Bare with me here (pun intended).
Lesson 1: "Let's Get Weird"
-It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that the first three weeks of this NBA season have been as odd as they come. First things first, the Lakers have a worse record than the Bobcats, the Hornets, the Warriors, and a number of other less-talented teams, and they selected Mike D'Antoni over ex-Lakers Head Coach, Phil Jackson, to be the chosen figure that will solve their multitude of problems and lead them to the promised land.
For a team that's "championship or bust" most analysts assumed that Phil was the easy and obvious choice between the two coaching candidates. However, Jerry Buss and the Lakers' management went with D'Antoni instead who is arguably the most gifted NBA offensive mind over the past decade. The downside is that he's not known for his defense (he's an average defensive strategist at best), and he's never been to an NBA Championship as a Head Coach whereas Phil owns 11 championship rings.
If I wanted a championship this year, I probably would've gone another direction, aka the " Phil Zen Way." However, it seems like the Lakers are hellbent on out-scoring their opponents rather than locking down defensively; a strategy that rarely pans out favorably.
Also, when was the last time that the Knicks were the best team in the league? 1999? Maybe 1973? (the Dave Debusschere, Earl Monroe, Willis Reed, and yes, Phil Jackson playing days). Regardless, at this exact moment Melo's squad is balling out of control (Jim Jones' Dipset style) and tearing apart the competition one team at a time.
What's more is that Amare' Stoudemire's absence from the active lineup is arguably the prime reason for their recent success. That's right, the Knicks play better without one of the game's most dynamic forwards of the past ten years. Also, for a team that's older than a good 99% of the league (avg. age is 31), they are out-running and out-gunning teams to the tune of 103+ ppg. Plus, JR Smith is having the best season of his career thus far, with insane off-the-bench averages of 18 points and 5 boards a night on 72% shooting from downtown! However, the most impressive statline for the Knicks right now is their stifling defensive numbers. Their defense is allowing the league's least amount of points per game (87.8ppg), and they are leading the league in defense per 100 possessions (only giving up 96 points). Also, they are forcing opponents into a very pedestrian FG% (42%). If they keep this up, they might as well just bench Amare' for the remainder of the season because you shouldn't try and fix something that's not broken.
Frankly, the Knicks and the Heat may be the only NBA Championship contenders from the Eastern Conference.
Also, how long has it been since the 6th man of the year was up for NBA MVP bragging rights? Since the creation of the 6th man of the year award in 1982, no reigning 6th man of the year has ever been considered a top MVP candidate the following season, but James Harden deserves to be in this year's MVP conversation.
You have to give credit where credit is due folks.
In all my years of basketball research and analysis, I've never seen a player as instantly explosive as Harden. He's ready to score the second the game starts, and his ability to fight through double teams and make intelligent basketball decisions in only his first season as an NBA starter is uncanny. The only other "James" that might be more explosive than Harden is King Lebron (who's currently ranked #1 in ESPN's MVP rankings). In his first season as a starter, Harden's averaging 26 points, almost 5 boards, and close to 5 assists per game, and he's turned his Rockets into a legitimately competitive team that recently gave Lebron and the Heat fits in Houston a few nights ago (it took a 38 point effort from LBJ to get MIA a "W"). I don't know what's more strange: the fact that he's averaging the 3rd most points per contest in the league as a first-time starter on a new team, the fact that he stole the spotlight from Jeremy Lin, or the fact that he's a credible MVP candidate the year after he won the 6th man award.
Right now, the Thunder might wish that they hadn't wasted their max contract on Westbrook last January because Harden is worth franchising and he's worth every penny of his 5 year, $80 million max deal in Houston.
He's just scary good.
Tune in this weekend for some more NBA lessons from the "Workaholics."
Thanks for stopping by,
The Mattman
No comments:
Post a Comment