The Setting Suns in Phoenix: Too Little, Too Late

Boris Diaw came out with a 20 pt, 10 rbd, 8 asst game while Raja Bell shot the lights out with his own 27 pt contribution to rout the Spurs at home to stay in the series and keep from being embarassingly swept from the first round of the playoffs. Despite their best efforts though, the Suns are simply delaying the inevitable, because it's too little too late for them to really expect to get out of their 3-1 deficit in the series. I'm not just talking about how it's nearly impossible to come back from a 3-0 deficit in a 7 game series in the NBA, or how no team in the NBA has never done it before. The fact remains is that the Spurs were and still are a better team than the Suns, but even then, that's beside the point.

While I think the Spurs still would've won out on the series, what has really made this series so open and close has really been the Suns themselves. This series was supposed to be the ultimate test of the Shaq for Marion trade, it was supposed to be a revival of last year's round 2 rivalry, and instead, it's turned into the annual trouncing of a 3 seed over a 6 seed. The disparity of play just seems to be that way. How come? Why is it turning out this way? I could answer how Grant Hill's health has not held up and thus has not been able to defend as Shawn Marion did and not contribute, I can argue how Bowen hounding Nash has kept him from his usual production (he was limited to, 15 pts and 4 assts last game and 7 pts, 9 assts the game before). The fact however, of the loss, lies in the attitude that the Suns carried to each game. The Suns always have this attitude of being as good, if not better than the Spurs coming into the series, and in all honesty, they're the underdogs. Game 1 D'Antoni and the rest of the Suns brushed off as a fluke, Nash said they simply had to work on their offense, and Shaq claimed that, "the floppers prevailed." The Spurs got lucky, then they held home court by showing some more of their "luck" trouncing the Suns 102-96 in Game 2. Then of course when the Suns get home, the Spurs pull another fluke of a "near perfect game" embarassing Suns further in Game 3 with a 115-99 victory. Game 4 is just too little too late. The attitude of overconfidence has been the downfall of the Suns. They think that their offense can run through a system like San Antonio, they think that last year was a fluke, resting solely on the fact that Amare was suspended.

Given how Boris Diaw played last season and most of this season, I don't think the Suns can bank him having a repeat performance of Game 4. Unfortunately for Phoenix, I don't know that they have much choice. They're too far out to keep the series interesting, and the only thing that kept them from doing that was themselves.

NBA: Where Rumor and Speculation Happens

Despite the trade deadline being over I still like browsing the rumor mills and seeing where people might end up next season. As much as I like following the tightnecked race in the Western Conference, or the bottom-feeder race for the bottom 2 seeds in the Eastern Conference (I mean seriously, look at the teams; 76ers, Nets, and Hawks?), I much enjoy speculating about who might go where and what rumors might end up being true, and then seeing how scary the lineups become. Especially with the depth of this year's free agency (Calderon, Arenas, Maggette, Brand, Jamison) some teams will really have the opportunity to step it up. Here are two teams that think will make some moves:



Portland Trailblazers

Portland has shown that they're a young team with a lot of upside, the only piece they're really missing is a solid veteran PG to lead them. Blazers have shown interest in Toronto's Jose Calderon who becomes a restricted free agent this summer, and should they acquire him, they will have one of the scariest teams in terms of youth, ability, and depth. The Raptors however, have decided that they will try to hold on to Calderon at all costs, and are willing to match any offer made to him. This leaves people to speculate that they likely won't keep TJ Ford. So my take is that if the Blazers don't get Calderon (he stays with the Raptors), they will (or at least should) go for Ford. Ford is a proven guard, and despite being injury prone has shown he can pass and he can score. When they played last season, Ford's stats looked pretty similar to Calderon's. Now assume everything goes right for the Blazers. They waive Darius Miles (the second highest paid player on the roster) because of his injury taking his salary off the books (assuming it's career ending). Let's package something like Channing Frye, Steve Blake, cash, and some picks for Ford. The Blazers end up with one stinking good squad. Starting they have:

