The NBA So Far (part 4)

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As promised here is our continued look at the NBA. For the last installment of this series (on the top 8 teams) we might switch things up a bit.

13. The Portland Trail-Blazers (72points)*

The Blazers started off this season as one of the best teams in the West and they looked like they could potentially pull off a few upsets in the playoffs and get to the finals. Their starting five was solid on both offense and defense, but they also had key contributors off the bench. Then things started trending downwards and the team has not been able to pull it together. McMillan decided to sub Crawford into the starting lineup instead of Felton (who apparently forgot how to play basketball) which was obviously not going to work, since Crawford will never primarily look to pass. He is a great scorer off the bench and can go off for 50 (did so while playing for three different teams) on any given night, but he should not be forced into playing like a distributor. The other move McMillan made was subbing Batum in for Matthews, which turned out great for Batum, but put Matthews in a giant shooting slump. So then came the trade deadline which involved rumours surround the Blazers. Will Crawford go to the Wolves? Will Felton go to the Lakers? Well neither of these two happened, but the team said fuck it and just traded just about everyone else away. Camby was shipped to the Rockets, Wallace to the Nets (I still don’t get why the nets did this…it’s not like Wallace will make Deron stay), Oden was waived (go to Pheonix, it’s your only chance at playing again!), and McMillan was fired. What did the Blazers gain from this? Not much to be honest, except more playing time for their younger players. Where will they finish the season? At home on their couches watching the NBA playoffs (hopefully Felton stays away from whatever he was eating prior to this season). Now the Blazers can look forward to the NBA lottery and hope the team rebounds next year, since they do have some good pieces to surround Aldridge with.

-Igor

*Editors Note: It really speaks volumes as to how much this team fell off from the start of the season.

12. The Denver Nuggets (72points)

When we initially picked the teams that we wanted to write about, I jumped on this Nuggets squad. They were playing a fun, up-tempo style and were winning games without a true star, but unfortunately, injuries got the better of them and they were unable to sustain their red-hot start to the season. As of this writing (insert joke about how out-dated some of these rankings are) the Nuggets are in a three-way tie for 7^th in the Western conference, but are a half game out of fourth, and four games out of third. The West basically breaks down to nine teams fighting for the last five spots, as the Thunder, Lakers, and Spurs have created separation from the rest of the pack. So where do the Nuggets fall in that mix? If I had to choose, I think 8^th is the spot that they will end up with. For starters, Denver is still not fully healthy, and the constant flux of line-ups and minutes has not allowed them to be consistent whatsoever. Secondly, the Nuggets have only six (!) home games remaining in the regular season, are they good enough to scrape some road games? Yes. Can they win more than 54% (their current winning percentage) of them? Probably not; From April 13^th to April 25^th Denver plays the Lakers, the Rockets twice, the Clippers, the Suns, the Magic, and lastly the Thunder in that order. That stretch of games will determine whether or not they make the playoffs, but until then all they can do is try to keep winning games and hopefully get healthy for the playoffs. If Denver makes it in I firmly believe that anything can happen, even Mark Cuban is on record as saying that “seeding has never mattered less”. So the key is to just make the playoffs and hope that the match-ups work out in your favour. Until the playoffs actually start however, we know nothing.

-Daki

11. The Orlando Magic (82 points)

So after much speculation, Dwight Howard has decided to exercise his player option for the following season and remain with the Orlando Magic. It would have been interesting to see how he would have fared in New Jersey with Deron Williams, which seemed to be the only plausible city Howard was going to end up in. The Lakers were not going to trade Bynum, and no one else was offering any trade the Magic would be willing to accept. So now that Howard is still with the Magic, they have the exact same team they’ve had all year. They’re 3^rd in the Eastern conference, which is impressive considering the inconsistencies they’ve been battling all season, especially from Jameer Nelson, who seems to be finally picking up his pace and playing the way he should have been playing all season. Howard has had his usual great season, and hopefully his level of effort picks up now that he knows he’s going to be staying in Orlando this year. One of the biggest surprises for the Magic this year has been the improved play of Ryan Anderson, who is leading the league in both threes attempted and threes made. The Magic are playing well right now and they are 3^rd in the league points allowed per game. They have the ability to go far in the playoffs, but they’ll need their starters to be more consistent more often. However, it will be difficult to beat the Heat in the playoffs, as they are, in my opinion, still the favourites to win the title this year.

-Jovan

10. The Memphis Grizzlies (82 points)

If you read our NBA preview feature, you probably remember me audaciously picking the Grizzlies to make the finals. With the season 75% completed, my stance on that has not changed. Instead of recapping their season with some insight, I will just come out and list my reasons for picking this team to come out of the West.

