NBA Draft 2015

 

With the 2015 NBA draft approaching I usually give analysis of some of the best players coming out of college and offer up my opinion on who the local team (Charlotte Hornets) should consider drafting.  Last year they agreed with my opinion and drafted PJ Hairston.  To my surprise some have already given up on him after only his first season.  Let me say this in reference to that. No shooter figures it out after one season.  Even the best shooters in the game today struggled a bit there first season. So the call from most is for the Hornets to draft a shooter since they shot 31% from 3.  I don't think its the players I think its the system.  If you play a slow pace half-court offense you are more than likely going to shoot a lower percentage than if you play an up-tempo fast pace offense like the Golden St. Warriors play.  Players play more loose and the shots come more freely and you will make a better percentage. Playing an up and down fast pace game provides more space i.e more open shots as compared to a half-court with less open space therefore less open shots. As far as who they should draft, I have to admit I have soured from college basketball.  The game has become unwatchable at times.  I can't remember a season with so many games where teams failed to reach 20pts by halftime. So I'm not as keen on as many college players as past years.  But with the way the NBA game is played now I think you could never have enough shooters.  With that being said the guy I suggest for the Hornets is RJ Hunter a 6'6 shooter out of Georgia St and/or Jerian Grant the PG from Notre Dame.  He is a big PG at 6'5 and a good shooter and defender.  You add him and you can make Kemba Walker the six man scorer off the bench.  Kemba is a scorer first and this will put him more in his natural role and not have to worry about getting others involve or playing off Al Jefferson and spot up shooting witch is not his strength. 

NBA Playoffs 2015

The NBA playoffs 2015 with be decided by attrition. My view of the playoffs this year will be injuries. Not just injuries but injuries to major stars. Start out with teams that would have but didn't even make the playoffs due to injuries.  Kevin Durant foot injury kept OKC a title contender out. Chris Bosh (blood clots) derailed the Heat who would've been fun to watch after they acquired Dragic in a trade. Then once the playoffs started Kevin Love separated his shoulder vs Boston in the 1st round.  It would've been fun to see if LeBron could've brought a healthy Cleveland squad their first title. Now Shumpert (hamstring) and Kyrie (foot) are hampered by injuries too. Next up Chris Paul.  CP3 injured his hamstring trying to get pass the defending champs in round 1 and haven't been the same since. Speaking of point guards John Wall then falls and breaks his wrist & is out for the playoffs. Man I can keep going, Memphis PG Conley broke his face (ouch)  Man i'm tired of typing i need a comma or something. Just added to the hamstring list is Pau Gasol as he is now listed as questionable. I know injuries happen, but to this many stars is crazy. The two healthiest teams seem to be Golden St. & Houston. Maybe one of these two will win the NBA championship or as its called in 2015 "the NBA battle of attrition." Bye the way I was hoping for a Cavs vs Clippers or a Cavs vs Warriors NBA finals. Now i'm just hoping for two healthy teams playing in June.

How College Football player can get paid NOW!

 
 
 

      With the news that the new BCS Championship generated a $50 million contract and a bowl game can generate anywhere from $27 million. Also the other five FBS-level leagues will split $75 million. That's more than five times greater than their combined payday in 2013. With college coaches contracts also at an all-time high, money is flowing into the Billion dollar college football industry to everyone except the guys generating all the revenue, THE PLAYERS. As long as the players keep playing and waiting for the powers that be to devise a concept of which they can be played, the will not get paid.  If the players know it or not the power is in their hands if they want to get paid now for the money they are generating.  The 2014 college football season is scheduled to start Thursday, August 28th with a big ESPN/SEC network kickoff game of Texas A&M vs USC. All the division 1 college football players should come together and agree to protest being exploited and not play opening week August 28th until an agreement is made where they are paid for the revenue they are generating.  In a multi-billion dollar industry a college scholarship isn't enough.  Especially when you are risking your health thru possible injury, future health problems, and brain damage thru concussions.  The time to get paid in now. As long as the players keep waiting on Presidents and commissioners to think of a way and an  amount to pay them, they will continue to procrastinate. Its time for them to take charge of their own fate and agree to not play another game until they are compensated.  With the money that would be lost thru the TV revenue by not playing, my guess is ti would take a week or two at the most for them to come up with some type of compensation for the "student-athletes" to get them back on the field ASAP.  Throughout history protest, marches, and boycotts have been a driving force to generate change with issues far greater than this.  But with the amount of money that is involved this will get the ball rolling on an issue that has been discussed long enough with no action having taken place. 

