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The 1962 Season: The Rise of Sam Jones and Jerry West

March 18, 2012 in by with 0 Comments

NBA

Jones’s special attributes as a player, [Red] Auerbach once explained, were his speed, touch, reflexes, and attitude. But there was another quality that made him a standout: dedication. “He’ll do anything you ask him,” said Auerbach. “He’s always in shape and ready to play, and nobody works any harder at basketball than he does.”

- Via Legends Profile: Sam Jones

In the midst of the astronomical statistical hijinks of the 1962 season, one of the more important developments happened rather quietly and unassumingly: the emergence of Sam Jones in Boston. Such an unbeknownst trumpeting of a new era couldn’t have happened to a more fitting player. Sam Jones himself was not flashy or demonstrative or demanding of the basketball. He just went on the court and flowed within the offense and amazingly he’d end up with 25 or 30 points. A parallel player would be Alex English of the 1980s Denver Nuggets. These cats just killed you softly.

Well, usually, the killing was soft. If Jerry West was Mr. Clutch then Sam Jones was the eastern branch of Mr. Clutch, Inc. as he hit shots to win several Eastern Division and NBA Finals games. And the 1962 season was where Jones would finally begin his ascent to the Hall of Fame.

The fact that Jones was even in the NBA in 1962 was a tad bit startling. Hailing from North Carolina, he attended tiny and practically unknown North Carolina Central University. Then came two years of military duty. On the advice of a friend, Red Auerbach drafted the 24-year old Sam Jones in the 1957 NBA draft without ever seeing the young man play. The tales of Jones’ jump shot were enough to convince Red to take Jones with the Celtics’ 1st round pick that year.

But Jones’ jump shot wasn’t usually of the swish variety. He took it to the bank early and often. From nearly every angle, Jones was able to utilize the backboard to guide his shot into the hoop. But Sam didn’t show it off too much his rookie year. Backing up Hall of Famer Bill Sharman, Sam rode the bench heavily averaging only 4.6 ppg. As the years ticked by Jones steadily saw his minutes and points rise as Sharman aged.

Season Jones (PPG – MPG) Sharman (PPG – MPG)
1957-58 4.6 – 10.6 22.3 – 35.1
1958-59 10.7 – 20.6 20.4 – 33.1
1959-60 11.9 – 20.4 19.3 – 27.0
1960-61 15.0 – 26.0 16.0 – 25.2

 

Following the 1961 season, Sharman called it quits and Sam Jones stepped into the starting lineup .

The 6’4″ shooting guard would do his silent assassin routine. 20 points here. 18 points there. 26 one night. 24 the next. Never quite explosive in total numbers, but he could catch fire in certain moments, like this oddball game played against the Lakers not in Los Angeles or Boston, but at the University of Maryland:

Sam Jones led the way with 16 points in nine minutes as Boston moved from a 24-24 tie at the end of the first quarter to a 66-48 halftime lead. Jones finished with 22 points, high for the Celtics.

Jones leading Boston with 22 points was pretty normal for the Celtics. In a season where Wilt averaged 50 and six other players averaged over 29 points, the Celtics’ leading scorers were Tommy Heinsohn at 22, Bill Russell at 19 and Sam Jones at 18.5 points per game. This kind of balance suited Jones just right. He was more than capable of going for 30 points a night, but Jones’ personality and demeanor just didn’t call for that type of night after night scoring explosion like his Lakers counterpart Jerry West could summon.

Speaking of Jerry, this too was his break out season

NBA

Unlike Same Jones, West immediately found his way to the NBA and was highly coveted. Along with Oscar Robertson, he was the most famous college player of the 1960 draft. But that fame didn’t immediately translate to on-court production. Joining West in Los Angeles in 1960 was Fred Schauss, his coach at West Virginia,  who now took over as the head man in L.A.

Despite their previous relationship, or maybe because of it, Schauss underutilized West. Fearing the 6’2″ shooting guard would wear down if given too many minutes, too fast, Schauss limited West to 35 minutes a night usually bringing him off the bench. Although 35 minutes sounds like a lot, it was actually the lowest average  of West’s career until the 1973 season, his last full one in the league.

And while he was on the court, West was not the focal point of the Lakers’ offense. His averages of 17 points and 41.7% shooting would be career lows. Even his FT% was a sinister 66.6%.  Elgin Baylor was the star attraction that season, the 1st that the Lakers played in Los Angles after their days in Minneapolis. Baylor averaged 35 points, 20 rebounds and five assists so that was understandable. However, Elgin would miss large chunks of the 1961-62 season with military service thus allowing West the opportunity to step out of his shadow.

The reins were loosened, Hot Rod Hundley was planted on the bench instead of sopping up Jerry’s minutes and a genuine star was unleashed. Averaging 41 minutes a night, West dramatically improved his offense. His scoring went from 17 to 31 points. His FG% from .417 to .445. His FT% from .666  to .769. West’s torrential scoring downpour drowned the Knicks in January of 1962:

The 6-foot-3 Los Angeles backcourt star, an NBA sophomore from West Virginia, scored 63 points [on 22 of 36 shooting] in the Lakers’ 129-121 victory over the New York Knickerbockers.

Only Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor, West’s Los Angeles teammate now in the Army, have bettered the mark.

Despite such amazing strides, and tremendous defensive ability, West  remained a bit reticent about his own abilities. Gradually, he grew into the familiar Mr. Clutch that season and despite only having Baylor for half the schedule, the Lakers would improve from 36 wins in 1961 to 54 in 1962.

Back East, Sam Jones’ Boston Celtics won a then-record 60 games.

These were the two best shooting guards on the two best teams in the league that season. Odds were that they would meet in the Finals.

