Thursday, July 26, 2012

Five Under-the-Radar Games that You Must See in 2012-13


          After months of anticipation around the globe, the NBA schedule for next season was finally released today. You know what that means, dear reader! It’s time to take out the highlighter and mark your calendar for all the games you JUST CAN’T MISS. When compiling a list of such games, it is easy to get excited about Thunder vs. Heat or Celtics vs. Lakers. But to limit yourself to only big market teams and brand-name stars would demean what the NBA stands for. So, in your better interest, I have scoured the entire regular season television schedule and picked out a few games that you would be a fool (that’s right, A FOOL) to miss.

Philadelphia @ New Orleans: November 7th on ESPN


New Orleans Center Jason Smith plays against his former team in what should be a barn burner between two teams that can really put the ball in the basket.

Orlando @ Detroit: November 16th on ESPN


Former Blue Devils Kyle Singler and J.J. Redick Duke it out (get it?) to see which unathletic white three-point shooter can be the unathletic-iest, whitest, and three-pointiest of them all.

New Orleans @ Charlotte: December 29th on NBA TV


Al-Farouq Aminu and Bismack Biymbo take center stage in the battle for alliteration world domination. But will Desagana Diop emerge as the dark horse and steal the crown?

Dallas @ Golden State: January 31st on TNT



Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson were teammates in New Jersey. But both have moved on to bigger and better (?) things. Now they face off in what should be a high-flying, aerial display between two athletes who definitely didn’t lose their hops years ago. Or anything like that.

Detroit @ Washington: February 27th on ESPN



Okay, even I can’t feign interest in this one…

Sunday, July 15, 2012

The 1st Annual NBA Fantasy Value Draft: Rounds 5-8

Round 5


With the 21st overall pick, Team O’Toole selects: Greg Monroe


Sean: At 6'11", he doesn't have the height of say, a Roy Hibbert, but as a 22-year-old in his second year in the NBA averaged 9.6 boards and 15 points a game. The blocks aren't there in as high a quantity but the $3.2 million contract and young age makes Monroe a solid pick for now and the future of my team.

My take: If Monroe played in a bigger market, he would definitely not hold the same anonymity amongst casual fans. His numbers actually compare favorably to Demarcus Cousins, though his game is not that of a prototypical center. He’s a big man who can either face up or back down a defender. He’s actually at his best between eight and twelve feet from the basket. While not a great post defender, he is a big body who gives you the post scoring you needed. Solid choice.


With the 22nd overall pick, Team Oetinger selects: Paul George


My take: This kid’s gonna be a stud. A 6-10 (yes, you read that correctly) shooting guard with top-end athleticism and a smooth stroke from 3. He’s already one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, he’s only 22 and costs just $2.5 million next season. He adds versatility as he can defend four positions and he will excel running the fast break with LeBron and Kyrie. He hasn’t learned how to create his own shot yet, that’s not what I need him to do at this point. A player I’ve been targeting for a while, I’m glad he’s available.


With the 23rd overall pick, Team Lamonica selects: Brook Lopez


Adam: I was surprised to find he is only a 4 mil cap hit. While he may not be a superstar, he is an all around solid center who will occasionally show flashes of brilliance. He very nicely rounds out my starting give of Rose at 1, Curry at 2, Melo at 3, Griffin at 4, and now Lopez at the 5.

My take: A true 7-footer with a good post game, Lopez is a rare breed. He adds great size to your team, with a small cap hit. I am a bit worried about his injuries and his rebounding though. He sat out nearly all of last season with a broken foot. And in his last full season, he averaged only six rebounds a game, which for his size is unacceptable. I also have a tough time taking him seriously because his name sounds like a female porn star. He’s a decent shot blocker though, and his post defense will take some pressure off of Blake Griffin. He’ll also force the defense to collapse on him when he gets the ball in the post, which should lead to open shots for Curry and Anthony. I like the pick.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

The 1st Annual NBA Fantasy Value Draft: Rounds 3 & 4

Round 3


With the 11th overall pick, Team O’Toole selects: Ricky Rubio


Sean: A solid young pass-first point guard who would have been the only player last year to give Kyrie Irving a challenge for ROY had he not been injured. With elite scorers around him he will be an assist machine.

