dunkside

Pat Riley is probably one of the most underestimated GM’s in the NBA. He promised to bring a title to Miami when he moved there. He did some mistakes at first (giving large contracts to Eddie Jones and Brian Grant, for example). He was hit by back luck when his star player and the heart and soul of the team, Zo, was diagnosed with focal glomerulosclerosis. But he learned from his mistakes and rebuild the team around Wade and finally delivered the title he promised.

When he realized his team was rapidly breaking down, that Shaq had lost all his motivation and that there was no chance to contend again, he broke the team and set to rebuild it. He even managed to find a fool (thank you, Steve Kerr) to take Shaq’s seemingly untradeable contract. And now the Heat seem to be in a great position again to make some moves that would take them back into the elite of the league.

If they get Odom for the MLE, that would be a steal, an even bigger one than getting Haslem for the MLE (one of the few MLE signings that actually worked well; for failed MLE’s see: James, Jerome and Jeffries, Jared).

And there are rumors about the Heat looking to get Boozer. Getting Boozer would be done in two ways, and they’d both put the Heat into position to grab one of the major FA of 2010. Since the 2 major FA’s are Lebron and Bosh, and the Heat would already have 2 really good PF’s in Odom and Boozer, the target would obviously be Lebron. And while everyone has their eyes on the Knicks or the Nets as probable targets for Lebron, he might end up playing with his friend, Wade, in Miami.

The 2 ways to get Boozer would be:

1. Include JO’s contract. That would give the Jazz 23 mil in expiring salary, but they’d want the Heat to either send them some talent back, or take a bad salary off their hands (and their payroll). Does Kirilenko’s nearly 18 mil for 2010-2011 sound bad enough ?

JO + Haslem for Boozer + Kirilenko works under the rules and makes sense, too. The Jazz get rid of a huge salary and get a huge expiring + a good role player PF to back-up Millsap. The Heat get Boozer and a contract that becomes an 18 mil expiring in 2010, when they could package it in a S&T for a FA (where FA = Lebron).

2. Not include JO’s contract. That can be done if the Heat send Haslem + Blount or Blount + Wright for Boozer. The Jazz could use Haslem and Blount would be just an expiring. The Heat might send a pick and/or some cash, too. This would mean the Heat would still have JO’s expiring to offer around the trade deadline. And if by that time Lebron decides he wants to play with the Heat, he might tell the Cavs to trade them there, and they’d have to do it or risk losing him for nothing in the summer. JO + Beasley (again, with some picks and/or cash) works for Lebron + Z or, even better for the Cavs, for Lebron + Varejao + Gibson.

Actually these 2 scenarios can work with or without Odom, and in some cases having him would create a glut at PF, but having a trio of Wade, Odom and Boozer would surely make the Heat much more appealing to Lebron. And a team with Wade, Lebron, Odom, Boozer would be an instant contender and a possible dynasty.

With or without Lebron, Riley seems to be on his way to building a new team around Wade, and doing it with solid picks and trying to get talented players without breaking the bank and putting his team in salary cap hell, while also retaining flexibility so he can make a move for a superstar if the possibility arises. With Riles continuing to make such moves Miami will probably be back in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2-3 years, if not even in the Finals.

Team analysis Carlos Boozer, Dwyane Wade, Lamar Odom, Lebron James, Miami Heat, Pat Riley

MVP

Lebron. Book it.

Lebron played well enough to win in both in 2006 and 2008, but he had a horrible team, kinda like Wade has now. Now that Cleveland is ahead of the Lakers in the standings and things will probably stay that way till the end of the season, there’s no more excuse not to vote for Lebron. Just like last season the game between the Lakers and the Hornets that decided the final standings might have been decisive in the MVP voting. Last season Kobe got it as some sort of career achievement award and possibly because of the voters’ feelings of guilt. I don’t think many of them really liked him, so that time they voted just to prove they are not biased against him: “we’ll give him one now, so then we can never vote for him again without feeling guilty about it”. Since Kobe then sort of fizzled in the finals, I doubt he’s gonna win another MVP award until he leads his team to a title.

I expect Lebron to win it overwhelmingly, and Wade to be a distant second. Wade will get the most second place votes, but less first place votes than Kobe. The top 5 would be: Lebron, Wade, Kobe, Dwight Howard, Tim Duncan.

