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  • jk41 8:20 am on January 18, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: All-Star, Blake Griffin, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, , Kevin Durant, , , , ,   

    Best of the Rest 

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    The All-Star Starters votes were released today and here’s how the popularity contest (yeah, I’m hating) shaped up:

    EAST:
    F: LeBron James
    F: Carmelo Anthony
    F: Kevin Garnett
    G: Dwyane Wade
    G: Rajon Rondo

    WEST:
    F: Dwight Howard
    F: Blake Griffin
    F: Kevin Durant
    G: Kobe Bryant
    G: Chris Paul

    The All-Star reserves are set to be selected by the coaches and announced next week, so this will need to be quick:

    • Who of the starters based on their actual season ans stats should NOT be voted in as an All-Star?
    • Who are your next 7 All-Star reserves on each team?

    Take it away….and quickly!

     

    • jk41 9:20 am on January 18, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      Ok, first up the guys who I don’t think would have been voted as starters if it was a coaches decision:

      • KG
      • DWade
      • Blake

      with Rondo and Dwight juussst making it ok for me to have them in. This is not to say these guys don’t deserve to make the team, it’s just that if it weren’t for their popularity I’m not sure they get the START.

      My reserves…

        EAST:

      F: Joakim Noah (total homer pick, but one of the best passing centers out there averaging 4.1 assists at center!)
      F: Tyson Chandler (haven’t always been the biggest fan but he’s made an impact on the Knicks)
      F: Paul Pierce (The Truth, still putting it up as we discussed in our last post)
      F: Brook Lopez (when he plays, the Nets win. Averaging 18ppg, 7rpg, 2bpg. I don’t love it but didn’t really like anyone else in the East. I would’ve put Tony Parker in if there were no conferences.
      G: Jrue Holiday (been playing great for a terrible team, lots of triple double near misses)
      G: Kyrie Irving (I love this kid. Period.)
      G: Paul George (carrying Indy and they’re on a nice stretch lately after a terrible start)

      WEST:
      F: Tim Duncan (should’ve gotten the start based on the season he’s having)
      F: LaMarcus Aldridge (another guy I like, and putting in serious numbers for the one of the best starting 5’s in the league)
      F: Zach Randolph (Z-Bo has been a beast in Memphis. They’ve been cooling off lately but he deserves a nod)
      F: David Lee (my fantasy boy! only big man to average a 20-10 this season or something. He’s sitting at 19.7 and 10.9 as of writing, but damn close enough!)
      G: Russell Westbrook (easy pick for me here, he ain’t the smartest cookie out there but it comes and goes. #GoodRussBadRuss)
      G: James Harden (he makes the Rockets relevant)
      G: Steph Curry (was thinking of Tony Parker as well, but Curry beat him in almost every hard and % stat and the Warriors record has been pretty good this year)

      That’s it! And the West feels so loaded to me after that exercise…

    • naturalbornanalysts 2:52 am on January 21, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      Agreed that I don’t see those three guys making it if the starting positions weren’t a popularity contest. Having said that, I’m glad that KG made it because that’s my homer pick!

      I’m also throwing Dwight out there. I think the Lakers having two starters with a 17-23 record doesn’t sound right.

      As for the rest:

      East:

      Josh Smith – I think he is deserving, considering how well the Hawks have played this year after completely revamping.
      Kyrie Irving – Just watch his outburst against the Knicks earlier in the season.
      Joakim Noah – Agreed he deserves to be in… he is really playing well this year.
      Paul George– After a rought start, Mr. Everything is doing everything… he could be a lock for the next 5 years.
      Jrue Holiday – MIP in my opinion. Playing out of his skin.
      Brook Lopez – He has really started to get back to some of his old form
      Anderson Varejao – I dont care if he is injured, he deserves to be an all star this year.