Defense

Tony Allen and Mike Conley give opposing backcourts fits on a nightly basis, these guys are both top 10 in the league in steals, but they rarely gamble and play themselves out of good position (kind of like Larry Hughes used to do). Off of the bench, Pondexter, is another guy who has been good defensively for the Grizzlies, needless to say: they can contain perimeter oriented teams. Also, if Tony Allen is locked in, you will not even get shots off (Prime example: Kevin Martin only attempting 3 shots against Allen). If it was not for the big-man bias in the DPOY awards, Allen would be my pick. He might be better than Bruce Bowen ever was (In my end-of-the year awards I will explain exactly why Allen should win over Dwight Howard). Memphis also has a lot of size and athleticism in their front-court to bother any team. A match-up against the Lakers would be fascinating to watch.

Execution

Last year in the playoffs, Memphis was always able to run a play to get a basket when they needed it. This is how they closed out the Spurs, and took 2 (and lost one 3OT game) from the Thunder. I know it sounds cliché, but in the playoffs, defense does get better and everything slows down to a crawl. The fact that Memphis is one of few teams that can execute down the stretch, makes them a very dangerous team.

Coaching

Let’s just say that if coach Hollins and coach Del Negro switched places, the Clippers would be first in the West. What is most impressive about the job Lionel Hollins has done is that Memphis has been fully healthy for a total of 10 games this year, yet there they are, 4^th in the West.

Star Power

Sometimes running a play is not enough and you need someone to step up and create something from nothing. Memphis has that in Zach Randolph, who proved that he could carry a team down the stretch of games in last year’s playoffs.

I think that only 8 teams can win the title at this point, and Memphis is definitely one of those 8.*

*If you are curious, the other seven are: Miami, Chicago, Orlando, the Lakers, the Spurs, the Thunder, and the Mavericks. Yet another reason that you will find our rankings weird, but I swear they made sense at the all-star break.

-Daki

9. The Los Angeles Lakers (86 points)

First off, I hate the Lakers. This is something that will never change. The Lakers did more to cause unhappiness in my childhood than (spoiler alert if you’re reading this in 1994) Scar killing Mufasa. The Lakers of the early 2000’s had one of the strongest starting five ever with Kobe, Shaq and whatever three referees were working any given night. They used this to win 3 straight titles beating the Sacramento Kings several times in the playoffs over this stretch. Because of this I will always hate Kobe, Shaq, Rick Fox, Robert Horry, The Staples Center, the color combination of purple and gold and everything associated with the team (I even dislike Jack Nicholson). How do I feel about the Lakers current squad? If you asked me this question before the NBA’s trade deadline, I would have said that the Lakers have a very talented top 3 but then the talent level drops incredibly and that they were destined for a 2^nd round playoff exit. However, my feelings about the Lakers have changed since they somehow managed to trade Luke Walton (last played in 2008, not a real stat but that’s what it feels like), Jason Kapono (he’s just bad), and Derek Fisher (washed up since 2007, not really sure what to call him now. He’s like that one shirt you’ve had for so long that all the color has bled out. That’s how washed up he is.) for Ramon Sessions (legitimate NBA point guard) and Jordan Hill (decent big man with potential). How this trade happened, no idea since this type of deal wouldn’t even be able to go through in NBA 2k12 (my theory is that David Stern had to give the Lakers something after he completely fucked them with the Chris Paul veto in the summer). The Lakers can now throw out a crunch-time lineup of Kobe (having an absolutely incredible year. I don’t like the guy but you have to respect him. Bonus points for the nights where he decides he has to prove to everyone that he’s still an elite player and starts forcing up horrible shots, completely ignoring Gasol and Bynum in the process. Very fun to watch) Ramon Sessions, Metta World Peace, Pau Gasol (has never taken a shot and thought “maybe I shouldn’t yell for no reason this time”), and Andrew Bynum (an absolute monster the last couple of weeks, if the Lakers are smart they just dump the ball to Bynum every chance they get. Oh what’s that? Kobe just took a contested 26-footer?). No team in the West wants to play this team in the playoffs. A possessed Kobe going for his 6^th ring, two of the best fifteen (maybe ten) big men in basketball*, World Peace who randomly owns Durant and a good point guard in Sessions mean (sadly) watch out for LA again in May and June.

-Luka

*Editor’s note: Bynum and Gasol may be in the top 5 of NBA big-men (The only 2 that are without-question better than the Lakers’ duo are Dwight Howard and Dirk Nowitzki).

So that wraps-up the teams ranked 30 to 9. For the final 8 you will get an opinion on each team from all four of us, followed by my ¾ season review. Shortly after that the best time of the year starts (I am of course talking about the NBA playoffs, and not exams).