NBA: Where Shoving Related Suspensions Happen.

So, David Lee and Roy Hibbert were suspended for this. Unofficial word is that the 90's Pacers and early 00's Pacers were ashamed of this fight. Also, Stephen Curry gets the Jeff Van Gundy award for failed attempt to be involved in a fight. 

 

Wednesday

GSW @ NYK ESPN 6PM

When you think of tough teams, you don’t think of Golden State. But they can clearly shove with the best of them.

MIL @ HOU LP 6PM

The homecoming for Samuel Dalembert. Actually, this happens to be a great matchup. Both of them have fiery guards and strong defensive big men. 

NOH @ OKC LP 6PM 

If the other two matchups weren't enough, I have another 6 PM (MST) matchup for you. The Thunder could use a win, and this would be the sort of matchup that would help cure their ills. Also, Anthony Davis goes against Serge Ibaka.  

Thursday

LAC @ IND LP 5PM

Hibbert will be back for this game, and both teams should be pretty solid. The Clippers are an exciting squad versus the blue collar defensive specialist Indiana Pacers.

Friday

MEM @ MIA ESPN 6 pm

Sometimes, you lose a player and it crushes a team. The Grizzlies on the other hand, have not missed Rudy Gay yet, and it doesn’t seem that they will. On the other hand, the Miami Heat are equatorially hot right now and they are a deeper better team.

DET @ NOH LP 6 pm

This is a lottery ball game. The Hornets have lots of potential and they are one high draft pick away. The Pistons have the front court of the future, but will Calderon stay? Will Stuckey be kept around? What’s the future of Brandon Knight?

OKC @ DEN ESPN 8:30 pm

Denver isn’t a title contender yet, but they are a squad with a passionate fan base and a lot of potential. They could make a lot of noise in the West, and a strong appearance here would do wonders for their perception around the league.

Saturday

BKN @ CHI LP 6pm

More slightly under the radar Eastern Conference teams.

TOR @ MIL LP 630

The raptors are clawing their way to the 8^th spot, and a win against the Bucks would be helpful here.

MIN @ POR NBATV 8pm

Minnesota, despite all their injuries, continue to be an amazing squad to watch.

Sunday

MIA @ NYK ABC 11AM

The current number top two spots in the east will be here. The Knicks have beaten the heat in the previous matchups this year.

OKC @ LAC ABC 1:30pm

I love watching these two teams play each other. Last time Chris Paul played against the Thunder he complained about Thabo Sefolosha guarding him. Sounds like a recipe for more Sefolosha in this game.   

NBA: Where GOOSE Happens. (The Trade deadline deals)

  

So the NBA trade deadline happened and no one cares. But because I said I would, there will be a trade deadline post.  The biggest news from yesterday was that certain players who were long rumored to be expendable went nowhere. 

·         Josh Smith went nowhere. The Hawks didn’t get a deal good enough to trade him away.  

·         Brandon Jennings went nowhere. Same story 

·         You know things are bad, when I mention trades to pretty big basketball fans and they respond with “What team were they on?” 

These trades happened and no one cares.

·         Dexter Pittman goes to the grizzlies for… no one cares.  

·         Sebastian Telfair goes to the Raptors for Hamed Haddidi and a second round no one cares. 

·         Anthony Morrow and Dahntay Jones were traded for each other. *crickets* 

·         Josh McRoberts and Hakim Warrick were traded for each other. *crickets snoring* 

  

These trades matter, but only a little bit. Only a little bit.  

·         Marcus Morris was traded for a second round pick. Now, for the first time in recent Suns history they have the better brother in a set. This is the same franchise that has had Taylor (not Blake) Grffin, Robin (not Brook )Lopez, and Luke (not Tyler or Cody) Zeller.  

o   A short research project led me to find that the suns did have Wesley Person, the better brother to Chuck Person. So… congrats.  

·         The Warriors traded Jeremy Tyler to the Hawks for draft considerations. 

·         The pride of Springfield Gardens High School, Charles Jenkins, was traded closer to home to the 76ers for draft considerations. As a result of the trades, the Warriors are now under the luxury tax.  

These trades matter, and it might be a big deal.  

·         "The HeartThRob", Thomas Robinson was traded along with Francisco Garcia and Tyler Honeycutt to the Rockets, in exchange for Patrick Patterson, Cole Aldrich and Toney Douglas. The Rockets fleece another team in a trade. They get the 5th pick in last year’s draft and they get rid of Cole Aldrich. The Kings on the other hand get ANOTHER POINT GUARD. Why Kings? Why? Do you hate your fans? Do you know who the loser of this trade really is? It’s Patrick Patterson, who’s been a good guy and a player that other players like. His reward for playing hard and playing well was being REUNITED WITH DEMARCUS COUSINS. They played in Kentucky together, and I’m sure that the biggest reward for leaving college was the opportunity to get far away from DeMarcus. Thomas Robinson on the other hand is freed from Sacramento and has the opportunity to shine in Houston.  

