It's Sunday which means it's time to take a look at what the wonderful world of the NBA taught us this week.
The Oklahoma City Blueprint: An Alternative To 2010 Free Agency
The media has been fixated on the summer of 2010 for some time now. And how can you really blame us when teams like the New York Knicks have essentially tanked the last two seasons to position themselves to make a run at LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and/or Chris Bosh? It makes for good storylines and is great for business.
The question is whether or not this approach is good for the long-term success of NBA teams. It's a huge risk to clear cap space simply because there's no guarantee a team will be able to use the money they've freed up to land an elite talent. In other words, cap space rarely directly translates into an elite free agent. And even if any of these teams land a big name, there's certainly no guarantee it will lead to a championship.
While teams like the Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers, and the Chicago Bulls are busy trying to lure big name free agents this summer, the up and coming Oklahoma City Thunder will continue to adhere to their calculated approach of building through the draft and what are deemed by most to be small trades made by GM Sam Presti.
"We're focused on the guys that (Presti) brings in," said Thunder head coach Scott Brooks. "Sam and I have a great relationship. We talk often, and I have a lot of respect for what he does and how he does it. He's very thorough in every decision he makes. He brings in guys who are very motivated and highly competitive. Our focus is to take the guys that we have and make them better both individually and collectively as a team. We've done that, and over the summer we were doing that. My job coming into training camp is getting all that improvement, putting in on the floor, and then making it better. We can't worry about who is coming (in free agency) or who is not coming. Our focus in on making the guys we have here better."
So far that approach is paying huge dividends and has created a sense of chemistry and continuity that has a tangible impact on the locker room.
"It keeps the core together," said forward Jeff Green. "Like you said, we have a lot of young guys. And when you have a lot of young guys with good chemistry it tends to pay off for you. I think our great core of young guys has a lot to do with our quick progress. We made a good trade for Eric (Maynor) this season. I think people are starting to notice that even as a young team we can win a lot of close games because of our chemistry."
The key to making the approach like the one Oklahoma City is using work is excellent drafting. Thus far, that's exactly what Presti and his staff have been able to do.
"The draft picks have been spectacular with Durant, Green, and Westbrook," marveled Denver Nuggets head coach George Karl. "Usually over three years teams make a little bit of a mistake, but they've hit homeruns on almost every swing."
Even despite the team's success this season and the high likelihood Oklahoma City qualifies for the playoffs, Brooks still doesn't want to use the "P-word" yet for public consumption.
"I know that one of these days we're going to have to talk about that if we continue to play at this clip, but we're really just focused on getting better everyday," said Brooks. "We have a team that has to get better and has to improve for us to get where we want to go."
Brooks will have plenty of time to talk about the playoffs in the future given the fact his Thunder are positioned to be perennial playoff participants for many years to come. And while Oklahoma City might not get the same kind of publicity this July, don't be surprised if the Thunder has more success than all of the teams that have cleared significant cap space this summer with dreams of LeBron and D-Wade dancing in their heads.
The Portland Trail Blazers Have Killed The Injury Card
The Portland Trail Blazers can't win for losing on the injury front this season. Both of their centers are out for the season, and the team has dealt with multiple other injuries throughout the course of the campaign.
Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, Joel Przybilla re-ruptured his right patellar tendon in a freak accident last week.
"He slipped in the shower and re-ruptured the same knee. He's going to have to go through this all over again," said Blazers head coach Nate McMillan shaking his head.
"Now injured players are getting injured," McMillan said with a smile in a attempt to mask the pain. "Nothing surprises us this season."
What is surprising is the fact the Blazers have been able to stay in the playoff hunt in the very competitive Western Conference despite all of the injuries. It almost makes it comical now when another NBA team tries to play the injury card given all the injuries Portland has been forced to overcome this season.
"The injury card is real," McMillan asserted. "It's not a card. It's reality. You have to move on. That's why you have 12 players and an inactive list to fill in for those guys."