The Lakers had a relatively easy time dispatching the Detroit Pistons, but the Celtics would have their hands full with Wilt Chamberlain and the Philadelphia Warriors in the Eastern Division Finals. It was truly one of the great series in NBA history, that naturally came down to a last second shot in a game 7…

 

(yes, that’s your cliffhanger. Come back next Sunday for the Warriors-Celtics throwdown of epic proportions!)

 

15-Footer 3/18/2012 – ELO Waiver Edition

March 18, 2012 in by with 0 Comments

major_grooves (flickr)

Roll Over Beethoven it’s the Atlanta Hawks at Cleveland Cavaliers (3pm ET)

This game will probably be as big a mess as ELO’s cover of the Chuck Berry classic. I’m all for covering, reinterpreting, and reinventing songs, but only if it’s done well. This attempt at turning  a 3-minute punch of rhythm & blues into 8 minutes of symphonic rock just ain’t working. (I spared you the full 8 minute version).

At least this matchup will have KY-RIE IR-VING! doing his thing. Poor Jeff Teague won’t know what hit him.

The Jungle gym jumpin’ of the Detroit Pistons at Los Angeles Clippers (3:30pm ET)

DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin will do their typical high wire act of lob dunkin’ and tomahawk stuffin’. At times they look like George of the Jungle swinging on a vine for a slam. But the Clippers have been struggling lately. Barely beating a severely shorthanded Rockets team on Saturday and getting embarrassed by a Nash-less Suns comeback are not good looks.

My Shangri-La has gone away: Minnesota Timberwolves at Sacramento Kings (6pm ET)

It’s been a couple of weeks now, but still we miss the bliss that was watching Ricky Rubio pass the rock. We don’t miss Rubio’s cringe-inducing 36% FG shooting, but I guess that’s the beauty mark in Rubio’s game. After all, Shangri-La isn’t a place of pure perfection but of contentment. And dammit, we were content with our Teen Wolf heart throb.

Oh and Isaiah Thomas continues to roll. Keep your eye on that cat. ME-OWW!

Hold On Tight to your dream: Washington Wizards at Memphis Grizzlies (6pm ET)

The Grizzlies got Z-Bo back Friday night so better days seem to lie ahead.

And the Wizards, you got rid of McGee and Young. Two-thirds of the stooges are gone. But don’t fret, just clutch and don’t let go of that desire to jettison Blatche from the District. It will come soon enough and don’t let alone tell you otherwise or turn you around. John Wall will blossom. Trevor Booker will block shots and keep them in play. Rashard Lewis’s contract is almost up.

And gosh darnit, Nene is going stay healthy as an ox! Dream big, baby. Dream big.

Strange Magic as Orlando visits the Miami Heat (7pm ET)

THANK GOD THAT’ DWIGHT HOWARD NONSENSE IS ALL OVER (at least until the summer). Now we can get back to our favorite activity of bemoaning whatever the hell LeBron James does at the end of basketball games.

The So Fine play of Goran Dragic: Houston Rockets at Phoenix Suns (9pm ET)

Since Kyle Lowry has unfortunately gone down with a bacterial infection, Goran Dragic has able stepped in as the starter. In his last 5 games, Dragic has scored 16 points, dished out 9.4 assists, picked up 1.4 steals and turned it over only 3 times a game. Couple all that with his 51% FG, 42% 3PT, and 86% FT and you got yourself a stud PG.

Thank Ra the Rockets were able to swindle him from the Suns for Aaron Brooks who’s lost somewhere in China with that giant red bow tie of his.

Last Train to London (or whatever destination castoffs go to): Portland Trail Blazers at Oklahoma City Thunder (9:30pm ET)

Yeah, the Blazers are a team in total disarray. And despite an efficient house cleaning, the two people who most deserved a one-way ticket out of Portland somehow survived. Raymond “Cupcakes” Felton so sunk his value the Blazers couldn’t even give him away. Jamal Crawford, the signing every Portland fan dreaded, meanwhile proved equally difficult to deal. For some reason no one wanted a 32-year old shooting guard who can’t really shoot all that accurately. Go figure.

Derek Fisher’s One Summer Dream: Utah Jazz at Los Angeles Lakers (9:30pm ET)

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH4pp248RVQ w=600 h=400]

Fisher is gone, but if there’s any semblance of a Disney ending left here, it’s for him to play the string out with some other team for the season. Then after that perfunctory stint, he floats into Los Angeles, the city of angels, on a feathery, puffy cloud of whimsical strings. Los Angelenos, already stopped on the streets because of hellish traffic, look up into the heavenly blue oasis in the sky seeing the white-robed Fisher descend from the firmament. Gracefully his sandled feet touch down in the Staples Center. The Jedi-like phantasms of Jim McMillian, Michael Cooper, and Mark Madsen are all there to hug him and lead the way to a press conference where Derek signs a one-day contract trumpeted by the celestial chants of the Laker Girls.

After signing his name, with a tearful Mitch Kupchak and a clueless Mike Brown looking on, Fisher announces he’s now retired and can ascend to his place in Lakerdom’s glorious recess in heaven. The doors to the press room gracefully slide open as yellow and forum blue streamers enter and weave their way around Fisher. The invisible hand of Laker triumph methodically draws the streamers back into the whispery clouds they descended from with Fisher in tow. Forever he will reside in Laker Heaven’s Halls of Glory… cheap-shotting Luis Scola and counting his ringz…

Video: DeShawn Stevenson Accidentally Scores From Halfcourt

March 17, 2012 in by with 2 Comments

DeShawn Stevenson isn’t a great shooter. He isn’t a great passer, either. But sometimes, a miserable pass turns into an incredible shot. Like at the end of the third quarter in Orlando last night. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything like it.

