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NBA Basketball

The Kobe Kids and How Kobe Made Them Better

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By: Opinionated MJ

 

Who would’ve thought? An Article about Kobe making his teammates better. Although, yes, he’s retired. He’s no longer a member of the Lakers roster. He’s no longer in the locker room. He’s no longer giving anyone the infamous death stare. He’s no longer just jacking up jumpshots with a focus on increasing his total points number to etch himself in the top 5 of scoring for years to come. He’s no longer handing down his criticisms and showing no emotion when the kids are excited and jumping around. He was like a father to these Lakers for a couple seasons and it paid dividends.

 

I read an article and seen video from NBA analysts that explained how the whole Kobe rebuild experiment worked. Let Kobe shoot away, increase the chance for lottery picks, and develop the young players while he is still there. Let that Mamba Mentality rub off and let’s see how they perform once he’s gone and they are unleashed. Here we are now. Luke Walton brought the championship culture from being a member of the Golden State Warriors coaching staff. He also brought championship experience, playing experience, and even having been apart of a Phil Jackson team (if that matters), allows him to relate and give great advice to the young Lakers. Maybe his coaching last year while Kerr was out wasn’t a fluke. This offense is nearly identical to the offense run in Golden State. Just different players who share similarities with those on the Warriors.

 

Back to Kobe. They say he was never able to make his teammates better. In theory, this is true. He didn’t set them up well unless he wanted to, he didn’t increase their numbers, blah, blah, so on, so on. He made Lamar Odom better, he made Andrew Bynum play to his potential, he made Gasol tough as a Laker, he made Shaq step his game up and compete with him as well in the past. Isn’t that making your teammates better? Fast forward. He jacked up shots but led by example. Having a killer instinct that is all over these Lakers now, right now. He left them with a sense of freedom now to play their game and know that execution is everything. He didn’t have to have gaudy assist numbers, he didn’t flirt with triple-doubles every night, he didn’t shoot lights out from 3, he didn’t shoot beautiful floaters over big men constantly, and he wasn’t the one to shy away from the blame, from the final shot, from being hated. He wasn’t even appreciated until he declared retirement. Yet, he still found a way to improve the young Laker kids and help propel them to this surprising start to the 2016-17 NBA season.

 

If you look at the holdovers from the past couple of seasons, those are the players affected the most. Julius Randle, Nick Young, and Jordan Clarkson are those affected the most. They have come out and been surprising individually while also playing well within Walton’s team concept. They defeated the Warriors handily. They had a major comeback against the Sacramento Kings. They’ve also competed in every game this season. They’ve been highly competitive. Which wasn’t expected at all. Everyone expected another lottery season. Why has no one expected this team would rise like last year’s Utah Jazz? Maybe everyone had higher expectations on the Minnesota Timberwolves. They have saavy veterans who will help with the growth of the Kobe Kids in Luol Deng, Timofey Mozgov, and Lou Williams. They have consistency with their offense now that they have a coach that won’t limit them and not use their strengths, sorry Byron Scott. They can now spread their wings, and the ball, now that Kobe is gone. What he left behind was will. Will. Something that can carry you when the odds are against you. He left behind professionalism. A way to carry yourself from game to game, media conference to media conference, practice, and games. He left behind Mamba Mentality. I’m sure you Cleveland Cavs and Kyrie Irving fans know about that. Even he gave Kobe praise. Kobe taught the young Lakers, and others, to push the button and not care if the shot falls or bricks. He taught them to go for it. Leave it all on the floor and deal with the success and/or ramifications later. He taught them how to be leaders and how to translate that to the basketball floor. He left his imprint on this current Lakers team. It’s up to you to see it. If you were never a Kobe fan and didn’t watch him from day 1 up to now, you wouldn’t understand what he left behind and how he affected these Lakers. They’re exceeding expectations. Russell Westbrook can set his teammates up from drives, LeBron as well on drives and from the post, Steph sets his teammates up from 40 feet away by being a threat to shoot anywhere and simply find an open man or angle, but if you take them away from their teams they will surely lose their way and won’t play the same. The difference is, Kobe improves you individually and that will trickle down and around every which way. The proof is in these Lakers. Watch, enjoy, and remember how they became this way. Imagine if Ingram had a season alongside Kobe.

 

I predict they’ll win 30+ games this season. I won’t be surprised if they make a big move and land a star either now or in the upcoming offseason that will put them over the top. It’ll be fun to watch them rise in the west again. It is much more wide open this year from 4 thru 8. Let’s see if they can land a playoff berth and make some noise.

