I think Rose deserved the MVP last season, but so did others.

What about this season? If they gave out a "Best player" award, instead of an MVP, then LeBron would simply win it every year. But Take Lebron away from the Heat, and you still have a 45-50 win team.

My MVP vote would go to Kevin Love. Take Love away from the Wolves, and you have a 10-15 win team. Nobody is more valuable to their team than Love. With Rubio out, he has simply taken his game to another level, and he was at a high level to start with. And the stats are there as well. #3 in scoring, #2 in rebounds, #1 in minutes played, he can post up, shoot the three, and will kill you from anywhere on the court. He has vastly improved his defense this season as well, which was the biggest knock on his game.

James is having a historic season, but IMO, Love is the more valuable player.

Agreed.



True, but he's hardly the first to get the award in such a way. To be fair, he was much more deserving than K-Love would be this year (although I'm with you that K-Love deserves some [not first-place] votes). He was certainly the MOP of the regular season start-to-finish.



Nor should you. In the same way nothing matters for Miami until they clinch the Finals, nothing matters for the Bulls until they clinch against the Heat. It's really impressive that the Bulls keep winning sans Rose, but it will become completely irrelevant if Rose isn't 100% come playoff (against Miami) time. I do believe that they need the #1 seed to have a chance.



In a technical sense, sure, but only one of those players currently puts you in title contention on his own...shouldn't that matter? Serious question for the Love-for-MVP ambassadors: Do you think KG should have won it when he single-handedly took Minny to the 8th or 7th seed during years the West was much tougher than it is right now? No one's a bigger KG fan than me, but I don't think so. I think you have to be able to make your team truly contend to be MVP. This isn't baseball. Great players can single-handedly make an impact on wins in this sport. Don't get me wrong, I don't underestimate Love's value. And also, anyone who thinks Love deserves MVP consideration better not have any problem with Nash's string of MVPs.

On an unrelated note...could Kentucky beat the Wizards or Bobcats? Jeff Van Gundy says the notion is "absurd," but most of us agree that Jeff Van Gundy is absurd. I think this Kentucky team would have a better chance than any college team in the last 20 years or so. They're young, but they don't play young, and a few have NBA bodies already (against the Bobcats, wouldn't Davis be the best player on the floor?). I don't think they could win a series, but could they steal a game if it was played at Rupp? I say yes.

Jeff Van Gundy looks exactly like David Paymer, who was in Car Pool. Car Pool was a terrible movie. Jeff Van Gundy is bald and ridiculous. Tom Arnold should never be in another movie ever again unless it's in a cameo. Thus, Kentucky could totally beat Charlotte or the Wizards. Funny enough, I actually find the Bobcats, worse record aside, to be more frightening than the Wizards. The Wizards expect to lose, everyone expects them to lose, and nobody seems to even respect their viability as a franchise. The Celtics were able to play like crap, expecting Avery Bradley to pull off a Jeremy Lin at guard, and the Wizards let them. The Celtics held their usual 'shakier than Michael J. Fox' single-digit fourth quarter lead over the Wiz, and yet, the Wiz never threatened. There was no preponderance they could come all the way back. There was no faith or camaraderie. There were no heroics. They are actually close to becoming a legitimate team in many ways, but... I don't know. I'm not going to pinpoint my feeling with a stat, but I don't honestly feel the need to, either. It just seems grim.

As for Nash's MVP runs, I'm perfectly fine with them. I still consider Nash the second best PG in the league, age aside. I would put CP3 above him (not by too much), but overall, I'm not sure CP3 will ever demonstrate the kind of regular season dominance Nash pulled off with the Suns (which is why I have stated - and backed up - my notion that CP3 will never win MVP in his career). Paul certainly hasn't made any of the teams he's playing on undeniable championship contenders - and, if he made the Clippers viable to earn a second or third seed and Blake's numbers got better (which would seem to go directly hand-in-hand), I think his PF teammate would end up snagging MVP from him and/or splitting votes and giving the award to a player from another team. The Suns had a record that was among the league's best, consistently, when Nash was dishing for them. Hell, he has them competitive now, where he's leading the league in assists per game. They're losing close games to Elite teams and flirting with the .500 mark and the playoffs in a way that no one would have anticipated - especially during a lockout-shortened season. Hell, I might as well say it - they almost have as a good a record as the Clips do, with Gortat in place of Griffin for PG-PF feeds. Needless to say, if people have a problem with Nash's MVPs, I'll be more than happy to dispute their claim.

