Phil Partington's Blog
Posted by Phil Partington
Here are a couple paraphrased quotes that made me chuckle this morning. I thought I'd share.
First, at the beginning of the season, Gilbert Arenas, Washington Wizards, claimed that he just wanted to fit in this season and that he would look to distribute more, rather than be the typical ball hog that he is. Funny how "distribute more" resembles being a ball hog. He's averaging 5.9 assists per game and an abysmal 4.8 turnovers per game. That includes a career high 12 turnovers against the Miami Heat on November 10, 2009.
Second, Jamal Crawford said that the New York Knicks would have made the playoffs last season had he and Zach Randolph not been traded. I love Crawford--have been watching him since his high school days at Rainier Beach--but this is obtuse thinking. Crawford's missed the playoffs all through his career, because he's played on bad teams. He's gotten an unfair rap for that, but Zach Randolph is one of the most overrated players in the NBA and the Knicks just didn't have the talent to be a playoff team last season. Who is he fooling?
Posted by Phil Partington
When it comes to fantasy basketball, it's never a bad idea to grab players from teams that don't play defense. Typically, those are the teams that go by the philosophy of "the more possessions we get, the more we score." This philosophy seems to contend that if you let the opposition score really fast, you have a chance to get the ball back...and score again.
Teams that follow this rule? The New York Knicks, the Phoenix Suns, the Toronto Raptors, and the Golden State Warriors. Therefore, I figured it wasn't a bad thing that I had three Warriors on my squad at the start of the season (Andris Biedrins, Anthony Randolph and Stephen Curry). Yet, Coach Don Nelson has taken the approach that, since the team sucks, he ought to change the lineup every night until he finds something that works. Hall of Fame coach my rearend. The problem with this ideology is that all those young players on his team don't get much of an opportunity to get into a rhythm, or to gain confidence. The problem may be the fact that he plays four shooting guards at the same time, most of whom don't play a lick of defense.
Andris Biedrins is hurt, but even before he got hurt, Nelson decided he wouldn't play Biedrins at the same time as Randolph, because neither one of them were jump shooters. Nevermind the fact that they both hustle and they both play defense. Nelson prefers to reward players who take a lot of shots. Moreover, Nelson doesn't like Randolph, or at least doesn't care for his game. That's what he's shown anyway by not playing him. With Biedrins out, Randolph has received more minutes for the most part. Yet, it's not enough. He's only received more than 25 minutes three times this season. In those games, he's averaging more than 17 points per game, grabbing 11-12 boards per game, blocking 2 shots per game, and collecting nearly 3 steals per game. However, he doesn't shoot jump shots well, like the forty-thousand other players on that team, so he should be benched every other night.
Does any other fantasy basketball owner feel my pain?
Posted by Phil Partington
Every basketball fan should check out this documentary. It's a good synopsis of what happened with the Seattle Supersonics sale and move.
Posted by Phil Partington
Blake Griffin is still the consensus number one pick. He's a legitimate 6-10, and is strong as an ox. What's more, he's a fantastic ball handler for someone his height, despite playing primarly under the basket. He also plays above the rim and has tremendous work ethic. Despite the Clippers being loaded with bigs, Griffin should have no trouble getting minutes and could be a star right away.
Ricky Rubio is still fighting his Spanish team about reducing the buyout amount for his contract. Rumor has it that he's leery of playing in Memphis, where two other Spanish players have had bad experiences (Pau Gasol and Juan Carlos Navarro). That being said, the Grizzlies might be in favor of moving the pick or selecting Hasheem Thabeet to give them an athletic shot-blocker.
The OKC Thunder are a big question mark on this draft board. GM Sam Presti comes from the Spurs' organization, and they were known for being hush-hush about everything, then surprising fans. He surprised folks a bit last year by taking Russell Westbrook with the fourth overall pick, though that's panned out so far. Rubio, Thabeet, James Harden, DeMar DeRozan and a couple others are on OKC's radar.
Here is a scenario that might play out.
- Clippers take Blake Griffin
- Grizzlies take Hasheem Thabeet
- Thunder take Ricky Rubio
- Sacramento take Tyreke Evans
- Wizards trade this pick to the Knicks, Bobcats or Trail Blazers. That team takes Stephen Curry.
Posted by Phil Partington
Is anyone as surprised as I am at how the Magic stole game one? Not that I didn't think they were capable of such a feat, but I thought the red-hot Cavs would take the first two games.
Rashard Lewis is better than people give him credit for. Those who claim he's overrated haven't followed his career very closely. He's actually a very versatile scorer, with an underrated post up game. That being said, Dwight has to demand the ball more. His offense is limited, but he's so athletic and so strong that their best chance of taking the series is for him to shoot as many high percentage shots as possible, and get Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varejao in foul trouble.
That being said, Stan Van Gundy shouldn't look to slow things down against the Cavs. They need to force the tempo in order to get their versatile, athletic bigs easy shots in transition.
I expect this to be a wake up call for Cleveland. They can't play lackadaisically in the playoffs. Not ever.
Posted by Phil Partington
It's always fun to check out the up-and-coming basketball stars. Check out clips of this high school phenom, John Wall.
Posted by Phil Partington
There've been some trade rumors floating around the NBA recently. Here are my thoughts on each one of them:
- The Phoenix Suns would trade Steve Nash, Leandro Barbosa and Robin Lopez to the Toronto Raptors for Jose Calderon, Andrea Bargnani, Anthony Parker, Jason Kapono and possibly Jamario Moon as cap filler. Phoenix should make this deal. Calderon isn't quite Steve Nash yet, but he's getting there and he's a lot younger. Nash has a few good years left in him at best, and this team, despite its successes, probably missed the boat on winning a championship. Barbosa is solid, but doesn't have the upside of Andrea Bargnani. This trade would make the Suns deeper, giving them a starting rotation of Shaq at center, Amare Stoudemire and Grant Hill at the forward spots, with Bargnani coming off the bench, and Calderon and Jason Richardson at the guard spots. I don't understand this trade from Toronto's standpoint. They seem desperate to make up for a slow start. Yet, Calderon's been hurt and Bargnani's been playing strong of late.
- The Memphis Grizzlies would trade Mike Conley to the Milwaukee Bucks for Ramon Sessions and Joe Alexander. This deal makes not sense for Milwaukee. Ramon Sessions has shown more than Conley has, and Joe Alexander still has a lot of talent.
- The Charlotte Bobcats would end up with DeSagana Diop and Earl Watson and more; the Dallas Mavericks would end up with Raymond Felton and Nazr Mohammed; the Oklahoma City Thunder would end up with Jerry Stackhouse. It seems like the Bobcats could get more for Felton. Who knows? They might get a draft pick out of it, too. At any rate, they're trying to make room for D.J. Augustin, but this deal is on hold, as Augustin's injured. Felton would give Dallas depth on the perimeter and Mohammed would make the defensive loss of Diop not quite so bad.