, please look at these averages: 28.2 points, 14.0 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.6 steals, and 1.6 blocks per game. Basic numbers are almost useless without context and further exploration, but it’s hard to argue that anyone posting these on a nightly basis isn’t helping his team win. They are farcical figures. The grand list of players in history who normalized this box score for an entire season amounts to two: Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor. Ho hum, nothing to see here.

A 6’11” mastodon who plays with the anger of a man who feels infinitely disrespected by everyone at all times, Cousins’s sour demeanor has not improved despite the best start of his career, and first November outside Sacramento since he was drafted. He still shows up referees, coaches, referees, and teammates (also: referees) in ways that often belie the charitable contributions he makes on the floor and within his community.

But when you’re as consistently dominant in all the ways he’s been, on a team that’s better than most preseason projections predicted, on-court production of this magnitude significantly outweighs any behavioral drawbacks. After placing 19th, 14th, 9th, and 127th over the previous four seasons, Cousins is currently second behind only James Harden in ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus stat. He’s also first (!) in Defensive Real Plus-Minus (more on that later).

Cousins ranks sixth in usage, second in minutes, and is the only high-volume three-point shooter his size in NBA history who also demands a double team on the left block. According to Synergy Sports, he’s drilling 56.4 percent on post-ups which is about 15 percent higher than last season’s stint with the Pelicans, and third highest among all players who’ve logged at least 25 post possessions this year.

His game is unique in that no person strong enough to remove boulders sans machinery for a living should be able to rumble in from the three-point line with as much force and control as he does. Just look at the play below. What even is that?

With sincere apologies to Paul George, Isaiah Thomas, Chris Paul, and Aron Baynes, Cousins only trails LeBron James and Kevin Durant as the most talented unrestricted free agents scheduled to hit the open market this summer, a reality that deserves far more attention than it’s received to date. The ripple effects from his potential exit would re-chart the New Orleans Pelicans, Anthony Davis, and the rest of the league. All bets are off if he leaves, but there aren't many suitors out there that may be willing to offer a four-year max. The Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls, and Dallas Mavericks will have room, but none feel like a good fit.

On the other hand, by continuing on his current tear and re-signing in New Orleans with a five-year max deal, 29 teams around the league may soon need to figure out how to stop a distinguished and uniquely dominant duo that’s already figured out how to help each other out.

The stakes on this season are high, for sure. But questions surrounding Cousins’ ability to co-exist (and thrive) with Davis have already been answered. After posting a +2.8 net rating in 17 games together last season, New Orleans is now outscoring opponents by 8.3 points per 100 possessions when those two share the court—AKA they play like one of the three or four best teams in basketball—and Davis absolutely dominates when opposing rim protectors have Boogie occupying their attention. As a collective unit, they’ve morphed into one of the least selfish teams in the entire league, and are defending at a top-three level.

Photo by Chuck Cook - USA TODAY Sports

Yet for all the various ways the Pelicans and Cousins have been awesome, they and he both still have plenty of room to grow. We’ll discuss the problematic roster in a bit, but first let’s just look at why things aren’t going as well as they should on the offensive end before a deep dive into Boogie’s defense.

New Orleans ranks 21st in points per possession, according to Cleaning the Glass. They turn the ball over a ton (in large part because they employ Cousins) and prioritize transition defense over crashing the offensive glass (a debatable choice given their personnel).

The Pelicans are, as one might expect, borderline-dominant in and around the paint, where they take a majority of their shots. Their three-point rate dwarfs the percentage of shots that are long twos, which is good. They also rank 21st in three-point accuracy, and Jameer Nelson might be their most potent outside threat, a dilemma that’s created several uncomfortable situations for Cousins when he’s trying to do work down low.

All five Atlanta Hawks have at least one foot in the paint for the duration of this clip, before Dennis Schroder makes an easy steal.

Look at how the Chicago Bulls swarm towards the ball as soon as it’s entered down low, like an eclipse of moths that are hypnotized by a porch light.

Several unsolvable issues are caked into this Pelicans’ roster, but no discussion about them and Cousins can be had without a close look at his defense, which has long been one of the more mercurial and frustrating variables in the NBA. Cousins has always been a mixed bag on that side of the ball, but New Orleans totally falls apart whenever he exits the game.

Against pick-and-rolls, Gentry’s calculus has been to drop his starting center and coerce ball-handlers into a flurry of long twos. Only three teams force opponents to shoot a higher percentage of their shots from 14 feet to the three-point line than New Orleans. This makes perfect sense. Cousins doesn’t have the lateral quickness or attention span to switch out onto guards and then hang with one on (or off) the ball for the meat of an entire possession. Hedging and recovering back to his man is also way too much work.

But Boogie remains nimble enough to backpedal with speed demons while setting a tone that dictates what type of shot they have to take. He knows how to exploit angles to his advantage and positions himself well enough to block shots and deflect passes. If he tried on every possession he’d be one of the best defenders at his position.

That “if” could fill a galaxy, though. Cousins doesn’t race out to contest most shots and continues to feel like waving his arms is a more effective strategy than shuffling his feet. Some of this harks back to a symptom spread through most players at his position: Cousins either doesn’t realize or is willfully ignorant of how popular the three-point shot is among centers. Instead, he’d rather treat everyone as if they’re DeAndre Jordan or Nerlens Noel when they have the ball. In other words, Cousins either does not know his personnel, or he simply doesn’t care.

The play above is somewhat forgivable. The play below is not.

Right now Cousins is the slowest player at his position, averaging just 3.59 miles per hour in all on-court movement (sprinting, jogging, standing, walking, per NBA.com). For those with trouble picturing how slow this actually is, Dirk Nowitzki is crawling along at 3.71 miles per hour. The Pelicans are already very good on defense when Cousins is on the floor, but just imagine their ceiling if he actually tried!

A lot can change between Thanksgiving and July, but right now the Pelicans are more likely than not to qualify for the playoffs. Should they make it, and Alvin Gentry is emboldened to play Cousins and Davis together for more than 28 minutes, no team will want any part of them in the first round.

The major concerns, then, look ahead at the crappy cap sheet constructed by an incompetent front office that routinely sacrifices future gain for a passable present. How, assuming Cousins locks in this summer, can New Orleans add championship contending complementary pieces around its All-NBA pair down low?

Photo by Stephen Lew - USA TODAY Sports

So long as Jrue Holiday’s five-year, $126 million contract remains on the books—the 27-year-old has been dominant around the rim and solid on defense, but can’t buy a three right now; outside shooting is his most critical function—free agency isn’t much of an option before Davis can opt out in 2020. During AD’s contract year, nearly $85 million would be locked into him, Cousins, and Holiday alone. Holiday’s deal is an anvil, E’Twaun Moore and Solomon Hill are also guaranteed money for another two seasons, and Omer Asik’s contract lingers with more disgusting side effects than Jerry Seinfeld’s smelly car.

