Mens Basketball Wire

Don’t look now, but the youngest team in the NBA is also the hottest. The Portland Trailblazers are owners of the longest win streak in the league this season at 11 games, after offing the slumping Supersonics on Christmas day. The Blazers have been at the center of streaks of good and bad luck this season, after surprisingly winning the first pick in the draft in the lottery, grabbing Greg Oden with it, then seeing him have to sit out the season with knee problems. Had they lost another 50 games this year, like they did last year, most people would have understood. However, the youngsters have overcome adversity and are currently just a half game out of first place in their division, where they trail the Nuggets.

Currently, the team is in seventh place in the west, but are only four games behind the struggling Spurs, who lead. While the team isn’t centered around any one superstar, guard Brandon Roy is leading the team with 19 points per game, while big man, LaMarcus Aldridge is good for almost 18 and 7.6 rebounds. The team is probably the deepest in the league, with 9 players averaging double digit minutes per game. Everyone plays substantial minutes on the team, including rookies, Taurean Green (6 minutes) and Josh McRoberts, (2 minutes). Even journeyman Raef Lafrenz averages over 8 minutes per game, and averages over 2 points and almost 2 rebounds, and is shooting almost 50% from the field.

Whether the team can keep up the pace remains unknown, but the youngsters can play, and are in a good position to make the playoffs this year. And they are doing it without their star center. The weather in the Pacific Northwest may not be sunny, but the future of the team certainly is.

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The Bulls pulled the trigger on Scott Skiles the day before Christmas, giving the coach a pink slip for the holidays. Chicago is in last place in their division with a 9-16 record. It’s not the first time that the team has started off slow. The past two years have seen the team get off to horrendous records, only to catch fire as the season wore on. If they are to do that this year, it will be with a new coach.

Skiles molded the team into a grind-it-out, blue-collar team with no superstars, but who won with solid defense, ball control, and opportune scoring. The team is certainly better off today than it was when he took over in 2003. He and GM, John Paxon, brought in loads of young talent, cut the dead wood, and made the playoffs the next year, winning 47 games. Unfortunately, that seemed to be just about the ceiling on how far the team could go. The next year was another rebuilding one, followed by last year’s 49 wins, and then the current debacle.

Whoever takes over next will inherit a team with lots of young talent, and if needed, a trade could be worked out rather quickly with a number of teams for a disgruntled superstar, if that’s the decision.

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Although the Bucks are still muddling along with an 11-15 record, which is good for 4th place in their division, the future keeps looking brighter as far as Yi Jianlian, the team’s first round pick, is concerned. The 7 foot Chinese sensation, seems to have gotten the feel of the NBA game down recently, and has been on a scoring orgy over the past few games. Although he has been logging in quality minutes the whole season, Yi has seen his playing time increase recently, playing in over 40 minutes in the last two games. His play has certainly demanded the additional PT.

Over the last several games, Yi has scored 18, 10, 22, 13, and 8 before exploding for 29 points and 10 rebounds against Charlotte. His all around game has improved also as his fouls have dropped. Yi didn’t have more than three fouls in a game for the month of December, and his defense has gotten much better. The big Asian has 27 blocks on the year, so far, although turnovers still remain a problem. His play has certainly been noticed by the American media, as Sports Illustrated has him ranked as the number one rookie after the last week.

The Bucks have been slowed by injuries–Desmond Mason is one of three Bucks out for several weeks–but if Yi continues this level of play and the team gets healthy, they could still make a charge for a post season slot.

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In one night two teams did what few other’s had been able to, as the two teams with the best records in the NBA both lost in the last seconds. The Celtics were defeated by their Eastern Conference rivals, the Detroit Pistons, as Chauncy Billups hit two free throws with less than a second left, to down the Celtics, 87-85. The loss was the first home loss for the surging Celts, who still easily possess the best record in the league at 20-3. The team with the closest record, the San Antonio Spurs, at 18-7, also lost Wednesday night, as Memphis’ Rudy Gay drilled a three as the buzzer sounded. The Spurs, who have been the walking wounded for the past few weeks, with Duncan and Parker both missing several games, have slipped recently due to the losses.

Both teams are among the favorites to win the Championship this year, but San Antonio’s recent rough patch has been cause for alarm. The defending champs are an underwhelming 2-4 in the last 6 games, and have lost their last three on the road.