Hornets Draft 2014

 
     
         It's that time again.  Time for my annual (former Bobcats now Hornets) entry on who the Hornets should draft in this years NBA Draft.  Let me preface this as I always do by saying I am not a Hornets fan, but I am a basketball fan who lives in the Charlotte area and I would love to see the product improve so I can attend some games not solely to see the stars on the opposing teams.  Last year I said they should've drafted Ben  McLemore, the shooting guard out of Kansas, because they needed a SG with range to spread the floor. {I still stick by that even thou he only averaged 9 ppg and shot 38% from the field and 32% from the 3 point line.  I blame most of this on being drafted to a dysfunctional Sacramento Kings organization and being a rookie.  Give him a couple years and he'll figure it out, trust me}. After not following my advise what do the Hornets need again in this years upcoming draft? A shooting guard with range to help spread the floor to give Kimba room to drive and Al Jefferson room in the post. The best two candidates to fill that void in this years draft in my opinion are Zach LaVine, and PJ Hairston. Most of the experts have Gary Harris the guard out of Michigan St. ranked higher but these two are better prospects to me.  Zach LaVine is a super athletic guard out of UCLA with deep range, a good handle, and enough athleticism to defend the position.  His numbers from UCLA in his only season there doesn't reflect how good this kid will be. His only issue is his slight frame which he will obviously fill out once he becomes a professional.  If he isn't available at 9 when the Hornets pick then they should go with PJ Hairston.  Hairston is a big guard who also have unlimited range, is athletic and is a physical defender as he proved by defending the 4 position at UNC.  His issue is that he proved to be a knucklehead with off the court issues at UNC that prevented him from (imo) playing what would have been a breakout Jr season at UNC.  A season that would have definitely propelled him into the lottery. As long as he can prove he has matured from the off the court issues he to will be a star in this league in due time.  Hopefully the Hornets will take my advise this year and address a need and take one of these 2 guys, and realize there is a lot of validity to what I'm suggesting and add me on the scout team to put all this knowledge to use with some professional assistance and tools. 

NBA Summer League 2013

  

  Some of my thoughts from the NBA Summer League for 2013.  First of all we didn't get to see a lot of the lottery picks due to injury.  The #1 pick (Anthony Bennett), #5 (Alex Lin) & #6 (Nerlens Noel) were all out with different injures. Picks #2(Oladipo) #8(Caldwell-Pope) #9(Burke) #11(Carter-Williams) #12(Adams) & #13(Olynyk) were all in the Orlando Summer League. So that only left picks #3(Porter) #4(Zeller) #7(McLemore) #10(McCollum) &#14(Muhammad) left to play in Vegas. Standouts in Orlando to me were Reggie Jackson (19.5ppg) & Jeremy Lamb (18.8ppg) for OKC.  They alternated games played, won every game and ultimately won the Orlando Summer league championship.  R.Jackson dominated pick & roll play scoring 23 of his league high 35 in the 4th qtr of one game.  J.Lamb not to be outdone dropped 32 the next night and proved he is ready to step in and make up for the loss of Kelvin Martin this upcoming season for OKC. Other standouts there were V.Oladipo (19ppg) who proved he can shoot from the outside and run the point. Kelly Olynyk (18ppg) who proved he can score from the inside and out, and Andre Drummond who avg a lead leading 14.8 rbs.  My sleeper from this league was Dwight Buycks whose play earned his a partial guaranteed contract with Toronto.
    Standouts from the Vegas Summer league were Reggie Bullock (18ppg) from UNC. I'm not sure how many mins Bullock will get behind Reddick & J.Crawford, but he proved he is ready for the NBA game with the way he shot the ball and defended.  CJ McCollum (21ppg) Jeffery Taylor (20.3ppg) and John Henson (14.7ppg & 13.7rbs) proved they are ready to contribute next season.  Cody Zeller (16.3ppg & 9.3rbs) was a pick I didn't agree with for the Bobcats at #4, but he has impressed in Vegas. Ben McLemore (15.8ppg) the player I thought the Bobcats should've taken at 4 struggled with his shot in Vegas but showed what he is ultimately capable of last night scoring 19 of his game high 27 pts in the 3rd qter on 7-8 shooting from the field.  He proved he needs to work on shot selection but showed he could be one of the few stars of the 2013 draft.  Another sleeper I think has the potential to become a star is 18 yr old Archie Goodwin from Kentucky.  To me this kid has Russell Westbrook potential, and it appears he is still growing. They list him at 6'4 but when standing next to other players he looks to be approaching 6'6 already.  He fell to 29 in the draft but could definitely prove to be a top ten talent.  He just needs to work on his jump-shot and cutting down on turnovers. 

