Why Not The Bulls

     It’s pretty much been a forgone conclusion that the Cavs are going to make it to the NBA finals.  Not that they’re so good but that most of the east is stuck in a perpetual state of mediocrity.  The Bulls have been my only pick since the beginning of the season to even have a chance of upsetting Cleveland but they’ve been so inconsistent that it’s been really hard to take them seriously.  But for the first time this season I’m thinking why not the Bulls?  It’s not that I think they’ve figured anything out.  I’m sure they’re going to be inconsistent all year long but they are definitely a bad match up for the Cavs.  Gasol is totally comfortable against anyone in the Cavs front line and Rose plays Kyrie well.   Butler can’t stop Lebron but he makes him work hard and expend a lot of energy.  When other members of the Cavs guarded Butler he got his shots fairly easily.  It’s just a matter of hitting shots for Butler, Gasol, and Rose.  Love has difficulty guarding anyone on the front line of Chicago.  I’m not sure Love is going to still be on the Cavaliers by the trade deadline as Lebron is clearly calling the shots and I see their relationship as a bit toxic.  But having said that I really didn’t expect Love to resign with the Cavs to begin with.  I thought he’d head west given that Lebron has a look of disgust on his face every time Love does anything on either end of the basketball court.  Love is a mysterious guy though and it’s very difficult to figure out where his head is at.  He doesn’t give away much.  It wasn’t just that the Bulls beat Cleveland on Saturday night but that they looked like clearly the better team doing it.  Rose shot terribly but it didn’t matter.  He got mostly good looks and penetrated at will.  If a few of those layups roll in it’s an even bigger blow out than it was.  I have no confidence in Tyrone Lue as the mind to solve the Cavs troubles.  When you’re making decisions according to how your team reacts to a big win as Griffin claims he did after the seeing how the Cavs reacted to beating down the Clippers your team is in trouble.  That’s not on the coach.  It’s on the GM for assembling a group of people that don’t really get along.  The Wiggins for Love trade is going to haunt the Cavs for a long time unless they figure things out soon and win it all.  Wiggins would have fit in incredibly well on this team.  Him and Lebron would have been a great defensive combo and Wiggins would have given them more of a running mentality.  Lebron, or his people, clearly wanted the Love deal to happen and I think we can say there is pretty clear evidence that Lebron will be about as good a GM as Jordan has turned out to be.  There are too many power forwards on Cleveland and not one of them has the full skill set necessary to thrive with Lebron.  Love opens up the floor with his shooting but his defense is atrocious and he’s just not scoring enough to make it worth having him out there so much.  Part of that is on the other Cavaliers.  They have to force feed Love on offense in order to validate his playing time.  It might be enough to win the east just using Love as a decoy to spread the floor but it’s not going to beat Golden State and San Antonio and at this point I’m not sure it’s enough to knock off the Bulls either.  Everything about the Cavs seems confused and in flux right now and looking at Lue on the bench I just don’t get the feeling that he has the experience to make any significant changes to this team.  If I were Griffin I’d hire Tom Thibodeau immediately and give him free rain to say anything to anybody and do anything to anyone’s minutes. 

     As far as the real championship  goes the Spurs and Warriors will meet for the first time Monday night.  It comes as no surprise that Duncan suddenly has a mysterious knee ailment and will miss the game to rest.  Pop doesn’t like to give stuff away and he’s happy to play undermanned and give alternate looks for games like this.  It kind of sucks because pretty much everyone has been looking forward to this game all season as these are clearly the two best teams but I totally understand why Popovich does this shit.  Why give Golden State a chance to see what they’re going to have to solve if they meet up in the playoffs.  Pop has been pulling this shit for years in what amounts to the bigger regular season match ups.  I’m sure it will still be a great game…

The NBA Doldrums

     So I’ve been in music recording mode the past couple of weeks down in New Orleans (and then running around for the holidays), which only partly explains my lack of recent posts.  One factor, of course, is that no one is paying me to write these and most likely no one is actually reading them so it’s more of an exercise in fun and love of basketball than it would otherwise be.  Another factor is that this is generally the least exciting or interesting time of the NBA season as far as I’m concerned.  Out of the gates anything is possible and it’s fun to see and to predict what has changed from the previous season.  How teams reinvent themselves and improve or decline is new and exciting but there’s not much data under the belt to confirm or deny these reactions.  Gradually, as teams chug through the grind of the season there is more data that allows one to draw more realistic conclusions.  In the beginning it’s all an exciting guessing game.  We are at the strange point in the season where the excitement of predicting what trends will continue is over as facts accrue but the season is still young enough that the sample size isn’t great enough to support full blown analysis.  Having said that, I’m going to draw what conclusions I can so far in this season and discuss the topics that I have found most interesting thus far…

