On Rudy Gay and the Raptors

Tweet It is seeming more and more likely that Rudy Gay will be a Toronto Raptor in the very near future. Multiple sources (including ESPN and Yahoo) have leaked details about the trade and if these details are correct, Raptors fans should be outraged. Before getting into it, here is the breakdown of the trade:

Toronto Gets

Rudy Gay (and his 18 million dollar per year contract which runs for two more seasons after this one)
Darelle Arthur (maybe, the details are dusty on this one)

Toronto Loses

Jose Calderon (for who Memphis is trying to find a third team, more on this later)
Ed Davis
1st Round pick
Another player likely to be a throw in to make the salaries match

So Memphis sheds Rudy Gay and his crazy contract, gets a draft pick, and a young player who has emerged as a solid contributor on the Raptors. For them this is a great trade as it gives them some flexibility, while allowing them to keep the Gasol-Randolph-Conley core for the next few seasons. For the third team that will likely be involved (and my money is on the Lakers, if any team can luck into Calderon and Pau Gasol off of the bench its them) they get a very good offensive player whose contract expires at the end of this season. The Raptors? They cement Colangelo's reputation as an overrated GM who only made Phoenix a contender because it was his dad calling the shots there. Here are some reasons why.

This trade is a panic trade, plain and simple

The Raptors have (over the past few seasons) managed to assemble some young exciting talent (Val, Ross, Derozan, Ed Davis) through the draft. Remember all those "fans" who were mad at the Terrence Ross selection? Where are you now? Anyways, the key point here is that the Raptors were on he right track going forward. This trade will cost them yet another first-round pick, a young player, and could hinder Derozan's development as he and Rudy Gay have similar games. By constricting their ability to draft, the Raptors would have to rely on trades and signings (cut to Kapono, O'Neal, Marion, Turkoglu, Aaron Gray, and Pietrus sharing a laugh) to improve, and Colangelo's track record there is certainly nothing to be hopeful of. The bottom line is that this season would have a completely different outlook if the Raptors would have had some (pick one of at least 12 games that was blown in the last 2 minutes) results go their way earlier in the season. This is a young team that will struggle to win close games, but they are very competitive and despite their poor start they sit about 5 games out of a playoff spot. That does not sound like a team that needs to make a panic trade, it sounds like one that has to be patient.

The Bargnani Conundrum

By making this trade, the Raptors PF spot will be shared between Bargnani and Amir Johnson. Is there any Raptor fan alive who is happy about this? How many more chances will Andrea get here? It is very clear that he needs a change of scenery and fast! The Raptors have played much better basketball without him and keeping him here will be counterproductive to all parties involved.

Expiring Contracts are a GOOD thing BC!

Jose Calderon's contract (around 10 million per year) is set to expire at the end of the season and with it the Raptors would have much more financial flexibility. Being under the salary cap is a really good thing in the NBA. It enables a team to take on unwanted but talented players, and it helps them stockpile draft picks when other teams (like the Raptors in this case) panic. Keeping Calderon and letting him sign elsewhere would have been a far more logical move than shipping him mid-season so one team can get the benefit of his expiring contract.

Another note about this, why exactly are contenders not lining up for Jose? He is a more than capable offensive player and would be a fantastic back-up PG for a contending team. Also if he doesn't work out guess what? Just let him become a free agent. It is literally a no-lose situation. You're telling me that Western conference teams wouldn't be furious if he went to the Spurs? the Lakers? Thunder? Come on.

The Art of Negotiation

So Memphis is the team desperately trying to dump salary. Memphis is putting in the effort to make this trade happen, Memphis, Memphis, Memphis, it is all on them. So why then are the Raptors giving up a first round pick? How does BC let the Grizzlies management bully him like this? Thankfully he had the sense to make Ross "untouchable" but giving up that first-round pick just seems insane to me. What is even more troubling is that this trade would really not change much. Sure the Raptors could maybe sneak into the playoffs but what then? Are they beating Miami or New York? Answer: NO. It seems like BC feels that giving up the next two years of the draft is also an option because of the potential Val and Ross can exhibit. At this point, he is risking his career on that.

