Which Howard Is Real?

And so it begins. Howard Sweepstakes.

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Meet Your New Dallas Mavericks

 

No. 17 Pick (from Atlanta): Shane Larkin

(a.k.a. “The Next J.J. Barea”)

Draft Express Analysis:

“Shane Larkin’s value proposition at the next level is simple, he created more combined points on the pick and roll for himself and his teammates last season than any prospect in the country at 14.3 points per-game. Playing in a pick and roll heavy, pro-style offense, Larkin kept defenses honest with his jump shot, which ranks second most efficient in this group at 1.137 points per-shot, and showed excellent command of the ball, turning the ball over on just 11.3% of his possessions creating in the two-man game. While scouts will scrutinize his size, his efficiency as a scorer and prolific shot creating ability seem tailor made for the NBA game.”

 

 

 

No. 43 Pick (from Milwaukee via Philadelphia): Ricky Ledo

Draft Express Analysis:

“Ledo was inconsistent in Chicago [The NBA Combine], looking very good on the first day and then coming down to earth a bit in the second. His shooting was hit or miss, but his talent-level with the ball in his hands was unmistakable in terms of his able to create shots smoothly for himself and others at 6-7. He’s clearly a good athlete and ball-handler, mixing in crossovers nicely and finishing above the rim on a couple of occasions. Defensively, Ledo has a ways to go and is probably a long-term project considering how little experience he brings to the table, but his upside is significantly higher than most of the prospects outside of the top-20 or 25, which could convince a team to roll the dice on him, despite the character concerns.”

 

 

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Fun Fact Friday (NBA Draft Bonus Edition)

On a hectic night that consisted of at least 24 trades, the NBA Draft started right away with a surprise. The Cleveland Cavaliers selected Anthony Bennett with their top pick. Bennett is the first Canadian No. 1 overall pick in league history.

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Fun Fact Friday

 

Now that Paul Pierce has been traded to the Brooklyn Nets and is no longer with the Boston Celtics, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki are the only active players left that have been on the same team since before 2000.

 

 

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Garnett-Pierce Will Be Brooklyn Nets

On a night that was supposed to be about the NBA Draft and David Stern’s last draft before he retires, Garnett decided to change the importance of the night. And the Nets’ future.

The Boston Celtics have agreed to trade Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce after Garnett agreed to waive his no-trade clause to the Brooklyn Nets, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

The Celtics will be receiving Gerald Wallace, Reggie Evans, the expiring contract of Kris Humphries and three first round picks (2014, ’16, ’18). Nets will also do a sign-and-trade to send Keith Bogans to Boston.

Along with KG and Pierce, the Nets will receive Jason Terry in the blockbuster package.

Some of these details may change by the time the trade is allowed to go through on July 10, but the main part of this trade isn’t changing: KG and Pierce are about to be Brooklyn Nets. This quickly-changing franchise gets two veteran players as new Head Coach Jason Kidd will look to take his team deep into the playoffs. (Also—Kidd will now be coaching former teammate Terry. Sounds weird, right?)

The Celtics now have some cap space cleared along with a great chance to rebuild as the years move along. Those three future first round picks could be huge for Boston. Even though it is sad to see the face of the franchise from the past 14 years disappear so quickly, this was much needed by the Celtics. Doc Rivers left and the championship core from 2008 was no more. Now they can focus on their young pieces and building a future.

Good to see you, NBA offseason.

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2013-2014 Mavs Contract Commitments: What’s Next?

 

 

 

# - free agent for summer 2013
! - restricted free agent for summer 2013
() - amount free agent counts against the 2013-2014 cap until 
he is re-signed, renounced, or signs with another team

  Dirk Nowitzki       $22,720,000
  Shawn Marion         $9,320,000
  Brendan Haywood      $9,070,000  [amnestied, doesn't count 
                                    against cap]
  Vince Carter         $3,180,000  (if team picks up option)
  O.J. Mayo            $4,200,000  (if Mayo does not opt-out)
  Jared Cunningham     $1,243,080
  Jae Crowder            $789,000
 !Darren Collison     ($3,342,175  qualifying offer)
 !Rodrigue Beaubois   ($3,256,361  qualifying offer)
 #Chris Kaman       
 #Anthony Morrow     
 #Elton Brand    
 #Brandan Wright
 #Mike James
 #Bernard James
 #Josh Akognon     

 

 

As you can see from the contract commitments above, other than Dirk, Marion, Cunningham and Crowder (and the team is currently looking to trade Marion and get rid of that contract), the Dallas Mavericks could potentially look completely different from last year…something that has become the norm since they won the championship in 2011.

