Thursday, February 23, 2012

Daily Hoops Awards for Feb. 22nd 2012

The Jerry West Award:
Dwyane Wade --- 30 pts, 4 rebs, 10 asst, 8 FTM, 3 stl, 2 blk, 0 treys, 11-16 FG%...Wade at his best and most typical - scoring and dishing...and thieving and blocking, the greatest shot-blocking 2 guard in the history of the league...at a career high 1.5 this season (top 20 in the league), and 1.0 for his career. Here's Wade's Top 25 All-Time Resume: 8 All-Star games in 9 seasons...NBA Title and Finals MVP in 2006...Robbed of league MVP in 2009 (30.2 - led league - 5.0 rebs, 7.5 asst, 7.5 FTM, 2.2 stl, 1.3 blk, 49.1% - and carried mediocre Heat to #5 seed)...4 times top 5 scoring...3 times top 10 asst...87 career playoff games (25.9 pts, 5.6 reb, 5.7 asst, 1.6 stl, 1.1 blks)...All-NBA 1st team twice, 2nd team 3 times. At 30, he's probably 5-7% below his peak quickness and explosion, but like Mike, he was in such rare air at his best that he's still pretty gnarly. I did notice some finishing moves 2nd half Sunday vs. the Magic where he was not going full bore at the hoop...saving tired legs, or just not feeling it, who knows. Father Time moves in slowly and unevenly, and great athletes are notorious for flashback games - I remember a Bird performance in 1991 or '92, some absurd 40 pt tri-double when his back was shot and he was a year or two from being done...Pete Sampras doing nothing but slipping for 18 months on tour and then winning the US in 2002 - then retiring. I myself remember a beach volleyball game 3 years ago, at the age of 40, where I felt as quick and springy as when I was in my 20's, played out of my mind, and have never captured it again...probably never will.

The Trajan Langdon Award
Tyler Hansbrough --- 4 pts, 1 rebs, 0 asst, 2 FTM, 0 stl, 0 blk, 0 treys, & 1-5 shooting in 15 minutes...a hard-hat, lunchpail guy out of North Carolina, Hansbrough is the classic musclebound white guy, very little athleticism/explosion, who bangs, set screens, and plays rough & tough inside. He's shooting 38.6% this year in 22 min/night, and in his 3 year career (including this yr), he's a 9.9 pts/5.0 rebs guy...with only .2 blk/gm.


Posted by Todd Robinson in Daily Hoops Awards
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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Daily Hoops Awards for Feb. 20th 2012

The Jerry West Award:
Ersan Ilyasova --- 29 pts, 25 rebs, 0 asst, 5 FTM, 1 stl, 1 blk, 2 treys, 11-23 FG%...Ilyasova has taken an odd path to NBA success. A sneaky 2nd round pick of the Milwaukee Bucks back in 2005 as an 18 yr old from Turkey, Ilyasova spent his entire rookie year playing in the D-League. The next year he played in 66 games, at almost 15 min/per, posting unimpressive numbers of 6.1 pts/2.9 rebs/38.3%. He then left to play two years in Spain, before coming back to Milwaukee for the 2009-10 season. Over the next two seasons, he posted respectable numbers (about 10/6/44%) in about 25 min/night. February has been the best month of his career so far (14.0/11.3/1.3 blks), and this gem yesterday was easily his best game ever - career highs in both points and rebounds. A 6'9" SF/PF with a lean, athletic build, Ilyasova has become a very good rebounder, posting games of 19, 16, and 14 rebounds in addition to last night's game, all just in the last month. He also shares a birthday with tennis great Andy Murray - they will both turn 25 on May 15th. Kobe (32, 7, 5 dimes, 9 FTM, 2 stl), LeBron (25, 11, 8 asst, 9-14, 2 stl), and smurf-sized rookie Isaiah Thomas (slightly different 1st name spelling from the legendary Det PG) exploded yesterday with 23, 8, 11 asst, 3 treys, and 8-16 from the floor. The 5' 9" dynamo out of Washington was the 60th and final player taken in last summer's draft - the Sacramento Kings nabbing a gem late.

