Episode 064 - NBA Finals Recap and Draft Preview

The NBA’s offseason is here, and before Chris and Paul get into the NBA Draft and their favorite prospects, they first begin by recapping the 2015 NBA Finals and the Golden State Warriors’ complete team victory, small-ball strategy, and LeBron James’s historical dominance. As always they end on some pop culture talk, including Daredevil Episode 3, the Season 5 finale of Game of Thrones, and some miscellaneous TV talk (Community, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, True Detective Season 2).

Episode 063 - NBA Finals Preview

Chris and Paul preview the 2015 NBA Finals and the hype and various narratives leading up to it, transition to some recent coaching hires, and then wrap up on the second episode of Netflix’s “Daredevil” and the series finale of “Mad Men”.

The Give and Go: Future NBA Stories

Credit:  USA Today

The Give and Go is a quick back and forth between Paul Mitchell and Chris St. Jean about a relevant subject in the NBA at that moment.

Chris: Mitchell, last week LeBron James was upset because his 10-year-old son was supposedly being recruited by colleges already. LeBron claims he already has offers on the table and felt that it should be a violation to do so for a kid so young, yet in the same breath talked up his son’s passing skills and compared his son’s pass-first mentality to his own.

That got me thinking...  This is inevitable, right? In roughly 8 years we’ll be watching LeBron James Jr. play his first college basketball game for Duke (Does being the Team USA coach give Coach K an edge in recruiting?). Months later, he’ll be the first overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. And there’s a chance his father, LeBron James Sr. (from now on we have to call him senior, right?), may even still be a player in this league. The first NBA matchup between LeBron James Jr and Lebron James Sr will be the biggest story in sports for a week in 2024, am I right?

So, Mitchell, I’m curious, what is the most crazy/uplifting/depressing/unbelievable/shocking/must-watch NBA story that you envision will take place in the next 7-12 years? The story that will make Deflate-gate and Donald Sterling look like that time when Jayson Williams tried to cover up shooting his chauffeur in the face with a shotgun. Seriously, that should have been a bigger story, no? So what do you have, Mitchell?

Chris and Paul's All-Star Starter Votes

Credit:  NBA.com

It's that time of year again.  Paul and I probably spend too much time talking about All-Stars in general and, like Zach Lowe, probably take them too seriously but it’s a great way for us to recognize great play around the league.  I find the discussion around All-Star reserves more intriguing in general and Paul and I have spoken our mind about the disappointment we have with NBA fans based on how All-Star votes have been in the past.  As the fan voting comes to a close though, Paul and I cast our votes over the weekend via Twitter (they always say you can’t complain about the process unless you partake in it, right?).  

This year, we, like the NBA, thought we would utilize the power of Twitter.  For the NBA, #NBABallot has been an overall success.  It’s become the most popular way for people to vote, it’s given voice to communities in support of their favorite player (Kyle Lowry comes to mind), and the hashtag has become a representation of something within the basketball discourse community.  Because #NBABallot means something to you (and I bet if you’re reading this blog than it does), it was a success for the NBA.  

Paul and I tried to use 140 characters and the ability to include multimedia (whether it’s a link, an image, a GIF, Vine, or YouTube video) to make our case for our NBA All-Star starters.  Here’s what we came up with:

2014-15 NBA Season Preview: MVP, All-NBA, and Playoff Predictions

Image via sportswol.com

Here we are.  NBA Day.  It's been a long few months and yet with the NBA Finals finishing in June, then the Draft, off-season, NBA Summer League, and even a bonus FIBA World Cup tournament, we've barely been without basketball.  Today is the day though.  It's the instant all that speculation and all those predictions become almost immediately invalidated.  That's alright though.  Starting tonight, there will always be a fresh batch of basketball games to talk about.  New information to help inform us.  Our studies begin tonight.

2014-15 NBA Season Preview: Cleveland Cavaliers

Kyrie Irving, LeBron James, and Kevin Love
(Lisa DeJong/The Cleveland Plain Dealer)

It’s still weeks before the start of the regular season and the very concept of the Cleveland Cavaliers as a super team with serious championship aspirations is still a little strange. The franchise has had its moments of futility throughout its 44-year history, but also NBA and Conference Finals appearances over the last ten years. LeBron James may be the constant to their periods of contention, but the composition, and potential upside, of the team around him is vastly different than those veteran-laden teams of the mid-to-late ‘aughts.

2014-15 NBA Season Preview: Andrew Wiggins

 
The last time the # 1 overall pick was traded before even suiting up for the team that drafted him was in the 1993 draft.  Chris Webber was taken first overall by the Orlando Magic and traded to the Golden State Warriors for Anfernee Hardaway and a few first round picks.  A month before the draft if someone told me that the first pick in this draft (whoever it ended up being) was going to get traded in August, I would have called that person a fool.  Then a series of unbelievable events happened to get us here. First, Cleveland, with a 1.7% chance of winning the lottery, somehow won the lottery (which pissed off Celtics and Lakers fans more than you would believe).  Second, Lebron goes home.  And Third, after Cleveland GM David Griffin was hesitant to include Andrew Wiggins in a potential Kevin Love deal, Glen Taylor and Dan Gilbert undermined their employees by reportedly agreeing in Las Vegas that Wiggins would be part of the eventual deal.