    

     Is this swiftly becoming a two-team league?  I hope the answer to this question is not yes even though these two teams just happen to be my favorites to watch.  Part of the problem has been that not only are Golden State and San Antonio looking really good, but the teams that were supposed to rival them for championship contention are all playing much worse than expected.  In the West the big disappointments thus far are Houston, The Clippers, and Memphis.  Houston has some serious mental problems.  Harden has regressed this season.  He’s just become so inefficient and he’s stopped caring again on defense.  Beyond that they just don’t have enough players that you can count on consistently.  Los Angeles is a dangerous team but their bench is so terrible.  On paper they looked to be much improved this season but it just hasn’t panned out.  Doc Rivers is getting nothing out of anyone beyond the starting 4.  It’s hard to see a team winning it all without an actual 5 players you want on the court at the end of a game.  Memphis still can’t shoot and now they can’t play defense as well.  The only team not named San Antonio or Golden State I can see getting to the finals in the West is Oklahoma City.  They’re not there yet but the duo of Westbrook and Durant is just so dangerous.  I’m skeptical of them because they too just don’t know who to put on the court in crunch time. 

     The East is full of pretty good teams that just don’t have what it takes to win it all.  The only team that has even a remote to stop Cleveland from getting to the finals is Chicago.  They’re a bit of a mess but the potential is there.  Miami doesn’t have enough bodies.  They flash some potential but I just don’t think Dragic is that good and he’s certainly not very compatible with the rest of the team.  Toronto is too schizophrenic.  Everyone else is a year or two away at least. 

      Basketball is a game of ebbs and flows and I’m sensing that the magic of the Warriors is diminishing.  They’ve gone from historic to very good.  Curry isn’t dominating the way he did in the beginning of the season.  Defenders are muscling him and stealing the ball.  Right before Christmas the Warriors played the Jazz and Trey Burke stole the ball from Curry straight up a couple of times.  Burke is not a powerhouse defender and earlier in the year when Curry was on his hot streak this would not have happened but Curry has cooled down and he’s always been prone to turnovers.  Sometimes a winning streak like the Warriors had takes more energy than you’d think and sometimes streaky players just get extra hot, but either way the Warriors are not the same team as they were in the beginning of the year.  That’s not to say they won’t regain their form but for now they look really good but mortal.  Their offense is not flowing freely and the ball is sticking.  Most importantly they’re missing some shots.  They look beatable.  Contain Curry and punish them inside.  It’s a formula that the Spurs, who currently look like the best-oiled machine in the league, look capable of bringing to fruition.  Ironically it’s the Warrior’s defense that is winning them games at this stage more so than their offense.  On a side note, let’s stop with the Curry vs. Michael Jordan talk.  Yes, for the first 20 games or so he played historically good ball but that kind of sample size only counts as a hot streak.  Sustainability is what makes the greatest players who they are and what separates them from other very good players.  On any given night a large number of NBA players are capable of getting hot and looking amazing, but a very select few can do so consistently.  Twenty or so games is an amazing hot streak but going out on an off night in the middle of the season when you and your team are tired is hard work and few players are historically capable of such feats of consistency.  5 of 14 from the field and 2 for 8 from 3 against Trey Burke’s defense does not make me fear for Jordan’s title as GOAT.  You can see Curry’s body breaking down a bit at this point in the season.  Curry has been out with a calf injury and in his absence the Warriors seem quite mortal.  It makes for a better to story to extrapolate what happens if the Warriors continue to dominate but let us not forget that the 2007/8 Rockets won 22 games in a row.  Theirs was far from a historic roster.  Part of Golden State’s appearance of mortality is that certain matchups are not great for them and the Jazz fall under this category but I would worry about this if I were them as San Antonio is a much better version of the Jazz.  Also, they’ve not looked great lately against some pretty mediocre to bad opponents.  The Celtics should have beaten them, as should have the Nets twice.  The 12 and 18 Milwaukee Bucks looked like a great team when they played Golden State.  No team is going to dominate an entire season and even more so look dominant an entire season but there are trends now that worry me a bit.  Having said that Golden State continues to win anyway and that’s what great teams do. 