The Celtics, on the other hand, are still on fire, and losing to the Pistons is no shame, although there should also be some concern after this game. Boston only got 5 points from its bench in the game. In the playoffs, that won’t cut it.

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Most of the talk about the Celtics revolves around their trio of veteran All-Stars, but the little engine that is making the green machine go this year, was the biggest question mark before the season got started.  Rajon Rondo, the second year point guard out of Kentucky, saw plenty of playing time as a rookie last year and performed well, albeit on a terrible team where his mistakes could blend in with the mistakes being made by the rest of the young players on that team.  Having traded youth for experience in the offseason by bringing in Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, the learning curve this year has been much steeper.

Rondo seems to be dealing with the task of distributing the ball evenly to three of the game’s better scorers well, according to this article by Ian Thompson on SI.com.

Comparing his statistics from last year to this year, the difference is obvious.  Last year, Rondo played about 23 minutes per game and averaged 6.4 points, 3.8 assists, and had a FG% of 41%.  This year, he’s averaging 32 minutes per game, and has increased his scoring to 8.8, 5.2 APG, and is shooting just under 55%.  One important stat is that, even though he is playing almost 10 minutes per game, Rondo’s turnovers per game are exactly the same, 1.8.  Another big difference is that Rondo has not attempted a three-pointer this year, which has raised his percentage.

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Much of the talk in the league has been about the new-look Celtics and their dominance in the early part of the season, but another East Coast team sporting some additions, is off to a torrid start also. The Orlando Magic currently have a shocking 6 game lead in their division, and are only a half of a game shy of having the best record in the league with 16 wins and 4 losses. The defending champs, San Antonio, have a record of 16-3. Last year, the team got off to a fast start also, running off a 14-5 record before crashing and burning as the season progressed, and ending up with a 40-42 record.

What’s even more impressive about this start is that, according to an article by Jack McCallum in Sports Illustrated, out of 51 days of the season so far, 32 of them have been spent on the road…including a trip to China to top off the preseason. Even more so, the team is still finding itself with a new coach, a new superstar, and a young team. The team is balanced, and has lots of nice parts. Dwight Howard is a force in the middle, averaging over 23 ppg and 15 rebounds. The newest addition, Rashard Lewis is giving them 19 and 5. PG Jameer Nelson has finally come into his own in the league and is adding 12.5 ppg and dishing off over 6 times.

The youth movement in Florida is underway, but the team does lack playoff experience, and veteran leadership. Lewis is a 9 year vet, but having been exiled in the basketball hinterlands of the Pacific Northwest for his career hasn’t lent to much big game experience. For now, though, the team’s desire to just make the playoffs seems like a good start, and an achievable goal. If the Magic keep up this level of play for the season, just making the playoffs might be too little to shoot for.

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The city of San Antonio can sleep a little easier now.  During Sunday’s game against the Trailblazers, All-Everything center, Tim Duncan took a nasty spill and had to be assisted off by teammates.  The team, and fans of the black and silver everywhere, surely spent a nervous Sunday and Monday waiting to hear back the results from the MRI.  On Monday, the fears were resolved, as it was determined to only be a sprain, and the big man is only likely to miss a few games.

Had the injury been serious, the team’s chances for a repeat would certainly have been shot.  As things currently stand, the Spurs are off to the best start in team history, and sport the best record in the West at 15-3, as well as a 3 game lead in the division over the Hornets and Mavericks.  It will be interesting to see who picks up the scoring slack in Duncan’s absence, but Tony Parker has turned up his offensive game a notch this year, and Ginobili is still as deadly as ever from the bench.  Parker is averaging 2 points a game more than last year (20.7 this year) while also delivering almost 2 more assists per game.  Ginobili also has stepped up his game, and is averaging almost 3 points a game more than last year.

Although the Spurs are the consummate playoff team, built on defense, leadership, poise, and mental toughness, critics point to their age as one of the weaknesses of the team.  With Duncan sidelined for any amount of time, this is a great chance for the youngsters and backups to prove that there is a youth movement in San Antonio also.

