Many players who have played in the Olympics often talk about how there is nothing quite like it in sports. They’ll tell you that the Games are different from regular athletic events because players are competing for the love of sport and country instead of just for a team. Inevitably, players who win medals are compared to those who win championships in their sport. The debate turns to whether or not winning a championship in a sport is the same as winning a gold medal in the Olympics.
And that’s where we turn our attention to Carmelo Anthony.
You know Carmelo Anthony as one of the unquestioned leaders of the United States basketball team and one of the most well-known players in the NBA. Participating in his fourth Olympics, he has basically seen it all in his decade-plus of international basketball. The other thing you know about ‘Melo is that he’s never won an NBA championship or even gone to an NBA Finals. He’s almost more famous for his failure than he is for his success, even though he’s never had a great team around him in the NBA career. While he’s earned two Olympic gold medals and a bronze medal in 2004, he’s never earned what many refer to as the most cherished prize in sports: a championship.
So when he talks about the comparison between a gold medal and a ring, it’s probably something worth noting. Sure enough, he expounded on the subject in an interview with ESPN; this is what he said:
Most athletes don’t have an opportunity to say that they won a gold medal, better yet three gold medals. I would be very happy walking away from the game knowing that I’ve given the game everything I have, knowing I played on a high level at every level: high school, college, won [a championship at Syracuse] in college and possibly three gold medals.
I can look back on it when my career is over — if I don’t have an NBA championship ring — and say I had a great career.
First of all, notice how he seamlessly worked in the phrase “if I don’t have an championship ring”. Not only did that line add context to his remarks but it also likely saved him from further scrutiny among fans and the media. That critical insertion made it sound like an NBA championship ring would be the holy grail of his career and anything else would be viewed as a disappointment.
But there is a multi-pronged debate to be had over whether or not an Olympic gold is more significant than a championship ring, regardless of what Anthony actually believes.
For starters, not every competitor in these Olympics has the chance to say that they play in a league that has a championship. For athletes like swimmers and gymnasts, the Olympics are absolutely the be-all, end-all of their athletic careers. They’re also unlike some professional athletes in that they don’t make the same crazy, lucrative salaries that players in other sports make. After all, a guy that played 24 minutes per game last season just received a new contract for four years and $50 million because there was just that much money in the NBA this year.
Yes, I’m sure there are some Olympic athletes who would kill for that much money. But then again, some athletes train their entire lives just to be part of the Olympics. Take America’s two new favorite sports (gymnastics and swimming), for example. Athletes such as Simone Biles, Michael Phelps, Aly Raisman, and Katie Ledecky don’t necessarily compete in prestigious leagues or even any league at all. There are world championships that many athletes compete in either to qualify or prepare for the Games, but these championships pale in comparison to winning big in the Olympics. Those athletes can’t sympathize with what Carmelo is talking about because they aren’t in situations where you can choose between one or the other.
Going back to ‘Melo, though, it’s understandable that he would value (or play up the value) of winning a gold medal over winning an NBA title. Anthony’s career has taken him many different places but he’s never gone to the supposed promised land of winning a title. Therefore, he has to think of his promised land as the Olympics and the ability to compete for the United States. It’s clear that ‘Melo has gained a lot of perspective over the course of his career and has definitely matured from his younger years. That should be applauded, even as he’s failed to win in his NBA career.
At the same time, he did kinda sorta admit that he’s probably not going to win a championship anytime soon, if ever. That might not sit well with the Knicks organization or the team’s fanbase, but the sentiment is absolutely based in reality. Despite Derrick Rose’s claim that the Knicks are a super team (yes, he really did say that), the team is closer to being an 8-seed than an NBA champion. Anthony realizes that and knows that he’s not going to have a chance to win a title in the coming years.
With all of this being said, I have no problem with ‘Melo taking a stand and speaking his mind on exactly what is important to him in his basketball career. And this is the reality of the situation: not every star can win a championship in the NBA. Winning a title is really, really hard; we saw this with the Golden State Warriors, the greatest team of all time, this past season. They couldn’t finish the deal against the Cavaliers in the Finals, showing us that going the distance in the NBA is very difficult, even as a 73-game winner.
Some people will undoubtedly be ruffled by Anthony’s comments. They’ll say that he doesn’t care about winning and he’s making the Olympics about himself and so on and so forth. Some people will also reject Anthony’s notion on the grounds that winning a ring is the single most important thing in an athlete’s career. Personally, I understand both sides of the argument. It’s up for interpretation.
But let’s respect Carmelo for being honest with us about what really matters in his career and his life. After all, it’s all we say we ever want out of our athletes.
Kevin Durant made his much-anticipated free agency decision on Monday, signing with the Warriors and spurning the Oklahoma City Thunder, the team he spent the first nine years of his career with (he played his rookie season with the Seattle SuperSonics before the team relocated to Oklahoma City). For added context, the Thunder led the Warriors three games to one in the Western Conference Finals before dropping the next three games to suffer a heartbreaking elimination and one of the worst collapses in NBA history.
Needless to say, many were not thrilled about Durant’s decision to join the team he lost to in the playoffs. These were just some of the thoughts of NBA players and pundits alike after Durant announced his “next chapter”:
“Kevin Durant is trying to cheat his way into a championship.”
First of all, there is no reason to compare Durant’s case to Jordan’s. Jordan made $30 million and $33 million in his last two seasons with the Bulls, respectively. Durant’s deal with the Warriors is for two years and $54 million; he’ll be making less on average than Jordan did in his final two years. So don’t even talk about greed in this discussion; Jordan and others did just fine for themselves by staying with their original teams.
Secondly, Charles Barkley has no right to say that Kevin Durant is cheating his way to a championship. If memory serves, Barkley himself wanted to chase a ring at the end of his career and worked a trade to the Houston Rockets to make it happen. (Hint: it didn’t work out so well.) But hey, let’s rip a player for exercising his right to play wherever he wants. That seems very fair.
And why is it a weak move for Durant to go wherever he wants? It’s not weak to play for a team that won the most games in NBA history a season ago. It isn’t. It also wasn’t weak when LeBron James decided to leave Cleveland for Miami in 2010. The issue with James’ decision was not the decision itself; rather, the issue came with The Decision, the one hour ESPN special that consisted of pure boredom and only yielded about 20 important seconds. Even then, The Decision wasn’t all bad: James raised nearly $2.5 million for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and an additional $3.5 million through advertisement revenue. Not bad for a completely pointless hour of television.
But why is there so much hatred about Durant’s move? Why are so many people up in arms about what they perceive as a “weak move” when the players and the owners negotiated the right to free agency in the Collective Bargaining Agreement? And why is there discontent over the increased salary cap when all it signifies is more money in the sport?
The way we’ve looked at the Durant signing is indicative of the way sports is covered today. For example, people such as Stephen A. Smith are essentially paid to say outlandish, bizarre things without any shred of thought whatsoever. Smith’s comment, and his appearance on SportsCenter that day, show that his argument was based more in emotion and anger than in nuance and contemplation. There isn’t anything necessarily wrong with that, but it shows that screaming loudly and making your takes as hot and crazy as possible is the best way to get noticed in the sports world. That’s the monster we’ve created; Smith is just a byproduct of it. Don’t hate the player, hate the game.