My take: Well whaddya know? Somebody took my advice (or I knew his pick before I made said advice). While I could point out more well-rounded point guards available, I think Rubio is actually an excellent pick considering the talent surrounding him. Rubio’s shooting deficiencies will be balanced out by Durant and Gordon. He does need to work on man-to-man defense, but he has the height and lateral quickness to do so. Also of note is Rubio’s contract, which at $3.7 million next year technically qualifies as stealing.


With the 12th overall pick, Team Oetinger selects: Kyrie Irving


My take: Remember the more balanced point guard I just mentioned? Kyrie does it all. He has great court-vision, speed, and outside shooting. He’s also only 20 years old, and will be playing under his rookie contract for a while. Like Rubio, he needs to work on his man-to-man defense, but he has all of the requisite skills to do so. At this point, I’m really feeling good about my team’s potential.


With the 13th overall pick, Team Lamonica selects: Carmelo Anthony


Adam: No doubt this is a risky pick. Melo’s leadership ability has been in question for years, and he has made it obvious that he likes to be at center stage.  Pairing him with D-Rose could be dangerous, but his overall ability to play every aspect of the game when motivated is hard to overlook. He can take over games, drive, make big shots, post up, and stuff the stat sheet. He has performed well on a winning Denver team with a scoring PG in Billups, so I believe he can coexist with Rose.

My take: I’m definitely torn about this pick. I do respect Melo’s game, and his toughness and rebounding is often overlooked. But he is an absolute ball stopper on offense. With D-Rose already running the point, Melo will have to settle for spot-up jumpers, which has never been his specialty. He’s one of the best crunch-time scorers in the league; someone who you can put the ball in his hands and feel confident he can score at will. But so is Rose. I’m also concerned with Melo’s unwillingness to run on the fast break. But still, the talent is there. You just need to find a way to make it work. 

Thursday, July 5, 2012

The 1st Annual NBA Fantasy Value Draft: Rounds 1 & 2


Round 1
With the 1st overall pick, Team O’Toole selects: Kevin Durant



Sean: When looking at future value, I thought Kevin Durant was the best choice over LeBron James. He is obviously one of the most talented scorers in the NBA right now and looking forward I do not see that changing.

My take: Understandable reasoning. Durant is four years younger than LeBron, and has time to develop his defensive game. Barring devastating injury, Durant will end up being a top five scorer of all time, no question. He has all the offensive tools, and more importantly, is an outstanding leader and high character guy. Great pick.


With the 2nd overall pick, Team Oetinger selects: LeBron James


My take: Let’s see, hands down the best all-around player in the game, the reigning Finals MVP, and only 27 years old? Yes please. It seems redundant to go over LeBron’s ability, but I’m in a boastful mood. He is the most explosive athlete in the game, an offensive force around the rim with a developed jump shot. He can create for others with his elite court vision, which makes him a matchup nightmare. And he is the best wing defender in the game today. I had to think about this pick for about .07 seconds.


With the 3rd overall pick, Team Lamonica selects: Derrick Rose


Adam: The youngest MVP ever, an unselfish scorer who plays defense. He is literally the perfect package of youth, talent, repertoire, attitude, relatively soft cap hit, and a superstar that wants to win.

My take: Before Rose’s ACL tear in last year’s playoffs, this would be a much easier pick. That being said, assuming he fully recovers, there aren’t many stars with better character than D-Rose. And in today’s fast-paced game point guards are at a premium, and Rose is among the finest in the league.

The 1st Annual NBA Fantasy Value Draft: Intro

         
          When considering my options as to what to write about during the NBA’s offseason, I decided to focus my efforts on more retrospective pieces. Yes, I could write about the NBA Draft, but frankly that is a dead horse that has been kicked one too many times. Eventually every single prospect is pointed to as a potential bust or sleeper; and eventually all of the opinions blend together in an unending mass. The only other blip on the NBA radar is free agency, and that is a time that belongs to the Ric Buchers and the Marc Steins of the world: media leeches with more inside sources than I have Facebook friends. My only option is to react to big stories, but we find ourselves in a particularly bland summer of free agents.

As a result, I decided on a little reader participation. I wanted to figure out a way to demonstrate who the most valuable players are in the NBA today; who you could build a team around. I wanted this to take into account all factors: ability, age, salary, and personality. With all this in mind, I have created the 1st Annual NBA Fantasy Value Draft.

