NBA Chat With Joel Brigham, 1/17/13

1. LA in LA

   I understand Kobe’s a 5 time champion, and he’s my favorite player, but I don’t see why he always has to take the last shot. It would be fine if he was actually open on said play but now that he has Nash, there’s no need to take a fadeaway 3 when tightly contested.
   Agree?

   • Joel Brigham

     Good afternoon, HOOPSWORLD Cizitens, and welcome to another edition of my weekly chat! The NBA is as exciting a place as it’s ever been, and we’re creeping and closer and closer to the imminent return of Derrick Rose. I can’t believe it’s been eight months already, but it’s very possible that in another 4-6 weeks, we could have everybody’s favorite Chicago athlete back in his natural habitat. I’m ready for that. I really and truly am.

     Anyway, let’s get on with the questions, and Kobe is never a bad place to start…

     LA, I’m not sure how I feel about Kobe at this point. The Lakers are an undeniably complete mess, and Kobe, being who he is, most likely wants to try and take all of this into his own hands with the hopes that something different may come out of his own personal domination. That’s why he’s leading the league in scoring, and that’s why he’s got one of the highest usage rates in the league, as well. I can’t fault him for that, because what else is he supposed to do? Also, keep in mind that he’s shooting a career-high 47.8% from the field. He’s making more shots than ever. Can’t complain about him taking those last shots then, can we?

2. King of WishfulThinking...

   I know as of right now the probably Seattle bound Kings aren’t moving anything till the franchise figures everything out. If that gets settled before the trade deadline and the new Sonics don’t want DMC in their lockeroom and would rather start fresh could the Thunder sneak him away with a package of Lamb, Perry Jones, the Raptors very likely lottery pick and their own low 1st round pick? That’s alot of assets! If not the Thunder, what team could make the Sonics bite?

   • Joel Brigham

     First and foremost, as much as I think it sucks for the good people of Sacramende to lose their team, I’m glad it’s Seattle that will have the opportunity to see the Sonics return. I’m hoping that’s the way things work out if Mayor KJ isn’t able to throw together a Hail Mary that actually works to keep them in California.

     That said, my understanding is that no trade will happen until the sale is final, and the sale doesn’t have to be finalize and relocation applied for until a couple of weeks after the trade deadline. That means there’s a very good chance DeMarcus Cousins is going to stay with the team, which the new owners may very well want, anyway.

     As far as your trade idea is concerned, those two players plus the Raptors pick (which HAS to be a lottery pick… I believe that’s the way it was stipulated in that Kyle Lowry deal when the trade was first constructed) would be quite a haul for DMC, and my gut instinct is that OKC probably wouldn’t be interested in cashing out all those chips for one guy with that kind of track record. The talent is there, and they’ll have to do something post-Kendrick-Perkins, but I’m not sure that’s the deal they’ll look to make.

3. cole

   Ronnie Price cant be as bad he looks right? cause he looks terrible! Any moves the Blazers can make to upgrade their bench?

   • Joel Brigham

     I mean, he’s not a special player or anything, but he’s not as bad as he’s been lately, either. We’ve got a pretty decent sample size on Price at this point, and he’s a career role player. He just is. You get what you pay for.

     As for deals Portland could make, I believe they have some second rounders they could dangle out there if they really wanted to, but those aren’t going to return much. I think their best bet is to just hold on tight, play out the season, and look at making some offseason changes through the draft, free agency, etc. For now, Price and Co. is the best you’re probably going to be able to hope for.

4. calvinzero

   2 Questions:

   1. What will be the keys of the game between Heat and Lakers?? Who will make a turning point in that game??

   2. Just to gain a spot in the first round of 2013 NBA Draft, is it justifiable for them to give away their 2nd round pick (for this year) plus bunch of players?? Lakers will most probably entering new era after Kobe retirement.

   Thanks, Joel..

   • Joel Brigham

     1. The Lakers need to be not bad. I don’t know that the HEAT are really in need of a turning point, because as I’ve said all year they’ve been plenty respectable despite not going full bore each and every night. By the time the playoffs role around, LeBron and the Gang will be ready to roll, but I can’t say the same for L.A. It’s the Lakers who need a turning point, so I’m guessing that’s what you’re hoping for. Personally, I’ll take the HEAT in this one. Watching the Lakers makes me nauseous.

     2. Depends on where the pick lands. Trading the 2nd rounder wouldn’t hurt them, but what players do you mean? Getting into the first round would be a decent move for them, but anything outside of the lottery doesn’t have great odds to become a game-changer.

5. steppx

   If Phoenix were to move Gortat, what could they expect in return? (as an example Charlotte needs a big and has two picks and henderson)….is gortat going to get return like that, or more, or less?