      West:

      Russell Westbrook – Lock. Enough said.
      Tony Parker– This guy has been unbelievable this season, and I think he is deserving of a spot with the Spurs playing so well.
      Tim Duncan – Playing some of the best basketball of anyone in the league and doing it in his usual understated way.
      David Lee – As you said he has been a double double beast this season.
      Zach Randolph – Every All-Star team needs a dark alley guy and this is it!
      James Harden – Shown that he can carry a team and almost lead the league in scoring.
      Stephen Curry – I’m ignoring the fact that we have a ton of PG’s here… I’m running Adelman two PG fronts all game.

    • naturalbornanalysts 5:48 am on January 22, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      Who are the snubs?

      My number 1 guy is Nicholas (nut-punch) Batum. This guy is having a freakish season after signing his new contract. Proving he is probably worth every cent.

      Another one could be David West, who is having a very solid season for the Pacers, picking up all the slack Hibbert is dropping.

      • jk41 8:39 am on January 23, 2013 Permalink | Reply

        Batum has come on lately, but probably only the last month or so have I seen it in him. I think even Lillard could be more of a snub given what he’s been able to do for that team.

        I snubbed Josh Smith for the opposite reason, being that he had a fast start but now that the Hawks are struggling is finding himself getting suspended and all that kind of stuff.

        Boozer? Haha just kidding..

      • jk41 2:47 am on January 25, 2013 Permalink | Reply

        Alright we got the announcements:

        East Reserves:
        Jrue Holiday
        Paul George
        Chris Bosh
        Tyson Chandler
        Kyrie Irving
        Luol Deng
        Joakim Noah

        West Reserves:
        Tony Parker
        Russell Westbrook
        James Harden
        LaMarcus Aldridge
        Zach Randolph
        David Lee
        Tim Duncan

        I’m surprised by Deng actually, but also happy he’s getting the respect from the coaches. I’m pretty happy with the East picks. Although, Bosh over Brook….ehhh I don’t really like either of them to be honest so I’m whatever really. Hahaha

        The West was pretty much my picks except Parker for Curry which I should’ve got right in the first place.

        All in all I’m pretty happy with them, what’s your take?

    • naturalbornanalysts 2:51 am on January 25, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      EAST– So neither of us put Luol in – shame on you (will be play or still be injured?)
      Josh Smith got snubbed again, which is becoming a yearly ritual.
      The other massive snub is Brook Lopez… like you said, I don’t rate either of them so it doesn’t bother me

      WEST– Steph Curry got booted…. insert Parker/LA, which we knew was going to be a toss up between the three with all deserving.
      Other than that it was steady as she goes.

      Who wins?
      Whats the score?

      • jk41 3:03 am on January 25, 2013 Permalink | Reply

        Massive shame on me, I guess I thought the legacy factor would come in with Pierce. He’ll play, he tweaked his hamstring about 5 days ago, and All-Star game is still a few weeks away. Otherwise Jimmy Butler is available!

        I guess easiest way is to count the misses (i.e. guys we put in our team that aren’t in the actual team) between us.

        East:
        You missed on Josh Smith, Brook and Varejao = -3
        I missed on Pierce and Brook = -2

        West:
        You missed on Curry = -1
        I also missed on Curry = -1

        Funnily enough, we had LaMarcus and Tony Parker in our respective teams to even that out.

        So I took it out -3 to -4….or something, I dunno I just confused myself. Haha!

  • jk41 10:10 am on August 5, 2012 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , DPOY, Dwight Howard, , MVP, , Offseasons, ROY,   

    Talkin' courtside 

     

    Alright, let’s kick this off!

    Welcome to Courtside Notes, where we talk NBA and basketball in general. Me and my buddy over at Natural Born Analysts aka NBA (naturalbornanalysts.wordpress.com – follow!) talk NBA over email, whatsapp, in person, facebook etc. we thought it’d be fun to make a blog out of it.

    For the record, I follow Chicago, while NBA goes for Minnesota, so there might be some elevated Bulls/Wolves talk but we’ll try to keep it league wide.

