For
Parts one and two of our NBA rundown, in case you missed them click here (one) and here (two). I noticed that in part two I
forgot to post the points that the teams accumulated from our ranking
system. Better late then never right? Here they are for those of you who are
curious: Kings-27, Suns-37, Bucks-37, Cavs-40, Warriors-41, Jazz-47. Yes, I do
realize that the Warriors are going to be ranked higher even though
they received fewer points, but it is a small price to pay for a
quality report. Anyways, here are teams 19 to 14.
19.
The Golden State Warriors (41 points)
Heading into the season the Warriors had failed at getting DeAndre
Jordan, settled for gifting Kwame Brown 9 million for the year (if decent big
men weren’t so scarce this guy would never have a job in the NBA unless it was
a locker room bouncer…and even then he’s probably too soft), were uncertain if
their back court could co-exist, and brought in rookie head coach Mark Jackson.
This obviously was not a recipe for success, so as a fan I wasn’t expecting
much this year except some fun up-tempo Warriors’ basketball. Unfortunately,
early on in the year the team seemed to have lost their flair on offense while
still being mediocre on defense which really concerned me (c’mon Mark you’re
better than that). However, in the last few weeks the team has really turned it
around and started playing that fun to watch basketball again. With a
relatively easy schedule the rest of the way (really doesn’t mean much since
they could lose to a d-league team but beat the ‘96 Bulls on any given night)
they could sneak into the playoffs as an 8th seed…and we all know what happened
last time they were 8th. Monta Ellis has been his usual self, hitting
ridiculous shots and making some spectacular plays, but the other half of their
back court really worries me. Stephen Curry keeps re-injuring his ankle and unless
he takes a larger amount of time off and heals fully, I could see this keep
happening throughout his career (knock on wood that this does not happen). As
for the other players, David Lee is showing why the Warriors signed him a few
years ago (no flesh eating elbow disease this year thankfully), Ekpe Udoh is a
solid center but probably not one I would start, Dorell Wright has gone from
one of the most improved players to one of the biggest busts this year and
needs to be benched or traded ASAP. The bench has been playing well and is
packed with scorers (Robinson and Thomspon) and good defenders (Rush and
McGuire) which is always a luxury to have. Apparently the front office is
interested in making a move for Bogut which I wouldn’t mind, even though he comes
with a huge injury risk. Many moves need to be made to improve this team for
the future, the first one being to acquire a good center, but for now I’m happy
to enjoy these fast paced late night games.
-Igor
18. The Boston Celtics (53 points)
The already old Celtics are getting older, yet Pierce and Garnett are
having very solid seasons. However, the Celtics aren’t playing as well this
year, which can be seen by their sub-par record (at just over .500), putting
them currently near the bottom of Eastern conference playoff teams. The Celtics
have had injuries all season, especially with Rondo and Jermaine O’Neal, and
their play has been inconsistent as a result. It also doesn’t help that Rondo
has been inconsistent himself, who followed the best statistical game of this
NBA season with an 8, 5 and 2 performance just two games after. Pierce has been
the best Celtic this year, and Ray Allen is shooting a career high percentage
from three point range, but there is not enough depth on this Celtics team and
a team with such a poor bench cannot expect to do well in the playoffs.
Boston’s decline began after they traded away Perkins, and it’s a shame they
could not win another title with him the previous year, but when you are
playing against the Lakers and David Stern, you probably shouldn’t expect to
win the title (though they did manage to take the series to seven games, even
though only one of those seven games were fairly refereed). The Celtics are
struggling, and their chances of making it anywhere in the playoffs are looking
slim, which is unfortunate because they will soon have to begin rebuilding once
their three veterans retire. At this point, it would be best for them to start
rebuilding right away and trying to get good value for their veterans, who can
still play well on their own. There’s no point in waiting for them to retire
when they still have a high current market value.
-Jovan
17. The
Minnesota Timberwolves (56 points)
Ricky Rubio.
Sadly this paragraph must begin with him and his season-ending injury suffered
just last week. With Rubio the T-Wolves have that rare player in the mold of
Steve Nash (yeah I get it, Rubio’s shooting sucks, but Nash shot 36% in the
98-99 lockout shortened season...just saying) with his ability to see the
floor, always find the open teammate, make passing infectious throughout the
team, and in general seem like the type of guy who would be extremely fun to
play with. With Ricky the Wolves were surprising everyone by staying right in
the playoff hunt in the extremely competitive Western Conference. Now without
him they have to turn to Luke Ridnour (very average) and J.J. Barea (Rick
Adelman seems to not like him for whatever reason) to hold down the fort at
point guard for the rest of the year. Could the Wolves still make the playoffs?
Possibly, but they’ll need to get even more from their superstar (no question
about this) forward Kevin Love who is without a doubt the best Power Forward in
the league (sorry Blake but you’re going to need something more than “spin,
spin, spin, yell and flop your arms” as
a post-move to get this status). Since Love is already averaging 25.7
points and 13.6 rebounds a game, this may be too much to ask. The Rubio injury
has been one of (if not the) worst stories of the year because this Minny team
had been one of the feel-good stories up to that point. Rick Adelman continues
to prove he’s one of the best coaches out there and Nikola Pekovic has emerged
as a very solid big man in the NBA. Something that seems even less likely when
his appearance seems more suited for a bouncer rather than an NBA center. I
believe Minnesota will continue to fight for a playoff spot the rest of the
season but will fall short due to a lack of PG consistency. Their future looks
very promising though with a young core of Rubio, Love, Pekovic, Derrick
Williams (has shown flashes of very good play), Michael Beasley (still
salvageable in my opinion), Wesley Johnson, Martell Webster, J.J. Barea, Darko
and the rest of a team that can only improve. Finally, if you’re not a fan of
the T-Wolves, watching this will
make you one.
