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.
- After a short break for the holidays, the Weekly Wrap-Up is back. I hope everybody had a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, and didn’t do anything too stupid.
- I heard a mind-boggling stat the other night, and I had to double-check it to make sure. The impressively dysfunctional LA Clippers have not had a single game all year where they have shot over 50% from the field. Through 32 games, not a single game where they’ve hit half of their shots. I suppose that’s what happens when Baron Davis takes 517 shots and only hits 36% of them. How does Mike Dunleavy still have a job again?
- This week in “Coaches Doing Stupid Things,” can anyone tell me why Kris Humphries gets no playing time in Toronto? Call me crazy, but if my team was hanging around the bottom of the league in rebounding, I think I’d want to play the best rebounder on my team some more. Is there any reason he shouldn’t get Joey Graham’s minutes? This is a team that should be much better than they are, and a lack of toughness has been a huge issue for them. Humphries may not be the most skilled guy out there, but he brings toughness in spades.
- I hate to keep harping on them, but this Portland team keeps doing impressive things. A win the other night over Boston without Brandon Roy was huge. They’ve played one of the league’s hardest schedules, and have played over half their games on the road. For a team as young as the Blazers, to have 20 wins right now is nothing short of amazing. Frankly, I’d be pretty shocked if they don’t win 50 games this year.
- I hope you’ve been paying attention to Kevin Durant lately, because he’s showing off all the tools that made him one of the best prospects of the last decade. Just check out his December averages. 25.1 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 2.9 APG, 1.5 SPG, 1.3 BPG, 47.2% FG, 41.9% 3FG, 81.6% FT. Most important to note are the rebound, steal and block numbers. That versatility is what makes Durant such an intriguing player, he’s not just an elite scorer. We’re finally seeing him make use of the length and height advantage that he has over almost every player he’s matched up against. After an abysmal start to the year, he’s pulled his offensive rating up to right around the league average, and his usage rate is 11th in the league. If he continues to shoot this well from the perimeter (which he should) and continues to show this kind of dedication to rebounding and defense (which I’m a little less sold on), Durant will be a top 20 player by year’s end, maybe even top 15. He’s got such diverse talents and he’s such a skilled athlete that his ceiling is off the charts. When the Thunder start getting a team around him, watch out.
- There are a lot of coaches doing a great job right now, but if the Coach of the Year award were given out right now, it should go to Scott Skiles, and he’s not even being mentioned in the discussion by most people. There are things I don’t think he’s done a great job with, and I think he’s not giving Ramon Sessions the playing time he should, but he should win it if only for the drastic defensive turnaround this team has made. Last year, the Bucks were the worst defensive team in the league, by a pretty large margin too. This year, they’re 6th in the league, and allowing 9.5 points less per 100 possessions. That’s an enormous swing, and one I didn’t think was remotely possible with the roster they have. The Bucks are a team that a lot of people are sleeping on, but they’re better than their record shows. They played 14 games without their best player (Redd) and have played the second most road games (21) in the league. To be at 16-19 is nothing short of a miracle. He doesn’t have the fanfare of most guys, but Skiles has done a fantastic job with this team so far.
- Just want to throw this out there as a challenge to anyone who considers themselves a true NBA geek. Without looking anything up, see if you can come up with 10 guys on the current roster for all 30 NBA teams. Once you think you’ve got it, pull up the rosters and check to see how close you were. I started doing this just as a mental exercise when I was driving somewhere and had nothing else to do, and it’s a good deal tougher than I thought it would be. I missed one player on one team (darn you Clippers for being so irrelevant), so to beat me you’ll have to be perfect.
- The team that really intrigues me right now is Orlando. Dwight Howard is a two-way monster. Jameer Nelson is playing out of his mind. They’re playing great defense and the offense is coming together. Here’s the question though: Can they beat the Cavs or Celtics in a 7-game series? In the end, that’s what matters, and even with the level they’re playing at, I don’t think they can do it. Nobody on that team is equipped to stop LeBron, or even force him to work hard for his points. They’re not equipped to handle the KG/Pierce forward combo. If the Magic were playing the Lakers, I think they might have a shot, but they just don’t match up well with either of the East’s power teams. They strike me as very much like the Pistons of the last few years. They spread the floor and execute, so they massacre poorly disciplined teams, and they funnel guys to Dwight, so they kill teams that don’t move the ball well, but they struggle against good teams. Maybe I’m wrong, but I just can’t see it, not yet. If Howard continues to grow and harnesses his outrageous physical gifts, then the discussion changes.
Maestro Award
The Maestro Award is my recognition of the best performance from the previous week
And the award goes to…Pau Gasol, for this awesome between-the-legs, no-look pass to Trevor Ariza on the break, evoking memories of Magic Johnson…you know, if Magic had been a 7-foot white guy with curly hair.
In honor of Gasol’s ridiculous pass, I’m going to throw out just a few more Pau links for you, showcasing one of the NBA’s best passing big men.
Honorable Mention – The Blazers, for having six men on the court at once and getting away with it. Nice job getting the quick score before they could hit you with a tech.
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.
