Tonight is my favorite Tuesday of the year, each and every
year.
Why is that, might you ask?
Because the last Tuesday of October is always the opening
night of the NBA season, and frankly, I love this league more than Lamar Odom
loves cocaine and hookers (speaking of Lamar, how in the world did this guy
manage to turn doing drugs and passing out at a brothel into a way to save his marriage? That’s so ridiculous that’s it’s almost…. genius?).
I just couldn’t remain silent on the opening night of my
favorite league, and plus, I’ve got so many thoughts and opinions on this
upcoming season that I just have to share, because normally people look at me
sideways and very calmly say, “You’re bothering me. I need to get away from
you” when I start splurging out NBA talk. I don’t know. Maybe it’s that crazy
look in my eyes. Or that I foam at the mouth. Who knows?
How to convey them in a different and interesting way was
becoming a problem for me though. Last year, I just ranked the teams 30-1,
grouped them together with the teams around them, and gave the groups names
that captured the feel for each team for the upcoming season. Not a terrible
idea, right?
But then, inspiration struck from a place I never expected.
I was driving around a couple days ago, bobbing my head and pretending to be
cool, listening to 50 Cent’s most commercially successful album, Get Rich or
Die Tryin’, when the song “21 Questions” soothed its way through the
speakers. For those of you that aren’t familiar with what I’m talking about,
punch yourself in the face, because it’s my favorite 50 song and you’re really
missing out. More than anything, I appreciate it because it’s definitely his
most unique tune, as it’s unlike everything he’s ever released. Instead of
being a party or “I’ll shoot you in the face” song, it’s the closest thing to a
“love ballad” that he’s ever recorded. Plus (fun fact!), there are actually 21
unique questions asked in the song.
So what does that have to do with my NBA preview? Well,
rather than ranking teams, I thought I’d try to answer/discuss the 21 biggest
questions heading into the upcoming season. I thought about literally ripping
the questions out of the song, typing them out, and trying to find a way to
give them applicability to the NBA, before giving up when I realized that was
impossible. I mean, I just couldn’t find a way to make, “In the bed, if I used
my tongue, would you like that?” apply to any professional basketball
situation. I really couldn’t. So, suffice to say, I created my own questions.
By the way, here’s “21 Questions” for those of you who
haven’t heard it, you uncultured savages.
1. What’s the deal with all the Spurs’ love?
So sure, they “won” the off-season, but what does that even
mean? They got much bigger and better inside, but let’s not act like adding
Aldridge is the same as adding Hakeem Olajuwon or Karl Malone. I like watching
him play, but isn’t it alarming that in 9 years, he’s only won one playoff
series? Or that his career high in points per game is 23.4, which happened last
season? Or that his offensive game has increasingly taken him further and
further away from the basket as he’s gotten older, leading him to launch more
and more 15-18 foot fallaways? I think he helps, but is he really going to drag
this old, over-the-hill bunch to a title? The former Big Three is a shell of
itself; Ginobili looks washed up half the time, and Parker has fallen off
dramatically the last two seasons (20.3 points and 7.4 assists on 52.2%
shooting in 2013, as compared to 14.4 points and 4.9 assists 48.6% shooting in
2015). Only Duncan really looks at
least somewhat like his old self, though his numbers from last season (13.9
points and 9.1 rebounds on 51.2% shooting) look like a peak year out of Tyson
Chandler. I think they were hoping Kawhi Leonard would step up, demand the ball
more, and take on more of the offensive burden, but at this point, four years
in, I think he basically is who he is: a terrific, game-changing defensive
player whose going to consistently give you between 15-18 points per game. He’s
just not selfish enough, and because of that, he doesn’t have the personality
of someone who averages over 20 points a game in this league. Sometimes you
just have to call your own number, put your head down, and get to the basket or
get up the best look possible, but Leonard looks much more comfortable just
existing on the offensive end, not breaking from the set, and then getting back
on the defensive end and murdering everyone.
Honestly, I like Golden State ,
Oklahoma Houston
more in the West than I do the Spurs. I’d pick all four of those teams over
them in a playoff series actually. It’s been a great run in San
Antonio , spanning a decade and a half, but I think
it’s over for them, at least as title contenders.
2. Are the Sixers even close?
No.
Seriously, they aren’t.