-Luka
Editors
Note: We wish Ricky Rubio a swift and successful recovery, its never fun when
such a likeable and unselfish young player has his season ended so abruptly.
16. The New
York Knicks (62 points)
A few weeks back I picked the Knicks to write about. It was a very different time in New York. Linsanity was at an all-time high, D’Antoni seemed competent, Amare looked to be rounding into form, Melo was on his way back, and Steve Novak had stolen a Super Bowl MVP’s celebration and everyone was fine with it (this actually happened). Fast forward to today and the Knicks have done a complete 180 (other than Steve Novak who continues doing “The Discount Double Check” all the way to our hearts). NBA defenses look like they’ve figured Lin out (he can basically only go right), Stoudemire is quickly running out of reasons as to why he’s playing this bad and people are shying away from the fact that maybe his legs have nothing left from D’Antoni running him into the ground last year with that brutal rotation (it felt like the Knicks played 4 guys a game). Carmelo has become the go-to player to blame in the Knicks current losing streak with fans and media alike saying he can’t play with anyone else and that he’s a black hole on offense who kills movement. While I think some of this may be true I find it hard to believe that a player as talented as Anthony could have such a difficult time in grasping such basic team concepts. This leaves us with the main scapegoat for the Knicks fall, Mike D’Antoni. Strangely this is one of the few times that the general public has singled out the right person. The Knicks main issues seem to be on the defensive end where Tyson Chandler and Iman Shumpert are the only ones who know how to play it and in their rotation which has risen to 10, and sometimes 11-man rotations. Any NBA fan will tell you that teams who do this never win (side-note: even with all of their issues I don’t think anyone wants to see this team in the playoffs. There’s too much talent for them to be a pushover). The ideal amount of players is 8, sometimes 9 in your rotation and yet Mike can’t seem to grasp this point. As a guy who enjoys when the Knicks are good (nothing beats an amped up Madison Square Garden) I’m hoping that D’Antoni finds his way out of the team. Sadly for New York fans, the season is almost over and trying to introduce a new coach while having two new point guards in this condensed schedule almost seems worse than sticking with D’Antoni... Actually scratch that, someone find Phil Jackson.
-Luka
Editors note: Landry Fields is offended that Luka forgot to include him on the list of guys that can play defense on the Knicks.
15. The Houston Rockets (70 points)
Losing, winning, losing...starters, bench, starters. That’s how this season has been for the Rockets. McHale came in and played his starters most of the minutes, as any coach would do, but they were losing games. He got fed up and started playing his bench (Lee, Budinger, and Patterson) more minutes than his starters (Martin and Dalembert) and began to win games. This frustrated fantasy basketball owners, but was a smart move in order to win games. McHale went back to playing his starters more minutes in the past few weeks and they have started to lose games again, putting them as the current 8th seed. The Western conference is very competitive and as bad as it sounds, I hope they keep losing so Minnesota or Golden State make the playoffs. The only player who is have a great individual year on this team is Kyle Lowry. Once the backup to Conley and Brooks (staying in China this year in case you forgot he existed), he has surpassed both and is close to entering the group of elite point guards. He ranks among the top in assists, threes, and steals and is the best rebounding point guard in the league. If Houston has more success in the near future (or any team he ends up on), Lowry should definitely be a participant in the All-Star Game. As for the Rockets this season I really don’t know what’s going to happen, but it all falls on the shoulders of Kevin McHale.
-Igor
Editors Note: Aside from everything Igor mentioned
about Lowry, he forgot to mention that he may be the best defensive point guard
in the league as well.
14. The Atlanta Hawks (71 points)
Ah the
Atlanta Hawks. The NBA’s model franchise for being slightly better than good
but nowhere near a title contender. The Hawks are basically the Jason Statham
of the NBA. Every year (movie) you know what you’re going to get; a close to
50-win season with a 4th-6th place finish in the Eastern
Conference followed by a first round exit (Jason Statham playing the tough,
quiet guy with the troubled past who beats the shit out of a lot of guys). And
just like Jason Statham movies, there are times when you’re excited but for the
most part you just sit there and forget about it shortly after watching it. The
weird thing about the Hawks is that they’re stuck in this phase for at least a
little while longer thanks to the idiotic max contract given to Joe Johnson.
Without any flexibility with the salary cap, the Hawks are stuck with Joe
(incredibly overpaid), Al Horford (good, could be great), Josh Smith (has
talent but seems like he doesn’t care or just wants to leave), and Jeff Teague
(his potential is up in the air at this point) as their core. Not exactly a
foursome that leaves you excited for the future is it? Atlanta will once again
make the playoffs this year as the same type of seed as years past and just
like years past will probably fall in the first round. God help the network
that gets the very possible Hawks-Magic first round matchup.
-Luka
There you have it, part 4 coming soon where we go from 13 to 9 and then focus on the top 8.
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