That’s bad news, but for every team except the Golden State Warriors, crafty signings, trades, and draft picks are necessary when two max-contract stars are already under contract. The good news is New Orleans still owns all its own first-round picks and Cheick Diallo may be an interesting trade chip they can flip for some shooting. Even without cap space, an impressive showing this spring could lure useful players like Marco Belinelli, Wayne Ellington, or even Joe Johnson with a mid-level exception.

The bottom line here is this: With Cousins and Davis, the Pelicans have two critical ingredients in what almost already is a delicious recipe. If they both stick around for the long haul, there’s a decent chance their combined talent will be able to overcome most of the organization’s most basic mistakes.

The Pelicans aren't one piece from winning it all, but with those two in tow and Cousins continuing to evolve, the mountain top is suddenly visible.

DeMarcus Cousins Might be the NBA's MVP, and That's a Huge Deal published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

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amtushinfosolutionspage · 7 years

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DeMarcus Cousins Might be the NBA’s MVP, and That’s a Huge Deal

With sincere apologies to Paul George, Isaiah Thomas, Chris Paul, and Aron Baynes, Cousins only trails LeBron James and Kevin Durant as the most talented unrestricted free agents scheduled to hit the open market this summer, a reality that deserves far more attention than it’s received to date. The ripple effects from his potential exit would re-chart the New Orleans Pelicans, Anthony Davis, and the rest of the league. All bets are off if he leaves, but there aren’t many suitors out there that may be willing to offer a four-year max. The Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls, and Dallas Mavericks will have room, but none feel like a good fit.

Photo by Chuck Cook – USA TODAY Sports

All five Atlanta Hawks have at least one foot in the paint for the duration of this clip, before Dennis Schroder makes an easy steal.

Look at how the Chicago Bulls swarm towards the ball as soon as it’s entered down low, like an eclipse of moths that are hypnotized by a porch light.

The play above is somewhat forgivable. The play below is not.

Photo by Stephen Lew – USA TODAY Sports

The Pelicans aren’t one piece from winning it all, but with those two in tow and Cousins continuing to evolve, the mountain top is suddenly visible.

DeMarcus Cousins Might be the NBA’s MVP, and That’s a Huge Deal syndicated from http://ift.tt/2ug2Ns6

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junker-town · 5 years

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These 8 NBA teams will hit the over on their projected win total

The Raptors and Mavericks are two teams who could beat their projected win total this year.

Bet the over on these eight NBA teams.

Name a more iconic duo than reckless sports predictions and gambling. With the NBA season around the corner, the SB Nation staff thought we would combine the two and hand out some free advice on the most intriguing over/under win totals at the sportsbook.

The lines are from Draft Kings and all come with their own odds. These the teams we like to hit the over this season.

Brooklyn Nets: 44.5

The Nets won 42 games last year and to achieve the over in this scenario, we only need three more wins for the same team. That same team has swapped Kyrie Irving for D’Angelo Russell and by my calculations, this is a safe bet to add a small amount of wins to your season. Let’s also take into account that Caris Levert will be back and healthy, Joe Harris is on a contract year, and let’s not forget Spencer Dinwiddie.

Will there be chemistry issues to start the season? Possibly. Will Kyrie go full galaxy brain? Probably. Will the team be surrounded by weird Kevin Durant rumors? Definitely.

But, I’m not making the case that the Nets will be the greatest team ever, I just need them to win more than 44.5 games, and this feels like an easy win to me.

— Whitney Medworth

Golden State Warriors: 47.5

Things don’t look entirely promising for the Warriors. Kevin Durant was a big loss, but they’ve existed as a dominant team without him before, but also losing Klay Thompson to injury at the end of last season dramatically changed the outlook of their future. Thompson is the perfect complimentary superstar, capable of playing like the main superstar when necessary, but also comfortable playing the sidekick or even the third in line, as long as it benefits the team. And he does this with his offensive game as well as his defensive capabilities.

But I believe. I believe in Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Steve Kerr. I believe in Kerr being able to be creative with lineups to get the best of his remaining stars. I believe in Green being able to play both sides of the ball in his best form, which he usually saves for the playoffs, but which will be necessary in the regular season now. And I believe, as everyone should, in the upcoming year of Curry in which he will burn the league down and showcase the full extents of his powers, as both a requirement for the team to do well, and to prove a point to the doubters.

Saying that they will beat 47 games is a hopeful prediction. The West is even tougher now, and the league has grown in parity. But I still think that with Curry and Green at their best, the Warriors are still capable of 50 wins.

— Zito Madu

Chicago Bulls: 30.5

The Bulls have the most dispiriting goal in the NBA laid before them this season: to scratch-and-claw their way to the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference. While the franchise won’t get another Grant Park parade for such an accomplishment, it would signal meaningful improvement after two truly horrendous seasons following the Jimmy Butler trade. Whether the Bulls can outlast the Detroit Pistons and Orlando Magic for that final spot in the East remains to be seen, but they should at least be close enough to clear 30 wins.

The Bulls have already broken a pair of dubious trends with nearly two decades of history behind them in this calendar year. First, actually traded for a player who improved the team in Otto Porter Jr. Then they made two three smart free agent signings with Tomas Santoransky, Thaddeus Young, and Luke Kornet. None of them are superstars, but all of them should help Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen, and Wendell Carter Jr. grow into the best versions of themselves. The Bulls still have a long, long way to go, but they have no excuse to continue being one of the very worst teams in the league.

— Ricky O’Donnell

Detroit Pistons: 37.5

The Pistons are not very good, but they have two things going for them: they are in the Eastern Conference, and they have a real centerpiece star in Blake Griffin. The Pistons went 41-41 and landed the No. 8 seed last season, their first under Dwane Casey and first full season with Griffin. In fact, the Pistons have beat this 37.5 wins line in three of the past four seasons. In the other, they won 37 games. So 37.5 really doesn’t seem like much of a stretch: the Pistons don’t even need to improve to hit it, they just need to not be substantially worse.

Griffin, who has struggled with injuries throughout his illustrious career, played 75 games last season. That’s a good sign. Andre Drummond had his strongest effort ever at age 25 and is now in a contract year. Reggie Jackson, who has also struggled with injuries, played all 82, something that seems unlikely to repeat. But while the Pistons are shallow, the talent at the top is pretty good — Griffin is a top-five player in the East, and Drummond might be the second or third best center — and Casey is not a coach that presides over much failure. Pencil them in for a low seed and an average record.

— Tom Ziller

Dallas Mavericks: 40.5

Much depends on Kristaps Porzingis, who we’ve not seen for 21 months and had a spotty history of injuries even before then. But if he’s healthy and in a good frame of mind, a one-two punch of Porzingis and Luka Doncic rivals any in the league. A Doncic-Porzingis pick-and-roll offers tantalizing possibilities, even when opponents switch.