Plus, Nash is just a cool guy. Probably the one guy in the league I'd most like to hang out with.

Agreed, although it says as much about Griffin as it does about Paul -- are we sure Griffin is that good? His attitude lately completely sucks and his disposition toward refs is getting pretty grating (he behaves as if he should be allowed to take big swings for blocks without consequence, when we'd all rather see him actually attempt to play defense besides big blocks). All of this is tampered with the fact that his coach is awful and demotivating, so hopefully someone comes in sooner rather than later to infuse some energy. It's become obvious that Griff isn't in Love's league (which is not a slight, few people are), but every now and then I get an icky feeling that Griffin could turn into some version of Vince Carter's flash-in-the-pan career where he remains exciting but never quite reaches his potential, possibly because he bought into his own hype. The next 365 days of basketball will be very telling for Blake: after they get ousted and then Del Negro is replaced, does Griff come into next season with post moves and passion? Intriguing situation in all senses.

Back to the draft, this is from Chad Ford's most recent mock draft, regarding Perry Jones III:





Umm, Chad? That means he struggles to stay motivated as a basketball player. Why try to make it sound softer by pointing out "offense and defense" as if there's another component to the game? I mean, is there any chance this guy doesn't bust? The team that drafts him should immediately waive him just to save time.

EDIT: Just perused ESPN at the work office and saw it was Stan Van Gundy who said that the UK comparison was ridiculous. He has also said on record that walking, working out, and not eating donuts is ridiculous. Actually, he never said that, but he's fat. Haha. I'm shallow and silly


He did have one three-pointer of a remark:

"I mean, people will say, 'Oh, Kentucky, you know's, got four NBA players.' Yeah, well, the other team's got 13."

Not bad logic, swings it a bit towards SVG's viewpoint. He also mentions it could happen, maybe on a one-night basis, which makes his comments at least credible from multiple sides.



For the record, the ESPN ad for The Master Tournament with epic music and a voice-over, is actually ridiculous. It shows about three seconds of actual golf! Some confidence you have in the sport you're advertising.

Oh no, I get what Chad's talking about, because our second guitarist can't solo or play riffs well, but otherwise he's quite a guitar player. One day he'll be an excellent back-up bassist for a solid group like CrazyTown (sorry if I spaced that wrong - actually, no, I don't care).

That's the take home point in the MVP debate and the #1 reason why Love can't be seriously considered right now for the award. Until he can lead his team to the postseason, he just can't be considered the most valuable player in the entire league. The Twolves aren't even a .500 team! Compared to what guys like Durant and Lebron are doing, Love's season pales in comparison. He's putting up outstanding numbers, but they aren't consistently translating into wins. When that happens, he's a legit candidate. And I think it will happen within the next year or two, but not right now.



And the Bobcats are different...how? As a franchise they've never won a single playoff game. Not a series, a game. This season, they're losing by an average margin of 13 points per game! In other words, they're getting blown out on a nightly basis. I'm not going to launch into a defense of the Wizards because they're terrible, but everything you've said about them applies to the Bobcats as well, if not more so.



Haha. I just can't see any way he's not a bust. If he goes to a bad team, can you really see him putting in the effort to make himself better? I guess if he ends up on a veteran team like San Antonio or Boston he could learn how to put in work, but even with his draft stock falling, I Can't see him lasting until the end of the first round. The NBA loves drafting on potential, so he'll probably still be a lottery pick.



That's a bingo. Unless Kentucky plans on playing their starters for 48 minutes (or 40 if we're using college rules), they couldn't win on anything remotely resembling a consistent basis. Questions like these pop up every year or two when there's either a great college team or an awful professional one. This year there's a little of both. The Bobcats and the Wizards are really bad, but not historically so. Kentucky is really good and has a bunch of future NBA players. The key though, is future. None of those guys would come into the NBA and dominate from Day 1. Davis might be able to defensively, but he'll struggle to score 10 points a game as a rookie. And that's their best player. Kemba Walker is a backup for the Bobcats and would instantly be Kentucky's best offensive player if he was on that team.

These question are fun to go back and forth with because we can't ever truly know the outcome, but almost every time the pro team would get the better of the college team. That said, Kentucky could certainly take a game here or there, but the Bobcats would probably win 8 or 9 out of 10.

Roseless Bulls vs. Thunder coming up. Finals preview?

Heat-Boston should be interesting as well with the way the Celtics have been playing.

