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. 

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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. 

UNC Tarheels

   So ole Roy finally decided to start his best player PJ Hairston and Carolina promptly goes 2-1 with 2 blowouts wins, a road win, and the only loss coming on the road @ #2 Duke.  It only took him 4 months and 8 losses to figure this out.  In just 3 starts PJ has scored 62 points and is averaging 20 ppg.  If he's doing this in games I can only imagine what was going on in practice everyday.  My question is this, what the hell took Roy so long to figure this out and make the change?  Check out my blog back in November when I first said PJ should be starting.  In my opinion Roy cost this team 4 losses by being so stubborn and not making the change when it became obvious PJ should be starting and playing more minutes. The Butler game, Virginia, the Miami game at home when they were only down 1 w/ 4 mins left, and no way in hell they lose that game to sorry as Texas.   In college basketball you got to play your best 5 players and not worry about position and there is no way in hell Roy didn't see that PJ was one of his 5 best players.  I still think he needs to play Brice Johnson more because it's obvious that he is there best offense post play.  One of the best things that happen to them was Joel James getting hurt and removed from the rotation because that boy is not ready.  I swear the travel every-time he catch the ball outside the paint and when he catch it inside the paint the double comes and he turn the ball over.  He probably would've been better off redshirting because he is not ready.  A lot of fans been complaining about this team not being as talented as previous Carolina teams, but what has been frustrating to me is Roy not playing the best players that he does have.  I'm just glad he figured it out or stop being stubborn long enough to make the change and not waist a whole season. 

NC State Fans

   NCSU fans are happy about beating Carolina and Duke this year.  And Carolina fans expected to beat State and were surprised when they lost?  Why?  State was suppose to beat Carolina and Duke this year.  They are the more talented team and they were at home.  State is currently undefeated in the ACC at home, but they are (as they lose to Virginia as I'm writing this blog) now 1-3 on the road.  State is the most talented team in the ACC this year other than maybe Miami.  They should be undefeated or only have one loss (Virginia) at best in the league so far this year. There was no reason to lose to a inferior Wake Forest when you're up by 16pts and if Scoot Wood can hit a wide open jump-shot, once in two tries, they beat Maryland.  Let me just say that I'm not like most UNC Fans, I'm from Raleigh and I pull for State unless they playing Carolina. But State fans love to hate Carolina.  If yall wanna be the best in the ACC you got to learn to win on the road.  No reason for this State team to not to be at least 7-1 in the ACC.  To be they are underachieving.  If Zo Brown play as aggressive as he did against UNC and the bigs can stay out of foul trouble, it's no reason this team shouldn't go to the final four this year and win the ACC like they were predicted to do in the preseason and like the Tarheels have done the past two seasons.  But State fans are only concerned about beating Carolina and Duke and not seeing the real potential in this team.  And for the State fans only concerned about Carolina and Duke, they still gotta play both of those teams on the road, where they have yet to prove that they can win at and is now just 1-3 in ACC play.

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.