Isaiah Thomas isn’t fazed by the Boston Celtics being blown out by the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Nor are his teammates.

After all, it’s not like the Cavaliers are actual basketball aliens.

His words, basically, not mine.

From Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor:

“I’m very confident,” Thomas said after the Celtics’ off-day workout Thursday afternoon. “I believe in these guys. We’re not scared of Cleveland. They’re not the Monstars. They’re not on Space Jam. Like, they lace up their shoes just like us. They just happened to play better than us in Game 1 and we’ve just got to protect home court in Game 2 and get the win.”

So, like, Thomas isn’t wrong.

Well, actually, he’s only fractionally wrong.

The Cavaliers as a whole aren’t the Monstars. But LeBron James might be. He destroyed the Celtics in Game 1, hanging 38 points on 14-of-24 shooting despite canning only one of his six three-point attempts. He reached the rim almost at will, and Cleveland definitely left a ton of points on the board by missing bunnies off his passes.

That doesn’t mean the Celtics should be scared. Professional athletes are irreverently confident most of the time. That’s what makes them so special. That’s what allows them to play on the biggest stage.

But the Celtics do need to adjust. In Game 1, they shot 33.3 percent on three-pointers where the defender was four or more feet away from them, according to NBA.com. That’s encouraging, because it’s unsustainably bad. But they have no answer on defense for James. No team does. Their best hope is to stick Jaylen Brown on him, one-on-one, then try to lock down everyone else.

As Game 1 proved, though, this isn’t easy, or even possible. Kyrie Irving was (4-of-11 from the floor), but Kevin Love exploded, and the Cavaliers’ other shooters missed some quality looks. The Celtics can do their part by collapsing less on LeBron’s drives, but there’s a strong chance that making him beat you will actually get you beat.

Which, whatever. Even if the Celtics get swept, at least we know they’ll exit without fear.

That’s something…right?

The post Isaiah Thomas Says Celtics Aren’t Scared of Cavaliers: ‘They’re Not the Monstars’ appeared first on The Hoop Doctors.

According to ESPN.com’s Ramona Shelburne and Marc Stein, the Los Angeles Lakers brought in the seven-footer for a workout just before Christmas:

The Los Angeles Lakers have auditioned free-agent big man Donatas Motiejunas within the past week, according to league sources.

Sources told ESPN that the Lakers brought Motiejunas in before Christmas to work out in front of the front office and coaching staff, but it remains unclear whether they’ll go ahead with signing the former first-round pick.

…

But sources said the Lakers are weighing whether there are enough minutes to go around, with the blossoming Julius Randle and Tarik Black playing the bulk of the frontcourt minutes while Nance is out.

The absence of Larry Nance Jr. over the next few weeks might open up some minutes in the Lakers’ rotation, but he’s not out indefinitely. Plus, the Lakers have Julius Randle, Tarik Black and Timofey Mozgov to consider. Things get more cramped knowing Luol Deng and Brandon Ingram should each see some time at the 4.

It’s also unclear what it would take to sign Motiejunas. He fielded an offer sheet worth more than $35 million from the Brooklyn Nets, only to have that matched/exceeded/re-worked with the Houston Rockets, and then have his relationship with them deteriorate into nothingness when he failed to report for a physical and then failed said physical.

Basically, if Motiejunas’ future in the NBA had a relationship status, it would read: “It’s complicated.”

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The nine-year veteran has been a rock since the 2010-11 season, and this year he is having a solid outing, averaging 15.2 points, seven rebounds and three assists. He’s even added a bit of the three point shot to his repertoire, hitting 33.3% from long distance off 3 attempts a game.

However, while Al Horford’s continued to flourish, the Hawks haven’t. The Hawks have regressed from the record-setting form of a season ago. That’s sure to play on Horford’s mind as he looks to add a championship ring in his twilight years.

When quizzed on the topic by Yahoo Sports, Horford kept his options open, not giving anything away:

“Atlanta has the potential for a guy like myself to maximise (the business) part of it. But obviously there are other cities, bigger cities that are more appealing probably (business and marketing wise)”.

