A few thoughts for the Weekend...

1. Listening and reading a lot of basketball news and analysis I’ve come across a theme that most NBA intelligencia believe it is pointless to be good unless it leads to a championship.  Pundits are constantly calling for the breakup of teams when they can’t see a clear road to a championship.  Why is winning a championship everything?  Being good is valuable too.  Having a local team that’s fun to watch would be really nice.  This is the time in the season when everyone wonders what’s the point of teams like Atlanta or Memphis.  The point is that they play basketball that’s actually worth watching.  Yes they’re not going to win it all but at least it’s worth going to games.  There’s value in being good.  It’s okay losing a lot if the team you like has young players with potential that are fun to see grow.  Minnesota sucks this year but they’ve got a young core and there’s some potential there.  People forget that OKC with Durant and Westbrook were very terrible for a number of years before they turned the corner.  I'm sure even those fan bases would sacrifice a championship mentality for some wins.  And then there are teams that are just plain bad and it’s hard to see a clear way forward.  Draft picks might make sense on paper but future picks don’t put a worthwhile product on the court.  Teams like Philadelphia and New York are just plain depressing to watch.  I’m just thinking there’s more value to having a local team that plays basketball well then most pundits credit.  Championships aren’t everything when you have to watch shitty ball year after year…

2. Lately Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf has been mentioned as an under rated player who could shoot off the dribble like Stephen Curry.  Please.  There are a few similarities but their stats don’t even remotely compare.   By modern NBA standards Rauf was just not a good shooter.  In his best season he was .392 from three-point land.  That’s ok but it’s a far cry from the top shooters in the league these days.  His career percentage was in the low 30s.  Let’s stop making this comparison immediately please…

3. I was thinking that maybe I would have to eat my words about Chicago being able to challenge Cleveland but lately Cleveland has seemed pretty beatable.  There are a number of teams in the East that might be able to put up a fight against Cleveland in a series.  Boston and Toronto in particular have made it clear that Cleveland won’t have a cakewalk to the finals.  They’re still the favorites in my mind because you have to assume Lebron has another gear until he proves he doesn’t.  But having said that Lebron is not aging well.  Lebron’s shot is clearly not as good as it used to be and though he can still overpower most anyone, he’s not quite as strong or as fast as he once was.  His shot was always a bit erratic but he’s going to need to spend this next off-season worrying less about his strength and conditioning and more about developing his skill level.  There will come a point some day when he isn’t the strongest and fastest dude on the court and when that day comes he’ll want a consistent jump shot to stay on top…

4. The Spurs just keep rolling along.  I watched them basically dismantle the Rockets in the first quarter this weekend.  Kawhi is so good and efficient.  His value can be seen not only by his fantastic shooting but that the Spurs defense dropped off a cliff when he was injured recently.  Due to the Warriors the Spurs are having the greatest season of any team in the history of basketball to which absolutely no one is paying attention...

Post All-star break initial thoughts...

     Let me start by stating I have zero interest in anything that involves all-star weekend except perhaps there were a few badass dunks between Aaron Gordon and Zach Lavine.  Moving on...

     I watched Utah Vs. Washington the other night.  I was listening to the Washington announcers and it’s never a good sign when the local announcers sound like they constantly expect their team to make mistakes and collapse.  Washington has a good team in there somewhere.  I like their length with Otto Porter and Garrett Temple.  Both guys seem like they’ll be good players but it’s going to take a few years.  Neither one shoots particularly well but they’ve both got good form and I see their accuracy improving over time.  In a few years if Washington can stay the course there’s a dangerous team of Wall, Beal, Porter, Temple, and Morris.  I’m not a fan of Morris’ attitude but he’s a good, tough player and he really has a good chance to fit right in with Washington.  He’s got length and is strong and can shoot.  All five guys on Washington could be interchangeable with length on defense and all threats on offense.  I’m not sure if Washington is willing to wait it out but if they are this team could be good in a few years.  Utah is hard to figure out.  They’ve been playing very well before the break but did not look good on this night.  They struggle so hard to get shots on offense.  Hood and Hayward are their only consistent threats, but Favors and Gobert should be effective on offense.  Gobert rolls well and Favors has a surprisingly versatile in and out game.  They so clearly lack a viable NBA level point guard to help them get easier shots.  Someone that can run an offense and put pressure on the opposing team.  Trey Burke is clearly not that player and will never be more than a 20-minute a game back up.  Raul Neto is pretty much the equivalent talent of Burke but looks to pass more rather to shoot, which is probably the only reason he’s starting.  In today’s NBA that point guard combination is going to be a major problem and currently it’s keeping Utah from seeing what kind of team they really have.

