New Year Analytical Reflections (Eastern Conference)

For the few readers who may have been following this blog even during this current period of relative non-activity and it being devoid of an independent URL, I apologize for not staying on top of it.  I've been following the NBA for a long time, and after awhile it becomes sorta redundant and boring.  You have veteran players who spend the entire season looking forward to the playoffs, and you have veteran fans who feel the same.

But we have about reached the midway point, and this is the start of a new year.  So I want to use the opportunity to look back at the predictions I made at the beginning of the season for each respective team and analyzing if those foretellings, from a self-proclaimed guru, have thus far proving true or not.

ATLANTA HAWKS 

Previous Prediction: Given their trajectory over the past couple of seasons, the Hawks are once again on the verge of sliding into obscurity.

Current Standing (17-23, 2-game winning streak): That prediction has proven to be more or less true.  The way the Young + Murray experiment didn't work last season, the Hawks should've have expeditiously moved on from it.  Instead, they got rid of John Collins for some reason.

The problem with teams such as this one is that sometimes the best or most-popular player can be, in the grand scheme of things, the most non-compatible.  I've always been critical of Trae Young's lack of defensive prowess and chucking.  He's an amazing and electrifying scorer who can put on a show like few others in the NBA, but he can't pull off miracles with the same type of consistency as, say, Steph Curry.

Currently, ATL is supposed to be trending towards trading Dejounte.  Another problem with this type of predicament is that Murray is arguably better than Young.  Or let's say, which one you prefer would depend on the makeup or direction of the overall roster.

It isn't likely that trading Dejounte is really change anything, unless the Hawks gets back an above-average player or two whose style is really compatible with Trae's brand of on-court leadership.  And they can't trade Young, even if they wanted to, because as a mediocre team, the last thing you need to be thinking about is getting rid of the one player on your roster who sells tickets.  

The one player I personally hopes gets traded next is Clint Capela, because he deserves better than this.  I can picture him on a team like the Thunder, if they don't have to give up any key personnel to get him.  The Hawks procuring Murray awhile back was a masterful move, from the perspective that at the time he was an all-star.  But overall, their braintrust haven't proven themselves to be gurus.

BOSTON CELTICS

Previous Prediciton: I doubted the fit of Jrue Holiday with this squad, and I also doubted the pairing of Porzingis + Horford from a defensive perspective.

Current standing (32-9, 3-game winning streak) I more or less knew that the Celtics would remain contenders, as they have been for about a decade now.  But boy was I wrong in terms of how good they actually are.  They have the best record in the NBA, though you can't really take that for granted in the East with the Sixers and Bucks lurking around.

I'm still finding it hard to imagine though that Boston will win a championship this year.  Obviously, it can happen.  But for some reason I can't explain, I'm having a difficult time picturing it.

BROOKLYN NETS

Previous Prediction: For some reason that perhaps only they could truly understand, coming into this season it was like the Nets were still expecting Ben Simmons to make a difference.  I think that his NBA days are just about over.  Actually, I was arguing that he should've just retire after bouncing on the Sixers.  Having him on the roster feels more like a burden than a gift.

That said, I still thought the Nets had a better roster than their record, 16 and 24 with a 4-game losing streak, would indicate.  I guess now, the days of dickriding Jacque Vaughn are also over.  There's even been talk of Brooklyn trading Mikal Bridges who, to my knowledge, is their best player.  So, they're looking like a team with no clear direction at the moment.  I guess KD, Kyrie and them really did have the last laugh.

CHARLOTTE HORNETS

Previous Prediction: The Hornets would be the worst team in the NBA.

Current Standing (8-30, 6-game losing streak) LaMelo Ball has health issues of course, but it could be worse.  Miles Bridges is back, having picked up statistically where he left off, even if his brand has suffered.  Brandon Miller is more or less living up to expectation.  Terry Rozier, at this point, can probably be considered the most-underrated player in the league, and even the aged Gordon Hayward is chipping in 15ppg.

Yet, the Hornets still suck.  So even though they don't technically have the worst record in the NBA, they are arguably the worst team as, with their talent, they shouldn't be in the same tier with the Spurs and Pistons.

 CHICAGO BULLS

Previous Prediction: They were going to once again underachieve due to injury and inconsistency.