Once July 1 arrives and free agency has officially begun, Mark Cuban is going to first go after Dwight Howard and then go after Dwight Howard and finally go after Dwight Howard. (Chris Paul is going to re-sign with the Clippers…just forget about the possibility.) If things go as I expect them to, Howard will either give Lakertown another chance or, more likely, go to Houston in order to play with a rising James Harden rather than a declining Dirk.

After that happens, Cuban and General Manager Donnie Nelson MUST move forward with “PLAN B” and not “Plan Powder Dry” as they have done the past two summers. It’s time for Dirk to get another chance in the playoffs. No more one-year deals for deteriorating veterans and players that haven’t lived up to their potential. This team needs a spark—an actual NBA player that other teams would like to have on their team.

So, I see Monta Ellis and Andrew Bynum as “PLAN B.” With the market not being too interested in Ellis because of his inability to impact the game in more than one way (scoring), Mavs could snag him for three years at an affordable price. He could become a valuable scoring punch off the bench and serve a specific and necessary role. Dallas could also get Bynum on a one-year deal since every single person in the league is worried about a 7-footer coming off surgery on BOTH of his knees. Well, and his attitude is obviously a part of the gamble. But it’s a risk the Mavs can and need to take. He is potentially an 18pts-10rbs kind of guy—with healthy knees and healthy brains cells. At the right price, he’s the right move…even if J.J. Barea wouldn’t agree with me. Signing these two stars (not superstars) would allow Dallas to have the money, with the promised pay-cut from Dirk, in the summer of 2014 to sign one of the many elite players that will be available.

Andre Iguodala is also an intriguing player since he just exercised his early termination option with the Nuggets and will be an unrestricted free agent. Instead of Ellis, the Mavs could pair Iggy with Bynum for next year’s squad. Iguodala can be clumped with Shawn Marion in the group of wing players that don’t get enough credit for the impact they have on all aspects of the game. However, I see him taking less money to go play for a contender, which is something Dallas isn’t. Weird, right?

And then moving down the ladder, “PLAN C” consists of some almost-stars. The Mavs could go after Jose Calderon, Tony Allen, Brandon Jennings (restricted free agent), Nikola Pekovic, Greg Oden (stop laughing), Al Jefferson, Tyreke Evans (RFA) or Jarrett Jack. It just depends on the price and if the team picks up someone from a plan higher in the alphabet.

In the end, though, I have no idea what Cuban is going to do. During his time in the Big D, he has been known to have ideas up his sleeves no one—including the team’s beat writers and the NBA “breaking news” journalists—saw coming. He finds ways to convince players to come to town and owners to make moves that other teams’ managements wouldn’t dream of attempting.

So, let’s sit back uneasily yet again and watch this 2013 summer of free agency unfold. And hopefully, Cuban can fold up his sleeves with something big to show.

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2013 NBA Draft: My Starting Five

 

In anticipation of the NBA Draft on Thursday, this is my starting lineup of the players I like most from each position.

 

 

PG – Michael Carter-Williams (Syracuse)

2012-13 season: 11.9 ppg, 7.3 apg, 4.9 rpg, 2.8 spg

 

 

SG – Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Georgia)

2012-13 season: 18.5 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 2.0 spg, 80.0 FT%

 

 

SF – Anthony Bennett (UNLV)

2012-13 season: 16.1 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 1.2 bpg, 53.3 FG%

 

 

PF – Tony Mitchell (North Texas)

2012-13 season: 13.0 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 2.7 bpg

 

 

C – Gorgui Dieng (Lousiville)

2012-13 season: 9.8 ppg, 9.4 rpg, 2.5 bpg, 2.0 apg, 53.4 FG%

 

 

Bench:

PG/SG – Erick Green (Virginia Tech)

2012-13 season: 25.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 3.8 apg, 1.3 spg, 81.6 FT%

 

 

PG/SG – C.J. McCollum (Lehigh)

2012-13 season: 23.9 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.9 apg, 1.4 spg, 51.6 3P%, 84.9 FT%

 

 

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Jayhawks Wiggins’ Flash of the Future

Take a look as soon-to-be Kansas Jayhawk Andrew Wiggins gives fans a taste of what he will be bringing to their university next year. Whether or not he is the next LeBron James or the 2014 No. 1 pick as people are saying, the fact that he is getting these type of discussions shows the type of player Wiggins is and can become.

