NBA Mid-Season Review

Welcome to the bye week between the NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl. Honestly, this bye week drives me nuts. I know the NFL wants the players to get healthy, but it just gets me all antsy. I think there has never been a more fitting time for an...

NBA Mid-season Review

Let’s hand out some awards, and maybe even glance ahead to the playoffs, considering I had San Antonio over Indiana, and well, the Pacers have been missing some people you might say.

On to the awards…

Favorite Breakout Player- Dan Dickau

Dickau was a sharpshooter on Gonzaga for 2 years. His 2nd year (2002), Gonzaga was ranked like 11th, and got a 6th seed. Everyone, including myself, was shocked. This was an insult. Well, Gonzaga lost in the 1st round! In 2004, Gonzaga was once again ranked high all season, snagged a 2-seed, and lost in the 2nd round. Gonzaga seems to do better when they are a lower seed for some reason.
Anyway, after bouncing around for 3 teams, averaging only 7 minutes/night and 2 ppg, Dickau is suddenly getting 30 min/night on the New Orleans Hornets, and is now averaging 13 ppg, and constantly springs for 20 points. Granted, Dickau can’t take them to the playoff-land (the Hornets are 7-34), but since Dickau got there, the Hornets are 7-30. I mean, w/o Dickau, they wouldn’t have won any games.

Most Disappointing Team – Denver Nuggets

There were a lot of candidates for this (Minnesota, Utah, among others) but the Nuggets are just horrific. Let’s recap what happened w/ their personnel: they ADDED Kenyon Martin, lost SG Voshon Lenard to an injury, and for some reason chose to let Jon Barry leave. It seems like they should be fine still, but Carmelo has shown that he can’t take the shots all night. This team is in desperate need of a shooter. You’d think there would be more people like Dickau lying around. Denver is in desperate need of being able to spread the floor, since Andre Miller & Earl Boykins, while very effective, still aren’t pure outside shooters. Also, Jon Barry may be the most underrated spark plug off the bench. On Sacramento in the late ‘90s, he was excellent in helping the Kings. Ultimately, this team should just trade one of their 5 forwards for some more shooting.

Most Surprising Team – Seattle Supersonics

Also many candidates for this (Phoenix, Washington (Golden State-East)). During my NBA preview, this is what I had to say about the Sonics: “Seattle- These guys are terrible.” Was I ever wrong. Their TEAM is shooting 38.2% from 3-point land! It’s unbelievable. This team is basically using PF Fortson as a center, and spreading the floor with 4 shooters. I’m glad to see how effective this is, and I hope more teams recognize the worth in having pure shooters, and start drafting to fill the need. Then again, Ray Allen may have just sold his soul to the devil in order to get a good contract extension.

Best Feel Good Story – Washington Wizards

I could go anywhere w/ this category. But let’s be honest here- this team is Golden State – East. They use Jamison, Hughes, Arenas who were all recently on Golden State. In my preview I said, “If they would have brought Early Boykins, I would consider the playoffs.” Well, I underestimated how weak the East is, and how much of a leap Hughes would make this year (his 7th year in the league, though he is just 26). I still don’t understand why more people don’t latch on to this story, about recreating the Warriors. You could interview people from Oakland, and see how upset they get. It’s great journalism.

Unbelievable Mid-season Trade- Carlos Arroyo

Arroyo seemed like a star-in-the-making for Utah last year. He disagrees w/ Sloan on fundamental things and he gets shipped out to the defending champion Detroit Pistons who have a lack of point guards. Talk about a great trade! Now, the Pistons don’t even have to always rely on Chauncey Billups. The Pistons are so deep, I’m frightened to even face them in the playoffs. 3 guesses as to the “fundamental differences” , 1) Arroyo is a firm believer in the zone defense and Sloan still swears it’s illegal, 2) Arroyo thinks new teammate Carlos Boozer’s chest hair smells funky, 3) Arroyo gave Sloan bad advice on his NBA fantasy team.

Outlook

If I had to make a new prediction, it would be hard to NOT predict San Antonio over Miami in the finals at this point. The Heat are just incredible, since there are only like 2 other centers in the East besides Shaq. Granted, no matter what seed the Pistons get, they could be extremely dangerous in the playoffs. Of course I love what LeBron is doing, but this is not the year for the Cavs to go all the way… yet. The Suns are amazing, beyond anything I could have expected though I dubbed them my “surprise” team. Ultimately, Nash is a liability on defense, and that team would have a hard time against any teams w/ good point guards. Well, I hope you enjoyed this change in programming. The Super Bowl is still ages away.