Jerry West Award (OT) -  Kevin Durant --- 51 pts, 8 rebs, 3 asst, 8 FTM, 4 stl, 0 blk, 5 treys, 19-28 FG%...The Thunder beat the Nuggets in an OT barn-burner last night, 124-118. Westbrook had 40 pts & 9 dimes as he and Durant became the first 40+ scoring teammates since MJ & Scottie in 1996. This Thunder team is a great story - two freakish athletes (Westy & Serge Ibaka), a superstar (Durant), a great 6th man (Harden), and then a bunch of role-playing, complementary guys. They were 23 - 59 just 3 years ago, Westy's rookie year (Durant's 2nd). A year later they were 50-32 and scaring the Lakers in round 1 of the playoffs. Then last year they made the Western conference finals, before this year boasting the best record in the West at 24-7. In yesterday's game, Ibaka had his 1st career triple-double, going off for 14 pts, 15 rebs, and 11 fly swats...and his 3rd double-digit block game this month. He is currently running away with this year's block title at 3.29 a game, well ahead of 2nd place Javale McGee at 2.74. Also in this game, I'm not sure I've ever seen a team score more than 120 pts but only have 3 guys score more than 10 pts. Usually teams are able to somewhat force the ball out of the hot hands, but then again, Denver has never been known for its defensive prowess.

The Trajan Langdon Award
Laker Starting PG, SF --- 2 pts, 3 rebs, 1 asst, 0 FTM, 1 stl, 0 blk, 0 treys, & 1-5 shooting in 36 combined minutes...yes, the Terrible Twosome of Ron Artest and The Mangy Mutt (Derek Fisher) struck again, each playing 18 invisible, unproductive minutes. Fisher's season stats: 5.1 pts, 3.5 asst, 36.3% shooting...Artest: 4.7 pts, 2.6 rebs, 33.3% shooting. Oh, and Trevor Ariza is averaging 14.9, 6.2 rebs, 3.7 asst, 1.7 stls, and shooting 45.2% this month...and the Lakers had three 2nd round picks this draft, failing to nab the aforementioned Thomas with any of them. This is where Mitch Kupchak starts singing Frank Sinatra...."Regrets, I've had a few..."

Lin-Sanity Update - Wow, this is getting ridiculous. The winning streak did finally end Friday night, though Lin excelled again with 26, 5 dimes, 4 steals, and 2 long bombs (though 9 T/Os were costly). Then yesterday, on national TV, playing the red-hot defending champ Mavericks, Lin exploded for 28, 14 asst, 5 stls, 3 treys, and 11-20 from the floor, including huge shots late in a 104-97 victory. Not only are the 1st 8 starts of his career up there with the all-time greats (more on that in a second), but he's not doing this as a hot-shot high draft pick, but as a former unwanted, DNP-CD (did not play - coaches decision) guy. He had one 20 minute outing in January - other than that, he either played 7 minutes or less, or not at all before this remarkable run began. And yet, here's how he stacks up against three of the greatest PGs of all-time in their first 8 starts: Lin - 200 pts, 76 asst....Magic - 147 pts, 57 asst...Isiah - 184 pts, 51 asst...and Stockton - 80 pts, 82 asst...thanks to ABC for that post-game stat graphic there. A friend of mine compared it to Kurt Warner in 1999 with the Rams...the best comparison yet that I've seen. Here is a funny Saturday Night Live spoof on Lin-Sanity below. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1071847-jeremy-lin-snl-video-watch-snls-spoof-on-lin-espn-headline-and-jason-whitlock?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=nba

Posted by Todd Robinson in Daily Hoops Awards
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Saturday, February 18, 2012