     San Antonio on the other hand has been playing the long game to perfection.  Parker is in better shape, Aldridge is just starting to figure things out in a new system, and David West is killing it coming off the bench.  Danny Green is only now starting to shoot well and Patty Mills hasn’t yet found his form and they’re killing teams.  Kawhi is completely awesome.  He’s incredibly efficient with his shooting and can get to whatever and wherever he wants.  His defense is suffocating.  I worry about the old folks getting overwhelmed by a team like Oklahoma City but I see them and Golden State as neck and neck right now and I just feel like it’s a favorable matchup for San Antonio.  The Spurs can go big and pound Golden State or they can go small and Kawhi will have no problems sticking with Green at the 4.  They’re my two favorite teams but I sure hope this season isn’t heading towards just waiting from now until these two teams clash in the Western Conference finals to decide who wins the championship.

-- Just watched Orlando against the Hawks.  Some day soon Orlando is going to be good but my biggest take away from that game was watching Victor Oladipo help off of Kyle Korver multiple times.  What the hell was he thinking?  When you play the Hawks you stay with Korver at all times.  You can’t sag into the lane.  Oladipo’s defensive lapses were inexcusable.  I’m guessing Skyles has some emphatic words for him after the game.  Orlando has really turned it around this year and I like where their team is going but they’ve still got a ways to go…

-- Cleveland looks like they’ll take the east pretty easily to me.  Such is the greatness of Lebron though that if he were back on Miami they would be the favorite to win it this year.  The core of Wade, Bosh, Whiteside and Lebron would be devastating.  Miami is in serious long term trouble though.  I’m not sure they can keep Whiteside and they shelled out way too much for Dragic.  He’s just not nearly worth the money they gave him.

-- I know I said no 76er comments but the Colangelo hiring felt like the other owners finally rebelling.  I couldn’t believe that from a business standpoint all these rich folks had kept quiet about a franchise that was causing them to lose money.   By the way, citing Kendal Marshall as super important to their team’s plans and saying that his surgery was a huge set back is the biggest indictment of the 76ers to date.  Poor Brett Brown.  Now he’s got D’Antoni breathing down his neck and it’s unfair because no coach on earth could have wrung anymore wins from this pile of crap than he has.  You can’t coach offense when nobody knows how to score.  It’s pointless.

-- Garnett is the perfect veteran for Towns and Wiggins.  They’re both almost too mellow.  He pumps them up and gets them to play harder and assert their talent.  Minnesota still doesn’t have the fire to be consistent but when they dig in there’s a team in there somewhere.  At this point they just don’t know when to pass and when to shoot.  Guys force things all the time and I’m not sure how much of an actual offense they’re running.  I’ve never been a huge fan of Sam Mitchell.  Seems like a nice guy though.  How about you play Towns some more and force-feed him the ball some more?  He should be getting more shot attempts.  I think if he leads the team in shots attempts they’ll have a much better chance of winning.  As it is this team is all potential and no reality.  I’d say fire Mitchel but riding this year out and losing a bunch of games in order to get one more high draft pick is actually a good idea.  They’re a fun bad which is a good place to be.  It’s a pleasure watching this team lose.  Next year they need to make a leap though and should high a coach capable of making this team better. 

-- Is Anthony Davis the most over rated player in the NBA?  I’m not saying he’s not great but pre-season hype was leaning towards him being the best player in the league.  I know they’ve had a lot of injuries but could you imagine Lebron James losing this many games?  I can’t. 