(h/t Devin Kharpertian)

The Bucks Are Winning With Offense (Also, The Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Mike Dunleavy Show!)

March 17, 2012 in by with 0 Comments

This is the dynamic duo you’re excited about in Milwaukee, right?

Yeah, maybe not. But if you tuned into the Bucks/Warriors game to see the Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis Show, you ended up watching something a bit different. While it was cool to see Ellis and Ekpe Udoh make their Buck debuts against their former team and see the crowd show its appreciation, the most productive players on the court had nothing to do with the main story:

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute: 22 points (10-15 fg), 17 rebounds (nine offensive), two assists, three steals, one block in 32 minutes.

Mike Dunleavy: 24 points (7-8 fg, 4-5 3pt, 6-6 ft), three rebounds, four assists, zero turnovers in 19 minutes.

For Mbah a Moute, it was a career high in scoring and a season high in rebounding. He did his work just like Ersan Ilyasova was doing it before Ilyasova got sick, with effort and smarts, albeit without the jump shooting.

Dunleavy was about as efficient as you can be, continuing the excellent all-around play off the bench that has keyed Milwaukee’s five-game winning streak. He’s now averaging 20.8 points, 5.2 assists and 3.8 rebounds over the last five, often running the offense with the second unit. Oh, and during that stretch he’s shooting 60.3 percent. He did it against Golden State in fewer minutes than normal, while hearing boos from the Oracle crowd every time he touched the ball. (Sidenote: if you can figure out why Warriors fans still boo him, let me know.)

It’s telling that the Bucks kept rolling along with Ilyasova out of the lineup, even if Golden State isn’t the class of the West. Ilyasova is the Eastern Conference Player of the Week and has been putting up monster numbers lately, but he doesn’t function like a traditional star. Milwaukee doesn’t run a ton of ISO plays for him; rather, he gets his points by moving into open spaces and crashing the glass. Per Basketball-Reference.com, only eight players  boast a higher offensive rebounding percentage than Ilyasova this year. Mbah a Moute was able to pick up the slack in that area Friday night and ended up with the same kind of ridiculous numbers we’ve been seeing from Ilyasova.

A lot of people still think of Scott Skiles’ Bucks as a defense-first team, but this season they’re 11th in offensive efficiency and just 22nd on defense. They’re one of the best passing teams in the league, fourth-best at assists per possession per TeamRankings.com. “We have a lot of good chemistry inside the team,” said Ilyasova after a recent win. ”Everybody trusts each other… When they make the extra pass, you have to trust the teammate to make the shot. It’s the kind of thing we’re really good at.”

“It’s kind of been really easy for me right now,” Ilyasova continued. “Hopefully we’re going to make the playoffs together.”

The Bucks are averaging 31.8 assists a game in their last five games. They’re eighth in the East, tied with the Knicks with a record of 20-24. Going forward, the challenge is to integrate the new guys without losing any of the chemistry that brought them into the playoff picture. It’s fair to worry about how Ilyasova will fit in with Ellis needing the needing the ball in his hands, but these performances from Mbah a Moute and Dunleavy show that it doesn’t have to be all backcourt all the time. This is just one game against a team that appears to be tanking, but it’s a good sign.

Trade Deadline: Your Post-Madness Roundtable

March 17, 2012 in by with 2 Comments

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfGpVcdqeS0]

No, Pau Gasol and Rajon Rondo didn’t move, and we don’t get to enjoy yet another franchise sinking under Michael Beasley’s contested 21 footers, but there was still plenty to be shocked about in yesterday’s trading frenzy. Sean, Amin, Jared, Steve and Scott are here to walk you through the crazy in true Rountable fashion.

1)  Shocking as it is that a team would intentionally acquire JaVale McGee, could the McNuggets actually be a good idea?

Sean: Getting rid of Nene’s contract was the smart thing to do, given their concerns about his health. Taking on the prohibitive leader in John Hollinger’s GIF Efficiency Rating power rankings is a high-risk/high-reward move. Whether he’ll be more focused playing for a playoff team than he was for the hapless Wizards remains to be seen, but he has a $14 million-a-year contract to strive for next year. If nothing else, JaVale McGee and Kenneth Faried have surpassed Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis as the most entertaining creation of this year’s trade deadline.

Amin: I’m not sure if it’s going to be a good idea, but I don’t think it’s a bad idea by any stretch. Denver didn’t want to commit (after it wanted to commit) to 4 more years of NeNe when it didn’t think it was going to contend. JaVale is risk free for them. If he plays well: great, he’ll be an RFA and Ujiri will assess his worth and either pay or not pay for him. If he plays poorly: great, you’ve got Faried ready to go. And if you feel like playing Turiaf a few minutes here and there when he’s fully recovered.

Jared: Honestly, no. I can’t in good conscience say that having JaVale McGee on your basketball team is a good idea. But that doesn’t mean this is a bad trade. Basically, I’m down with this move as long as they’re not actually planning on bringing JaVale back. The Nuggets had a bit of buyer’s remorse when it came to the big contract they gave Nene last summer, and they get themselves out from under the weight of it. McGee and Turiaf both fit into the Nuggets’ trade exception, so sending Nene to Washington actually netted Denver an additional $13 million TPE, one they can put to good use some time in the next year. That, plus the cap space they’ve carved out by shedding Nene’s contract should be enough to enable them to add some good pieces to a young and improving core of Ty Lawson, Arron Afflalo, Danilo Gallinari, Kenneth Faried, Timofey Mozgov and, presumably, Wilson Chandler.

