NBA Halfway Point Review

First, some music to listen to: I Wanna Rock (remix) by Snoop Dogg, Jay Z and Ludacris

Your boy is moving into the 21st century musically, heard this on the radio today and was blasting it in the car.

We’re at the unofficial halfway point of the NBA season and its been an entertaining. Teams like Oklahoma City and Memphis have become playoff contenders while San Antonio and Boston have regressed. We’ll get to them later but the best way for me to do this is to review my preseason predictions and go from there.

Preseason predictions by division (in order)

Preseason Atlantic: Boston, Toronto, Philly, New York, New Jersey
Current Atlantic: Boston, Toronto, Philly, New York, New Jersey
Thoughts: Off to a good start on my predictions.

Preseason Central: Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Indiana, Milwaukee
Current Central: Cleveland, Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Indiana
Thoughts: Cleveland will have the best record in the conference, maybe even the league. The Bucks have been surprisingly springy. Detroit has seen much better days. Indiana is well, Indiana

Preseason Southeast: Orlando, Washington, Miami, Atlanta, Charlotte
Current Southeast: Orlando, Atlanta, Miami, Charlotte, Washington
Thoughts: The Magic are doing what I expected. Respect to Atlanta for surprising me. The Wizards are a complete mess right now. Charlotte has been a spunky group and may cause damage in the playoffs. The Heat are still the Wade show.

Preseason Northwest: Utah, Portland, Denver, Oklahoma City, Minnesota
Current Northwest: Denver, Utah, Oklahoma City, Portland, Minnesota
Thoughts: The Nuggets have emerged as the second best team in the conference. Utah has been solid as always. Portland has been a good surprise, thriving despite injuries to some core players. Minnesota, specifically their general manager, should be ashamed.

Preseason Pacific: Lakers, Phoenix, Clippers, Golden State, Sacramento
Current Pacific: Lakers, Phoenix, Clippers, Sacramento, Golden State
Thoughts: Not bad, nothing special.

Preseason Southwest: San Antonio, Dallas, New Orleans, Houston, Memphis
Current Southwest: Dallas, San Antonio, New Orleans, Houston, Memphis
Thoughts: Maybe the deepest division in the league.

Preseason Eastern Conference Finals: Boston over Cleveland
Current Eastern Conference Finals (most likely): Cleveland over Atlanta
Thoughts: Ignored Boston’s age.

Preseason Western Conference Finals: Lakers over San Antonio
Current Western Conference Finals (most likely): Lakers over Denver
Thoughts: Ignored San Antonio’s age…sense a trend?

Preseason NBA Finals: Boston over Lakers
Current Finals (most likely): Cleveland over Lakers
Thoughts: Honestly, Cleveland and the Lakers are a toss-up.

Preseason MVP:
1) LeBron James, Cleveland
2) Kobe Bryant, Lakers
3) Chris Paul, New Orleans
4) Dwight Howard, Orlando
5) Kevin Durant, OK City and Derrick Rose, Chicago (tie)

Current MVP Standings:
1) LeBron James
2) Kevin Durant
3) Kobe Bryant
4) Dirk Noritzki, Dallas
5) Carmelo Anthony, Denver and Steve Nash, Phoenix (tie)

Thoughts: I thought James has one of the best individual seasons ever and got his first MVP award. This year, he has been even better. He’s finally balancing scoring and distributing to the point that he’s averaging nearly nine assists a game and he’s a forward. Durant has been a monster this season and was legally allowed to drink a little more than a year ago. Kobe is still Kobe and is the engine that makes the Lakers run. Dirk and Carmelo have reached a maturity level where they do more for their team than score. The injury bug has definitely hit Bryant, Paul, Anthony and Rose, affected their seasons and placement in the MVP voting. I’ll have more on Howard with the Magic review.

Preseason Rookie of the Year: Blake Griffin, Clippers
Current Rook of the Year: Tyreke Evans, Sacramento

Thought: Griffin is out for the year with a knee injury and hasn’t even played a game. Evans gets the edge over Brandon Jennings of Milwaukee because he has been more consistent.

Preseason Sleeper (East): Chicago

Thoughts: Hasn’t completely worked out but Rose can carry the Bulls to a first-round playoff win.

Preseason Sleeper (West): Utah

Thoughts: This one may work out for me.

OK, some quick thoughts on each team so you can sound smart to your co-workers:

Cleveland: With the addition of Antawn Jamison, they are clearly the class of the East. If he can incorporate himself with James, this team is going to be scary . Shaq can’t get injured because their front line has gotten thinner.

Lakers: Them and the Cavs are the top two teams in the league. I worry about three things. First, Kobe’s health. He’s a warrior but if he breaks down, problems. Second, don’t like the point guard play. Jordan Farmer has to be a big piece for them. Finally, Bynum is too inconsistent for my liking. it’s a good sign when I mention three potential negatives for the Lakers and not say Ron Artest.