-- And finally, Matt Barnes is out of his freaking mind.  If you haven’t followed his latest New Year’s tweet it’s pretty hilarious.  Some people should not be using social media…

  

Kobe's last game in Philadelphia

The Lakers may be the stupidest team in the NBA.  They certainly look like there is absolutely no one coaching them.  Something is very wrong with Kobe Bryant’s brain.  He came out against the 76ers and just started chucking.  I know I vowed to ignore all things 76ers but it was the only game on league pass to begin the night and I figured it would be interesting seeing Kobe play for the last time in his home town.  He came out chucking and miraculously hit a small handful of shots .  The crowd went completely insane and I don’t know if this melted his brain or what, but he proceeded to start dribbling up court and launching terrible shots without even acknowledging that he might possibly have teammates in the gym with him.  He started out 3 for 4 from the field (all 3 pointers) which makes it all the more remarkable that he finished the game 7 for 26 which is bad enough, but even worse, he was a god awful 4 of 17 from 3 point land.  It wasn’t just that he was missing but that he was taking bad shots that had nothing to do with anything remotely resembling an offense scheme.  In these two clips it's as if his teammates don't even exist...

Dribble up the court, ignore everyone else, and shoot a bad 3 pointer

The one on one airball.  I think this is the shot for which I will always remember Kobe!

Dude, please stop it.  You are embarrassing yourself.  The Lakers played like they were in a terrible pickup game in which every individual was just desperately rushing to get theirs.  I just could not believe the crap Kobe was throwing up at the rim.  It’s a testament to how much he’s respected (or feared) that no one on his team has murdered him for monopolizing the ball so much on offense.  He should retire right now and Byron Scott should be fired and should never coach another basketball game on any level for the rest of his life as punishment for allowing Kobe to do what he is doing.  Actually, The Lakers should probably just make Kobe interim head coach for the season.  That way they could eliminate the charade that he is not simply doing anything he wants.  He can play himself the whole game and he can take every shot.  Philadelphia is very very bad but at least they try hard and are well coached.  Congratulations to them for proving that they’re not the worst team in the league at this moment.  That’s it.  I swear I will not watch nor mention either of these teams again this season…

Golden State Warriors vs. Utah Jazz:

     That was a great game.  The Jazz played it perfect.  Rudy Gobert dominated on defense and his cuts to the basket opened up all kinds of action for the Jazz on offense.  Favors played really well and hit all his free throws (he’s a 66% free throw shooter normally) going 5 for 5 from the line with a number of those in crunch time.  Hayward played like an all-star.  Alec Burks shot 8 for 15 from the floor.  Utah did everything right.  They slowed the game down and played big.  They took the lead late and put pressure on the Warriors.  And yet Curry pulled the trigger on a couple of big 3s and that was the game:

Golden State didn’t play particularly well but they did what they had to and their best player hit two demoralizing shots against good defense and that was it.  The streak continues...

Thanksgiving Weekend...

--Cleveland against Charlotte

Cleveland has Mo Williams, Matthew Dellavedova, Richard Jefferson and James Jones on the court at the same time.  I know Cleveland has a lot of injuries but that’s a problem. Lebron can be slow to set up the offense at times.  He gets a little enamored with pounding the rock.  In one sequence he runs pick and roll with Tristan Thompson and there’s nothing there. J.R. Smith gets the ball with 5 seconds left on the shot clock.  That’s just terrible offense unless your goal is to have Smith chuck up something ugly.  Also, in crunch time of this game Jefferson is playing over love.  That doesn’t make much sense unless Love is injured (he wasn’t).  Cleveland seems like they’re squeaking by but their point differential is 3^rd in the league at 7 and they’ve already dealt with tons of injuries.  If they can ever get healthy they’ll cruise easily through the east.  It’s ugly Lebron dominant basketball but it’s effective.  Especially given the weakness of the east. 

--What’s up with certain teams just getting blown out when they lose.  Milwaukee, Houston, and Washington are the biggest culprits.  These three teams can look good but then they just get crushed on some nights.  Can we at least lose by under ten points people.  The following was as of Friday night…

  Milwaukee:  Of 9 losses, 7 are by more than 10 points and 4 by more than 19 and 3 by more than 25 (of those last 3 -- one by 25, another by 29 and another by 37. Average margin of loss = just under 18 points

  Washington: average loss = just under 14.  At what point do they consider moving on from Randy Wittman?  

  Houston:  First of all, they’re just 5 and 10 which is totally absurd.  Their average margin of loss just under 18 which is also absurd…

   I can’t comprehend how these 3 teams can lose games like this.  They’ve all got too much talent to be this bad on any given night.  Their average margin of loss leads me to believe that at least some of their problems are mental.  When things don’t go well they just cave.