Explain more? Fine… What else is there to say about this
bunch though? They’ve drafted centers three years in a row, two of which missed
their entire rookie seasons with injuries (and reportedly, Joel Embiid won’t
play at all this season either due to alarming complications from his broken foot). They traded Michael Carter-Williams, only
their best guard and 2014 Rookie of the Year, at the trade deadline last
season, and their other guards and forwards (Kendall Marshall, Tony Wroten,
Robert Covington just to name a few) leave a lot to be desired. The verdict is
still out on second year guard Nik Stauskas (who they acquired in the
off-season), but he didn’t exactly light it up in Sacramento
last season (4.4 points per game on 36.5% shooting). They’ve hellaciously
tanked away the last three seasons since the disastrous Andrew Bynum trade, and all they have to show for it is a Greg Oden-esque center
(Embiid), a super-athletic defender who is an absolute zero on the offensive
end (Nerlens Noel), a “I’m not sure he can or will guard anyone on this level”
(Jahlil Okafor), and no proven or promising guards or forwards. The rebuild, at
least up to this point, has been an utter and absolute failure and
disaster.
3. Should any contender or pseudo-contender trade for
Carmelo?
I don’t know, I mean it’s a really tough call… if you just
had a head injury.
I have no use for Carmelo Anthony’s game. He continues to be
the most overrated player in the NBA, despite the fact that he’s a career 45.5%
shooter who has won one scoring title. People talk about this guy like
he’s George Gervin, Bernard King, or even Michael Jordan as a scorer, but he
falls far short of the level of consistency or “holy mother of God” seasons
that the best scorers of all time put up.
My theory on the Carmelo love: he has one of the most
aesthetically pleasing playing styles in the league. He just looks cool when he
competes in the game of basketball. His game is full of a million jab steps and
contested fade away jumpers that look great on highlight films (when they go
in, which is rare, but still), and he’s crafted enough offensive moves to fool
people into thinking that he’s somehow an elite scorer from everywhere on the
floor, despite the fact that the percentages would show otherwise. He’s that
dude that shows up to a pick up game and looks so much like a basketball player
that you assume he’s going to be a monster and there’s no way his team is going
to lose. Then the game starts; he’s standing around the 3 point line, making
huge, pronounced dribbles that don’t go anywhere or lead to anything, followed
by one hundred different jab steps and up fakes that don’t create any space or
fool the defender, which leads to him inevitably taking a ridiculously tough
shot that never had a chance even before it left his hand. He’ll then follow
that up by playing as little defense as possible, which will allow his man to
score like 15 straight points.
The “he’s great because I like his playing style” is a
dangerous and mind-numbing way to look at basketball, and it’s also the same reason
there’s a zillion Kobe defenders.
I’d argue Bryant’s game is even more aesthetically pleasing (the man is a
walking highlight film), but the difference between Kobe
and ‘Melo is that Bryant actually, at one point, gave a crap defensively, cared
at least a little bit about making his teammates better, and was the most
hypercompetitive basketball player since Jordan. Anthony has never been a good
defender, is a blackhole on offense, and I don’t get the sense that he’s
destroyed, or even all that bothered by losing. He knows how to get his and
that’s about it.
4. What number will be higher, Kobe’s points per game, or
his shot attempts per game?
Last season, in 35 games, Bryant made a strong push for the
Inefficiency Championship Belt, as he averaged 22.3 points per game on 20.4
shot attempts (all while shooting 37.3% from the field). Does he have it in him
to accomplish this “feat”? Yeah, of course he does, but as selfish and
inefficient and team-destructive as he was last season, even he couldn’t pull it
off. I literally can’t fathom a basketball player who gets as much usage as
Bryant having a worse, more selfish, less accurate season than he did last
year. I mean, he missed 47 games last season and still finished third on
the Lakers in shot attempts. THIRD!!! Honestly, I see this season playing out a
lot like last season for L.A. : Kobe
breaking the offense whenever he wants, gunning for his own points at every
turn, and shooting a low percentage, before an inevitable injury in mid-to-late
January that sidelines him for the rest of the season. He’ll probably shoot 21
times a game and average around 22 points per game, and he’ll lay enough bricks
to build a four bedroom apartment in the Los Angeles
metro area.
5. How dumb does Garnett-Pierce trade to Brooklyn
look now?