The surrounding cast is underrated as well. Seth Curry had his best season under Rick Carlisle three years ago and will now be empowered in an ideal role as a secondary playmaker alongside Doncic. The combination of Dwight Powell’s rim-rolling, Maxi Kleber’s floor spacing, and Boban Marjanovic’s size will do the job nicely at center over the course of 82 games. Tim Hardaway Jr. provides instant offense, while Delon Wright is a quality defender and underrated playmaker. Keep an eye on Jalen Brunson and Justin Jackson, two young players who slot into obvious roles at backup point guard and combo forward.

The West is difficult, but it’s hard for me to picture a Rick Carlisle-coached team going three straight years without a winning record, particularly with this much star potential.

—Mike Prada

Dallas Mavericks 40.5

Mike gave you all the real reasons to pick the over with Dallas, but I’ll go with the simplest reason of all: There is serious “best shape of his life” potential for Kristaps Porzingis, based on this one picture, which is surely enough on which to base a seasonal prediction.

The one thing you can control in life is your effort @mcuban pic.twitter.com/mFNOK8hbBv

— Kristaps Porzingis (@kporzee) September 24, 2019

—Eric Stephen

Toronto Raptors: 46.5

Kawhi Leonard’s singular brilliance in last year’s playoffs obscured one key stat from the Raptors’ title run: their 17-5 record in the 22 games Leonard rested for load management. Twelve of those 17 wins came before the midseason trade for Marc Gasol, and several of those 12 came amid the backdrop of Kyle Lowry also shuffling in and out of the lineup with nagging ailments. Leonard may have turned them into champions, but the leftover core is quite good in its own right.

Are you ready to see a fully unleashed Pascal Siakam for 82 games? I sure am, and I expect big things. Gasol is coming off a dominant summer for Spain, and Lowry is still Lowry. Danny Green is gone, but O.G. Anunoby should be much better this season after struggling with injury and personal tragedy last year.

The biggest risk here is Masai Ujiri deciding to accelerate a rebuild and trading Lowry and/or Gasol, both in the final year of their contract. But while Ujiri has built a reputation for not caring about sentiment to improve the team — see DeRozan, DeMar — his actions over the course of his tenure with the Raptors have been more conservative than that reputation suggests. I don’t expect him to be as quick to break up a pretty good thing as many others do.

— Mike Prada

New York Knicks: 27.5

The Knicks won 17 games last season. They were the worst team in the league. By April, Damyean Dotson, Mario Hezonja, and Luke Kornet were their guiding lights in games that were watched by nobody. I am not here to pronounce 2020 as a turning point for this franchise. The playoffs stay out of reach and zero All-Stars are on the roster. The Knicks are clearly rebuilding, but they also have so much more talent than they did a year ago. Some of it’s tantalizing. Some of it’s flawed yet proven. Some is years away from actualizing it in an NBA environment.

There are also real players, with real skills. Marcus Morris is frustrating, but not bad. Julius Randle averaged 25.2 points per 36 minutes with a 60.0 True Shooting percentage. Taj Gibson is a professional adult whose arms remain long. Sure, they all play the same position but this team also has a nice blend of athleticism, youth, and, most importantly, shooting in the backcourt. Reggie Bullock and Wayne Ellington make life easy for everybody else, and Kevin Knox is...no longer a rookie.

None of this is meant to resemble a ringing endorsement. All they need to do is win 30 games. In the Eastern Conference, with this talent base, that seems plausible enough.

— Michael Pina

New Orleans Pelicans: 38.5

I believe in Zion Williamson. I believe in future All-Stars Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball. I believe in veterans Jrue Holiday, J.J. Redick, Derrick Favors and E’Twaun Moore rising the 24-and-unders to the occasion. And I believe the Pels finish over .500.

All success revolves around Zion’s play and I’ve yet to be given a reason why he won’t dominate at the next level. Even if he struggles finding his way as a scorer, he’ll facilitate an offense that stretches Redick, Holiday and Moore around the arc, and plants Favors and Jaxson Hayes down low. New Orleans doesn’t have a clear identity to start the season, and that’s ok. But it has so much raw talent, a resolution will come.

— Matt Ellentuck

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dribolopdapipol · 8 years

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NBA ROUNDUP | Warriors humble Cavs; Knicks’ woes continue

