Some notes on the NBA Draft Lottery
2010-05-19(Note: I do not put myself in the company of King or Ghandi. I just like good basketball.)
So it’s the Wizards who get the #1 overall pick. Of course it is. Of course it is. That’s just perfect. Of course the franchise whose fanbase has made hating LeBron a defining aspect of their fandom gets arguably the best pure prospect since LeBron himself. That’s just absolutely wonderful.
Wizards fans, it’s been fun. We all know what I’m talking about. Now, as your franchise was on the brink of collapsing because Arenas brought guns into the locker room, you get a potentially great player to call your own. And you know what? I’m going to enjoy watching him. I love watching John Wall play, and I’m excited about a Wall/Arenas backcourt. A Wall/Arenas/Joe Johnson/Blatche/McGee lineup is very intriguing. The only bummer is that Washington’s best young player on their current roster plays the same position as Bosh/Amar’e. If Blatche was a center, things could’ve gotten really interesting.
Anyways, my point is this. I wish John Wall all the best in his career with the Wizards, and will sincerely enjoy watching the Wizards a great deal in the future. Whether Wizards fans like it or not.
As much as I’d like to say “Maybe if you’d been nicer to LeBron, he might have gone to the Wizards,” I don’t think it would have happened anyways. I don’t think he’ll leave Cleveland for that market, and the Wizards haven’t shown that any of their big men can play a lick of defense. Both big concerns.
Anyone else feel better after the Celtics handling the Magic like this? I’m impressed with their poise — they kept playing Dwight straight up, even after he started scoring on them. Similar to how the Spurs played Nash back in the day. I’m beginning to think the Celtics are the new Spurs.
Also, Rondo. Calling him one-dimensional is missing the point. Sure, he doesn’t shoot, but he has as many options as any guard. Look at the moves he pulled out in the paint today. There was a dream shake. There was a behind-the-back fake. There was that insane reverse with all the English. He can throw passes to the interior or exterior with either hand when he’s in the paint. The defense knows where he’s going. But they don’t know what he’s going to do when he gets there. That’s just as effective as an inside/out game.
Poor Vince Carter. Man, I hope LeBron doesn’t end up that way.
LeBron to the Nets — almost definitely not happening! Now it’s Chicago or Cleveland, with New York being an outside possibility. If I haven’t gone on record with this before, I will now — if LeBron is a Knick next year, it will be for non-basketball reasons. Still can’t count out the possibility.
Alright, that’s all for now. Have fun, everyone.
Why is LeBron to the Nets definitely not happening? Because they won’t get John Wall? They’re still in the NY area, right? And planning on moving to Brooklyn? I don’t think the lottery has hurt their chances very much. Instead of getting Wall, they’ll get Derrick Favors, an athletic rebounding power forward who actually fills a huge need for them. Remember they have Devin Harris, an all-star caliber PG who is just 27. With or without John Wall, they arguably have good young talent at 3 positions. With Favors and LeBron, that becomes all 5 positions. Add that to their… Read more »
Yea they’re screwed.
I have self-respect and refuse to go through this whole beggin a sports athlete to play a game. Not gonna do it. It just isn’t that important in the grand scheme of things to throw away all of my dignity.
Todd, I agree, but they truly have no other chance. Gentry has made that team overall better at defense, but their weakest defender is the one who has to guard the Lakers most effecient scorer. Stoudemire could caree less whether Gasol scores or not and playing a half-court game you see what the Lakers are gonna do. Pretty much the only shot, and it isn’t really a shot, is for them to just run and shoot threes. Amare is…….I dunno. He checks out to much, and doesn’t care about one half of the court. Can you give a guy like… Read more »
@ AdamD, that video is amazing. Good find. Also, “when the Cavs went into shut down mode, Amare would have been warming up the bus” cracked me up. One of my favorite comments on the blog, probably only behind BradleyH’s reference to Space Jam and the Monstars stealing Lebron’s talent.
And by the way… Amare went the course of 7 QUARTERS in the first two game of the Lakers series with a total of one rebound. Lets not get too high on Amare just because he’s the alternative. Jamison is a great teammate and Krolick made note of his incredible consistency as a Cav. When the Cavs went into shut down mode, Amare would have been warming up the bus.
Have we no shame? Our penchant for self-parody has officially gone too far:
http://www.break.com/index/we-are-lebron-video.html
Yea that kind of effort from Amare is particularly funny after his recent comments.
Also, Phoenix… outscoring LA is not going to work.
Amare Stoudemire. He is better than Jamison, I know. But good lord…it just looks like half the possessions that he is on defense he literally doesn’t try. I don’t mean gets out of position. I don’t mean just gets out muscled. I don’t mean just isn’t good. No, I mean he actually doesn’t try. Such a waste of talent on that end. he could muscle people around. he could dominate the boards, but he chooses to just not care.
@Kevin:
That’s simply amazing.
I mean, I understand fans whining about the refs to a certain extent because, you know, that’s part of what fans do… but the media in Orlando is ridiculous. Constantly finding something to get pissed about.
