2012 NBA Power Rankings

1. Miami Heat

2. Oklahoma City Thunder

3. San Antonio Spurs

4. Los Angeles Lakers

5. Los Angeles Clippers

6. Boston Celtics

7. Dallas Mavericks

8. Indiana Pacers

9. Denver Nuggets

10. Chicago Bulls

11. New York Knicks

12. Utah Jazz

13. Brooklyn Nets

14. Philadelphia 76ers

15. Minnesota Timberwolves

16. Houston Rockets

17. Memphis Grizzlies

18. Milwaukee Bucks

19. Portland Trail Blazers

20. Atlanta Hawks

21. New Orleans Hornets

22. Golden State Warriors

23. Detroit Pistons

24. Cleveland Cavaliers

25. Washington Wizards

26. Sacramento Kings

27. Phoenix Suns

28. Toronto Raptors

29. Orlando Magic

30. Charlotte Bobcats

The Sports Hound: NBA Draft and Trade Rumors 6/26/12

Charlotte Bobcats and Cleveland Cavaliers looking to trade draft picks.  Charlotte Observer

Chicago Bulls moving Joakim Noah or Luol Deng for draft pick or cap space.  Pro Basketball Talk

Philadelphia 76ers looking to move Andre Iguodala to Golden State Warriors or Toronto Raptors.  Philadelphia Inquirer

Milwaukee Bucks looking to move up in the draft.  Racine Journal-Times

Plenty Houston Rockets rumors:

Rockets targeting Sacramento Kings 5th pick, may be after Andre Drummond.  NBADraft.net

New Jersey Nets interested in Rockets pick.  Nets Daily

Rockets looking to make draft trades to have enough assets to acquire Dwight Howard.  NBA.com

Rockets looking to acquire two top 10 draft picks to move for Dwight Howard.  ESPN

Sacramento Kings (5) and Toronto Raptors (8) let Rockets know their picks are available, but Kyle Lowry may have to be apart of the deal.  ESPN

The Sports Hound: NBA Draft and Trade Rumors 6/21/12

New Orleans Hornets traded Emeka Okafor and Trevor Ariza to Washington Wizards for Rashard Lewis and 46th overall pick.  ESPN

New Orleans Hornets are expected to buyout Rashard Lewis.  @AlexKennedyNBA

Five teams expected to be going after Jamal Crawford in free agency.  Hoops World

With recent trade of Okafor, Hornets may target Tyler Zeller.  New Orleans Times-Picayune

If the New York Knicks offer Steve Nash a contract, he may take it.  ESPN

Multiple sources, Toronto Raptors may be looking for SG in the draft.

 

The Sports Hound: 2012 NBA Mock Draft 2.0

The NBA Draft Lottery has officially decided the fate of the worst teams of the 2011-2012 season and here is the update.

Also check out some other NBA Mock Draft’s on a few different databases.

 

1. New Orleans Hornets – Anthony Davis PF – Kentucky

2. Charlotte Bobcats# – Michael Kidd-Gilchrist SF – Kentucky

3. Washington Wizards – Thomas Robinson PF – Kansas

4. Cleveland Cavaliers – Bradley Beal SG – Florida

5. Sacramento Kings# –  Harrison Barnes SF – North Carolina

6. Portland Trail Blazers* – Andre Drummond PF/C – UConn

7. Golden State# – Austin Rivers SG – Duke

8. Toronto Raptors – Kendall Marshall PG – North Carolina

9. Detroit Pistons – Terrence Jones SF/PF – Kentucky

10. New Orleans Hornets* – Damien Lillard PG – Weber State

11. Portland Trail Blazers – Tyler Zeller C – North Carolina

12. Milwaukee Bucks – Jared Sullinger PF – Ohio State

13. Phoenix Suns – Jeremy Lamb SG – UConn

14. Houston Rockets* –  Arnett Moultrie PF/C – Mississippi State

15. Philadelphia 76ers – Perry Jones PF – Baylor

16. Houston Rockets* – Dion Waiters SG – Syracuse

17. Dallas Mavericks# – Meyers Leonard C – Illinois

18. Minnesota Timberwolves# – Terrence Ross SG/SF – Washington

19. Orlando Magic – Marquis Teague PG – Kentucky

20. Denver Nuggets – John Henson PF – North Carolina

21. Boston Celtics – Quincy Miller SF – Baylor

22. Boston Celtics* – Tony Wroten PG/SG – Washington

23. Atlanta Hawks – Doron Lamb SG – Kentucky

24. Cleveland Cavaliers* – Festus Ezeli C – Vanderbilt

25. Memphis Grizzlies – Moe Harkless SF – St. John’s

26. Indiana Pacers – Jeff Taylor SF – Vanderbilt

27. Miami Heat# – Fab Melo C – Syracuse

28. Oklahoma City Thunder – Evan Fournier SG/SF – Poitiers

29. Chicago Bulls – Tony Mitchell PF – North Texas

30. Golden State Warriors* – Royce White SF – Iowa State

 

Trades

*Portland Trail Blazers receive pick from New Jersey Nets (Gerald Wallace trade) – Top 3 protected

#Utah Jazz receive pick from Golden State Warriors (Marcus Williams trade) (Deron Williams trade) – Top 7 protected

*New Orleans Hornets receive pick from Minnesota Timberwolves (Chris Paul trade) – Unprotected