AFP The Golden State Warriors crushed the Cleveland Cavaliers 126-91 on Monday, snapping a four-game losing streak against the reigning NBA champions. In the season’s second meeting between the teams that dueled in the past two NBA championship series, the Warriors started fast and never let up. Before adoring fans at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Draymond Green notched his third triple-double of the season with 11 points, 11 assists and 13 rebounds for the Warriors, who led wire-to-wire to improve their league-leading record to 35-6. The Warriors hadn’t beaten the Cavaliers since game four of last June’s finals. Cleveland rallied from 3-1 down in the championship series to deny the Warriors a second straight title, and in the first renewal of the rivalry this season the Cavaliers rallied for a 109-108 victory in Cleveland on Christmas Day. That run of success may have prompted Cavs superstar LeBron James’s comment on Sunday that he didn’t really count the Warriors as rivals. “Regardless of if LeBron thinks it’s a rivalry, I know he wants to beat us,” Green said. “And we want to beat them. “We’ve been the top two teams in the league. A team that you beat, that beat you… I see it as a rivalry, and a fun game to play in.” It turned out to be even more fun than Green could have imagined. The Warriors scored 78 points in the first half, building their lead to as many as 39 points in the fourth quarter. Klay Thompson scored a game-high 26 points, including five three-pointers. Kevin Durant scored 21 points and two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry had 20 to go with 11 assists. In their 13th win of the season by 20 points or more, Golden State connected on 50.5 percent of their shots from the field and shared 37 assists. James led the Cavs with 20 points but missed 12 of his 18 attempts. He was knocked to the floor by Green on a fastbreak in the second quarter, with Green whistled for a flagrant foul. It wasn’t the first time the two have tangled. Green was suspended for game five of last season’s finals because of his tally of technical and flagrant fouls — including one during a game-four clash with James. “His shoulder hit me in the face,” James said of what caused his dramatic fall. “I’m all right. I’m a football player.” Warriors coach Steve Kerr downplayed the incident. “Was that an incident?” he asked. “It looked like just a normal foul.” Kyrie Irving scored 17 points for Cleveland, despite making just six of 19 attempts. Iman Shumpert scored 15 with nine rebounds, but Kevin Love scored just three points with three rebounds in 16 minutes before tightness in his back forced him out of the game for most of the second half. But the Warriors were in firm control by then. A layup from Curry, a three-pointer from Thompson and a dunk by Durant had the Warriors up 7-0, and the Cavaliers calling a timeout, just 93 seconds into the contest. The Warriors were up 37-22 after one quarter and led 78-49 at halftime. “They put it on us, put it on us real good,” James said. “They were clicking on all facets of the game. This is a dangerous team. They’ve got so many different options.” The defeat capped an 11-day, six-game road trip for Cleveland that included defeats at Utah and Portland, although at 29-11 they head home still atop the Eastern Conference. “We’ll shake it off, we’ve got to,” Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said. “We’ve got to go home and regroup.” Clippers silence Thunder The Los Angeles Clippers shook off the early exit of point guard Chris Paul to rout the Oklahoma City Thunder 120-98 on Monday and claim a seventh straight NBA victory. DeAndre Jordan scored 19 points, pulled down 15 rebounds and blocked four shots for the Clippers. Marreese Speights led Los Angeles with 23 points to go with 10 rebounds and J.J. Redick scored 20 points for the Clippers, who didn’t miss a beat even after Paul left in the second quarter with a sprained left thumb. Oklahoma City star Russell Westbrook failed to post a triple-double for the first time in four games. Westbrook had 24 points, five rebounds and four assists. Joffrey Lauvergne added 13 points and nine rebounds, and Enes Kanter chipped in 12 points for Oklahoma City. But the Thunder missed center Steven Adams of New Zealand, who sat out after suffering a concussion on Sunday in a victory over the Sacramento Kings. Davis hurt as Pels fall to Pacers New Orleans star Anthony Davis took another frightening fall on Monday and the Pelicans succumbed 98-95 to the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis. The Pacers, humbled 140-112 by the Denver Nuggets in London on Thursday, got 19 points from Paul George and held on for the bounce-back victory that still had coach Nate McMillan wanting to see better. “We had lots of lazy possessions and missed free throws down the stretch,” McMillan said. “We’ve got to be better. Our execution at the end, you won’t win many games like that.” The Pelicans had three scoring chances in the last 20 seconds that could have sent the game to overtime. They finished the game without Davis, who hurt his right hip and left thumb after landing hard on his back after a foul by Pacers center Myles Turner in the third quarter. The Pelicans said X-rays came back negative, and Davis still finished the game as the team’s top scorer with 16 points. A week earlier, Davis suffered a bruised hip when he was pushed in the back by New York Knicks center Kyle O’Quinn as he rose toward the basket. Davis flew into a row of seats and missed Thursday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets. Embiid shines late Philadelphia center Joel Embiid came on strong in the fourth quarter on Monday to power the suddenly surging 76ers to a 113-104 NBA victory over the Bucks in Milwaukee. Embiid, playing his injury delayed rookie season, scored 22 points with 12 rebounds and five blocked shots in 29 minutes as the 76ers notched their fourth win in five games. Although he got off to a slow start after sitting out a game against Washington on Saturday to rest, he was firing on all cylinders by the fourth quarter. He scored 12 points in the final period as the Sixers pulled away. It was his strong move to the basket that drew a sixth foul against Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo with 2:51 remaining. “I thought in the first half, I didn’t have my legs with me,” Embiid said. “They were really heavy. But I just got it going and my teammates, also.” “I rely on my defense to get my offense going and I think I played real well defensively today.” The 76ers made just 35 of their 78 shots from the floor, but that included 14 of 37 from three-point range. They also hit 29 of 36 free throws in a game coach Brett Brown called “our finest team win”. The Bucks have had trouble lately stopping the three-pointer — although they led the league in three-point defense a few weeks ago. They have allowed at least 10 three-pointers in each of their last seven games. “We can talk about it but if there’s no effort in guarding it and understanding, again, it starts with effort,” Bucks coach Jason Kidd said. “If we don’t give it, we’re going to give up a lot of threes.” Nor did the Bucks make many threes, connecting on just five of 14 attempts from long range. Antetokounmpo was hot early in the game but he was hindered by foul trouble in the second half, when he scored just two of his 23 points. Atlanta’s German guard Dennis Schroder delivered the killing blow in the Hawks’ 108-107 NBA victory over the New York Knicks on Monday — with a big assist from Kris Humphries. Humphries had a good look at a potential game-winning shot, but instead tossed the ball to Schroder, who drained a three-pointer with 22 seconds remaining that saw the Hawks swoop for their ninth win in their last 10 games. “I thought Kris was unbelievable,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said of the power forward who came off the bench to score 14 points with seven rebounds and one — crucial — assist. “Rebounding, making shots and he makes the last pass. “It’s hard to describe Hump’s (Humphries) spirit,” Budenholzer added. “He brings personality and readiness. He comes ready to work every day. He is a big part of our fabric.” The Hawks improved to 24-17. Schroder led them in scoring with 28 points and former Knick Hardaway added 20 points. The duo combined for 18 of Atlanta’s 20 fourth-quarter points, scoring nine each. Carmelo Anthony paced the Knicks with 30 points and seven rebounds and Derrick Rose added 18 points and nine assists but also committed six of the Knicks’ 18 turnovers. http://j.mp/2j3YZFz

#Basketball #cleveland cavaliers #golden state warriors #nba #new york knicks

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junker-town · 5 years

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The complete history of the Thunder slowly dismantling their golden generation

Eight years ago, the young Thunder were poised to rule the league. Here’s how they were instead slowly torn apart.

With Russell Westbrook now traded, the most important chapter in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s history is officially closed. Westbrook was the last piece standing from the young, upstart team that took the NBA by storm in the early part of the decade. Along with Kevin Durant and James Harden, Westbrook and Oklahoma City looked like they were set to become the NBA’s next dynasty.

Seven years later, they have only one NBA Finals appearance to show for drafting three league MVPs. Now that their three stars are on other teams, they must enter a rebuilding phase without achieving the league’s grandest prize even once.

Let’s take a look at how the Thunder slowly lost a core that was once the envy of the league.

June 20, 2012: A 4-1 defeat in the 2012 NBA Finals

Despite its youth, Oklahoma City had reasons to be confident heading into the 2012 NBA Finals against LeBron James and the Miami Heat. They were favored by Vegas and also had home-court advantage, a plus considering they hadn’t lost a single home game the previous three rounds.

After winning Game 1, the Thunder looked like they ready for the challenge. However, things quickly went south.

Bad coaching decisions were part of the story behind Oklahoma City’s four-game collapse. With Chris Bosh playing as center, Miami was able to space the floor and add an extra dimension to its dangerous offense. Meanwhile, Thunder head coach Scott Brooks stuck to his guns and continued to start traditional center Kendrick Perkins. This led to easy baskets for Miami, as they took advantage of the space Bosh created.

The Heat won Game 2 on the road thanks to 32 points by James and 24 by Wade. Despite brilliant performances from Westbrook in Game 4 (43 points) and Durant in Game 5 (32 points), Miami won the next three to take the title.

