Tag: Jrue Holliday

2013 NBA Draft In Review

~ Dave Ettinger ~ Leave a comment

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I just love surprises don’t you? Nerlens Noel was considered by most to be the best player in this years NBA Draft, and was projected to be the #1 overall pick. Boy was everybody wrong. Noel fell all the way to the 6th pick as his flat top surely shrunk as he waited to hear his name called. Upon his selection to the New Orleans Pelicans, he immediately got shipped off to Philadelphia. The 76ers did what everybody does and made a trade based on money and money alone. No one in their right mind can tell me that Nerlens Noel (a virtual unknown coming off major surgery) is worth up and coming superstar Jrue Holliday AND a future 1st round pick. The only positive for the 76ers here is that they cleared $41 million in cap space for the future, but in the process they lose one of the best young talents in the NBA. Yeah that decision shouldn’t haunt you for the rest of your life. Now, back to the task at hand: Who was the first overall pick in the draft you ask? The Cleveland Cavaliers selected Anthony Bennett of UNLV to play alongside the über talented Kyrie Irving. Cleveland management clearly wants to win now as Bennett is regarded as the most NBA ready player of anyone in this years draft (I have to respectfully disagree with that). From there the shocks and surprises kept on coming. I believe there were two picks in the top 10 that stood out. Cody Zeller going 4th overall is egregious. I’m starting to figure out why Michael Jordan is not a good executive and should never be allowed to make decisions for his team ever again. If you think Cody Zeller is going to live up to his draft position, then you must be sipping on the same stuff MJ is. On the other hand, the best value pick has to be Ben McClemore as the 7th overall pick. McClemore is probably the most talented player in the entire draft, and I think between he and Victor Oladipo, they will be duking it out for Rookie of the Year honors next season. Overall it was a very active day in the NBA, and I will break down all the important moves right here.

Thursday’s NBA Draft represented David Stern’s 30th and final draft. Over those 30 years he has stood on that stage with some of the NBA’s greatest players of all-time. As most of you know, Stern will be stepping down as commissioner in February making way for a new era in the NBA. This years draft, while not as deep in terms of obvious talent, certainly did not disappoint. It was a wild night as 11 of the first 30 picks were traded, and the host site of the draft made the biggest splash of all. The Brooklyn Nets have brought new meaning to the term win now as they traded away 5 players and 3 future draft picks to the Boston Celtics. Here is how the trade breaks down:

The Nets get:
Paul Pierce
Kevin Garnett
and Jason Terry

The Celtics get:
Gerald Wallace
Reggie Evans
Kris Humphries
Keith Bogans
Tornike Shengelia
and 1st round picks in 2014, 2016, and 2018

The Nets starting lineup instantly gets better, and this makes them a top 3 team in the NBA on paper. However, as we all know, a bunch of names thrown together doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to work (especially with a rookie head coach in Jason Kidd). The way I see it, the Nets have to win the championship this year, or this will be considered a failure. Forget who they traded, they traded away 3 1st round picks. If this doesn’t work out then they’ll be in the proverbial hurt locker for some time now. What I see happening is they will finish with a solid record (probably 50 wins), but come playoff time they will meet their match against the Heat. As for the Boston Celtics, this is simply the final move to having a clean slate to rebuild on. It’ll be years before Boston competes again in the East, so get comfy. If you take a quick glance at the Eastern Conference, it is strong. For the Knicks to be the 5th best team in the Conference, you know the East is ready to dominate the NBA yet again. Speaking of the Knicks, I did like their draft pick from last night. They chose Tim Hardaway Jr. with the 24th overall pick. If your team likes to shoot then draft a shooter.

All in all it was a crazy night in the NBA. We saw a shocker at #1, we saw a blockbuster trade, and we saw a staple in the NBA conduct his final draft as commissioner. Now all that’s left to do is find out where Dwight Howard will suit up next year, and we’ll be ready for another action packed NBA season. What team do you think had the best draft? Who had the worst draft? Leave me your answers and comments below.

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So That’s What Winning Feels Like?? Oh Man..I Almost Forgot!!