    Seeing as this is the first edition, I think we should open it up and see how we go, so here’s a few starters:

    • NBA Offseason – best/worst moves, Dwight
    • Olympics – do we care?, send or don’t send NBA players next Olympics
    • Next season – early calls on who’s breaking out, which teams are rising, which are falling

    and any other business…

    …take it away!

     

     

    • naturalbornanalysts 5:00 am on August 22, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      Best moves of the season… I guess there is a case for a few… notably Lakers STEALING Dwight and picking up Nash, Philly acquiring Bynum, and obviously the Brooklyn Nets trying to buy anything with two legs (except Brook Lopez) and half a basketball brain.
      But I think a lot of people are sleeping on how nice of an addition Iggy is for the Nuggets. He is easily as good as AA on the defensive end, and obviously a more explosive player, particularly in transition on the offensive end. While they will miss Harrington’s scoring off the bench, you would be happy to see that contract go. Timofey had a nice Olympic tournament and will look to improve, McGee could finally reach his potential in the free Karl system, and if the Manimal continues to improve… watch out West.
      Another few nice pick ups for teams:
      -Scola to Phoenix… best player to ever be amnestied…can see him working nicely with Dragic.
      -Boston adding Jason Terry and C.Lee, and resigning Jeff Green sures them up nicely after the departure of Ray to the heat.
      -Miami picking up two amazing long ballers who will knock down wide open threes all day as LBJ penetrates and kicks.
      -Dirk… should be pretty upset at Cuban thinking he can replace Terry and Kidd with OJ Mayo, Brand and Chris Kaman (actually he might be happy to see his somewhat-German-brethren again).
      -I really like Golden State (provided they are healthy) and the addition of Landry only sures them up even more… I think they will make a deep playoff push this year… maybe even do a Dallas to OKC/LAL??!!
      -Clips see the return of probably the most underrated player in the league in Mr. Billups, as well as the addition of veterans Crawford and Hill, which are some very nice additions considering they didnt lose much at all in Nick “Swaggy P” Young and Flop Evans.
      -Did I mention how stacked the Lakers are? add Jamison and Jodie Meeks to that list…
      -The Knicks replaced the money making machine with a combined 248 years of basketball experience and a chubby point guard…. it might work…
      -OKC and SAN.AN stayed as is (dont fix whats not broken)… its like big brother little brother with the under the radar signings…

      CHICAGO- Unfortunately I really think it could be a long season, even if Rose is back towards the start of the season, its well known that full mobility and confidence doesn’t come back for at least 24 months, and I really hope they dont rush him back, because to be honest, with boozer in there and a lack of a bench, they aren’t going anywhere near the first or second seed. I love Rose, Gibson, Luol, Noah, but the rest can be thrown out any day of the week. The addition of Kirk is nice because it might mean that Rose can sit at 2 a little bit and give teams something different to look at. But Robinson, Marco B, and Radmanovic (where the hell did you find this guy? I thought Phil Jackson sent him into orbit a few years ago…) just add nothing to an already under performing bench. I think its time for the Bulls to make some serious moves and that means everyone except Rose is on the block.

      MINNESOTA- Holding our collective breath on Rubio, in the same way that CHI-TOWN is for Rose. The only bonus is that Rubio was never an athletic point guard, so that may play into our hands of bringing him back a little earlier (yes, I’m going to refer to the Wolves as “us” and “we”… habit). We gave up on Wes (understandably) and B-easy (even more understandably), amnestied Darko (Thank God!) and didnt resign a few other un-notables. In the process of turning the team completely white (dont think Kahn wouldnt pull the trigger if a nice white guy came up for Williams), we added some nice pieces, who are under valued and (mostly) under paid. Chase gives some range and knows Adelman, Brandon Roy is a calculated risk, but is welcome any day of the week, and if the double Russians play anything like they did in the Olympics, the wolves are worthy of a league pass follow for sure. We still might not win enough games to make the playoffs, but we will be fun to watch and you can guarantee at least 27 alley attempts a game. Cant wait!