There’s also the other issue of “chasing rings”. When superstars decide to team up with other superstars to win, we label them sellouts, players who weren’t willing to “do it the hard way”. Here’s my argument: what incentive is there to do it the hard way when you can give yourself a better chance to win with another team? While it would have been incredibly rewarding for Durant to win a championship in Oklahoma City, the fact is that it was financially possible and a sensible basketball decision for him to go to the Warriors. What’s wrong with that? It’s difficult to compare sports to the real world, but Durant left one job only to find a better opportunity with a greater chance for success. There’s nothing wrong with doing that.
There is an argument to be made, though, that KD’s move is bad for the rest of the NBA. That is very true. To the most casual observer, what reason is there to watch the NBA in the regular season next year? Luckily, hardcore fans will know that the Dubs will have to gut the rest of their current team to have enough money to sign Durant. This almost certainly means that the team will be worse than they were last year; you can’t go up from 73 wins and there won’t be as good of a supporting cast as there was a season ago. But with four of the top 20 players in the world on the same squad, a great supporting cast may not be necessary.
But the outrage about a free agent making a decision on where to play basketball next season should not elicit this much outrage. The only people who have the right to be upset with Durant are Thunder fans. Other than that, people don’t have the right to be this angry. In fact, shouldn’t KD be applauded here? In sports, we always talk about prioritizing money over winning and we place a ton of value on championships. What Durant did in this case was just the opposite: he wants to win and will sacrifice money (and the spotlight) to do so. That shouldn’t be ridiculed; that should be appreciated.
But, in our world of “hot takes” and endless criticism of stars, we apparently can’t appreciate Durant’s self-sacrifice. Which is a real shame, especially when you consider that it really wasn’t a “weak move” after all.
Much has been made about Kevin Durant’s free agency decision, and rightfully so. He’s the best available player in the league (aside from LeBron James, but he’s staying put) and his choice could significantly shift the NBA’s balance of power.
But there is one free agent who isn’t attracting nearly as much attention, and for obvious reasons: Dwyane Wade.
Wade is 34 years old, the same age Michael Jordan was when he commenced his second final season in 1997. He is admittedly not what he once was, which was one of the most dynamic, enjoyable, and productive players in a league that was and is chock-full of them. Wade’s injury-precipitated decline almost exactly coincided with James’ realization of his dream of winning an NBA championship, one he fulfilled in 2012 with a five-game triumph over Durant’s Thunder. Now, all three are free agents.
And, continuing with the Wade/Durant irony, who else remembers this Gatorade commercial? In it, Durant’s goes up for a dunk attempt but is thwarted by a younger, more athletic Wade. You can see the rest for yourself:
Pretty sick, huh? The one-minute spot ends with KD dunking on Wade and Dwyane waking up from his nightmare to start the process Durant just finished. Pretty fitting.
Just like with Durant, it was never thought that Wade could possibly leave Miami. However, he’s in serious talks with other teams, such as the Bucks and Nuggets, to leave the Heat behind. While he will probably stay in Miami like he has for the first 13 years of his career, there is a legitimate possibility that he could leave.
Leaving Miami for Denver or Milwaukee could not possibly be a basketball decision; rather, it would be a decision based on the Heat organization’s treatment of him even as he has taken repeated pay cuts to help the team attract free agents. Team president Pat Riley prioritized Durant and Hassan Whiteside before Wade, and he was right to do so. Both are younger and have more to give at this stage of their careers, and while Wade may feel disrespected by the team’s priorities, it’s hard to fault the Heat for thinking like they did.
But what does Wade have left in the tank for whichever team signs him? And what can those teams expect from a player so clearly entering the twilight of his career?
For one thing, the man they call Flash was significantly healthier last season. After missing 48 games in the prior two seasons, he appeared in all but eight games last year. Granted, his production is continually declining; his field goal percentage (45.6%) was the lowest of his career and he only averaged 19 points per game. However, his 74 games were the most he played in since 2010-11, when he was regarded as a legitimate sidekick to James instead of his second fiddle.
Another consideration for Wade is lengthening his career. After repeated knee injuries over the past few seasons, he’s probably looking for a situation where he may not have to do quite as much to carry his new team. While that situation is probably in South Beach, consider this: Wade’s usage rate (31.6%) ranked fifth in the NBA last season. Even worse, three of the four players ahead of him in that category (DeMarcus Cousins, Stephen Curry, James Harden) are all decidedly younger and better able to handle the rigors of an 82-game schedule. Asking less of Wade over the course of a full season would help him stay fresh and healthy for a potential playoff run.
But is there an actual fit in either Denver or Milwaukee? In Milwaukee, the answer is no, if only for logistical reasons. As the Bucks are currently constituted, they do not have the cap room to bring in Wade on a max contract or something similar to it. However, if the team decides that it wants to trade Greg Monroe, which is widely believed to be a strong possibility, it would then have enough cap room to pay Wade.
In Denver, a move to acquire Wade would be far more questionable. The Nuggets have several young players in their backcourt, including Emmanuel Mudiay and 2016 7th overall pick Jamal Murray. Signing Wade may very well mean getting rid of one or both of those players for the dual purpose of creating cap room and clearing out an already crowded backcourt.
There’s this angle, too: wouldn’t it be better for Denver and coach Mike Malone to let the team’s younger players develop? Parting with Murray or Mudiay would deny them of this opportunity, one that may not exist elsewhere. We should point out that Mudiay was really, really bad last year (9.9 PER). Nevertheless, he and Murray do have the opportunity to develop into solid players and core pieces of Denver’s future.
The best choice for Wade and his future, though, is clearly to stay in Miami. He has built an identity there and the Heat are by far the best team pursuing him. While he is understandably upset that Riley prioritized Whiteside and Durant over him, wouldn’t you do the same? Eventually, Wade should realize that Riley did what was best for the Heat organization, even if that came at the expense of the team’s most recognizable figure.
And Wade has still shown that he can be a very good player. He’s far removed from the days of driving to the basket with reckless abandon, often sacrificing his body to get baskets. This undoubtedly caught up with him and he’s definitely lost a step since that time in his career. But he has a track record of coming up big when it counts; after all, he singlehandedly carried Miami to its first NBA title in 2006.
Dwyane Wade is still a very good player, maybe the second best on the open market right now. But he, like everyone else, has been enveloped in the Durant sweepstakes.
Ten days ago, the Cavaliers were dead. Today, they’re NBA champions.
How and why we got here has everything to do with the savior of Cleveland and one of the best players to ever play this game: LeBron James.
In our country, we like to have debates about James’ greatness and whether or not he’s one of the best players of all-time. We also question his ability to come up big in clutch situations; after all, he was just one game away from going to 2-5 in the Finals.
But frankly, these discourses are ridiculous. They have become outlets for Twitter eggs LeBron haters to vent their frustrations about the best player in the game’s supposed “flaws”. These people come in all shapes and sizes, and, as last night showed, from many different walks of life:
Kyrie last 5 games: 30 in win, 34 as LeBron disappeared, 41 in win, 23 in win (tone-setting 20 in 1st half), 26 & game-winner in Game 7. MVP
This is absurd. Anyone who makes a sincere argument about James’ legacy compared to Jordan’s clearly doesn’t understand just how much basketball has changed over the past 20 years. These people also don’t understand that the two men are completely different players who do completely different things on the court. LeBron has always been aware of this, thankfully.
