Thursday, June 28, 2012
I Don't Care That He Has Anxiety Issues
The 2012 NBA draft is here and I just wanted to post a quick hit about who I think is going to be the biggest sleeper of this draft. If you haven't heard of Royce White you can go here to see some of his game http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usQJQi3IiE0&feature=related . The critiques made in the video are all pretty spot on, but I still feel White will be a starter and All-Star in the near future. His versatility should make him a productive member of any team and one of his biggest knocks is that he has anxiety issues which after reading more about it seemed like a minor issue. Hope to see him go somewhere with a stable environment and am looking forward to watching him next season.
Monday, June 11, 2012
NBA Finals Preview
Cody and Chuck breakdown the NBA Finals match up between the Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder.
Chuck: I personally feel like its 60-40 in favor of the Thunder right now. And that's with knowledge that the Thunder handily beat who I thought was the best team in the Spurs and the Heat struggled against an aging Celtics team with LeBron playing at a peak level. I feel like the Heat just suck at playing the Celtics and so that makes them look worse than they are especially when Bosh was out. My big if is if the Heat hit 3s they will come out on top otherwise I'll give it to the Thunder in 6.
Cody: Probably in the same boat with the Thunder in 6 or 7. The only person with a good match up for the Heat is Bosh, and we still don’t know if he can go 40 minutes. Heat haven’t played anyone with near the skill level that OKC has. Also OKC won't slap at the ball and pick up ticky tack fouls like Boston did. If LeBron gets to Ibaka or Perkins they are going to put him on his ass.
Chuck: I don't know if they do it or not but it seems like the Heat should put D-Wade on Russ, leaving Chalmers on Thabo, LeBron on KD, Bosh on Serge, and I guess starter number 5 (probly either Udonis or Joel) on Perkins. Two things that worry me if I'm the Heat is the Thunder will probably put Thabo on D-Wade and Russ on Chalmers. I feel like Chalmers and D-Wade are going to have a lot of TOs and Russ is going to get a lot of mean fast break dunks. The other big question is who's going to guard Harden. I assume Battier but have no idea how the subbing will play out.
Cody: Depends on who starts. If Bosh starts I see the following
Chalmers – Westbrook
Wade – Thabo
KD- LeBron
Bosh – Perkins
Haslem – Ibaka
That’s how the thunder will match up. I don’t think the Heat will start Wade on Westy either. Battier will probably start on Harden if they come off the bench at the same time. Wade might also be on him, depending on fouls and how the flow of the game is going. Heat don’t have anyone to guard Harden.
Also if the Heat start running a lot of PnR with Bosh I expect to see a lot of Collison in this series.
Chuck: The Thunder one seems easy and I believe its their depth/lack of reliance on their stars. As seen in Game 4 of the WCF with major contributions by Ibaka, Perk, and Nick. I guess the Heat's will be their superior D. I don't have access to the data I need to back this up but I believe the Heat were one of the top defensive team throughout the season. OKC had plenty of TOs in the regular season but have seemed to fix that issue, but I feel the Heat could cause at least a handful.
Cody: Its very hard to just turn on and off defense, and the Heat haven’t been pressed all playoffs by any sort of fast paced offensive team. It all depends on Bosh. Thunder are going to be running three point shooters off the arc, and contesting hard at the rim, so that will leave a lot of space for Bosh to operate in the mid range.
Chuck: That didn't really go at the question but whatevs I guess. I haven't really seen either team play more than the necessary amount of D than to win.
Cody: Yes it did, Bosh is the biggest key.
Cody: Three scenarios can happen:
1) OKC wins, everyone blames LeBron and talks about how OKC is set to take over the NBA for 6 years.
2) Heat win and LeBron plays average, everyone blames LeBron and talks about how OKC is set to take over the NBA for 6 years.
3) Heat win and LeBron plays awesome, Everyone says finally LeBron figured it out and hype a Heat-OKC rivalry comparing it to the Lakers and Celtics. I don’t see any other outcome.
Chuck: I see one more scenario with a similar outcome as Scenario 3 where LeBron plays out of his mind but OKC wins and everybody talks up the rivalry similar to a Lakers-Celtics. Any chance Heat blow up their team if they lose? I say no.