End of the 2012 NBA Finals. It was supposed to be a learning experience for the Thunder, en route to a decade of dominance. Didn't quite pan out that way. pic.twitter.com/WtKIn6WnX8

— Jake Marotz (@jakemarotz) July 12, 2019

Losing four straight games in the Finals stung the Thunder and they took the loss hard. However, with three young superstars and a good supporting cast, it felt like there were better times ahead.

Oct. 27, 2012: Trading James Harden

As it turns out, that Game 5 would be the last NBA game the trio would play together.

Oklahoma City faced some tough salary-cap decisions in the summer summer. Harden and Serge Ibaka were both extension-eligible, and not agreeing on new deals meant they’d be restricted free agents the next year. With Durant already locked up and Westbrook having signed a maximum contract back in January, the Thunder had to let either Harden or Ibaka walk, or pay a hefty luxury-tax price.

Making matters worse, this dilemma arrived the summer after the NBA installed newer and harsher penalties for exceeding the luxury tax, including an exponential scale for every dollar over and additional penalties for being in the luxury tax repeatedly. The new rules didn’t kick in until the following season, but new contracts for Harden and Ibaka would have pushed Oklahoma City well over the tax line.

Oklahoma City agreed to a four year $48M extension with Ibaka later that August, making Harden’s departure an even greater possibility. That eventually happened with stunning speed when Oklahoma City traded their star sixth man to the Houston Rockets four days before the season began. In return, the Thunder received Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, and Houston’s first- and second-round picks in 2013, along with a first rounder in 2014.

In an interview with ESPN’s Hannah Storm, Harden said the Thunder presented him a four year, $55 million offer, $5 million short of a max deal. That did not sit well with him.

“I felt like I already made a sacrifice coming off the bench and doing whatever it takes to help the team, and they weren’t willing to help me,” Harden told Storm.

April 26, 2013: Russell Westbrook tears his meniscus

Despite losing Harden, Oklahoma City rolled to 62 wins and the NBA’s best record, with Durant and Westbrook averaging 28 and 23 points per game, respectively.

Their first playoff series came against a familiar foe in the Rockets and Harden. In the second quarter of Game 2, Westbrook went to call a timeout and slowed down towards the bench, as is custom before a stoppage in play. Houston guard Patrick Beverley lunged for the ball at the same time, colliding with Westbrook’s knee. The incident would end up sparking years of beef between the duo.

Westbrook got up with a significant limp and slammed the scorers table with his right fist. OKC won the game to take a 2-0 lead, but an MRI later confirmed that Westbrook had sustained a torn meniscus that would require surgery and sideline him indefinitely.

Oklahoma City won the series against Houston in six games, but without Westbrook, the Thunder fell in the next round to the “Grit and Grind” Memphis Grizzlies in five games.

2014: Serge Ibaka’s untimely injury

With Westbrook missing 35 games recovering from knee surgery in the 2013-14 season, Durant was once again called upon to be main bucket getter. He had his best individual season, averaging 32 points per game while winning MVP and leading Oklahoma City to the second-best record in the league.

Oklahoma City survived a grueling seven-game first round series against Memphis, then got past the Los Angeles Clippers in six games in the second round. That grind came with a cost. In the series clincher against LA, Ibaka strained his calf, and Presti announced he was unlikely to return for the postseason.

The Thunder badly lost the first two games to the San Antonio Spurs in the conference finals, but received a boost when Ibaka came back in Game 3. OKC won both games in Chesapeake Arena, and his return left an impression on his teammates. “I gained so much more respect for Serge for sacrificing himself for the team. Regardless of what happened tonight, that’s something you want beside you,” Durant said after Game 3.

But Ibaka’s return proved to be too little, too late. Oklahoma City scored just 34 points in the second half of a blowout Game 5 defeat, then dropped Game 6 in overtime after Kawhi Leonard came up with one of the biggest plays of his career.

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2015: Kevin Durant’s turn to get hurt

Weeks before the start of the season, Oklahoma City announced Durant suffered a Jones fracture in his foot, which would sideline him for the first month. But that was only the beginning of KD’s injury woes. Durant sprained his ankle in December, his big toe a month later, and then had another procedure for a foot injury in February. On March 27, Presti announced Durant would miss the rest of the season to undergo a third surgery.

Injuries to Durant and Westbrook, who missed four weeks early in the season due to a broken hand, grounded Oklahoma City’s title hopes. They started off the season 3-12 and ultimately finished ninth in the West, losing a tiebreaker for the final playoff spot.

May 30, 2016: The original blown 3-1 lead

With Durant healthy again and Billy Donovan taking over as head coach from the fired Scott Brooks, the 2015-16 Thunder headed into the postseason as the the No. 3 seed. They quickly got past the Mavericks in five, then won three straight to beat the Spurs after falling behind, 2-1. That set up a matchup against a Warriors team that went 73-9 in the regular season.

With Durant, Ibaka, and Andre Roberson swarming the smaller Warriors, the Thunder went up 3-1 in the series. They won Game 1 by limiting the Warriors to just 14 points in the final quarter, then crushed Golden State by a combined 52 points when the series moved to Oklahoma City. Durant led the way in Game 3 with 33 points, and Westbrook took his turn in Game 4, notching 36 as the Thunder took a 3-1 series lead.

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But the Warriors stormed back. After narrowly winning Game 5, Golden State received a Klay Thompson performance for the ages in a Game 6 thriller. Thompson scored 41 points while shooting 11 of 18 from three, an NBA playoff record, and outscored the entire Thunder team in the fourth quarter in a 108-101 win.

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Oklahoma City was left shellshocked. They were up by seven points with five minutes left, but watched Durant and Westbrook shoot a combined 3-14 in the fourth quarter. In those final five minutes, the Thunder’s two stars went 0-5 from the field and committed six turnovers.

Oklahoma City hung around in Game 7, but eventually perished thanks to a 36-point Stephen Curry night. The Thunder were on the brink of a long-awaited NBA Finals return, but instead watched another season end in heartbreak.

June 23, 2016: Goodbye, Serge

The summer of 2016 was set to be a monumental one for the Thunder. Durant was a free agent, and with Westbrook due to become one the next summer, Oklahoma City again had difficult decisions to make.

On the day of the 2016 NBA Draft, the Thunder dealt Ibaka to the Orlando Magic for Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova, and the No. 11 pick, which turned out to be Domantas Sabonis. The plan was for Oladipo to slot in as a sixth man alongside Durant and Westbrook. Oklahoma City was also heavily interested in signing free agent big man Al Horford, who had played under Donovan in college at Florida.

The idea was to aggressively add pieces to help compliment Durant in the hopes he’d re-sign to a long term deal. Instead...

July 4, 2016: Kevin Durant leaves

Oklahoma City’s roster reconstruction wasn’t enough to keep its biggest star. Durant first met with the Thunder, and then went to the Hamptons in New York to hold meetings with the Clippers, Heat, Celtics, Spurs, and the Warriors.