NBA Basketball

Rambling Thought: Homing In On the Playoffs

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NBA-playoffs-wallpapers-HD-desktop

By: Opinionated MJ

The lay of the land currently has Detroit down 0-2. We’ve got heart and we will beat Cleveland. Home cooking is ours next! LeBron’s team showing life. I know what LeBron can do but what can his team do going forward?

I see Dwayne Wade is transforming into his old self. I predicted the Heat would meet and beat the Cavs in this playoff. I thought Charlotte would serve up better competition but the Heat are home. I believe in home court. It’s a reason why they play for it. Losing game 1 on your floor is the only possible problem.

Toronto has given me reason to believe that they can’t make it from just being in the playoffs, early rounds. I guess Stephen A. Smith is saying that DeRozan is gone to the Lakers. So who will follow? That could lead to all types of deals or maybe the Lakers then go draft a big man or Ben Simmons. I’ll go with my cousin on Simmons. I also think the Lakers will land the #1 pick. The league loves them and that’ll be their reward for themselves to find a way to keep relevance in L.A. post-Kobe. How else would they? Are the trio enough going into next year? I believe Randle, Russell, and Clarkson could have a future together.

Paul George has been playing big for the Pacers. Literally. I don’t think anyone has given any real attention to his ascension since Larry Bird wanted him to play the 4. Results for sure.

Boston is one player away. When will Danny Ainge trade some of his picks away to lure in a player? Carmelo to Boston by any chance? Could that be what Boston is missing or do they need more defensive wings to couple with Isiah Thomas?

Tom Thibodeau has become the head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Look out league. KG ties into the defensive philosophy from the Boston Championship team. Could provide even more boosts to the grow of their young core. Expect them to make noise in the league next year and be like Utah from this season. Except, I actually expect PLAYOFFS from them. I’m a big fan of Thibs. Wonder if D-Rose for Ricky Rubio would work for both teams? They’re playing a good Atlanta team with some experience.

Does Mark Jackson actually land in Sacramento? Would that be a good fit? You’d think he’d need some shooters or change their philosophy to such. Wait, Seth Curry & Mark Jackson! STORY TO WATCH!

I’m a Lillard fan and I believe he will perform as always. He probably needs another option in case someone else deflates in some games. I see him making a huge push in the future with another piece. Durant? Dwight? DeRozan? Maybe not. Doesn’t have a ring to it. Maybe a rookie big man whose two-way abilities are already with him. Chris Paul is a monster and with Blake having had to watch while he was hurt, we all got to see who needs to dictate the Clippers offense. They need Blake just the same too. I’d like to see Portland’s home-stand.

The Spurs have an easy series. They will sweep. Nor am I worried about the Warriors. Sweep with or without Stephen Curry. The prospect of that is dangerous, if you see it how I do.

What exactly are KD & Russ going to do? It’s Russ’ team due to him being healthy with this new group of players acquired last year all while Kevin Durant was out with injury. Notched triple-doubles, massive scoring nights, facilitating, MVP consideration, almost a playoff berth, and learning his teammates and their spots. He’s racking assists cause he finds them in their hotspots directly from an offensive attack. KD must fit in more and become the Assassin always or we should begin to want Russell to take those big shots equally as well. This series is crazy. Dallas with a win going back home. This will definitely be some fun basketball. Quiet rivalry, in my opinion. I won’t be able to call this series til the 5th game. It’ll go 6.

Early Prediction: Warriors Vs Heat in Finals. Warriors in 6. Would be an amazing story for their team if they beat LeBron then Dwayne Wade for their back to back titles.

 

NBA Basketball

Foresight: L.A. Kings

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By: Opinionated MJ

Today I had a hunch after seeing that the Roy Hibbert trade was made official. Take careful note of what I’m saying here, remember where you heard it first. July 10th, 2015 at 11:31pm Eastern Time as I write this. Ha! The Lakers only gave up a 2nd round pick while also getting Roy Hibbert to agree to waiving his trade kicker which leaves the Lakers with money. I also paid special attention to the Lou Williams signing, the Brandon Bass signing, the Larry Nance sighting (yeah I watched the Lakers 5 on 5) and the fact that the Lakers still have Nick Young. I thought about the Sacramento Kings and wondered why do they have so many centers on their roster. Cousins, Cauley-Stein, Arturas Gudaitis, Kosta Koufos, and they are also entertaining the idea of Sim Bhullar. Karl also likes Javale McGee. 5 centers to be exact. This also stemmed from a conversation I had with a friend about the George Karl, DeMarcus Cousins, Rajon Rondo triangle. Knowing that Rondo & Cousins will either get along very well or won’t get along at all. Rondo will probably get along with Karl because Karl likes point guards. Then again, Rondo’s attitude may also prove to be problematic for him too. Which leaves me wondering why would they build a nuclear bomb to only shoot it directly up and target it to fall directly where it came from.