Daily Hoops Awards for Feb. 17th 2012

The Jerry West Award:
Luol Deng --- 23 pts, 4 rebs, 10 asst, 3 FTM, 0 stl, 1 blk, 6 treys, 7-15 FG%...On a night of only 3 games, Deng's asst double-double with 6 long bombs stood out. In the last 4 games, all with Rose on the sidelines, Deng has averaged 7.3 asst/gm, hitting double figures in his last two. Deng is at 3.3 asst/gm on the year (to go with 16.2 pts, 6.8 rebs)...a career high in dimes. As a high school senior, Deng was regarded as the 2nd best hoops prospect...the number 1? LeBron James. Deng only stayed 1 year at Duke before becoming the 7th pick of the 2004 Draft...Chicago's 2nd pick in that draft, as they had taken Ben Gordon 3rd overall. There were two massive whiffs in the top 10 of that draft - the legendary Rafael Araujo at #8 (Toronto nabbing him, leaving Iguodala for the 76ers at #9), and then Cleveland taking Luke Jackson at #10 (Jim Paxson's last botched pick as the Cavs GM - fired in April 2005). Both these players completely bombed out - Araujo lasting just 3 yrs (139 gms, 2.8 pts, 2.8 rebs), and Jackson just 4 seasons (only 73 games, 3.5 pts, 1.2 rebs, sub 36% shooting). Josh Smith was the 17th player selected in that draft, among other studs that Tor & Clev missed out on, including Al Jefferson, JR Smith, Kevin Martin, Jameer Nelson, Dorell Wright, Kris Humphries, and Trevor Ariza mid 2nd round - Isiah Thomas' lone shining moment as Knicks GM!

The Trajan Langdon Award
Raymond Felton --- 0 pts, 2 rebs, 2 asst, 0 FTM, 1 stl, 0 blk, 0 treys, & 0-7 shooting in 24 painful minutes...Last year at this time, well before Lin-Sanity, the Knicks had Raymond Felton at PG, having just signed him to a 2 yr, $15.8m deal. Despite Felton putting up career numbers with the Knicks (17.1, 9.0 asst, 1.8 stl), he was traded to Denver mid-season as part of the Carmelo Anthony deal. Traded again in the off-season to Portland, Felton is now experiencing his worst season as pro - a career low 9.9 pts, career worst 36.0% from the floor, and only 6.3 dimes, worst since his rookie year (2005-06, after being the 5th overall pick of the '05 Draft). He's never been know for his fitness, and at 6'1" 205, he could probably stand to lose a few lbs, but at just 27 yrs old, I'm not sure why his numbers are down so drastically this year - he's also shooting just 20.6% from downtown, on over 3 attempts per game...ugly stuff. DeShawn Stevenson was also rather poor last night, managing just 1 rebound, 1 steal, and 3 missed shots in 25 minutes of nothingness.


Posted by Todd Robinson in Daily Hoops Awards
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Friday, February 17, 2012

Daily Hoops Awards for Feb. 16th 2012

The Jerry West Award:
Josh Smith --- 30 pts, 17 rebs, 7 asst, 4 FTM, 4 stl, 3 blk, 2 treys, 12-23 FG%...What can I say, but thank you Josh...you've emphatically made my point for me - you're an All-Star. Boarding like a monster, scoring, diming, fly-swatting, swiping....he did it all, including covering for teammates that didn't show up (more on that later). Every bit of his monstrous effort was needed in a 2 point road win at Phoenix last night for the Hawks, where Steve Nash again defied Father Time in a big way, with 22, 16 dimes, 4 rebs, 7 FTM, 7-14. Nash is 3rd in the league in FG% at 55.9, ahead of Dwight Howard and teammate Marcin Gortat...only behind Tyson (70.2%!), and Splitter in S.A. Joshua Tree needed this huge effort also to take the West last night, as there were multiple strong PG efforts to fend off besides Nash's. D-Will had 26, 11 asst, 4 treys, 2 stl, 1 blk...Tony Parker had 34, 14 dimes, and 12 FTM...and finally, Rondo exploded again for 35, 5 reb, 6 asst, 4 stl, 15-27.