On July 4, Durant broke OKC’s hearts, via a Player’s Tribune essay announcing his decision to leave the Thunder to sign with the same Warriors team that knocked them out in the previous year’s conference Finals.

“I will miss Oklahoma City, and the role I have had in building this remarkable team,” Durant wrote. “I will forever cherish the relationships within the organization — the friends and teammates that I went to war with on the court for nine years, and all the fans and people of the community. They have always had my back unconditionally, and I cannot be more grateful for what they have meant to my family and to me.”

That same day, Westbrook posted a picture of cupcakes on Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

HAPPY 4th YALL....

A post shared by Russell Westbrook (@russwest44) on Jul 4, 2016 at 10:40am PDT

It looked like a simple photo from his Independence Day cookout, but we later learned there was a hidden meaning behind the post. Via Lee Jenkins’ Sports Illustrated feature:

When Kendrick Perkins played center for the Thunder, he called teammates “cupcake” if he thought they were acting a little soft. Westbrook and Durant adopted the term in jest. Westbrook posted a bittersweet pic on Instagram: three plates of cupcakes topped by red and blue stars and sprinkles.

Aug. 4, 2016: Westbrook’s revenge tour

With Durant now playing in the Bay, the Thunder couldn’t afford to lose Westbrook. The two sides re-committed to each other with a three-year, $85.7-million extension.

“There’s nowhere else I would rather be than Oklahoma City,” Westbrook said in a press conference that was opened to media and fans. “You guys have basically raised me. I’ve been here since I was 18, 19 years old. You guys did nothing but great things for me. Through the good and the bad, you guys supported me through it all, and I appreciate it.”

Then, Westbrook’s revenge tour began. He recorded 42 triple doubles, eclipsing Oscar Robertson’s record for most in a single year, and also became the first player since Oscar to average a triple double in a season. Westbrook broke both marks in stunning fashion, scoring 50 points and hitting the game-winner to lead the Thunder back from an 14-point deficit with six minutes left to beat the Nuggets.

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Thanks to his record-breaking year, Westbrook was named MVP of the 2016-17 season, beating out his two former teammates. He wasn’t as successful in the playoffs, however, as Oklahoma City was dispatched by Harden and the Rockets in five games.

July 1, 2017: The Paul George save

For the second summer in a row, the Thunder shook up their roster. In a massive, out-of-nowhere gamble, they traded Oladipo and Sabonis, the prizes of last summer’s Ibaka trade, to the Indiana Pacers for disgruntled superstar Paul George. George was set to be a free agent next season and reportedly had his sights on joining the Los Angeles Lakers. Oklahoma City had a year to change his mind.

Sep. 29, 2017: Westbrook becomes a Thunder for life, or so we thought

The two sides agreed to a five-year $205M deal under the league’s new supermax provision. It looked like Westbrook would never leave.

In addition to re-signing Westbrook and trading for George, Oklahoma City made a late offseason splash, acquiring all-star Carmelo Anthony from the Knicks in exchange for Enes Kanter, Doug McDermott, and a second-round draft pick.

July 1, 2018: The one-year George experiment worked

With Westbrook, George, and Anthony fitting together awkwardly, OKC finished as the West’s fourth seed, rallying from an 8-12 start. The problems with that combination proved to be fatal in a six-game first-round series loss to the underdog Utah Jazz. In the Game 6 clincher, George scored a mere five points on 2-of-16 shooting. The chances of re-signing him didn’t look good.

But when the clock struck midnight, George shocked the NBA world by announcing he was staying with Oklahoma City, revealing the news at a party Westbrook threw. George ended up signing a four year, $137 million deal.

You heard it here first. pic.twitter.com/jN6gBn6j1Z

— Gabe Ikard (@GabeIkard) July 1, 2018

If y’all didn’t quite get it, let me say it again. I’m here to stay!”

It seemed like the Thunder had recovered from the loss of Durant.

Feb. 26, 2019: Another injury that changed everything

With Westbrook taking a bit of a backseat and Anthony off the team, George put together a stellar first half of the season. Through the end of February, he averaged nearly 29 points and more than nine rebounds per game, all while providing elite defense on the wing. OKC had a 38-21 record at the time and looked like the top challenger to the Warriors, again.

But things began to spiral out of control when George suffered a shoulder injury in a matchup against the Denver Nuggets. He kept playing, but looked like a shell of his former MVP-quality self. “Four days ago, I couldn’t even lift my shoulder,” he said after Game 1 of the playoffs.

Oklahoma City went 11-11 for the rest of the regular season, setting up a matchup against the No. 3 seed Portland Trail Blazers. Portland took the series in five games, with Damian Lillard hitting the series-ending buzzer beater in George’s face and then waiving the Thunder goodbye.

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Little did we know he really was waiving the Thunder goodbye.

July 3, 2019: George goes to LA after all

Free agent Kawhi Leonard wanted to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers, but needed a co-star to join him. He recruited George, and then George requested the Thunder trade him. This put the Thunder in a bind.

Two nights later, they did as George asked, dealing him for a record haul of draft picks (five first-rounders and two pick swaps), along with Danilo Gallinari and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

George thanked Oklahoma City on Instagram, shouting out Westbrook specifically.

View this post on Instagram

Thank you Oklahoma for 2 great years, you took me in as one of your own from the day I touched down. Thank you to the fans who make representing those 3 letters mean something. Thank you to Sam and Clay for being the best management a franchise and player could ask for. Thank you to the friends within the organization that took care of my family and I whenever we needed help. The picture shown is a bond that can’t be broken I truly loved and enjoyed the race from start to finish. Thank you OKLAHOMA! You already know what it is @russwest44! Love brodie!

A post shared by Paul George (@ygtrece) on Jul 6, 2019 at 7:22pm PDT

But with George gone, any chance of the Thunder competing in the near term ended. That left just one more move to make.

July 12, 2019: Westbrook returns to an old friend

After the trade of George, the writing was on the wall for Westbrook’s departure. The Thunder moved Westbrook to his preferred destination of Houston, which meant a reunion with Harden, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Oklahoma City ended up receiving Chris Paul, along with two first-round picks (2024, 2026) and two pick swaps (2021, 2025).

The initial promise of the great Thunder dynasty had long faded, but Westbrook’s departure completed the franchise’s deconstruction. Making the Finals in 2012 was supposed to be a stepping stone to generational greatness for the young trio of Westbrook, Durant, and Harden. Instead, it ended up being their best achievement as teammates.

It took eight years, but the dismantling of Oklahoma City is now complete. Now, all we have left is what could have been.

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junker-town · 7 years

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What DeMarcus Cousins’ season-ending injury means for him and Pelicans

Boogie will miss this season, and that sucks for everyone involved.

DeMarcus Cousins’ season-ending Achilles injury is devastating. There are no other words, only a guttural and raw sadness about something that was so joyful this season being replaced with an absence.