In order to conduct this draft, I called upon the brightest basketball minds that I know (i.e. the only people I have ever had a conversation about basketball with). Joining me in this venture are CJ Arena, Sean O’Toole, Joe Fisher, and Adam Lamonica. Each has varying levels of knowledge about the game, so it will be interesting to see which of us comes out on top. And how does one win this competition, you ask? Let me show you.

The rules of the Value Draft are simple. There are eight rounds and seven roster spots, enough for a starting lineup and two role players. The eighth round is designated to drafting a coach that will effectively lead your team to victory. There is a salary cap as well. The regular NBA salary cap is $58.044 million. But this is a soft cap, which allows teams to have a higher annual payroll as long as they pay the subsequent luxury tax. But I decided to make things interesting. My league has a hard salary cap of $55.164 million. I arrived at this number by subtracting five minimum salaries ($480,000) from the current NBA cap. This allows for five bench warmers to be added to our current seven-man rosters, though they will be unnamed and theoretically will not play any minutes. But since every NBA team must consist of at least twelve players, they are necessary to devise our salary cap.

The goal of the Value Draft is to construct a team that will compete for a championship, both next year and in the future. The order of the picks were selected at random. The winner of this competition will be decided by the one person I trust most with such a decision: myself. However, I do promise that each team will get a fair shake, and if somebody drafts a team that is better than mine, I will declare it as such. I just think that it is highly unlikely to happen. I will post the results every two rounds, with the final post detailing each player’s explanation of why their team is superior. So, without further ado, I present the 1st Annual NBA Fantasy Value Draft. May the best man win.

Friday, June 22, 2012

The Evolution of a King: LeBron James and Us



The light man stands, tears in his eyes, hands in the air. He has conquered the mountain; the one they needed him to climb before he could be accepted. His brothers surround him, and though they have scaled it as well, the moment is his. Kind words are spoken, cheers and boos rain down, and the idol he has lusted for changes hands. He is invited to take it first. He does not hesitate. As he raises the golden sphere towards the sky, he is validated. The condemnation, the second-guessing, the pain: each have been relegated to steps in a process, a process he has now completed. His friends and teammates surround him, patting him on the back and yelling his praises. A smile erupts, maybe the first true one in years. After nine years of captivity, the man whom we treated as beast has been set free.

 The heavy man sits, tears in his eyes, hands together. The nightmare repeats, at least for another year. The seat feels as cold as it always does, and it provides none of the support he requires. His eyes shift uncomfortably as loaded questions and verbal traps are lobbed his way. His expression does not change, his face spills no secrets. He is a statue among men, but only because he must be, because anything else would give them exactly what they want. His friends sit on each side, but neither can protect him. Another year, another misstep. Another eternal summer.

            By the time this article has been finished, one of these scenes will take place. One will completely change the narrative of LeBron James’ career; the other will merely prolong it for another season. This may become a story of redemption, a guide to the trials and tribulations that have lead to LeBron’s first championship ring. It may end up as the preface to another dramatic failure in one of the strangest careers in all of professional sports. But as I write it now, with the NBA Finals tied at one game apiece, I look at it as a series of snapshots that have progressed the career of the most talented and divisive athlete of our time. LeBron James has become the ideal microcosm for the changing landscape in sports and fan hood. He has been built up and torn down as dramatically as any athlete in recent memory, and his career has intersected perfectly with the rise of social media in our culture. The result is a man who is both blessed and cursed by once-in-a-generation talent.

            Two men are positioned front and center; all eyes are pointed towards them. Only one man actually feels them.


LeBron James is The Phenom

 

The first time I ever saw LeBron James, he was mugging it up on the cover of Sports Illustrated, looking like a toddler who just shit his pants. It’s hard to conceive nowadays, when we have YouTube and scouting services that track players as young as twelve, but most sports fans had never heard of James before his appearance on SI. But as far as first impressions go, LeBron’s certainly couldn’t have gone much better (minus the picture. Seriously, what is that pose?). In the article, written by Grant Wahl, LeBron is introduced as being the possible heir to Michael Jordan. Danny Ainge is quoted as saying that "If I were a general manager, there are only four or five NBA players that I wouldn't trade to get him right now." Oh by the way, LeBron hadn’t even finished HIS JUNIOR YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL YET. He was 17 years old, and a future Boston Celtics executive already considered him more valuable than all but five players in the NBA. Not to mention of course, the moniker of “The Chosen One”. When one is labeled as “chosen”, it is indirectly implied that there is someone or something doing the choosing. In this instance, the insinuation would seem to be that there exists a basketball deity, one that picks and chooses attributes, and molds them together to create basketball players. One that ultimately decided to create the perfect basketball player, one with no equals and no physical weakness. In the case of LeBron James, this may very well be the most likely scenario.

