DeRosa shouldn’t have tossed the ball to the fan, but it’s not like he whipped it at his head or anything. He could have handled it differently, but in the scheme of things, this shouldn’t be a big deal.
Category: Fantasy Basketball (Page 116 of 274)
Via Twitter, Sam Amico of NBA.com says the Cavs are planning to let Brown and his entire staff go.
Official word of Mike Brown firing expected to be no later than Sunday, possibly as early as Friday. Entire staff expected to be let go.
This really shouldn’t shock anyone after the Cavs’ second-round exit. Brown is a very good defensive coach, but has always struggled to get the most out of his team on the offensive end of the floor. Most recently, he played with his rotations to the point where the 8, 9 and 10 guys didn’t know if they were coming or going.
The move clears the way for the Cavs to hire a new, presumably LeBron-approved, head coach sometime in the next few weeks.
By the way, Mike Brown was the 2009 Coach of the Year. Funny how things work.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
Sixers beat writer Bob Ford thinks so, assuming they don’t trade Andre Iguodala:
If you believe the mock drafts, Ohio State swingman Evan Turner is going to fall to the Sixers after the Wizards take Kentucky’s John Wall. That’s fine, except the Sixers already have Evan Turner, and his name is Andre Iguodala.
If Stefanski can trade Iguodala and the four years and $56 million he has coming to him, then Turner is fine. If not, the Sixers would be better off dropping down to get Georgia Tech’s 6-foot-10 Derrick Favors and bump Brand out of the low post.
This isn’t a team that will be fixed by one player, anyway. It took years to get into this mess, and it will take years to get out.
This is a clear case of NBA-ready versus potential. Evan Turner is ready to contribute immediately, but the Sixers don’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon, and in order to make way, they would have to trade away their best player. Andre Iguodala may be a bit overpaid, but he does a lot of different things, and is excellent on the defensive end of the court.
Derrick Favors is 6’10” and doesn’t turn 19 until mid-July. (Turner turns 22 in October, so he’s essentially two years older.) This is what DraftExpress has to say about Favors:
He’s incredibly gifted from a physical standpoint, showing a combination of length and athleticism that is simply unparalleled at the college level. He runs the floor like a deer, is outrageously explosive around the rim, and is a fantastic target for entry-passes thanks to his terrific hands and the amazing extension he gets around the basket.
The more wide open style of the NBA game should benefit him in this regard, both in transition (where he truly excels) and as a pick and roll finisher in the half-court—especially with more talented shot-creating guards alongside him.
Offensively, Favors is fairly limited as a shot-creator in the half-court, showing raw footwork and little in the ways of a go-to move, struggling to finish with his left hand and being fairly turnover prone when forced to put the ball on the floor.
So he’s extremely athletic and struggles on the block because he’s raw. Sounds a little like Tyrus Thomas, but Favors doesn’t seem to have the attitude issues that plagued Thomas, at least while he was in Chicago.
Favors struggled early in the season, largely due to the makeup of the Georgia Tech team, but he finished strong, averaging 16-9 over the last 11 games. Let’s not forget that Gani Lawal brought many of the same things to the table. (In other words, Favors could have helped himself by picking a different school to play for.)
Anyway, looking ahead, as Favors develops on the block, he and current Sixer Marreese Speights could make a formidable high-low duo. Elton Brand’s best days are clearly behind him and Samuel Dalembert is entering the final year of his contract. The Sixers could build around Favors, Jrue Holiday and Speights.
In the end, the Sixers need to draft the player they think has the best chance to be a star or superstar in four or five years, because that’s how long it’s going to take to rebuild this team into a serious contender.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
In an ESPN Insider column, Ric Bucher writes that one factor prospective teams will have to weigh is whether or not to give LeBron the kind of power that he’s enjoyed with the Cavs over the last seven years.
Just know that the Cavs are where they are — capped out with a modicum of trading chips — because the team power structure supposedly has looked like this: owner Dan Gilbert, GM Danny Ferry and head coach Mike Brown.
With James standing just below Gilbert and just above Ferry.
Multiple league sources say that the Cleveland Cavaliers, in their attempt to keep James since drafting him with the No. 1 pick seven years ago, have done just that. Two opposing GMs, without citing specific examples, said they know James has vetoed deals Ferry would have made over the past few years.
Meanwhile, the acquisitions of Larry Hughes, Mo Williams, Shaquille O’Neal and Antawn Jamison all have been made at James’ behest, sources say. And whether it’s by James’ hand or the Cavaliers’, the team has been constructed on the presumption that he is Michael Jordan, a scorer and finisher, rather than Magic Johnson, a playmaker who needed a go-to closer alongside him to win titles. “They tried to make him Michael,” says one league executive. “He’s not.”
Hmm. That makes me wonder what this team would look like had Ferry had his way on those aforementioned (undisclosed) trades. Players are notoriously bad at player personnel because like most things in life, it’s difficult to see the forest for the trees.
Also, with this kind of power, LeBron has to (or should) take a lot of responsibility for the failures of this hand-picked group of players over the past few years. Does he look at it that way or does he blame the game plan and player rotations? Only he and his boys know.
It has to be tempting for a team to offer LeBron this kind of power. Without it, they probably don’t sign him and they’re left to several more years of mediocrity. With him on the roster, barring injury, they’re basically guaranteed that they’ll make the playoffs every year, and who knows, if his personnel decisions finally work out, maybe they win a title.
That said, the Bulls don’t appear to be one of those teams. They didn’t give Michael Jordan that power so it’s doubtful that they’ll hand it over to LeBron.
Phoenix had a chance to win this one. They were tied heading into the fourth quarter, but with their normally productive reserves in, the Suns started to fall behind. Down four with 7:48 left to play, Alvin Gentry put Steve Nash (11-3-15) back in the game, and he promptly threw the ball out of bounds and gave up a wide open three to Jordan Farmer…Lakers up nine. L.A. goes on to win, 124-112.
The other emerging edge for the Lakers is Pau Gasol (29-9-5). He’s simply better than Amare Stoudemire (18-6-1), or at least he looks better against the Suns’ porous defense. Lamar Odom (17-11-4, three steals) has also played well in this series, so well in fact that he forced Andrew Bynum (13-7 in 18 minutes) to the bench.
As for Kobe, he was in pass-first mode tonight, posting 21-5-13 on the heels of his 40-point outing in Game 1.
The Suns shot 49%, which is great, but L.A. shot 58%. They have to find a way to limit the Lakers easy shots as the series moves back to Phoenix for Game 3 and Game 4. The Suns desperately need to even the series. Otherwise, it’s over.
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