McMillan has been forced to use all of his team's depth this season and has received contributions from virtually everyone on the roster.
"Guys have stepped up," said McMillan. "Every time we've had a guy go down we've had somebody step up and play well. It's been a team. It hasn't been just one individual, it's been a team effort. That's what you need in situations like that."
"A lot of times injuries are opportunities for some other people," said George Karl, head coach of the Northwest Division rival Denver Nuggets and McMillan's former head coach when he played for the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1990's. "I think that's what they've been doing. Juwan Howard's had a solid to good year for them. They probably had too much talent at the beginning of the year that would have probably led to more nightmares. You never like guys getting hurt, but I still think they'll make the playoffs and be a dangerous playoff team. They have enough talent to beat any team on any given night."
While the injuries have forced McMillan's hand in some ways and made his decisions about playing time easier, it's also forced him to change the way he's coaching the team on both ends.
When asked if he feels he's had to make dramatic changes to the way he's handling the team, McMillan replied: "Yeah, totally. This is not the team that we started the season with. This was not the team we started last year with. We're really just talking right now about being without Greg and Joel, but (Travis) Outlaw and (Steve) Blake were a big part of what we did the last couple of years. It's a different group going down the stretch this year. So yeah, we've had to make some changes and do some things different, but they've been able to adjust."
Young players like Jerryd Bayless, Donte Cunningham, and especially Nicolas Batum have really stepped up this season. Batum is a natural defender, but his offensive game has started to flourish now that he's been given more opportunities on that end of the floor. His 31-point effort in just 29 minutes of play against the Minnesota Timberwolves on February 27th was particularly impressive.
"The Batum kid has played fantastic," said Karl. "He's had games that I never thought he could have. He had a game a couple of nights ago and I told my coaches, 'Tell me not to watch that film. He was too good.'"
Is it likely the Blazers get out of the first round this season? Probably not.
That said, the Blazers currently hold the eight-spot out West. If they remain in that spot and the Los Angeles Lakers take care of business and hold on to the top seed, it could make for one heck of a compelling first-round series considering all of the problems the Lakers have had playing in Portland over the course of the last several seasons.
The NBA's Sleeper at Center: Roy Hibbert
There's no other way to say it - good big men in today's NBA are hard to find. If you can find a true back to the basket seven-footer today who can make it up and down the court without tripping over his own feet and who can catch the ball when it is thrown to him in the low-block you are doing pretty good. Most of the guys who are seven-feet tall and reasonably agile prefer to hover around the perimeter and shoot jumpers.
Some have even made the argument the traditional center with back to the basket moves is all but dead in today's NBA. That seems to be the trend, but there are still a few guys in the league trying to prove that theory wrong.
One of those guys is 7-foot-2 Roy Hibbert of the Indiana Pacers. The 23-year-old has steadily progressed during his season and a half in the NBA. His scoring is up over four points this season and his rebounds are up by nearly two. His blocked shots are also up this season.
What's most interesting is Hibbert steadily improved during his four years at Georgetown, too. He's not a guy with explosive growth potential, but rather a guy whose growth kind of sneaks up on you.
"I think he's progressed well," said Pacers head coach Jim O'Brien. "You know, for a guy who is in his second year I think he's had steady growth. He's gotten somewhat better at avoiding fouling and become much more effective as a scorer."
While not aesthetically pleasing to watch, Hibbert's effectiveness as a scorer in the low block is catching the attention of many around the league. His pick-and-roll defense is also markedly improved when compared to where it was a season ago. Last season there were times where O'Brien couldn't keep him in the game to reap the benefits of his offense because opposing teams would simply put him in the pick-and-roll defensively on every possession.
"His defense has improved tremendously," O'Brien remarked. "His speed and athleticism are what they are, but we're happy we got him in the late teens in the draft. We feel very confident that he was a good get for us."
