NBA Chat With Yannis 10/19/12

Join senior NBA and NCAA analyst Yannis Koutroupis for his weekly chat this Friday Oct. 19 at 11 am est!

  1. Deven

    Read somewhere that the Lakers are planning to target Lebron in 2014. Any chance he signs there?

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      Welcome everyone to this week’s chat! Let’s get right into it.

      Of course the Lakers are planning to target LeBron James. They’re not wanting to be the Orlando Magic of old when Kobe Bryant retires with just Dwight Howard. The Lakers are ambitious, they want the best and always pursue the best. So, since they’re in a position to have cap room in 2014 and LeBron’s a free agent then, there’s definitely going to be interest. The chances may be slim, but I see the Lakers re-adjusting their plan accordingly before then if they don’t feel like LeBron is a reasonable target.

  2. Chumpalump

    After hearing Kobe Bryant’s condescending, arrogant, and downright embarrassing comments to Smush Parker where he told him the accolades under his belt meant he didn’t deserve to talk to him. Personally do you loose respect for Kobe Bryant the man? Or do these “offcourt” incidents have no bearing on your view of Kobe? He is a great basketball player, and even if he isn’t a great human being has little merit. Your thoughts?

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      Go to his Faccebook page and read the post he made about being a leader and making people better. Helps shed some light on his interactions with Smush. After reading the Facebook post I came away thinking that Smush was insulted and disrespected, whereas Kobe was trying to motivate and push him. Kobe’s demanding, almost to the point where he’s rude and/or a jerk. However, it’s part of what makes him great and because of that I think no less of him as a basketball player. I never factor in how they are as “people” when assessing their abilities on the court. Two different worlds.

  3. Charlie

    I have heard many analysts refer to certain players as “first round talents” or guys who should have gone in round 1 despite being picked in the 2nd round. Names include Jae Crawder, Will Barton, Orlando Johnson, and Daymond Green. If this is indeed accurate, the reverse must be true. No? In your opinion, which 2-3 players selected late in the 1rst round were undeserving of their draft selection. My list includes Miles Plumlee, Marquis Teague, and Evan Fournier. Yours?

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      Great point, haven’t really ever heard that discussed before. I think you can make a case, just based off how far away he is from contributing, that Fab Melo should be on that list too. Evan I think is a first rounder, Coach Karl has spoken highly of him. I don’t think they’ll regret that pick. Melo should eventually be a player who justifies being a first rounder, it just wouldn’t surprise me if it ends up being with a team other than Boston. He seems like a guy who things will click for a few years down the line.

  4. Ricky

    There seems to be differing opinions on Jeff Teague from analysts on this website. Lang Green is a big fan and is expecting a breakout season for Jeff this year. On the other hand, Joel Brigham claimed that Teague is YEARS away from being a high quality point guard. If you had to side with one colleague, who do you agree with and why?

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      Teague’s been around too long for me to say he’s years away from being high-quality. It’s either happening for him in these next two or it’s not happening at all. So, I’m with Lang here.

  5. Dennis

    Jan Vesely has looked straight up terrible in preseason so far – averaging embarrassing numbers as a starter. What do you think of him as a player? And any chance he fulfills his lofty draft status of #6 overall in 2011 as the European Blake Griffin?

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      I wasn’t blown away with what he did in summer league and he’s obviously struggled since. He’s got a long ways to go. I think John Wall’s return will help him, but only so much. It’s on him to do the things he needs to in order to succeed. Right now, living up to those expectations seems unrealistic.

  6. Mac

    With the injury to John Wall to start the season, seems some are now underestimating the Washington Wizards. The additions of veterans Emeka Okafor, Nene Hilario and Trevor Ariza, combined with the loss of knuckheads/me-first players Nick Young, Andrey Blatche, and Javale McGee has to be signs to improvement. The Wizards are pegged at 27.5 wins for next year. If you were a betting man – higher or lower than this number?

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      I’ll go higher, but not by much. Depth concerns me. They suffer this injury to John Wall then all the sudden you question how they can win games at a high rate. It could be a difficult year for the Wizards and Coach Wittman.

  7. Julian

    With the loss of Nene Hilario, the Denver Nuggets have little to speak of in terms of back-to-the basket scoring bigs: Kenneth Faried, Javale McGee, Tim Mozgov, Kosta Koufus, and Anthony Randoph. Do you think this will hurt them over the course of the year? Why or why not.

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      It certainly didn’t hurt Oklahoma City. Here’s two things you have to have when you don’t have bigs who can consistently score on their own: the ability to really hurt teams in transition and creators out on the perimeter. Denver has that, so I expect them to be fine. Those big guys do everything else really well, so it doesn’t bother me too much at all.

  8. Devonte

    The Knicks have passed up on young talent before and even traded some away they seem more content with bringing in veteran help. Is that a way of saying that they don’t feel as though they can develop young talent with the staff that they have or is it more of we need to win now type of thing?

  9. Devonte

    I haven’t been able to see the new bulked up Kevin Durant and his play so far through the preseason I’m guessing u have, can you tell me if there’s anything different about his game and does it seem like he’ll be able to contain Lebron on defense?

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      Nobody can contain LeBron on defense, we’re talking about an all-timer. You can only hope that he limits himself with passive play and tough shots, but those days seem to be few and far between now. KD is still going to be the same player, if anything the bulk will help him stay stronger through the season and into the playoffs.

  10. Kim

    any chance lakers can amnesty Blake or work a deal with the rockets who do a sign and trade with Kenyon Martin and another forward filler and the lakers can waive the fillers Martin gets payed lakers get rid off some salary I’d rather have Kmart then hill thanks

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      Laker fans are just never happy. I can’t see Houston doing that, especially since the Lakers have no picks to offer until like 2019. The Lakers will be lucky to get a second-round pick for Blake from a team with cap space who needs depth at point guard. That’s the best they’ll get.

  11. Bryan

    How do you see the Mavs offense doing this year? Looks like they have a boatload of scorers and also their defense

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      I think they’re a 6-8 seed that goes out in round one, maybe two.

  12. Teddy Ngo

    Why is the Lakers maybe pursuing Lebron even a story? For the most part arent every team with cap room in the league going to attempt to sign Lebron?

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      Because LeBron and Lakers alone equal huge page views. Put them together with quotes from anonymous GMs and you have gold. But, yes you’re right. LBJ will be a hot commodity again, only this time I don’t see him leaving.

  13. Govern ayo

    Listening to Shaq demoted D.Howard to 3rd best center in the league behind Bynum and B.Lopez (on one of the nba tv show) sounds petty to me initially. But to Shaq who went up against quality centers day in and day out in 90s and 00s, he’s probably looking at D12 as nothing more than a glorified Alonzo Mourning… Ur thought?

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      He was wrong. Dwight’s the best. It’s not his fault he lacks competition.

      That’s going to do it for me this week folks. I’ll be back next week at the same time!