The injury came with just seconds left in regulation while the New Orleans Pelicans center hustled down his own missed free throw, a hustle play in a close game and eventual win against the Houston Rockets. Cousins has often been knocked for his lack of effort, something that had still shown up in New Orleans at times, but this was the opposite. It’s cruel that this happened on what should have been a small, virtually unnoticed moment of growth.

.@matt_winer, @daldridgetnt and @realgranthill33 react to a potential DeMarcus Cousins injury at the end of the Pelicans-Rockets game. #CrunchTime pic.twitter.com/g7B0PzvajZ

— NBA TV (@NBATV) January 27, 2018

We knew the moment it happened, though we denied it as long as we could. Cousins went down without contact, immediately fell to the floor grabbing at his heel, and couldn’t rise without help from his teammates. If you still weren’t sure, the somber faces and quiet answers from the Pelicans after the game said it all.

This sucks.

What this injury means for the Pelicans

New Orleans finally — finally — had everything going right, and Pelicans fans know how long finally means. They had suffered through it all, and they had been rewarded with a thrilling counterculture team using two dynamic unicorn centers. The unique approach was finally clicking, with the Pelicans winning eight of their last nine games while pushing themselves to a 27-21 record. Anthony Davis and Cousins were both selected to start the NBA All-Star Game, and the playoffs seemed almost inevitable. And now ... who the hell knows.

The Pelicans roster without Cousins is better than the past two seasons, but it’s probably not enough to support Davis alone. New Orleans has a three game lead on the Los Angeles Clippers, who are currently in the No. 9 seed looking at the playoffs from the outside. Is that enough to hang onto a playoff spot? It might be, but the odds are now against New Orleans.

Without Cousins, New Orleans will need more offense from Davis and Jrue Holiday, who has been excellent this season. Bumping Holiday from the third option to the second is sure to cut into his career-best efficiency, and he’s already averaging the second-most shots of his career this season. Outside those two, the Pelicans are light on scorers: E’Twaun Moore, Darius Miller, and Dante Cunningham are all used better working within the Twin Towers system that New Orleans had created, not creating on their own.

Holiday has only been on the court 81 minutes without Cousins or Davis, though they have gone quite well. That number will have to increase, and the Pelicans can only hope that small sample size theater has some basis in reality.

What this injury means for Boogie

In a tweet:

Most likely Demarcus Cousins has a torn Achilles pending an MRI. -will not start his first all-star game -will not participate in his first playoff series -will be in rehab during the summer of a contract year It’s pretty damn bad.

— Carmichael Dave (@CarmichaelDave) January 27, 2018

Cousins will be a free agent this offseason — there’s no player option he can exercise to deny it, or anything like that. New Orleans was set to offer him a five-year, $175 million max contract, but this injury will at least make them reconsider their plans. Cousins may not even be ready to start next season due to his six to 10 month recovery timetable, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The problem is that an Achilles is a terrible injury — probably the worst in basketball — that has a terrible track record for full recovery. Go down the list, and few players ever regained their former peaks after an Achilles tendon rupture: Kobe Bryant, Wesley Matthews, and Elton Brand are notable recent cases.

Matthews might be the best case scenario for Cousins’ recovery. Matthews tore his Achilles tendon headed into a contract summer, and he still was signed to a four-year, $70 million contract with the Dallas Mavericks. Despite suffering the injury in March, Matthews still returned for the start of the season and only missed 13 games combined the next two summers. But Matthews still hasn’t returned to his pre-injury form — he’s having his best season since the injury this year, and it’s still a ways off from the Matthews of the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons.

What this injury means for the NBA

While the NBA has been zigging for years, New Orleans zagged. Small ball lineups are replacing traditional centers, but New Orleans used Davis and Cousins like guards in ways that disrupted defenses.

Cousins had a 44-point, 23-rebound, 10-assist game earlier this week, and on Friday, he was cooking with a 15-point, 13-rebound, 11-assist triple-double. Those aren’t normal stat lines for your 6’11, 270-pound center. Those aren’t normal stat lines for, well, anyone. Not only were the Pelicans rolling, but Cousins was right smack dab in the middle of it.

Who wasn’t excited to see Cousins and these strange-but-wonderful Pelicans in the postseason? Or the Cousins-Davis duo starting together along with Kevin Durant and LeBron James in the All-Star Game next month?

But those things won’t happen, and with it, the NBA will be less fun. F*** that. F*** injuries. Please, Boogie, take my Achilles. You need it more than me.

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junker-town · 7 years

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We ranked all 24 games in the Warriors-Cavaliers rivalry

This great rivalry has featured so many instant classics that are easy to forget.

On Christmas Day, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors meet for the 25th time since LeBron James went home and since the Warriors emerged as one of the league’s greatest dynasties (3 p.m., ABC, WatchESPN).

This may be the league’s best rivalry, with the biggest stakes, since at least the 1980s. There has never been three consecutive Finals matchups between two teams, after all.

There have been blowouts and boring basketball, make no mistake about that. But any moment where LeBron and Draymond Green share the court is interesting, no matter the score. At its best, this series has left us with iconic NBA moments that will be remembered for decades and spoken about with reverence.

In that spirit, I ranked all 24 games that the two teams have played since they ascended to the top of the NBA in 2014.

FORGETTABLE REGULAR-SEASON GAMES

24. Warriors beat Cavaliers, 112-94 (Jan. 9, 2015)

23. Warriors beat Cavaliers, 126-91 (Jan. 16, 2017)

22. Warriors beat Cavaliers, 132-98 (Jan. 18, 2016)

21. Cavaliers beat Warriors, 110-99 (Feb. 26, 2015)

There’s a theme here — after Christmas, and before the postseason, the Warriors and the Cavaliers games end up becoming uninteresting blowouts. Of these four, the closest margin is on Jan. 9, 2015, where LeBron James didn’t even play while taking his mid-season sabbatical.

No. 22 did lead to the Cavaliers’ shocking decision to fire David Blatt, though. It also featured this.

THE TIMOFEY MOZGOV GAME

20. Warriors beat Cavaliers, 103-82 (2015 Finals Game 4)

Golden State allowed Timofey Mozgov to score a game-high 28 points in a real life NBA Finals game, and it’s still a miracle that the basketball gods didn’t immediately cast the Warriors into eternal basketball damnation. It’s an offense to the sport that’s almost unforgivable. Timofey Mozgov, really!

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On second thought, maybe this game should be a dozen spots higher for the sheer absurdity alone.

THREE 2017 BLOWOUTS

19. Warriors beat Cavaliers, 113-91 (2017 Finals Game 1)

18. Warriors beat Cavaliers, 132-113 (2017 Finals Game 2)

17. Cavaliers beat Warriors, 137-116 (2017 Finals Game 4)

The first two games of the 2017 Finals were a buzzkill. Sure, Cleveland wasn’t done after falling behind 2-0, but we all knew this series wouldn’t be competitive after that. It ended up being great, but it wasn’t competitive.