DPOY

Dwight Howard. It should be a landslide, maybe even more so than the MVP vote. Lebron and Wade should get some 2nd and 3rd place votes.

ROY

Rose. Might have been closer had the Bulls not made the playoffs (they can still miss them, but the way they played lately and their schedule suggest they will get in).

Sixth Man of the Year

Allen Iverson.

Ok, Ok, I’m just kidding. I’d go with Flip Murray, but I don’t know if he got talked about enough in the media for the voters to recognize him. Nate Robinson on the other hand won the Dunk Contest and plays in NY so he gets enough coverage. Plus playing in D’Antoni’s system helped him put up some nice numbers which can only help his cause. Murray might be more deserving for being an important part off the bench for the 4th best team in the East, but Nate will win it.

Most improved player

Paul Millsap will probably win it. He helped the Jazz stay afloat while Boozer was out. Had the Nets made the playoffs Harris would have won the award, but they faded of late. Jameer Nelson would have been a good candidate had he not been injured.

COY

Stan van Gundy. Mike Brown might have a chance, but the decisive factor should be the way Orlando’s defense (and overall play) improved despite playing a soft SF at PF and having just average to poor defenders around Howard.

Executive of the year

I expect the COY and Executive of the Year will go one to Cleveland and the other to Orlando, so if Stan gets the COY then Ferry should get this award. Mike Brown gets less credit because he got a good team (put together by the Executive of the Year) and he has the best player in the world on his team.

First All NBA Team and First All Defensive Team

I don’t think this ever happened before, but this could be the 1st time when these 2 teams are identical. The 1st All NBA Team should have Wade and Kobe at G, Lebron and Duncan at F and Dwight Howard at C. Kobe is a permanent fixture on the D teams, Dwight couldn’t miss it as the DPOY and Duncan should be in by default as Garnett missed a bunch of games and the Celtics played beyong expectations – the expectations they built themselves with that torrid start of the season. Considering the effort put forth by both Wade and Lebron on the defensive end (Wade has more blk/game than a whole bunch of 7 footers and Lebron’s come from behind blocks are even more spectacular than his thunderous dunks) they deserve to be recognized.

Bowen is now too old now and played too little to have a chance at the 1st team. Battier or Artest might still ruin it by taking the place of Wade or Lebron, but the fact that they now play on the same team could work against them and make them split the votes.

Awards Derrick Rose, Dwight Howard, Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Nate Robinson, Paul Millsap, Stan van Gundy

Cavs @ Heat

• Not much to say about Wade vs Lebron. It was everything fans were expecting. There was scoring, there was dunking, there were blocks, 3 pointers and then some more dunking. It’s the second time Wade and Lebron put up 40 points each when playing against each other. It only makes you wonder if they can top it when they meet again this Saturday.

• Jamario Moon started again and played well. Can’t really blame him for not being able to do much against Lebron. When he plays like he did, especially when he’s hitting from long range (6-7 on 3 pointers), no one can stop the “new and improved Ron Artest” (I just can’t get enough of Ron Ron’s lunacy). Moon seems to have won the starting SF spot and neither James Jones nor Diawara look like they have a shot of taking it from him.

• Despite being down 11 points with less than 8 minutes remaining and the Heat seemingly rolling, the Cavs didn’t get fazed. They had a certain poise, showed maturity and got the job done. That’s the kind of attitude that could make the difference between winning and losing a playoff series.

• The Cavs are far from being at 100%. Ben Wallace is out with a broken foot (and he played much better for the Cavs than he ever did for the Bulls), Delonte West still has some problems with his injured wrist, Pavlovic just came back from injury. This thought should scare the crap out of the Celtics and Lakers, cause the Cavs just got Joe Smith to help with their depth in the front-court, and if they get everyone healthy they look to me like the favorites for the title.

• Moon and JO look like they have developed pretty good chemistry with Wade. The Heat don’t have enough weapons to compete with the big boys of the East, but they certainly can get to the 2nd round of the playoffs and throw a scare into the team they meet there.

• At the end of the game when the Cavs came storming back from 11 down by forcing the ball out of Wade’s hands, the Heat could have used the 3p shooting of one Cook, Daequan. It would have taken the pressure off Wade and helped to actually put some points on the board. However he has been reported missing since the All Star Weekend and has apparently been replaced with a version of Adam Morrison. Like, the new and improved Adam Morrison or something.