He is LJ, one of the best individual talents the league has ever seen. Nothing more, nothing less. Let’s stop having preposterous debates about whether or not he’s better than Michael Jordan. It really does not matter and I could not care less.
What does matter, though, is what he just accomplished with these Cavaliers: winning an NBA championship, the first for the city of Cleveland since 1964.
Moreover, it was the way they did it, coming back despite seemingly impossible odds to defeat the greatest regular season team in NBA history, that makes this so remarkable. The Cavs demonstrated Cleveland resiliency with a flare for the dramatic, both during the playoffs and over the course of the regular season.
Let me put it to you this way: in mid-January, did you think there was any way this Cavs team could beat the Warriors? On January 25th and in the wake of the firing of former head coach David Blatt, I wrote this about Cleveland’s prospects of winning a championship:
This is not a question about whether or not the Cavs can come out of the East. That question has been answered. However, Cleveland will have serious issues if they are matched up with the Spurs or Warriors in the Finals, and they may get beaten handily by either team.
Which is a fact that neither David Blatt, David Griffin nor Tyronn Lue can do anything about.
Okay, needless to say, I was wrong. But I wasn’t alone; the Warriors defeated the Cavaliers by 34 the week before, and James’ team lacked any semblance of chemistry or connectivity; many saw this as a red flag for Cleveland’s title hopes. Blatt was out as the head coach by that Friday and GM David Griffin immediately hired Tyronn Lue as the team’s permanent coach. Lue’s previous claim to fame was as the guy who got stepped over by Allen Iverson in Game 1 of the 2001 Finals.
The move paid dividends; Lue constructed his lineups to the team could play small. Playing small is what allowed Cleveland to compete with the Warriors for seven games.
Another thing Lue did was take control of the locker room. He did this by holding his star players, including James, accountable for their actions, something that Blatt always struggled with. For example, in a huddle in the middle of a regular season game, Lue told LeBron to, well, you know.
Nevertheless, in spite of Lue’s control over the team and their new style of play, the Cavs would still need players to make individual sacrifices. In some cases, these concessions came from their best players. For example, Kevin Love missed Game 3 of the Finals with his concussion. Prior to Game 4, he told Lue that if he was cleared, he would do whatever was necessary to win the game. That included coming off the bench, which is exactly what he did in favor of a smaller lineup with Richard Jefferson. The Cavs lost Game 4, but Love’s individual sacrifice of minutes and his usual starting role set the tone for the rest of the team.
With all of this being said, Cleveland still found itself down 3-1 in the Finals. This deficit, exacerbated by the fact that Game 5 was at Oracle Arena, left the Cavs in a tough position; no team before this year had ever come back from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals. James and sidekick Kyrie Irving would need to step up to keep the team’s season alive.
That’s exactly what they did, combining for 82 points in a 112-97 victory to force a Game 6 at Quicken Loans Arena. Each player scored 41 points, marking the first time in NBA history that two teammates scored 40 or more points in a Finals game.
James continued his domination in Game 6, with a 41-point, 11-rebound, 8-assist performance to take the series to a deciding seventh game. That game, and the NBA season, would come down to the wire in a fitting end to the Cavaliers’ year.
Game 7 was tight throughout, as the largest lead for either team was seven points. A Klay Thompson layup with 4:39 to go in the fourth quarter tied the game at 89, and it would stay there for almost four minutes. The Warriors’ best chance to score during this period came on a fast break with just under two minutes left. As Andre Iguodala went up for the lay-in, James made what is likely the best block of his career and maybe one of the best in NBA history:
Roughly a minute later and with the game still tied at 89, Irving got a mismatch against Steph Curry. The rest is history:
A Curry miss on the next possession gave the ball back to Cleveland. James was fouled on a violent dunk attempt over Draymond Green and, in spite of hurting his wrist on the play, was able to sink one of two free throws to put the Cavs up four.
The Warriors missed two shots on the next possession, ending the game, the season, and Cleveland’s suffering. After the game ended, many Cavalier players collapsed to the floor, overcome by the emotion of the moment and the enormity of the victory.
And after all that, the Cavs are, albeit improbably, champions today.
To conclude, the Cavs were a team of adversity this season. They faced issues with chemistry, coaching, and injuries to do something that’s never been done before: come back to win the NBA Finals after being down 3-1. James was the unanimous Finals MVP; he averaged nearly 30 points, 11 rebounds, and 9 assists… for the entire series. Yeah, not bad. Not bad at all.
He may not be the best player of all-time, or even in the NBA today. That doesn’t matter. LeBron James just pulled off the greatest accomplishment of his career: bringing a championship back to The Land.
Nothing easy… we’re going to Game Seven baby! Game Seven! GAME SEVENNNNNNNN! – Zaza Pachulia
I’m going to say something I never thought I’d say. It took a long time to get to this point, but since we’re here, I might as well tell the truth.
I give up trying to figure out these NBA Finals. The twists, the turns, the mouthpiece tosses. I really don’t know how Game 7 will go and I’m still trying to figure out how we got here. It’s not worth it to sort out the particulars of the first six games of this series because the Finals actually makes less sense to me when I do.
But we can at least try to decipher the first six games and look ahead to Sunday night’s Game 7. The key word: try.
For one thing, we’ve found our Finals MVP. Ironically, it’s the same person that should’ve won the award last year: LeBron James. He’s actually leading every statistical category in this series, as noted by ESPN Stats and Info:
James has so clearly been the best player on the floor in this series. Moreover, no player on the Warriors has distinguished himself nearly enough to wrest the award away from him, and that holds true even if Golden State wins Game 7. If you’re only watching the Finals and didn’t follow the regular season, you would think that LeBron was the unanimous MVP and not Steph Curry. That’s saying something.
And there’s more bad news for the Warriors. Andre Iguodala, last year’s Finals MVP and primary LeBron defender, suffered a back injury in last night’s game. While he’s definitely going to play on Sunday, his health may be the difference in the game. There’s another thing I never thought I’d say.
And Iguodala’s injury has other ramifications, too. The Warriors are already thin in the frontcourt, with Andrew Bogut out for the Finals with a knee injury. Without his minutes and the normal services of Iguodala, players like Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes would likely have to spend more time guarding James.
Green may be able to hold his own, but the bigger question mark is Barnes. After I wrote about how Barnes would need to play better for the Warriors to win a championship, he promptly had the worst game of his life in Game 6. Barnes went for 0 offensive rebounds, 0 assists, and 0 points last night. This is hard to do (especially as a starter), but the legitimately did nothing on the offensive end of the floor. So who knows where his mind is right now.
Yet another issue for the Warriors comes from an unlikely source: Steph Curry. The back-to-back MVP struggled with foul trouble in Game 6, fouling out for the first time this season. After his sixth foul, he had this memorable reaction. He would assuredly like to forget it:
Soon after Steph fouled out, his wife, Ayesha, tweeted out this thought. I don’t even know what to say about it that would correctly encapsulate its stupidity:
Ironically, after saying she “won’t be silent”, she deleted the tweet. It was a good move, as the tweet only received at least 28,758 retweets. It’s not like the whole world saw it or anything.
But, regardless of his wife’s thoughts, Steph needs to stay out of foul trouble in Game 7. The Warriors need his offense on the floor to win their second straight championship. Even though he’s been outplayed by Kyrie Irving in this series, he is still capable of going off at any particular time. His chances of doing so are exponentially greater if he doesn’t have to go to the bench with early foul woes.