PG - TJ Ford

SG - Brandon Roy

SF - Martell Webster

PF - LaMarcus Aldridge

C - Greg Oden

Now with Oden back, let's give him a year or so to ease in and not give him Shaqesque (LA or Orlando Shaq) numbers quite yet, say he just averages 11-12 ppg, 10 rpg, 1-2 apg, 1-2 bpg. It's still a solid squad. For their reserves they have:

Guards: Jarret Jack, Von Wafer, Sergio Rodriguez

Forwards: James Jones, Travis Outlaw

Center: Joel Przybilla, Raef Lafrenz

Maybe the move for an upgrade on backup guards or center, but still they're a stacked team if they land a point.



Golden State Warriors

This team is probably the most fun to watch in the entire league, and the major thing that keeps them from being successful is a big rebounder. Unfortunately, a big rebounder that can run with them is something of a rare commodity. Al Harrington was supposed to be their man in the post but he thrives too much in shooting, and thus Don Nelson seems to have been disenchanted with him. He'll be a major trade piece. Of course the question is whether or not Nellie will play the younger guys. There is a lot of upside to be had with Brandon Wright and Marco Bellinelli, but how that goes remains to be seen. Wright could very well be the big they were looking for. In the meantime, I see them in the market for a Chris Wilcox type character. I don't see any reason that the Sonics really have for keeping the older guys as everything is so Kevin Durant centered now, and Harrington can be a good meld for the Sonics too. The question also remains if Barnes and Pietrus are resigned, but the main thing that they want right now is a big that can run and play alongside Biedrins.

Scary Paper Rosters

Today I'm going to look at what teams are theoretically the best teams in the league, at least just by view of their roster and analysis of the potential they could play up to. Granted, these teams may look good but I don't know that they'll necessarily win the championships:

East

Boston Celtics

Starting 5:

PG - Rajon Rondo
SG - Ray Allen
SF - Paul Pierce
PF - Kevin Garnett
C - Kendrick Perkins

Off the bench:
James Posey, Sam Cassell, PJ Brown, Glen Davis, Tony Allen, Eddie House, Leon Powe

What works:
When I first saw the trade that sent Garnett to Boston I thought it was just a conglomeration of superstars in order to make a good team. However, the more I look at it, the more I realize that actually this is one of the most potent offensive trios you can ever put together in the NBA. With these three you effectively spread the floor and create easy buckets all the time. Unlike the Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony struggle, you have three All-Star players that bring skill-sets that compliment each other. Firstly, all the players are unselfish, they're willing to pass the ball, the one player that passes the least would probably be Ray Allen, and that's because when you pass to him you probably want him to shoot it anyway. If we look at the breakdown, we have Kevin Garnett, monster on the inside; in the low post and in cleaning the glass. Paul Pierce is a slasher and finisher, able to get to the rim and the free throw line often. Ray Allen is one of if not THE premier 3pt shooter in the league (yes, yes there's always Jason Kapono, but seriously, this isn't a 3pt contest). Furthermore, we see that each of these players is multi-dimensional, Kevin Garnett has a solid and reliable mid-range jumper, Paul Pierce can also launch the 3 and has a highly underrated rebounding ability, and we always forget that this is the same Miluakee Bucks Ray Allen too, he can produce off the dribble. Finally you add Rajon Rondo, who's just insanely fast (maybe a next-gen Tony Parker?) and Kendrick Perkins (he gets the Fabricio Oberto role onthe Celtics, yay for Spurs analogies) who has played solid.

From their bench they have solid role players in Tony Allen, Eddie House, and James Posey, and Glen Davis is shaping up quite nicely into a solid big man. To help deepen their bench further they added Sam Cassell, who gives them a true point behind Rajon Rondo and veteran PJ Brown. Cassell is key, because behind Rondo, he can shoot and pass, giving PGs something completely different to look at once they switch off. Additionally, it adds some extra scoring, and veteran leadership in the second squad.