Cody: If Heat lose, they will blame LeBron, no other way around it. Everyone that talks about blowing things up are dumb. Who are you going to get rid of? And who are you going to bring in? Unless you are bringing in Dwight for a long term deal, there is no move to be made. Heat need to do more what the Spurs do and find and develop young athletic talent to play in their system, not sign old farts like Battier, and Mike, and Curry.
"Do you think the Heat stand any chance at all at winning the finals?"
Chuck: I personally feel like its 60-40 in favor of the Thunder right now. And that's with knowledge that the Thunder handily beat who I thought was the best team in the Spurs and the Heat struggled against an aging Celtics team with LeBron playing at a peak level. I feel like the Heat just suck at playing the Celtics and so that makes them look worse than they are especially when Bosh was out. My big if is if the Heat hit 3s they will come out on top otherwise I'll give it to the Thunder in 6.
Cody: Probably in the same boat with the Thunder in 6 or 7. The only person with a good match up for the Heat is Bosh, and we still don’t know if he can go 40 minutes. Heat haven’t played anyone with near the skill level that OKC has. Also OKC won't slap at the ball and pick up ticky tack fouls like Boston did. If LeBron gets to Ibaka or Perkins they are going to put him on his ass.
"What do you think the match ups will be?"
Chuck: I don't know if they do it or not but it seems like the Heat should put D-Wade on Russ, leaving Chalmers on Thabo, LeBron on KD, Bosh on Serge, and I guess starter number 5 (probly either Udonis or Joel) on Perkins. Two things that worry me if I'm the Heat is the Thunder will probably put Thabo on D-Wade and Russ on Chalmers. I feel like Chalmers and D-Wade are going to have a lot of TOs and Russ is going to get a lot of mean fast break dunks. The other big question is who's going to guard Harden. I assume Battier but have no idea how the subbing will play out.
Cody: Depends on who starts. If Bosh starts I see the following
Chalmers – Westbrook
Wade – Thabo
KD- LeBron
Bosh – Perkins
Haslem – Ibaka
That’s how the thunder will match up. I don’t think the Heat will start Wade on Westy either. Battier will probably start on Harden if they come off the bench at the same time. Wade might also be on him, depending on fouls and how the flow of the game is going. Heat don’t have anyone to guard Harden.
Also if the Heat start running a lot of PnR with Bosh I expect to see a lot of Collison in this series.
"Biggest keys to winning for each team in this match up."
Chuck: The Thunder one seems easy and I believe its their depth/lack of reliance on their stars. As seen in Game 4 of the WCF with major contributions by Ibaka, Perk, and Nick. I guess the Heat's will be their superior D. I don't have access to the data I need to back this up but I believe the Heat were one of the top defensive team throughout the season. OKC had plenty of TOs in the regular season but have seemed to fix that issue, but I feel the Heat could cause at least a handful.
Cody: Its very hard to just turn on and off defense, and the Heat haven’t been pressed all playoffs by any sort of fast paced offensive team. It all depends on Bosh. Thunder are going to be running three point shooters off the arc, and contesting hard at the rim, so that will leave a lot of space for Bosh to operate in the mid range.
Chuck: That didn't really go at the question but whatevs I guess. I haven't really seen either team play more than the necessary amount of D than to win.
Cody: Yes it did, Bosh is the biggest key.
"Anything else you want to hit on? Legacy?"
Cody: Three scenarios can happen:
1) OKC wins, everyone blames LeBron and talks about how OKC is set to take over the NBA for 6 years.
2) Heat win and LeBron plays average, everyone blames LeBron and talks about how OKC is set to take over the NBA for 6 years.
3) Heat win and LeBron plays awesome, Everyone says finally LeBron figured it out and hype a Heat-OKC rivalry comparing it to the Lakers and Celtics. I don’t see any other outcome.
Chuck: I see one more scenario with a similar outcome as Scenario 3 where LeBron plays out of his mind but OKC wins and everybody talks up the rivalry similar to a Lakers-Celtics. Any chance Heat blow up their team if they lose? I say no.
Cody: If Heat lose, they will blame LeBron, no other way around it. Everyone that talks about blowing things up are dumb. Who are you going to get rid of? And who are you going to bring in? Unless you are bringing in Dwight for a long term deal, there is no move to be made. Heat need to do more what the Spurs do and find and develop young athletic talent to play in their system, not sign old farts like Battier, and Mike, and Curry.
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