Really, really dumb, as the Nets appear to be diving into a
deep, dark valley thanks to that trade, a transaction that we’ll probably
remember as the second worst NBA trade of this decade (behind the Bynum deal,
of course, because I’d argue that all four teams involved in the trade got
worse) because it absolutely destroyed Brooklyn’s franchise for at least the
next 7-8 years. For three future first round picks, all they got was one
playoff series win, the biggest luxury tax bill in league history, and rumors
all off-season about their crazy Russian billionaire owner trying to sell the team. But you really feel the destructive
nature of losing three first round picks when you look at that roster... Brook
Lopez’s feet are in terrible condition, they still owe Joe Johnson’s corpse
$24.8 million, and rest of the team is full of average-to-middling journeymen
(Wayne Ellington, Jarrett Jack), lottery pick busts (Thomas Robinson), guys who
couldn’t guard a chair (Andrea Bargnani), and dudes with names I can’t
pronounce (Bojan Bogdanovic). There’s no young up and comers, no future
building blocks, and I feel like Lopez is a trade deadline deal waiting to
happen.
And when you juxtapose that with the situation in Boston,
which sports a young, energetic squad that plays a fun, up and down style of
basketball, with one of the best young coaches in the league, and who might
just be a superstar player away from really contending, it makes it even worse.
The Celtics fleeced them, and they won that trade by a margin wider than the Pacific
Ocean .
6. What was the worst free agent signing of the
off-season?
That title belongs to Detroit ,
who stupidly threw 5 years and $80 million at Reggie Jackson, a guy with
career averages of 9.8 points and 3.2 assists. I get that the salary cap will
boom by the start of the 2016-17 season because of the new television deal, so
that contract might not look like an albatross in three years, but I’m not sure
I could find any way to justify $16 million a year for someone who isn’t even
one of the best 15 point guards in the league, unless it was like 3 in the
morning and I was 17 drinks deep. And then there’s this; I know this sounds
crazy, but Brandon Jennings actually seemed to sort of figure out how to run an
NBA offense last season, as he put together the finest stretch of his career in
the month of January; 20.9 points and 7.2 assists on 43.5% shooting, including
a ridiculous 24 point, 21 assist game against Orlando, before he ruptured his
Achilles on January 24th. He won’t be back for the start of the
season, and might not ever get back to 100% (just ask Kobe
how hard it is to recover from that injury), but if he did manage to regain his
footing, there’s no question that I like his game better than Jackson ’s.
And the Jackson signing gets even more ridiculous when you remember that
Jennings is scheduled to earn around 8.3 million dollars this year, meaning
Detroit will pay just north of $22.2 million (Jackson’s deal is slanted towards
the back end; he earns about $13.9 million this year) for two guys that play
the exact same position and do the exact same things well. Nice roster moves,
Stan Van Gundy! That’s the worst front office point guard decision making since
the immortal David Kahn selected Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn back-to-back in
the 2009 draft.
Is this the year Boogie Cousins gets over the hump and leads
Sacramento to the playoffs? Maybe.
The Western Conference got stronger at the top, but weaker in the middle,
meaning the Kings have a chance to slip into the playoffs for the first time
since the 2005-06 season. Cousins (24.1 points and 12.7 rebounds) was an
absolute beast last season, and Sacramento’s decent start (they were 9-8
through the first month of the season) was spoiled by a mysterious illness that
sidelined Boogie for a large part of December, a month that saw the Kings go
4-11 and get their head coach Mike Malone fired.
So what’s not to like? Well, for starters, they signed Rajon
Rondo to a 1 year, $9.5 million deal in July. Why is that a bad thing? It’s
Rondo! He was one of the best point guards in the league… like three years ago.
Oh…. We’ll remember 2015 Rondo as the winner of the 2015 Eff You Award, given
annually to the NBA player that’s play on the court, attitude in the locker
room, or just overall existence gave everyone else the finger. He absolutely
destroyed the chemistry and title chances for a likable and competitive Dallas
team that didn’t meet expectations and flamed out with surprising meekness in
the playoffs last year, solely by being on the roster. He was so cancerous that
the Mavericks actually chose head coach Rick Carlisle, a frequent sparring
partner, over Rondo, one of the few times that’s happened in NBA history.
Normally, teams fire head coaches whenever they clash with stars, but doesn’t
it tell you something that they axed Rondo as quickly as possible?
And don’t forget the inevitable explosion between Boogie and
George Karl that’s ultimately going to cost Karl his job. Apparently Karl
wanted/still wants Cousins gone, because Boogie has been a head case at times
who has never demonstrated the ability (at least to this point) to be a leader
or the face of the franchise. And, understandably, it’s made things… difficult
between them. Their handshake before a summer league game
back in July was the most awkward player-head coach interaction since Dwight Howard and Stan Van Gundy.