What to look out for:
The major issue then would be injury, Garnett has been fairly resilient, but Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Sam Cassell, and Tony Allen were all out for extended periods last season, and Ray Allen is out now with injuries. If any key player (one of the Big 3) goes down with some sort of injury that would put him out for a decent amount of time (a week or two) it could be a lot of pressure for the team to step up, but the wonder of this Big 3 is that two of them can usually pull it off as well (the Celtics are 7-2 without KG and are about to sweep the Texas Triangle without Ray Allen).

West:

LA Lakers

Starting 5:
PG - Derek Fisher
SG - Kobe Bryant
SF - Lamar Odom
PF - Pau Gasol
C - Andrew Bynum

Off the bench:
Luke Walton, Trevor Ariza, Ronny Turiaf, Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujajic, Vladamir Radmonovic, Chris Mihm

I think if the team were completely healthy Chris Mihm would play before DJ Mbenga, but that's a side note. I honestly think that on the West, while I don't think they will win, have currently the scariest roster and will have the scariest roster on paper for years to come. How come? It's because you have arguably the best player in the NBA, and the Twin Towers reborn. How does this work? Bynum is more of a power player, so if he develops fully he will be something big down low. Gasol is good off the weak side post, and has a solid 15 foot jumper, allowing him to work well opposite Bynum. The only weakness in this starting lineup is Odom, who cannot thrive inside as much anymore, and will need to take more jumpers (his weakness) if the ball does come to him, which hopefully won't be overly often. You have Kobe, who's Kobe, I don't think I need to say anymore, and Fisher who is a solid three point threat. Add in the bench who has really proven themselves despite their youth, they have one of the best looking clubs on the roster sheets.

What to watch out for:
They're young, aside from Kobe, Fisher, Odom, and Gasol, no major player on the Lakers has made a playoff run. So the question is, can the Lakers players (primarily their bench) hold up under the pressure that's involved in a 7-game playoff series? I think 3 years from now if this roster stays the same, they will be the scariest team (unless some freak trade gets Lebron on Atlanta for Marvin Williams or something).

What I look for in Fantasy Sports (Basketball obviously)

So, I've been getting pretty into fantasy basketball for the past two years now and I've spent a lot of time going through various systems, utilizing the ever popular Yahoo! Fantasy Sports, to the Ultimate Fantasy Commissioner, Pick One Challenge, and NBA Stock Exchange on NBA.com, as well as CBS Sports fantasy leagues, and the NBA Challenge application on Facebook (I have not done ESPN because it costs money). There are several features that you can make to optimize the fantasy experience, and each platform brings a unique touch to it. I've been asked to give some input for a "suggestion" to create Google Fantasy Sports, and to basically incorporate what I know and love about fantasy sports and take all the good aspects and make a perfect fantasy league platform. So here's a few of my ideas on what'll optimize the experience:



1.) The Draft

One of the biggest parts about fantasy sports is preparing for it, making sure that you have all the info on who's going to be hot and who's not going to be hot. A lot of times this will come down to the last game of the preseason, and getting a scope out on what rookies are going to beat expectations, who has injuries and if he's good enough, is he worth holding onto until he's back in the game, etc... Thus, the draft settings in any fantasy league is always important. Now, most hard core fantasy players will refuse to do anything but a live draft, and that's good, but it's still important to set draft rankings in order to get the ideal team in the event you can't make the draft. The draft list system I've seen for each of the platforms I've used are decent, but not optimal. UFC (Ultimate Fantasy Commissioner) on NBA.com provides a list of all players (active I believe) in the league, and has you order them that way, by moving players up and down the list. Now what is universal in all platforms is that each will have a set of specialists who provide player rankings which is your default draft list. Now given this list in the UFC format, last minute injuries and such play a major role and often cannot be accounted for in said rankings, so it's pretty tedious to move them up and down. Now as for Yahoo!, you are provided with the draft rankings list I believe 50-100 at a time (we'll say 50 for now) and you rank as many as you want in your must draft or do not draft lists, and then refresh the page and the next however many (until the list reaches 50) players will show up. Now personally, I felt that a really good draft format would be to create draft lists by position (I want to say that NBA.com did this a year ago) and then create a draft sequence of positions. Since fantasy basketball is generally pretty position sensitive (you can't draft all guards or all centers otherwise you can't play everyone), it's pretty effective to say, "These are the guards I want and these are the forwards I want, I want forwards more than guards so I'll draft my forward positions first." The bonus, is that if there are a lot of high ranked forwards, and you need a guard, you can just say, "After I get my premier forwards, the autodraft can pick the best PG/SG available to draft". This way your top 5 picks don't all end up being PF/C and SF/PF players while you get lower end guards. It helps players who can't always make a live draft create an optimal team. Ideally, after creating the league, draft options should be the only thing available when going into the team editting section, making the draft room easy to find is important as well (I could not and still have not found the live draft room for UFC). I big button that says like "DRAFT NOW" is ideal.