That was ugly. Thunder are rolling right now. The thing is, I watched the game. It would be hard for anyone to guard Durant and/or Westbrook as well as Deng did last night. It didn't matter. They both scored at will.

Celtics vs. Heat.... Hmmmmm. Not a bad blowout 'W' for Boston. Suddenly, 4th in the East. Suddenly, looking hot. Sure, they could go 0-3 over their next three games (San Antonio, Chicago and Pacers, two of them away games), but they are certainly a more consistent team than Philly or the Hawks, and deserve to be kept in the Eastern conference mix as the number three dark-horse. I don't trust the Magic (at least until Dwight's Klonopin order comes in), the Heat are rapidly descending, and the Bulls aren't supernatural, even though they're obviously still impressive. It's a long way to go in one week, but I think they are right back in the contention mix. They obviously can do great things when they're hot. If they reverse last season (where they went from being elite to simply being on of the best 7 teams in the league), then be afraid. Also, Doc Rivers is absolutely a Coach of the Year candidate. This may be the best season he's had as a coach. Ever.



I'm sure the 'things Pete and Phil principally disagree on' list is rather huge (I'm guessing only Vexer's overrated films list -currently at 600,000,125 - tops it), and let me kind of add to it: I absolutely agree that the Bobcats are a worse team than even the Wizards. They are garbage. They suck every night. They aren't even competitive. They couldn't win a game in five quarters if they were spotted a 15-0 advantage in the extra period on a lot of nights. They are as bad as Cleveland was last year, if not worse. My point is more or less that, as a franchise, I see falling all the way to the bottom (like the Cavs have done twice in the last decade - a handy feat) more hopeful than simply being a bad team that seems to constantly remain on the curb. For example, I think the Colts and Rams have a much brighter future than the Browns -- a team that won as many games as both of them last year, combined -- simply because their franchises have no equity or ties to the past right now. They reached the bottom. It's liberating. The Colts have the future, and Luck. The Rams have new blood pumping in and a complete disregard for their 2011 roster (which is well-deserved). The Browns have nothing to reconcile with from last season. I beleive the stasis of being a poor team is what shrouds the Wizards, and since they already received their draft gift with Wall (who, unlike Irving, hasn't changed the tone of his franchise as much), I don't see a lot of opportunities for them to change dramatically. Again, this is obviously a prediction, I'm not going to compare postseason records historically (although frankly, they both suck) - nor am I even defending Charlotte. But I do like their situation more and the freedom that this nadir of a season may provide for them in the future. They need only look at a Cavaliers team which lost more in a row last season than some teams have lost ALTOGETHER this season and look at their franchise's present, where they nearly challenged for playoff position as little as a month ago thanks to an outstanding draft acquisition in Kyrie Irving, for immediate inspiration.



I didn't put much stock in how bad the Bulls were yesterday, since they won't have to cross this bridge until the Finals at earliest and they were without their leader - but I put stock in how amazingly the Thunder were playing. This is a team that has the potential to blow any team out in the league and seems to only get more impressive as the weeks go by. I picked them a few months ago, and I re-iterate - it's going to take brilliance from whatever teams face them in the playoffs to dis-rail them. That being said, a game without Rose is a game without Rose. You can't really gain any perspective from how they played in relation to the Thunder, although I'll say that the Bull's shot selection was far too conservative and that ended up putting them in the backseat whenever the Thunder had a huge play from Westbrook (who was superb) and Durant (who was, well, Durant) - which was, of course, every other minute. Someone needs to step up in huge games whenever Rose isn't effective (or worse, isn't there), and it didn't look like the Bulls had any players yesterday who seemed willing to open the game up.



EDIT: Commentating three-pointer of the week so far, from Mr. Marc Stein:

"Can't speak for Bulls fans, but the committee (of one) is prepared to pardon a blowout loss at OKC without D-Rose because the team has generally been so resilient without him, going 14-6 in those 20 games. The Bulls lose me completely, though, when it comes to their handling of Tom Thibodeau's contract. Completely."

The dumbest personnel move since the Saints slapped Brees with the franchise tag. I can't imagine how anyone in the Bull's front office is really that agonizingly stupid.

I'll ask again, how are the Bobcats any different in that regard?



So the addition of Nene (coupled with the departure of Young and McGee), a top 5 pick in this year's draft, what should amount to somewhere close to $30 million in cap room (pending the use of the amnesty clause), and the likely dismissal of Andray Blatche and Rashard Lewis aren't any reason to think the team can be vastly different soon?



