Author: John Paulsen (Page 881 of 937)

      Ten seeds set, six to go

      April 19, 2006 /

      This much we know:

      1. The top four seeds in each conference are set. It’s Detroit, Miami, New Jersey and Cleveland in the East and San Antonio, Phoenix, Denver and Dallas in the West.

      2. With their win over the Clippers last night, Memphis clinched the #5 seed and a first round date with Dallas this weekend. The loss gave the Clippers the #6 seed and a home-court first round matchup with Denver. These are the only two first round matchups that are set.

      3. With a win over Seattle, the Lakers can clinch the #7 seed in the West. A Laker loss makes Sacramento the #7 seed and forces Kobe and Co. into a first round matchup with the Spurs, while the Kings get the Suns.

      4. If Washington beats Detroit tonight, they will clinch the #5 seed in the East. A loss would send them into a tiebraker situation if either Indiana or Chicago wins.

      NBA

      Better off losing

      April 18, 2006 /

      I thought it might go like this.

      The top four seeds in the West are set. San Antonio has clinched the #1 seed and home court advantage throughout the conference playoffs. Phoenix is the #2 seed, winning the Pacific Division for the second consecutive year. Denver is tops in the Northwest and has clinched the #3 seed. That leaves the Mavericks, the second best team in the conference and the third best in the league, as the #4 seed.

      Unfortunately, the division winners are given the top three seeds in each conference, with the next best team getting that #4 slot. In this case, the Mavs have six more wins than Phoenix and 16 more than Denver, but are seeded below them. This means that the Mavs will likely face San Antonio in the second round of the playoffs if they beat the #5 seed in the first round.

      So who will they play? Well, that’s another problem. Right now, the Grizzlies are the #5 seed with a 47-33 record. The Clippers are one game behind them at 46-34, holding down the coveted sixth seed. Oh yeah, the Clippers and Grizzlies play tonight. If the Clippers lose, they’ll wrap up the sixth seed, but if they win, it will come down to the season finale for each team on Wednesday.

      Because of this quirky seeding system, the Clippers and Grizzlies are playing in a game tonight that both teams would be better off losing. The #6 seed gets the Nuggets while the #5 seed has to play Dallas. If both seeds manage to win, the #6 seed will get the Suns or Lakers in the second round, while the #5 seed will likely play San Antonio.

      As the LA Times put it, this is a no-win situation. I’ve said it before, but anytime you put a team in a position where losing on purpose helps them, you’ve got a problem. The NBA should guarantee division winners a seed in the top four and home court in the first round. That would give Dallas the #2 seed and we wouldn’t have games like the Clippers/Grizzlies matchup tonight. I’m going to tune in just to see what happens. Players never want to lose, but will they put forth maximum effort knowing that a playoff route through Dallas and San Antonio awaits the victor?

      I doubt it. You better get on this one, David Stern.

      NBA

      Smoke and mirrors

      April 18, 2006 /

      Trust no one.

      Fox Mulder would feel right at home as a GM in the NFL in the days leading up to the draft. Teams are pumping up players they don’t want and trying to drag down players they do. Take the Saints, who are bringing Matt Leinart in for a workout this week. Given the status of Drew Brees’ shoulder, it makes sense that they might use their #2 pick on Leinart as a backup plan. But Todd McShay has another theory [Insider subscription required]:

      The Saints have been shopping their first-round pick since signing Brees, but they have not received the type of interest they had hoped for. With just two weeks left before the draft, they could be trying to drum up trade interest by courting Leinart. That would make Leinart’s workout for the Saints this week nothing more than a gigantic smokescreen to scare the Titans and Jets into trading up to get him.

      The word out of Tennessee is that GM Floyd Reese’s opinion of Leinart differs with that of head coach Jeff Fisher and offensive coordinator Norm Chow. Reese appears to like Vince Young, while Fisher and Chow want Leinart. But is that all just a smokescreen as well? According to McShay, maybe:

      Knowing all along that conventional wisdom would favor the Titans drafting Leinart because of his ties with Chow — USC’s offensive coordinator from 2001-04 — Reese could have expressed a preference for Young in order to throw off the Jets and keep them from cutting a deal with New Orleans to move up.

      All of this posturing and out and out lying is what makes the draft so unpredictable. The Saints want to trade out of the #2 pick, but they still want OT D’Brickashaw Ferguson or DE Mario Williams, and they think they can get one of those players with the #3 or #4 pick. Whatever offers they’ve received thus aren’t up to snuff, so they bring in Leinart to get the Titans and Jets worried. The Titans, who probably want Leinart, know that the Saints probably aren’t going to take him and they want the Jets to believe that they might take Young instead, thinking that the Jets would be less likely to trade up if they thought Leinart would be there at #4.

      Got that?

      NFL, NFL Draft

      Source: Morrison to go pro

      April 18, 2006 /

      A source close to Adam Morrison says he’s going pro and that he will announce his intentions on Wednesday. These “source” reports are only accurate about 80% of the time, so it’s not a done deal until Morrison announces.

      ESPN has Morrison going #5 in their mock draft, but it’s hard to say where players will go without assigning draft picks to particular teams. They still have Joakim Noah and Al Horford in their mock, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense considering the duo announced that they are staying another year. The mock at NBADraft.net has Morrison going third to the Bobcats.

      It should be an interesting draft. Right now, there isn’t a consensus #1 pick, so many of the teams will be focusing on the player that best fits their needs. Once the lottery picks are set, we should have a better idea where players will be drafted.

      NBA

      Most Improved – three players to consider

      April 17, 2006 /

      Mike James – After Toronto traded Rafer Alston to Houston for James, the point guard responded with 20.4 ppg and 5.9 apg on .470 shooting from the field. Sure, the Raptors stunk, but James proved he could increase his productivity.

      David West – Take away Jamaal Magloire and add Chris Paul and what do you get? Well, the Hornets got 17.1 ppg and 7.4 rpg from their 2003 first round pick, up from 6.2/4.3 the year before. With Paul and West, the team has a good young core to build around.

      Boris Diaw – People will want to give Steve Nash credit, but Diaw has been terrific for the Suns, averaging 13.4 ppg, 6.9 rpg and 6.2 apg on .525 shooting from the field. Throw in the fact that he’s got four triple-doubles this season – two in the last two games – and it’s clear that the Suns got the better end of the trade they made with Atlanta in the offseason. They stole Diaw and two first round picks from the Hawks, who got Joe Johnson in return.

      So there you have it, one player from a bad team, one from a mediocre team and one from a division champ. All due respect to James and West (along with Mehmet Okur and Chris Kaman, who also deserve consideration), I’ve got to go with Diaw, who played four positions for Phoenix and helped the franchise overcome the loss of Amare Stoudemire for the season. Not bad for a guy named Boris.

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA

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