Offseason Talk: Heat and Nets

So the start of basketball's most historic event (since Jim McIlvaine got his monster contract with the Sonics) is underway in hours. A couple of my friends have already started to chatter about what they'd like to see. Especially regarding the Miami Heat.
Of course the Heat are rumored to be the landing destination of the Biggest Three Ever in James, Bosh and Wade. Ya, doubt it. We'd all like to see that happen, but realistically A) That's just stupid. B) LeBron's business ego is not going to allow him to share with Wade and Bosh and C) Come on, seriously?
I don't know what will happen, but I can say I hope the Nets make some good moves. Their new owner is a bad ass Russian who doesn't care what sport he's involved in, he just wants money. Things like "History," "Facts," and "The Nets Suck" do not affect him, AT ALL. He wants new head coach Avery Johnson to build the Nets into a dynasty. Yeah, tall task. Funny thing is, he can do it. He has a proven coach at the helm, an All-Star point guard in Devin Harris, probably the best young center in the game in Brook Lopez and another solid young player in Terrence Williams.
If the Nets don't get LeBron fine. This is how I see it playing out:
A) They get Carlos Boozer. Boozer jumps anytime people throw money at him. He has no sense of loyalty or dedication to his team. Look at his stint with the Cavs. We now have an entire free agent class waiting to see where LeBron goes, many players itching to just play with him. What did Carlos Boozer do? "LeBron?! Yeah, he's tight, but the Jazz want to over pay me!" So he jumped. I see the Nets getting Boozer and having a ridiculous, and I mean ridiculous, low post game. Especially with Harris feeding them the ball. And that may not be the best part:
B) Rudy Gay: Young, talented, and ready to get paid. Any other class may have seen Gay being the top guy, instead he might have to settle for a significant contract upgrade. Only this time, his team is going to win. Harris, Gay and Boozer could provide one of the best scoring trios in the league. Lopez and Gay are both solid defenders too.

So that's what I'd like to see with the Nets. That still leaves room for another significant pick up. Maybe solid bench players? I really do like the Nets next year. Even this past season, they were not as bad as their record shows. Definitely a playoff team next season.

Now, my friends were arguing about the Heat. Disregarding all the LeBron/Wade/Bosh/Batman talk, the discussion was mostly about role players. My friend Andrew, who didn't know Jermaine O'Neal was a free agent, wants the Heat to get rid of Beasley now that JO is gone. He used the scenario of the Heat getting Chris Bosh and Joe "I can't tell if I'm awake" Johnson to go along with Wade.
He brought up a good point. Bosh wants to play the 4, so that would mean the Heat need a center to accommodate. He also likes Joe Johnson at the 3 and D Wade at the 2. He reiterated that there is no real post presence there and that presumably, you're moving Michael Beasley to the bench, because you want Bosh at the 4 and can't have Beasley as an undersized center.
He proposed that the Heat trade Beasley for a "4 Star Point Guard (i.e. Jordan Farmar)" or a 3 star center.

I have problems with this. First off, Joe Johnson will not be playing the 3. He is your classic shooting guard. Actually almost a perfect shooting guard. You have to have someone who can bang with guys like LeBron, Melo and Artest at the small forward position. Johnson is a good on ball defender. So he has to stay at the 2. So this is problematic. You can't really put Wade at the 3 because he's only 6'4", too small for that position. Even though Wade is completely capable of guarding anyone in the NBA.
We'll stay with Andrew here though. Wade at the two, Johnson at the three and Bosh at the four. He thinks they need to make a move at a point guard, a good one I guess by the 4 star or better rating. Except he names Jordan Farmar. No thanks. I don't think the Heat or 25 other NBA teams in the NBA want Farmar running their squad. If they get Farmar, they're going to keep Mario Chalmers at the point because a) He's just as good, if not better and B) He knows the system already.Remember Boston in 2008? Three Amazing players in the starting line up with a big rebounding bruiser named Kendrick Perkins at center and some point guard named Rajon Rondo. Yeah, look at Rondo now. This core group of stars could help Chalmers develop even further and, like Rondo, could rise from obscurity.

OK, well, might have some more stuff later. Keep checking!

Quick one

I will be having two more "experts" join me on this blog fairly soon. My boi Jamie will bring his knowledge of absolutely everything and, when he's not plotting the destruction of the OKC Thunder (Sonics 4 Lyfe!) he'll be providing insight into the future and past of the our favorite sport. The other contributor will be my friend Andrew Andres, resident Golden State fan and two-time, all-intramural MVP.Remember, if you have any suggestions, let us know what's up!