So, because the Cavs landed Kyrie and he's been very good this year, it somehow means the Bobcats are in a better position than the Wizards? I don't see how the two are related unless your point is that getting the top pick is a foolproof way of rebuilding a team. If that's the case, you're making two pretty big assumptions:

1. That the Bobcats will even be in a position to pick someone of Irving's ilk. As the team with the worst record they have the best shot at winning the lottery, but even that's only a 25% chance. They likely aren't going to have the top pick. In fact, it's pretty rare for the team with the best odds at snagging the top pick to actually get it.

2. That whoever they draft will have an Irving-like impact. For every Griffin, Howard, James, or Rose taken at the top of the draft, there's an Olowokandi, Brown, or Oden. There's also just plain good players like Wall and Bogut. As much as I like Anthony Davis (who will be the top pick), there's just no guarantee that he'll deliver on all of his potential.

The Bobcats, with the worst record, are guaranteed a top 4 pick. It's a virtual crapshoot of where they'll end up picking and who they'll get with that pick. The Wizards, with the second worst record, are guaranteed a top 5 pick. Same thing with them. In addition, they just obtained a good, veteran center, and will have a ton of cap room this offseason to add additional pieces. Simply put, they're already better and they have more options to use in an effort to get better right away. The Bobcats have a top 4 pick and little cap room to pair with a pretty terribly assembled roster. It would be great for them if they got the top pick, but that's far from a guarantee.

I'm not saying you have to like the Wizards' situation better than the Cavs, but the reasons you've given don't seem to support your stance.

Obviously the Bobcats and Wiz both suck, and I think we've all been saying that it's getting a little worrisome how little impact John Wall has on wins (or even competitiveness). But the Wiz currently do have better players and a better financial situation. They also don't have the worst owner in the league (who happens to be the league's best player ever, of course). I mean, Jordan is such a bad judge of talent that he'll probably try to draft PJ3 if they get the top pick, and RG3 if they get the second.

I do think Anthony Davis is a franchise-changer, and would have gone #1 in either of the past two drafts. After that, it is not a deep draft in terms of anything beyond role players. I love love love Kidd-Gilchrist & Thomas Robinson for how they play, but I'm not sure where they play in the NBA. And therein lies the difference between the two teams, I think: if the Wiz land a 2-5 pick, it's imaginable that they can compete next year if they pick the right guy. With the Bobs, it's hard to imagine them not getting Davis and being competitive at all.

But again, they're both really bad.



I don't think the C's should quite be feared yet, but I do like the trend of getting better as opposed to getting worse as the season wears on, of course. Getting KG shots and figuring out how to utilize Bradley and Allen at the same time will be huge -- Bradley has been playing great on D but is still a pretty lousy PG, and it'll be tough to manage all those minutes in tight playoff games. Which is a fantastic problem to have, no doubt, but one that must be solved. I do agree that Doc has been wonderous this year, though, and will figure it out. They must get the 4th seed, of course, to hope to do playoff damage.

It's terrifying. The worst part is that he hasn't gotten much better since he's come into the league. He has flashes, and even entire games, where he puts everything together and looks like the monster he should be, but it isn't nearly often enough. He's better defensively, and his jumper is marginally better, but that's about it. He played really well for about a month and a half, but he's regressed lately back to the inconsistent player we saw for the first month of the season (granted, the team has been tanking pretty blatantly since the Nene trade). It's distressing. I'm hoping a real offseason this year and some better, smarter, more dedicated teammates will bring out the best in him next year.

My solution for the Wiz? Draft one of the Kentucky studs and sign Eric Gordon to an offer sheet and hope the Hornets don't match it. If he's healthy, we'd have a legit squad. It's likely neither of those things happen, however.



Hilarious. I kind of forgive Jordan for the Kwame Brown pick since he was a consensus top 2 or 3 pick that year, but the Adam Morrison selection is just unforgivable. And again, look at Charlotte's roster! He's a clueless owner.



I also think he's a franchinse-changer, but I thought similar things about Oden as well. Granted, his injuries derailed him and he likely would have rivaled Howard for the best center title, but that kind of proves my point. You just never know.



This was the point I was trying to make, you just said it better.