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Clippers-Celtics Blockbuster Trade (Step 1)

Before the NBA Finals even had a chance to make its way onto NBATV, the first blockbuster trade of the 2013 NBA summer is upon us. Lob City just became Destination City.

It seemed to be an impossible dream of swapping pieces. Then it suddenly became something actually happening that was only a few pieces from successfully occurring. Then it all died away due to a mutual interest for a certain backup point guard. Then we seemed to be on the doorsteps. Then the Clippers backed off because they felt like they were giving up too much. Then Los Angeles’ star point guard stepped in, said to continue the trades talks and scared his organization half to death. Then the league had questions about the proposed deals and the connections between the two since there can’t be trades with contingencies or side deals. But now, we have a deal. Partially.

The Boston Celtics have begun the destruction of their “Big 3+Coach” core and traded head coach Doc Rivers to the Los Angeles Clippers for a 2015 unprotected first-round pick, according ESPNBoston’s Jackie MacMullan.

Coach Rivers isn’t technically a part of a trade since teams can’t trade coaches involving players. These two organizations came to an agreement that will give L.A. the coaching rights to Doc after Boston has released their coach and then give Boston draft pick compensation. MacMullan says the length of the deal is still being worked out.

The original deal was for the Celtics to trade Rivers and power forward Kevin Garnett to the Clippers for center DeAnde Jordan and two first-round draft picks. The league intervened, though, because certain contingencies and side deals (which is what Rivers, a coach, would have been) can’t be accounted for under the league’s cap rules, making the trade illegitimate. For the deals to take place, the NBA would have to be convinced that the Rivers deal is completely separate from any player discussions. Well, they were sold.

So that’s where we stand. We’re halfway there…or so we’re not supposed to think. But since the Rivers deal has been completed, we must play dumb and play the waiting game for Garnett to be traded to L.A. If a third team has to join in on the trade, it will happen. The Clippers will do what they must to snatch KG. Trust me—it’s inevitable.

(With Doc leaving Boston, other than Gregg Popovich, the NBA now has no coach that has been with his team for more than five years. Erik Spoelstra and Rick Carlisle were each hired in 2008. The NFL has nine coaches and the MLB has ten managers that have been with their team more than five years. In terms of security of a job, I would not want to be a coach in the NBA at the moment.)

The Clippers first didn’t want to give up rising guard Eric Bledsoe, and then once he was taken out of the picture, they didn’t want to give up two first-round draft picks. So talks were supposedly “dead.” But once unrestricted free agent (emphasis on unrestricted) Chris Paul twisted his team’s arm to make this idea a reality, the organization started talking to the Celtics again and made the trade discussions start to move forward. And they’ll probably still get to keep Bledsoe.

My initial reaction to all of this is “how long before Garnett is traded and Paul Pierce is bought out by the Celtics and joins his buddies?” (Answer: very soon.) My second is realizing the impact this will have on two All-Star point guards.

Lucky Paul. Poor Rajon Rondo.

This most assuredly guarantees that CP3 will re-sign with the Clippers as he now got his way and his superstar coach of choice. Once the next step of this trade goes through (Garnett), Paul will have a supporting cast ready to seriously compete for a championship right away. (Just look at how quickly the C’s core meshed in 2008 in order to win a championship during their first season together.) Sorry Dallas and Atlanta, looks like CP3 is staying home.

It will also be interesting to see the impact Garnett can have on Blake Griffin once the nine-time NBA All-Defensive First Team player heads on over. Will the highlight of all highlight reel dunkers find a way to finally become a defensive force due to the guidance of one of the best team defenders in the league? Or will he shut out Garnett’s serious influence due to his desire to have fun and make KIA commercials?

And on the other end of this trade, you have to feel somewhat bad for Rondo. Not only has he been given the raw end of this deal since he will soon be the sole leader of a team in full rebuilding mode (LaMarcus Aldridge feels his pain), he will likely have one of his worst NBA seasons since his play—and assists per game—is bettered with a strong cast around him. No. 9 isn’t the type of player that can take over a game, team and season without quality help from his teammates.