From the front office perspective, they are on the edge of a slippery slope. Jeff Teague hasn’t had the All-Star impact of last season, and they’ve lost the 3-and-D skills of DeMarre Carroll. Despite an inconsistent but very promising bright spark in Dennis Schroder, the Hawks have been merely above-average, quite the negative for a team that had 4 All-Stars a season ago.

The free agency loss of Al Horford would send Atlanta right into the depths of the NBA’s maligned no-man’s land; not good enough to compete in the playoffs, and not bad enough to wrangle a decent lottery pick. The hope is that the Hawks can get something for Horford in the trade market, and given his consistency over his entire career, he definitely has trade value for the Hawks, should they choose to follow that route.

Reading between the lines of the statements that Horford has made, he may want to move to a big market team that’ll put him in a position to make a run at a chip. Whether the Hawks can make a trade like that is yet to be seen, but it’s not out of the question – Horford’s consistency is absolutely an in-demand asset. His options in free agency, however, are limited. New York is seemingly set long-term with the explosion of 7-3 phenom Kristaps Porzingis, Miami have All-Star Chris Bosh and LA recently drafted the agile rookie Julius Randle. Boston is an intriguing option, with a flexible salary situation there as well. However, given the Celtics’ guard-heavy rotation, and the Hawks’ stacked backcourt, it’s perhaps a stretch to imagine that a trade can be made unless draft picks are involved, and those are valuable commodities given the depth of upcoming draft classes.

Al Horford is absolutely an All-Star caliber player, and one deserving of a championship to his name. Whether the Hawks can find it for him in a larger market isn’t clear yet, but one thing is; Horford may not be playing in Atlanta come next season.

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Damian Lillard, 2 time All-Star, has never shied away from the spotlight, whether it be in clutch moments on the court, or whether it be using his position as a basketball player to evoke change socially. As MLK Day and Black History Month rolls around for 2016, race issues have grown to a tipping point in the United States, and there’s been all sorts of cultural material created around events like Ferguson, the shooting of Mike Brown, of Charleston, and with such a high representation of African-American players in the NBA, this hasn’t gone unnoticed.

Last season, a range of NBA players wore shirts with the words ‘I Can’t Breathe’ printed across them, a reference to the last words of Eric Garner, who was said to have repeated them eleven times after being put in a chokehold over the alleged selling of loose cigarettes. Figureheads worldwide had an opinion on it, and now Lillard’s thrown his hat into the arena.

Dame D.O.L.L.A’s new track isn’t divisive, like some of the dialogue regarding race relations in the US at the moment, but it’s more uplifting, with a pop-inspired main chorus, featuring Paul Rey. The Hoop Doctors were invited to attend the video premiere where Lillard gave this speech.

In the song Lillard discusses how we need change, better attitudes, to open up lanes, better avenues’, and this school of thought is one that will hopefully gain more popularity in the long run. The video depicts major events such as the taking down of the Confederate flag in South Carolina, along with clips of Martin Luther King and the protests led by him.

Per ESPN, Lillard was quoted, on the theme of the song and video: “Everything that happens goes both ways. We will never know every single fact. That’s the main reason I just look at being positive, everyone standing as one…When you stand together, a lot more can always be accomplished.”

Over the past year, various players across the NBA have also used their positions in the spotlight to comment on social issues – the most notable being LeBron James, ranked by Forbes as one of the world’s most influential athletes, and who was recently called out for not providing comment on the death of Ohio teenager Tamir Rice. The fact is that athletes are expected to be social leaders in this day and age, and Lillard’s new song is a reflection of that.

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Kyrie Irving is set to play his first game since breaking his left kneecap in last season’s NBA Finals. Last week, he was cleared to practice, and despite being bullish about committing to a return date, he was positive.

“I’m a Ferrari without a rearview mirror. Today, there was a lot more up and down, being able to test my wind, being able to test my knee, going from offense to defense and translating and being able to get out in the fast break and being able to try my moves that I’ve been practicing, kind of knock off most of the rust I’ve had,” he said.

The Cavs have been cautious with managing Kyrie Irving’s recovery, with David Blatt earlier in the week still non-committal about any information regarding a return for Uncle Drew. On Thursday, he went through a full practice, and Blatt noted his status as being “day to day”. That practice was the last one before the Cavs’ two game road trip against the Magic, finishing later next week in Boston.