The NBA: Where Miracles Happen

Tweet The Memphis Grizzlies, opening the playoffs at home for the first time in their history, came out and absolutely sent a statement. They built a lead that was close to thirty points and unlike Miami, they did not need the help of the referees to do so. Memphis looked like a team that knew what had to be done, and were very business-like in dusting the hapless Clippers aside. Conely and Allen were giving Chris Paul fits, Cunningham was posterizing the poster-master, and Marc Gasol was toying with the Clippers big men.

That previous paragraph applies to to roughly 39 out of the 48 minutes of the game, unfortunately, Memphis chose to stop playing after the 39 minute mark, while the Clippers never stopped and never gave up. Vinny Del Negro wanted to pull the starters, but Chris Paul did not let him and we were treated to one of the most improbable and remarkable comebacks in NBA playoff history. From 95-71 to 99-98, a 28 to 3 (3 points in 8 minutes!) run to close out the game... just incredible. Sitting there and watching the team I picked (and wagered on) to make the finals blow this lead was shell-shocking and the worst part is: I can't even try to explain what the hell just happened. Memphis fell asleep and blew it, it really is that simple. Every once in a while, sports gives us a moment like this and we are reminded of why we watch and why we should never turn off the TV until the final buzzer sounds.

So what happens next? The good news for the Grizzlies is that it is only one game, the series is still far from over, and they have two days to get over this before playing again. It will be very difficult to overcome such a collapse, but it is not impossible (see Dallas-Portland from last year), time will still show whether this was a major wake up call for Memphis, or a spring board for the Clippers to make a deep and exciting playoff run. After a mediocre opening day (saved by Durant's heroics and Orlando's improbable run) and a dull second day (obviously saved by the Clippers), suddenly these playoffs seem much more interesting than they were two days ago. Here's hoping that tomorrow brings more of what we witnessed tonight. Cheers

-Follow us Follow @MillenniumSandE

The Millennium NBA playoff preview (part 2)

Tweet After yesterday's post previewed the Saturday games, we move on to today's slate of games. Before I get to them though, some quick thoughts about the opening day of the playoffs.

Kevin Durant gave us the first game-winner of this years playoffs

-Derick Rose. What a tough blow, not just for the Bulls and their title hopes, but also to any fans of the NBA. I guarantee that any team that beats the Bulls (assuming they don't pull off a miracle and win the title, I give them a 7% shot to do this, for the record.) will not feel great about it, this Bill Simmons tweet summed it up best; we will never know how good the 2011-2012 Bulls really were.

-Iman Shumpert. In another cruel occurrence, the Knicks not only got embarrassed in their 8-on-5 match-up against the heat (I included the ref's, their performance really allowed Lebron to do his thing, and completely threw off New York) but they also lost their best perimeter defender for the playoffs. The Knicks have a lot to figure out, or they will be overwhelmed very quickly in this series.

-The Pacers. I mean... I thought we left the choking in last year's playoffs. As you may recall, Indiana lost 4-1 to the Bulls last season, in a series where they led in the 4th quarter four out of the five games. Yesterday, they allowed Orlando to close out the game on an 11-0 run, while missing open jumpers, turning the ball over carelessly (travelling, really?) and just taking bad shots (Collison's long two being the pick of the crop). Indiana will seriously need to re-evaluate things if they lose this series, but we have to wait and see what happens for now.

-Kevin Durant. Dallas and OKC provided us with the best game of the day, with KD hitting the game winner (rarely will we see a shot hit side rim and go in, but that's where Durant's soft touch greatly helped) with 1.5 seconds left. Rick Carlisle made a rare mistake and had no time-outs to use after Durant hit the shot. It turns out that Dallas looks ready to defend their title swinging, and Igor echoed what I think everyone is starting to realize: this will be the best match-up of the first round. On to Sunday.