First I'll touch on the Heat. Their recent struggles are being largely overblown. They know they're virtually locked in at the 2 seed. They likely aren't catching the Bulls and Orlando is 6 games back with 15 to play. They can coast the rest of the way, stay at the 2 seed, and save energy for the playoffs. There's really nothing to gain by busting your ass every night in a shortened season at this point for them, as they know they can beat Chicago without home court. That's why their defense is suddenly pedestrian and why they're suddenly losing games they'd usually win. It's also part of the reason you see the Bulls busting their ass defensively every night. They know they need to hang on to the top seed to have a shot at beating the Heat (also because they havea defensive minded coach who wouldn't allow coasting). It really doesn't have to do with anything else and it isn't going to matter a whole lot in a few weeks.

As for the C's, I'd love to see them pass Orlando and grab the 3 seed. I want to see them and Miami in the second round since we didn't get the war we expected last year. When the playoffs roll around and the benches shorten, they should probably just stick with a 3 guard rotation bringing Bradley off the bench. Rondo is the guy that gives them a shot against the Heat since Miami doesn't have a PG capable of slowing him down. However, as we saw last year, they will put Wade or Lebron on him. That's when the C's need Pierce of Allen to catch fire. This goes without saying, but they need all those guys healthy for the playoffs. Since they haven't been completely healthy in a few years, it's a point worht bringing up.

I still don't think they'll beat Miami, but man would I love it if they did.

You had me until you said 'If he's healthy'. Is it just me, or did you anyone else foresee the Hornets getting Eric Gordon for twelve games - tops - this season? The CP3 trade was a lemon for New Orleans in many ways, but when you figure how unlikely it was for them to get Gordon and Kaman on the same court for more than an average of 15 games a season, it was truly a steal for the Clips. Additionally, I like Gordon, don't get me wrong, his ceiling is good bordering on All-Star, but when you consider his overall impact on a team, it's rather pedestrian. I think he found his niche with the Clips last year, and even then, he didn't make them considerably better. It's awesome if he's indisputably your third of fourth best player. Any higher than that, and you're asking for trouble.

Michael Jordan is a horrible owner, true. It's funny, since if you asked who was the greatest player ever, he'd win instantly. However, if you asked me whether or not Magic and Bird have had more impact on the league as a whole considering both their extended careers added with their professional accomplishment, I would say 'ABSOLUTELY'. Bird and Magic have been much better for the sport of basketball than Jordan, mostly because they were able to finally put back in what the league gave to them by contributing to successful franchises in ways that Jordan doesn't seem able to other than being a player.

To be fair to the Hornets they orchestrated a much better trade that was disallowed for literally no reason. I really can't club their management for that trade since their management got them a pretty good deal that, again, was disallowed for literally no reason.

As for Gordon, I think his ceiling is a bit higher than bodering on being an All-Star. He was a top 5 SG last year with the Clippers (or at least close to it). In only his third year, that's pretty impressive. Knee injuries are always troubling, but he's still only 23. He's a solid, willing defender (which, unfortunately is praise worthy in the NBA) who scores efficiently and can run a pick and roll pretty well. The Wizards need someone exactly like him who can score in the halfcourt. Right now, if they aren't turning games into track meets, they're struggling to score. If Gordon is healthy, he's a no brainer fit. If you're saying he'll never be healthy, well, we'll see.

Oh, I agree with that. I'm not going to attack New Orleans' management for making the trade, since they were forced to. I'm not going to attack Chris Paul, since he justified the trade by having the literal value of being able to transform a team and therefore the right to have the preference of being traded. This is all on David Stern. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm over-joyed that it worked out this way, since it satisfied my want to see an under-dog turn into Goliath (Clippers), I don't exactly regret the Lakers not getting yet another All-Star in the mail, and for all intents and purposes, it gave the league more parity overall, but this was still a dirty deal for New Orleans, and yes, the hated Lakers. This is a huge stain on Stern and a very regrettable way of projecting the idea of being 'league-owned' as being almost leprous.

So, the C's lose by one point to the Spurs. Heart-breaking loss. The Sixers take advantage of this by: getting blown out 99-78, by the Toronto Raptors. Wow. Just, wow. Go ahead and pencil in that Atlantic Division title.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7778991/orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-wants-fired


Watch for the awkward emergence of Dwight Howard towards the end of the interview.


Has any one player lost more stock this season than he has from a respect standpoint? I'm sick of hearing about this, and will now drop Dwight and all Dwight trade talk entirely. It's become annoying, and he's not worthy of the attention. Perhaps only LeBron was ever close to being worth that level of attention. Stuff like this doesn't make me enjoy the NBA any less, but it does make me lose respect for it to some degree. Simply ridiculous.

Agreed on all accounts. Dwight Howard has revealed his inner bitch this season. He's made himself impossible to root for in my book.