The Carolina Tarheels

   Let me start off by saying Preseason polls mean absolutely nothing.  It's just something that's done to get the casual fans excite about their team.  Real basketball heads know you don't know what teams will look like this year until you see them play games against quality competition.  With that being said here are my thoughts on Carolina so far.  I started writing with intentions to included State and Duke, but once I got started on my Tarheels I became long winded so Duke and NC State previews will be in the next blog spot. 
    Carolina got a boat load of issues. I'm a Carolina fan, but I'm a realist. They were ranked way to high to start the season after losing 4 of 5 starters and the only returning player (Reggie Bullock) not even averaging over 10 ppg. Plus he is not a go to player, but only a roll player.  They are relying on 4 freshman and have a freshman starting at the most important position on the floor PG.  I actually think Paige is pretty good and is far from the problem with this team.  The problems are they don't rebound well, they got the wrong people starting at 2 positions, and they lack experience.  Strickland should not be starting a the 2.  The only reason Roy is starting him is because he's a Senior.  If your goal is winning you got to start the best players and not worry about Seniority.  And don't tell me about Strickland defense because Bullock is as good as if not a better defender.  PJ Hairston should be starting at the 2 and Brice Johnson should be starting instead of Hubert.  I don't know why Roy is starting that Hubert.  That boy shouldn't even be in the rotation much less starting.  MacAdoo needs to cut down on his turnovers if he is going to be the go to guy for this team and he's got to rebound better.  No way a big should turn the ball over as much as he does.  I think Roy needs to give the ball to Paige and tell him this his team and he needs to take over.  He is the only player on the team that can create his own shot and set others up to score. When he was aggressive at the start of that Indiana game before he got in foul trouble Carolina was playing them even. After he got in foul trouble and Strickland took over the point the wheels fell off.  Bullock is a catch and shoot guy.  If he's guarded closely and ran off the 3 pt line he becomes ineffective.  He need to develop a 1-2 dribble pull-up that he can go to if teams crowd his jump-shot.  He's got to be more effective on Offensive for this team to be successful.  Period..  PJ Hairston is the same although he has proven to be a little more effective than Bullock at going to the rim.  But he haven't proven he can set others up with penetration when teams run him off the 3pt line either. McDonald is another jump-shooter with not much else to offer if his shot isn't on.  Brice Johnson got the best low-post game out of all of them, but that boy is rail-thin and is getting pushed around easily when trying to rebound.  Joel James got the frame to bang down low but he gotta get tougher.  I have seen when he got the ball in the post guards just come down & double and take the ball from him more than once this season.  This team has gotten blown out twice already and were down by 30pts. That's unacceptable for Carolina. It's time for Roy to make changes and play the guys who give them the best chance to win or it's going to be a long season. 

Thoughts from the 1st Week in the NBA

    A few thoughts from the first week of action in the NBA. Gotta love the NBA league pass especially when the feature game is a blowout like the Heat/Knicks game was last night.  Fist off I think James Harden will win the NBA scoring title this year.  I said he had a change to do this when he first got traded last week, but after watching the first couple games this year I think he will do it.  Not just because he scored 37 and 45 in his first two games because I think its impossible for him to continue on this pace, but more so because of Houston style of play.  They don't have a player they can feed the ball to in the post so their whole offense revolves around pick and roll with Harden or Lin.  This is going to create unlimited scoring opportunities, shot attempts, free throw attempts, and drives to the basket.  Remember where you heard it first and holla at me later.  Second, the 0-3 Lakers will be just fine.  Anytime you have Dwight Howard manning the post on Defense no way that team keeps losing.  Expect the Lakers to win around 55 games this season.  The bobcats snapped a 23 game losing streak.  How bad do you have to be to lose 23 straight games? Congratulations is in order Mike.  Nobody deserves that type of futility. And last I'm not so sure about this small ball the Miami Heat is going to.  Its one thing to go to it in the 4th quarter, but they trying it for the whole game.  I think that is taking a lot out of them defensively with all the rotating and switching and no protector at the rim.  They might want to activate a couple of bigs on their roster.  And when a team is hot from the outside like the Knicks were last night blowouts can be expected.  Also will Lebron suffer from the fat and happy Dirk syndrome. After Dirk Nowitzki won his first title a couple years ago he came into the season saying he lack motivation after getting that monkey off his back and winning the championship.  I wonder if this is maybe happening to Lebron also because he has look lackluster and unimpressive in his first couple of games.  One last thing about the Heat, I notice Dwyane Wade appears to be unwilling to accept his second fiddle Robbin roll.  I've seen a lot of forced action, forced shots, and bad turnovers from Wade who appears to be trying to prove something and is only putting his team in bad spots.  This from someone who is just returning from injury and coming off knee surgery.  Give it up D-Wade you aint got it no more.  Just let Lebron be batman and play the background. 