2.) The Team Edit/Management
The most important aspect of fantasy sports would be editting your lineup. What most places I've seen do, is the traditional drop down menu where you bench players and then fill those spots with other players of the eligible positon. Personally, I think that the Yahoo! drag and drop system actually works really well.

3.) The Waiver Wire
There are two places fantasy sports buffs will spend more time in than in their own team management page, one is the rumore mill, the second is the waiver wires. Fantasy owners are always looking for players that they somehow missed in the draft to replace draft duds or injuries. One of the most important aspects of this is stat comparison, if there were someway to do a side by side game log comparison of players that would be amazing. Yahoo! and NBA provides a list of the Free Agent players sortable by stats and rankings (for Yahoo!) and breakdowns by period (1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, year-to-date). When you decide to add a player you have a side by side comparison of the YTD average stats for both the player you are about to add and the player you are about to drop, which is nice. However, what would be even cooler is if you could do multiplayer comparisons across beyond stats but also somehow incorporate game logs (at least say the last 3 games) and do comparisons between free agents as well.

That's pretty much all I have for now, but I'll figure more out later.

Woe of the Knicks

Now I'm originally from New York (not the city, but still, close enough), and I try very hard to like the Knicks, really. However, everything that happened this season has just made it that much more difficult to like an utterly unlikeable team. A lot of people thought that this season would be different, on paper the Knicks had a solid team that looked good. Stephon Marbury at the point, who, despite all his antics is still a decent PG who can shoot, drive, and pass. Jamal Crawford at the 2, another ball sharer and scorer. Quentin Richardson at the 3, a good pull-up shooter, and liable to get hot beyond the arc. Zach Randolph at the 4, a big bruiser, who is always in consideration for a 20-10 night. Eddy Curry in the middle, a burgeoning center who is also a large force in the middle. Then we have hardworking Nate Robinson and David Lee coming off the bench for some support. Looks good on paper right? That's about as far as it goes though.

I can probably trace all of the Knicks' woes to Isaiah Thomas somehow, but lets say regardless of the coaching, and just look at the roster. I knew a lot of people that said that Curry and Randolph would be beasts in the low post for the knicks (both coming off approximately 20-10 seasons), but the problem of coexistence reigns supreme. When we look at the play of both Randolph and Curry, we have to stop and say, "Gee, the way they play is kinda similar to each other." We have a 6-9 power forward and a 6-11 center who sooner turn the ball over than pass it to anybody. Both have the mentality of being at the center of the team, and ultimately what happened was they cannibalized each other's stats. Any night Randolph went 20-10 Curry went 4-6 and vice versa. Furthermore, you add an inside player that doesn't play defense, everyone has criticized both Curry and Randolph on the abominal defense they play, and how slow they are to get back. So what do we get? Two big men in the middle who would probably turn it over, and let Detroit (one of the slowest teams in the NBA) bring it up half court with announcers considering whether or not to call it a 5-on-3 fast break. I exaggerate a little, but you get the picture.