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The Celtics are hot.  Although their last two wins have come against some fairly terrible competition, they have put together some impressive games of late.  Last Thursday, the boys from Boston took the Knicks–who are making a name for themselves as the biggest jokes in professional sports–behind the woodshed for a 104-59 smackdown.  The Celtics reserves got some serious minutes in the game, as nearly the whole team logged heavy PT, and everyone except James Posey scored.  Rookie Glen “Big Baby” Davis scored 13 points and 6 rebounds in 31 minutes, while Ray Allen and Paul Pierce scored 21 each.  The only Knick to score in double digits was Nate Robinson, whose 3-pointer as time expired gave him 11 points in the game, and kept it from being the lowest scoring total for the team since the shot clock was invented.

On Sunday, the team topped off it’s week by dispatching the Cavs 80-70, to run the Celtics record to 14-2–best in the league.  The victory was revenge for the Celtics who, while playing listlessly and rather poorly, made up for a loss to the Cavs earlier in the week.  This time, Cleveland was without its star, LeBron James, and certainly missed him.  Davis had another good game for Boston, giving them a spark and some needed energy, on his way to scoring 9 points and 7 rebounds in 21 minutes.  Ray Allen led the team with 20 points.

The Celtics are on fire at the moment, and are sporting the best record in the league, but several players mentioned that they were exhausted after the game against the Cavs.  Although Boston may be the best team in the league, they are certainly not the youngest.  Whether they can keep up the intensity and their health will have to be determined in the coming months.

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With the season about a month old, let’s take a look back over the beginning of the season and see what the big surprises are.  Before the season started we made our picks here, so let’s see how those are working out as well.

Our Picks:

Spurs to win the West:  The Spurs are currently in first place in their division with a half game lead on the Mavs.  The team has looked great for the most part, but Duncan has had some terrible games so far, and in the losses the team has looked old and tired.  Of course, the team is the ultimate playoff team, so this early in the season some bad losses are to be expected.

Celtics to win the East:  Looking like title contenders, the new-look Celts are tearing through the league with their big three dominating.  The team is playing with passion and desire, and currently has a four game lead in the division with a 9-1 record.  Rando, a question mark at PG before the season, is playing well enough, averaging almost 10 points per game, and just under 5 assists.  The bench still needs some work, but it’s hard to argue with the record so far.

Our surprise team, the Bucks, are sitting on a 6-4 record and are just 1/2 a game behind the Pistons.  The team is getting excellent guard play from Redd and Williams, and newcomer Yi Jianlian is averaging 9 points and 6 rebounds per game.  Defense is still an issue, but in the most recent game, Redd held Kobe Bryant to 18 points.  Interior defense is the real problem, and C Andrew Bogut leads the league with over 4 fouls per game.

Surprises:

Last years surprise team, the Golden State Warriors had a great run in the playoffs but haven’t been able to keep the streak going.  This season, the team is 3-7.  The good news is that PG Baron Davis sounds more like he will choose to stay with the club, rather than opt out of his contract as he hinted in the preseason.

The Bulls were lots of people’s pick to represent the Eastern Conference in the finals, but the team is looking like a shadow of last year’s version.  Currently muddling along with a 2-8 record, the team is playing lousy defense, Luol Deng has been injured, and coach Skiles recently ripped 2nd year man, Tyrus Thomas for not hustling, then recanted the next day.  This is a young, talented team that is suffering through a confidence crisis.

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In what has become (for non-Knicks fans) the biggest laughingstock of probably any sports league, the New York Knicks star point guard, Stephon Marbury has now left the team after being demoted from his starting spot in the line-up.  Marbury was benched by coach, Isiah Thomas after repeatedly failing to change his game to fit Thomas’ offensive philosophy.  Thomas has wanted Marbury to become more of a distributor of the ball, rather than looking for his shot first.  It’s not the first problem that the two have had.  At the beginning of last season, Marbury saw his playing time diminished in many early games after failing get on the same page as his coach.

This latest episode comes just weeks after a sexual harassment ruling came down against the team in a trial in which Marbury testified to having sex with an intern, and then leaving the courthouse singing and bouncing.

So far in the latest tirade, Marbury has missed a practice and a game against the Phoenix Suns, in which the Knicks lost 113-102.  The Knicks have become the biggest joke in pro sports, and one would assume that Thomas is dead man walking, but given how ownership has supported him through mistake after mistake, and seems to relish in the destruction that he causes the team, Isiah may end up with a contract extension, or promotion.

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