   • Joel Brigham

     Teams always pay a premium for bigs in this league, and Gortat is definitely an above-average one. The money isn’t bad on him (under $8 million in last year of deal next season), so that makes him even more desirable. Not sure what I’d give up for him, but a promising young player and a couple of decent draft picks sounds like an appropriate deal. Of course, if I’m the Suns, I don’t see much reason to make a major trade unless it blows me away. He’s a guy you could build around. I still believe that.

6. Buster

   Are you looking forward to the new season of Arrested Development?

   What is Lin’s ceiling?

   • Joel Brigham

     Well, if you noticed the “Sacramende” reference already this chat, you know that I’m very, very excited about Season 4 of Arrested Development. It’s my favorite television show of all time, hands-down, and I’ve just about got every episode memorized I’ve watched them so much. I’m almost as excited for that as I am for D-Rose to come back. In short, 2013 is going to be awesome.

     As for Jeremy Lin, I think his ceiling is still relatively high, but the issue with him is always going to be consistency. He’ll have games where he absolutely explodes and we’ll all go, “Wow,” but his problem has been doing it consistently. Talent ceiling on this young man is very, very high, but keep in mind he’s not even halfway through his first full season in the NBA. He’s still figuring out how to get through 82 games healthy and happy. If nothing else, I think the $8 million/year average Houston paid for him is more than fair. Same can be said for Omer Asik, but man, $30+ million for those two guys in a few years is going to hurt the payroll. Will be interesting to see how they handle that.

     But then again, there’s always money in the banana stand.

7. Raps4ever

   Hi Joel, I was always been against picking DeRozan. No question he has improved over the last 4 years. But comparing his progress to players like Paul George, or Kenneth Faried, these 2 players w/ no doubt in my mind would be better players than DeRozan. I just can’t understand why he is worth 40 mil. If I was the GM, I would trade him for Faried anytime. I have observed DeRozan for the last 4 years, he disappears every time he plays against stronger teams. That is not a sign of a 40 mil player.

   • Joel Brigham

     I think the only people who weren’t shocked and disappointed by that contract this past summer was DeRozan and the Raptors. Everybody else with an ounce of sense in their head knew that extension was kind of ridiculous. He’s shown growth this year… he really has… but he’s not an eight-figure guy. He just ain’t.

     I, too, would take Faried over him, but that’s easy to say now. At the time, nobody was really considering Kenneth as a lottery pick, so it’s unfair to say he would’ve been a smarter draft choice. Paul George is more excusable as an argument there, but either way what’s done is done. DeMar is who you’ve got, and DeMar is who you’re stuck with. Hopefully you’re not stuck with Bargnani long-term, either.

8. michael

   Why did the warriors give curry an uninsured contract extention. he is good yeah but he is giving them the same crap again with his foot. if he gets to be damaged goods like stoudemire they will be stuck with him , just like with biedrins, jeffersons contract.

   • Joel Brigham

     If (IF) Curry’s healthy, he’s worth every dollar, and there was no way to get him insured when he’d already been so hurt for so many consecutive years heading into the extension. They either doled out the cash and hoped for the best, or let him walk away eventually. Someone was going to give him that money, and we’ve seen this year how good Golden State could be, even without Andrew Bogut. I’m okay with the extension, but you’re only going to get 60 games a year. It’s a sad but inevitable truth.

9. steppx

   Ive not seen worse referring than this season. Stars are given special treatment. I see casey, cuban, hollins, a number of people say thing, but very delicately (except cuban) for fear of Stern fining them. First off, how does the league get to install a rule that stops free speech? And second Cuban is right. Your thoughts.

   • Joel Brigham

     If you don’t like somebody you work with, you can’t just go on Twitter and blast that person publicly. Imagine how your boss would handle that. Free speech just means you get to say whatever you want without fear of being arrested in put in jail. It doesn’t mean you get to say what you want without consequence. People can say racist and sexist and all kinds of other awful things without being punished by the law, but that can still get them in trouble in other ways. The NBA has rules that people have to follow. It is what it is.

     As for the refs, it’s no different than any other year. Some are great, some are less so, and fans are always going to be unhappy when calls don’t go their team’s way. I haven’t seen anything unusual this season along those lines.

10. robb

    I think Indiana is 2 pieces away from being great, a knock down shooter at the 2 guard and a back up pf behind west. Do you agree or see them landing one of those before the deadline?

    • Joel Brigham

      The league is short on quality two-guards, so that’s a hard piece to put together. Gerald Green is trying to be that guy, but my goodness does he brick a lot of threes. Cripes. As for the backup four, that’s what Hansbrough was supposed to be but he’s been pretty bad this season, putting up career-lows across the board. He can be better, and if he can, that’s a big step towards adding that particular piece.