I don’t like anything coming out of this franchise, and I
think they’ll miss the playoffs for the tenth straight year.
8. Is anybody going to challenge Cleveland
Here’s the short answer: No.
But let’s run through the other “contenders”….
9. Is Atlanta
Last year’s Eastern Conference number 1 seed, the Hawks
played a Warriors-esque brand of basketball, as they spread the floor, shot a
ton of threes, and got out in transition for easy baskets. They also got swept
by Cleveland in the Conference Finals, got nothing from Kyle Korver for much of
the playoffs, probably should’ve lost the Washington series, and lost Demarre
Carroll to Toronto in the off-season. They had the best year possible for the
amount of talent they had on the roster, and they still couldn’t win one game
against Cleveland . The Carroll loss
hurts more than you’d think (he did all the dirty work for them), and I’ll
believe Al Horford will be healthy for back-to-back seasons when I see it.
Here’s his games played since 2011:
2011: 77 games
2012: 11 games
2013: 74 games
2014: 29 games
2015: 76 games
Based on his track record, doesn’t this feel like a 25-35
game season for him? It’s not unreasonable to expect that. His shoulders are
wrecked, and it’s evident when he pulls up for a jump shot. One bad bump or
hard fall on them and we could be talking about another shoulder surgery, and
possibly, the end of his season. And where’s the perennial, A+ NBA superstar on
this roster? Where’s the guy that’s one of the five best at his position? They
don’t have one, and that’s why they aren’t serious contenders.
10. Is Miami
Here’s their starting five:
PG: Goran Dragic
SG: Dwyane Wade
SF: Luol Deng
PF: Chris Bosh
C: Hassan Whiteside
Based on reputation, that’s one of the best first units in
the league, and you could be fooled into thinking they’ve got a legitimate
chance to challenge Cleveland ,
until you remember a few things:
- Wade hasn’t looked anything like his old self since probably 2013 (21.2 points on 52.1% shooting). He’s a step and a half slower than his prime, and is a sure bet to miss at least 20 games a year.
- They’re
depending a ton on Bosh, another guy in the twilight of his career who is
much better as the clear third option on a championship contender,
something he won’t be able to be on this
- Who knows what to expect from Whiteside? He came out of nowhere last season, threw up some crazy numbers (10.0 rebounds and 2.6 blocks in just 23.8 minutes per game). Where did this dude even come from? He didn’t even register a single second on an NBA court the two seasons prior. Doesn’t he kind of feel like Jeremy Lin, without the media circus? He might just be a dude with a few elite NBA skills (rebounding, shot blocking) that got hot for a stretch of games when nobody knew how to deal with him. Who knows? I certainly don’t. He only played 48 games last year. We need a bigger sample size.
- How are Dragic and Wade going to share the ball and play together? They both need it in their hands to be successful.
There’s just too many questions in South
Beach
11. Is Washington
I went to Game 5 of the Hawks-Wizards series last year, and
believe me, if John Wall hadn’t fractured his hand and wrist earlier in the
playoffs, Washington wins Game 5
and then goes home and closes out Atlanta
in Game 6. Wall, during that fateful Game 5, playing at 75%, got every shot he
wanted and created a zillion open looks for his teammates. The Hawks were
legitimately bad for 85% of that game, and a healthy Wall puts his foot on the
gas and closes them out. But he wasn’t, Atlanta
made almost all the big plays down the stretch, and came back to steal a 82-81
victory.
So what would’ve happened next? Washington
heads to Cleveland and probably
gets swept or loses in five games. And that was last year’s team, the one with
Paul Pierce and his veteran leadership and crunch time chops.
This year, his minutes are going to Otto Porter. Uh oh. Washington
should be competitive again, but they aren’t beating Cleveland .
12. Is Chicago
To me, this is the only Eastern Conference team with a
realistic shot of challenging the Cavs, IF everything breaks right for them.
Here’s the list of what they need to happen:
- Derrick Rose is at least 90% of 2011 MVP D-Rose and doesn’t suffer a major injury again. That’s probably not very likely, considering he’s played in just 100 of their last 312 regular season games, or the fact that he averaged 17.7 points and 4.9 assists on 40.5% shooting last season, compared to 25.0 points and 7.7 assists on 44.5% shooting during his MVP season.
- Jimmy Butler makes another leap and becomes one of the 12 best players in the league. Probably the most achievable item on this checklist.
- D-Rose
and
- 35 year old Pau Gasol has another season like he did last year (18.5 points and 11.8 rebounds). He’s a seven-footer in his mid 30s…. there’s bound to be a drop off at some point right? You know, that awkward season most every center has where running up and down the court starts looking painful? It looks like there shoes are full of thumb tacks, and they’re terrified of each step because it just hurts. I’m not saying we’re there with Gasol yet, and there haven’t been any signs of that, but I’m just saying that it could happen.
- Joakim
Noah takes well to coming off the bench, gives
- Speaking
of Thibodeau, the Bulls hired a new coach in the off-season, Fred Hoiberg
from
There’s just too many “yeah buts” and “Ifs” in Chicago .
They’ve got more upside than everyone besides Cleveland ,
but there’s too many obstacles in their way to get there.
So, back to number 8…..
8. Is anybody going to challenge Cleveland
No, they won’t. The Cavs certainly have their own issues
(when will Kyrie fully recover from his devastating knee injury, how will they
better incorporate Kevin Love into the offense, should they really have given Tristan
Thompson 5 years and $82 million), but they also have something nobody else
has, which is the best player in the world, LeBron James. He hasn’t been
defeated by an Eastern Conference team in the playoffs in five straight years,
and it’s not going to happen this season either. LeBron and more LeBron is the
answer to all Cleveland ’s
questions. That wouldn’t be good enough in the West, but it’s more than enough
in the East.
13. Is Kevin Durant going to be able to stay healthy all
season?
This is the burning, nobody-wants-to-talk-about-it question
of OKC’s season. I think everybody’s just penciled Durant into the starting
lineup for the whole season, trying to forget about the fact that he’s had
multiple foot surgeries over the last year. Remember Bill Walton? Foot injuries
basically cost him his entire career. How about Kevin McHale? He still walks
funny due to a foot injury he suffered and played on during the 1987 playoffs.
Now, if I had to bet my life on it, I’d bet that Durant comes back as strong as
ever, but I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t be sweating it out for a while.
Here’s the funny thing: With a healthy Durant, this Thunder
team has a chance to be their best one since the 2012 squad that made it all
the way to the Finals. Russell Westbrook is fresh off his best season as a pro
(28.1 points, 8.6 assists, 7.3 rebounds), KD is still on the front end of his
prime, as is Serge Ibaka, and the trade for Enes Kanter at the trade deadline
last season gives them a fourth player that’s at least a B-. Throw in a new
coach, Billy Donovan, who will definitely run the exact opposite of the clogged
toilet offense that Scott Brooks loved to employ, and there’s no reason
Oklahoma City shouldn’t be on their way to 60+ wins, all while challenging
Golden State for Western Conference supremacy.
14. Are the Clippers going to shoot themselves in the
foot…. again?
Here’s a list of the Clippers playoff exits the last three
seasons:
- 2013: After taking a 2-0 lead over the Grizzlies in the first round, the Clips proceed to lose the next four games, ending their season.
- 2014: L.A. blows a huge lead late against Oklahoma City on the Thunder’s home floor in Game 5 with a chance to take a 3-2 lead. It’s probably the worst NBA loss this decade outside of Ray Allen's three that sank the Spurs.
- 2015: After taking a commanding three games to one lead over Houston (The Clippers won Game 1 by 16, Game 3 by 25, and Game 4 by 33), they blow a huge second half lead in Game 5 and lose by a startling 21, don’t show up for Game 6 at home, and then travel back to Houston for Game 7, a game they didn’t have a shot in hell of winning.
Three years, and three
humiliating/inexcusable/head-scratching playoff demises. They’ve got more than
enough talent in L.A. to win the
title, but I hate the whiny, petulant, complain-about-every-call culture
they’ve created there. They’re the most mentally weak title contender I can
ever remember in any sport, and I think the reason they’ve choked their way out
of the playoffs the last three seasons is because of that. I love CP3, but at
this point, he pretty much is who he is: a terrifically talented guard who sets
up his teammates better than anyone, who also happens to be the biggest ref
baiter and whiner in the league besides James Harden. Can you win a title when
that’s your best guy? I don’t think so.
15. Has there ever been a more disrespected defending
champion than the Warriors?
