Phil Partington's Blog
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.