Blatt did say “There’s a chance that one or two (Kyrie or Shumpert) or both will play on the trip, but there’s also a chance they don’t.”

Per McMenamin, Irving has been participating in five on zero offensive drills and light one on one, but still doesn’t have a timetable to return. Given Irving’s history of injuries, it’s understandable that the Cavs are being cautious with his comeback.

After coming back to practice, Kyrie Irving had this to say:

“I think the biggest thing for me is getting over the mental hump of being able to go out there and still compete. I’ve kind of been itching for the last few weeks, but finally getting my trainers’ clearance as well as our organization to go out there and practice with the guts, have 5-on-5, going up and down, finally being able to hit guys a little bit and have guys hit me, as a competitor, I’ve been itching for that. There’s no better place to be escaping here with guys that I call my brothers. We’re part of a big family. We definitely have a little ways to go before I get back on the court with the guys, but this week has been great.”

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A lot of sports fans use Bleacher Report’s Team Stream app to follow their favorite sports teams and players. But by far and away, the Los Angeles Clippers’ newsfeed has to be running the hottest of anyone else in the league. They’re constantly in the news for one thing or another – whether it be the DeAndre Jordan free agency scenario, the championship talk pre-season, or Austin Rivers claiming he could make Team USA despite averaging 7 points a game after 4 seasons.

Generally, we believe the hype – news outlets across the country include the Clippers in their lists of perennial contenders; mostly because of the Lob City trio of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan. This year, it was said to be justified, with the Clippers adding depth in free agency that was on par with Golden State and Miami.

Oh boy, how we were wrong. On the 20^th of November, LA played Portland in a game that should’ve accelerated their miserable start to the season, but only highlighted their issues.

They’re getting out-rebounded, failing to defend late in games, and playing with a nonchalantly casual approach against supposedly lesser teams. Losing to Portland, who at the time were on a 7 game losing streak, shook up the Clippers, at least on the surface, with Blake Griffin saying “It’s not something we’re just whatever about it, moving on, but we’ve got to make changes. We’ve got to have a sense of urgency to do that now, but at the same time, no one’s crumbling.”

Yet, the Clippers haven’t improved, at 8-8 they are not even remotely resembling a playoff team. And again, Blake Griffin has spoken about being “more resilient” as a playing group, after the insipid loss to Utah. The game against Minnesota tomorrow will show whether LA has taken that advice to heart, but my gut says that nothing’s changed, and that the arrogance of the Clippers has shown through. They won’t take the Wolves seriously and I’m foreseeing a barnstorming effort from the young guns in blue.

Something’s up in LA, and there needs to be drastic change in the attitude of the playing group if they want to make playoffs this year, because they’re ultimately still in the West, and you can’t make playoffs at .500 in the Western Conference.

Their delusions of grandeur, which stem from individual accolades, are exacerbating the issue. Blake Griffin, in the grand scheme of things, hasn’t done anything. Chris Paul hasn’t won anything. Nor has DeAndre Jordan. Together, they have not achieved anything that says that they have the ability to cohesively work together and make a Conference Finals, or NBA Finals. Ever read Death of a Salesman? Didn’t turn out well for Willy Loman, and the Clippers are following an awfully dangerous path if they continue to believe they’re as good as they think they are based on individuals.

As such, I’m putting the brakes on the LA hype train. I’m having an official personal embargo on ANY positive press about the Clippers, until I’m satisfied that they can come together and worked above their individual egos, and start playing some team-focused basketball.

As a coach, I tell my players one thing – “play for your teammates, not for yourselves”. That advice holds true for Chris Paul and company. Get on it.

The post Clippers are all talk, no walk appeared first on The Hoop Doctors.

Recently, reports have surfaced of Philadelphia 76ers rookie Jahlil Okafor being involved in an altercation that is being described as a ‘street fight’ in Boston on Thursday.

According to a statement issued Friday evening by Boston police, via ESPN, a man filed a police report on Friday morning stating that he had been the victim of assault and battery outside the Storyville nightclub on Exeter Street in Boston at around 2AM. The man said Okafor and another man approached his group and asked some of the women for their phone numbers. When the women declined, a verbal altercation ensued, followed by a physical scuffle. The man said Okafor pushed him and punched him, knocking him to the ground and causing a cut over his eye that later required stitches.

