I haven't blogged in a while so, in an effort to make up for lost time, this will be a double-post. Although I don't like writing about the mainstream NBA news, I feel as though it would be sacreligous to post an article and not at least allude to the playoffs. So here are my predictions for what remains of the Conference Semifinals.
At the time of me publishing this, the Pacers are leading Washington 52 to 40 at the half. I'm assuming that they'll win this game for the following reasons:
-Wall and Beal are both struggling from the field [Wall: 2-6, 4 points, Beal: 3-10, 7 points], and if their not scoring efficiently, then Washington as a whole struggles. Their leading scorer is currently Nene Hilario who has 10 points.
-Lance Stephenson is rolling [11 points on 5-7 shooting, 5 assists] and he is a top 5 heat-chek guy in the NBA. [Bill Simmons defines "heat check" as a guy who when your friend texys you "*insert player here*, heat check", you run to your TV and drop everything].
-The Wizards have yet to steal the ball or score a fasbreak point after 24 minutes of play.
That's why I think the Pacers win.
2. Thunder vs. 3. Clippers
I must tip my cap to the Clippers. It's impossible not to be impressed with what they've done. Amidst a horrific racism showing by team owner Donald Sterling, they have been playing outstanding basketball. First they were able to dispatch of the Warriors, a team that had the talent to be a 2 seed, and now they're neck-and-neck with the OKC Thunder. However, with Kevin Durant AND Russell Westbrook playing at MVP-level, it's just unfair. The Clippers have been a great stroy and they'll probably be able to take OKC to a game 7, but the Thunder are just too much.
And now for the good stuff:
On Wednesday morning, Bleacher Report reported that the Detroit Pistons will let Greg Monroe go in free agency. Now, this move didn't come as a shock to many, but it got me thinking. Joe Dumars really ran this team into the ground. This time last year, Detroit fans had just witnessed Andre Drummond's fantastic rookie season and were salivating at the idea of having a frontcourt of both Andre Drummond and über-savy, talented, fundamental big man Greg Monroe. There was some concern, both of these big men were natural centers, but they complimented each other well and all doubts were reassured. Then came this offseason. First, the NBA draft. The Pistons passed on Trey Burke, the perfect, and I truly mean perfect point guard for the Pistons to grab potential 3 and D stud Kentavious Caldwell-Pope [best name ever]. By the way, Caldwell-Pope proceeded to score 5 points perr game on sub-40% shooting and less than 32% from behind-the-arc in nearly 20 minutes per-game. But the worst had yet to come. They then traded Brandon Knight [premier combo-guard 6th man potential] and a few conditional picks to land the anti-Trey Bruke, chucking extraordinaire Brandon Jennings [career 39% shooter on 15 shots per game]. But wait, that's not all, they also managed to land another world-class chucker, or as I like to call him; the forward version of Brandon Jennings, Josh Smith. While both of them had [and still have] immense potential, their lack of basketball IQ has hampered them and time is running out on them to acheive their lofty ceilings. So to recap, they made a crowded frontcourt more crwoded by adding a chucking tweener without a true position, and a point guard who would call an isolation if he was triple teamed. Oh, and they blew all of their cap room. Fantastic. Here's what they could've had:
Trey Burke, Rodney Stucky [another chucker, but probably would've been more efficient witha true, quarterbacking PG running the show], a glaring hole at SF [they probably would've had the same pick as the do now, but with a brighter future so they could draft a Nik Stauskas or someone like that], Greg Monroe, Andre Drummond, and Brandon Knight off the bench, with TONS of cap room, enough to make a big play for Luol Deng this offseason. Then they would have a dynamite bench backcourt with Knight and Stuckey.
What do the have now? Brandon Jennings, Stuckey, most likely Stauskas, Smith, and Drummond. With no cap room.
We all know how the latter worked out. They went 29-53. Smith put up the 2nd worst 3-point percentage in NBA history while jacking up 3 per game. Jennings somehow managed to shoot a career-worst percentage from the floor, and they're losing Greg Monroe for nothing.
They will probably improve next year with the arrival of Stan Van Gundy, but it's scary to think of what could've been. The Pistons could've been the Blazers of the East but instead they're still the same head-scratching team that they've always been and alwasy will be.
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