He doesn’t get the press that Griffin gets (for obvious reasons), but DeAndre Jordan is quietly having a solid third season. Here are three dunks he had against the Bucks on Monday night.
Jordan is averaging 7.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in 25 minutes of playing time, and the 6-11 center is only 22 years old.
Hornets fans are going to cringe when they read the title of this post. I get it — the Hornets are a solid 31-18 and the Chris Paul trade talk has died down considerably since last summer.
But these facts remain: 1) New Orleans is not a legit contender, 2) the team’s second-best player (David West) is getting older (30) and approaching free agency, and 3) Paul can become a free agent in the summer of 2012.
After some trade rumors were floating around last summer, Paul met with the New Orleans newly-hired braintrust and has since kept his mouth shut, playing the role of good soldier. He’s having a good season (16.7 points, 9.7 assists, 2.6 steals) and the Hornets are having a nice year. But virtually no one believes that they’ll be representing the West in the Finals this summer. One online casino’s long-term market shows the Hornets as a 19-1 longshot to make the Finals. That’s pretty telling considering how inconsistent the Lakers have been this season.
So what does this have to do with Blake Griffin? Well, I went to see my beloved Bucks take on the Clippers last night at the Staples Center and got to see Griffin in person. He went for 32-11-6, and generally killed Milwaukee with a plethora of post moves, drives and long jumpers. The Bucks are a good defensive team, but they had no answer for Griffin who flat-out dominated the game offensively for the Clippers.
Griffin is a special talent. He can jump out of the gym, but he has the ability to channel his athleticism into effective basketball talent which is not always easy for someone so athletic. The 31-year-old Baron Davis is serviceable at point guard, but if the Clippers could somehow acquire Paul (25), and surround the dynamic duo with a couple of shooters and a defensive center, Griffin and Paul could lead the Clippers to the Promised Land.
How do the Clippers acquire Paul? I doubt the Hornets are going to listen to trade offers right now, but if I’m Clipper GM Neil Olshey, I’d call up Dell Demps and make a standing offer of Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman and the Minnesota Timberwolves unprotected 2012 first rounder. The deal would net the Hornets a future All-Star in Gordon, as well as cap relief and solid post play in the form of Kaman. With the direction the T-Wolves are headed, that 2012 draft pick will probably be in the Top 5. Gordon would be a steep price to pay, but if you want a Top 2 point guard in a point guard-dominated league, you’re going to have to give something up.
Paul and Griffin would be devastating in the pick-and-roll and Griffin’s ability to post up would take the pressure off of Paul and allow him to take over in the clutch if the situation warranted it. Paul would also love playing with D’Andre Jordan, who has already shown a Tyson Chandler-like ability to finish alley-oops with outstanding power.
Worried about L.A. being a Laker town? Kobe is starting to show his age and if Paul and Griffin are headlining the Clippers, it won’t take long for a good portion of the Laker “faithful” to switch sides and start rooting for the city’s other team.
I’m not suggesting this is likely to happen, or even remotely possible. I’m just saying that it should happen. Even if Donald Sterling is the worst owner in the league.
Oh, and if CP3 isn’t available, Deron Williams would work too.
Towards the end of the season, the NFL MVP race was seemingly down to two players: Tom Brady and Michael Vick. The Associated Press votes after the regular season and before the playoffs, so postseason play is not taken into account when determining the winner of this award.
But what really matters at the end of the day? Would you rather have your team go 14-2 and earn a #1-seed only lose at home in the Divisional round of the playoffs or make the playoffs as a spunky #6-seed and win three games on the road to earn a berth in the Super Bowl?
When the 2010 season is discussed, will this be the year of Tom Brady or Michael Vick? Or will it be the year of Aaron Rodgers?
Let’s take a look at each player’s year from a statistical point of view:
Clearly, Rodgers’ numbers are comparable with those of the other two quarterbacks in the MVP discussion. He didn’t have as many passing TDs as Brady, but counting his rushing scores he only accounted for five fewer TDs than Brady, and let’s remember he missed a game and a half due to a concussion that he suffered against the Lions. He also accounted for more total yards (by a wide margin) than either player.
More importantly, he helped guide the injury-depleted Packers to the playoffs despite losing both Jermichael Finley and Ryan Grant. And most importantly, he has averaged 263 yards and 2.0 TDs in three playoff road wins, resulting in a 109.2 QB rating in the postseason.
