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.