--San Antonio does not look nearly as dominant as Golden State but I like how they’re developing.  They’re leading the league in opponents points per game at 90.5 over two points better than second place Miami.  Classic spurs that at 13 and 3 they’ve got the second best record in the NBA and no one cares.  They’re second in point differential to Golden state at 8.9 (Golden State = 15.6).  Their pace is much slower than Golden State’s so it may not be as great a statistical gap between the two as it seems.  The positives are that Aldridge has not come even close to playing as well as he can.  He’s still figuring out where his shots are going to come from.  He also doesn’t seem in the least bothered by a lower scoring average which makes him very Spurs-ian.  Kawhi looks great.  He’s really turning into a star on offense as well as defense.  The only negative is that the old core has definitely aged.  Parker has looked a step slower, but he’s gradually getting in better shape.  Duncan has stepped back but he also looks like he’s coasting through this part of the season.  He still seems ageless at certain points.  I still think he has some big time basketball left in his system.  I think there’s more depth on the team than people think.  Jonathon Simmons has the potential to be the next big Spurs reclamation project.  He’s got size and is very athletic and plays with a great motor.  Once the Spurs coaching staff puts the Kawhi treatment on him I wouldn’t be surprised if he turns into another steal.  The Spurs are clearly looking long term with this season, yet they’re still winning which bodes very well for them and poorly for the rest of the league. 

     Last season San Antonio scored 103.2 ppg and gave up 97 ppg.  This season they’re scoring 99.4ppg and giving up 89.7ppg.  In their championship season they scored 105.4ppg and gave up 97.6ppg.  That season the Spurs basically laid the ground work for what Golden State is doing today.  Pop is doing the smart thing.  GS is unique and you’re not going to beat them doing what they do.  The hope is to buck the trend and go big and play great defense and slow the pace down.  Everyone else in the league is trying to copy Golden State but they are just not taking into account that the Warriors have historically unique personnel.  I just don’t see anyone beating the Warriors at their game.  Not that The Spurs would gear everything towards GS but they’re desperate to win one more for Duncan without giving up their future and they’re in a unique position to achieve both goals at the same time.  Their only chance of winning against Golden state is to pound them inside and make them work on offense.  Right now they’re the only threat out there to Golden State down the line excepting perhaps whatever the Cavs become when or if they’re healthy.

--Isn’t Jahlil Okafor 19 years old?  How exactly was he in that nightclub in Boston the other night?  He’s clearly intoxicated in the video of the fight he got in (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAmCcvHHY8M).  I don’t think the police should necessarily crack down on him for this altercation (he probably should have been arrested that night) but they might wanna consider raiding that nightclub…

--The Rockets are so terrible that they gave up 114 points to Philadelphia and needed 50 from James Harden in order to squeak out a 2 point win on their home court.  That’s a season high in points for Philadelphia beating their previous mark by 11.  The 76ers are last in the league at 89.8 points per game.  That is not good.  On the plus side Houston seems to be playing Ty Lawson less.  He only played 16 minutes to Patrick Beverley’s 32 minutes.  This quote says it all for me from J.B. Bickerstaff:

    

"In past situations this year, we didn't handle those situations well," Rockets coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. "There's a growing belief in that locker room that they can do the things needed to win."

Ummm… Philadelphia was 0 and 16 before this game.  Anything less than a blowout does not constitute a growing belief that you’re doing the things needed to win.  On Sunday the Rockets squeaked past the Knicks who somehow scored 111 points without Carmelo Anthony.  That’s the team 28^th in the league for points per game scoring 15 points above their average minus by far their best offensive player.  Bickerstaff had another stupid sounding quote afterwards:

"It was a lesson in perseverance," said interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff. "We got down, but we didn't give in. It is a credit to our guys' mental toughness and fortitude."