This is going to blow up. I don’t see it any other way. I don’t see DeMarcus actually trying to be buddies with George Karl after what happened. It’s quiet now. I believe that quiet is only attributed to the learning process the new front office is going through. Vlade Divac doesn’t see eye to eye with Karl on this matter. Excuse me Jalen, Bill, but Boogie doesn’t trust the Kings as an organization. So with all of this pretty much up in the air, there’s only one solution: See what this team can do from opening day through the trade deadline and make a move for the future of the franchise. By then they will know whether they are retaining Rondo. They will know whether Karl will have truly been right or wrong, and I believe they want to fire him BUT they don’t and they won’t. How would it look to hire a coach and not get anything out of him? They’re going to get their money’s worth. Rondo is on a 1 year deal. You have a lot of new faces at the center position incoming and this could ultimately spell the end of the Cousins Era in Sacramento.

Here’s where it gets tricky. What would you expect in return for your center? A center to replace him right? Well exactly. Enter, again, the Los Angeles Lakers. They’ve shored up their 4 position for ultimate decision: trading Randle. Adding Bass, Williams, drafting Nance, and keeping Nick Young throughout this time, and in the now-term according to Mitch Kupchak, only sets them up to have the assets to pull this deal off. George Karl honestly wants coachable players, so Rondo is the scapegoat in this one. They may even try to find a way to pit Rondo against Cousins and side with Rondo to find a reason outside of themselves being the blame for trading away Cousins, once they do. This will also be the action speaking pitch to Rondo to stay on board and that they keys to the franchise belong to him, at least throughout this time. The Lakers have the contract to match with Roy Hibbert, the assets to woo them with Nick and Julius and the Kings have the available big men to shuffle around once Cousins is gone, not to mention they’ll end up with Hibbert.

The Lakers are smart, or maybe it’s just me, but lets take a look at what I’ve come across:

LakersKingsCousinsHibbertTradeFull

This is the trade that I assume will be proposed, give or take a few draft picks, although in the trade machine it doesn’t work because they’re trying to spread the Jason Terry exception across both Nick Young and Julius Randle. Thats where you take another gander here:

KingsExceptions

We end up having to use every exception the Kings have but why wouldn’t they when Roy Hibbert has an expiring contract along with Rondo’s contract? There’s more than $25 millions soon to come off the books. The trade exceptions they hold is less than half of what they could possibly have free to lure free agents who could end up playing With Rondo & Rudy or taking over altogether. Here were my successes although they were not the complete trade:

LakersKingsCousinsHibbertRandleTrade

and of course this one here:

LakersKingsCousinsHibbertTrade

If you are a GM in the league, what deal do you think the Kings will get that is better than what the Lakers may be willing to give up? There’s maybe only a #1 pick that they could receive from elsewhere that would be potentially better but that could take anywhere from 2-5 years of player development to reach where they want to be: contention. Plus there are rumors that teams do not want to deal with DeMarcus Cousins but the Lakers are NOT one of those teams. They are willing to take the risk. Why not? They took the risk for Dwight Howard and he left as soon as he could while they were practically on their knees begging him to stay.

The Kings have been trash since C-Webb and Company left them and the entire run was over. They have to find a way back to relevance or they wasted their time fighting to keep the team in Sacramento. They will have successfully failed their fanbase. So why not shoot themselves in the arm with a steriod to jumpstart another possible rebuild period by trading Cousins to the Lakers, freeing up cap in the very near future, having veterans on board in Rondo and Rudy, bringing in Hibbert who is a good rim protector and seeking to retain him, and having to only fill in the blanks? No one wants to start from Stage 1 Rebuilding in the Western Conference. You will not have the same luck the Celtics have. This isn’t the “Least-ern” Conference.

Have fun with the ESPN NBA Trade Machine yourself.

NBA Basketball

Un-Common Ground

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Carmelo Anthony of the Knicks and Kobe Bryant (from www.newsday.com)
(from http://www.newsday.com)

By: Opinionated MJ

Regarded as the biggest two markets in the NBA, these two teams find themselves struggling to maintain an identity although they possess two of the games biggest names. The Lakers and Knicks find themselves stuck while the rest of the NBA acquires big names and stars elsewhere. Prior to the latest CBA, would those players have actually made themselves available to the smaller markets? I guess this is a win for David Stern who pushed to make the league more marketable from top to bottom, and Stern who also may have single-handedly put the Lakers in the situation they’re currently in. At this point though, that’s water under the bridge.