Is a ring worth $2.5 million

   James Harden was traded late yesterday to the Houston Rockets for rookie Jeremy Lamb, Kelvin Martin, 2 first, and a second round pick.  The reason for the trade was because Harden's contract was set to expire at the end of the season and Oklahoma City couldn't work out an extension with him. They offered him 4yr $55 Million, but James turned it down because he wanted a Max contract.  Here is the irony, the max is worth 4yrs $60 Million.  This is only a $5 Million dollar difference.  I know, I know $5 million is a lot of money.  But Harden is in the 50% tax bracket so that $5 Million is worth more like $2.5 Million.  Harden and the OKC Thunder had a chance to win multiple titles.  In Houston he doesn't stand a chance of winning anything other than maybe a scoring title and multiple All-start appearances.  So I ask the question is $2.5 Million worth a career playing for a losing team, when he was guaranteed multiple playoff appearances, possible NBA championships, and numerous endorsement opportunities while playing for a winner.  All of these things were opportunities to make up the $2.5 Million dollar difference.  I think James Harden made the wrong choice in this situation.  And something tells me a couple years of the losing he will experience in Houston will help him realize this also.  Is $2.5 Million worth a ring?  Just ask Dominique Wilkins, Charles Barkley, John Stockton, Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing, and a host of others this question and see what answer you get.  $2.5 Million is worth a ring when winning that ring means you're an NBA champion and live in immortality forever. 

Ur Carolina Panthers

  I usually only blog about all things basketball b/c it's what I do, and what I know best.  But sitting on my coach watching this be-foolery I couldn't help myself.  The Carolina Panthers sorry as hell.  Have been sorry as hell for a while, and their off to a great start at being sorry as hell this year.  If you lose often and all the damn time, and have a chance to win the game you gotta go for it.  You up 1pt with 1:41 to go in the game, you got the ball on the Atlanta side of the 50, and you only need 1 yd to win the game b/c the Falcons are out of time-out, you gotta go for it.  Coach Rivera probably gone get fired by the end of next season anyway.  Show some balls and go for the win instead of playing not to lose.  You can't win in the NFL playing that way.  Even thou the Panthers Defense played well this game, they have been horrible this year.  I'm sitting here thinking if they punt this ball they gone lose because the Falcons only need a FG to win.  Even when they downed the ball on the 1 yd line I still said out loud they gone lose this game.  My thing is your 1-2, if you can't get a yard you deserve to lose anyway.  You got a 250lb QB in Cam Netwon, J.Steward and M.Tolbert big ass.  Somebody should be able to get 1 yd and win the game.  Instead they chose to punt and low and behold the Falcons when down and got a field goal and won the game.  Like Coach Herm Edwards famously said "You play to win the Game."  The Panthers Coach Ron Rivera didn't, hey made the decision they were playing not to lose as soon as they punted that ball, and that's exactly what they did.... Loss!! 