I’d be shocked if Tom Brady doesn’t win this award since it’s currently a regular season award. But it will have the same feel as Dirk Nowitzki’s 2007 MVP ceremony which came on the heels of his Mavericks being upset in the first round of the playoffs by Baron Davis and the Golden State Warriors.
Since the postseason is what matters the most, shouldn’t it be taken into account when deciding a season-defining award like the AP MVP? Sure, if the Packers go on to win the Super Bowl on Sunday, he’ll almost certainly win Super Bowl MVP, even if he has a mediocre game. But if voters knew that he could win the season-long MVP, they might be more inclined to give the Super Bowl MVP to a receiver or a defensive player who had a huge impact on the game, especially if Rodgers doesn’t have a terrific day.
This is not so much an indictment of Brady or Vick as it is an examination of how and when the MVP award is decided. If the Packers go on to win the Super Bowl, this will be the year of Aaron Rodgers. And if Rodgers plays well in a Packer loss, one could still argue that he was “The Man” this season. Shouldn’t our awards reflect that?
I took some grief for having the Cavs ranked dead last in our NBA preview, but after a decent 7-9 start, the Cleveland has lost 30 of its last 31 games and has the worst record in the league.
In the video clip below, Yahoo! Sports Marc Spears and Greg Anthony talk about how the Cavs rebuild. At one point, Spears wonders if the Cavs would win the D-League championship:
Some might write of Spears’ comments as a joke, but he said he wasn’t “clowning,” and that the roster is that bad.
Of course the Cavs would win the D-League championship, and it’s an insult to imply that they wouldn’t. Antawn Jamison is a two-time All-Star and Mo Williams made the All-Star game in 2009. J.J. Hickson and Anderson Varejao are two pretty good bigs.
Perhaps Spears was talking about the team as it stands, with Williams and Varejao both sidelined with injuries. This roster would still win the D-League, but on any given night, they could have a tough time with a D-League team. Right now, the Cavs are starting Ramon Sessions, Manny Harris, Christian Eyenga, Jamison and Hickson, with Anthony Parker, Daniel Gibson and Samardo Samuels getting most of the minutes off the bench. This roster would have a few tough nights in a 50-game D-League schedule.
In terms of rebuilding, the Cavs are going to have a tough time attracting a big name free agent after Dan Gilbert’s scathing letter about LeBron after “The Decision.” The letter may have won the hearts of Cavs fans everywhere, but it’s not going to appeal to a free agent looking for a new home. They need to blow up the roster, and that means trading away their three best assets — Jamison, Williams and Varejao — for prospects and/or draft picks. For the Cavs to become a playoff team again, they need to draft really, really well, and strike gold when they have the opportunity to overpay a free agent. That means giving a max deal to a guy who isn’t deserving, but eventually that player grows into his contract. It’s an unlikely scenario, but it’s one that the Cavs have to be counting on if they are hoping to make the postseason anytime soon.
ESPN’s Chad Ford lists the 10 impact players most likely to be moved before the Feb. 24 NBA trade deadline and believe it or not, #10 on his list is Steve Nash.
The Suns have said all along that Nash is still the core of the franchise, but at 22-24, the Suns are a long way from contending for a championship. Heck, they may not even make the playoffs this season. The soon-to-be 37-year-old is still playing at a high level, so he could help a team in need of a good point guard.
So here are a few reasonable offers that might get the Suns to bite.
1. Los Angeles Lakers
The chances that the Suns would trade Nash to the Lakers are pretty slim. No one in the West really wants to help Kobe try to three-peat, but the Lakers aren’t playing very well and they have a big piece that the Suns might be interested in.
There’s a saying — don’t trade big for small — but the Lakers aren’t getting great play out of their point guard position and Nash’s shooting would be a great fit next to Kobe in the Laker backcourt. However, Nash’s propensity to dribble around until he finds the open man would take the ball out of Kobe’s hands, and that may not go over very well (or fit within the Lakers’ triangle offense). The trade would leave the Lakers very thin on the front line, and with the way that the Celtics are playing, it’s doubtful that they’re going to want to part ways with Bynum. But they’re not playing very good baskeball right now and the roster could use a shakeup. Perhaps Robin Lopez could be included to maintain the Lakers’ frontcourt depth.
For the Suns, Bynum could be a franchise cornerstone if he can just stay healthy. I have my doubts about his knees, but if the Phoenix doctors take a look at him and think that the worst is behind him, he may be worth the risk.
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