Offseason Move

According to Yahoo! Sports, the Nets have traded Yi Jianlian to the Wizards for Quinton Ross. This move puts the Nets a whopping $30 million under the cap and in position to buy Madagascar from the thieving OKC Thunder.
Not really an important move for either team. The Nets are clearly the winners as they are now further under the cap AND get rid of a "project."
As for the Wizards, no clue what they are doing. Instead of trying to clear cap, they have added and lost money all off-season. There is virtually no way of surrounding John Wall and Andray Blatche with any sort of talent with the addition of Kirk Hinrich and Gilbert "I bought into the 'Agent Zero' persona so much I brought guns to the arena" Arenas' monster contract still in affect.
Hopefully Gil comes to play. Otherwise, I'd like to see him and dirty Kirk traded off for some solid role players.
BTW, ya boi Yi?
Coming off a career year at 12 ppg and 7 reb. Great 6th pick!


UPDATE
Dirk Nowitzki has opted out of his contract with the Mavs after speculation surrounding his free agency since the teams playoff exit. I think Dirk just wants to re-work his contract at this point. The key being he wants to get a No Trade Clause written in and retire a Mav. At the same time, with Ah-Mar-Ayyy heading out in PHX, a Nashty-Nowitzki reunion could be just what the NBA needs....

This draft was gross

For those of you who watched this year's version of the NBA Draft, you probably noticed that it was terrible. After the lottery, it felt like GMs around the league could hand the reins to anybody that has ever played NBA 2K8 and let them make the decisions. The talent levels were disgusting, and not like a "Hakim Warrick just threw down on Primoz Brezec" disgusting. More like a "Primoz Brezic just broke his leg trying to cross over Kevin Garnett" disgusting. I see it as some sort of crazy yin-yang/Karma thing. To explain this, let's look at what's going on this off-season. We have the biggest free agent class ever, but to balance that out, we had to have the worst draft since God Shammgod went 46th in the '97 draft.
I do have some key observations and ideas about this draft. Now, granted, we won't be able to see if I was right for about a year, but still, I think I can be pretty good at this.

So here we go, let's start with John Wall: I love John Wall. He's a playmaker. When he gets on the floor he makes things happen. He's not Derrick Rose or Tyreke Evans, because he's John Wall! I mean look at this: Do The John Wall (Thanks Star!). Exactly. Here's my prediction for Wall this season. 16 ppg, 5.5 assists and 1 steal. Nothing spectacular, but a good rookie campaign.

A lot of what I don't understand is people doubting Evan Turner. About 4 months ago I started watching Turner and seeing that he was legitimately the best player in college basketball. Yes, Wall was great, but Turner played extremely well, even with a back injury. It was at that time that I said "This guy is Brandon Roy!" A month later, those references started popping up every time he played! I totally said it first....Anyway, Turner is going to be good. Maybe he won't score 20 a game or take over at the end of close one, but he is going to be solid and should be a starter. His skill set is polished and well-rounded, he's got good size and has played multiple positions. He performed well in big games (See: Tournaments, NCAA) and was a true floor leader. He won't reach B-Roy status, but he's going to make us forget the Greg Oden and Mike Conley were Buckeyes.

Things get a little shaky after those two picks. Well, for most people. What about Cousins? I think DeMarcus Cousins is going to be a monster. He's going to destroy people. How come every time someone has any incident EVER in their lives, the media decides to label that person for their entire career. Look at Artest! A guy throws a beer at him AFTER he walked away from a dispute and kicked some ass. OK, that's out of line, but for the past three years he has done nothing! Still, people are just waiting for him to snap and start throwing hay-makers at JJ Barea.

Cousins has the physical build to dominate the low block. He WILL rebound and he can run the floor. What the critics have against him is his best asset: a mean streak. The man is angry at everything! Look at Kendrick Perkins, if he had the attitude of a Brad Miller or Rashard Lewis, would he be of any value?! Hell no! Cousins will average 10 and 10 on his way to eventually becoming an all-star.

And now, my favorite part. In NBA2k10, they have a little thing called "NBA Comparison" when you're in the draft. Well, most of the time these comparisons are horrible. For instance, I found a guy who was compared to LeBron James. Well it turned out my rook never passed Keith Van Horn in value.

Here are some of the comparisons that I've come up with:

John Wall: Comparison - Derrick Rose/Rajon Rondo: I see Wall scoring and controlling games like Rose, but making great open floor plays like Rondo.

Evan Turner: Comparison - Brandon Roy/John Salmons: They can do a little bit of everything. I see him being like Salmons in the sense that he could quietly help a team win doing his part on the stat sheet.

Derrick Favors: Comparison - Hakim Warrick: Ya, I think it was a bad pick. Favors will get dominated in the low post. He better find himself in a fast paced offense. I mean, he's got talent, but unless he's running up and down the floor getting oops, I don't see him being a starter.

DeMarcus Cousins: Comparison - Kendrick Perkins / Marc Gasol: He's a bruiser, banger and he's mad. The attitude of Perkins, but the offensive prowess to play like the husky Gasol.