Recapping the week in the NBA

Tweet When I decided to start this weekly segment last week, I had no idea that we, the fans, would be treated to such a great week of NBA basketball. The week had a little bit of everything, from playoff races, to MVP races, to complete collapse, I have you covered.

It is only right that I begin by talking about that amazing game between the Miami Heat and OKC Thunder, The game was so good that it had analysts salivating over a potential finals match-up between the two teams. What I think got lost in all of this, is the fact that the game was actually very sloppy and poorly played, Durant had nine turnovers by himself! What made this game good was the officiating (let a lot of things go), the competitiveness, and the hard fouls. You truly got a sense that these two teams did not like each other and they were playing like it. What made the game even better was the match-up of Lebron vs. Durant, with Lebron basically telling everyone that was trying to build hype for the Durant MVP campaign last week, that the MVP trophy is his to lose. He completely shut down Durant in the final minutes and was the entire Heat offence in the fourth quarter, it was nice to see him step up and separate himself from everyone else on the court. He rose to the occasion and did not shrink from it, of course this means nothing until the playoffs start so stay tuned.

Last week I also named a few teams who had very important weeks coming up that would likely determine their fate in regards to making the playoffs, those teams were Memphis, the Knicks, and the Celtics. The Grizzlies took care of business in a very impressive 4-1 week (with the one loss being to Dallas in the third game in a back-to-back-to-back set, and they avenged that loss by beating Dallas three days later) that has given them some breathing room in the crowded Western conference. Memphis could get as high as a 3-seed if they keep playing this well, and continue to be a scary match-up for anyone. The Knicks actually managed to climb to the 7-seed in the East (because Philly is self-com-busting at this point) and beat a Rose-led Bulls team in OT. They are also winning enough games to keep the streaking Bucks at bay, while waiting for the health statuses of Stoudemire and Lin, a solid week for the Knicks. Lastly, the Celtics stumbled a bit with losses to the Bulls and Spurs (although not many teams would beat those two teams) but recovered to beat Indiana and Philadelphia. Boston is really playing some good ball and at this point there really is not much more to say about the team. They did not fold this year, (when they had every chance to do so) they stuck together, and now worst of all (for every other team) they are starting to believe.

But enough about the teams that are actually taking care of business, on to the teams that are doing the exact opposite. Firstly, OKC is no longer the West's number one overall seed having lost three games in a row and only snapping that skid with a win against the lowly Raptors. For a young team that has yet to win a title like OKC, home-court advantage is a must and they have let it slip away. Another team that is doing its best NOT to make the playoffs are the 76ers. I have no idea what happened to this team, but within the span of two weeks the race for the East's 8-seed went from a two-team to a three-team race, and you know what? I think New York and Milwaukee both make it and Doug Collins' early season COY bid becomes a thing of comedy. I will conclude this segment with the obvious: the Orlando Magic. I am actually amazed that SVG still has a job coaching this team. While I am on his side in this (he did get screwed over by Shaq in Miami) there is no way you can keep him around at this point right? Could any other coach get away with completely throwing his star player under the bus? Needless to say, Orlando is in the middle of a funk that could drop them even lower than the 6-seed they find themselves in right now, they need to decide (and soon) if they want to try and actually accomplish something in the playoffs, or fade into obscurity.

That will do it for this week, I am keeping things short only because exams are breathing right down my neck this week. Hope you enjoyed anyways!

Hit us up on Twitter @MillenniumSandE

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

Mid-Season NBA Awards

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Remember when I did my 1/4 season overview? Feels like yesterday. As promised, here is the second quarter of my awards, again, I realize many writers have done this gimmick and I am not trying to copy them, I just think it's a lot of fun to do.

The Jason Vorhees Award: To the team that everyone always thinks is dead but always manages to come back (like Jason in his movies): The San Antonio Spurs! Right now if you picked up 2k12 and tried to play with them you would lose, even if all of the sliders were in your favor (trust me on this). Even at the beginning of the season, many analysts and fans picked them to finally wither away into obscurity, yet here they are, 2nd in the very tough western conference. To top it off they have gotten here without Ginobili, who is arguably their best scorer next to Parker. I for one, will never write them off until Pop' retires; if the season ended today he would be the coach of the year.