*Houston Rockets receive pick from New York Knicks (Tracy McGrady trade) – Top 5 protected

*New Jersey Nets receive pick from Houston Rockets (Terrence Williams trade) – Top 14 protected

#Houston Rockets receive pick from Dallas Mavericks (Lamar Odom trade) (Jordan Hill trade) – Top 20 protected

*Boston Celtics receive pick from Los Angeles Clippers (Eric Bledsoe trade) (Jeff Green trade) – Top 10 protected

*Cleveland Cavaliers receive pick from Los Angeles Lakers (Ramon Sessions trade)

*Golden State Warriors receive pick from San Antonio Spurs (Richard Jefferson trade)

#Chicago Bulls receive pick from Charlotte Bobcats (Tyrus Thomas trade) – Top 14 protected

#Cleveland Cavaliers have option to swap picks with Miami Heat (LeBron James trade)

#Cleveland Cavaliers receive pick from Sacramento Kings – Lottery protected

#Minnesota Timberwolves receive pick from Utah Jazz (Darius Songalia trade) – Lottery protected

Which type of PG is better: scoring or distributing?

The definition of a point guard (PG) is a backcourt player who runs the team’s offense.  The PG is also considered the ball handler or play maker.  The evolution of the position has been an amazing one as it transformed from players who generally passed to their teammates to create easy shots to players now who look at scoring more.  In today’s NBA you have a variety of these PG’s that both look to give their teammates shots and those who look to score first to open things up for their team.

Here is a list of players in the NBA and I ask that you give me your perspective on which type of player you would rather have run your team.

• Steve Nash – Distributing PG who generally looks for his teammates first before he looks for his own shot.
• Derrick Rose – Scoring PG who attacks the basket early to draw defenders to him to give his teammates easy shots.
• Russell Westbrook – Scoring PG who just shoots to shoot it seems like to me. His assists are normally aimed at two great scorers in Kevin Durant and James Harden.
• Chris Paul – Distributing PG who picks and chooses his spots, but can score whenever he wants to.
• Jason Kidd – Distributing PG who is very good at rebounding and over the years has grown into sneaky good 3 point shooter.
• Tony Parker – Scoring PG who got a lot of assists early on in his career, because of Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili.  But he normally looks to score and is great at finishing in the paint.
• Rajon Rondo – Distributing PG who looks to pass first and if he shot the ball better, he would probably be the best PG in the NBA.
• Jose Calderon – Distributing PG who truly looks only to pass and occasionally looks to score.
• Deron Williams – Scoring PG who can light it up with the best scorers in league, but because of his vision and strength easily gets his team involved as well.
• Brandon Jennings – Scoring PG who honestly should be able to get much more assists per game. His speed and quickness should allow him more opportunities to find his team, but he shoots early and often.

 

Of all of these players listed, based on what they do best and how they affect their teams which type of PG would you rather have running your team?

Jeremy Lin: Well I had to…..

I don’t want to get into politics with this post, I just want to touch on the Jeremy Lin sensation as well as Floyd Mayweather’s recent comments regarding Lin.  It’s not about RACE at all Mr. Mayweather, it’s about what Lin has done on the court.  The statistics mean absolutely nothing compared to the wins that he’s helped the Knicks gain….and oh by the way,  without the team’s top players (Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire) in most of the games.

Look at his numbers in the last 6 games (5 of them starts):

 

New Jersey Nets (didn’t start) – 25 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 turnover in 36 minutes

Utah Jazz – 28 points, 8 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, 8 turnovers in 45 minutes

Washington Wizards – 23 points, 10 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers in 36 minutes

Los Angeles Lakers – 38 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 6 turnovers in 39 minutes

Minnesota Timberwolves – 20 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 6 turnovers in 39 minutes

Toronto Raptors – 27 points, 11 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 8 turnovers in 43 minutes

 

The level of competition has been high even though most of those teams aren’t playing well this season.  The PG’s he played against names speak for themselves.  Deron Williams (Nets), Devin Harris (Jazz), John Wall (Wizards), Derek Fisher/Kobe Bryant (Lakers), Ricky Rubio (Timberwolves), and Jose Calderon (Raptors).  These players aren’t slouches and I had to put Kobe in there, because he got tired of Fisher getting burned and tried to step up to the challenge, yet he failed as well.

Lin has broken an NBA record for 20 points and 7 assists games in first 5 career starts.  Look at the other top NBA PG’s that are still playing and in league history.  That stat alone is monumental.  Chris Paul, Steve Nash, John Stockton, Magic Johnson, Isaiah Thomas, Derrick Rose, Mark Price, Gary Payton, and Jason Kidd just to name a lot didn’t even manage to do what Lin has done.

The accomplishments speak for themselves, but the fact that the Knicks are winning when it looked like they were destined for the NBA Draft Lottery is more of a reason to praise Lin’s play.  He’s obviously young and raw, but he has the talent to be a legit player in this league and he got the “opportunity.”  That right there is why he’s even mentioned right now…..opportunity.

This is for you Floyd Mayweather.  Say for example Tony Parker and T.J. Ford get hurt in San Antonio and their 3rd string PG comes off the bench.  Do you know who their 3rd string PG even is? No, I doubt you do.  His name is Cory Joseph.  Just say he comes in and plays the way Lin has been playing, trust and believe he would get the same hype that Lin is getting.  Would you be mad then?  Lin is an “AMERICAN” last I checked!