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Melo vs. Durant

    A couple of weeks ago I ask a couple of my boyz who was better Melo or Durant?  The fact that the response I got was a 50/50 split is why I knew it was make a good debate.  In the London Olympics the two took turns being the leading scorer for USA each draining 10 3pters in 1 game.  This could be a debate all in itself as to which one is the better shooter.  I think they both prove they are the best 2 elite shooters, scorers, and offensive players in the NBA. Kevin Durant has led the league in scoring the last 3 seasons topping out at 30.1 in 2010. Carmelo Anthony has been long viewed as the best pure scorer in the league topping out at 28.9 in 2007 with his sweet shooting stroke and his bully-ball post-up game. I would give the edge to Durant when it comes to shooting because he owns a better shooting % (49.6 to 43.0 for Melo), 3pt% (38.7 to 33.5 for Melo), and FT% (86 to 80.4 for Melo). I give the edge to Melo when it comes to low-post game as Durant has yet to develop any kind of post game.  They both lack Defense and could benefit by improving on that size of the ball.  This is another reason this topic is so debatable because they both excel in the same areas and struggle defensively.  But the reason I give Durant the edge overall and think he is the better player is because he has proven that he is clutch and can be counted on when the pressure is on.  The most recent prof of this is the Gold Metal game against Spain when he dropped 30 pts and forced the Spain coaching staff to go to a trick defense box-in-1 to try and stop him.  This even with the likes of Lebron James and Kobe Bryant on the court with him.  He single handedly kept USA in the league in that game hitting big shot after big shot. More prof of Durant's clutch-jean is when he scored 17 pts in the 4th quarter of game 1 in the NBA finals, 18pts in the last 7 mins of game 4 in the Western Conference Finals, and hitting the game winning 3 against the Lakers all in this years playoff.  Melo meanwhile struggled with his shot going 3-9 in the first real test team USA faced, and have only made it pass the first round of the playoffs once.  I think you got to go with any player that proves capable of stepping up big and making plays when the game is on the line and in the most crucial of games. This is why I say Kevin Durant is the better player and after thinking thru my argument, I'm not sure it's as close as it first seemed. 

Tarheels in the NBA

    There are currently 16 former Tarheels in the NBA with the recent 4 first round draft picks K.Marshall, H.Barnes, T.Zeller, and J.Henson.  J.Stackhouse, V.Carter, A.Jamison, B.Haywood, R.Felton, M.Williams, T.Hansbrough, D.Green, B.Wright, T.Lawson, W.Ellington, & E.Davis are the others.  Out of all the Tarheels in the NBA right now, I think Ty Lawson is the best player.  Vince Carter probably has had the best overall career averaging 21.4 ppg, winning 1999 Rookie of the year, 2000 NBA slam dunk champion, and an 8-time NBA All-Star. but he is at the end of his career and not playing his best basketball.  Tyler Hansbrough probably had the best College career, but he has be relegated to playing backup PF for the Indiana Pacers.  Marvin Williams was the drafted the highest out of them all being picked 2nd overall in the '06 draft by the Atlanta Hawks, but he has been viewed largely as an underachiever and was recently traded to the Utah Jazz.  Ty Lawson on the other hand is coming off his 3rd & best season since being drafted 18th overall (which I said was way to low at the time) in the '09 draft. He averaged 16 points and 6 assist this pass season and stepped his game up even more when the playoffs started.  This is where I think Lawson officially arrived.  He dominated in 4 of the 7 games against the Lakers scoring 25, 25, 32, & 24 points respectively and was the reason the Nuggets took the Lakers to 7 games and almost won the series.  It will be interesting to see if Lawson can start next season the way he ended this season and continue to dominate and become one of the best young PG's in a league that is currently being dominated by outstanding PG's.  It will also be interesting to see how long Lawson can hold the torch as the best UNC in the NBA with Harrison Barnes showing lots of potential this Summer with the Golden St. Warriors.  This kid was under extremely unrealistic expectations while at Chapel Hill after being compared to greats there was no way he could live up to.  So it will be interesting to see how well he plays with all of this pressure gone. I expect him to really take off and surprise people and he is my pick for ROY this coming season, even thou I was one of the people who was really critical and disappointed in his play at times while at Carolina.  I just think he has a game more suited for the NBA and should be able to play much better than he did at UNC.  With all this being said Lawson wasn't even an all-star this year (all though he could soon become one). For a school that produced the GOAT (Michael Jordan), I keep wondering where are the dominate UNC players at?  Maybe H.Barnes and/or Ty Lawson can become one.