      So to end here are my standings for 2012/13

      East
      1. Heat
      2. Celtics
      3. Knicks
      4. Bulls
      5. Nets
      6. Pacers
      7. Philadelphia
      8. Bucks
      9. Cavaliers
      10. Magic
      11. Wizards
      12. Hawks
      13. Raptors
      14. Pistons
      76. Bobcats

      West
      1. Thunder
      2. Lakers
      3. Spurs
      4. Denver
      5. Clippers
      6. Memphis
      7. Warriors
      8. Timberwolves
      9. Mavericks
      10. Hornets
      11. Jazz
      12. Rockets
      13. Blazers
      14. Suns
      15. Kings

      • jk41 3:30 pm on August 22, 2012 Permalink | Reply

        Moves I liked:

        Lakers: Obvious the biggest of the offseason, and I think the most satisfying part of it is that it will really challenge the small ball concept of Miami should they eventually meet at the end. Dwight/Pau is a different beast as opposed to Perkins/Ibaka. I think if healthy they have to at least make the Finals with all the talent they have right?? And Pau’s gold medal game showed that he’s still got plenty left in the tank after he kinda tanked last season himself.

        Nuggets: I liked that Denver got Iggy as well. Afflalo was good last season but not as effective as the year before that. Ty Lawson, Iggy, Manimal, McGee, it’s a massively entertaining team on paper.

        Wolves: I’m intrigued by your team on paper, especially after the Olympic campaign from Kirilenko and Shved. Along with Budinger, Stiemsma and any other white guys you can find, it’s looking playoff like!

      • jk41 3:40 pm on August 22, 2012 Permalink | Reply

        Moves I didn’t like:

        Rockets: So they went all in….and now have Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik? As a Bulls fan, I totally hope they fall on their face after backloading all those deals so that the incumbent teams couldn’t possibly match. Karma will hopefully be a massive bitch!

        Bulls: We were hamstrung with the cap, but I don’t see why we had to dump the bench seeing as most of them had one year left on their deals anyway and then we sign all these other guys for 1-2 yr minimums. They’re definitely planning for a future without Boozer and possibly Deng in 2014, but are such tighasses that in the meantime, they’ll prob lose Taj to free agency next year. They still haven’t resigned Thibs either….yeah, its gonna be a looong season. Prepare for lots of bitching from me!

        Knicks/Nets: They love to burn cash up in NYC! Nets I’m actually okay with, because when they realized they couldn’t get Dwight, they moved to plan B which ended up pretty good. I thought the Knicks were stupid to let Lin go, given the money he would have made them. And it must definitely be time to euthanize Kidd right??

    • jk41 3:44 pm on August 22, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      So who you got as the following:
      a) Guy last year who was way BELOW their par and will make a big COMEBACK next season
      b) Guy last year who was way ABOVE their par and will make a big DROPOFF next season
      c) First coach fired?

      • naturalbornanalysts 7:33 am on August 23, 2012 Permalink | Reply

        Yeah definitely as a bulls fan you are happy to let Omer walk at that price.. he isnt starter quality.

        a) Can i answer Brandon Roy for this or is he ineligible? I think I will have to go with Pau on this one.. he didnt have a shocking season last year, but with the amazing looks he will get this year he is sure to shoot up the ladder of big men again.
        b) Got one name for you… ILYASOVA… no way he puts up those numbers again.
        c) Del Negro? haha but seriously… I think Skiles needs to get the bucks performing… and Avery Johnson will be in a pressure cooker if the Nets dont supply W’s for the cash they have spent.

        Who are you thinking for the three?
        And give me your ROY, DPOY, MVP, 6th too.