Steve: After having seen that picture circulating around Facebook of the pink goo they make McNuggets out of, I’m hard-pressed to think McNuggets are ever a good idea. That said, I don’t think this is a terrible move. As has been pointed out, McGee’s weird, but he’s not a knucklehead. Yes he has a French alter-ego, but he isn’t carrying around a past that involves rehab, car accidents, lewd Twitter photos or any of that. If Karl can make him into the something that everyone thinks he can be, this move will look like genius. And if it turns out that McGee is actually an Andy Kaufman character and this is all an elaborate ruse, they can just choose to not sign him.

Scott: It’s a good idea in terms of the long term future for the Nuggets. In fact, Masai Uriji has quietly become one of the best general managers in the league; he’s stockpiled talent and kept a ton of flexibility, things that are tough to do simultaneously. The Nene contract had a good chance to become pretty awful and un-tradable down the road (coincidentally this is why I have no problem with any star “not showing loyalty”, Nene signed his contract with the team he wanted to play for and then like 3 months later Nuggets are like “hey you don’t look so good. SEE YA”. This thing goes both ways, and yet no one is up in arms killing the Nuggets for being unloyal. Oh well.)

Back to this trade specifically, Mcgee will provide much needed rim protection and the thought of him and Faried out there at the same time is a pretty scary prospect for opposing teams. However, this is contingent on Karl giving Faried the appropriate amount of minutes which I in no way trust him to do. The Nuggets will miss Nene’s offense but McGee has a chance to be a pretty big upgrade defensively and actually not as big a downgrade offensively as some might think . Suffice to say I thought the Nuggets had a outside chance at making a run in the playoffs; this move probably limits those odds but it does set them up very nicely for the future.

The future of the NBA is now in Denver

2) The Portland TrailBlazers teardown – good, bad, smart but too drastic, smart but not drastic enough, smart but why did they keep Felton and Crawford, WHY THABEET WHY?

Sean: I have no complaints about anything the Blazers did today. There’s no better way to start a rebuilding effort than to by turning two aging, expensive veterans you’re not going to re-sign anyway into more cap space and a possible high lottery pick. They didn’t trade Felton because they literally couldn’t convince anyone to take him for nothing, and they didn’t trade Crawford because the only deal on the table was for Steve Blake, and taking on another two years and $8 million of a thoroughly mediocre point guard is antithetical to a rebuild. Thabeet and Flynn are expiring, so it’s whatever.

Amin: Smart. But is the plan to build around Aldridge? He’s clearly the best player on the team, but all these rumblings of “he may want to return to Texas to be near his family” have me thinking that no one on this roster is going to be there in a few years. I can see keeping Felton, since he’s an expiring deal. If he plays out the deal, he’s cap space. If they buy him out, he’s cap space. If they flip him during the offseason but before July 1, he’s assets. JamCraw (a name I just made up and love) has a player option for next year, but will he take it? I don’t think he will, based on how many people seemed to imply they wanted him this year. He could make the playoffs in Minny next year, or he can go deeper on another team. And Thabeet because WHY NOT?

Jared: Smart but not drastic enough because they kept Felton and Crawford. I wrote about this in detail yesterday, but long story short I love the move to blow up what was likely a fringe playoff team for the next few years. This group wasn’t contending for the championship any time soon and the ship was sinking fast. Burning it all down and starting over was absolutely the right move. Bravo to the GM-less Blazers for having the guts to do it, though I would have liked to see them ship out Felton and Crawford and really commit to it, even if it meant getting little to no value for them.

Steve: I’ve long been a fan of teams simply calling it when it’s clear a roster’s going nowhere. When I lived in New York, I always heard, “This is New York—we don’t rebuild.” Witness those appealing Knicks teams of the early 2000s. You know, the ones with Allan Houston dangling around their neck. And who can forget Lavor Postell and Othella Harrington? They couldn’t unload Felton and Crawford, but Crawford is most likely gone next year anyways. And Thabeet? Probably just so they could sing, “We got Thabeet / we got Thabeet, we got Thabeeeeet / Yeah! We got Thabeet!”

Scott: I think this was really smart in a lot of ways, though it will be interesting to see how LaMarcus Aldridge reacts to having the rest of the season thrown away. Portland wasn’t a true contender and while their season took a lot of unfortunate turns, even at their best they were probably stuck in NBA purgatory: not good enough actually contend but too good to get good prospects in the draft. This leaves them with two very good young players in Aldridge and Batum, cap flexibility, and possibly two lottery picks in what is supposed to be a strong draft (though given the difficulty that comes with predicting draft class strength and Portland’s poor drafting performance the last few years my expectations are seriously tempered). Sure you can be upset about not being able to get rid of Crawford and Felton but in reality they were essentially un-tradable. I’m just glad we didn’t end up with Steve Blake.

3) Is there any possible way that what the Nets are doing doesn’t implode in their faces? How good is this newest transitional version of the team, anyway?

Sean: Sure, if they sneak into the playoffs, pull off upsets of Miami and Chicago, win a title, convince Deron Williams to stay, and get Brook Lopez to re-sign for less than he’d get on the open market. If all that happens, this will work out great. Theoretically, a DWill/MarShon Brooks/Crash/Kris Humphries/Lopez lineup is pretty good. But Wallace has been hit-or-miss, and Williams and Lopez have continued to deal with injuries. I guess on the other end of the spectrum, the entire team could get hurt, finish with a record comparable to the Wizards or Bobcats, and win the draft lottery, thus keeping the pick they traded to Portland. They’d lose Deron but end up with Anthony Davis. But barring one of those two scenarios happening, Wallace will make them slightly better, they still won’t make the playoffs, they’ll lose their lottery pick, and then they’ll lose their superstar.