I don’t understand the Warrior hate. Did they catch a ton of
breaks last season? Sure, of course they did. But so does every champion in
every sport. Did Durant breaking his foot and missing the season help them?
Yep. Did the Clips Barney Fifeing their way out of the
playoffs make their path easier? Of course. Was it beneficial for them that Houston
had a million injuries entering the Conference Finals? No question. Didn’t
their series against Memphis
completely flip when Mike Conley broke his face? No doubt. And didn’t they
benefit from Cleveland virtually
playing the entire Finals without Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving? Yeah, they
definitely did.
Funny thing is though, didn’t they win that historically
challenging Western Conference by 11 games? Didn’t they finish first in team
points per game, team field goal percentage, and field goal percentage defense?
Didn’t they have the league’s MVP, Stephen Curry? And didn’t they finish the
year an astounding 83-20?
So sure, they had plenty of breaks. But if you played the
season 100 times, I think they probably win the title at least 90 of those times.
They were the best team in basketball last season, even without everyone else’s
injuries and bad luck.
16. Who is going to win the scoring title?
The usual suspects are obvious. Durant, Harden, maybe
Anthony Davis, and ‘Melo (I guess) are all good choices, but like last year,
when Westbrook won it, I think our scoring champion is going to come from
somewhere else, someone we don’t necessarily associate with putting the ball in
the hoop at a high rate.
How about Damian Lillard? Doesn’t he have the potential to
do a Westbrook impression this season? He’s not the athlete or quite the hyper
competitive monster that Russell is, but why not? His team is going to be
terrible (they’ll have four new starters around him), meaning he’ll be handling
the ball a ton, and there will definitely be an exorbitant amount of
possessions that end with the ball in his hand as the shot clock winds down.
He’ll probably end up shooting around 25-28 times a game this year, and there’s
no question that he’s got the talent to average close to 30 a game he’s when
placed in the right situation to do so (like this one).
17. Who is going to be the rookie of the year?
There’s no doubt in my mind that this draft class is going
to produce a lot of really good NBA players, but I’d be really surprised if
Jahlil Okafor wasn’t the most impressive first year player this season.
Offensively, his game is already NBA-ready, and we know award voters couldn’t
care less about defense, meaning he won’t be penalized for his porous, idling
defense. He’s going to get fed more than a medieval royal family, and even if
he shoots a low percentage, he’ll find a way to average at least 20 points and
10 rebounds. They don’t have anything else in Philly!
(Also, two mentions of the Sixers in this? How did that
happen?)
18. Who is going to win the MVP Award?
LeBron is the best player, and could probably win by default
every year, but I don’t think Cleveland
is going to have enough of a murderous regular season for The King to get much
of a push. They’re going to rest LeBron and other guys too many times to win 60
games, and I feel like LBJ is probably going to play around 66 games this year.
Can you really be MVP if you missed 20% of the season? I don’t think so.
Anthony Davis could get some buzz if the Pelicans exceed everyone’s
expectations and end up getting a top four seed in the West, but I don’t see
that happening. That’s still a pretty mediocre roster around him in New
Orleans . If G-State goes on a tear like they did last
season, Curry will definitely get a lot of consideration, as will James Harden
if Houston finishes in the top 2 in
the West like they did last season.
My choice? How about 2014’s MVP Kevin Durant? I know, I
know, I’m concerned about his foot too, but assuming he’s healthy, why not the
Durantula? OKC figures to be much improved, and if he wins the scoring title (a
possibility) and the Thunder win more than 60 games, I think he’s got to be the
favorite. They missed the playoffs without him last year. If his presence alone
makes them a top 2 team in the West, I don’t think there’s an argument.
19. More importantly, who wins the NBA’s “Reggie Miller
Award”, given annually to the flopping pansy of the year?
Please. Why is this even a question? Wait, I created these?
Oh, that’s right… Well, I just wanted to make sure I took some space to share
my disdain for James Harden’s game. We’ll just go ahead
and grandfather you in for this award for the next decade. Heck, we might even
rename it after you.
20. Who wins the Western Conference?
I’m tempted to pick Oklahoma City .
I really am. But then there’s Durant’s foot…. I just can’t pull the trigger. Golden
State
21. Who wins the 2015-16 NBA Title?
Same teams, same result. I’ve got G-State in six. LeBron’s
triumphant return to Cleveland ends
in disappointment once again.
-
Enjoy basketball this season. You deserve it.