~ Dave Ettinger ~ Leave a comment

The Knicks got exactly what they needed.  A win.  It wasn’t all pretty but it got the job done.  I liked the style of basketball Carmelo Anthony played last night.  He looked like he kinda sort of cared on the defensive end and on offensive he was aggressive in taking the ball to the hoop.  Melo took a season high 18 free throw attempts last night (making 16 of them).  This goes to show you that his mentality was to attack the basket off the dribble, rather than jack up three pointers all night.  He had a team high 29 points, but he shot a measly 33% from the field.  On the other hand, Amar’e Stoudemire was clearly the player of the game.  He had a season high 22 points on 9 of 10 shooting from the field.  His field goal percentage this season (56.9%) is well above his career average (53.4%), and he is dominating inside the paint offensively in his role off the bench.  If the Knicks want to contend in the Eastern Conference this year, they need Amar’e to continue to his efficiency on the offensive end.  As far as the Knicks defense goes, they looked like they played with more energy and intensity than we’ve seen in the recent past.  However, this team lacks that killer instinct that say a Kobe Bryant has.  They found themselves sitting on a 20 point lead early in the 3rd quarter, and they simply didn’t go for the jugular.  I would have loved to see them blow the 76ers out last night.  It would have sent a statement to the rest of the league, and would have built their confidence beyond belief.  The Knicks let off the gas pedal and let the 76ers back in the game.  This game shouldn’t have been nearly as close as the final score would indicate.  Now, the Knicks did win 99-93, but I would have liked to see them hold the 76ers to under 90 points.  The Knicks also continue to lack any type of consistency from their “shooting” guards.  Shumpert’s intensity was up on the defensive end last night, which was great to see.  However, he is clearly still out of rhythm on the offensive side of the ball.  He is not 100%, and he has no lift on his jumper.  I was watching the game last night and thought to myself, man it would be nice to see Iman Shumpert throw down a ferocious dunk and get the fans up out of their seats.  He does have amazing hops and is extremely athletic, and I look forward to seeing him get back to form and contributing on both sides of the ball. As for Jason Kidd, have you ever seen a veteran player in his 19th season look more uncomfortable shooting a basketball?  I mean when he is WIDE OPEN he doesn’t even want to shoot it.  However when he does decide to jack up an occasional shot, his legs flail out like Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance.  Kidd did grab 9 rebounds last night and play decent defense, but if he is going to be the Knicks starting 2-guard for the foreseeable future he needs to start hitting some shots. The problem the Knicks had last night in closing this game out was their inability to guard quick point guards (nothing new there).  Jrue Holliday carved up the Knicks, scoring at will.  He ended up with a game high 30 points.  The Knicks won the ball game, but they are lucky the game ended when it did.  If the game were just 3 minutes longer, I guarantee you they would have lost.  They need to carry some momentum from this win into their next game.  They will remain at home, but have a tough match-up against the Golden State Warriors Wednesday night.  Tune in to MSG @ 8:00 P.M. this Wednesday night to watch the Knicks continue their winning ways, hopefully.

In a word ——> Pathetic

~ Dave Ettinger ~ 3 Comments

Well, the New York Knicks blew a very winnable game last night.  They lost to the Washington Wizards by a score of 106-96.  As you can see from the title, I thought their performance was pathetic!!  This is their worst loss of the season.  If you look at their schedule so far, this is only their 2nd BAD loss of the season though, the other being a loss in Sacramento against the horrid Kings.  That loss was a one point game on the road, but the way the Knicks pummeled them at the Garden last week, they made that loss look even worse.  To the Wizards credit, they are a much better team with a healthy John wall and Nene on the floor.  However, it is the way the Knicks played that really has me fired up today.  I will elaborate on why they played so poorly but to sum up their problems in one word: DEFENSE(or lack there of).  They looked lazy and uninspired on the defensive end.  Guys were getting beat off the first step, and there was no help defense occurring in the paint.  Side-note: I did like Amare’s block on John Wall in the 2nd half.  I need to see a lot more of that when they’re getting broken down by opposing teams point guards.  Let me see that or knock a little guy on his ass once and they’ll stop coming down by the trees real fast(trust me, I was that little guy in high school).  However, at one point in the game it looked like John Wall was out there by himself doing lay-up lines.  One of the Knicks biggest weaknesses is their inability to contain quick point guards.  We saw it last night with Wall, we definitely saw it with Jrue Holliday two weeks ago, and even Jameer Nelson picked apart the Knicks last week(even though we won that game).  The Knicks have a very good record this year, but it’s the games where they play solid team defense from the opening tip until the final buzzer that they look impressive.  It’s in those wins that they look like a team that should compete for a championship.  Last night was not one of those nights.  They allowed Washington(the worst scoring offense in the NBA) to pretty much score at will.  Their 3-point defense was atrocious as well.  Now, I know they can’t win every game and it was just one game, but if they’re going to lose close games I’d like it to be against a formidable opponent.  We might have lost to the Washington Wizards(just as the Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder did), but do you know who I really feel bad for??  The Minnesota Timberwolves.  I foresee a massacre in Minnesota, while the Knicks take out their frustration from a terrible loss.  Only time will tell.  Tune in to New York Knicks basketball as they take on the Minnesota Timberwolves, Friday night at 8:00 P.M.