Amin: I have no idea what’s going to happen to the Nets. I’m fairly certain if this weren’t happening and if they weren’t a New York area team, they’d have been contracted by now. This doesn’t look like it’ll get better for a while. Too much doubling down on FAs with geography as the only draw. I’m sorry, Nets fans.

Jared: This will definitely blow up in their faces. The Nets have now struck out on LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Amar’e Stoudemire, Carlos Boozer, Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard within the last year and a half or so (h/t Matt). They mortgaged most of their future to bet on teaming up Deron Williams with Dwight and when that didn’t go exactly as planned they mortgaged the rest of it for Gerald Wallace. Bringing him in may not even be enough to get Deron to stick around beyond this year. A nucleus of Williams, MarShon Brooks, Wallace, Kris Humphries and Brook Lopez is decent, but it’s not a roster that’s going to make any significant noise in – or even definitely an appearance in – the playoffs. If Deron walks, things are going to be ugly in Brooklyn next year. And with his hometown Dallas Mavericks (who have a far better roster than New Jersey) calling, I think he might.

Steve: As opposed to the old transitional version of the team? If the Knicks refuse to rebuild, it’s like the Nets can’t stop. I mean, does anyone remember this? Todd MacCulloch is in that picture! The good news for them is none of it will much matter when they get to Brooklyn, at least for the first few years. I still won’t be surprised if Howard ends up there, but he might be playing with a team of tiny giraffes by then.

Scott: I mean, a team that likely isn’t going to have a star next year and needs to rebuild just traded away their lottery pick for Gerald Wallace (who is good but c’mon not THAT good). I’ll let Bill take this one:

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw6ndZNLYUA]

4) Favorite no-cost rental: Camby to the Rockets, Sessions to the Lakers, Barbosa to the Pacers, or Nick Young to the Clippers?

Sean: I can’t decide whether Sessions is overrated because the Lakers haven’t had a competent point guard this year or underrated because he hasn’t been given a team of his own in so long. But if that trade pans out (and I think it will), the Lakers are suddenly very much in the mix to win the west.

Amin: I’m partial to the Sessions trade, because my Cavs just got a first-round pick out of it. After that I’d have to say Nick Young to the Clippers because my other team is the Wizards and this signals a positive shift in organizational attitude. Everyone from Arenas-Butler-Jamison years needs to be gone for this team to start over properly. That also includes Grunfeld. Also, I really like Nick as a personality, and him going home to LA makes me happy. I hope Donald Sterling doesn’t treat him like crap.

Jared: I guess Sessions to the Lakers? Ramon’s not a world-beater or anything, but he’s a solid starting point guard and a big upgrade over what they had at that spot previously. The only problem is he probably won’t be able to do most of the things he’s good at because he’ll be sharing the floor with Kobe Bryant a lot of the time. Sessions needs the ball in his hands a lot so he can slash to the hoop and make plays for himself and others. Playing with Bryant… well, let’s just say he won’t be the one controlling the offense. I could see Sessions being much more effective when he plays with the second unit than when he’s out there with LA’s starters because that will allow him to run a whole lot of pick-and-rolls, the true strength of his game.

Steve: Based strictly on NBA2K12, I like Nick Young to the Clippers. He’s one of those guys who’s always available in a Fantasy Draft after you’ve taken your star, your main support guy, and your defensive anchor. He’s that thing that everyone wants (a two-guard who can get his own shot) and he only costs $3.7 million right now. If he blossoms on a team that’s not a trainwreck with a plane that’s on fire crashing into it over a cliff, you keep him. And if not? He’s just another guy you call “honey” because you can’t remember his name.

Scott: I say it’s a toss up between Sessions to the Lakers and Camby to the Rockets. Despite all the negativity surrounding the Lakers, they have the 3rd best record in the Western Conference and are pretty much unbeatable at home. In fact, had the whole Lamar Odom saga/trade not happened and he was playing at a focused Lamar level, this team might’ve been the best in the West. As is they desperately needed an upgrade at point guard, and while Sessions isn’t spectacular he doesn’t have to do that much to significantly improve upon the production the Lakers were previously getting from that position. As for Camby, it will all hinge on his health; when he is active, flying around blocking shots and grabbing rebounds, he can still have a big impact on games. The problem is these games seem to occurring less and less often now days. Still, if he can get healthy for the playoffs, he can make this Rockets team a pretty tough out.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZivCldg9aP4]

5) The Spurs, smartest team in the league for over a decade, willingly took on the flaming pile of feces that is Stephen Jackson. Is Gregg Popovich really good enough to make this work?

Sean: Sure, why not? At the very least, they got rid of Richard Jefferson’s contract.

Amin: Pop did it before with Jax, and I feel like he’s the only one who could do it again. Plus, Jax grew on me a lot after I read that Abrams piece on the Malice at the Palace.

Jared: Yes. He’s Gregg Popovich and I know better than to question him at this point.

Steve: Even if Popovich can put that fire out, it’s still a pile of feces.

Scott: Am I wrong or didn’t this sort of work before? I’m a little to young to remember how Jax played for this team years ago, but I put all my faith in Gregg Popovich. He’s literally smarter than all of us combined; plus, I think Jackson still has a decent amount to offer. But he’s also, you know, a crazy person, so in the words of Kevin Garnett: ANYTHING IS POSSIIIIIBLLLEEE!!