And then there’s the issue of the Warriors’ “death lineup”. While it had flourished earlier in the series, it was outscored 27-9 in Game 6. Part of that is the injury to Iguodala, but the Cavs deserve a great deal of credit here. On multiple occasions, the team used pick and roll action to switch Curry or Klay Thompson on James. Curry’s foul trouble, combined with LeBron’s massive height and strength advantage over both players, led to several easy baskets for Cleveland.
The other problem is that without Bogut’s rim protection, the Warriors have no way of stopping these switches. If Green (who plays center in the death lineup) helps on LeBron, he leaves Tristan Thompson open. Because Bron is such a good passer and Thompson is so good at cutting toward the basket, the result often ends in an alley-oop dunk, as it did several times in Game 6.
Golden State has several issues. These issues are so significant that they may make the difference in this series. But this is about more than the Warriors; it’s also about LeBron.
We’ll never know why James was so much less assertive in the first four games as compared to his last two. However, since he and Kyrie Irving decided to take things into their own hands the last two games, the Cavaliers have been a totally different team.
There is one Cavalier player, though, who could seriously step things up in Game 7: Kevin Love. Last night, Love only played 12 minutes, plagued by foul trouble and ineffectiveness. At this point, Tyronn Lue may want to bring Love off the bench outright, as he’s only getting role player minutes in his current capacity. Richard Jefferson once again stepped into his role and outplayed him, and he may be worthy of the Game 7 nod. Then again, the Cavs got here with Love, so their allegiance to him in their starting lineup is very understandable.
At this point, I’m about out of ways to figure out this series. I don’t know how we’re here, with the greatest regular season team in NBA history on the verge of the worst collapse the league has ever seen. But this series really is even; both teams have scored 610 points over the course of the last six games. In spite of the fact that none of the games have been within single digits, the NBA Finals is as even as it could be.
I have a feeling Game 7 is going to be epic. It will pit the league’s two biggest stars against one another in a winner-take-all bout to determine legacies and history. I’ve given up trying to figure out this series, so I’m going to enjoy Sunday night’s game as the culmination of a fascinating NBA season.
The Draymond Green effect was on full display in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. It wasn’t demonstrated by his play; rather, it was denoted by his absence.
Without him, the Warriors defense was swiss cheese. When you combine that with the best games of LeBron James’ season and Kyrie Irving’s career, you get an offensive explosion from the Cavs and an extension of the NBA Finals.
If you don’t already know how we got here, Green was suspended for Game 5 after an incident in Game 4 in which Green hit James with a low blow after Lebron stepped over him.
On the floor, a double common foul on both players was the call; the NBA would review the incident and assess Green a Flagrant 1 foul. Because of this, Green reached three flagrant foul points, with the other two coming in the wake of Green’s previous groin incident with Thunder big man Steven Adams. NBA rules state that if a player receives three flagrant points over the course of the playoffs, that player is suspended for one game.
After reviewing the incident, the league elected to suspend Green for Game 5. The announcement set off a series of trash-talking remarks from players on both teams; Klay Thompson suggested that James’ feelings “just got hurt”. Lebron responded by saying that he’s taken the high road for the last 13 years and that he would “do it again”.
The dispute was significant enough for Steph Curry’s wife, Ayesha, to respond on Twitter with a subtweet that even LeBron wouldbeproudof:
High Road. invisible bridge used to step over said person when open floor is available left to right.
But the Warriors, baby bottles, high roads, hurt feelings, and all, would have to play Game 5 without the best player in these Finals. How would they respond?
By completely disintegrating, particularly on the defensive end.
While the team could do absolutely nothing about Kyrie and LeBron (both scored 41 points), there were times when its defense could have been much more competitive. For example, take a look at this play, in which Richard Jefferson drives to the rim unimpeded:
It’s possible to think that Draymond Green’s presence may have shut that play down before it even developed. However, there was another important Warrior also missing from that play and most of the second half: Andrew Bogut.
Bogut suffered a knee injury in the third quarter of Game 5 and it didn’t look good. Watch as Bogut appears to hyperextend his left knee after blocking a J.R. Smith shot attempt:
Potentially losing Bogut presents myriad questions for the Warriors in Game 6. For example, does Steve Kerr decide to start Festus Ezeli in Bogut’s spot and essentially keep the same starting lineup without him? Or, does Kerr decide to go with his Death Lineup to start the game, with no true big man and Green at center? Do James Michael McAdoo and Anderson Varejao get more playing time in the Australian’s stead?
There are many questions for the Warriors to sort out ahead of Thursday night’s Game 6, but there is one question mark the team can do nothing about. That question mark is the play of forward Harrison Barnes.
Barnes, with all due respect, had himself a John Starks-ian performance on Monday. He shot 2-14 from the field, including 1-6 from the three-point line. He had open looks all night but just couldn’t hit any of them. As ESPN’s Ben Alamar notes, this may be more of an anomaly than a trend:
This helps to explain why Barnes missed so many shots in Game 5; he just had a bad night. He’s a good shooter (38% from deep in the regular season, 36% in the playoffs) and he had one of those games that all players have from time to time.
Nonetheless, when you factor in Green’s absence and Bogut’s injury, it was a really bad time for Barnes to disappear. Golden State needed him to step up for Green, and he didn’t answer the bell. On its own, Barnes’ struggle was no big deal, but in the context of his team’s circumstances, it was very troubling, to say the least.
The most surprising part about his no-show, though, is the fact that he’s actually having a pretty good series. In the Finals, he’s averaged 11 points per game and 5.4 rebounds per contest; in other words, he’s essentially producing like he did in the regular season. That’s all the Warriors need out of him, and if he has that type of game on Thursday in Cleveland, they should be pretty happy.
But there are other areas that could really give Golden State more of a boost. For instance, take a look at the bench. A second unit that was the story of the first two games of this series only went for 15 points in Game 5. In fact, the trio of Klay Thompson, Steph Curry, and Andre Iguodala accounted for 77 of the Warriors’ 97 points on the evening. This can at least partially be explained by Andre Iguodala’s move to the starting lineup to replace Green, but players such as Shaun Livingston and Marreese Speights (0 points on 0-6 shooting) need to step up in Game 6.
But, there is one more factor to examine here: can the Cavaliers sustain their performance from Monday night? James and Irving combined for 82 points, each going for 41 (something that has never happened before in an NBA Finals), but that level of production probably can’t be repeated again. Assuming it isn’t, who will step up for Cleveland to force a Game 7 and potentially even win a championship? Kevin Love? J.R. Smith? It will be difficult for the Cavs to win two games in a row if their role players do not step up to help their other-worldly superstars. There have been no indications in this series that they can or will.
The Warriors should get a boost from Green’s return. He’s not the best player on the team; besides from Steph Curry, though, he may be the most important. He should be able to help Golden State’s defense at the rim and on the perimeter.
But the injury to Andrew Bogut and the disappearance of Barnes and the bench should give the Warriors at least some cause for concern. Role players will have to step up for the Warriors to win their second straight title.
If they don’t, Green’s return might not be enough to save them.
*But his absence helps Cleveland stack up against the Warriors.
When Kevin Love suffered a concussion in the first half of Game 2 of the NBA Finals, opinion was split on his impact to a Cavs team facing a 2-0 deficit against the Golden State Warriors. Some thought Love’s injury and, later, his inability to play in Game 3 would spell doom for Cleveland; others felt his absence would actually help the team. Still others believed that the series was already over regardless of Love’s presence.