        • jk41 8:17 am on August 23, 2012 Permalink

          a) I’d call Roy ineligible, seeing as the last image I have of him is that playoff game he destroyed Dallas with. Argh I was gonna say Pau….I’d love to go out on a limb with someone like Tyreke Evans here, but he’s the kind of guy who might need a change of scenery before getting back to playing good ball again or even remotely interested. Our Aussie buddy Bogut could be in line for a fresh start, but then he was injured, so I might go with Lamar Odom. He’s back in LA, should be motivated after all the bs last season and can basically fill the jack of all trades again like he did with the Lakers. And if not, well, nothing wrong with being a reality TV husband. And by nothing I mean everything!

          b) Hahaha Ilyasova was my fantasy workhorse last year! I think Ryan Anderson could drop off given he got paid and no ones going to be collapsing in the lane with Dwight gone. Jeremy Lin is gonna have tough time in Houston as well trying to carry the team while all the other teams will go hard at him.

          c) Vinny should forever be on the hot seat to get fired. He’s lucked into such great talent but runs the same pick and roll set while planting guys in the corners for threes. I’d say Tyrone Corbin would be shaky, Doug Collins if Bynum is still a bit crazy, Mike Woodson after the Knicks lose 1 game and want the burn down MSG.

          ROY: Gonna go with the Brow here over MKG. The Brow’s got a bit more support in terms of talent which will make it look like he had more influence in wins. Plus an offseason with Kobe, Lebron, Durant and co is a pretty good training camp!

          DPOY: I think Dwight is gonna be busy with the blocks with all the quick guards slipping past Nash, Kobe and Artest. Gasol isn’t a huge rebounder so Dwight will still get his.

          MVP: If Lakers turn out to be number 1 seed, and Dwight’s in DPOY mode, does that put him in MVP category?!?! Or is there still too much hate out there for him? I think with Dwight it was more annoying rather than hatred we had for Lebron after The Decision. Although it is the press that vote for MVP (and there have been lots of them panning Dwight for his actions), how could you deny someone in DPOY form, pulling a 3rd seed up to 1st and still averaging the numbers he does?

          6th Man: I like Terry in Boston, although he might actually start. Taj Gibson might be called upon even more this year with Asik gone so he’s a good chance. And if Harden stays on the bench and has the same kind of year you couldn’t look past him.

        • naturalbornanalysts 1:05 pm on August 23, 2012 Permalink

          yeah I remember watching that game live, and remembering why i was so devastated when we traded him away on draft day… apparently his mum has still got the wolves hat from draft day.
          and this is cool too… to relive

          yeah I had kind of forgotten about Odom, he had dropped that far off the radar… you think he should at least get back to some resemblance of form.

          ROY, its going to be hard to look past the brow, but I think Beal will have a really strong year for Washington, and a guy like Perry Jones 3 for OKC or a Jared Sullinger for Boston could have big years because there is absolutely no pressure playing at the places they are playing, and are part of winning programs immediately…always enjoy a good rookie sleeper.

          DPOY: Serge? I thought he was stiff to miss out last year, even though a lot of his blocks are purely weakside rotation blocks… still i think he should be in the conversation.

          MVP: No i dont think that D12 can… unless he puts up Lebron numbers. But he is unlikely to be back before Christmas, so I really dont think he can be in the conversation this year… Lebron or Durant have my money. I think if OKC lock up 1 in the west again and Durant wins the scoring title four the fourth year running, it will be like an Oscar MVP for body of work.

          6th Man : I always find this the toughest to pick..sure Harden is there, Terry is there… Jamison might also be in the mix in laker land if he is off the bench… or Jamal Crawford for Flop City.

    • jk41 4:00 am on August 28, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      Forgot to close this post off, which we should always do…after all, you don’t leave without saying goodbye right?!

      I think what everyone loves about the NBA season is the surprises…so it’ll be interesting to see what sticks and what doesn’t of our predictions above.

      No doubt we’ll have plenty to talk about!

      JK

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