NBA Quarter Season Report and Commentary

Random Observations:

Watching the Thunder scrambled to recover from a rough and injury riddled start to secure a playoff spot in the rugged Western Conference is going to be fun to watch

The Thunder have been hit by the injury bug pretty hard to start the 2014-15 with Durant missing the first 17 games, Westbrook missing 15 of the first 16 and Anthony Morrow and Jeremy Lamb missing time. They stumbled to a 3-12 start, which means to make the playoffs based off of last year’s number 8 seeded Mavericks who won 49 games, the Thunder will have to go 46-19 the rest of the way, they are off to a 4-1 start.

The Cavaliers should thank their lucky stars they are in the Eastern Conference

“The Land” struggled earlier in the season to find their way as LeBron didn’t look like the best player on the planet the first three weeks of the season, the Cavs offense struggled to find it’s groove and a lot of tinkering took place to try and solve the Cavaliers legitimate problem protecting the rim (not going away unless they can acquire a defensive big). They have righted the ship in the past couple weeks and are currently riding a six-game winning streak. If the Cavs had started with a little tougher slate and had to worry about squeaking out 50 wins with a tougher Western Conference heavy schedule as a member of the Western Conference there wouldn’t be nearly as much breathing room or opportunity for a learning curve. As it stands the Cavs are already fourth in the East at the moment and have a fantastic opportunity to end up at the top of the conference with the Bulls seemingly never-ending injury issues and the Raptors without DeMar DeRozan for who knows how long.

The Pistons are in dire need of a roster restructuring and their 2013 free agency moves have become a nightmare

The Pistons are currently 3-18 and losers of 12 straight. They were a trendy Eastern Conference playoff pick before the season but now appear that they will struggle to amass 20 wins. Their issues are obvious, they have too much frontcourt depth with Andre Drummond, Greg Monroe and Josh Smith, a trio who can absolutely not be on the court together for long periods because of the lack of spacing and Josh Smith’s maddening persistence on jacking up 20 footers and three-pointers despite being a poor shooter, a problem worsened when he is playing the three with two traditional back to the basket big men down low. Add in the non-existence of depth at the wing positions, especially at the two-guard where Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is playing 34 minutes a game and shooting an atrocious 37% from the field and below average 33% from three-point range on 5.6 attempts a game. An injury to offseason acquisition Jodie Meeks definitely hurts as well. Add in the fact that they have a shoot-first, inefficient although talented point guard in Brandon Jennings and you can see why the Pistons do not mesh at all. They desperately need to move Smith or Monroe, mostly likely Monroe as I doubt there is much of a market for Josh Smith, and acquire some wing talent and scoring. A move like Greg Monroe for Gerald Green and Miles Plumlee or a pick would make a lot of sense for the Pistons and Suns, who have the opposite problem of the Pistons in that they are guard heavy and lack frontcourt depth.

Although it was controversial, the Warriors made the right decision firing Mark Jackson and hiring Steve Kerr and they are a legitimate championship contender for the first time ever

The Warriors are out to an NBA best 17-2 start and it’s no fluke. They are beating opponents by an average of 11 points per game and are ranked third in total offense and all the way up to eight in total defense. You knew the Warriors had ample offensive firepower to compete with anybody with the Splash Brothers, David Lee and a bunch of solid role players who can score and hit open shots, i.e. Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala and Harrison Barnes, but Steve Kerr has utilized the Warriors great length and team quickness with players like Igoudala, Green, Barnes, Livingston to play an aggressive and highly organized switching and rotating defense with Andrew Bogut using his length, size and great defensive instincts as an anchor in the middle. This seems to be a sustainable model moving forward as long as Bogut stays healthy. It will be interesting to see how the incorporation of David Lee when he returns from injury will affect the chemistry and rhythm.

Carmelo Anthony made a horrible career move this offseason

The Knicks are currently 4-18 and losers of eight straight and are downright depressing to watch. They have no rim protection as Dalembert is on his last legs and only playing 18 minutes per game (meanwhile Tyson Chandler is having a career revival in Dallas averaging 11 points and 12 rebounds per game), looked unorganized and disinterested defensively, and are only mustering 93 points per game, good for 26th in the league. Tim Hardaway Jr. has been a disappointment and kind find consistent minutes and J.R. Smith may have had his talent and shooting ability taken by one of the Monstars from Space Jam. The only bright spot is the play of Amar’e Stoudemire, who is averaging 13 and 8 in 26 minutes per game. Melo had the opportunity to leave this mess and join the perfect supporting cast for him to compete for titles in Chicago or join two other stars in James Harden and Dwight Howard in Houston, but instead choose the extra money (and LaLa’s happiness I’m assuming) and stayed in New York.

Kobe becoming the oldest player in NBA history to lead the NBA in scoring, but leading a 20 win team while doing it

Ah yes it’s fun to watch the Lakers be a train wreck isn’t it? Kobe has evolved into the NBA’s version of a curmudgeon in the twilight of his career and although he is showing he still knows how to put the ball in the basket and put up eye popping numbers he is doing it extremely inefficiently (38% from the field and 27% from the three) and is surrounded by poorly constructed and defensively challenged talent (the Lakers give up a league leading 110.2 points per game). At the age of 36 Kobe Bryant will officially be the oldest player to ever lead the NBA in scoring for a season if he keeps scoring at his current pace. If you want to go in a time machine and watch isolation and hero ball basketball from another era, tune into a Lakers game it is great entertainment.

Quarter Season Awards: