Category: NBA (Page 572 of 595)

The Seattle Supersonics aren’t going to the playoffs this year, but the trade they made on Valentine’s Day has worked out beautifully. They sent disgruntled small forward Vladimir Radmanovic to the Clippers for Chris Wilcox, and the trade has shown immediate dividends.

The Sonics are 11-10 in the 21 games in which Wilcox played more than 20 minutes. In those games, he has averaged 15.0 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, while shooting a stellar 60% from the field. Last night, against the Rockets, Wilcox scored 26 points and grabbed 24 rebounds.

I’m sure the Clippers were sad to see Wilcox go, but there just wasn’t enough playing time available behind Elton Brand and Chris Kaman, and he’s good enough to be getting starter’s minutes. For his part, Radmanovic has averaged 12.1 ppg and 5.3 rpg over the last 10 games, and has provided his new team with excellent shooting from long range, hitting 44% of his three-point shots.

It’s a rare thing – a trade that works out for both teams.

On the heels of a tremendous tournament performance, Joakim Noah might be on his way to the pros. ESPN’s Chad Ford discusses the NBA stock of the major players in the Final Four [Insider subscription required].

He says that Noah, along with Al Horford and Corey Brewer, would be lottery picks, if they declare.

Noah did a little of everything in the tournament — scored both inside and out, blocked shots at a record pace, crashed the glass on both ends, handled the ball on the break, made passes only point guards are supposed to know how to make.

Scouts worry about his lack of strength and relatively raw skills on the offensive end. But those concerns pale in comparison to his upside. Noah has been fairly adamant that he’s returning to school. But now that he’s won a championship and is a virtual lock as a top-five pick, our guess is that he’s in the NBA next year.

Noah had a great tournament, but I worry about his lack of a 15-foot jumper. If he’s going to play power forward in the pros, he’ll need to develop that quickly. Right now, he looks lost when he faces up to shoot from outside the lane.

Ford goes on to say that, of the three, Horford would benefit the most from another year in school. Brewer is projected to be a late lottery pick to a mid-first round pick, but if Noah and Horford both jet, Brewer might join them.

Sure, New Jersey could catch Miami and take over the #2 seed in the East, but the Heat have a 3.5 game lead with nine games to play, so unless Miami takes a dump, they’ll keep the #2 slot. The Nets and Cavs are both streaking, winning 12 and eight straight, respectively. Cleveland is in a similar position as Dallas in the West, even if they finish third in the conference, they’re still looking at the #4 seed and a potential second round matchup with division rival Detroit.

Washington and Milwaukee are battling for the fifth seed, with the Bucks trailing the Wizards by just a half game. Washington is 2-1 against the Cavs and 1-2 against New Jersey, so they’d probably rather play Cleveland. The Bucks are 1-2 against the Nets and 1-3 against the Cavs, so there’s no advantage for them to play one team or the other.

In the end, it’s not just looking like a Detroit/Miami battle in the Conference Finals. With New Jersey and Cleveland playing so well, we should be treated to some really good games in the potential Pistons/Cavs and Heat/Nets matchups.

The Portland Trailblazers had the opportunity to trade Darius Miles and Theo Ratliff to the Knicks for the huge, expiring contract of Penny Hardaway and a first round draft pick, but didn’t pull the trigger.

Apparently, it was because owner Paul Allen couldn’t shake his inexplicable love affair with Miles.

That one was a no-brainer. It was like taking candy from a baby. But Allen, along with former coach Maurice Cheeks, was responsible for Miles’ signing a long-term, above-market-value contract with the team in the first place, and he apparently wasn’t ready to part company with him.

Allen is apparently scared of trading away young players only to have them blossom elsewhere. He’s still reeling from the loss of Jermaine O’Neal several years ago. The difference here is that Miles is 24 while O’Neal was just 22 when the Blazers traded him to Indiana. In the NBA, those two years are crucial. Miles is physically gifted, but if he hasn’t made major strides in his game at this point, then he probably doesn’t have the work ethic to become a superstar in the league.

I think, based on the performance of Knicks’ GM Isiah Thomas over the past few years, that any trade he proposes to you is proabably a good deal…for you. I still don’t understand why the Blazers passed on Chris Paul. Maybe Paul Allen should just give me the GM job. Give me an assistant who is a salary cap expert and I’ll put together a playoff team in Portland.

The Western Conference playoffs are shaping up…oddly. Due to a quirk in the seeding system – where each division winner is given one of the top three seeds – the conference’s two best teams, San Antonio (55-16) and Dallas (54-18), will probably end up with the #1 and #4 seeds. This means that the two best teams in the West would meet in the second round of the playoffs instead of in the conference finals.

If the playoffs were to begin today, the bracket would look like this:

#1 San Antonio (55-16) vs. #8 Sacramento (36-36)
#4 Dallas (54-18) vs. #5 L.A. Clippers (41-29)

#2 Phoenix (47-23) vs. #7 L.A. Lakers (38-34)
#3 Denver (40-32) vs. #6 Memphis (41-31)

Imagine you’re the Clippers and your reward for finishing fifth in the conference is a first round date with Dallas and a potential second round matchup with San Antonio. The Clippers would be much better off losing a couple of games and finishing sixth, getting a first round matchup with Denver, the worst of the three division winners, before a potential second round series with Phoenix, a team that is both banged-up and struggling.

Whenever there is incentive to lose on purpose, there’s a problem, and the NBA needs to fix this one.