No, You’re Wrong: Trade Deadline Edition

March 16, 2012 in by with 2 Comments

Photo By @Seth_Bawl on Twitter

Connor Huchton and Scott Leedy like to argue. Instead of shouting at each other on Twitter, they’ve decided to try something more constructive: an actual, semi-coherent email conversation. What you see below are the results. 

Leedy: So this trade deadline…Where do we start? The Portland fire sale? The will he…won’t he..I think he might…no, he won’t….then he does Dwight saga? Daryl Morey striking yet again? NO, WE START WITH DENVER.

Huchton: Yes, let’s start with Denver. What seems pretty clear is this: For Denver, the trade was about unloading a scary contract. After an already disappointing season for Nene, four more years of that contract was probably a frightening proposition. If you can get a good, if Wizards-y, player like Javale McGee while also unloading  that contract, it’s a win. Maybe they won’t be able to keep McGee, and maybe this hurts the team’s playoff chances, but it saves them from a likely bad, weighty contract. With the new CBA, that’s considered a victory by many front offices.

Leedy: Indeed. The more I think about it, the more I like the trade quite a bit. I think McGee has a lot of ability that he’s yet to really fulfill; whether he can actually capitalize on this opportunity remains to be seen. This trade is great for the Nuggets in the long-term and perhaps not as bad in the short term as some might think, provided Karl plays the right people the right amount of minutes. As you know, I’ve long championed the Nuggets as a possible contender in the West. I think that’s pretty much dead now, as my hopes were contingent on Nene being both healthy and playing well. I think the Nuggets realized there was a pretty good chance that might not even happen this year and beyond that, it was likely to get ugly sooner rather than later. Coincidentally, how many general managers are doing a better job than Masai Uriji?

Huchton: A few, but not many. I’m lukewarm about the move, because I think it makes the Nuggets a slightly worse team but saves a ton of money going forward, but I do like when front offices have a sound, logical plan. I’m not sure the Nets can say the same.

Speaking of the Nets, what was the worst deal of the day?

Leedy: It depends on what you mean by that, but I’ll take the team that made the worst move. It’s the Nets, who gave up their lottery pick to get Gerald Wallace. This team likely isn’t going to have a superstar next year, and they needed to be focused on rebuilding rather than making a desperation attempt to convince Deron Williams to stay. Even if that was the logic behind this deal, it still doesn’t make a ton of sense. The Nets failed big time yesterday.

Huchton: Let’s pretend you’re the Nets.

1) You traded several significant assets for a top 10 player with about 1.5 years left on his contract. It’s an acceptable, if risky move. But time is already short. You’re moving to Brooklyn soon, a high-profile change that could be catapulted by the presence of said player, one Deron Williams. Again, time is quickly escaping your grasp.
2) You fail to sign any significant free agents in the rushed 2011 offseason.
3) Your franchise’s second best player, young center Brook Lopez, goes down with a foot injury before the season begins. The team is no longer able to compete at a respectable level with any consistency, and the season begins poorly. On a positive note, late first-round draftee MarShon Brooks is better than expected. You now have another player you can seek to retain upon a move to Brooklyn. On a more negative note, your starting center is now Johan Petro.
4) You reportedly try to trade Lopez throughout the first half of the season in order to acquire Dwight Howard, but ultimately fail.
5) With Howard now unlikely to join the team for at least another year, you’re now grasping for straws. How can you keep soon-to-be free agent Deron Williams in free agency with few good players under contract, and with Howard now unlikely to join the team until 2013?
6) You trade a top-3 protected pick, along with two unimportant (in regards to your team’s long-term future) players, for Gerald Wallace, an aging, but still capable, wing player. You are now within reach of the Eastern Conference 8th seed, if Lopez quickly regains his health.
7) You have now further mortgaged your future for the sake of convincing Deron Williams that all future appearances are positive, in truly stretching fashion.
8) If Deron Williams leaves in free agency, you are left with MarShon Brooks, an unsigned Brook Lopez, and very little else.
9) Welcome to Brooklyn. Hope you like it here.

I understand the Nets’ choice, though it seems rooted in desperation. That necessary desperation is a product of both the franchise’s own choices and unfortunate circumstances, but it’s bound to exist and motivate all the same.

Leedy: I don’t really now how to respond to this other than to say, “YES.” So what about the Lakers? I think this Sessions move makes them more of a threat in the Western Conference. Are they better than the Thunder? Probably not, but it isn’t inconceivable that they could beat them in a series.

Huchton: I’m not a big believer in this Lakers’ team. And they aren’t suddenly as good as the Thunder. But I don’t really know how good they are, or will be. This isn’t something we’ve seen before with the Lakers, at least not for many years: a fully competent, above-average point guard leading the team. How’s Kobe going to react to that?

I have a theory that part of the reason Kobe loved playing with Fisher so much emanated from a wish to play alongside a completely deferential point guard, someone who moved the ball to Kobe without any hesitation at almost any given moment. Sessions isn’t going to do that. The rhythm of the offense, to some extent, is going to change. So I’m interested to see how the team reacts to that, and whether it improves, as it’s rightfully expected to with Sessions and Hill joining the rotation.

Leedy: That would make sense, given Kobe’s attitude and persona, but Fisher is so terrible at this point that they had to do something. I think even Kobe realized that. They aren’t better than the Thunder, but they also can’t be easily dismissed, given how good their front line is. Speaking of Western Conference contenders, do you think Jax helps the Spurs?

Huchton: My first instinct is to say no. Stephen Jackson is 33 years old and played terribly for almost the entirety of his time with the Bucks. He shot under 36% and has a PER below 10. But it’s a forgivable move for the Spurs for three reasons:

1) Richard Jefferson hasn’t been much better than Jackson has this year.
2) They both have unseemly contracts, but Jefferson’s contract has an added year of duration.
3) Jackson didn’t fit in with Milwaukee (at all), but the Spurs’ franchise, including Popovich and Duncan, seem to like him quite a bit.