The Trajan Langdon Award
Joe Johnson --- 6 pts, 0 rebs, 3 asst, 1 FTM, 1 stl, 0 blk, 1 trey, & 2-10 shooting in 36 putrid minutes...Yeah, he's an All-Star? He's worth $20m/yr the next 4 yrs? Now shooting under 43% on the year at under 18 per, his lowest average since 04-05 in Phx, Johnson is not only massively overpaid, but also overvalued in the All-Star selection process - quite a lucky guy. His stat line was actually very much like something Tragic Trajan would have put up. He missed his shots evenly, going 1-5 from distance and 1-5 from 2 pt territory. No rebounds at all in 36 minutes is poor, but his teammate was like a human vacuum cleaner on the boards, so I guess they were tough to come by last night. Jermaine O'Neal was also awful last night, going 0-2 with 2 rebs, 1 point, and 5 fouls in 21 minutes...sad how fast he lost his explosion and athleticism...too bad he spent his 1st 4 years behind gross underachiever Rasheed in Portland.


Posted by Todd Robinson in Daily Hoops Awards
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Thursday, February 16, 2012

Daily Hoops Awards for Feb. 15th 2012

The Jerry West Award:
DeMarcus Cousins --- 28 pts, 17 rebs, 2 asst, 7 FTM, 3 stl, 2 blk, 1 trey, 10-20 FG%...Cousins is on fire this month, as this is his 3rd game in Feb of at least 20 pts, 17 rebs...also his 20th career game rebounding in the teens (13+). His head is still somewhat of a question mark...but hopefully he'll realize that as long as he keeps his cool and focuses on basketball, he will make well over $100m in a long, All-Star career...he's now at 16.3/11.6/1.3 blks this year. Now...for the LIN-Sanity update: Yes, it had to happen...a game-winner...where he cooly dribbled at the top of the key, Calderon giving too much respect to the drive (game was tied)...so Lin took advantage of the space - yes, he's smart - and drained a three with just 1/2 a second on the clock. Keeping the dream sequence alive at 6 games, 6 wins, and capping a 27 pt, 11 asst night...though he did have 8 T/Os. Stupidly, I had the Det/S.A. game on and missed it...just cuz I had two rookies going in it - K Leonard & B Knight - both looked good. There were actually a large number of great performances last night, including Tyreke alongside Cousins - 27, 8 rebs, 8 asst, 8 FTM...J Wall leading the Wiz to a rare road win vs. Aldridge-less Port - 29 pts, 9 asst, 8 FTM, 2 blk, 10-14...G-Wall in that game - 25, 8 asst, 11 FTM, 2 stl...Deng went off for 23, 11 asst, 7 reb, 9 FTM, 2 treys...Lebron 23, 7 asst, 9 reb, 7 FTM, 4 stl...and against Lin, Calderon had huge numbers - 25, 9 asst, 7 reb, 11-17, 3 stl...

The Trajan Langdon Award
John Salmons --- 3 pts, 1 rebs, 2 asst, 0 FTM, 0 stl, 0 blk, 1 trey, & 1-8 shooting in 25 awful minutes...Amazingly, Salmons has started all 27 games this year at SF, despite boasting the following repulsive stats: 7.3 pts, 3.3 rebs, 1.9 asst, 36.2% from the floor, sub 30% from distance, and not even averaging 1 free throw attempt per game in 29 min/night - this is almost Derek Fisher territory! I would be giving Donta Greene another chance at SF in SacTown with 32 yr old Salmons so clearly done, yet owed a tidy $22.5m over the next 3 seasons after this one....OUCH!!!! My good buddy Devin Harris was tragic again, too, going 2-5 with 1 reb, 1 asst in only 15 min...He's now been reduced to watching Earl Watson take his minutes.