When watching LeBron James as a high-schooler, the physical gifts and skills are impossible to miss. At 6-8, weighing 240 pounds, he already had the build of a grown man, with room to add even more bulk. His athleticism was off the charts, with elite speed, strength, and leaping ability. When necessary, he could lock down any player on the court. But most impressive was undoubtedly his passing ability. LeBron’s court vision as a high schooler was absurd, there is no other way to put it. Not only could he see where every player was on the court; he could see where they would be in 5 seconds, and had the touch to get the ball exactly where it needed to be. And it wasn't enough that LeBron had incomparable passing skills; he was also a willing passer, who understood the game and how it could benefit his team to get other players the ball. This is a concept that many NBA stars never fully grasp, and LeBron James was a master of at 17 years old.


As his senior season ended and the buildup to the NBA Draft began, the popular comparison for LeBron was Magic Johnson. If the casual fan scoffed at this, they would have good reason. All too often nowadays, we evaluate prospects based on how they stack up against current and former players. This not only devalues the greats of the past, it creates excessive pressure for these prospects to live up to expectations. But Lebron, once again, broke the mold. Experts and analysts reached for the Magic similarity because, in NBA history, he’s the only other player who shared LeBron’s size, rebounding, and passing ability. But, as insane as it may sound, the comparison actually sold LeBron’s potential short. Not only could he clean up the boards and run the offense like Magic, he could also put up 30 points a game. And defend every position on the court.

Needless to say, when LeBron James was drafted first by his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers, the hype surrounding him was deafening. With Michael Jordan finally calling it quits the season before, the NBA was ready for a new superstar. Before he had even stepped foot onto an NBA court, we knew LeBron James was going to be that next superstar. There was no reason he shouldn’t have been. He had the game, he had the personality, he had the marketability. We had never before seen a player that brought as much to the table as LeBron James. All that was left to see was how the meal was going to taste.          

Friday, June 15, 2012

The Evolution of a King - The Two Men



       
            The light man stands, tears in his eyes, hands in the air. He has conquered the mountain; the one they needed him to climb before he could be accepted. His brothers surround him, and though they have scaled it as well, the moment is his. Kind words are spoken, cheers and boos rain down, and the idol he has lusted for changes hands. He is invited to take it first. He does not hesitate. As he raises the golden sphere towards the sky, he is validated. The condemnation, the second-guessing, the pain: each have been relegated to steps in a process, a process he has now completed. His friends and teammates surround him, patting him on the back and yelling his praises. A smile erupts, maybe the first true one in years. After nine years of captivity, the man whom we treated as beast has been set free.

            The heavy man sits, tears in his eyes, hands together. The nightmare repeats, at least for another year. The seat feels as cold as it always does, and it provides none of the support he requires. His eyes shift uncomfortably as loaded questions and verbal traps are lobbed his way. His expression does not change, his face spills no secrets. He is a statue among men, but only because he must be, because anything else would give them exactly what they want. His friends sit on each side, but neither can protect him. Another year, another misstep. Another eternal summer.

            By the time this article has been finished, one of these scenes will take place. One will completely change the narrative of LeBron James’ career; the other will merely prolong it for another season. This may become a story of redemption, a guide to the trials and tribulations that have lead to LeBron’s first championship ring. It may end up as the preface to another dramatic failure in one of the strangest careers in all of professional sports. But as I write it now, with the NBA Finals tied at one game apiece, I look at it as a series of snapshots that have progressed the career of the most talented and divisive athlete of our time. LeBron James has become the ideal microcosm for the changing landscape in sports and fan hood. He has been built up and torn down as dramatically as any athlete in recent memory, and his career has intersected perfectly with the rise of social media in our culture. The result is a man who is both blessed and cursed by once-in-a-generation talent.

            Two men are positioned front and center; all eyes are pointed towards them. Only one man actually feels them.