The Nuggets beat the Jazz, 116-102, in Game 5, but they may have lost Nene for the rest of the season. They’re calling it a sprained knee, but they’re fearful that he may have torn his ACL.
The Nuggets are down 3-2 against a shorthanded Jazz team that is missing Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko. If the Nuggets lose Nene, they’ll have to lean on Chris Andersen and Johan Petro at center. (Man, wouldn’t Marcus Camby look good in the middle right now?)
…assuming Pat Riley can get him some help. Here’s what he had to say after the Heat’s loss to the Celtics in Game 5, per TrueHoop…
“I’m looking forward to a good team to build, and being with some great players next year, and to continue to beef up our roster,” Wade said.
Notice his use of the pronoun “our.”
And also note that at no point did Wade ever expressly state a desire to head elsewhere. But he did place the onus on Pat Riley to make things happen over the summer.
“I’m not putting no pressure on myself. I think I put myself in a great situation three years ago to sign this deal to make sure that my team stays competitive. We’ve got some work to do, the front office has to do it, and there’s no pressure on me,” Wade said. “I’ve said where my heart is, and I think any player that’s thinking about wanting to come to Miami, they know where my heart is. You just have to see things being done and accomplished.
“We see that, and we’ll be talking again.”
I don’t see Wade leaving town at this point. After the Heat played pretty well over the last half of the season, he started talking about how Miami is where his heart is and that it’s the Heat’s gig to lose, and since the franchise is in a great position to add talent this offseason, he’s a good bet to stay put.
Michael Beasley, on the other hand, appears to be on the outs. He was benched for the entire second half of Game 5, and looks to be expendable heading into the offseason. This opens up another possibility that was seemingly closed a few months ago — the signing/acquisition of Carlos Boozer, who was once considered “too similar” to Beasley.
So if the Heat strike out on LeBron James and/or Chris Bosh, Boozer and/or Amare Stoudemire would be a good backup plan. I think either player would convince Wade to stay put.
With $42 million in cap space, the Heat are basically a blank slate. If they were able to move Beasley and his salary ($5 million), they would almost have enough to sign three max free agents. The problem is that the top guys all seem to play power forward or shooting guard. However, the Heat could have enough to add Rudy Gay and Bosh/Stoudemire/Boozer, or even David Lee.
If I were Pat Riley, I’d be in constant communication with Wade to see which players he’d most like to play with. By having his buy in, you would ensure that he’s happy with the players you’re bringing in. I wonder if Riley’s ego is too big for that…
Photo from fOTOGLIF
Tyreke Evans will be named the NBA’s 2009-10 Rookie of the Year later this week, Sactown Royalty has learned.
The announcement is expected Thursday or Friday. The Kings nor the NBA have announced Evans’s victory, and the team has not yet alerted the media of a press conference later this week.
In my prediction post, I said the following:
I think this is a two-man race between Evans and Jennings. Evans’ numbers are better than Curry’s and his team is a little better, so if we’re going to go with a good player on a bad team, it should be Evans.
As for Jennings, his case depends how much importance we place on a team’s record and how responsible the player is for that record. It’s funny — a good record is crucial in winning the league MVP, but for ROY, it doesn’t seem to matter all that much. Why is that?
In the end, I think Evans will win Rookie of the Year. Given the history of the award, if a player clearly has the superior numbers, winning just doesn’t matter. That’s the case here.
Evans averaged 20.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.8 assists to become the first rookie since LeBron James to average 20-5-5 in his rookie season. (Oscar Robertson and Michael Jordan are the only other players to accomplish this feat.)
Both Evans and Curry posted eye-popping numbers, but did any rookie have a bigger impact on the 2009-10 NBA season than Brandon Jennings? Even though his FG% fell off a cliff, he still posted pretty good numbers, and guided the upstart Bucks to the #6 playoff spot in the East.
Based on the criteria that picked previous award winners, Evans is very deserving. But when we look back on this season’s rookie class, I think we’ll remember Jennings’ leadership, Evans’ 20-5-5, Curry’s stretch run and Blake Griffin’s knee injury, in that order.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
In a piece entitled “The slow death of a competitor,” HoopsHype’s Roland Lazenby discusses how much mileage Kobe Bryant has on his body.
In his 14th season, Bryant heads into Tuesday night’s pivotal first round Game 5 against the Oklahoma City Thunder having played better than 44,400 minutes of regular season and playoff basketball.
If somehow the Lakers manage to survive and and advance, Bryant could wind up with better than 45,000 minutes on the odometer after this season.
Jordan, long considered the standard because he drove the Bulls to a championship as a 35-year-old NBA guard, played a total of 48,485 minutes over his 15-year career, the final 5,000 of which were frustration filled.
I don’t think there’s much of a question that Kobe is at the tail end of his prime. Perhaps he’s even started the slow, inevitable decline that most superstars experience as they get into their 30s. Since he’s playing a few more minutes, his stats haven’t dropped much since last season, though his PER (21.95) is at an eight-year low.
He shot just 30% in three April regular season games, and is shooting 38.4% against the Thunder. Maybe his finger is bothering him, or maybe it’s the defense of Thabo Sefolosha (and Kevin Durant), or all of the above. Game 2 Kobe dropped 39 points and got to the line 15 times. After the Lakers lost Game 3, Game 4 Kobe deferred for much of the game, taking only 10 shots and scoring just 12 points as the Lakers tried to exploit their size advantage.
But this is nothing new. Kobe has pouted his way through playoff games in the past. (Anyone remember that Suns series a few years back?) The problem with the Lakers is not Kobe Bryant. The biggest thing standing in the way of a second-straight title is this team’s lack of hunger. Led by Kobe’s insatiable appetite, last year’s Lakers would not be denied. But now that they have their rings, getting motivated is not as easy, especially when there are a dozen or so teams with comparable talent and better chemistry waiting in the wings.
Ron Artest is a disaster offensively, Andrew Bynum is coming off an injury, and Derek Fisher is showing his age. Lamar Odom is averaging a career low in playoff points, rebounds and FG%, and at times looks like he’s ready to start his summer with Khloe Kardashian.
In short, these are not the same Lakers we saw last year. The good news — for Laker fans, anyway — is that there is time to straighten this out. The sky is not falling. Game 5 at Staples is a good opportunity to start. If they can get their swagger back and win the series, another Finals appearance is well within reach. The West is talented, but Utah is thin on the front line, Dallas is on the verge of collapse, San Antonio is aging and the Suns are…well, they’re the Suns.
Then again, if OKC is able to win Tuesday night and go on to win the series, we could see a veritable sea change in L.A. Artest, Bynum, Fisher and even Phil Jackson could be headed for new zip codes this summer.
And to think, this is just the first round.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
Every so often we examine the results of our weekly poll. Last week, we asked the following question, and 204 readers responded. Here are the results:
(Click on the picture for a bigger version.)
I’m a little surprised that almost a quarter answered that a Cavs championship would lead to LeBron’s departure because it seems counter-intuitive. If winning is the most important thing, and he just won a title with this roster, why would he bolt?
I understand the argument that he would have just brought a title to Cleveland, so now he can leave, but this isn’t a prison sentence, is it? The idea is to win multiple championships, right? Why start over somewhere else?
If the Cavs do win the title, I can only see LeBron leaving if he, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh all agree to take a little less money to meet up in New York, and that scenario is a longshot at best.
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