Another source close to Okafor, via ESPN, said that the exchange was prompted by taunting about the 76ers record-setting awful record.

“Apparently they said, ‘The 76ers sucks, and you guys are all losers. You’ll never win a game.’ I was around the corner when it happened. I saw (Okafor) a minute after he knocked the dude out. I think the guy was just talking s—, saying the Sixers suck.”

The difference between the police reports (new stories have emerged that a gun was involved) and eyewitness accounts doesn’t surprise – someone claiming to be assaulted by a professional basketball player of such a high profile should probably be taken with a grain of salt. Regardless, Okafor’s acknowledgement that his actions were “definitely dumb”, and something he is “embarrassed about”, show that he has at the least taken the correct approach to the aftermath of the incident as we see it so far.

However, we can’t ignore that it happened in the first place. These things happen to other young 19 year olds in nightclubs, and aren’t expected to happen to professional basketball players in the public image. Okafor’s reaction, either to being taunted about a poor record on a blatantly tanking team, or being rejected by a woman, smacks of a lack of maturity. Of course, we’ve got to acknowledge that pro athletes have to mature a lot faster than their peers, just because of the nature of their profession – but here’s the issue, Okafor clearly hasn’t. While his on-court game was NBA-ready from the outset, his mindset wasn’t. That’s not entirely his fault; Philadelphia are largely to blame for failing to provide a set of leaders on the roster, who can serve as mentors, on and off the court. From all reports, Kevin Garnett has been playing that role for various rookies this season, and that’s very admirable, but the support has to come first and foremost from within each organization.

The Sixers are pretty much alone in their predicament here – every other young rebuilding team has mature veterans in place to balance out the youth; Sacramento has the likes of Caron Butler, New York with Carmelo Anthony and Jose Calderon. Leaving a group of kids out on the NBA circuit without guidance from within the playing group is bound to cause trouble, and it has. I’m willing to bet that the 76ers have had far more issues than have been publicized as well.

Philly needs to get their act together – their idea of incessant tanking has merit, but also has been so ham-fistedly done that the entire organization bears no hope of improvement, on or off the court, if they don’t moderate their approach with veteran leadership and guidance.

The post Okafor Incident Shows Lack of Mentorship appeared first on The Hoop Doctors.

While the rest of the world has been enthralled by Stephen Curry’s historically brilliant play as of late, Paul George has snuck under the radar, putting up some big numbers. Per 100 possessions, he’s putting up very similar numbers to David Robinson in 1994, LeBron in 2013, or Larry Bird in 1988 – around 40 points, 13 boards and 8 assists. Not bad company at all.

After their win over the Pacers’ win over Washington, in which Indiana knocked down the most threes in franchise history, Frank Vogel had this to say:

“It’s tough to quantify in words. I mean, he just does so much. He’s capable of going for 40, carrying the offensive load and being the best defensive player on either team. He’s a special player, and the best two-way player in the game. We’re a different team with him out there.”

He’s not wrong, either. George’s on-ball defense is up there with anyone else in the league. He has an innate talent of pushing his man into the help defense, while keeping him in check laterally, and most brilliantly in an era of –ticky-tac foul calls, avoids the whistle. He’s mastered the art pioneered by Andre Iguodala of keeping your hands down to not elicit foul calls while keeping contact to bother the shooter, and clearly it’s working – opponents are shooting 30% against him one-on-one; George ranks in the 82^nd percentile for isolation defense, per Synergy Sports. He allows just .667 points per possession as the primary defender in the pick and roll, enough for the 74^th percentile.

In his last 11 games, he’s averaged 30 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals a game, on 48% / 50% / 84% shooting.

George is playing out of his skin at the moment, and in effectively a comeback season from THAT injury, he and the Indiana Pacers deserve absolute credit for the work he’s put in, and the admirable faith shown in him to create a system built around his strengths that is allowing an Indiana squad to overperform, given their depleted nature from the number one seed days of 2013.

Is he MVP-good right now? Probably not, given that Steph Curry is still playing as well as anyone in the history of the game. But assuming (and I don’t want to, given Curry’s record of proving detractors wrong – but the stats HAVE to average out, they HAVE to!) that Curry’s statistics tend negatively to average out to something remotely in-this-world, Paul George is a real contender for the most coveted individual prize in basketball, if he keeps this pace up.