Bickerstaff should have been ripping into his team for some horrible efforts against sub par opponents.  The following clip demonstrates some of the crappiest defense I've ever seen.  James Harden makes absolutely no effort whatsoever to play any defense.  He does take time to yell at a teammate though:

There are bad wins and good losses and for the Rockets that’s definitely two bad wins in one weekend.  As far as the Knicks go, Porzingis went for 20 and 10 with 8 for 13 shooting…

--Indiana knocked off Chicago and looked like the better team doing it and Paul George got the best of Jimmy Butler.  I’ve previously written all about this but I’m really impressed by Indiana and I can’t believe I’m saying this but right now they’re legitimately top 5 in the East…

--It honestly perplexes me that Mark Gasol cannot average 20 points a game.  I’m sorry but 15.2 points and 6.9 rebounds per game is just not going to cut it.  He is way too talented.  He’s big and moves well and has a nice touch and has good post moves.  What am I missing?  He should be dominating.  If I were his coach I’d be screaming at him constantly to take more shots.  He gets off just under 12 attempts a game.  Aggression is a talent and perhaps he just doesn’t have it.  If I were his coach there would be a rule that he does not get on the team bus unless he gets 20 shots up in the game.  On Sunday he once again only got up 8 shots making 4.  At least he grabbed 12 rebounds in his 39 minutes.  I don’t know if this is in his head or whether it falls on the coaching but it seems a criminal waste of talent…

--Stephen Curry against Phoenix:  30 minutes and 39 seconds.  11 for 20 from the floor.  10 for 11 from the line.  9 for 16 from 3.  6 rebounds and 8 assists.  Totally insane.  He had 6 turnovers so at least he’s vaguely human….

--Anthony Davis went down from injury yet again.  How bad was the Jrue Holiday deal for them.  I just don’t see this team ever getting good.  What a waste…

--Boston vs. Orlando:

     Evan Fournier has outplayed Victor Oladipo this year and gotten himself into the starting lineup.  That’s gotta be killing Oladipo.  Can you believe that Evan Fournier is averaging 17.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game this season?  I can’t.  He’s shooting 44.6% FG and 40.2% from 3.  The former is not bad for a shooting guard and the latter is very impressive.  He definitely worked on his game over the summer because I would have written those numbers off as impossible last year (“not gonna happen,” as Jalen Rose would say).   He’s not very fast but he makes up for it by having good size and strength for a 2 guard. 

     I had a minor Thanksgiving disagreement with my brother over Orlando.  He thinks they’re uninteresting and that they do not have much talent on their team.  I disagreed. Elfrid Payton is intriguing.  He definitely has the point guard gene (he feels comfortable running a team and looking to get other players involved) and he’s got good size and can play defense.  He’s effective even though he is completely lacking a serviceable jump shot.  If he ever gets that he could be very good.  Vucevic is very good offensively.  He can shoot and has good post moves and he can rebound well.  He doesn’t have a whole lot else at this point but he could learn to play D and to pass serviceably.  Tobias Harris has potential as an all around type scorer with the size and strength to play bigger in a small ball line up.  Channing Frye was really good just a few years ago.  Oladipo plays hard and has loads of talent even if he’s erratic at times.  Coming off the bench gives him a chance to go full on offensive when he’s out there.  I’m not sure that’s a great thing.  He has a tendency to chuck a bit and what’s holding him back is knowing when to go for it and when to chill.  Somewhere in there though is a very good two way NBA player.  One very big positive for having Oladipo coming off the bench is that he keeps Napier from being on the court.  That’s a good thing.  Oladipo managed to rack up 19 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists in his 30 minutes against Boston on Sunday.  It’s the latter that impresses me in this role.  Scott Skiles will make some sort of a team out of these disparate elements.  Then he’ll yell at them too much and everyone will quickly become tired of him and another coach will take over.  Somewhere before, during, or after this process they’ll become a solid .500 team (I think they’re already there).  Oh and by the way, to my brother who scoffed at the idea that Aaron Gordon was an intriguing play I submit this:

And This:

Gordon is tall and fast and has a bounce to his step.  The offensive skills are clearly in there somewhere.  At some point his brain will catch up to his body and he’s going to be a good player that can easily play the small ball towards which the league is heading.  He’s got the length to bother bigger players and the quickness to keep up with guards.