The Pau Gasol Award: to the player who most needs to be traded, goes to none other then Pau himself. I am actually amazed that the Lakers are still playing at a decent level considering that Gasol is not himself at all. Am I crazy or is it possible for them to win the title with their current squad? Gasol has given them a "C" so far this year, if he can get over the trade rumors and start giving them A's. the Lakers could actually contend. What a weird season. I will also call out the Suns here, for the sake of fairness: FREE STEVE NASH. The man is too much of a class act to demand a trade, but that does not mean he wants to play for your awful team. Do everyone a favor and trade him to a contender.

The Red Cross Award: To the team that needs to get healthy as soon as possible goes to the Bulls. I mean, they are somehow right there at the top of their conference despite missing Rose and Hamilton for at least half of their games. In Millennium's power rankings (which will go up soon) I ranked them first with my vote because I think that a healthy Bulls team can make the finals. Their major issue right now is health and if they can get healthy in time for the playoffs they will be scary. I firmly believe this.

The Goku Award: Given to the player who came at the perfect time to save his team, can only go to Jeremy Lin. The Knicks were done, dead, then Lin showed up and JR Smith decided to sign with them. Would you want your team to play these guys in the playoffs? I thought so. Look for them to peak when they get healthy.

The Groundhog's day award: Miami Heat. I am so sick and tired of everyone saying that these guys will easily win the title. Hey, newsflash! this was the same F****** thing that everyone said last year! I will not be sold on these guys until they actually win the title. Having said that, Lebron, WOW, just give him the MVP right now, he is having an unreal season.

The "do not sleep on us award": Memphis Grizzles. If they can incorporate Randolph (who is back from injury very soon) into their team without chemistry issues watch out! As I have said before, they were a 3OT loss away from playing against Dallas in the WCF last year. This year they are in the middle of the tight West playoff race, only they have done it without their best players. Is it too much to see Memphis pulling off a deep playoff run? We shall see.

Awards:

Coach of the year: Gregg Popovich and Lionel Hollins

MVP: Lebron James

ROY: Ricky Rubio

6th man: James Harden

Defensive Player of the year: Tony Allen. At this point, I think he could shut any perimeter player in the league.

I realize that there are many more stories left uncovered, and I promise that we will get to them. This is just the appetizer.

The Sad Case of the Memphis Grizzlies

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Earlier this season when Zach Randolph went down in a heap with, what turned out to be a torn MCL, the first two words I thought of were: Chris and Webber. Why the hell would I think of him? Because this Memphis squad reminds me a lot of the old Kings teams, and how a little bit of bad luck can ruin an opportunity to win a title. If we were to compare this version of Memphis with that version of Sacramento we would see some similarities. The defensive prowess of Tony Allen and Doug Christie, the bench impact of O.J. Mayo and Bobby Jackson, the passing skill of Divac (a big man from Europe) and Gasol (a big man from Europe), and of course; a star power-forward with a good inside-out game who struggled before finding the right team (for Webber it was Sacramento, for Randolph it was Memphis). Obviously there are differences as well: Conely and Rudy Gay are vastly different then Bibby and Stojakovic but the fact remains that (when healthy) both teams had arguably the best starting five's in the league. Notice I did not say best player (LeBron) or best one-two punch (Durant/Westbrook), but F-I-V-E, Memphis has arguably the best combination of players and a sixth-man in the league. But their inherent problem has not been choking (they have several players who can hit big shots), or lack of talent (see above) it has been bad luck (refer to the word in bold above).