Sure enough, the Cavaliers rocked the Warriors by 30 in Game 3, inserting themselves back into the series. They did so without Kevin Love.
So it was no surprise that after the game, many pundits pointed to Love’s absence as a case of addition by subtraction rather than a crippling loss. Here are just some headlines from the postgame reaction:
The Cavaliers Should Trade Kevin Love This Summer, But Where? (SB Nation)
Let’s Face the Facts: The Cavs Are Better Against the Warriors Without Kevin Love (CBS Sports)
It’s Time for Cavs, Kevin Love to Decide If They Fit in or Fit Out Together (Bleacher Report)
It looks like some are already jumping ahead to this summer, one that should see the salary cap rapidly approach $100 million. Whether or not the Cavaliers wish to keep Love may be impacted by the fact that the team is almost $24 million over the league’s $84.7 million luxury tax for this season; Love’s contract calls for a cap hit of over $20 million every year until 2020. While Dan Gilbert has exhibited the willingness to win no matter the cost, financials could play into the Cavs’ ultimate decision on Love.
But there really isn’t time to worry about this now. What we can pay attention to is the Cavaliers’ NBA Finals matchup with the defending champions and single-season wins record holders, the Golden State Warriors.
And the fact is, Cleveland is probably better, at least in this series, without him.
In Game 1, Love shot 7-17 and scored 17 points. However, he only shot 3-10 from inside the paint and 2-5 from inside three feet. The Cavs’ offense was off all night, resulting in a 38% shooting performance which included a 23-60 showing from LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Love. The Warriors took Game 1 104-89, a win that saw Golden State’s bench score 45 points. By contrast, Cleveland’s bench scored a paltry 10.
Both teams would move on to Game 2. In that game, Love went up for a rebound against the Warriors’ Harrison Barnes. Barnes drilled Love with an elbow to the back of the head, leaving him down in a heap as play continued.
Why the game proceeded as Love was down in such a dangerous area of the floor is beyond me. Luckily, Draymond Green was able to jump to his side and avoid landing on him as he elevated for the subsequent layup, avoiding more serious injury for the Cavs’ big man. The game should have been stopped to give Love time to get out of the way before grown men of his size (and bigger) came flying at his twisted body. But I digress….
The Warriors would follow up on the injury by pulling away and taking Game 2 by 33 for a 2-0 lead and undisputed control of the series. Love would enter the NBA’s concussion protocol after re-entering the game in the second half as a dizzied, compromised version of himself. Some thought the Cavaliers would be a compromised version of themselves in Game 3. As it turns out, they were just the opposite.
With Love’s inability to start Game 3, the team would turn to soon-to-be 36-year-old Richard Jefferson to start in his place. While many (including myself) called for Tyronn Lue to start Timofey Mozgov, the team’s only true center, the move to Jefferson wound up paying dividends. The team shot 52.7% from the field, including 12-25 from three, en route to a 120-90 drubbing of the Warriors.
While there are other factors at play (namely the struggles of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson), what the Cavaliers did on Wednesday night was nothing short of remarkable. Jefferson’s insertion into the starting lineup made a big difference in several ways.
For one, the Cavs’ offense was run much more simply with Jefferson. Kyrie Irving and LeBron James handled the ball on almost every possession. Decisions were made far more quickly. The ball movement was far sharper than it was in Games 1 and 2; 17 and 15 assists in the first two games, respectively, became 23 assists in Game 3.
Nonetheless, we do need to look beyond the numbers for a full explanation of the Cavs’ stunning turnaround. For as simple as this sounds, James, Irving, and the rest of the offense executed in ways they didn’t in the Bay Area. For example, look at J.R. Smith. Smith, the always–enigmatic sharpshooter who has found a way to revitalize his career in Cleveland’s winning environment, struggled to patch together any offense in the first two games. Lo and behold, Game 3 rolls around and Smith puts up 20 points on the strength of five threes.
That leads us to another theory: do the role players for each team play better at home? In watching the Cavaliers in this series, the answer would have to be yes. Role players such as Smith and Tristan Thompson, who struggled in Oakland, pieced together outstanding performances in Game 3, doing their part to turn the tide of the Finals.
That being said, the Cavs need to sustain their performance in Game 4 and beyond. Curry and Klay Thompson will figure out their perimeter woes sooner or later, and when they do, the Warriors will be difficult to contain.
But while sustainability may be an issue, the Cavaliers are better equipped to win this series with Jefferson in the starting lineup. In Game 3, Jefferson’s offensive rating (140) and defensive rating (94) were just two figures of how his presence improved the rest of his team. As I alluded to before, the Cavs just played faster with him in the starting lineup; that applies to both ends of the floor. All of a sudden, defensive switches were far quicker. The Dubs’ pick-and-roll wasn’t as deadly as it was in the first two games. And, last but not least, the Cavs were able to run their offense through James and Irving, which greatly simplified Cleveland’s offensive sets and put less impetus on role players to create baskets.
And I’ll say this since we seem to like talking about this year’s Finals in the context of last year’s: is Richard Jefferson the 2016 version of Andre Iguodala? Unlike Iguodala, Jefferson did start five games in the regular season, but the similarities between the two players and their teams’ circumstances from last year to this are interesting, to say the least. Iguodala was undoubtedly asked to do more a year ago, from defending LeBron to helping the slumping offense go small; Jefferson’s main role is to knock down threes and defend the Warriors’ wings (Iguodala, Harrison Barnes, Green). Golden State’s primary offense does not come from those players, so RJ’s assignment becomes much easier.
But Jefferson’s role in the Cavs’ (at least temporary) turnaround is nothing short of impressive. The offense and defense run far more smoothly with him on the floor, something that can’t be said about Love. Love is a better player than Jefferson at this point in their respective careers and in most matchups, the former helps the team win.
However, the best starting lineup for the Cavaliers to combat the Warriors is one that includes Richard Jefferson, not one with Kevin Love. And after seeing how well Jefferson played on Wednesday, why shouldn’t he start again in Game 4? It is a tough quandary for Lue (who, all told, is only 58 games into his NBA head coaching career), but how could you break up a starting lineup that went a combined +113 in Game 3? I would think that Love has to come off the bench, wouldn’t you?
If he does, the Cavaliers would probably be better for it. That’s not something that is usually said about Love, but his style of play and slow-footed defense is incompatible for this series and this opponent.
But the player who can hold his own against the Warriors and help his team succeed is Richard Jefferson.
After four games of the Conference Finals, the respective fates of the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers were greatly in question.
Both teams experienced unexpected outcomes; the Cavs split the first four games of their series against the Toronto Raptors, including two losses in Canada, while the Warriors fell behind three games to one to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Both teams were expected to win their respective conferences; Cleveland, in particular, was expected to sweep the Raptors or defeat them in five games. Consequently, it was shocking to see both teams appear so vulnerable for such long periods of time.
Both teams also had notable regular seasons, to say the least. The Warriors set the single-season wins record (73), breaking the previous record of 72 set by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls. The Cavaliers, on the other hand, fired head coach David Blatt on January 22nd and replaced him with Tyronn Lue. After Blatt started the season 30-11, Lue finished it 27-14; the combined 57-25 record was good enough for the Cavaliers to earn home-court advantage for the entirety of the Eastern Conference playoffs. However, many questions still remained about the team’s ability to beat the best teams in the West.