The post Paul George Looking Like Low-Key MVP Contender appeared first on The Hoop Doctors.

Dear Philly,

I appreciate the out-of-the-box thinking that you had with Joel Embiid. I think it’s lovely that you saw athletic potential in this young man, and decided to bring him over to the US to play basketball. I like that, I really do. But he’s failed in his capacity as a player in the National Basketball Association.

He may have looked good in high school, but his numbers weren’t outstanding. Once again, he may have looked good in college, but his numbers weren’t outstanding. Without having seeing him play, I cannot begin to fathom how this kid went 3^rd in the draft, and was billed as the next Hakeem Olajuwon. Having seen him play, though, he was a talented but not outstanding centre who lacked range and needed to build on his frame. What’s the upside? He gets bumped about down low and if he ventures more than six feet from the hoop, he’s utterly useless on both sides of the ball. In a modern NBA in which the crux of the offensive sets are about ball spacing, I cannot understand why anyone would want a traditional center that lacked the body to perform.

Next, is his woeful health. He had stress fractures in his back during the NCAA tournament, broke a navicular bone in his right foot and in doing so missed the season, and then needed another bout of surgery on it, causing him to miss the 2015-16 season. His prime years of development have been taken away from injury, and then what? How can you possibly have a 7 foot tall, 250lb guy who’s body can’t even stand the test of carrying his frame? And on top of that, you expect him to play in the NBA, and at a Hakeem Olajuwon level? No way is that happening, and you’re kidding yourselves if you think otherwise.

If he was a next-generation superstar prospect, it’d be forgivable. But at the end of the day, how many 7 footers have we seen recover from chronic foot injuries and become absolute superstars? I can’t remember any. The issue in Philadelphia is that he’s not even close to a next gen superstar. He’s slightly above-average at best.

You prepared for life past Embiid the second you drafted Jahlil Okafor, a traditional centre like Embiid, but who was healthy, and had an NBA-ready body and ability. Now, you have to commit to it, and decide what you’re going to do about this young man. You’re trying to rebuild, and keeping him on a roster spot for the sake of a dimming dream of superstardom, isn’t the way to go about it.

Drop him, for the good of your rebuild.

The post Dear Sixers, Give Up On Joel Embiid appeared first on The Hoop Doctors.

After a poor 2-9 start to the season, including 0-6 against Western Conference opponents, the Lakers aren’t exactly looking like championship contenders. It is common in the NBA to fire coaches after poor starts, and not necessarily give them the time of day in a cutthroat corporate-driven league where money is king, and winning begets money. The Houston Rockets earlier this week were so harsh as to fire Kevin McHale after a 5-7 start to the season, after a 50+ win season last year, in which they went to the Western Conference Finals.

Byron Scott, however, is in a different pickle altogether. He’s not at the helm of what should be a contender with Harden and Howard at the core. He has a young group of kids and unknowns, dragged down by Kobe Bryant’s incessant ego popping up at every inconvenient turn. Mind you, some of these are bright sparks – Julius Randle is the future of the NBA, D’Angelo Russell definitely has ability, even if he hasn’t shown it this year, and Jordan Clarkson thoroughly deserved All-Rookie First Team honours.

The Lakers aren’t used to losing; as one of the premiere cornerstone franchises in the NBA, and possibly the strongest brand in basketball, any rebuilding process needs to be done properly, lest they do a shoddy job and end up in the NBA’s no-man’s land, just missing out on playoffs and also at the chance for a decent lottery pick.

As such, there could very well be the temptation to fire Byron Scott, as a coach that’s underperforming. I say – resist that temptation. Byron Scott is one of the only coaches that knows how to manage a personality like Kobe, and at the same time has done an admirable job of developing the young talents that the Lakers have on their roster. As Randle, Russell and Clarkson further gain experience in the NBA, you’ll start to see the Lakers win numbers rise. As that happens, the lure of free agency will again become strong in the City of Angels; being a big market alone is no longer attractive to prospective free agents, as the new collective bargaining agreement and TV rights deal means big money can be had anywhere. For Pete’s sakes, Tristan Thompson of all people landed an $82 million contract in Cleveland!