Ekpe Udoh and Al-Farouq Aminu: Comparison - Ndudi Ebi: Well, here goes the draft. Udoh and Aminu will be failures. Anybody remember Ndudi Ebi!?!?!? A 6-9, 6-10 shot blocking prospect in 2003?! Ya, well, that's what we're looking at. Welcome to the D-League.

Gordon Hayward: Comparison - Luke Jackson: Ok, let's not jump on my back. You know it's impossible to compare any white guy to a black guy in the NBA. It's not just me, watch Jay Bilas! I mean, no one can do it! So what makes Hayward a terrible pick like Jackson rather than a serviceable player like Kyle Korver? Well, he's just not that good. I like Hayward, but like Steve Novak, Jackson and plenty of "shooters" before, it's just not going to work out. Otherwise, I'll say he's the next Steph Curry.

Paul George: Comparison - Rodney Stuckey/Flip Murray: Well, not really. I just see him as being Stuckey because he came out of nowhere. What he really will be, see (BROWN, KEDRICK).

Now frankly, I can't keep doing this, but I can tell you who is going to be a bust. Here goes:

Cole Aldrich: What's up Spencer Hawes, Jon Brockman, and Josh McRoberts...
Ed Davis: Say hello to Shelden Williams or Sean May for me....
Larry Sanders: Hasheem Thabeet went second last year, and then again this year at 15...
Luke Babbit: Adam Morrison has two rings...

Here's a list of guys that I actually like in this draft. They won't be special, but in the right situations, they could make this draft a little better:

Patrick Patterson: I like Patterson a lot. He reminds me of a watered down Chris Bosh. What I like is that he has a mid range game. He is also athletic enough to block shots. He can be a good young big man in the mold of Carl Landry and Jason Thompson. The Rockets will make him way better than he actually is.

Eric Bledsoe: I see him being the type of guard Russel Westbrook and Jerryd Bayless are. He's going to be good, and teams are going to regret not taking him earlier. What a steal.

James Anderson: He has a good skill set and he can play. That's not even the best part: He's playing for the Spurs. The leading scorer and player of the year in the Big 12 will see good time and get to learn with Pops.

Quincy Pondexter: This guy just wants to play basketball and you've gotta love that. I think he'll be a quality bench player, especially in OKC. His versatility will be a valuable asset.

Greivis Vasquez: He's a good player. He plays with emotion, he has good size. He won't flourish in Memphis, but I think somewhere else he can be a good bench player.

Finally, my favorite part of the draft. That one guy that I think will surprise everyone:
Da'Sean Butler: The Miami Heat come away with an absolute steal in the second round. Butler tore his knee up in the Final Four and effectively slipped about 30 spots. Well, I think he's going to come back and be a damn good player. The man led his team to the Final Four single-handedly. He makes big shots, controls the game and is a winner. The Heat should be happy. And no better person to recover with an injury with than D-Wade.

So that's what I got, let me know what you think.

What up....

Fans, lovers/haters and most of all, people who think they know a little basketball. First off, I'd like people to know that this blog will somehow try to combine the passion and curiosity of a casual fan while still digging into the depths of the deep, dark NBA.
I've been thinking about doing this whole NBA blog thing for a couple weeks. Mostly because of the NBA finals. I mean, how many times do I have to make a decent basketball observation, just for someone to comment back "KOBE SUCKS!" Hmmm....ok. Kobe sucks then. Bye.
The point is, we all have our allegiances; teams, players, cheerleaders, us fans have biases which are sitting in the back of our minds making us hate Anderson Varejao.
Personally, there are a few guys I can't stand, Varejao, Kevin Martin, Shawn Marion and Peyton Manning being among those, but at the same time, as someone who does thoroughly enjoy the game, their are facets of these guys skill sets that I have to admire. Ya Varejao flops a lot and I'm so tired of hearing "He just provides great energy off the bench!!!!" Ya, great I know, but I don't want to hear the word energy 12.5 more times than normal every time AV goes in. Ya dig? Martin (he will never be the sweet, lovable, model citizen we all call K-Mart. That's Kenyon's title), he just annoys me. His shot, his hair, the way he looks. I just don't like him. But damn he can score the ball!
The point being is, my blog will be looking at basketball from somewhat of a different view. When I show my biases they will be heavy and profanity laden. Mostly, I just want people to understand what the hell is going on. There are only a handful of people that I have met and that I'm close with that are as into basketball as I am. Actually, there's three: My friend Robert from high school. We went through a T-Mac phase, watched many lotteries and drafts together and still have the same love for Ndudi Ebi as before. Jamie, a former co worker of mine knows much more than I do. I mean, he can recite drafts, FULL DRAFTS! He knows who God Shamgod is! Do you? No, you don't, now look him up and come back one step closet to our level. The last guy was a bartender here in the Tri-Cities. He's just sports savvy, but his basketball analysis were great the one time I talked to him.
So there you have it. It's all basketball in here. Feel free to comment or email me any time. I feel my amazing opinion should be heard by all. LATER!