Biggest/ Favorite surprises of the season so far:

     Blazers:  I can’t believe this team isn’t terrible.  Not only are they not as bad as I thought they’d be but they actually might make the playoffs.  Not only might they make the playoffs but they might be a higher seed then 8^th.  The biggest surprise on this surprising team is clearly C.J. McCollum.  He’s hands down the most improved player of the year.  Last year he averaged 6.8ppg and this year he/s at 21.1ppg.  Lillard is still flawed as a player and though he’s upped his ppg average from 21 to 25.1 that’s mostly due to an increase in attempts now that he’s the main focus of their offense.  His field goal percentages of 42.7% from the field and only 37.2% from 3 point range are not what they should be for someone considered to be a great shooter.  McCollum is at 44.9% and 40.8% respectively.  In addition to his low shooting percentages, Lillard’s defense is still not good.  But he seems to be a good leader who plays hard and gets his team to stay focused.  Intangible qualities that often go unnoticed in a league obsessed with the latest metrics.  Beyond the backcourt there just isn’t a whole lot going on for the Blazers and that’s why I’m so impressed that they are above .500. 

     Rookies: I can’t believe how good last year’s draft was when you get past the lottery.  Obviously Towns is awesome and Porzingis is a Unicorn.  Okafor can score and Russell is on the wrong team with the wrong coach.  But starting from the 10^th pick on is when this draft really separates itself.  Winslow is a good defensive player who could be a good basketball player if he ever learns to shoot.  His mechanics don’t look terrible.  I’m really impressed by Myles Turner.  If this guy had been drafted by the Knicks there would definitely be talk that he was the second coming of Jesus Christ.  Turner was held a bit back by injuries early on but now that he’s healthy he looks really good.  He can shoot and he’s tough inside and he’s big and quick and has a high motor.  Trey Lyles, Devin Booker, and Bobby Portis are all going to be excellent players as well.  Rarely do drafts have so many real potential rotation players beyond the 10^th pick that become apparent in their rookie years.  Usually the post lottery guys take a few years to become something.  There are also a number of other picks like Mudiay and Stanley Johnson and Kaminsky and Cameron Payne and Cauley-Stein that have potential to be legit NBA players.  What I’m trying to say is that it’s about as deep a draft as we’ve had in a while. 

Biggest disappointments right now:

          It was pointed out to me recently that Chicago is probably not a legitimate threat to Cleveland in the East and I would have to agree with that not only because everyone on their team is injured but because they seem a bit directionless.  You never know though. 

     Oklahoma City is just so hit and miss.  Durant and Westbrook are so good but the team around them makes no sense.  Ibaka is nice but after that it’s clear Presti has done a terrible job choosing the supporting cast.  They signed Kantor to way too big a contract.  He’s effective on offense at times but he’s practically unplayable for major minutes due to his atrocious defense.  Watching him lope back on defense is one of my least favorite sights.  It’s not that he’s not trying but that his strides are so awkward and slow.  Waiters likewise is practically unplayable for major minutes and yet he gets them.  Adams is fine but he’s only capable of so much.  Beyond Durant and Westbrook and Ibaka it’s impossible to come up with an ideal five players you’d like on the court at crunch time.  Who do you pick from their lineup as the other two.  There are no good choices.  That doesn’t bode well for them.  On any given night the talent of Durant and Westbrook can overwhelm an opponent but in a seven game series against Golden State or San Antonio I just don’t see it. 

     Minnesota: There’s just too much talent on this team to be as bad as they are.  Please get a real coach…

     Houston: This team is a mess

     San Antonio is a great team but I just don't see anyone beating Golden State at this point.  They're in a class all their own and Curry does things to opposing defenses that no other player can...