It is mind-blowing what one free agent signing—CP3—has done for this Clippers’ franchise. Once a place that every budding star wanted out of has transformed into the landing spot for players/coaches who want one last shot at a title. (Well, the city hasn’t changed. The franchise has.)

Doc, Garnett and Pierce will soon get that shot in L.A.

And the Lakers will just have to watch.

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Game 7 Rewind Part 1 of 3: Battier is Like Mike

One of the underrated parts of champions is the performance of their role players.

And why wouldn’t it be?

An organization has a symbol or image that gives people something to picture when thinking of that team. When it comes to an individual player-heavy league like the NBA, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade will easily come to mind when thinking about how and why the Heat have been so successful the past two years during their championships. And deservingly so.

However, just as is the case with any team of any league of any sport, there was much more to these championship than their best players’ outings during the past two Finals. LeBron’s monster 37 points and 12 rebounds showing in Game 7 will never be forgotten when people reminisce about these champions.

But as I said, there’s so much more to it than this one guy. This “more” is the role players. The players that don’t worry abou the attention or the ability to do what they want—the players that contribute in their specific role in order to give their teammates the best chance of winning each game.

What was the “more” in last night’s ever-so-decisive Game 7 of the NBA Finals?

Shane Battier pulling a Mike Miller.

During last year’s NBA Finals, Battier was in the starting lineup serving his role as a spot-up shooter and filling that role more than perfectly. Going 9-for-13 from three-point range in his first two Finals games and becoming the Heat’s greatest contributor to stretching the floor, Battier consistently made his shot throughout the series and played a key role in guiding his team to the top. Who knows if LeBron and Wade would have had the breathing room to create their own shot if Battier hadn’t have been sitting on the outside ready to fire.

However, another shooter decided to appear for the Heat’s closeout Game 5 121-106 victory who had been all but irrelevant up to that point. After going 0-for-3 from deep in the first four games and racking up a total of eight total points, Miller caught fire. No really, he was heat. Miller shot 7-for-8 from deep and had himself 23 big points in the biggest game of his career. No one saw it coming. Not one person. (Well, so I assume.)

During this year’s NBA Finals, Miller found himself in the starting lineup for the latter part of the series, serving his role as a spot-up shooter and filling that role more than perfectly. Going 9-for-10 from three-point range in his first three Finals games and becoming the Heat’s greatest contributor to stretching the floor, Miller consistently made his shot throughout the series and played a key role in guiding his team to the top. Who knows if LeBron and Wade would have had the breathing room to create their own shot if Battier hadn’t have been sitting on the outside—with one shoe or two shoes on, didn’t matter—ready to fire.

However, another shooter decided to appear for the Heat’s closeout Game 7 95-88 victory who had been all but irrelevant up to that point. After going 6-for-19 in the first six games and racking up a total of 21 points, Battier caught fire. No really, he was heat. Battier shot 6-for-8 from deep and had himself 18 big points in one of the biggest games of his career. No one saw it coming based on his 20 percent shooting (20-for-80) from deep in the playoffs up until this Game 7.

I’m describing these out-of-nowhere performances to help you understand just how important these out-of-nowhere showings are, especially for a Heat squad that requires quality shooting to surround the always attacking James and Wade. The naysayers can point out that the Heat only won because they had players like Miller, Battier and others not named LeBron/Wade/Bosh during the past two championship runs playing out of their minds. In a way, they got “lucky.” I mean, was it fair that Battier scored back-to-back 17 point games during last year’s Finals? How could the Thunder have prepared for that? Was it fair that Mario Chalmers exploded for 19 points in Game 2 while being mostly irrelevant for the majority of the other games in the Finals? How could the Spurs have prepared for that?

I used to be one of these naysayers that looked upon these players as inconsistent rather than “stepping up.” (Now, whether or not my distaste for the Heat played a part in this is for another time.) But what these outbursts represent is the “more” championship teams will always need. They need players to step up onto the big stage, put on their “big boy pants” as Gregg Popovich likes to put it and make an uncharacteristic impact that betters the team and gives them the edge. It’s not luck; it’s trust. It’s trust from the coaches and their stars that when the lights are shining brightest and the defenses are schemed to clamp down on the superstars, the “more” of the team will find a way to give that extra and unexpected push to the finish line.

Whether it’s been Miller or Battier, these shooters have been that “more” the past two years that has pushed this team toward becoming a dynasty.

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