One on One Basketball training for your kids

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Charlotte Bobcats 2013 Draft

   

The Charlotte Bobcats are terrible at being terrible.  They screw up there chances of having the best odds to get the #1 pick by winning a meaningless game on the last game of the season.  I'm not going to waist time by giving you all the reasons why this was dumb.  I'm just going to get right to the point and give you my expert advise on who they need to draft this year.  Ben McLemore.  The 6'5 shooting guard for the Kansas Jayhawks.  The bobcats biggest need is a post player that can score inside.  So everyone is saying they should take Nerlens Noel (the 6'11 Center from Kentucky).  I have concluded everyone saying this obviously don't know what the hell they are talking about.  First of all Noel can't sore from the post.  He is a defensive player with a limited offensive skill set.  Basically he is a similar player to Bismack Biyombo so drafting him would be dumb and just duplication as player they already have on their roster. Bobcats biggest need is scoring and it's been the biggest need for the last 3 years.  This is why I said they should've taken Klay Thompson and Reggie Jackson when they had two lottery picks in 2011.  And Harrison Barnes in 2012.  Reggie Jackson has been stuck on *OKC bench until this year so I've been getting flack for suggesting that pick, but he is finally getting backup PG minutes and showing flashing.  There is no doubt in my mind this kid will be a star.  I think the same of Ben MacLemore. He scores better than anyone else I've seen in this draft.  MacLemore is a knockdown shooter in the mode of a Ray Allen.  MacLemore however is way more athletic than Ray Allen and a great finisher in transition.  He can spread the floor for Kimba Walker and last years #2 pick Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.  Two non-shooters who need room to penetrate and drive by defenders.  If the Bobcats want a post player that can score I say they go after Al Jefferson from Utah.  The best scoring big in this draft is UNLV freshman forward Anthony Bennett, but his size has come into question and the last thing the Bobcats need is an undersize forward who can't score over length.  The only knock on MacLemore is that he can be passive at times.  He shot 50% from the field 42% from 3, and 87% from the free-throw line.  He average 5 rbs a game from the guard spot and he is a pretty good defender.  If the only knock on a guy is for being to passive at times when he is the only starting Freshman on a team full of Seniors then I'm OK with that.  Bobcats better take Ben MacLemore if he is available or they will regret.  Just like they do Klay Thompson from 2011, and Harrison Barnes from 2012.

*OKC has they best scouts in the NBA.  They are stock piled with talented players that can't even get minutes off the bench like Jeremy Lamb, Perry Jones III, and until recently trading Eric Maynor, Reggie Jackson.  If the Bobcats were really smart they would put up the money and try to hire some of them OKC scouts, especially if they intend to rebuild thru the draft and keep getting these high lottery picks b/c there picks have been shaky at best lately.