Episode 032 - Free Agency

Chris and Paul delve into NBA free agency and the monumental LeBron James decision by discussing the moves so far this summer and the first week of summer league action.

# 26 - Miami Heat

 

Associated Press

Editor's Note: For this pick Mitchell and I abandoned the every other pattern we've been using because I loved this fit for Miami and couldn't realistically come up with a trade for them to get to an odd number that would make sense for them.  Mitchell will be making the # 29 pick instead.

What I’d Do:

Spencer Dinwiddie - Colorado

6’6” (6’8” wingspan), 205 lbs, 4/6/1993 (21 years old)

I haven’t really watched SportsCenter in months to be honest.  For those that watch it regularly, you will probably come to despise the Miami Heat situation and Lebron James no matter what his ultimate decision is.  I suppose that’s inevitable.  That’s alright.  Mitchell and I will continue to combat the casual fan narrative:  the idea that Lebron somehow owes something to the League, to Dwayne Wade, to Pat Riley, to Mario Chalmers.  For those that can see through the outer layer of narrative, the Miami Heat situation is fascinating.

Pat Riley’s press conference was the beginning.  I’ve only heard this podcast twice, but the most recent Juliet Show had a great discussion about Pat Riley (including a Pat Riley as the Tywin Lannister of the NBA comparison!!!).  It did seem like a power play.  A calculated move to put pressure on Lebron.  Lebron countered by opting out and now Chad Ford is reporting that Miami is willing to trade up to get a backup point guard because Lebron tweeted about him in March.  I think we all know who has the power here.  

I think it’s unfair to say Brian Windhorst rode Lebron’s coat tails to journalistic prominence.  Windhorst is well respected throughout the league and has obviously cultivated some amazing contacts.  It’s not unfair to say that if there was no Lebron, Windhorst might still be working with the amazing Terry Pluto at The Plain Dealer instead of the largest sports writing platform in the world.  That’s not a knock on Windhorst.  He’s a great journalist who seized an amazing opportunity aggressively.  It does illustrate the power of Lebron though.  He has his own gravitational pull.  

Between Lebron, Carmelo, and Love this off-season may turn into the craziest we’ve seen yet.  Even crazier than 2010.  That’s pretty amazing considering we spent almost the entire NBA season assuming it would be quite mundane when the Big 3 and Carmelo all re-signed.  It started yesterday with the Knicks and Houston moving rim protectors. The Knicks move was triggered by Carmelo’s opt out.  Houston’s by both Carmelo and Lebron.  Tonight has the potential to be one of the craziest drafts in memory because of all these moving parts.

Shabazz Napier may be who Pat Riley thinks Lebron wants, but I don’t buy he’s the best fit.  In fact, Spencer Dinwiddie could be more talented and the Heat might be better served trading down into the start of the second round to grab him instead of giving up any potential asset they might have (they don’t have much right now) in order to trade up for Napier.  Let me explain.

Spencer Dinwiddie, if healthy, would have been a high lottery pick, I am convinced.  He is a 6’6” point guard that can absolutely do it all.  He somehow managed to decrease his usage rate while producing at the same level on a Colorado that he was absolutely carrying this year before the injury.  Colorado was 14-2 before Dinwiddie blew out his knee against Washington including a win against Kansas (where Dinwiddie had 15 and 7 assists) and a tough loss to Oklahoma St (Dinwiddie matched Marcus Smart’s 18 on 6 of 14 shooting).  After Dinwiddie’s injury, Colorado went 9-10.  He can not only score (68% career true shooting % and 8.9 free throw attempts per 40 in two consecutive seasons), he also has a 2.18 assist to turnover rate leading to the belief he may be able to play point guard.  Also, his nickname is 'The Mayor'.

He fits perfectly with Miami to me.  He has great size.  He can shoot.  He can be a ball handler, but playing with Miami does not have to be the primary ball handler.  Defensively, he is not exceptional, but he has size and lateral quickness, has solid steal numbers, and paired with other great defensive players (Bosh and James) in a great defensive system, he may thrive.  The biggest concern is the ACL injury.  It’s the reason you could get a player this good, so late.  It’s certainly a concern.  However, ACL injuries are far from career ending with today’s medical advancements (see Blake Griffin).  I think the risk is worth it.  Miami has to take risks to find supplemental talent for the Big 3.

This all assumes that Lebron, Wade, and Bosh are coming back.  That’s a huge assumption and unfortunately, Miami has no idea what those three are going to do when they’re making draft day decisions.  It’ll be fascinating to watch.

What I Think They’ll Do:

It pretty much seems like Napier is the guy.  I don’t think they have to go too high to get him, but I expected Toronto to draft Ennis.  If there’s a chance they go Napier instead, than Miami will have to make something crazy work to get up ahead of # 21.  That seems like the most likely scenario.

Crazy Draft Day Trade:  

I tried working Tyson Chandler into as many of these draft day trades as possible.  I’m glad to see him get out of New York.  In the aftermath, the Iman Shumpert to Miami for this # 26 pick seems pretty reasonable.  If I’m Miami, I think I make that move rather than Napier.  Of course, it’s Lebron’s call.