How can it be great but not competitive? Take Game 4, one of the most ridiculous 48-minute displays of the sport that I’ve ever seen. I wanted to rank it higher, but it really wasn’t a good game, just a ridiculous one. Draymond Green was kicked out, and then unkicked out. Jeff Van Gundy rattled off Kardashian hot takes. Cleveland, meanwhile, scored 137 points while hitting 24 three-pointers. After the game, I described it like this:

But we’ll appreciate this game, because it was just ... dumb. And there are degrees to dumbness, and this was at the very top of it. The fouls made no sense. The technicals didn’t go to the right people. The players wouldn’t stop making ridiculous shots. It wasn’t basketball at its finest — more like, it was basketball with four drinks on a Friday night when everyone is your friend, the music is just right, and all you want is to dance a little at your table because you know the nachos are coming out at any moment now.

Yeah, that’s about right.

THE 3-1 LEAD

16. Warriors beat Cavaliers, 104-89 (2016 Finals Game 1)

15. Warriors beat Cavaliers, 110-77 (2016 Finals Game 2)

14. Cavaliers beat Warriors, 120-90 (2016 Finals Game 3)

13. Warriors beat Cavaliers, 108-97 (2016 Finals Game 4)

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These are historic, even if two games were decided by 30 or more points. Game 1 was close, and Games 2 and 3 were dominant performances — once for Golden State, once for Cleveland. Game 4 gave us the infamous Draymond Green nut-tap delivered straight to James’ LeBrons. Even if the games themselves lacked the usual heightened drama, all of this built Golden State’s even more infamous 3-1 lead.

(My favorite under-the-radar thing about that scuffle is Harrison Barnes shooting a practice jump shot right smack in the middle of James and Green screaming at each other, even while the referees and teammates are making sure they don’t charge each other. It’s the most Harrison Barnes thing of all time.)

THREE INCREDIBLE GAMES WE FORGOT ABOUT

12. Warriors beat Cavaliers, 105-97 (2015 Finals Game 6)

11. Warriors beat Cavaliers, 89-83 (Dec. 25, 2015)

10. Cavaliers beat Warriors, 96-91 (2015 Finals Game 3)

2015’s Game 6 was a close game, but it never felt like it. Cleveland’s rotation was abysmal: James and J.R. Smith, and then Mozgov, Tristan Thompson, Iman Shumpert, Matthew Dellavedova, and James Jones. (Thompson played 37 minutes and Mozgov played 33, and now I feel nauseous.)

That’s also why Game 3 is listed so high — because Cleveland had no business winning it, but James had 40 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. It also resulted in this headline, which still feels like some sort of cosmic joke.

As for the Christmas matchup, it was a low key great game that we never talk about. But it gets overshadowed by another Christmas game, which ... hang on. We’re almost there.

THE STEPH CURRY MOUTHPIECE TOSS

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9. Cavaliers beat Warriors, 115-101 (2016 Finals Game 6)

James scored 41 points (with 11 assists!) for a second straight game as Cleveland forced a Game 7.

But we don’t need to talk about this. We need to talk about how Stephen Curry, who had spent two full MVP seasons in the spotlight polishing his good guy reputation, getting ejected from the first time in his career after throwing a mouthpiece that hit the son of a Cavaliers minority owner.

Look, I hope we can all appreciate the humor in that — maybe even Curry, now that he’s a couple years removed from it all.

THE J.R. SMITH GAME

8. Warriors beat Cavaliers, 129-120 (2017 Finals Game 5)

This clinched Golden State’s second title, but I will always remember it as the J.R. Smith game. It doesn’t matter that James dropped 41 while Durant and Curry combined for 73 points — Smith flat out refused to miss. He ended up with 25 points on 9-of-11 shooting, and 7-of-8 behind the arc. It was the only thing that made this game remotely entertaining.

(At least to me, an impartial observer and not a Warriors fan. I’m sure Warriors fans found many things about this game entertaining.)

THE ONLY OVERTIMES

7. Warriors beat Cavaliers, 108-100 (2015 Finals Game 1)

6. Cavaliers beat Warriors, 95-93 (2015 Finals Game 2)

Weirdly enough, these two bitter rivals have only reached overtime twice, both in the opening two games of the 2015 Finals. James missed a potential game-winner in Game 1, and then Irving was injured three minutes into the extra period.

Given that James proceeded to win two games without Irving, and a rotation demanding heavy minutes from the Dellavedovas and James Joneses of the world, who knows what might have happened if that Game 1 jumper had fallen.

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Hilariously, Dellavedova’s free throws after an offensive rebound win Cleveland Game 2, although it was set up by an otherworldly James performance.

THE LEBRON-KYRIE EXPLOSION

5. Cavaliers beat Warriors, 112-97 (2016 Finals Game 5)

Ah, this is where you should go if you ever miss the Irving-James pairing. They both scored 41 points, the first time that a duo has ever scored 40-plus in the same NBA Finals game.

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THE MOST UNDERRATED ONE

4. Warriors beat Cavaliers, 105-91 (2015 Finals Game 5)

The final score makes it seem like this game wasn’t close, but it was. In fact, with about seven minutes left, Cleveland actually led, and they were within a bucket several times under the five minute mark until Golden State’s shooting finally buckles the injury-ravaged Cleveland squad. The series was tied at two, and it really could have swung either way depending on the results here.

This was also Curry’s best-ever playoff game, as far as I’m concerned.

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INDISPUTABLE, ALL-TIME CLASSICS

3. Warriors beat Cavaliers, 118-113 (2017 Finals Game 3)

2. Cavaliers beat Warriors, 109-108 (Dec. 25, 2016)

1. Cavaliers beat Warriors, 93-89 (2016 Finals Game 7)

Kevin Durant will likely never hit a shot more memorable than his Game 3 pull-up three-pointer. That shot, and Game 3, ended the series. We loved Game 4’s ridiculousness and Game 5’s J.R. Smith, but when you look back on the series, Game 3 is the only one that feels important.

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It’s strange to put a regular-season game second, but it has to go there. Remember everything that went into this game: The blown 3-1 lead, Cleveland’s first championship, Kevin Durant signing in Golden State, and then the general sense that the NBA had stopped mattering since the Warriors would coast to a Finals victory.

Sure, yes, the Warriors did. But not before we all witnessed what might have been the greatest regular season ever, one that may only be topped by this current regular season. This Christmas Day game was an enormous part of reshaping everyone’s perception — sure, even if the Warriors are better than everyone, this season will still be stupidly fun. And what was more fun than the Cavaliers roaring back to defeat Golden State in the league’s marquee holiday slot?

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And then there’s Game 7, which doesn’t require more words, just this video.

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I don’t think we’ll ever top this ... but with this rivalry, who knows?

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