Winning has once again become a priority for players looking to make Los Angeles their home, and as such, the Lakers need to allow Byron Scott to start making this Lakers team look somewhat respectable in order for free agents to see what can be done in LA. Should the Lakers fire Byron Scott hastily, like the Rockets did with Kevin McHale, it will completely set back the rebuilding process that Los Angeles has spent so long working through.

The post Lakers Shouldn’t Be Impulsive With Byron Scott appeared first on The Hoop Doctors.

The NBA is always searching for new ground to mine its gold from. They’re always looking for new markets. League marketing efforts behind players like Yao Ming or Jeremy Lin, without wanting to reduce their talent, were in part motivated by an attempt to start marketing the game and finding players out of China. And it makes sense – why not open up the game to more than a billion new people? And surely out of that, comes great players, just waiting to be discovered. The next market we tapped into was India, with similar logic behind the moves to nab Satnam Singh and Sim Bhullar, albeit not as successful.

I reckon there’s a market that we really haven’t tapped, and yet has still proven quite successful in terms of the players it’s produced to date.

Australia. The country that provides the largest number of subscriptions to NBA International League Pass outside the US and the most number of NBA players per capita INCLUDING the United States. Yes, it’s an island in the Pacific of only 21 million people, most of whom are enthralled by peculiar sports like Australian Rules football, cricket, or rugby.

But at the same time, it’s ridiculous that the NBA hasn’t actively exploited the region – Australians have an incredible passion for sport, and that translates into a natural athleticism in their people. Andrew Bogut, the 2005 number one overall pick and the defensive cornerstone of the reigning champs in Golden State, was from my hometown in Australia, Dante Exum, last year’s number five overall pick was also Australian. Next year’s projected number one pick, a young man who’s drawn comparisons to LeBron and Magic Johnson, is Ben Simmons, also a young Australian. Technically, Kyrie Irving is Australian too, but let’s not get into that. Patty Mills is a spark plug off the bench for San Antonio, Joe Ingles a solid wing for Utah, and Matthew Dellavedova made headlines in last year’s playoffs with his gritty defense and playing himself to literal exhaustion in place of Kyrie. In Europe, Ryan Broekhoff and Brock Motum are lighting it up after being signed to various summer league teams in the NBA.

The skills that Australians learn in their ‘native’ sports transfer right into basketball, and we need to tap into that. Australia has a team that’s strong enough to win silver at Rio next year, because they breed athletes that understand the nature of hard work, and that’s evident in the gritty, school-of-hard-knocks style of play in Andrew Bogut and Matthew Dellavedova.

Let’s take advantage of all of this, let’s send scouts down under, and start scouting and preparing kids from a younger age, like we do with AAU ballers in the States. In Australia, the pathways are generally through school or representative sport, and never against particularly big men (America seems to breed physically larger players at elite levels, a product of a large population). The earlier that these kids can come to the US and play at top levels, the better. We’ve already seen it with Ben Simmons who’s widely tipped to go number one, and Thon Maker, an uber-athletic 7 foot point forward out of Melbourne with handles like J Crossover. Both of these players were picked up early, sent to the States to play high school ball at an elite level, and the subsequent development has resulted in a potential number one overall pick, and another lottery pick.

We need to be more receptive to Australian players in college as well – Isaac Humphries, a centre from New South Wales has gone to Kentucky, Deng Adel, a 6’7 forward from Victoria has gone to Louisville, and Jonah Bolden is set to be a real player at UCLA, but besides that, not many colleges seem to want to pick up on the wealth of talent that comes out of Australia. There’s one recurring name, though, and that’s Saint Mary’s College. Saint Mary’s have developed a bit of a tradition of recruiting Australians, under head coach Randy Bennett, and look how that’s worked out. Since Bennett’s taken over, the Gaels have had 5 NCAA tournament appearances, an increase from three in over 60 years. This includes going all the way to the Sweet Sixteen in 2010, losing to Baylor.

Australia’s a goldmine of talent, with passionate, hard-working, talented players, and the NBA needs to do more to take advantage of that. Let’s start with an Australian NBA game – seems to me the perfect way to kick start a wave of Australian recruiting.