NBA Summerleague J.Lamb vs D.Waiters

     One of the strengths and most debated positions of the 2012 NBA Draft was the SG position.  From Bradley Beal, Dion Waiters, Terrance Ross, Austin Rivers, and Jeremy Lamb this was a position of dept in this years Draft.  In watching these players play in this years summer-league I can't help but wonder if Cleveland overvalued Dion Waiters and undervalued Jeremy Lamb.  The Cavs wanted Bradley Beal but when the Wizards took Beal with the 3rd pick the Cavs took Dion Waiters.  First of all let me say nobody was higher on Waiters in this years draft than me.  But in watching the games this summer I can't help but think Jeremy Lamb would have been a much better fit with Cleveland than Waiters.  Waiters is a great scorer and one on one player, but his skill set requires him having the ball to score and create, plus he's not a knock down shooter but more of a streak shooter. And he's not a good 3pt shooter.  This doesn't mesh with what Cleveland needs.  Jeremy Lamb is a knock down shooter.  He movies well without the ball and shoots very well off screens (a la Rip Hamilton).  He also is a good 3pt shooter and a great wide open jump shooter.  Kyrie Irving (NBA Rookie of the year) is a superstar in the making.  He will dominate the ball for Cleveland.  He is a crafty guard with an uncanny ability to get into the lane off penetration and create shots for teammates.  Lamb would benefit from this much more so than Waiters.  Lamb's 3pt ability would also stretch the floor and create more penetration space for Irving that Waiters.  Lamb is also bigger at 6'5" with a 6'11'' Wingspan as compare to Waiters 6'4" w/ 6'7" Wingspan.  Now Irving and Waiters could workout to become a superstar backcourt in the future one never knows.  But this is just my assessment of two guards that stock when in totally different directions prior to this years draft.  Waiters stock when thru the roof when he pulled out of the pre-draft camp at Chicago and Lamb's stock continued to fall.  Let's be real the only reason Lamb stock dropped was when GM's wanted to create something not to like about the kid and started to question his "motor" or passion for the game.  His motor looked pretty good to me when he helped take UConn on that Championship run in 2011.  I think this is just some convoluted crap GM's created b/c Lamb has a deceptive silky smooth game and isn't a guy who wears his emotions on his sleeve (a la Kevin Garnett).   I hate it when GM use reasons like this and not anything to do with the players skills on the court as reasons to question drafting a player.  With the skill set Lamb has been showing in Summer-league and the things he proved he could do at UConn he could very well be one of the steals of the 2012 NBA Draft.

Bobcats Basketball & NBA Summer league

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist Bobcats basketball
 I'm not one of those people who say "dont put to much stock in summer league". I do put stock in NBA summer league. Just look at what Jeremy Lin did against John Wall in summer league a couple years ago. Those two went at it. Then this year everyone acted like he came out of nowhere. No he was doing the same thing he did this year in summer league a couple years ago.  With that being

said I think the bobcats got there starting SG and SF of the future finally with Kidd-Gilchrist and Jeffry Taylor.  Both looked good so far and they both posses the size and defense presents you need to start at those positions. I also think they did a good job picking up a big point guard in Sessions. I have to give credit to Ric Cho and Michael Jordan because it appears they are finally starting to make good decisions in Charlotte. To get two starting calibrer players in a draft when you only have two picks is remarkable. Im not a bobcats fan but Jordan and company have received so much criticism for the mistakes they have made I think its only right to give them credit when they start making the right moves. Dont get me wrong, I still expect the bobcats to suck next year, but it'll be interesting to see how they develop these players and what they are able to do in the draft next year.