So I understand the move for the Spurs, and maybe Jax helps them. He’s more generally talented than Richard Jefferson, if nothing else. But this seems more like a replacement based in freeing up cap space, with the added hopes of a possible scoring spark that pushes the Spurs into full-fledged championship contender status, than anything else.

Leedy: I think he could help them a lot, mostly because the Spurs have the necessary players and the perfect coach to allow Jackson to maximize whatever ability he has left. We have to at least talk a little bit about the Blazers fire sale and the firing of McMillan, right? I think both made a lot of sense, and getting a lottery pick for Gerald Wallace was a pretty damn good get. Also, anyone who’s complaining about not moving Crawford and Felton, I don’t really understand. Felton was essentially untradable and getting Blake back on the Blazers would’ve been pretty much the worst thing of all time.

Huchton: I won’t prod at the hyperbole of that last sentence, because I know these are trying times for Blazers’ fans. But I think something poignant and representative of the NBA can be found in what the Blazers did at the deadline. A somewhat competitive team does their absolute best to trade several players and create a new identity, but is unable to deal Jamal Crawford and Raymond Felton, the two players pegged as most responsible for the team’s gradual demise.

Trade Deadline: Podcast Paroxysm: Ramble On

March 16, 2012 in by with 1 Comment

Image via TOM81115 on Flickr

Got no time to for spreadin’ roots, The time has come to be gone.
And to’ our health we drank a thousand times, it’s time to Ramble On.

-Led Zeppelin, who were traded to the Pistons yesterday for the Temptations, a 2014 draft pick, and a crooner to be named later.

In this edition of Podcast Paroxysm, Matt, Connor, Sean, and I discuss the trade deadline!

Who were our most and least favorites? Who’s in full-tank mode? What’s the deal with New Jersey? Is Cleveland moving in the right direction at the right pace? Why didn’t we use Noam‘s favorite word to describe the McGee-t0-Denver trade (McNUGGETS!)?

All that, plus Connor and Matt talking about the Rockets for a really long time.

Enjoy!

Trade Deadline Podcast Paroxysm: Matt, Connor, Sean, Amin [ 1:08:08 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (306)

Trade Deadline: The Atlanta Hawks Make An Incredibly Unimportant Trade

March 16, 2012 in by with 0 Comments

Photo by Donald Lee Pardue on Flickr

The Hawks, as expected, didn’t make any major trades by today’s 3 p.m. deadline. Instead, they sent a second-round pick to Golden State for cash to help offset their first-ever luxury-tax bill that will be due at season’s end.

Under CBA rules, picks can be sold for up to $3 million but the Hawks will receive much less for their pick since first-round picks routinely sold for $3 million under the old CBA. In addition, under the new CBA there is an annual cap of $3 million on cash involved in trades, further driving down the price of picks.

via The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Hawks Blog: Atlanta Hawks: Hawks trade second-round draft pick for cash

Lost in all the clamor and analysis of “meaningful” trades, benignity reigned in Atlanta. The Blazers dealt players with impressive frequency, the Lakers and Rockets upgraded at different positions, and the Nuggets made a leap of faith. What did the Atlanta Hawks do? The franchise enacted the most minuscule and practical deal of the day, and made the least eventful move possible.

If this is the first you’re reading of the Hawks’ sport-shattering deal, you’re not at fault. The system has failed you. The Internet has failed you. While the rest of the general blogs were off covering a myriad of shifting, ultimately meaningless trades, you were sitting at home, completely unaware of what the Hawks’ franchise was doing. But here at Hardwood Paroxysm, we wouldn’t allow that. The Hawks may not be our first priority in regards to astute coverage, but meaningless NBA moments certainly are.

Am I insinuating that the Hawks freeing up a couple million dollars in payroll is more interesting than Nick Young being traded to the Clippers? Maybe, maybe not. But do I believe singularly purposed, widely unrecognized trades deserve their moment in the sun? Yes, I do. There can be no question as to why the Hawks traded a second-round pick to the Warriors, but there can be many questions as to why a team like the Bucks chose to trade Andrew Bogut. It may have been a move grounded in improving team morale, stemming from a great belief in Monta Ellis, or based upon a simple wish to free up future cap space. The Hawks, in contrast, hold no interest in nebulous motivations.

While the NBA office whirred with activity, and media everywhere analyzed the fine points of complicated deals, the Hawks’ franchise (and by extension, the Warriors) allowed a quick respite from the madness. The Hawks made a simplistic deal with likely no long-term NBA ramifications on Thursday, and for that, they should be noticed, if not necessarily saluted or commended.

Trade Deadline: Portland is Tank City

March 15, 2012 in by with 2 Comments

I suddenly like this a lot. RT @: The proposed 2012 draft pick in Wallace deal would be protected only through the top 3 spots.
March 15, 2012 12:10 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite
@shighkinNBA
Sean Highkin

The Portland Trail Blazers were finally the ones to do it. In a series of moves, the GM-less Blazers embraced a philosophy that has been espoused by NBA pundits, writers and bloggers for a while now: they have broken up a middling fringe playoff team that was never going to contend for a championship as it was currently constructed, content to bottom out for the rest of this season and build from scratch through the draft and free agency. And they fired the coach of the sinking ship for good measure.