All told, it's not inconceivable to advance the idea that Hibbert could make an All-Star team or two before his career is over. Some of that may be more of a commentary about the relative dearth of true centers in today's game, but given the fact he was considered to be nothing more than a throw in as part of the trade that sent Jermaine O'Neal to the Raptors, the Pacers look like they might have found a diamond in the rough at a position of need for nearly every team in the Association.
When Will Kenyon Martin Get Some Recognition?
Denver Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin has made a career for himself in the NBA by virtue of being a great defender. He has exceptional lateral quickness for his size, enough strength to bang with some of the NBA's strongest post players, and the quickest hands defensively in the low block since Karl Malone. Nuggets coach George Karl often refers to Martin as his team's defensive quarterback.
Here's the kicker: Martin hasn't been voted to a single NBA All-Defensive Team during the course of his 10-year NBA career. If you find yourself surprised reading that, you certainly aren't alone.
"If you would have just asked me how many of those did I think he'd been on I would have said a half dozen," said Indiana Pacers head coach Jim O'Brien. "That's really surprising to me."
"It was shocking last year that he didn't even get a vote," Karl explained with an astonished look on his face. "For what he does for us and how he is a stopper in the fourth quarter at almost any position including centers and point guards, to not get that recognition is kind of an insult to Kenyon. He's been a special committed defensive player his whole career. I'm not sure why he hasn't gotten that recognition, but he sure deserves it."
For those who don't watch the Nuggets frequently, Karl is not bending the truth when he says Martin can guard all five positions on the court in certain situations. Karl often switches Martin onto the opposing team's best perimeter offensive player in the final minutes of games. This season he did that when the Cleveland Cavaliers were in town by switching Martin onto LeBron James. The result was two turnovers by James in the final minute.
It's hard to figure out how a guy who does so much on the defensive end can't get an All-Defensive vote, especially when you consider the coaches are the ones voting. O'Brien admitted many coaches delegate their voting responsibilities to their assistant coaches, but it's still mystifying Kenyon failed to get even a single vote last season.
"What's funny is that me and my assistants sometimes have trouble finding 10 guys that are deserving of first-team consideration when we do our vote," said Karl. "We sit there and go, 'Give me another four. Nah, not him.' And I would think Kenyon would be on that list pretty quickly."
With his recent injury, it's likely that Martin will find his name conspicuously absent once again this season on the the NBA's All-Defensive Team. Perhaps he will at the very least get a single vote this go-round.
Al Thornton's Big Break In Washington?
Covering the NBA out of Los Angeles during Al Thornton's rookie season I got to know the kid pretty well. He became one of my "go-to guys" in the locker room. He was always soft-spoken but also honest.
After a solid rookie season, Thornton increased his scoring average by four points last season. However, he was much less efficient on the offensive end. Still, there was hope in Los Angeles that he could evolve into a nice player for the team in the future.
That hope took a significant hit when Thornton showed up to training camp in October overweight. It took Thornton almost a month to hit his stride this season, and by that time his stock had already started plummeting in Los Angeles. It also led to him coming off the bench again prior to his trade to the Washington Wizards.
When asked if coming off the bench changed his game, Thornton responded: "It did. I wanted to start, but coming off the bench I tried to take a positive out of it. It gave me an advantage playing against second-line guys, but I always wanted to start."
He's had the opportunity to start in nine of the 12 games he's played in Washington heading into Saturday's game against the Orlando Magic after being dealt to the Wizard just prior to last month's trade deadline. He has also averaged nearly 14 points and a career-high six rebounds in his short stint in D.C. With Josh Howard out for the season and the Wizards in full-rebuilding mode, Thornton may have been handed just the opportunity he needed for his career to really takeoff.
"I think I've progressed each year," said Thornton. "I'm more mentally sound out there in that I know what to expect. I'm used to the travel and things of that nature. I know I can score, but I still have lots of room to get better on the defensive end."
While defense will likely never be his forte, Thornton has shown more defensive focus and intensity in his short stint with the Wizard than he did during most of his time with the Clippers. If that continues and Thornton shows up to camp next October in shape, don't be surprised if he has his best season as a pro in 2010-11.
