Welcome to the Weekly Wrap-Up, your source for all the happenings and tidbits from the previous week in the NBA, all in rambling bullet-point form.
- First order of business, we had two somewhat significant trades last week, and as always it is my job to point out the winners and the idiots.
Charlotte trades Jason Richardson, Jared Dudley and a 2010 2nd rounder to Phoenix for Boris Diaw, Raja Bell and Sean Singletary – Now, normally I’m against deals that add long-term contracts to teams that aren’t going anywhere. Luckily for the Suns, they gave away an even more egregious contract than they got back (Diaw), so it doesn’t matter that Richardson is a bit overpaid. For a team that desperately needed a shot in the arm, this is a godsend. Richardson may not be Mr. Versatile, but the man can put the ball in the basket. He’s an absolutely phenomenal shooter, and could provide offensive production at the wing that Phoenix has lacked since Joe Johnson left. What’s more, they may’ve gotten the second best player in the deal as well with Dudley, who is a quality glue-guy off the bench and only 23. So, this was a steal for Phoenix, what about Charlotte? Well, it pretty much confirms my thinking that the Bobcats are the worst run franchise in the league right now. They traded away their best offensive player and one of their few decent young players and what did they get back? An aging role player on his last legs (Bell), a guy who cashed in on one season where he was an above-average 4th option on a good team (Diaw), and a late second-round point guard (Singletary). Not only that, but they threw in a draft pick to boot. You can’t even argue that they did it for salary cap reasons since they picked up Diaw’s contract, which is barely less than Richardson’s and a year longer. Who thought this trade was a good idea? Do you think Steve Kerr accepted the trade immediately, or hung up, laughed hysterically in his office for an hour, and then called back and accepted it?
Washington get Mike James and Javaris Crittenton. Memphis gets a 1st round pick (Washington). New Orleans gets Antonio Daniels and a 2nd round pick (Memphis) – Here’s a trade that makes a bit more sense for all parties involved. Washington gets a solid guard prospect in Crittenton, a guy with lottery talent who just hasn’t gotten much of a chance to play yet, and he should get plenty of chances to play with Agent Zero still out. Memphis got back the pick they’d sent to Washington in the Juan Carlos Navarro deal, and alleviated their glut at point guard some. New Orleans moves the awful Mike James for the surprisingly productive Antonio Daniels to improve their back-up point guard situation, and they landed an extra pick in the deal too. Logical for all teams involved, I approve.
- Speaking of Washington, I don’t understand what they’re doing with JaVale McGee. He’s been their most productive center by far, but they’re yanking his minutes around with no rhyme or reason, and last I checked that wasn’t a good way to develop a young player. (and yes, I did notice this because I had McGee on my fantasy team) Seriously, check out his game against Chicago last saturday. He blocks 4 shots in the first 3 minutes and shoots 3/4 on the game, but he only plays 11 minutes. Why? It would be another thing if Washington had another valid option at the center position, but Andray Blatche and Etan Thomas have been terrible. My suggestion? Play the rookie at least 20 minutes a game and live with his inconsistencies, it’s only going to make him better.
- Cleveland won by only 8 the other night against Philly, which broke their streak of victories by 12+ points. Of course, they decided that was unacceptable, and went out and reamed the Sixers by 18 two nights later. Granted, they aren’t exactly playing powerhouses, but they’re leaving no doubt who the superior team is ever time they go out there, and history has taught us that blowout wins tell us a lot more about how good a team is than close games do.
- I’ve watched Portland a few times this year, including the other night against Utah and it’s easy to see their youth, and also see how they’re going to get vastly better over the next few years. When things are going well for the Blazers, they’re nearly unstoppable (witness their 42-point shellacking of Boston), their depth, versatility and overall skill level are just too much to handle. The problems come when shots aren’t falling, as was the case against Utah. Other than Brandon Roy, they just don’t anyone who seems to understand what to do when they’re in a slump. Portland’s perimeter shots weren’t falling and Utah just packed the lane and doubled relentlessly in the post, helped by the fact that Oden isn’t yet comfortable enough handling the ball in traffic and Aldridge takes too much time to make decisions when he catches the ball. The good news for Blazer fans? That recognition of what to do when Plan A fails is going to come, and they’re going to get better and better with every bit of game experience they get under their belt.
- Last week in my First-Quarter Report, Hoff inquired why I had failed to mention the Nuggets, who I had panned in the offseason and picked to finish well out of the playoffs. Well, I didn’t mention them because, frankly, I just don’t find them that interesting. They’re good, but they’re not championship-caliber, and I don’t think they’re going to get much better this year. I’ll start out with the good though, they have surprised me in several areas.
Nene has been excellent this year, basically not missing anything near the rim and providing quality defense. We all knew he could do this, but he’s struggled with injuries and weight problems that have prevented him from reaching that potential.
More surprising than Nene has been the play of Chris Andersen as backup center. Post play off the bench was the biggest question mark for Denver coming into the year, and the Birdman has been better than servicable. He’s converting enough offensively, and he blocks shots and rebounds like a madman. In fact, you could make the arguement that in his 17 mpg, Andersen has been the 2nd best backup center in the league (behind Joel Przybilla), which is something no one could have expected.
They’re playing Dahntay Jones almost 20 minutes a night, which gives them another very solid perimeter defender.
Of course, the Billups trade was a surprise too, and one that has really paid off so far. They’ve effectively been able to replace the defensive presence of Marcus Camby with 3-4 solid defenders, and it’s allowed them to actually be better defensively.
Now, the bad stuff.
I still don’t trust a frontcourt rotation of Andersen, Nene and K-Mart. Maybe this is the year that both Martin and Nene stay healthy, by I’m not going to bank on that until I see it. I’m also not convinced Andersen can keep this up. He’s playing WAY above the level we’ve seen from him previously in his career.
For all the talk I’ve heard about how not playing with a “true point guard” has hurt Melo, Playing with Billups, he’s having his worst offensive year since being a rookie. With the exception of one quarter (we’ll get to that in a second), he’s been terrible.
J.R. Smith decided to celebrate his new contract by mailing in the season. Awesome.
They have, by my count, only 1 actually impressive win (@Boston, and no I’m not counting @SA w/o Parker and Ginobili or Houston w/o McGrady), and have been soundly beaten in most of their other big games (-11 @Cleveland, -7&-14 vs LA, -17 vs SA )
I’m not saying they’re a bad team, but I don’t think they’re anywhere near elite level, and I don’t think they’ll be getting any better this year.
- And, speaking of the Nuggets, we’ll segway into the innaugural winner of the weekly Maestro Award. The Maestro Award (inspired by the captain of my old high school basketball team) is my recognition of the best performance from the previous week, whether that be one particular play that catches my eye or a stat line from a whole game.
Maestro Award
And the award goes to…Carmelo Anthony for his epic 33-point third quarter Wednesday against Minnesota, tying George Gervin’s 30 year old mark for most points in a quarter. Melo had scored 2 of his team’s 7 3rd quarter points at the 9 and a half minute mark, and then he just went off. He scored 31 straight points, missing only two shots (one of which he tipped in) and one free throw. In the process, Denver jumped from down 12 to up 6, and Denver didn’t trail again. By the end of the quarter, he’s just throwing up ridiculous stuff and it was going in. But hey, when you’re hot, you’re hot.
Honorable Mention: Darko Milicic, for tearing off his jersey, Incredible Hulk-style, in the middle of a game, while a befuddled Greg Buckner looks on.
xphoenix87 is a contributing writer for BallerBlogger.com. x is a college student who dreams of one day writing about sports for a living. Since that’s not gonna happen, he’ll do this instead.