The post Australia: The Next NBA Breeding Ground? appeared first on The Hoop Doctors.

Kobe Bryant says a lot of things – being a Tinseltown basketball personality, they tend to. And recently, there’s been a lot of talk about the Mamba’s future, at 37.

Kobe’s been nothing but a detractor for the Lakers this year, and it pains me to say that, given that I wear the number 24 on-court because of him; I’m a big Kobe fan. His relentlessness is what attracts people, but they say your greatest weakness is an excess of your greatest strength, and this is exactly the case with Kobe. Kobe himself appeared very harsh on himself after a 3-of-15 shooting night against Dallas, saying “I’m the 200^th best player in the league right now. I freaking suck.” Yeah, you do, Kobe. And worse than you think – per FiveThirtyEight, you’ve slipped to 468^th in the NBA, based off your play right now. Betway allows you to wager on games. But it’s not in your best interests to bet for the Lakers to win any game right now. They are pretty much never a favorite heading into match-ups.

If we start to piece together what Bryant says and does, as opposed to mindlessly fawning over his every word, we can see a few things. Here’s the facts. He’s set to take up 37.5% of the Lakers’ salary cap this year. He’s ranked 468^th in the NBA. He’s confirmed that he’s not playing for any other team as long as he’s in the NBA, a month ago stating “I’m a Laker, man. I’m a Laker for better or worse.” He’s also not made a decision as to whether he’ll retire at the end of the year.

What I’m seeing here, is a man who’s too arrogant to take a step back on the court or to take a pay cut to help his team, and is not clear at all as to what he’ll do afterwards, thus leaving the Lakers in complete limbo as to what they can do going into the future. It’s no surprise they’re bottom of the league. While I admire the job that the Lakers’ administration has done, building a bright young core led by Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson, Kobe NEEDS to go. He’s leeching precious cap room, and most importantly, he’s an incredibly negative impact on the court right now.

We need to stop giving Kobe a break on the basis of his past achievements. Because the Lakers pay him to do work going into the future, and in the present, he’s not good. He’s not even mediocre. He’s nowhere in the same postcode as bad. He’s absolutely shocking. To add insult to injury, they’ve given him a max contract!

Kobe, if you really do “bleed purple and gold” like you say you do, you’ll make the right decisions by the team. Not by you. What that means is taking a step back on the court, becoming more assist and spot-up focused, like we know you can be. It means taking a pay cut to help the Lakers stay financially flexible, especially going into a new CBA. What that’ll do, is send a message to other free agents that the Lakers mean business. Markets don’t mean anything anymore with the new TV rights deal, so LA needs to become relevant again by doing what they do best – winning. I don’t think Kobe should retire – he has invaluable experience for a young group that WILL experience growing pains. But he needs to understand that leadership is about letting others blossom, not jacking up shots for the sake of it.

The post Kobe Bryant Hell-Bent on Dooming Lakers appeared first on The Hoop Doctors.

“Back to back like I’m Jordan, 96-97” – Drake’s lyrics embody the positive vibe around the Warriors camp at the moment. It goes without saying that these Warriors are good. They’re damn good. In a conversation with a mate of mine recently, I did say that it’s not a big call anymore to predict a back-to-back, but instead it’s now a big call to predict a three-peat.

I’m not going to make the call that Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes made recently and say that they’re the best team of all time, but they can’t be far off. As Draymond Green put it, “How many more statements do we need to make?”

But like Shakira’s hips, the numbers don’t lie. Last season, they put up the eighth-highest average margin of victory in NBA history, with the fourth-highest single-season win total ever. They were the first team since Dr J’s 1980-81 76ers to lead the league in field goal percentage on both sides of the ball.

And this year, they’re seemingly, somehow, even better. The Dubs’ 50 point rout of the Memphis Grizzlies on November 2^nd was nigh-on incredible. The Grizzlies are no pushover; not long ago they were considered a genuine championship contender. The Dubs have averaged a margin of victory of 25 points in the opening four games, and against four playoff teams from last season.