Now let's look at what's happened to the team. Everyone sort of has this "me-first" mentailty on the Knicks so it's not surprising that they've sort of fallen apart. Randolph now believes with Curry and Marbury sidelined for the rest of the season due to surgery, it's his team, he has to do everything, play every position. Obviously he's wrong. There is a reason that the Blazers were so eager to get rid of him, and it's showing why. Marbury and Curry are out, and now we understand why they start instead of Fred Jones, Jared Jeffries, and Wilson Chandler. Quentin Richardson has proven to be at best, to have T-Mac's injury prone body and a pre-22-game win streak Rafer Alston's brick prone shot. Jamal Crawford, David Lee, and Nate Robinson are great players, but not the stuff to keep a franchise afloat. It's been said before, and I'll say it again, New York, it's time to blow up.

There is no Texas Triumverate

The Texas triangle (Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs) has always been considered among the elite of the West. However, that's not the case any more, simply because the West has taken "elite" to an entirely different level. I could always go on to rant and rave about MVPs and whether or not Kobe's going to get one, if he deserves one, if Lebron should get one, if there are any other eligible players for one, etc... But there are plenty of people out there who have written about who and why, and honestly, I don't get a say in it, so it doesn't really matter. Maybe I'll discuss it later. Right now, I'm going to discuss how there is only one team to beat from Texas (not three) and how that team is San Antonio.

Firstly, since the Jason Kidd trade we notice that Dallas has not significantly improved, save perhaps for Dirk Nowitzki's scoring (averaging 25.7 ppg after Kidd trade from 22.8 prior). In fact, since trading for Kidd, the Dallas Mavericks have gone 4-5 losing their last three, granted against the Lakers and Utah, the number 2 and 4 seeds respectively, but also against Houston, who against all odds after loosing Yao, have won 3 in a row. I mean, we're talking about a team that relies on a guy with chronic back problems (T-Mac) and Rafer Alston's shooting, who is as liable to shoot 28% as he is 48%. Even with Dirk suspended for his flagrant on AK-47 there was no reason for them to lose that game. Despite Kidd being happy in Dallas, he's complacent, if last night's performance (7 pts, 6 rbds, 6 assts, 4 TOs) was any indication of how he's going to play, the Mavs might have been better off keeping Devin Harris.

I may be a little biased in this as I have never liked the Mavericks, but still, looking at their roster, their gameplay, they all expected it to kind of work out once Jason Kidd came, I think both parties expected things just to happen, and it didn't. Obviously, Jason Kidd isn't the difference maker that the Mavs needed (again, 4-5 since the trade). They needed Kidd because they needed to beat teams like the Spurs, the Lakers, the Hornets, the Rockets, and the Jazz, and they lost to all of them. I'm not going to commend them for beating the teams that they were supposed to beat (Minnesota, Memphis, Sacramento, and Chicago). Now they're 7th in the West, only 1 game ahead of being 8th and 2 games ahead of not being in the playoffs, we're talking about a team that was 3rd going into All-Star break. Now they're competing with a competitive Golden State who have not had a losing streak of more than 2 since Stephen Jackson returned from his suspension, and have not lost 2 in a row since January 4. As well as dealing with Denver, who has just come off a major win over Phoenix.

The major problem with Dallas is their lineup, they're not big, but they're not small, so they can get exploited by both lineup types. To me, they're like a really slow Golden State or San Antonio with no interior presence. They need someone other than Dirk Nowitzki to play PF, and Dirk can go the route of Rashard Lewis and be an oversized 3. I mean, essentially this is the team that won 60+ last season, and their's no reason why they shouldn't get at least 50 this season, but the fact is as Dirk stated after their embarrassing departure from the Western Conference playoffs (round 1 I might remind you), "We could have really used some help inside." At which point Erick Dampier (who is actually 6'11") might be asking (along with everyone else), "Gee, my fellow 7-foot teammate, WHERE THE HECK WERE YOU?!?!" Dirk Nowitzki is not a franchise player, at least not a very good one, he's better suited as a second option scorer or something.