Current Standing (19-23, 1-game losing streak) I feel bad for Zach LaVine, because now the media has caught on to what I've been saying for the longest - that he's not a viable franchise player - and it's like people are starting to diss or devalue him.  But what I always like to point out in these types of situations is that you can't fault a player if a braintrust concludes that he's better than he actually is and puts the onus on him accordingly.  LaVine is an amazing athlete with a pretty face who can score 20+ points at will, but he isn't good enough to lead a team to a championship.

That said, it's kinda hard to diss the Bulls, because they probably would have been contenders for the past couple of seasons if Lonzo Ball weren't injured.  Like who would've thought that he would end up being such an ex-factor?

But once it did become blatantly obvious that you can't count on Lonzo's health, you know, like two or three years ago, then the Bulls should have been thinking about dismantling this core since then.  And it isn't all about capability issues between LaVine, DeRozan and Vucevic but also, like who's even the role players on this team?

Two or three seasons ago, Chicago did well assembling a formidable team of players all collected from other squads.  But it's been years, like 30 of them, since they've shown any type of exceptional genius when it comes to drafting players.  So when they finally get around to dismantling this roster, might as well let the braintrust go also.

But that said, I do agree with Zach that the Lakers would be an ideal destination for him, and LAL also has a few players who together could be more beneficial to this current iteration of the Bulls than LaVine is.

CLEVELAND CAVALIERS

Previous prediction: The Cavs are a good team but are not the recipients to necessary amounts of favoritism.

These days, I never hear anything about the Cavaliers besides for an occasional injury report.  That's despite the fact that they're currently 24 and 15 and, more notably, on a six-game winning streak.  But that reality can be considered both a good and bad thing.  

It's good because, that means they're more or less winning as to be expected, you know, like some no-news-is-good-news type shit.  But it ain't so good because that means they're remaining amongst the less-popular teams.  And yes, as I've been saying for years and now even laymen and coaches are starting to realize, popularity does matter when it comes to being successful in the NBA.  The Cavs have a couple of studs, most notably Donovan Mitchell, but for whatever reasons he's never achieved super-duper star status, even going back to his days with the Jazz.

So I wouldn't be surprised, considering how competitive the East has become, if Cleveland, as deep as they may be, once again end up getting bounced in the First Round.  Sometimes in the world of professional sports, a team's championship window only opens for a season or two.  And I still believe that the Cavs more or less blew their chance when they traded Ricky Rubio a couple of seasons ago, even if they did eventually get him back.

DETROIT PISTONS

Previous prediction: They should focus more on acquiring quality vets, because the youth movement isn't working.

Current Standing (4-37, worst in the NBA, with a 1-game losing streak) I knew the Pistons were going to be bad, but I didn't think they would be historically so.  It's kinda confusing because their roster is pretty talented and also a bit deep.

I see that Cade is currently averaging 23 pts and 8 assists, which would be all-star worthy numbers if Detroit were winning.  He didn't turn out to be the kind of bust his dismal and exaggerated rookie season implied.  But at the same time, I think it's safe to say that he may not be a viable team leader neither.

INDIANA PACERS

Previous Prediction: The Pacers may be on cusp of once again being recognized as a great team, but they need to like actually do something first before getting there.

Some people believe that something may have been the acquisition of Pascal Siakim, who they just traded for like yesterday.  I don't doubt, but at the same time, I'm not necessarily convinced either.

Tyrese Haliburton has developed to into an unexpected (to everyone expect Indiana's braintrust) perennial all-star, and the team is solidly entrenched within the second tier of the Eastern Conference.  So maybe, the better strategy would have been to ride it out and try to improve with what they had.

But after what they've done with Haliburton, who I was previously thinking was along the lines of a scrub, I have to believe that the Pacers know what they're doing.  And therefore, getting Pascal should move them into the elite category.

MIAMI HEAT

Previous Prediction: Coming into this season, their roster didn't look as formidable as it did a few months prior.  But if any brainstrust can pull off a miracle, it's the Heat.

Current Standing (24-17, 1-game losing streak) And they did that by drafting this dude Jaime Jaquez that nobody was talking about before the draft yet is currently considered to be the third-best rookie of his class.