Looking at some of the players both teams have acquired, you can blatantly see desperation. Once you take off the “hate” glasses and allow these teams to soak in their own messy situations, you can see that they still are actually trying to be as competitive as possible. What more could you ask for? Lakers miss out on LaMarcus Aldridge and they go after Roy Hibbert. When was the last time they actually had a defensive center? Bynum? That’s not a bad look to me. Low risk, high pay, high reward. What’s better, Robert Sacre? I’m not too sold on the Lou Williams deal, but then again, his deal will be a bargain in the long run and he’s already acclimated to coming off of the bench. Not too big of an ego I’d guess. I’d think if his ego was inflating, it was satisfied by simply becoming a Laker. They’ve also acquired Brandon Bass who is a hard worker. Who’s better? Was Boozer better? Maybe offensively. So why not?

Everyone loves to kick the Laker dog while it’s down, which is usually never. Not the way it is right now. This is the worse. They’ve hit bottom as of this past season and can only go up from here. I’m a longtime Kobe fan/supporter but I am ready for him to ride off and pass the torch myself. Friends question my status as a true Kobe fan when I say that amongst them. I guess the front office still wants to help Kobe believe he’s going to be able to compete in the playoffs, for championships specifically, and to help satisfy his eventual retirement. Maybe this will help fulfill his drive or whatever is pushing him to continue. Maybe just to be professional and fulfill his contractual obligations. Who wouldn’t at the tune of $25 million? I’ll ease off the Lakers by asking them to let D’Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson, and Julius Randle start, play huge minutes, and hopefully develop into something like Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. Far-fetched? I’ll touch on this in another story down the line.

Now, the New York Knicks! NEW YORK, NEW YORK! Let me start by saying that I also am a Carmelo Anthony fan/supporter. I guess I love some volume shooters, eh? The more, the bigger the individual score, the merrier! Damn Carmelo has got to be thinking about his decision to stay in NYC turned out bogus, at least in the short-term. He would’ve competed for a championship with the Chicago Bulls or Houston Rockets. I prefer he had gone to Chicago. I mean, Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, Carmelo Anthony, Pau Gasol, and Joakim Noah?!?!?!?!!??

kanyeshrug

The Knicks are also trying to make some moves. I actually expected Phil to go after Roy Hibbert. Guess he told Jeanie about his intentions a little too soon! At least they acquired Arron Afflalo which should serve as a replacement for losing Iman Shumpert. I do NOT understand WHY they traded Tim Hardaway Jr. If he was still apart of this team as it’s being constructed, I could actually see them trying to compete.. for an 8th spot in the East. Isn’t that good enough? Why not see LeBron in the first round? Develop your team that way, through disappointment. Let them know what it feels like to go against a juggernaut. Learn, improve next summer, add to the team, come back with everybody knowing what it’s about. Throw them to the wolves! Let me pose my first question… What is Derrick Williams going to do for this team, in thee (yes, “thee”) triangle offense, and with Calderon potentially still starting? Why not start Jerian Grant? He’s a Grant for godssake! Coveted by Phil Jackson himself. Or, wait! Maybe it’s another move to coddle to the people he’s fond of. I thought when Phil arrived to NY that he’d bring Fisher, Shaw, Clemons, and everybody he’d been associated with. I definitely didn’t see Derek Fisher as a fit for coach. Second question, would Derek Fisher have led Golden State to a championship? Meh. The Robin Lopez move, to me, was made to lure Aldridge and ended in an epic FAIL! At least they acquired a big man who can defend and rebound. Let’s not talk about Kyle O’Quinn. He averages 5.8ppg, 3.9rpg, and 1.2apg. Those numbers may fall with Melo on his team. No disrespect to my boy but he truly IS a ball-stopper. Deservedly so considering he will have only Afflalo as a decent weapon. I hope the Knicks aren’t done dealing because they need another scorer. Maybe they should request Nick Young from the Lakers who they oddly share NBA dungeon space with.

Hold on to hope cause there’s light at the end of the tunnel for both teams. They have to trust in their youth (yes Knick fans, even Kristaps Porzingis), let them all soak up as much experience and knowledge as they can early, and hopefully resemble cohesion by the time mid-January rolls around. The Lakers have much more upside in their youth, especially with Clarkson having a season under his belt running the show. He should be the example of my “throw them to the wolves” theory. They can only get better. No one wants to constantly embarrass themselves every night on the biggest stages. If someone told you that you had to do the Apollo or audition in Hollywood studio every night for 9 months, you’d get better. I don’t see it any other way. Unless you’re stuck behind the curtain.