As a team Orlando is just above .500 and has a slightly positive point differential at +.8.  That’s not bad considering where they’ve been the last few years…

    I can’t figure out what to think of Boston.  Stevens is a nice coach and he has them playing a fun style with a sense of over all purpose, but they are a team full of nice role players.  I don’t see any room for individual players to progress much beyond where they are (possibly excepting Marcus Smart).  They’ve got a ton of draft picks coming up thanks to the woeful nets so perhaps they’re actually positioned quite well for the future.  In 2016 alone they’ve got 4 first round picks potentially.  The Nets pick will obviously be good as they’re probably the 2^nd worse team in the league.  They’ve got their own pick and a top 7 protected pick from Dallas which surprisingly they’ll most likely be getting as Dallas is much better than expected.  Lastly, they’ve got a pick from Minnesota that is top 12 protected.  Most likely they won’t get that, but Minnesota does seem determined to win as much as possible and they’re reasonably talented so you never know.  In 2017 Boston can swap picks with the nets.  The Nets are going to be very bad once again so that could be another lottery pick.  They also get a top 11 protected pick from Memphis.  In 2018 they have their own pick and Brooklyn’s pick unprotected.  That’s crazy.  All they need to do is hit on a few of these picks and place a couple of top talent kids onto this team and they’ve got something.  There are also plenty of assets on the team now to make trades but not really the kinds of assets that get you anything much in particular unless you start throwing in some of these picks.  All in all, that’s pretty crazy, but it makes me interested in Boston this year only in so far as which players on their roster are worth keeping around.  All those draft picks will take up a significant number of the present roster spots unless Ainge can pull the trigger on a big trade. 

--Knicks vs. Rockets

     Unfortunately, due to illness, Carmelo Anthony was unable to audition for one of the few teams in the league with the potential desire to trade for him and which also has the assets to get it done.  Houston is closing in on desperate and they have players that Phil Jackson could consider.  They don’t have a draft pick next year, but a bunch of players plus their 2017 draft pick might be intriguing to Phil Jackson.  Personally I’d be vaguely interested in Clint Capela and I really like Donatas Montiejunas and Terrence Jones is ok.  Everything else doesn’t really interest me so perhaps it would take 2 future first round picks.  Other than Houston there’s not a large market out there for Carmelo among teams that have the players and cap space and picks to get the job done.  If I had to guess I’d guess that the Knicks keep Carmelo, but I’d feel much better with that prediction if they still had their draft pick for next year.  As it stands keeping Carmelo makes sense if you’re thinking championship and I don’t quite see how that happens without another good draft pick next year.  I like Porzingis but he’s not going to be enough and I don’t think there’s a realistic free agent out there that is going to make this team championship ready in the next couple years.  I could be wrong but it’s got to be tempting to get what you can for Carmelo now while he’s still worth something.  I like his game and I think he can be among your top two guys on a championship team but I can’t see how the Knicks get there in the next couple years before he starts to decline.  He can shoot so his game might age well but he is also kind of in between a small forward and a power forward and that disparity is trouble as you get older, weaker, and slower.  He’s already not a good defender as he used to be and in a few years he’s going to boarder on bad.

--Somehow the more competitive Philly’s games get the more depressing it is that they’re just not good enough to win.  Eventually they’ll pull it off but if I were a fan I’d be pissed.  I know they want to have the worst record but they could still achieve that and be slightly more watchable.  Which is going to happen first: will Philadelphia win a game or will Golden State lose a game?  Philly has a few vaguely winnable games coming up: Dec 1 against the Lakers and Dec 2^nd against the Knicks and Dec 5^th against Denver and Dec 10^th against Brooklyn.  Golden State has a tough one against Utah next but beyond that they might make it to Christmas against Cleveland.  The real answer is who fucking cares whether Philadelphia wins a game.  We should be watching every Golden State game and completely ignoring anything that Philadelphia does until they decide to join the NBA again and henceforth I will do just that…

--Raptors vs. Suns

    The Raptors lost a close one but they’d won 4 in a row before that and the Suns are 6 and 0 against teams when they’ve played the night before and it took 6 for 7 from 3 for Teletovic to get it done.  There are good losses and bad losses and that’s definitely not a bad loss Toronto…

--Lastly, can anyone explain to me the point of The Lakers playing World Peace for 27 minutes in a game?  Surely you can find some minutes for someone young.  It's not like they're actually expecting to win games at this point and even if they were World Peace would not be the answer.  Byron Scott is a confusing man.  Just throw in the towel and play anyone below the age of 30 please.  Not that it really matters.  The only relevance of The Lakers at this point is if you're nostalgic for Kobe's last hurrah.  I'm not particularly so like with the 76ers this may be the last time I mention this team this year...