·         Jordan Crawford was traded to the Celtics for Leandro Barbosa and Jason Collins. Jordan Crawford has played pretty well for the Wizards, and might be a fringe starter in the league. The Celtics robbed yet another team of a promising player.  

·         Ronnie Brewer was traded to the Thunder from the Knicks for a second round draft pick. Ronnie Brewer went from starter to barely hanging on in New York. Having him on the Thunder might prove useful as he is an adequate 3 point shooter and he was a fringe defensive player of year contender a while back. I do love my wing defenders.  

·         Eric Maynor was traded to the Blazers for a $2.2 million trade exception. There was a point about 2 years ago when Thunder fans were clamoring for the coach to consider starting Eric Maynor over Russell Westbrook. The Thunder were swatting away trade offers left and right. Maynor got hurt last year and he’s been terrible since he has returned. Now he’s being traded for almost nothing. On the Blazers side of the deal, maybe they will be getting their backup point guard of the future.    

·         J.J. Redick, Gustavo Ayon and Ish smith were traded to the Bucks in exchange for Tobias Harris, Beno Udrih, Doron Lamb who went to the Magic. GUSTAVOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO *tears on my keyboard*  
Redick gets the opportunity to play with Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis, both known for being shoot first point guards. I’m curious to see how they use JJ Redick, mostly because I wonder if he comes of the bench or not. On the other hand, Gustavo "Goose" Ayon has been traded into shot blocker hell. He went to the team that has LARRY SANDERS, Samuel Dalembert and John Henson, all shot blockers. What is he going to do there? Nothing, but ride the pine. Eventually Gustavo will find a place in the league. He blocks shots and rebounds, so that should help him. Unfortunately, Milwaukee is not that place. Beno Udrih might be interesting, because the Magic lack for point guard depth, and Udrih is a point guard. This trade looks a lot like tanking, Orlando.     

There shouldn't be anything interesting tonight related to these trades, but tommorow, Milwaukee will play against Atlanta (NBA TV) and the Rockets will play against the Wizards. This should provide a showcase for the two biggest names moved in the trade deadline, Robinson and Redick.

NBA: Where "Fall Out Boy featuring 2 Chainz" happens

There were many memorable moments from all-star weekend this year, but none struck me more than watching Fall Out Boy perform.  All-star weekend is all about the surprise act and unexpected occurences. In the precursor to the slam dunk contest, Fall Out Boy performed their new song “My songs know what you did in the dark. Then, while I'm trying to decide whether I like the song, I hear 2 Chainz announce himself. Apparently, he’s in the remix, so he performed his verse. He’s also the last person who I would expect to hear. It was an interesting surprise.

All-Star Weekend, at its best, provides that sense of surprise. Whether you like or dislike the surprise doesn’t really matter, as long as it’s a meaningful one with some effect on how you feel about the event.

·         I have nothing to say about Friday other than my joy that Kenneth Faried won the MVP for the Rising Stars challenge. There has to be a better way to decide the teams, because the only thing that this game proved is that I want neither Shaq nor Charles Barkley as a GM.

·         The fact that Robert Horry didn’t hit the game winning shot for Team Westbrook was a shocker in the shooting stars challenge.

·         Kyrie Irving was magnificent in the 3 point shootout. The fact that it wasn’t a typical 3 point shooter was fun

·         I don’t really care about the skills competition.

·         The dunk competition was terrible for many reasons. First, the participants who were deemed to be the best were all in the east. The West did nothing to change that on Saturday. Second, the technical difficulty of Gerald Green’s attempt was worth the wait. Even though it didn’t count, by virtue of the time running out, it was still the hardest dunk of the group. Third, Terrance Ross won the competition, but using the Carter jersey as a prop only reminded me of how the contest is at its best, and how far this contest was from that magnificent contest in Oakland.

·         The All-star game MVP, was properly decided. The All-Star game is all about exciting dunks and Chris Paul made them happen. He also took over portions of that game in a way that no one else did. The announcers started on a run of saying that KD should be MVP, but then changed their minds as the 4^th qtr continued.

Now for the games that will start the “second half” of the season.

Tuesday

MEM @ DET (LP) 5:30

This is the return of Tayshaun Prince to the city he thrived in. Prince helped the ’04 Pistons win a championship and will likely be warmly received. This is also a homecoming for Austin Daye, but this night is all about Prince.

BOS @ DEN NBATV 7:00

Both of these teams are heavily involved in trade discussions. Their current rosters aren’t enough to win a title, the Nuggets will likely be inclined to try to move up to the point of being a contender, whereas the Celtics will likely be trying to rebuild by trading one of their veterans for younger players and/or draft picks.

GSW @ UTA LP 7:00

The Warriors have received a lot of love, but the Jazz are tied with them in the win column, and could pass them eventually depending on how the trade deadline works for them. They’ll probably move won of their bigs (Centers/Power forwards) for a guard.