And yet, here we are. The Cavaliers took Games 5 and 6 in decisive fashion to beat the Raptors and get LeBron James to his sixth straight NBA Finals. The Warriors improbably became just the tenth team in NBA history to overcome a 3-1 playoff deficit and took down the Thunder in seven hard-fought games.
Both teams overcame obstacles to get to this point. Golden State endured a knee injury that forced point guard and 2-time MVP Steph Curry to miss two weeks in early May. In spite of this, the Dubs went 3-1 in four full games without him. The MVP would come back in Game 4 of the team’s second-round series against the Trail Blazers. With Golden State up two games to one, Curry came off the bench and dropped 17 points in overtime, an NBA playoff record, to carry the Warriors to a 3-1 series lead and full control over Portland.
Curry scored 40 points for the game and announced himself to the rest of the world as fully healthy. That did not necessarily apply to his rhythm and comfort level in game action, however.
Curry would struggle to find his mojo in the first four games of the Western Conference Finals. In those four games, Steph would shoot just 31-74 (41.9%) from the field and a pedestrian 16-43 (37.2%) from deep. He surely did not look like the best player in basketball, and many were curious as to why. This report from The Vertical shed some light on the situation, stating that Curry was not fully healed:
Curry has been a shell of himself – missing shots, throwing away passes, losing his dribble and completely unable to prove that there’s Curry-esque agility in that knee. “He’s playing at 70 percent, at best,” a source close to Curry told The Vertical. Curry refuses to make excuses, but privately the Thunder see something – no explosion, no ability to make the bigs switching onto him pay a price. Nineteen points on 20 shots Tuesday night bore no resemblance to the two-time NBA Most Valuable Player.
While it was nice to have a potential reason for Curry’s struggles, the Warriors needed to win the next three games to make it back to the NBA Finals. Without having Curry’s usual production, this goal looked almost unattainable. And then Klay Thompson happened.
Thompson, the other half of the Splash Brothers duo, has been the Warriors’ best player in the postseason. He’s shot 45% from three-point range, averaged over 26 points per game, and carried the team at various times coinciding with Curry’s struggles and injuries. After a narrow victory in Game 5 and the continuation of Curry’s woes to start Game 6, he would need to put the Warriors on his back once more to extend their season.
And Thompson would answer the call in grand fashion. His 11 three-pointers set a new playoff record and propelled the Warriors to a 108-101 victory to force a Game 7.
The exhibition was one of the most memorable single-game playoff performances in recent memory. It was almost as if Thompson wasn’t even looking at the rim on some of his deep shots, and yet it didn’t seem to matter. He carried the Dubs to Game 7 all on his own, and the rest of the team would take it from there. Curry erupted for 36 points in the clincher, Thompson added another 21, and the Warriors defeated the Thunder 96-88 to advance to their second straight NBA Finals.
The Cavaliers’ playoff journey has not been nearly as arduous. Nonetheless, it has been just as impressive as their West counterparts. Cleveland started the playoffs with a sweep of the Detroit Pistons, a series that featured three close games and this Kyrie Irving dagger to finish off Game 3:
A video posted by Bleacher Report (@bleacherreport) on
The Cavs followed up their first-round performance with an equally impressive second-round sweep of the Atlanta Hawks. Wins in the first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals pushed Cleveland to a 10-0 start to the playoffs. The team missed its chance to tie the 1989 Los Angeles Lakers for the best start in playoff history (11-0) with a loss in Game 3, but starting the playoffs on a historic tear doesn’t usually guarantee a title.
Although the Cavs’ series with the Raptors went to six games, it wasn’t especially close. Cleveland outscored Toronto by an average of 15.5 points per game; for context, the 2014 San Antonio Spurs outscored the Heat by 14 points per game in that year’s Finals, and that series only went five games. Even though the series was tied heading into Game 5, the Raptors never really stood a chance. Their fans were pretty darn awesome, though:
With the Game 6 win, LeBron James advanced to his sixth straight Finals and became only the eighth player to achieve this feat. Here are the other seven:
Bill Russell
Sam Jones
K.C. Jones
Satch Sanders
Tommy Heinsohn
Frank Ramsey
Bob Cousy
If you didn’t latch on right away, all seven players were on the Boston Celtics’ 1950s-60s teams that went to ten straight NBA Finals from 1957 to 1966. The fact that James has joined their company with more parity in the league and with two different organizations is nothing short of remarkable.
With all of this being said, the 2016 NBA Finals should be a compelling series. Oh, and did I mention it’s a rematch of last year’s Finals? This, as well as the individual players and collective talent on both teams, should make this year’s Finals very competitive and entertaining. Let’s preview the series with a couple of major keys to the outcome of the series.
Pick-and-Roll
Some would argue that last year’s NBA Finals turned in the 4th quarter of Game 3. In that 4th quarter, the Warriors discovered David Lee, his passing, and the efficiency of the high pick-and-roll. In 13 minutes, the cast-off former double-double machine was +17 and went a perfect 4-for-4 from the field.
Lee is gone now, but the pick-and-roll game of the Warriors remains. Whether Curry, Thompson, or Shaun Livingston is the primary ball-handler, roll men Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala, Andrew Bogut, and Festus Ezeli will present unique challenges for the Cavaliers. Bogut is one of the best-passing big men in the game and is almost always looking to pass when he rolls to the rim. Ezeli can finish with authority inside while Iguodala and Green can drive to the rim, take a jump shot, or make an extra pass to the Warriors’ dangerous shooters.
But there’s another reason why the pick-and-roll will be such a huge key for the Cavaliers, and it lies in the players who will be defending it. As Zach Lowe of ESPN writes, the two-man combination of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love is not exactly adept at pick-and-roll defense:
But Irving and Love have been the central players in Cleveland’s worst breakdowns. Opponents in the playoffs have scored 1.09 points per chance when they involve those two as the primary pick-and-roll defenders in a play that leads directly to a shot attempt, drawn foul or turnover, per SportVU data provided to ESPN.com. That would have ranked last by a mile among 119 two-man combos that defended at least 250 pick-and-rolls in the regular season, per that SportVU data set.
Toronto was able to exploit this weakness with the two-man pick-and-roll combo of Kyle Lowry and Bismack Biyombo. With the Warriors’ offensive firepower, they could rely on pick-and-roll action to stifle the Cavs’ defense. Look out for this early on in Game 1 as a harbinger of how the game, and, for that matter, the series, will go.
LeBron’s Jumper, His Fatigue, and How They’re (Kind of) Related
It’s no secret that LeBron James’ jump shot is not quite as effective as it was in years past. Statistics back this up: his three-point percentage this season was the lowest since his rookie year (30.9%) and his deep shooting has regressed every year since winning his last MVP in 2012-13. Accordingly, Bron has adjusted: his average distance on field goal attempts is at a career low (9.6 feet) and he’s taking the most attempts from inside three feet in his NBA career (45.9%).
Part of this adjustment can be attributed to James’ realization that he must get better shots. However, one can also credit the King’s improved shot selection with Tyronn Lue’s offense, one in which the ball moves as frequently as the players. LeBron just isn’t asked to do as much in Lue’s system, and that’s a good thing: his Usage Rate in these playoffs is down significantly from last year’s. Of course, last year’s Cavs were decimated by injuries, but a fresher LeBron means a better LeBron.