The Heat have sorta this blue-collar image to them, like they don't have the starpower of some other teams, but they'll beat you with their doggedness and intelligence.  Their most-popular player is Jimmy Butler, who also has that type of reputation.  And as illustrated with last season's playoffs, the NBA doesn't mind supporting Miami.  So this is definitely a team that you can't sleep on.

MILWAUKEE BUCKS

Previous Prediction: Their roster is deep enough defensively to mitigate, to some degree, the loss of Jrue Holiday.

Current Standing (28-13, 1-game losing streak) That was always a risky prediction, in part because Brook Lopez plays an all-important role in the Bucks' defense, and he's really big, and those big Cs like that tend to age faster, in NBA terms, than leaner ones.  And verily, I can't remember the last time I heard anything positive about Lopez, in terms of him contributing to the team's success, despite the fact that he's still starting and averaging 3 blocks per game.

And I'm not singling him out but just using that as an example to point out the fact that Milwaukee doesn't feel as potent defensively as they have been in the past - not in my words but in those of Giannis, and not due to the absence of Jrue per se but lack of effort, which may in part be attributed to the presence of Damian Lillard, who has never been known as a defender.

But one of the reasons I espoused the pairing of Lillard + Giannis, months before it happened, is because most teams would lose to that type of diverse firepower by default.  Who knows when or if the new-look Bucks will ever quote/unquote 'click'.  But even now, as they aren't, they have the record of a contender, which says a lot.

NEW YORK KNICKS

Previous Prediction: The Knicks offseason didn't impress me, conjuring up feelings of old when their braintrust was dumb AF.

But getting OG Anunoby, based on early returns, once again has NYK's braintrust looking as if they are a lot more intelligent than times past.  In fact, I would say this is the one team without a superstar who's in the best position to win a championship.

ORLANDO MAGIC

Previous Prediction: With Pancho Banchero being sort of an ideal bigman for today's playing style, they may just make the playoffs.

And the Magic have looked like one of the more consistent teams in the NBA.  The Jonathan Isaac experiment never panned out, and Markelle is once again on ice.  But Orlando looks like their just one star player away, i.e. a compatible one, from really being formidable.

PHILADELPHIA 76ERS

Previous Prediction: The Sixers will continue to be contenders even without James Harden.

Current Standing (26-13, 3-game winning streak) That's one prediction that proved spot-on.  Maybe this season, fortune and forces will even favor Philly, and they'll make it to the Finals and maybe even win a championship, which has been a long time coming.

I also foresaw that now that the Sixers have finally decided to let Tyrese Maxey be their primary guard (something they should've done since Simmons decided to bounce, imo), he would be all-star.  Tyrese isn't as popular as some of the other Gs in the east, but it looks like that may also come true, even if he's not an all-star starter, which he probably deserves to be (alongside Haliburton).

TORONTO RAPTORS

Previous Prediction: The Raptors aren't contenders but perhaps could be, with their current roster, if they figured things out.

Current Standing (16-25, 1-game winning streak) But figures things out they have not, not with the roster they began the season with.

The early returns indicate that the Raptors did take a step in the right direction by acquiring Quickley and Barrett.  Trading Pascal Siakim may also work better than expected, since Bruce Brown is underrated but now may finally be in a position where he can really let it all hang out.  

WASHINGTON WIZARDS

Previous Prediction: The Wizards would suck, as usual, but Jordan Poole would be an all-star.

Current Standing (7-32, 1-game losing streak) Well, I got one half of that prediction right.  I'm not writing off Poole's all-star potential just yet, but if he does ever reach that level, it doesn't really look like it's going to happen anytime soon.

In my defense, I've stated in the past, more than once, that dudes tend to shoot better when they're playing with (or sometimes even against) Steph.  The mistake I made is thinking that Poole had spent enough time alongside Curry to have honed his own talent into a comparable level of lethalness.  Obviously, I was wrong.  But it should also be blatantly obvious to everyone by this point that the Warriors made a mistake by letting him go.  It's sorta like both teams lost in that transaction - Washington for overestimating Jordan, and Golden State for underestimating him.

The 2021-2022 Los Angeles Lakers (a Lebron Tragedy)

Due in part to his feening ways,
we may never see this look on Lebron's face ever again.