You would never see Windy writing something like that… and I can’t remember any other Cleveland writers doing that either.
Off topic, but did any of you guys see this? http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports-orlando-magic-fanatics/2010/05/19/hello-david-stern-we-need-to-talk/
That is the definition of whine. What a bunch of babies, and shame on that newspaper for running such tripe.
Rich, I feel your optimism. The fact that Boston has stunned Orlando even worse than they stunned us, for some reason, has me feeling way, way better about what happened.
I mean, I don’t feel GOOD, just, not HORRIBLE.
Yea I made that point earlier in the year Amin. And I’m not sure if you can guarantee you do sell seats. Miami simply hates sports, period. The Hurricanes don’t sell seats. No one goes to Marlins games ever. I mean, people in Miami just don’t go to games…ever. I gotta say folks, we aren’t in nearly as bad of shape as people think we are. Take a look at Orlando. They are waaaaaaay over the cap next year at 79 million. Lewis has an untradeable contract and is getting paid 20 million dollars next year to perform like this.… Read more »
If you can’t sell seats to games with Wade and LeBron, your city has got some problems.
I 100% agree with Rich. Cleveland or Miami. Cleveland, because he has unfinished business. Or Miami, because he gets Wade and Pat Riley. I don’t think South Beach factors into this. But an organization that has Pat Riley’s experience attached to it does.
The only thing that’s bizarre to me, though, is the fact that Heat fans do NOT show up to games. That arena is always empty. Might be a downside. If you can’t sell seats with Wade there, can you sell them with LeBron and Wade?
I dunno David. Just like otherp eople are saying he doesn’t want to be someones number 2, I can’t see him wanting to play in the shadow of Jordan for his entire career, never being able to live up to the hype. On a side note, there is no chance he goes to New Jersey now. If he is going to join a straight up terrible basketball team, might as well be the more popular and more loved New York Knicks. I’ve thought there was a 50% chance he remains in Cleveland. I still think that is the case, but… Read more »
I think Chicago is really still in the running for Lebron. I know that there would be Jordan comparisons if he went there, but…um…there already are?
Matt, I think it’ll be Jrue Holiday instead of Lou Williams. They can use someone like Turner, although his shooting/turnovers will have to improve, but it looks like they will.
Turner in Philly is either going to be amazing or an utter disaster.
I remember Gilbert boasting how he could attract and pay the other big FA’s to join Lebron in Cleveland. I think the Bosh thing would be great. That dude doesnt have a big ego, if one at all, and has really played well, he complimented the Redeem Team perfectly with his athleticism and played just as good as Bron and Wade in the All Star Game…but obviously this is all moot if Lebron ends up leaving. Hard to see what other coach is out there if Brown is given the walking papers…maybe Larry Brown…but I thought Lebron didnt like him… Read more »
Thoughts on Turner to Philly? Seems like you need an offense keeping the ball in his hands. Philly hasn’t wanted to throw a pure passer out there, so how will he look next to Lou Williams and Iguodala? With Dalembert in the middle, is this an Iverson-model team, with a bigger, (much) less explosive Iverson running the show?
It’s interesting to note how the mood is changing. Straight after we went out it was all doom and gloom and LeBron is gone. Now I sense that he could stay because his other options really aren’t that realistic for his title chances. Obviously if he goes to New York it’s not for ball reasons. But if that’s the case then he was always gone anyway. I seriously think that if Gilbert plays his cards well here LeBron could stay. Bringing in a good new coach could swings things. And there’s still the slim possibility of a mega S&T like… Read more »
Miami is bigger than Cleveland, no?
Anyway, I doubt he goes to Miami because the perception will be he’s joining “Wade’s team.” LeBron’s ego is too big to handle that.
The other problem with going to Miami (and I think Bill Simmons made this point already) is that if Lebron signs there, he becomes D Wade’s “Pippen.” Wade is not going to relinquish alpha dog status: number 1, he probably sees himself as every bit Lebron’s equal as a player; number 2, Miami is “his house,” as he likes to boast during games; and number 3, he’s the one with a ring on his finger.
Yo yo yo, clippers all day every day!
No way Lebron goes to Miami Rich, not a big enough city. It’s either Cleve, Chicago, or New York period. BTW the Celtics are playing just awesome basketball right now and the funny thing is that they really didn’t play all that clean in the first two @ Orlando and they still won. Their defense has been phenomenal this postseason and it is why they were able to open 2-0 in Orlando. Just think when they get back to Boston and start hitting more jumpers and Ray Allen starts draining every shot he takes. I’m starting to think this could… Read more »
I’m having a hard time imagining LeBron going anywhere with another dominant ball handler. He’d have to really revise his game (or the other guy would). I’m not sure how useful Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade, or LeBron would be without the ball in their hands as much. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe exactly what a team needs is two players who will use the ball on 70% of possessions between them. What would that kind of offense look like? I’m not sure John Calipari could design it. It would be fun for perverse reasons to watch Mike Brown struggle with that… Read more »
I actually think it’s between Miami and Cleveland. Really can’t imagine LeBron wanting to deal with Jordan expectations every day of his life in Chicago.