And a better LeBron means a better Cavalier team, certainly better than the one that lost to the Warriors in six games a year ago.
Pace…. And Space
The Cavaliers have possessed the most efficient offense in these playoffs, averaging over 119 points per 100 possessions. Cleveland only averages 89.7 possessions per game, which is relatively low, especially compared to their Bay Area counterparts. The Warriors average nearly 100 possessions per game and feast off the opponent’s misses and turnovers for fast break opportunities and easy baskets.
Aside from the pick-and-roll defense of the Cavs, this will probably be the biggest indicator of the outcome of this series. If the Cavaliers’ offense is allowed to set up in the half court and run its sets, Cleveland will be in very good shape, especially considering how their offense has fared these playoffs. However, if the game is played at a more up-and-down tempo, the Dubs should fare well.
While Tyronn Lue has sped up the Cavs’ offense since taking over as head coach, the team still needs to execute. If they can execute, they could feast on a Warrior defense that has been susceptible to slumps this postseason. Another reason why the Cavaliers’ offense has been so lethal is because of new additions. Aside from getting Love and Irving back healthy, the team has added Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye via free agency and trade, respectively. Frye is shooting 26-45 (57.8%) from deep this postseason while Jefferson has provided valuable minutes off the bench.
Needless to say, LeBron James won’t have to do it by himself this time around. He has some very dangerous weapons beside him now.
The Prediction
I really struggled with this one. There are good arguments for both teams winning the Larry O’Brien trophy, and either way, it should be an enjoyable, competitive, and (hopefully) long series. There are so many interesting storylines to this year’s Finals (Cavs vs. Warriors rematch, Steph vs. LeBron, etc.) and I think I’m speaking for everyone in saying that I hope it lives up to the hype.
Nevertheless, I have to make a pick. I’m taking the Golden State Warriors to win their second straight title. I have the series going the distance, and I really think it could be one of the best NBA Finals series ever.
But here’s to hoping injuries don’t determine the outcome like they did last year.
Frank Vogel is one of the best coaches in the NBA. He’s an intelligent, charismatic team builder who has molded the Indiana Pacers into one of the most consistent teams in the league. He’s also out of a job.
After coaching Indiana to five playoff appearances in nearly six years as the team’s head coach, he was let go by team president Larry Bird because… well, I don’t know why:
Larry Bird: “My experience has been good coaches leave after 3 years.”
“Good coaches leave after three years”. Larry Bird is the one of the best basketball players ever; what some forget is that at one time, he was a pretty good NBA head coach. Ironically, he led the Pacers to three straight playoff appearances and the franchise’s only NBA Finals appearance in 2000. Indiana lost to the Lakers, ending Bird’s third season as head coach. And then…. he left. Irony.
That being said, Vogel will have plenty of options if he wants to coach next season. Let’s look at a few of those here.
Honorable Mention: Portland Trail Blazers
Yes, it sounds crazy; the Blazers already have Terry Stotts, one of the best coaches in the game and the runner-up in this season’s Coach of the Year voting. Stotts, however, is at the end of his contract and while a deal should still get done, it will be interesting to follow whether this team and its coach come to an impasse in negotiations like the one encountered by Vogel and the Pacers.
It’s not likely that this job will be open, but it’s definitely one worth watching.
New York Knicks
Let’s just skip the formalities: there’s no chance Frank Vogel is coaching the Knicks next season. They’ve seemingly locked in on Kurt Rambis as their guy (for some reason) and aren’t conducting much of a coaching search right now. Vogel actually grew up in Wildwood, New Jersey and worked for the Lakers and Phil Jackson as an advance scout during the 2005-06 season.
Also, remember that Jackson, the team’s president, waited until June 10, 2014, before hiring Derek Fisher as its head coach the last time the job was open. Vogel won’t last until then for the seemingly unhurried executive. The likelihood of Vogel coaching the Knicks next season is easy to figure: zero. There’s no chance of this actually happening.
That being said, it is fun to imagine the Knicks making a good coaching hire, for once.
Houston Rockets
This one is really interesting. The Rockets have a superstar in James Harden who, believe it or not, is only 26 years old. Ironically, Paul George is also 26, and we saw what Vogel was able to do for him.
However, the problem with this move would be the Pacers’ and Rockets’ respective paces and styles of play. While Vogel’s Pacers have averaged just over 93 possessions per game over the past four seasons, the Rockets have been successful by pushing the pace and garnering more possessions. In fact, Houston has eclipsed 96 possessions per game over that same time period, outrunning Indiana… but not necessarily outplaying them.
The teams have basically had the same amount of success over the past four years, with the Rockets making the playoffs every year. However, the Pacers have found more success in the second season, with two Conference Finals appearances in 2013 and 2014 and a seven-game first-round series with the Raptors this year. The Rockets, on the other hand, have been eliminated in the first round in three of the past four seasons with a Conference Final appearance and a quick exit at the hands of the Warriors wedged in between.
Also, there’s the minor issue of the Vogel’s style of play and, more significantly, the ability of the Rockets’ personnel to hypothetically carry it out. Dwight Howard has an opt-out clause that he can use this July 1; needless to say, he won’t be back after the tumult of this past season. With his imminent departure, the Rockets are looking square in the face of starting Clint Capela at center unless, of course, the team can sign or draft a big man this summer. Vogel’s Indiana teams had the most success when his offense was allowed to run through David West and Roy Hibbert, each of whom was one of the best big men in the game at one time.
Much was made of the Pacers’ going small and playing faster this season; while it worked for one year, there is no doubt that Vogel is much more comfortable espousing an old-school, traditional style of play on offense. The Rockets wouldn’t be able to carry this out in their current form, so something would have to give.
But it sure would be intriguing to see what would happen if Vogel coached the Rockets, even if it would be different than what we’re used to from him.
Memphis Grizzlies
This fit is emerging as the most logical one for Vogel, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo.com’s The Vertical reports:
The preliminary stages of Memphis’ search to replace Dave Joerger include Vogel – the formerIndiana Pacers coach – who used the weekend to decompress after losing his job on Thursday, league sources said.
Vogel plans to start evaluating head-coaching opportunities early this week, league sources said.
The fit in Memphis makes the most sense for Vogel. His old-school, slow style of play with a heavy emphasis on big men suits the Grizzlies’ “grit-and-grind” mantra perfectly. If the team can secure Vogel as its head coach, it won’t have to change its style of play much, if at all. What the team will have to change is its health, and there’s not much that can be done about that.
This season, the Grizzlies used an NBA-record 28 (!) players en route to a 42-40 record and a first-round sweep at the hands of the Spurs. Key pieces such as Marc Gasol, Mike Conley, Zach Randolph and Tony Allen all missed significant time over the course of the regular season. Also, no player on the team started over 57 games for the team, forcing Memphis to use 28 different starting lineups over the course of the season, with 12 of those combinations starting just one game.
It’s easy to see why the Grizzlies took a step back last season. None of their best players could stay healthy for the entire year and the continuity of the team’s play was shattered. That being said, the team could be back to its old ways next season, and new leadership may be part of their potential improvement. Dave Joerger was almost inexplicably fired after this past season for the team’s subpar performance; now, it’s easy to see why he was canned.