By all means karma, or common sense really, was going to catch up with Lebron eventually due to his demand for instant, ever-fluctuating superteams.  But for it to happen in the middle of his Los Angeles Lakers' tenure is like so not the time.

And the reason I say that is because, it's like the Lakers are never supposed to have a losing season.  It was acceptable for a little while post-Kobe.  The Lakers were very loyal to Kobe, one of the most-expensive players in the game, and as such were forced into a rebuild once he retired.  And they engaged in a true rebuild, i.e. one centered on draft picks, not going after proven vets.  So it was expected they would lose for a little while.

But all of that changed once Lebron came to town.  Playing in the East for the Heat and the Cavs, Lebron had been to the Finals for eight years straight (from 2011-2018).  So there was this belief circulating that he could lead any team to the Finals just like that (like how he did in 2007).

Then he came to Lakers in 2018-19, playing alongside many of those aforementioned draft picks.  From the time news broke that Lebron was coming to town, the Lakers started doing dumb shit like letting Julius Randle, one of the most promising young bigmen in the NBA, walk.  But still I liked that squad, i.e. the Lakers' young core of Ball-Ingram-Kuzma and Hart being under the leadership of LBJ.  That would've let the world know that Lebron really cared about the Lakers, as in being more concerned for the future than the present, because anyone with half a brain could have known that in the long run, gutting an entire young core for one player (Anthony Davis) would be a problem the organization would have to deal with sooner or later.

And unfortunately for the Lakers, it has been sooner.  I always believed that AD belongs in LA even more than Lebron.  And that's because, even if there are some dumbasses going around these days thinking that shooting is more important to NBA basketball than size, conventional wisdom dictates that the latter is preferable.  And that is why the Lakers, the wisest NBA team of all, always makes sure they have one of the best, if not the best center in the NBA.

Anthony Davis, when healthy, is generally considered the best center in the game.  So it only makes sense that the same team who employed the likes of Mikan, Chamberlain, Kareem, Shaq and Gasol (all of whom won championships for the Lakers) would also seek out AD.  That's been the main secret of the Lakers success, to always have the best bigman in the game.

And of course AD got them a championship also.  So at the end of the day, I would argue that the Lakers' current failure isn't as attributable to GM Lebron as it is the health of Anthony Davis, who imo should just retire at this point.  But that doesn't mean that GM Lebron doesn't take some of the blame also.  After all, he's supposed to be able to play the 5 himself and dominate (most teams) at that position if need be.

CONCLUSION

I would also argue that it really doesn't matter which part of the country you come from; anyone who has NBA dreams has fantasized about playing on the Lakers.  It's like okay, you may fantasize about playing for your home team, but you're going to fantasize about the Lakers also.  And with Lebron actually being in a position to force that dream into a reality, you can't knock him.

But damn, what about them other cats who also dreamed of being Lakers but got sacked once LBJ got there?  Those are the ones, like Lonzo Ball and even Alex Caruso (who are now on the best team in the East), that are probably sitting back right now, laughing their asses off.  Even Brandon Ingram, leader of the lowly Pelicans (who AD sh*tted on so that he could go to LA) has to be getting a kick out of this current fiasco.  It's like now, teams who need a win are actually looking forward to playing the Lakers - something none of us could have imagined when this season commenced.  But still Lebron hasn't given up hope, and therefore neither should we.

But either way, I'm wondering which superstars would want to go to LA this offseason to team up with him anyway?  Giannis?  So we may be looking forward to an extended period LAL mediocrity - something virtually unheard of in the franchise's history and even worse than the initial post-Kobe era since now the team does in fact one of the best players, bigmen even, in the league.  But I guess the one good thing about is that now Lebron will have the opportunity to redeem himself, as in prove that he isn't only committed to superteams.

Does Zion Williamson Have Work-Ethic Issues?

The above video was posted to YouTube earlier today by ESPN's The Jump, where host Rachel Nichols interviewed New Orleans Pelicans' General Manager David Griffin (along with Paul Pierce and Vince Carter) concerning the welfare of Zion Williamson, whom the team shutdown for the rest of the Las Vegas Summer League after him playing just the first half of his first game.  The knee injury which reportedly rationalized this decision is not seen as anything major.  But it is what Griffin said about Zion's overall conditioning which really caught my attention:

"He came to us.  He wasn't in great condition.  And from a cardio perspective, it wasn't a great situation to begin with."