Tragic Langdon
Trajan Langdon was an undersized, unathletic SG at Duke, from Alaska of all places, who could shoot. Somehow Jim Paxon at Cleveland thought this translated to the NBA...it didn't. Paxon drafted him at the 11 spot in the 1999 Draft, after 4 point guards went in the first 10 picks - Francis (2nd), B Davis (3rd), A Miller (8th), and J Terry (10th)...a pretty solid collection of talent there, all Top 200 in my book. Langdon flamed out quickly, almost immediately after entering the league as a 23 yr old rookie...he only played 10 games his rookie yr (14 min, 4.9 pts, 37.5%)...then played two more seasons, never more than 6.0 pts/gm...and was done - out of the league for good. A horrible evaluation by Paxon. Langdon was on the Elton Brand team that went into the title game vs. UConn undefeated and a heavy favorite, only to lose to Rip Hamilton, Kahlid El Amin, & Co. Notable players taken after Langdon at #11 include Cory Maggette, Ron Artest, AK-47, and James Posey...heck, Kenny Thomas (#22) was also a far better player.

Posted by Todd Robinson in Daily Hoops Awards
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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Daily Hoops Awards for Feb. 14th 2012

The Jerry West Award:
Chris Kaman --- 27 pts, 13 rebs, 2 asst, 3 FTM, 2 stl, 1 blk, 0 treys, 12-22 FG%...Very strange, roller-coaster season for Kaman this year. Since being picked 5th overall in the 2003 Draft, he had spent his entire career in L.A. with the Clippers, before being traded in December to New Orleans as part of the Chris Paul deal. He started the season coming off the Hornets bench and putting up so-so numbers...then his minutes and production dipped...then they stopped playing him as they 'explored trade opportunities' involving him (7 straight games he didn't play - maybe didn't even suit up)...then they started playing him again, and in his last 3 games, he's averaged 18 pts, 11 rebs, and 2 blks. He started last night as Okafor missed the game with a sore knee...how his season goes from here is anybody's guess. Career-wise, he's been pretty steady with career averages of 11.7, 8.3 rebs, and 1.4 blks, although injuries have taken away the equivalent of two whole seasons - he's missed 163 games before this season. He's quite well-known for his very interesting hair styles/facial hair over the years, as you can see below. Both David Lee (28,12, 3 asst, 1 blk, 1 stl) and Marcin Gortat (25, 12, 2 blks) were also big last night.

The Trajan Langdon Award
Devin Harris --- 2 pts, 1 rebs, 4 asst, 0 FTM, 0 stl, 0 blk, 0 treys, & 1-4 shooting in 19 lame minutes...Harris turns 29 later this month, but has played this season as if he'll soon be 39. He's yet another guy whose career has been beset with injury, as his games played the last 6 years attests to - 56, 80, 64, 69, 64, and 71 last year. He peaked in 2008-09, averaging 21.3 pts, 6.9 asst, 1.7 stls, and a huge 7.2 FTM (free throws made) per game. He's been traded twice in his career, including mid-season last year from N.J. to Utah. He finished the 2010-11 season with averages of 15.0, and 7.1 dimes (career high), but has plummeted this year to 8.8 pts and 4.4 asst in 26 min/gm. His best trait was his speed and quickness, and I'm guessing that somehow these injuries have taken it away from him...or he's playing at well under 100% this year. Either way, I completely blew it when I wasted a 6th round pick on him at this year's BC Roti draft.


Posted by Todd Robinson in Daily Hoops Awards
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Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Daily Hoops Awards for Feb. 13th 2012

The Wilt Chamberlain Award:
Rajon Rondo --- 32 pts, 10 rebs, 15 asst, 10 FTM, 2 stl, 0 blk, 0 treys, 11-22 FG%...Rondo the dominator last night, with his 15th career triple-double (6 in playoffs), first with 30+ pts. He accounted for at least 62 of Boston's 95 pts - 65.3%. And to think - Phx drafted him late in 2006 (21st), but then traded him to Boston for an '07 1st rounder that ended up being Rudy Fernandez - who was then immediately traded to Portland for cash!!! Wonder why Nash is toiling in obscurity on a lame Suns squad right now? Management moves like that. But then, at least they didn't match the $100m for 5 yrs the Knicks gave Amare. Meanwhile, monster tri-dubs are nothing new to Rondo, already a Top 200 player all-time after only 5+ years in the league. He once had 29, 18 rebs, and 13 dimes vs. Cleveland in the 2010 playoffs. Two of his '09 tri-dubs were 19/15/14 and 16/13/17...this guy can do anything on the court...besides shoot from distance - only 56 career treys. Rondo's career averages of 10.8/4.5/7.7 dimes boosts to 13.8/5.8/8.5 in 73 playoff games - 1.9 stl/gm in both. The big question is what kind of team will he be leading in Boston, if he remains there, after the Fading 3 (KG, PP, Ray) are finally gone.