Game notes Cleveland Cavaliers, Daequan Cook, Dwyane Wade, Jamario Moon, Lebron James, Miami Heat

Game notes Cleveland Cavaliers, Houston Rockets, Lebron James, Yao Ming

So we’re finally here. The MVP. The one that really matters. Since there’s a lot to talk about here, I’m gonna divide it in 3 parts.

1) Who WILL win it.

Kobe. Don’t even ask why – it’s a lifetime achievement award. He’s gonna receive it because of the (incorrect) perception that he was somehow slighted 2 years ago, so voters don’t feel bad they voted against him in previous years. Thing is, he didn’t deserve it 2 seasons ago either. I agree Nash shouldn’t have won it, but it wasn’t Kobe’s either. But I suppose the voters felt somehow weird to give the award to someone who was barely 21 years old. And YES, I am talking about Lebron James.

But this season ? He doesn’t have the best stats: Lebron (29.23) and Chris Paul (28.39) lead the league in PER while Kobe (24.31) is only 8th. His team doesn’t have the best record: the Celtics do and were 9 games better, and the Pistons are 2nd. And if you gonna deny Garnett cause he plays with Pierce and Ray Allen, then how can you give it to Kobe, who plays with Gasol and Odom ?

It’s been getting on my nerves how people always claim Kobe had a worse supporting cast than Lebron a couple of years ago, and that is just not true. Everybody seems to forget what Odom is capable of doing. Lakers fans label him as trash in an attempt to make Kobe look better, but Odom is anything but trash. He proved it recently by putting up monster stats and playing the role of glue guy perfectly. Lebron’s best role-player was Boobie Gibson. Nuff said.

And let’s not forget that Kobe has benefited from playing for the best coach alive. Phil Jackson is underrated at this moment. He’s one of the few coaches that can run a good offensive system while also improving the team’s defense. Most coaches, even really good ones, are only strong on offense or defense, but not both. Amongst examples: Larry Brown (defense), Rick Adelman (offense), Mike D’Antoni (offense), Jeff van Gundy (defense), Nellie (offense).

2) Who SHOULD win it

If we’re using the “best player on best team provided he doesn’t have a star filled supporting cast” criteria – the one that eliminates Garnett and should also eliminate Kobe – then the obvious choice is Chris Paul. He is the one and only undisputed superstar of his team. David West may have made the All Star Game, but had he not played with Chris Paul, nobody would know his name now.

If the award was given strictly for this season, making complete abstraction of the previous seasons, there is no way Chris Paul doesn’t win it. And had the voters been able to see how he dismantled the Mavs in the first 2 games of the series, he would have probably won in a landslide.

3) Who is the best player in the league

So they say the MVP is not necessarily the best player in the league. And I keep hearing and reading how Kobe is that best player. Which is just not true. Kobe might be the best scorer, but the best scorer is not the best player. The best player in the league at this moment wears #23, not #24. His stats blow Kobe’s out of the water. He is more efficient, he involves his teammates more, he rebounds better, and this season he’s been defending better than Kobe.

Lebron was also the best player in the league during the 2005-06 season, when he put up 31.4 points on 48% FG, 7 reb, 6.6 ast, 1.6 stl and 0.8 blk. And that was a slight DROP in his stats (except for scoring) compared to the previous season, when he put up 27.2 points on 47.2% FG, 7.4 reb, 7.2 ast, 2.2 stl and 0.6 blk. In 2006-07 he seemed to coast a little bit, but this season he’s been nothing short of amazing. His 30 points on 48.4% FG, 7.9 reb, 7.2 ast, 1.8 stl and 1.1 blk are comparable to Michael Jordan’s 32.5 points, 8 reb, 8 ast in perhaps his best overall season in 1988-89. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Stats aside, Lebron does everything a superstar should do. And then some. He makes his teammates better, this season he improved his defense by leaps and bounds, last season he was accused of coasting so this season he played out of his mind all season long. He became a leader, he keeps his emotions under control, not allowing them to negatively affect his game or the team. He’s incredibly mature, too, for 23 year old who’s a superstar.

Lebron even started to talk a little trash, which, for superstars, is a weapon. Jordan, Bird and many others knew when to say and what to say to demoralize their opponents. In last year’s playoffs Lebron whispered something to Arenas and Arenas missed 2 crucial free throws. Then during this season, after Bosh’s cousin and girlfriend (2 separate persons, just to be clear) heckled him, he went berzerk in the 4th quarter and destroyed the Raptors, after which he turned to her and said “This is your fault”. And now is on his way to making DeShawn Stevenson his biatch. Stevenson is about to become the gimp (Pulp Fiction style) that Lebron keeps locked in a box somewhere in a small storage room in his huge mansion.

