Summer in December: Flips and Flops

   
     Well, we are a quarter of the way through the NBA season, and there have been some eye opening wins for teams and players, as well as some crushing defeats.  The Flips are those who have surprised the NBA thus far, and the Flops are, obviously, the biggest disappointments.
   

 Flips:  

     The Portland Trail Blazers: After many people (including me) doubted the strategy of the Trail Blazers in raffling off most of their players except Aldridge, they have made a name for themselves as a mid class team with an 11-12 record.  Damian Lillard, my pick for ROY since day one, is playing out of his mind with the maturity of a senior player.  Blazers be blazin.
             
     The Orlando Magic: Another ringer! Most people slammed the Magic for their lack of depth, but damn! This team, with absolutely no star power, has managed to put up an 11-13 record with their sturdy defense and complete unselfishness.  And I don't think i could put it any better than BoB, these guys definitely have the magic in them.
             
     The Black Mamba: Eh, I'll admit it, he's playing pretty well right now.  I still say that his percentages and points per game all drop off soon.  Kobe cannot continue to carry teams with his run and gun play, even if he is wrecking it out on the court now.

     The New York Knicks: Nobody doubted the validity of the Knicks at the beginning of the season, but NOBODY thought they'd be at the top of the East right now.  I'm still convinced that the Heat are a better all around team, but the Knicks are for real with Melo playing like a different player.

     The Atlanta Hawks: The screech that the other teams in the East are hearing from above is most definitely the Hawks.  Thought to be a faltering team, Atlanta has turned out to be a dark horse team that has been anchored by two big men, Horford and Smith, who are playing at All Star level.  The addition of the dangerous Lou Williams and some defensive players has solidified them in the East.
             

     Flops:  

     Blake Griffin: Ol' Blake is having the worst year of his career so far, probably because teams have realized that his game is very one dimensional.  He can dunk.  Despite his superhuman athleticism, Blake Griffin has not expanded his game beyond that.  His post game is weak and on the defensive end it is almost laughable sometimes.

     The Washington Wizards: Nuff said.

     The Los Angeles Lakers: I said at the beginning of the season that the Lakers would have some problems.  And that happened.  The same thing happened with Miami last year when The Big Three started learning to work together.  But this seems to be a bit worse.  The Lakers refuse to play defense, and as much as people are saying it will be fine when Steve Nash comes back, he has never been an asset on defense.
   

   
 The Denver Nuggets: The Nuggets have been one of my must see teams for years now and they have always played some amazingly entertaining ball, but this year, they still haven't clicked.  Andre Iguodala has not figured out his place in this system yet, but that is not helped by the fact that Danilo Gallinari and Ty Lawson are having one of the worst seasons in their careers.

   

   
  
   

Dunkadelic Vol.2, Dec. 4

Holy mother of hell did Mullens throw it down last night!

If you didn't see the highlight, here it is!

LaMarcus Aldridge, on one of the rarest occasions, was posterized by Charlotte Bobcat Center, Byron Mullens. BJ attempted a 3-pointer, missed, got his own rebound and dunked from the foul line. It was HUGE. The crowd (what crowd was there) roared.

Dunk of the year?

LaMarcus wasn't all that impressed, saying after the game:

"He dunked on me, but I think I had 25, 13, five and three. So you want to dunk on somebody or do you want that? I’m not going to worry about it. I’ve been in the league long enough to not be bothered by that."
The 25, 13, 5, 3 was referring to his stat line: points, rebounds, assists, blocks. 

Someone's salty.

Damian's Inferno: The New Heat behind the Trail Blazers

     The Trail Blazers, a fixture as an elite team in the West for the past few seasons, seem to have finally begun to wane in the power rankings.  The years of trying to find a suitable big man partner for the newly crowned All Star LaMarcus Aldridge have worn them thin, and so it seems the Blazers have given in and started up into the rebuild process.  This rebuild responsibility has been put squarely on the shoulders of the number six pick in the draft, rookie guard Damian Lillard.

                                                      Can Lillard bring back hope to Portland?


     After dominant play during the NBA Summer League, Damian Lillard looks more than capable to play at an NBA level.  Lillard averaged 26.5 points, 5.3 assists, and 4 rebounds per game in a week of summer league play earlier this year and has shown he has the confidence to be leader for the future.  Like most incoming guards, Lillard plays with a highly athletic drive and focuses on getting to the rim with superior ball handling skills and has a nasty penchant for putting the ball in the basket through a crowd.  Although he has solid shooting talents, his real prowess right now seems to be the ability to finish around the rim.  This style of play could possibly open up a lot of possibilities for the Blazers, who have relied on the streaky Felton for initiating a lot of their offense in the past.

     Even though the acquisition of Lillard has been a bright spot for the team, the Blazers made just this one step forward and four steps back.  In the off-season, they let Jamal Crawford, Hasheem Thabeet, and Joel Przybilla walk. Most people would probably focus on the fact that they let Crawford go, a perennial swingman shooter with the ability to make or break a game.  To me, however, it seems more important that they let the other two centers go.  Todays game is dominated by only a handful of real, true big men centers.  To have the size of these two players, despite their low impact on the stat sheet, is an immense bonus going into games.  With Aldridge struggling to carry the weight of both the power forward and center positions, having two seven footers on the bench helped quite a bit to ease his strain.  And, as Eric Carmen would say,  those days are gone.  Meyers Leonard, another rookie, has been brought in the fill that void.  Leonard is athletic and big but he has a lot to learn about playing the center spot with players stronger than him.  He has a lot of potential, but he needs to learn quick to give the Blazers a chance.

                                                             Leonard. A future elite center?

 
      More losses include Jonny Flynn, a solid backup at the point guard spot, and the love of Nicolas Batum, a casualty of the back and forth tug of war between the Blazers and Timberwolves.  Despite winning the bidding battle for the defense heavy forward Batum, he was quoted multiple times saying that he did not want to play in Portland anymore.  The signing of an elite defensive player like Batum is a smart move for any team, unless that player is going to play half-heartedly  because he is unhappy.  Another huge loss that many overlook, is the fact that their star player, Aldridge, is entering his prime and playing at a level at his position second only to Kevin Love, while the rest of his team is in a rebuild process.  That is not a team that is going to make Aldridge happy.  As hard as he might play for the next few seasons, The Blazers will not be among the NBA elite, and in the future when Leonard and Lillard are coming into stride, Aldridge will have exited his prime.

     All in all, the Blazers have a true steal in Damian Lillard.  He is athletic, strong, and a good passer at his level.  But to have a winning team and become an NBA power again, they will need a few more key pieces or decide whether to truly rebuild by cutting ties with Aldridge.