Now that much of the Dallas's success rests on the 35 year old shoulders of Jason Kidd, the Mavs are in a sort of must-win situation. However, things have not been looking good for them ever since the trade and their roster just isn't suited for the rigors of the Western Conference. At this rate, they're also on the line struggling for a playoff spot, not the shoe-in that everyone thought they once were, and despite previous success, they've fallen greatly. Looking at their schedule it's still tough, they still have 2 games against the Suns, 2 games against the Lakers, 2 games against the Warriors, and games against San Antonio, Utah, New Orleans, and Boston.

Houston as usual, is battling major health issues, with Yao out for the season, the burden of the team has fallen on the oh-so-fragile shoulders of Tracy McGrady. Granted they've won their 17 in a row but they've had a pretty easy schedule stealing wins only from Denver and a Nowitzki-less Dallas, beating out Indiana without Yao. However, continuing through the rest of the season, most people will say that it's pretty safe to say that Houston is in the playoffs. Their schedule isn't too tough and they have a 3.5 game buffer ahead of Golden State (current 8th seed). However, without Yao, the Rockets have become drastically unprepared for anything that the playoffs will hurl at them, and will thus continue to live out the T-Mac curse of never making it out of the first round of playoffs. On paper the new and renovated Rockets looked like a serious contender, throughout the season they have continued to prove me wrong. If they were to enter into the playoffs now it would be the deja-vu situation of seeing Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams once again knocking them out of the playoffs. Nothing can be done about it, beyond T-Mac they're thin on anything but role-players. If his back acts up again, don't expect Shane Battier, Rafer Alston, or Luis Scola to save the team.

Why Lebron James Will be Swept Again if He Goes to the Finals

I've said it many times before, and I'll say it again, if Detroit and Boston are somehow upset in the playoffs, I expect the NBA Finals to be painfully short and an unspectacular romping of whichever team comes out of the Eastern Conference. Let's say any of the top 5 teams in the West have a shot at the Finals (Lakers, Spurs, Suns, Hornets, Mavericks), in any given 7 game series against an Eastern Conference team not called the Pistons or the Celtics, will likely be resolved within 5 games (more likely a sweep, though Orlando might make it to 6). Let's look at the team that probably has the biggest x-factor to once again make it to the Finals, that would be the Cleveland Cavaliers. Here's why, if they do by some freak accident, make it to the Finals, they will lose, again:

1.) Just because Sasha Pavlovic did a "good job" guarding a lethargic Vince Carter last season against the Nets does not mean that he can stop Kobe Bryant or Manu Ginobili (maybe with Peja and Jason Terry and Raja Bell). The reason; Kobe and Manu actually care. Rod Thorn has already spent seasons and $60 million trying to get the former All-Star and slam dunk champion to at least try when he's playing. Carter's kind of resigned himself to the fact that he'll always play on mediocre teams that don't go anywhere though. Avery Johnson said he tried every kind of defense conceivable to stop Kobe, and it didn't happen. Manu Ginobili has been on a hot streak and just won't be denied, he's had over 30 pts in 4 of the last 9 games that the Spurs played (all Ws for the Spurs btw).

2.) The Cavs will have a harder time shutting down Tim Duncan or Pau Gasol (or David West or Amare Stoudamire or Dirk Nowitzki) than the other team will have shutting down Ben Wallace. Seriously, for a guy that has a good game a 6pts, 10 rbds this season, you're not really going to need a lot to limit his scoring, and you know that Wallace will see a lot of play time trying to stop the bigs inside. Sure he'll cut them down by a couple of FGs, but when they sub in Joe Smith they'll go crazy, and not like Ben Wallace will make a big enough difference to matter in the end anyway.

3.) The Cavs' added perimeter threat isn't overly threatening. Only about as much as say the Spurs perimeter with only Michael Finley and Bruce Bowen shooting, but when you tack on Ginobili, Barry, and the occaisional clutch 3 from Robert Horry, Sczerbiak, West, and Gibson don't look that scary. From the Lakers you have Fisher, Vujajic, Farmar, and Kobe, Mavs have Terry, Howard, and Nowitzki, Hornets have Peja and Mo Pete (I don't include the Suns because they don't play defense anyway, but they still have Nash, Bell, and occaisionally Grant Hill).