Put all these together and you have the best player in the league hands down. The only thing that really stays between Lebron and a bunch of titles is his crappy team, which was assembled by his even crappier GM. Let’s just hope he will have more luck than Garnett over the first 10 years of his career.

Awards Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James

Wizards @ Cavs

So maybe I made a mistake when I picked the Wizards to win the series in 6. The way things have been going, they may get swept. And I found myself rooting for the Cavs despite my prediction. True, I have a huge man crush on Lebron, but I have just as much disdain for Ben Wallace. And the Cavs being eliminated in the 1st round might just make Lebron mad enough with the Cavs front office that he will bold when he becomes a UFA in 2010, which might just give the Bulls a chance to get him. But when he’s playing like he did last night, you just can’t root against him.

I’ve seen Lebron’s 25 consecutive points game in the playoffs last year against Detroit, I’ve seen his showdown with Kobe this season when he blanketed Kobe in the 4th quarter and his games against Wade, of which this one was a classic. I can say I pretty much have seen Lebron’s best performances so far, but nothing compared to what I’ve seen last night.

Not even the 25 straight points against Detroit in the playoffs had the same feeling of absolute domination. In fact, those 25 points didn’t even feel as dominant as Wade’s 17 straight points (including the winning basket) against Detroit in the regular season. Probably because the reason Lebron scored 25 consecutive points was that his teammates were missing everything, despite Lebron providing them with a bunch of open looks, instead of taking the shots himself every trip down the floor.

These playoffs already are more physical than in years past. But last evening Lebron was not about to risk allowing the other Cavs ruin it. In the most physical game in these playoffs so far, Lebron was not about to let hard fouls or even being slammed on the floor stop him from driving to the basket. Lebron played Moses to the Wizards’ defense Red Sea. He played hurricane Katrina to the Wizards’ defense levies. He played the Big Bad Wolf to the Wizards’ defense 3 Little Pigs Stooges.

After just a few minutes you could tell the Wizards didn’t have a chance. They looked just as hopeless as the Eastern Champions in the 2000-2003 finals – just weren’t good enough, and there was nothing they could do to win the game. Nothing except shooting Lebron could have stopped him, and even that might not have worked, as he is so strong he might just be bulletproof.

Lebron was a force on defense too, with a team high 2 blk and 8 of his 9 rebounds of the defensive kind. At the same time, he kept his teammates involved, finishing one rebound short of a triple double: 30 points on 9-19 FG, 9 rebounds, 12 assists.

And, believe it or not, the most idiotic moment of the night came courtesy of none other than DeShawn Stevenson, the same moron responsible for making Lebron mad and perhaps burying with one short sentence the Wizards chances of advancing. After he made one of his only 4 shots of the game, he did the “I can’t feel my face” gesture which he does when he’s hot. Lebron cooled him off though, as on the next trip down court he responded with a 3 pointer of his own, despite being double teamed. Too bad Lebron doesn’t talk much trash, cause it would have been priceless to see him mimic the “I can’t feel my face” after that shot. Later, with the game safe in hand, Cleveland brings in the reserves. Enter Damon Jones: as soon as he hit a shot his only shot, he did the “I can’t feel my face” to the delight of the crowd. As for why DeShawn couldn’t feel his face, I think it was because Lebron’s boot was on it.

Game notes Lebron James

The most exciting playoffs ever© have begun better than expected. And that is amazing considering the high expectations everyone had.

In the opener Lebron dragged the corpses of Ben Wallace (0 points, 6 reb in 23 min), Wally Szczerbiak (2-10 FG), Delonte West (3-10 FG) and Varejao (1-6 FG) to victory. He got a little help from Z with 22p and 11 reb and West who didn’t let his horrid shooting stop him from contributing in other areas and finished with 5 reb, 5 ast, 2 stl and 2 blk.

