NBA Chat With Stephen Brotherston 1/09/12

1. Sim

   What kind of player do you think Ed Davis can be? He reminds me of a young cb4.

   • Stephen Brotherston

     Davis has taken a step back and its most likely because Casey is asking a lot more from him.
     He does remind one of a young CB though. He doesn’t have the same length but he does have the potential to develop CB’s jump shot and he has good presence around the basket.
     But Ed definitely isn’t developing at the same pace as CB did – at least not yet. We’ll get a better idea after he figures out how to work under Casey’s system.

2. Azzar Nadvi

   Lets say kobe didnt injure his wrist. how much better would he be playing? also, what type of calue would teams be willing to trade to acquire the black mamba. (im a lakers fan, dont want the lakers to trade him nor would they…. just speculations)

   • Stephen Brotherston

     Can anyone remember the last game Kobe played without a fairly serious injury that would have sidelined a lot of players?
     The guy is one of the best of his generation – even with the injury still one of the best in the NBA – virtually impossible to trade and get full value back.

     Minor detail – there are only a handful of teams who could realistically take on Kobe’s massive contract and still put a team around him. But teams would try – I believe Kobe would make it clear he’d only go to a contender so its not very realistic.

     Strictly fun to speculate -

3. Newmarket Brian

   Welcome back, Stephen! Is there any hope for the Raps’ Small Forwards? Butler and J. Johnson have been dismal. Is more patience needed? My solution is to put Andrea there, at least some of the time. Johnson is OK as a defense-first guy off the bench; Butler gets bought out. Your thoughts?

   • Stephen Brotherston

     Welcome to the Chat
     Under new Head coach Dwane Casey, the Raptors have had some good games, some good quarters, and too many forgettable ones. But a 3-5 record isn’t bad while implementing a new system with a new coach – everyone knew this season was all about changing the culture and evaluating the talent.
     Bulter was brought in to be the veteran who provides some stability – James was supposed to take the starting job from him. But until James can find his offense, stop the TO and fouls – he’ll just have to wait.
     Kleiza was the guy the Raps brought in to plug the hole at SF last year – if he returns at 100% from his knee surgery, he is probably still the guy.

4. Abdul Alkhatib

   Hey stephen, i was just wondering would you trade the raptors 1st round pick + the rights to jonas + a current player for Dwight howard? In my opinion it’s a great trade because next year our pick would be worth alot so Orlando can get a top pick and they will also have the next up and coming centre.
   For toronto it’s pretty obvious they get Dwight howard that alone is good

   • Stephen Brotherston

     Howard is not likely to sign in Toronto so unless that minor issue can be addressed, DH would strictly be a rental and that just doesn’t work.

     But sure – if you can get Howard for what is in effect 2 first round draft picks and a player – you would have to pull the trigger.

5. Dennis

   Rank these trade packages. Dwight Howard and Hedo Turkoglu for:
   1) Andrew Bynum + 1rst round pick + spare parts (to make salaries match)
   2) Brook Lopez + two 1rst round picks + spare parts
   3) Al Horford, Marvin Williams, and Jeff Teague + first round pick

   • Stephen Brotherston

     Thats all for today.
     Thanks for all the great comments and questions.

     1. Horford, MW, JT would give Orlando players to build around
     2. AB healthy keeps the team in the playoff picture but I’d rather not get a guy with a long injury history.
     3. BL – no thanks, I’ll keep looking

6. Sweet Dee

   If you were GM of the New York Knickerbockers, how many games are you giving Mike D`Antoni before he gets the hook: now, 15 games, 30 games, wait till the offseason, or I`m overreacting because he`s a quality coach.

   • Stephen Brotherston

     I give him the season.
     NY needs a facilitator – a good passing PG to keep their stars happy. Until they have one (Baron Davis maybe?) we won’t see everything this team can do
     Whenever you want to dump a coach – its a good idea to have some one you like better available – D’Antoni is a good coach.

7. jullia

   wat if the hornets get 2 top 5 picks in the loaded 2012 draft..who wil be d best 2 picks and why?thanks

   • Stephen Brotherston

     NOH are likely to have 2 lottery picks – not in the top 5 – but they can hope.

     This draft is deep in PF & SF and the Hornets should take the best available when they get to pick – even at the back end of the lottery they’ll be happy.

8. mojart

   what are the top 5 teams with most cap space after dis season and how many draft picks thus d hornets have in 2012?

   • Stephen Brotherston

     Committed salaries in 2012 (subject to usual TO, NG, PO, etc)
     1. Suns $30m
     2. Cavs $31m
     3-5. Boston, NJ, Hornets about $35m
     6. Raps $42m

     Hornets have 2 1st round picks which should be in the lottery.

9. lewis1201

   is there a trade market for jameer nelson if any i dont understand why he playing so poorly i think when he hurt his shoulder in the title run he saw that raffer was a better point for that team from then on he has been out played by most of the point guard in the league!!!!
   is it possible that the maigic organization will fire otis before they trade dwight because it seems like he is the real problem!!!!

   • Stephen Brotherston

     There is no obvious reason for JN to be struggling – except for the mental aspect of watching the star player on your team twisting in the wind as management flirts with building around him vs trading him, vs doing nothing.

     Jameer undoubtedly believes the Magic’s and his personal success has been largely tied to Howard and the stress of all the trade demands, rumors, pending free agency will have an impact.
     Hopefully he can get his concentration back on playing – at least there doesn’t seem to be any other reason for the decline. Makes trades tough!

     Otis probably lasts longer than Howard in Orlando.

10. Ajay

    Stephen,
    What would you do if you were the GM of the Rockets..?

    • Stephen Brotherston

      Hire Bill Ingram.
      Rockets are trapped in being too good to fail, not good enough to succeed.

      I’d be trying to find the missing piece as well because blowing things up is painful – even when it has become the obvious next move.

11. Devin C.

    When is Byronn Scott going to truly give Kyrie Irving the keys to Cavs and increase his playing time to that of a real starter?

    • Stephen Brotherston

      1) There is no rush.
      2) There is reason to watch Kyrie’s minutes to make sure that nasty foot problem doesn’t flare up.
      3) Kyrie is getting enough minutes to develop his game at 26.8 per game, as the season moves along and he handles things well – they can go up.

      Cavs are happy with how their 2 rookies are doing.

12. herb hardy

    The Dwight Howard rumour mill has been running rampant please Oralndo Trade him, My question is why would Orlando trade him to the 3 of his preferred destinations IF there are better overall packages out there? I know Dwight has done alot to put Oralndo back on the map but cmon guys do whats best for the organisation!!!

    • Stephen Brotherston

      I would never put the control of the future of my team in the hands of a player. Its very hard to believe DH will re-up in Orlando so a trade is the best option. DH is a highly valued player, so the Magic will get a lot back if they trade him before the deadline.

      Be patient – the team can’t rush this even if it costs them a lot of games by waiting – the cost of doing a bad deal would effect the team long term. They will take the best deal – not necessarily the deal DH wants.
      The Magic are still hoping to land the star that convinces DH to stay – it just doesn’t seem very likely.

13. herb hardy

    will teams ever fear the deer again? Defensively ruthless yet offensively offensive.

    Is jenning holding them back? or do they need a pass first point guard?

    • Stephen Brotherston

      Things have taken a step back in Milwaukee. Missing AB is huge.

      I was never as sold on Jennings as some – he loads of potential but has become a volume scorer and that’s not necessarily the best thing for the rest of the team. He is still very young and it’d be crazy to not keep working with him though. He needs to develop more aspects of his game and at 22-years-old – the same can be said for most players.