Utah: Its all a tease people. They will win a round, maybe even two in the playoffs but will lose to the Lakers in five games, it happens every year. What has been good is that Deron Williams may be having the best season by a point guard in the league this year, maybe.

Orlando: Something is off about this bunch. Never liked the unofficial trade of Turkoglu for Vince Carter. All of the matchup advantages that they had in the playoffs last year are completely gone. Howard needs to really get some more touches on offense.

Denver: Biggest issue for them is health. They have to get Carmelo, Kenyon Martin and Billiups on the same page to make a legitimate run at the Lakers.

Oklahoma City: If Durant played for a top-ten NBA market, he would be more known. He’s probably going to win a scoring title this season and is getting even better. Did I mention that he’s only 21? His current streak of scoring at least 25 points in 26 consecutive games is impressive but I like the other numbers, like him averaging nearly eight rebounds a game, shooting more than 50% from the field, giving effort on defense. Those things are making him an MVP candidate.

Toronto: They are quietly moving up the Eastern conference standings and may even gain home court advantage over Boston. Bosh is playing like the best post player in the league right now, even better than Howard.

Atlanta: They’re not a fluke, third-best, arguably, second-best team in the East. They have everything you would like in a good team. Go to scorer (Joe Johnson), post presence (Al Horford), scoring off the bench (Jamal Crawford). Key to team has been maturity of Josh Smith. Don’t know where it came from but he stopped shooting three-pointers and getting others involved has been a nice surprise.

Boston: Breaking down health-wise. Garnett’s knees aren’t good, don’t listen to what anyone is saying, seen the guy play for more than 10 years now, its noticeable. Pierce is also banged up. Rondo has been very good for them but he isn’t enough. They don’t even make the conference finals this year.

San Antonio: Its tough to dismiss a team with Tim Duncan and Tony Parker, but that’s what I’m going to do. They may win a first-round series, but nothing beyond that. Duncan still has his moments like his 26 rebound effort in tonight’s game, but his body can’t keep it up. The Richard Jefferson pickup has been a moderate success and that’s being nice. Ginobili’s body has betrayed him as well.

Phoenix: Nash is playing the best ball of his career and he’s 36 and is a two-time MVP award winner. Its really a physical marvel that he’s kept this up. The Amare Stoudemire saga needs to end this trading deadline. No fault of his own, but both sides can use a change.

Dallas: Like the Caron Butler and Brandon Haywood additions. Josh Howard’s time has drawn to an end there. You now have a second scorer to take pressure off of Dirk, who may be having his second-best season of his career outside of the MVP year.

Portland: Treading water now but desperately need Brandon Roy to return if they expect to have any impact in the second half of the season.

Charlotte: Who expected the addition of Stephen Jackson to be one of the top-five in-season moves of the NBA this season? He now has Charlotte contending for a playoff spot and a tough out in the first round. They have beaten Cleveland two times this year already, not saying that they would beat the Cavs in a playoff series, but the Bobcats can make some noise.

Milwaukee: Jennings has been a nice surprise and Bogut has been productive. Imagine what they could have done if Redd has been healthy the whole time?

Chicago: Speaking of injuries, look at the Bulls since Rose has returned from a bad ankle. They can make a nice run in the East over the next few weeks.

Miami: If they acquire Stoudemire, they become the fourth best team in the East. If not, Wade will continue to be an elite player whose team loses in the first round of the playoffs once again.

New Orleans: Screw this season, I’m very, very concerned with Chris Paul and his knee injury.

Houston: Nice story but not an elite team.

Philadelphia, New York, Detroit, Indiana: All having bad seasons

Washington: Not saying that they’re tanking but you suspend Arenas for the rest of the season, and deservedly so, trade Jamison AND Butler. That’s a major purge that may net them a nice free agent or two in the offseason, in addition to a top-three draft pick.

Clippers: Hard to judge them with no Griffin this year, but these are your father’s Clippers, awful.

Sacramento: Evans has been excellent for them but I’m torn on him. He’s playing point guard for them but I don’t know if that’s his ultimate position. He doesn’t pass well enough to play point but doesn’t shoot well enough for shooting guard. He’s more of an off-guard. They also need to figure out if he and Kevin Martin can co-exist long term because in the short term, its not working.

Minnesota: T-Wolves fans should be pissed at the general manager, David Kahn, for screwing up the draft last year. They could have a back court of Rick Rubio and Stephen Curry right now.

Golden State: Free Anthony Randolph and Curry!

New Jersey: What do you say about a four-win team? Not much.
　
Tomorrow: Five storyline to look forward to the second-half of the season.