Wednesday

MEM @ TOR LP 5:00

Rudy Gay plays against his old team. Teardrop. And we’re done here. 

NOH @ CLE ESPN 6:00

The 2012 # 1 pick goes head to head with the 2011 #1 pick. Both teams are far from contention for the moment, but Irving and Davis will likely be names to know for the next 10 years. Both players have shown it.

OKC @ HOU LP 6:00

The Harden trade continues to be a story. The Thunder traded James Harden away for what seemed like a king’s ransom. However, the centerpiece of the deal, the Raptors 1^st round pick, is steadily decreasing in value ever since the Raptors obtained Rudy Gay, who improves the Raptors greatly. Every win the raptors get make it increasingly less likely that the future draft pick will be worth trading away James Harden who is a top 20 player and a borderline top 10. Also, the 2 important pieced for the Thunder, Westbrook and Durant, played on the same team on Sunday, in the all-star game.

BOS @ LAL ESPN 8:30

Remember when a matchup between these two proud franchises actually mattered…

**The Trade Deadline is Thursday 3PM EST. I might decide to write a new post if anything particularly interesting happens**

Thursday

MIA @ CHI TNT 6

Sadly, Derrick Rose is out, so this isn’t the Eastern Conference Finals preview that it should be. But if the Bulls and Heat play a close game, or even if the Bulls win, will Derrick Rose be enticed to return early and chase the championship that Chicago has craved since the end of the Jordan Era? Hopefully.

SAS @ LAC TNT 8:30

Beat LA chants don’t sound the same when the LA Clippers are involved. On the other hand, this could be a Western Conference finals preview, and therefore, it’s a worthwhile game to watch.

Friday

DEN @ WAS LP 5:00

The Return of Javale McGee to the city that made him infamous on the internet, for basketball IQ failures.

Saturday

ATL @ MIL NBATV 6:30 PM

Both of these teams are heavily involved in trade rumors. I’d discuss how the teams are currently made up, but it may not be true by the time that Saturday rolls around.

Sunday

LAL @ DAL ABC 11 AM

Do you remember when this matchup mattered? The only game on free TV this week is the battle of 3 former MVP’s in Dirk, Nash, and Kobe.   

CHI @ OKC ESPN 7:30PM

These teams play each other extremely well.

NBA: Where Shifting Happens

I missed out on last week’s post. Meanwhile, the NBA continued to make headlines. There was a big 3 team trade where Rudy Gay, a highly touted small forward, went to Toronto. Tayshaun Prince and (the corpse of) Austin Daye went to Memphis. Jose Calderon went to the Pistons. Toronto gets a near-star in Gay who will probably do well in the environment. The Memphis Grizzlies get to shed salary, so that they’ll have space to make more roster moves later.

Detroit is the winner for purposes of this column though. They get rid of players who are underperforming and in turn they receive Jose Calderon. Jose Calderon isn’t great by any means, and no one thinks he is a future Hall of Fame player or an All Star. However, he is so much better than what they had at point guard, it’s a drastic improvement. He’s easily the best point guard on the team since Billups went to Denver. The Pistons were unwatchable on offense, even with Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond on the team. Now, they won’t make any noise in the playoffs, but at least they’ll be watchable.

In the middle of the NBA season, I try to give you reasons to care about teams and certain matchups, even if those teams aren't title contenders. There are fascinating stories in the league, even now in the middle of the season, and I can’t wait to see how those stories play out.

Monday

NOH @ DET LP 5:30PM

After a paragraph about the Detroit Pistons was there any doubt that they’d be mentioned. Sadly, I can’t tout the Anthony Davis vs. Andre Drummond battle because Drummond is hurt. Luckily both teams should still be interesting.

Tuesday

HOU @ GSW NBATV 8:30PM

Let’s have a flashback to last week. Golden State played against the Houston Rockets and the Rockets lit them up. The Rockets almost set a new record for 3 pointers in a game by any team in NBA history. (The 3 pointer was added in October 1979, so yes, it’s been quite a long time.)  The chances that Golden State comes into this game ready to play are very high. Shocker to no one, NBA TV picked this game up.

Wednesday

CHI @ BOS NBA TV 5:30PM

Wednesday is a rough day for the league. Not a lot of games that pique my interest. But it might be worthwhile to see how the post-Rondo Celtics play against the sans-Rose Bulls. Rajon Rondo and Derrick Rose have one of the best legitimate rivalries in the league. The game should be good despite their absence.

Thursday

MIA @ OKC TNT 6PM
LAC @ LAL TNT 8:30PM

Do I need a paragraph for these games. The reigning Western Conference champion is playing against the reigning NBA champion in a rematch of last year’s NBA Finals. If that’s not enough the 2 best players in the league, Kevin Durant and LeBron James, will be on the same court matched up against each other.

Then after that matchup, the Battle for LA begins. The Lakers have gotten a lot of attention this year, but quietly, the Clippers are one of the best teams in the conference. Do you think the Clippers would love to crush the Lakers on national TV in the last game before the All Star Break?