      Indy’s got enough pieces to make a deal, particularly if they can find a taker for Danny Granger, so I wouldn’t count them out at the deadline. Not sure what they’d be after, but what you’re suggesting is a good guess. I’m with you, though, that they need a little something extra to be an elite team. Still a way to go on that front.

11. edwin rios

    Are my atlanta hawks making a trade this year? and do u think we need to make one? I think we need a change!

    • Joel Brigham

      Uh, yeah. I’d say change is necessary at this point considering the slump this group is in. They’ve got plenty of smaller assets to move, but I don’t see any teams nibbling at those. It almost seems like finally trading Josh Smith would be the smarter deal. He looks less and less likely to stick around after his contract expires, so they might want to take a stab at getting some value out of him before it’s too late.

12. RayG

    Hey Joel love your chats!
    So for the last year or so I’ve had the same argument with my friends about Boozer. They say he should be amnestied because he “sucks”. I on the other hand like Boozer. Sure he hasn’t played up to his contract but over the last 5 or so games hes been fantastic!

    My question is what is the benefit of amnestying Boozer and what are the cons. Also do you think he can keep up this type of play when the messiah DROSE comes back?

    • Joel Brigham

      Well, before this year I would’ve champoined amnestying the guy, but he’s played like the guy we thought we were getting in 2010 and if he can keep that up there’s no reason to cut him loose. My question is what happens to his confidence when Derrick gets back, because I think a big reason Carlos is playing so well is that he’s not worried about deferring to anyone on the offensive side of the floor. He’s confident and aggressive for the first time since coming to this team, and hopefully he’s established himself well enough that he can maintain that confidence when the real floor leader finds his way back to the floor.

      As for why you’d amnesty him, it all depends on what free agents are out there in the summer of 2014. If Chicago finds that they can bring aboard a player that can help them significantly more than Boozer, then they can cut him with no tax penalty and ink the new guy to long-term deal. The reason would be if the Bulls were tired of paying the exponentially punitive luxury taxes each year, they could cut him to save two or three times his salary in taxes, depending on how many years the team is over the threshhold.

      At the very least, though, they’ll keep him through this year and next year. It would probably only be the last year of that contract they’d consider amnestying, because they’ll have Taj at decent money to find minutes for, and Nikola Mirotic should be with the team at that point, too.

13. Jordan

    Utah had a road heavy schedule through their first 40, and managed to stay above .500. Do they have the advantage now in that home heavy ending when it comes to the tight western playoff race? An do you see Milsap and Jefferson to the Bucks for Jennings working out?

    • Joel Brigham

      1. I think we learned last year, don’t count out Utah.

      2. Not sure that deal even works in terms of matching up salaries, but despite that, the Bucks already have a loaded frontcourt. Can’t imagine them giving up a guard to bring in two more big guys that need big minutes. Valiant effort on the trade machine, but I don’t see it happening.

14. why not?

    I know this will never happen but does this make sense?
    Pau to miami,bosh atl and josh smith to LAL?
    How about jsmith for bosh straight up?

    • Joel Brigham

      Miami’s not trading Bosh for Pau. Not a prayer. I think Bosh has been the best player of that batch this year, plus the HEAT just won a championship with him at power forward so I don’t see a whole lot of reasons to trade the guy. Pass, on both offers.

15. Paul

    What are the chances Houston can get Josh Smith,or Al Jefferson. Who would be a better fit,and is there anyone flying under the radar that Houston is looking to add( like a Wilson Chandler)

    • Joel Brigham

      Wilson Chandler’s not a bad idea, but with any of these players there has to be some sort of idea about who they’d give up to get a player like that, and Houston just don’t have the salaries to make anything even remotely easy happen with Atlanta or Utah for either of those guys. Houston’s got assets, but they used up most of the best ones to get Harden. There isn’t a whole lot left over to do another big contract, at least not this year.

16. jeff

    Biggest need for bulls right now seems a backup big and i think they will get one.
    What do they have to offer to get a player like mozgov or dalembert?

    • Joel Brigham

      You mean you don’t have any confidence in Nazr Muhammad? Yeah, me neither, and I’ve thought about this a lot lately because Joakim Noah gets hurt every year. If he does this year, who steps in and plays center? Taj and Boozer can play together for stretches, but you need a real center in there, and Mozgov/Dalembert would certainly fit that bill. The problem is that they don’t really have many assets with which to work, and they will not take on any extra money because they’re already maxed out. Things get complicated for the Bulls really quickly in regards to trades this year, so I’m of the belief that they’ll stand pat and wait for Derrick to return. Until then, expect to continue to see more of what you’ve already seen.

      Gang, thanks for all the great questions this week, and I’ll see you back here next Thursday for more of the same. Have a great weekend, behave yourselves, and go Bulls!