NBA: Where Conflicting Incentives Happen

In the NBA, drafting the right player can affect the success of a team for many years. The nature of the game, one where only 5 people are on the field of play at a time and everyone plays offense and defense creates a huge incentive to grab the best player in a draft class. This affects the current season because the projected draft class in 2014 is supposed to be one of the best in league history. Currently, Andrew Wiggins, Julius Randle, Aaron Gordon and Jabari Parker are all projected to be franchise players, players who can carry a team for the next 10 years. All of these players are entering their first year of college and due to the "One and done rule", the NBA rule allowing players to enter the league after a year of college or overseas professional basketball, they should be entering the draft next year. Outside of these 4 players, there are the Harrison twins in Kentucky, Dante Exum from Australia, Marcus Smart, the sophomore from Oklahoma State and other players who will rise up the draft boards over the course of the season.  

Every year there are 3 classes of teams in the NBA, championship contenders, high lottery pick teams and those in the middle. More than most years, there is a focus on the future of current NBA teams. Jokes about tanking (intentionally losing games, or putting your team in a position where they are less likely to win, to get a better chance of a high lottery pick) abound in the league and in coverage of non-contender teams. Every losing streak is followed by fans of the team asking "should we be tanking"? It has created a weird situation where the being the Jazz (1-7)  is better than being a middling team like the Sixers.

On Tuesday, Kentucky played against Michigan State and Kansas played against Duke, giving most people the first opportunity to watch them in action. During the course of the night, Randle, Parker and Wiggins showed themselves to be worthy of a number one spot. Each of them carried their teams and showed poise under pressure. NBA teams would be happy to have any of them. The question will be how far will teams go to put themselves in a better position to get them. 

Best Stats of the Week (11/4-11/10)

Points: Kyrie Irving (39)
Rebounds: Nikola Vucevic (21)
Assists: Chris Paul (17)
Steals: Corey Brewer (6)
Blocks: Roy Hibbert  (7)

Nationally Televised Games of the week(end).

Thursday

Houston @ New York 6PM TNT

The return of the great Jeremy Lin to MSG. While last year was incredibly lackluster, Lin has played well in spurts to start the year off and has played some shooting guard becase of the injury to James Harden. 

Oklahoma City @ Golden State 830 PM TNT

The Thunder and Warriors have great players and both think that they will be in this year's Western Conference Finals. Over the offseason, the Warriors added Andre Igoudala to bolster their defense. 

Friday

Minnesota @ Denver 6PM ESPN

Timberwolves have been playing extremely well. The Nuggets have... not. The Timberwolves have been considered an up and coming team for years based on the idea that if healthy their starting 5 could compete with anyone's. Right now this has been shown to be the case and the wolves might be the best team in the west at the end of the year, if healthy. 

Detroit @ Sacramento 830PM ESPN

Josh Smith is still a redundant piece on that Detroit frontcourt, but at least the Detroit situation isnt as bad as the Kings. The kings are currently trying to shoehorn Vasquez into the starting pg role on the team, while Isaiah Thomas waits im the wings. The Kings dont have a ton of talent, and having Thomas coming off the bench is confusing, especially since he is often their second best player.

Saturday

Brooklyn @ LA Clippers

Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce vs. Doc Rivers. Brooklyn has been pretty awful to start the year even with all of the talent on their roster. Mostly, it's because that talent is aging and KG and Pierce ae collecti their last NBA checks at this point.