The thing that separates the NBA greats from other players who have their same physical attributes is supposed to work ethic.  Michael Jordan was reportedly the hardest working player of his era.  So was Kobe Bryant.  And I've read a couple of accounts of players who formerly played with Lebron being impressed by how he put it in at the gym.  In other words, on top of really-tall and really-athletic they really, really wanted to win.  As for Zion Williamson, he is not at that point right now.  Nor is there any guarantee that he will ever be.

Now let's be frank.  Zion Williamson was not the number-one pick in the Draft due to his work ethic.  Or to put it into perspective, if you or I were born with his body we would have likely been the first pick in Draft also.  This is not me trying to dis him or say anything negative about his drive.  Indeed if anything I'm giving a shoutout to his mom, dad and anyone else who may have passed that trait down to him.

So there is the possibility that Zion likes basketball more than the average person who enjoys playing the sport.  Or there's the possibility that, like any normal 19-year old (his birthday was just two days ago) he would rather spend the day doing things he enjoys (being with his girlfriend, playing videogames, chilling with his homeys) as opposed to being in the gym or on an airplane.  And let's not forget that he has already made a lot more money than most of us ever will.

I knew a few dudes that, if fate allowed, they would spend like all day every day playing basketball.  But we don't for sure if Zion is one of them.  And maybe he'll have to age, just like most of us do, before he really starts feening to win or is mature enough to take his career seriously.  In other words we perceiving him as the next LBJ does not necessarily mean that being so is one of his aspirations.

LET'S GO PELICANS!

Below is a pic which, according to The Jump, is supposed to be how the Pelicans' starting lineup would look if the season started today:

I'm a bit disappointed that Lonzo's name is not on the list, though I can logically understand why.  But at the same time putting a point-guard who specializes in passing on the bench kinda renders him ineffective.

Under this situation ideally JJ or Brandon would be the first to go to the bench, thus bringing in Lonzo and sliding Jrue over to the 2.  Or they may go small, inserting Lonzo in place of Favors and moving Zion to the 5 (and everyone else up a number).

Derrick Favors has been in a couple of situations where he was the player with the 'highest upside' or whatever on his team.  And whereas he does possess a versatile skillset, I don't feel overly confident with dude starting at center.

Lakers' Team Chemistry Officially Destroyed

This is something I wanted to bring up even before the Lakers' got their asses handed to them last night by the Oladipo-less Pacers, which they are calling LBJ's worst loss ever. When you put players on the trade block, especially who are tenured (as in being drafted and only identifiable with one squad), it's going to destroy team chemistry - especially when the trade doesn't go through and particularly in this case, where the Lakers tried to part ways with over half of their roster.

Sometimes you hear NBA pundits talking about "Lebron-ball", which is a theory that states having Lebron on the court is detrimental to a team. But I think we all know that's more or less BS. The true threat Lebron poses is that for whatever reason(s) when he's on a team (that isn't Miami) he's given executive-like influence. So if Lebron wants Anthony Davis then Lebron gets Anthony Davis, even if we have to sh*t on three-fourths of our squad to do so. For some reason, even though this dude is in his mid-30's and has more or less been a professional athlete his entire life, Lebron has yet to grasp the concept of team morale.

Then there's Magic Johnson. In the entire history of the NBA, from a fan perspective Magic is the most-lovable player ever. But when it comes to actually using his brain, well, let's just say he's not the sharpest tool in the shed. And he also seems ready to, at any given moment, sh*t on virtually any player on the Lakers' roster whose name isn't Lebron.

It's hard to imagine the Lakers' true core (Ball, Kuzma, Hart, Ingram) giving their all to help LBJ reach the next level with this team considering the way they are generally treated. I'm sure the 42-point loss last night was their way of telling Lebron - and I guess by extension even Magic - 'fuk you'.

I understand that basketball-wise AD is probably more valuable than all four of those guys put together. And I believe that he, being undoubtedly the best center of this generation, should be on the Lakers even moreso than Lebron. But as mature adults, the executives who are running these organizations need to be more sensitive to players' feelings if they realistically expect them to bring their all to the court.

SUGGESTION

Maybe the Lakers should instead trade Lebron for AD?