The Wizards got a monster game from Antawn Jamison, who is in full contract year mode. He put up 23 p and 19 reb. Tough Juice had a quiet game, Arenas had 24 p on 50% shooting and Haywood contributed 15 p and 10 reb. But what everyone’s been waiting for was too see if DumbShawn Stevenson will walk the walk after talking the talk. Well, he walked all right. Walked on all fours, begging for mercy, after the Cavs made him their bitch. He finished with 3p on 1-9 shooting and managed to “hold” Lebron to only 32 points on a mere 12-19 (63%) FG. Good job, DeShawn. Your teammates and coach must be really proud of you now that you made Lebron mad.

This was followed by the Suns – Spurs series. And let me tell you: the Suns must have done something really really bad in some previous life, cause their karma is a bitch. First, Finley hits a 3 pointer to send the game into the 1st OT. Then, at the end of the 1st OT, Tim Duncan, of all people, hits a 3 pointer (his 1st of the season) to send the game into the 2nd OT. With Amare fouled out at the end of the 1st OT though, the Suns didn’t have too much of a chance and got beat on a last second shot by Ginobili.

The game had everything you could possibly want: went down to the wire (double OT is as good as it gets), intensity, emotion (I got to see Timmy3000 pumping his fist while screaming after making a shot as well as hear him laughing during a court-side interview), big shots, amazing shots, incredible shots, Shaq playing defense with passion, moving his feet and diving for the steal, huge blocks, heroic performances (did I mention Duncan had 40 points and 15 boards ?) and a couple of misses that really hurt (why Boris, why did you miss that layup ?).

Unfortunatelly it also had something that you don’t want in a basketball game: the refs have rewarded every single damn flop, which went in the favor of the Spurs since everyone on their roster except for Duncan is a grade A flopper. Kurt Thomas seemed especially bent on punishing the Suns for sending him in Seattle and he did it by throwing himself at the ground at the slightest contact. At one point it got so bad Mark Jackson called him “Denzel Thomas”. But otherwise it was a classic. The perfect start to the series and to the playoffs.

Playoffs Amare Stoudamire, Cleveland Cavaliers, DeShawn Stevenson, Kurt Thomas, Lebron James, Manu Ginobili, Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs, Shaquille O'Neal, Steve Nash, Tim Duncan, Washington Wizards

Just as I was babbling writing about the Spurs and their chances of resurrecting themselves and making another run, Lebron James was getting dressed for the Celtics game (ie putting his cape on, underneath his uniform) and getting ready to bully the Celtics into submission. So far (10 min left in the 2nd quarter) so good: 16 points on 6-7 shooting, 3 reb, 5 ast. Seems like Lebron is really mad that Garnett, not him, won the mid season awards.

Pierce has been perfect so far from the field (4-4) but if things are close to the end of the game, look for him again to try and be the hero. Again. And mess things up for the Celtics. Again. But more on that in a later post. In any case, too bad Garnett is out, or it could have been a classic duel, one that might have influenced the actual MVP vote. Although last season Nash owned Dirk in the Suns-Mavs games, including abusing him whenever Dirk was left to defend on him after a switch on the pick and roll, yet Dirk received the MVP (and proved that he deserved it by choking against the Warriors in the 1st round).

Awards Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Garnett, Lebron James, Paul Pierce, Steve Nash

What the hell do you need to do in order to become a coach in the NBA ?? If you watch the league long enough, sometimes you’ll have the impression that the answer is: “Not much. Not much at all“. During the Lakers – Cavaliers game the commentators were discussing the foul trouble situation. Jeff Van Gundy notices Lebron has 4 fouls and has a really bright idea. For him. He says the foul limit should be extended to 7 allowing the superstars of the league to stay on the floor more, and then asks himself where’s the harm in that.

Well, since you asked, Jeff, how about the fact that the fucking games would be a hack fest ??? And they would last like 6 hours each. Nobody would pay to watch people (be they superstars or whatever) shoot free throws. Not for 6 hours in a row. Not to mention the fact that those shooting those free throws won’t be the Nash’s and the Iverson’s of the league. Nope. It would be the Shaq’s, the Ben Wallace’s and the Dwight Howard’s. With extra fouls to give, the coaches would be like “Can I have a Hack’a'Shaq ? Yeah, sure, super size me !!“.

Just in case you’re asking yourselves what the fuck was Jeff thinking about when he came up with this “idea“, well, this is the kind of basketball Jeff likes to coach (and you can actually see him doing some coaching in the lower part of the image):

PS: As you may already know, Lebron was just fine. He didn’t foul out and he played some excellent D on Kobe and helped the Cavs win the game.

Coaches Jeff Van Gundy, Lebron James