Hey, I know Bismack Biyombo is really UNPOLISHED, but look at that UPSIDE!!!
Jimmer Fredette sure can STRETCH THE FLOOR!!!
Kemba Walker....WHAT A MOTOR!!!!!
These stupid phrases do mean something, but they're really not terribly useful at the end of the day.
"He's a jump-shooting wing player with limited athleticism but his length makes him a decent defender for his size. He likes to come off screens and stretch the floor with the corner three in transition. Projected mid to late second round."
See, I just described myself. I can't believe you almost drafted me!
The point is, these phrases all apply to these player, for sure, but the question is always the same:
Can they do these things that they do "well" against the best in the world? And because it takes such hard work to hone your skills to such a degree and because all of these guys are big or fast or both, the question REALLY boils down to, "Out of all these guys, who actually cares?"
Well how am I supposed to know!?! I'm not and I don't. But hell, why not guess?
Guys I think I like
(The Obvious)
Kyrie Irving
Derrick Williams
By the way, I'm in favor of drafting Kyrie Irving over Derrick Williams. If you go by their 2010-11 stats, Derrick Williams is a little better than Kyrie Irving. On the flip side, if you look at just Derrick Williams' 2010-11 stats, it looks really fishy and just reaks of a fluke year. The one thing that I feel you can sure of is that Derrick Williams is not going to be a 57% three-point shooter in any season in his NBA career and perhaps not in any month for that matter. I still like him though.
Enes Kanter
(The not obvious but still obvious)
David Lighty
How is he not getting drafted over (random foreign guy #14) in mock drafts?!? Hasn't anyone realized that having a scoring 2-guard is not that important? If he can guard opposing teams' scoring 2-guards, he can start on a title team. I know I'm 100% biased but this guy cares I'm telling you!
(The Neutral)
Kemba Walker
I don't think Kemba's going to be an All Star or anything but that's not all that matters. This guy's complete infalibility in all tournament games was just a pleasure to watch and a kind of underrated story (even though it was talked about A LOT). I think this guy cares and that got him to the list.
Scotty Hopson
I hated Tennessee under Bruce Pearl. This guy though, seemed like a pretty threatening person to guard for a guy projected to go so low. I'm going to chalk it up to the fact that his coach was annoying. Seems like a good 2nd round gamble to me.
Guys I Don't Like
Kawhi Leonard
Just not feelin' it. Shouldn't they have beaten some good teams if they had an 8th overrall pick let along, an 8th overall pick who CARED?!?! No thanks.
Kyle Singler
I've hated him since he was a freshman. He's not even a good three-point shooter. What is this guy's point? Blech!
Chandler Parsons
Look at him! Who is this guy!?!
Josh Selby
Came to Kansas, became ineligible, sucked, left. What does this guy care about?
Apologies for getting lazy during the last part but this draft does seem to suck a lot and liking anybody requires much more of an explanation than disliking somebody.
Just so we're clear, the Cavs COULD draft:
1. Kyrie Irving
4. Enes Kanter
32. Scotty Hopson
54. David Lighty
I'm just gonna come out and say it: That's what I'd do. Again, I'm sorry that I had to go through all of this draft stuff just to tell you all my ideal draft.
Don't feel pressured to have paid attention to the whole first part because really, who cares?
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Nowhere Man
After Game 6 of the NBA Finals, the Dallas Mavericks were in ecstasy. Dwyane Wade could also go home happy, taking solace in the fact that he had played his hardest, he had already won a title, and the city of Miami still loved him. Bosh too could look back on these playoffs--including the Finals--knowing that he had succeeded in some way, overcome a mental hurdle by playing very well in the biggest of games. Despite the predictions, Miami's eventual loss was not a result of Bosh--the Big Three's perceived "third wheel"--becoming overwhelmed by important moments. And Miami's role players were, for the most part, slightly better than advertised. Mario Chalmers was actually quite decent.
But there was no place to go for LeBron James.
At this point no matter what team you were rooting for in this year's NBA Finals, you're probably not rooting for or commiserating with LeBron James specifically . . . and why should you? He's a choke artist and a jerk with no charisma, right? But wait. Wait.
What about that Pistons' series in 2007? While on the Cavs, playing with worse teammates with less-developed individual skills, Lebron suddenly decided to dominate a much better defensive team than the 2011 Mavericks. Or what about how he went down the next two years? He had 45 points in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Celtics, the eventual champions. And the very next year, he had one of the best statistical individual performances of any player in any playoff series ever. He did all of that in pressure situations similar to this year’s Finals series, all while being one of the better-liked players in the league.
How can you explain his abysmal performances in the last two playoffs--both in years you could really look at his team and say, "They have a shot." I don't claim to know the answer, but I know that the answer ISN'T to slap a "choker" label on him. As convenient as it is, no one-word simplification sums up what LeBron "is" or has done.
There are two things (that I can think of at this very moment) that are different about LeBron since he's left, other than the fact that I don't root for him anymore. One I wrote about a few weeks ago. LeBron's not as fun to watch anymore and arguably not as good. I still believe it's because he's chosen to stop evolving as a player. He's no longer on a journey, it's just business. The other difference I notice is in his interviews. He's always been a little boring and buttoned up in pressers, always trying to portray a leadership role by taking every question happily because that's what a leader does. He stomachs all the stupidity from the media because he's man enough to take it.