The Grizzlies had something better lined up the whole time.
The NBA trade deadline is today at 3 PM Eastern Time. I’ll have you covered here with updates and analysis throughout the day; please check back here all day for more!
This move is all kinds of wow. The winner in this move is probably Los Angeles, as the Clippers have been looking to move Lance Stephenson all week. And look what they got for him:
Our @ZachLowe_NBA says it’s Jeff Green for Lance Stephenson. Deal DID beat the 3 p.m. buzzer
I’m not so sure about this trade for the Grizzlies. They give up a solid player in Green for a massive personality in Stephenson, one who doesn’t quite fit their roster at the present moment. They’re not a contender and really had no need to make this trade.
But they did, and they just executed the biggest blockbuster of the 2016 trade deadline. Holy schnikes.
UPDATE: Per Marc Stein, the Grizzlies get a cherry on top of the deal:
Grizzlies also acquire a first-round pick in the deal
The Bulls’ backcourt has been very crowded for the last couple of years, with Derrick Rose, Aaron Brooks, Doug McDermott, and others. The odd man out in that rotation, invariably, was Hinrich, and now he’ll be the backup point guard on a Hawks team that needed one after this morning’s trade of Shelvin Mack.
Atlanta makes a good pickup while the Bulls shed some salary.
While this seems like it could be a surprise, teams simply did not want to give up their futures for Howard. Even though he is one of the most talented big men in basketball, teams like the Hawks, Heat, and Celtics deemed that he wasn’t worth the high asking price Houston GM Daryl Morey was requesting.
The Houston Rockets will remain broken for another two months.
Ryan Anderson was one of the most pursued players in trade talks this week, so it’s at least somewhat surprising to see him pulled back by New Orleans now. However, New Orleans couldn’t get the right deal for him and so he will remain in a Pelicans uniform until at least this summer.
In Morris, the Wizards get a player who can score off the bench and shoot at a decent clip from deep as they try for one last push to the playoffs. If you’ll remember, Morris went berzerk when his brother Marcus was traded to Detroit last summer.
This move is best for both sides, no matter what the Suns receive in return.
UPDATE: This is what Washington is giving the Suns:
This is another trade that is basically a lateral move. Napier would see more playing time in Chicago while Brooks could mentor Elfrid Payton in Orlando. An interesting move for both sides.
The last sentence is the key part. Dwight Howard isn’t fully entrenched in Houston just yet because Daryl Morey can find the right deal in a heartbeat. If he does, D12 will be playing in another city at the end of today.
This isn’t a huge surprise. They’ve done enough today and it looks like they have decided to keep the rest of their team intact for the rest of the season.
Such a deal would likely involve Michael Carter-Williams as well. The trade would essentially be a swap of point guards who can’t shoot, which is why the mere discussion of this deal is puzzling. Rubio doesn’t offer very much to Milwaukee that Carter-Williams does not, but it would be interesting to see what Jason Kidd could do with him as his starting point guard.
The Mavericks haven’t been linked to any major trades and there isn’t very much they can do to overcome the top three teams in the West. This shouldn’t come as a surprise and Donnie Nelson is making the right decision here.
Mack will be a solid point guard for the Jazz and could maybe even start for the team if Trey Burke struggles. Solid, although somewhat nondescript, move for Utah.
Foye would be a home run for the Thunder as they are already one of the deeper teams in the league. He would add to this depth and provide a steady presence as one of the best locker room guys in the game to boot.
This seems like a no-brainer for the Cavaliers. Varejao is playing the least minutes of his career this season and has rarely seen the floor behind Timofey Mozgov. In Frye, the Cavaliers get a player who can stretch the floor, something Varejao could not do. Frye’s presence will give Cleveland’s offense one more serious perimeter threat, something that could help new coach Tyronn Lue’s fast-paced offense.
Varejao will give a young Portland roster legitimate playoff experience, which the team lacked with the obvious exception of Damian Lillard.
It’s very likely that Houston will get this pick this year, as the Pistons could very well make the playoffs. At worst, they’ll probably be at the back end of the lottery, which would add even more value to the pick for Houston. Also, if Detroit continues to improve over the next two years and stays out of the top ten of the draft, they would surrender their first round pick to the Rockets.
Maybe this wasn’t such a bad deal for Daryl Morey and the Rockets after all.
To recap: Van Gundy fleeces the Rockets of Motiejunas and Thornton, all while only giving up Joel Anthony in the process. This was a steal because Detroit gets two players who can come off the bench and contribute immediately to a team that is on the verge of the playoffs. As the late Jack Buck once said, “Pardon me while I stand up and applaud.”
Motiejunas is a 41% three-point shooter this season, and Anthony only plays four minutes per game. For a team that is trying to make the playoffs for the first time since 2009, this move could help.
WE HAVE A TRADE!….. but it doesn’t mean very much. Jarnell Stokes is going from Miami to New Orleans, as reported by Shams Charania of Yahoo’s The Vertical:
The Miami Heat are trading forward Jarnell Stokes to the New Orleans Pelicans, league source tells The Vertical.
This is nothing more than a cap-saving move for Miami, as all they are acquiring in the deal is a protected draft pick. But it’s the first trade of the day, so let’s go sufficiently nuts.
If Lawson is not moved to Utah or bought out, it would seem as if the Rockets would have no other choice but to keep him. It’s not like the team can command very much for his services, especially given his poor play this season.
This is an interesting one. While this news doesn’t necessarily have to do with the trade deadline, it probably takes one team out of trade discussions for today. As first reported by Marc J. Spears of Yahoo:
Nets announce hiring of Sean Marks as general manager.
This is an excellent hire for Brooklyn, as the Spurs executive will get the chance to rebuild the Nets’ roster from scratch. It won’t be easy and it will likely take a couple of years, but Mikhail Prokhorov has brought in the right man for the job.
As for the immediate impact on today, the Nets will likely lay low and not make any deals. That means keeping Joe Johnson and Thaddeus Young, two players who were thought of as potential trade targets for contending teams.
While the Boston Celtics could reasonably make a blockbuster deal today, it looks as if they aren’t willing to give up primary assets for an elite big man. Via Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski:
Sources: So far, Boston’s showing unwillingness to pay premium prices on rentals for Al Horford and Dwight Howard.
Trading for Howard or Horford would likely mean parting ways with a part of their young core, which includes Marcus Smart, Jared Sullinger, Avery Bradley, Kelly Olynyk and Jae Crowder. Even though the team is third in the East right now, going for broke this year probably isn’t the smartest idea. Boston would have to go through the Cavaliers just to win the East and then would have to beat either the Spurs or Warriors in the Finals. Both scenarios are unlikely, so this is probably a good decision by Danny Ainge to keep his young squad together… for now, anyway.
According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, Ty Lawson may be the first domino to fall today, as the Rockets have reportedly had enough of the troubled point guard:
ESPN sources say Rockets, if Ty Lawson trade talks with Utah were to collapse, would strongly consider waiving Lawson if they can’t move him
Stein is also reporting that the trade with Utah would involve Trey Burke. Such a move would need to involve other pieces because Houston is over the salary cap and the difference in the salaries of Burke and Lawson is almost $10 million. Therefore, it wouldn’t be out of the question to see a third team get involved; if not, Utah would need to move other pieces to complete the trade.
Either way, Houston is committed to moving Ty Lawson. His days as a Rocket are over.