And Steph Curry’s quite obviously a part of that. There’s no need to go on and on about his incredible qualities, whether it be shooting the ball, making defenders look silly with his handle or making the game an absolute joy to watch with unbelievable vision and passing.  His numbers say it all: he’s the best scorer the game’s seen since Michael Jordan. I have no hesitation in saying that – he’s been a member of the 50-40-90 club three times, he put up 37 points a game last season, which is genuinely ridiculous. He’s redefined the concept of lights out shooting for the next generation, and he’s having an awful lot of fun while doing it. Without him, the Warriors would’ve been 15.7 wins worse last season, which is a testament to how impactful he is on such a deep team.

I am simply beyond understanding the Golden State haters. Doc Rivers said they had luck on their side in last year’s playoffs, and effectively used to it put an asterisk next to their title run. I’m sorry, Doc, but EVERY team that runs to a title has luck on their side. Your 2008 Celtics had luck on their side that they stayed healthy, that the stars aligned for them on a regular basis. That’s the result of having talent and hard work, like it has with Golden State. These are basic concepts; they shouldn’t be used to cut down Golden State’s championship last year. Golden State went against a healthy, Davis-led Pelicans in the first round, a rough, tough Memphis in the second, and the perennial contenders in Houston in the third, and at no point faced an elimination game.

Golden State are the real deal. They’re going back to back, provided they stay healthy. Not only are they going to add another title, but I’m calling it now – they’re not going to lose more than 3 games in the playoffs when they do it. They’ve perfected the pace-and-space offense, they’ve perfected small-ball, and they’ve done it a season before the rest of the NBA. We’re watching history in the making, folks. We’ll be telling our grandchildren about a young man named Steph Curry, and the wonderful, wonderful things that he did with a basketball.

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Oklahoma City have a penchant for unearthing talent. Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden were all drafted by the organisation, and if it weren’t for a complete trade debacle, the Thunder would absolutely have the best big three in the league, by a long, long way. The Thunder front office has compiled a very strong unit, especially on offense, and they look to challenge for the title with KD back and healthy.

But a battalion is nothing without a leader, and that’s been OKC’s issue for the last couple of years. We have one of the potential greatest players of all time in Kevin Durant, and a certain MVP contender in Russell Westbrook. Every top team in the league, even those that have assembled so-called “big threes”, have a clear leader. Cleveland have LeBron, Golden State have Curry, the Clippers have Chris Paul, the Rockets have James Harden. A team will NOT succeed without a clear player to rally behind.

On paper, OKC’s situation doesn’t make any sense. This team is good enough to legitimately contend for a title. Why aren’t they, then? A lack of clear direction, that’s why. Billy Donovan has an opportunity to establish a hierarchy in the culture in Oklahoma, and that’s what they need. Players need to learn their place within a team environment. Since the Harden trade, Russell Westbrook’s averaged 9.1 win shares per season. On the flipside, Kevin Durant’s averaged 14.3, including a season in which he only played 27 games due to injury. Clearly, KD is more valuable to the team. As such, the Thunder head office needs to decide now – what are they going to do? There’s a myriad of possibilities, but none that can be carried out without dealing damaging blows to the egos of these superstar NBA players, and in effect their long term title hopes.

My solution would be to trade Russell Westbrook. The man is coming off the back of an MVP-contender year, he’s clearly an asset. He was almost as good as Michael Jordan in his prime, statistically. That’s a huge selling point for almost every single team in the league. He also is begging to be the number one, and he won’t get that unless Kevin Durant goes, and the only way that’s happening is if the Thunder lose him in free agency in 2016. I’d trade Westbrook to a team that can provide a quality point guard in return, but also a variety of pieces that complement Durant. I can see a trade happening, perhaps with Chicago – Westbrook, Waiters and DJ Augustin for Rose, Hinrich and Tony Snell? Alternatively, if Durant bolts in 2016, Westbrook assumes prime position with a wealth of talent in the frontcourt in Enes Kanter.

Above all else, OKC need to figure this out, and until that happens, they’re not going to compete for a championship. They’ve either got to lock up Durant and trade Westbrook, or try to get something in return for Durant, because losing a future Hall of Famer for nothing seems like an awfully poor management decision from every angle. There’s never two alpha dogs – when there are, it gets UGLY. This season will show the height of the tension between Westbrook and Durant, on and off the court if something isn’t done in the front office.

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