These days, his interviews remind me of (gulp) Kobe's.
The most basic reason Kobe is unlikable is because he's not genuine. He's created a character that he thinks people want to see, and now he talks tough and he talks defensive because he can't be himself. It's the core reason Kobe freaks out in crunch time in the playoffs and why his teams go down so hard. As long as anyone has called him an "assassin," he hasn't been true to himself.
There's a difference between LeBron in Cleveland and LeBron in Miami. In Cleveland, he could be his gregarious self. The city grew as basketball fans as LeBron grew as a player. Cleveland obviously thought that they knew him, and they loved him. (Though the knowledge was false, the love was real.) Even if everyone thought he was boring in interviews or a showboat during games, he belonged somewhere. His hometown, the town in which he played, was behind him 100%.
Where does he belong now, and to whom? Miami's happy to have him but doesn't care about him as deeply as they care about Wade--or even close to as deeply as Cleveland cared about LeBron. They don't care about him enough to have his back right now at his lowest point.
A sick thing to think about is this: If he played his whole career in Cleveland and won zero titles, they would still love him more than Miami will no matter what happens. I'm convinced of this.
Point being, would his quotes about his critics having to go back to their same lives and problems make any sense for someone who is secure with his support system? It wouldn't. What about the way he played?
LeBron appears to have lost who he is. His public self, which, at this point in his life, is the biggest part of himself, has no backbone and nowhere to turn. He has nobody to remind him who he is. In interviews and now in the games he's playing a character and you can't play under pressure that way. I can't tell you for sure whether this is the reason behind his perceived breakdowns in the last two playoffs, but it's becoming fairly clear to me that the most talented player in the league suddenly finds himself without a friend in the world.
The Nowhere Man.
But there was no place to go for LeBron James.
At this point no matter what team you were rooting for in this year's NBA Finals, you're probably not rooting for or commiserating with LeBron James specifically . . . and why should you? He's a choke artist and a jerk with no charisma, right? But wait. Wait.
What about that Pistons' series in 2007? While on the Cavs, playing with worse teammates with less-developed individual skills, Lebron suddenly decided to dominate a much better defensive team than the 2011 Mavericks. Or what about how he went down the next two years? He had 45 points in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Celtics, the eventual champions. And the very next year, he had one of the best statistical individual performances of any player in any playoff series ever. He did all of that in pressure situations similar to this year’s Finals series, all while being one of the better-liked players in the league.
How can you explain his abysmal performances in the last two playoffs--both in years you could really look at his team and say, "They have a shot." I don't claim to know the answer, but I know that the answer ISN'T to slap a "choker" label on him. As convenient as it is, no one-word simplification sums up what LeBron "is" or has done.
There are two things (that I can think of at this very moment) that are different about LeBron since he's left, other than the fact that I don't root for him anymore. One I wrote about a few weeks ago. LeBron's not as fun to watch anymore and arguably not as good. I still believe it's because he's chosen to stop evolving as a player. He's no longer on a journey, it's just business. The other difference I notice is in his interviews. He's always been a little boring and buttoned up in pressers, always trying to portray a leadership role by taking every question happily because that's what a leader does. He stomachs all the stupidity from the media because he's man enough to take it.
These days, his interviews remind me of (gulp) Kobe's.
The most basic reason Kobe is unlikable is because he's not genuine. He's created a character that he thinks people want to see, and now he talks tough and he talks defensive because he can't be himself. It's the core reason Kobe freaks out in crunch time in the playoffs and why his teams go down so hard. As long as anyone has called him an "assassin," he hasn't been true to himself.
There's a difference between LeBron in Cleveland and LeBron in Miami. In Cleveland, he could be his gregarious self. The city grew as basketball fans as LeBron grew as a player. Cleveland obviously thought that they knew him, and they loved him. (Though the knowledge was false, the love was real.) Even if everyone thought he was boring in interviews or a showboat during games, he belonged somewhere. His hometown, the town in which he played, was behind him 100%.
Where does he belong now, and to whom? Miami's happy to have him but doesn't care about him as deeply as they care about Wade--or even close to as deeply as Cleveland cared about LeBron. They don't care about him enough to have his back right now at his lowest point.
A sick thing to think about is this: If he played his whole career in Cleveland and won zero titles, they would still love him more than Miami will no matter what happens. I'm convinced of this.
Point being, would his quotes about his critics having to go back to their same lives and problems make any sense for someone who is secure with his support system? It wouldn't. What about the way he played?
LeBron appears to have lost who he is. His public self, which, at this point in his life, is the biggest part of himself, has no backbone and nowhere to turn. He has nobody to remind him who he is. In interviews and now in the games he's playing a character and you can't play under pressure that way. I can't tell you for sure whether this is the reason behind his perceived breakdowns in the last two playoffs, but it's becoming fairly clear to me that the most talented player in the league suddenly finds himself without a friend in the world.
The Nowhere Man.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)