Last season, Memphis came out of the gate struggling, but as the season progressed it became clear that this team was a lot better then people thought. Once everything started to click (the Grizzlies had a 12-3 record in the period of Jan 21 - Feb 21 of last season) it seemed like this could be a team to contend. Then Rudy Gay was proclaimed out for the year. Memphis still finished the season on a decent 15-10 run but could only muster an eight seed. We all know what happened next, they thoroughly outplayed San Antonio and only a 3OT loss in game 5 to OKC on the road could stop them. Does a healthy Rudy Gay make the difference for that team? Could the 2011 Grizzlies have won the title if they stayed healthy? One could certainly argue that they would have had a much better chance, just like the 02' Kings (Peja-ankle), 03' Kings (Webber-knee) and 04' Kings (Jackson-abdomen) probably would have. Which is exactly why I was so disappointed when Zach Randolph was injured. Although news has come out that he has progressed fantastically and will not be done for the year (as coach Hollins told SI the other day) will this Memphis team that had no training camp (lockout be damned), and few prolonged stretches of playing together be able to get things together for a title run? If last year's Mavericks squad taught us anything its that defense, teamwork, and execution down the stretch go a long way towards winning. Memphis can do all of those things, whether they will catch a few breaks remains to be seen.

A team gets very few opportunities to win a title before the window closes. Having seen that happen to my favorite team, i hate seeing it happen to a team that is so similar. Here is hoping that Memphis can pull it together and take their chance before time runs out on them.

Incoherent NBA Ramblings

Tweet The other night I went to bed at a particularly late time. When you chill with friends this tends to happen and even though it's worth it; you still feel like you will fall asleep as soon as you hit your pillow. Imagine my dismay when I closed my eyes only to be woken up by the vibration of my phone. Usually I would just leave it, but I'm glad I didn't. As my brain processed the words "lockout over", I forgot everything about being tired and was literally smiling for the next 30 hours. What better way to celebrate the end of the exam period than with the NBA? We even got a 66-game season, which is a much better number than 50 (like the 1999 season had) and a WAY better number than 0 (which I had come to peace with). The shorter schedule and less cross-conference games means that some teams (especially in the East) will make the playoffs even though they would not have under an 82-game slate. It also means that some good teams will probably miss out due to coming together too late to make a playoff push. This should make for an interesting season where getting hot at the right time might be enough to win a title. Right now I don't want to get too much into season previews and predictions (you will get a lot of that later). Instead, I will just gloss over some key story lines that everyone will be talking about (which they would have already done if it wasn't for the lockout).

Mike Brown as the Lakers coach - how will he fare? How will Kobe fare without Phil? The only time in his career that he has missed the playoffs was when Phil was not calling the shots on the sidelines. Will the Lakers be able to mount one more title push with this group or will they settle for getting Dwight Howard? This franchise is probably the luckiest out of any in North America. Let's move on.

Carlos Boozer - do the Bulls regret signing him already? They did make the Eastern Conference finals last year, but found out quickly that Boozer may not be a long term solution (too bad they paid him that kind of money). Rose needs more help than Chicago has given him because they are currently in the worst possible spot: pseudo-contenders. They will always be a high seed, but I don't believe they can beat anyone (I also believe that they could make me look like an idiot).

LeBron - did he add anything to his game? Does the sight of J.J. Barea guarding him in the post still give him nightmares? Does he still have all those "mental notes" he bragged about? Does he regret celebrating like he won the title when he won certain non-finals games? I can't wait to hate on the Heat again.

Memphis Rising? Last year, they were one triple-OT game away from setting up a series with Dallas in which both teams could not guard the others' superstar. This year they bring everyone back and add Rudy Gay (who missed out on the playoff run because of a shoulder injury). This team looks very, very scary.

Has Jose Calderon learned to play defense? Has Bargnani toughened up? Has Kleiza learned to play basketball?! Raptors fans want the answers (don't count on any of these). Also, only Raptors fans will be talking about this, but it had to be included.

Can Dallas repeat? I'm going to say that if they re-sign Chandler, then they absolutely can. If they don't, then they have no chance.

Is this San Antonio's last run? Sadly yes. At least the lockout gave their old legs a rest and they can use a shorter season to mount one last run.

That is all I have time for now. Patriots and Eagles reports will be posted tomorrow, along with some other stuff this week. Cheers.