HOOPSWORLD Week in Review
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Kevin Love’s Numbers Don’t Lie
By Stephen Litel
There are historic things happening in the NBA this year. Kobe Bryant continues to move up the all-time scoring list, passing some of the greatest players to ever wear an NBA uniform. The Miami HEAT three-o of James, Wade and Bosh are bringing a level of awareness and contempt of their team that rivals any team in history.
Quietly in Minnesota, Kevin Love continues his career-year, as well as one that may go down as one of the best in the modern NBA. But, do most know how remarkable the numbers Love produces every night really are or is he just a cute side-story coming out of Minnesota, while the real NBA season plays out elsewhere?
Everyone knows about his 31-point, 31-rebound game against the New York Knicks on November 12, as that was truly a remarkable game. However, even in becoming only the 19th player in NBA history to record such a feat, there were those who dismissed it as an amazing one-time accomplishment.
Raptors Ed Davis Has Defense Plus
By Stephen Brotherston
The play of the Toronto Raptors 2010 first round draft pick Ed Davis is beginning to get noticed around the NBA. After missing the second half of his sophomore college season at North Carolina with a broken wrist, and then all of his first NBA training camp with a torn meniscus in his right knee, Davis finally got back into game action in December with the Raptors.
Thirty games later his team might be heading in the wrong direction, but Davis is proving the point that he was a steal at thirteenth in the draft.
"It set me back big time not being out there with the guys learning the defense and offense," said Davis. "But I am slowly catching on and trying to get back." The 21-year-old Davis started his first NBA season with an imposing knee brace but fortunately those days seem to be over. "
"He is practicing really well and without the brace anymore," said Joey Dorsey. "The brace was heavy on him."
Picking The Rookie Challenge Teams
By Jason Fleming
One of the most entertaining parts of All-Star Weekend every year is All-Star Friday’s T-Mobile Rookie Challenge and Youth Jam, pitting the hottest rookies against the hottest sophomores. The 2011 version of the game should be no different, with plenty of already star quality players performing in Los Angeles.
Each team features nine players. The game is usually very uptempo, high scoring, and little defense is played. Because of that guard play is very important to getting a win and many big men, even the best young big men, don’t always put up a good performance unless they can run the floor with the guards.
So which players should be there? Let’s take a closer look and whose presence should be a done deal and who else should get consideration.
Nets Get Defensive
By Alex Raskin
The Nets have looked like a playoff team since owner Mikhail Prokhorov put the kibosh on the Carmelo Anthony trade. They won four games on their five-game home stand thanks, primarily, to team defense—something that would have suffered had a deal with the Nuggets been completed.
New Jersey’s only blemish over the last five games is a one-point loss to Dallas and that may have been the team’s best defensive performance to date. The Mavericks made only 34.7% from the field and needed a game-winning shot from Dirk Nowitzki to avoid an upset.
Realistically, the Nets are an average defensive team who has the potential to be a much better one. They rank 18th in the league in defensive efficiency (points allowed per 100 possessions) and 11th defensive rebounding rate (percentage of shots that a team rebounds on defense).
Suddenly, It’s Hip To Be A Clipper
By Scott Kahn
One day before the opening game of the 2009-10 NBA season, the Los Angeles Clippers confirmed Blake Griffin had a stress fracture in his left kneecap and needed surgery to repair the damage. The day after the surgery took place, a Los Angeles news program reported the following: "Blake Griffin’s surgery on his broken left kneecap was deemed an overwhelming success. It’s the first success the Clippers have ever had."
One year later Blake Griffin and the Los Angeles Clippers are receiving league wide respect. Fan interest is growing and the team is chasing a playoff spot in the Western Conference. Griffin was aware of people’s perception of a club most always linked to losing.
"I didn’t think it would be easy, but we’ve laid a positive foundation, and that’s the first step," said Griffin. "The main thing we have to do is work hard and not talk about the past, ignore the past, and work like the past isn’t an issue."
Union Pushing to Remove NBA’s Age Limit
By Alex Kennedy
With the current collective bargaining agreement expiring in July and a standoff between the owners and players looming, a new topic may emerge in negotiations. While a new salary cap has dominated the headlines thus far, the National Basketball Players Association is also planning a proposal to remove the league’s age limit.
Multiple sources say that the union wants to remove the restriction, which has required all incoming players to be at least nineteen years old and one year removed from high school since 2005. With the owners trying to significantly reduce the rookie salary scale, the union will propose to do away with the age limit and allow players to decide for themselves when they want to enter the NBA.
Rockets Bracing for Trade
By Stephen Litel
This is the time of year where trade rumors run rampant. Some teams look to trade to get rid of bad player contracts, some are looking to create a new mix of players on their teams and some are looking for that final piece to their championship puzzle. The Houston Rockets are no different, finding many of their player’s names coming up in the rumor mill and they are not surprised.
"You never have too much depth in this league and we have a lot of good players on this team," said Shane Battier. "I don’t think we have enough minutes to keep everybody happy and that’s the problem that coach has, but that’s a good problem for him. We have a lot of good players, young players who people are interested in, so I’m sure Daryl Morey is fielding a lot of phone calls about guys on our roster."
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