The Charles Smith Award
Brandon Knight --- 2 pts, 1 rebs, 2 asst, 0 FTM, 1 stl, 0 blk, 0 treys, & 1-9 shooting in 30 sad minutes...A lottery pick (8th overall) of Detroit's last June, Knight has been erratically productive as a rookie PG so far, contributing 12.1/3.4/3.4 after 29 games so far, but shooting a paltry 40.1%. I caught a good chunk of his game yesterday vs. the Wizards, and he's fun to watch - quick, drives to the hole - but just wasn't getting his acrobatic forays to the hoop to drop for him yesterday. On the other hand, his opposing PG, John Wall, was electric and extrememly productive and entertaining. Like Rondo, he had 15 dimes, many of them on-the-move passes to Javale McGee who had no problems flushing the nice feeds (22 pts/11 rebs on 10-13 shooting for the athletic big man). Wall's open floor speed is not far from Rose & Westy, maybe the two fastest guys in the league.


Posted by Mark in Daily Hoops Awards
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Thursday, February 02, 2012

Daily Hoops Awards for Feb. 1st 2012

The Jerry West Award:
Tyreke Evans --- 22 pts, 10 rebs, 9 asst, 3 FTM, 3 stl, 1 blk, 1 treys, 9-22 FG%...Tyreke came into the league 2 years ago blazing, a 20/5/5 rookie who shot 45.8% and easily won the Rookie of the Year Award. Then last year injuries came, he missed 25 games, wasn't 100% in many of the games he did play, and his scoring dropped to 17.8 and FG% to 40.9. This year has been more turmoil, as the Kings have fired Westphal, and Tyreke is only at 16.9 & 41.8% (but hanging onto the 5/5 with 5.1 rebs, 5.0 assts). The team is starting him at PG alongside Jimmer Fredette at the SG, and it is NOT working out. Fredette, who can't guard anyone in the league, is shooting 36.4% with only 2 asst in 23 minutes a night. Fredette went 10th overall in the 2011 Draft, reminding me of Trajan Langdon going 11th overall in 1999 - two smurfy, unathletic SG's taken for their 'incredible shooting ability', even though due to their size and pedestrian athleticism, they would have trouble getting good looks in the NBA...as well as trouble guarding anyone. Funny to see NBA GMs make the same mistakes over & over. BTW, Rudy came up big last night after his bozo award performance the night before - 20 pts, 13 reb, 5 asst, 2 stl, 2 blk, 2 treys.

The Stromile Swift Award
Tyrus Thomas --- 6 pts, 2 rebs, 0 asst, 2 FTM, 1 stl, 1 blk, 0 treys, & 2-9 FG% in 28 struggling minutes. Tyrus came into the league as the 4th pick of the 2006 Draft, a very raw but extremely athletic freshman PF out of LSU. For the most part, that's still what he is. He had some bright moments in his 3rd year, 2008-09, when he started 61 games and averaged 10.8 pts, 6.5 rebs, and 1.9 blks - all career highs except for blks, as he's at 2.1 so far this year. But he was injured most of the next season, then let go to Charlotte, and is now starting for the struggling, often inept Bobcats, who have the worst record in the league at 3-19. They are so bad, he remains a starter despite averages of 7.5 pts, 5.0 rebs, and shooting just 37.5% from the floor.


Posted by Todd Robinson in Daily Hoops Awards
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