When the Blazers traded multiple first round picks for Gerald Wallace last season, it was with the intention of adding him to a blossoming core that included a budding star in LaMarcus Aldridge, a once-and-possibly-future star in Brandon Roy, rising youngsters like Nic Batum and Wesley Mathews and the possibly returning defensive stalwart center Greg Oden (at the time). When they then moved Andre Miller for Raymond Felton on draft day in 2011, it seemed they had completed the nucleus of what should have been a Western Conference contender for the next half-decade.

Despite Roy’s retirement and Oden’s umpteenth knee injury, the Blazers started off the season on fire. Nate McMillan’s normally slow and deliberate bunch was running up and down the floor with abandon, Felton and Aldridge had developed instant chemistry in the pick-and-roll, Mathews and Batum were filling the wings capably, Jamal Crawford was providing scoring off the bench and at 7-2 after the first couple weeks of the season, this group looked like legitimate contenders. Even as their record slid back toward .500 as the season moved along, their point differential suggested that they were much better than that record might indicate.

But somewhere along the way, it appears that McMillan lost the team and they began to implode. It’s gotten really ugly. The Blazers have gone 5-11 since February 11th, losing 7 games by double digits. This last week, in what seemed to be the final straw, they got blown out in 4 of their 5 roadies, beating only the Wizards. The Timberwolves, Celtics, Pacers and Knicks beat them by a combined 89 points (a 42-point loss to the Knicks yesterday helped things).

So whoever is really running the Blazers, whether it’s owner Paul Allen or interim General Manager Chad Buchanon, woke up today and decided that this group wasn’t working to work out and the only solution was to burn it all down. And burn it down they did. Gerald Wallace was sent to the New Jersey Nets for Mehmet Okur, Shawne Williams and the Nets’ top-3 protected 2012 first round pick. Marcus Camby was shipped to Houston for Hasheem Thabeet, Johnny Flynn and a future second round pick. Nate McMillan was sent packing. The Blazers, undoubtedly, are worse today than they were yesterday.

Wallace was their second best player after LaMarcus Aldridge, one of the most consistent forwards in the league. He’s a very capable defender on both the wing and the block, can play the 3 or the 4 and is a terrific rebounder and terror in the open court. Camby, despite his offensive limitations, is still an extremely sound defensive center. Without them, Portland’s slightly above averaged 13th ranked defense will get worse, as will their slightly below average 17th ranked rebounding rate. McMillan had been the coach of the team since 2005. His 34-year old assistant Kaleb Canales will take the reins. The Blazers currently sit in 11th place in the Western Conference, and without Wallace and Camby, they should drop even further in the standings.

The players they acquired won’t be very useful this season, and what remains of the team that imploded shouldn’t get much better. They’re bottoming out, plain and simple. For the rest of the year, they’ll embrace the suck. And it’s the right move, because things will get better, sooner.

Tanking the season isn’t the most admirable strategy, but it’s not against the rules. Embracing the letter of the law, if not exactly the spirit, will help the Blazers more than it will hurt them. The team likely won’t be very fun to watch for the rest of this season, but at least management recognized a situation that wasn’t working, formulated a plan and set it in motion. The Blazers will be brutal for a while, but they’ll be better off down the road.

Portland still has Aldridge under contract through the 2014-15 season, and they now have three years in which to assemble a team that will make him want to stick around even longer than that. They’ll likely have two lottery picks in what is one of the deepest drafts in years – their own and New Jersey’s as long as it doesn’t land in the top 3 – and have just $26 million in committed salary for next season without options. Batum will be a restricted free agent, and now that Wallace is gone it’s hard to see the Blazers not matching whatever he gets offered on the open market. And even though Dwight Howard will not hit free agency this summer, there will still be a robust group of players available that can help Portland build toward a brighter future.

Trade Deadline: Pacers Get Barbosa For Free, Things Make Sense

March 15, 2012 in by with 0 Comments

Photo from dev null via Flickr

Indiana Pacers acquiring guard Leandro Barbosa in a trade with Toronto Raptors, source tells Y!
March 15, 2012 10:07 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite
@SpearsNBAYahoo
Marc J. Spears

Sometimes, things just make sense and everything is cool.

The Indiana Pacers need an elite distributor. Darren Collison is a friendly chap and a good point guard, but they have too many offensive weapons who get too little of the ball in their favorite spots.

That said, a backup center and a scoring guard off the bench were clearly items 2a and 2b on the Pacers’ shopping list, and with a humongous chunk of cap space to work with, they were going to acquire one or the other. Apparently, Leandro Barbosa and his 7.6 million expiring deal beat out Chris Kaman and his 14 million monstrosity.

Barbosa is hardly a perfect fit for Indiana. He is yet another guard who looks for his own shot above others, he’s posting the worst TS% of his career, and he can hardly be compared to Gary Payton on the defensive end. But what he does – create shots by the boatload – he does very well, and it’s a skill that has been lacking in Pacerland so far this season. With his deal coming off the books to end the season, this is as low-risk a move as they come, even if some may have wanted Indiana to use their cap space to swing a blockbuster trade that probably wasn’t there in the first place.

Adding Barbosa to the bench also means the Pacers can give serious thought to starting George Hill over Darren Collison – Hill has been much better lately, but unlike Collison, he can play the 2 in a pinch. Barbosa can step in there from here on out. One has to wonder if Collison will eventually be on his way out, with both himself and Hill not far from requiring a contract extension (Hill is up this summer, Collison the next), but for now, this is a good but flawed backcourt that just became less flawed for no cost at all.

As for the Raptors?

Toronto only needs three things from this season:

1. Develop youngsters;

2. Lose games;

3. Not pay a lot of money.

Barbosa, at the very least, was hurting two out of those three goals, and so he was sent away. Simple as that.

Well done, Larry Bird and Brian Colangelo. More, please.

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