warriors

Here’s to a Happy, HEALTHY NBA Season

~ dnathanfati ~ Leave a comment

The NBA season kicks off in two nights. WOOOOOHOOOOOO!!

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via GIPHY

Now, before we get too excited, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the horrible news that broke today that long time NBA head coach Flip Saunders passed away Sunday after a battle with cancer. This is devastating news, and my heart goes out to Saunders’ family, the Minnesota Timberwolves organization and the NBA at large. Saunders was a great ambassador for the NBA and one of its top coaches. By all accounts he was an even greater man. He will be missed dearly.

The NBA that Saunders leaves behind is in great shape. There are more superstars and top flight teams in the league than perhaps anytime in the last 30 years. There are storylines galore. How will first year college to pro coaches – Fred Hoiberg (Bulls) and Billy Donovan (Thunder) – fare after taking over contenders? Can Anthony Davis make the expected leap to league’s best player sooner than later? Can the champion Warriors prove last year wasn’t a fluke? Will the small-ball revolution continue and teams trend closer toward positionless basketball? How will Kevin Durant’s comeback-from-injury tour unfold? And for that matter, Paul George’s?

Speaking of injuries, the worst trend in recent NBA seasons has been the amount of time missed by hobbled star players. The following sample reads like a USA Basketball practice roster: Durant, George, Derrick Rose, Kevin Love, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire. All of these guys have missed significant game time or whole seasons since 2012. Last season could have been an all-timer in terms of basketball greatness, yet by the end of the playoffs we were so marred by injury that teams were a shell of themselves. Look, injuries are always going to factor into an 82-game season with two months of postseason play; and the team with the most injury luck is normally the last team standing in June. But last season got ridiculous.

It’s why the Warriors are (unfairly in my opinion) having to defend their title verbally before the season even starts. Golden State won a historic 67 games, had the League MVP and more or less rolled through the playoffs, but teams and pundits are still chirping that their championship win was due more to other contenders in their path being decimated by injury. In the Finals, the Cavs were without Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving. The Rockets lost Pat Beverley and had a hobbled Howard in the Western Conference Finals. After going up 2-1 on the Warriors in the second round, the Grizzlies’ backcourt became dinged up.

I’m not taking anything away from the Warriors. That’s nonsense. But I can’t deny that the level of play goes down considerably with all this attrition. And the basketball watching public suffers. This year, the Pelicans are already a basketball MASH unit, which will put considerable strain on Davis. Please, Brow, please stay healthy.

I read a lot of NBA coverage and listen to a ton of podcasts – I love prognostication.  One thing you learn quickly is in any season previews or playoff predictions, the words “If they stay healthy” or “With all things being equal” has to be mentioned constantly. If Durant and Serge Ibaka stay healthy, OKC could win 65 games. If Rose stays healthy the Bulls could get the 1 seed. See what I mean?

Teams recognize this as a huge issue, as does the top NBA brass. You’re seeing teams invest in new wave training staffs and sending players to sports science organizations like P3 in Los Angeles during the offseason. Commissioner Adam Silver is working on ways to eliminate back to backs and four games in five nights, while someday we may see fewer games with more rest in between. Whatever it takes, I’m for it. Because only injuries and hack-a-thons can take away from what should be an awesome 2015-16 season. It’s time to get fired up.

The season starts Tuesday with three great matchups. Here’s a brief look:

Cleveland @ Chicago (TNT) – 7 p.m.

Oh yeah, baby. This is the stuff I’ve been waiting for since June. As a Bulls fan, I’m cautiously optimistic about the Fred Hoiberg era. Rose will be in the lineup after his broken orbital bone injury, and LeBron will also play after his preseason back injection. No Iman Shumpert or Kyrie though, already out with injuries. Sigh. At least the King and D-Rose will be out there. I like the Bulls to get Hoiberg a win in his first regular season game.

Detroit @ Atlanta – 7 p.m.

This may not intrigue casual fans, but I’m very interested. The only thing casual about me is my wardrobe, son… /adjusts basketball shorts. Stan Van Gundy is reshaping the Pistons with one big in the middle (Andre Drummond) and four shooters on the outside. They should play faster and be much harder to deal with defensively. Atlanta won 60 games last year and lost Demarre Carroll to free agency, but signed Tiago Splitter and return with a chip on their shoulder. Nobody thinks they can be as good this year, that last year was an aberration. Time to prove doubters wrong. I like them to start out 1-0.

New Orleans @ Golden State (TNT) – 9:30 p.m.

A rematch of last year’s first round playoff series, which the Warriors swept. This game looked a lot better when the schedule first came out. But as mentioned, New Orleans is banged up badly. They could be without Tyreke Evans, Norris Cole, Quincy Pondexter, Omer Asik, Alexis Ajinca, and Jrue Holiday will be on a minutes limit. Meanwhile the Champs are healthy, playing at home and have haters to quiet. I like the Warriors big.

Here we go. Let’s be careful out there NBA teams. May your injury reports be short and your medical staff be bored.

IMPORTANT: Frame by Frame Investigation of Steph Curry’s Mid-Shot High Five

~ dnathanfati ~ 1 Comment

I’m currently reading “Four Days in November” by Vincent Bugliosi, about the assassination of JFK and subsequent murder of his murderer two days later. I’m feeling inspired by this great book, so in the spirit of true investigative journalism, let’s break down last night’s spectacular Warriors footage frame-by-frame Zapruder-style.
We like to have fun here at DotB but sometimes you have to stiffen your upper lip and tackle the serious topics. So without further ado:

The evidence in question-

https://vid.me/e/xHFC?stats=1&tools=1

The Breakdown-

0:03 – Curry pushes the ball up the court and eyes the defense. For most that means a simple dominant hand dribble. For Curry, it’s a for-the-hell-of-it behind the back dribble, in stride, avoiding Klay Thompson who I assume is sprinting right in front of him purely to add a degree of difficulty. No big deal.

0:05 – Another totally routine behind-the-back move by Curry; this time a pass to Thompson on the wing, that absolutely freezes poor DeMar DeRozan.

0:06 – In the span of one whole second, Thompson catches, squares up in triple-threat position, pulls the slightest shot fake – causing DeMarre Carroll to sell out and go off balance – and switches to his right hand to whip a post entry pass to Draymond Green. The brilliance of the Warriors is on full display in these last two seconds: the unpredictable yet controlled artistry of Curry meets the rock solid fundamentals of Thompson. They are freelance ballers that are well-coached, flashy but always finding the right pass; a kaleidoscope of basketball potency.

0:07 – Draymond knows where Curry is going to be before he even catches Thompson’s bounce pass. Once he gets it he throws a one-time crosscourt rope to Steph. The pass is low but Curry is a master of lining up a shot from wherever the pass comes in. Now he’s looking at a wide open three. More Warriors wizardry.

0:08-0:09 – Curry catches and launches that patented 3-point stroke of his. Note that in three seconds, three different Warriors touch the ball, leaving a Frozen DeRozan, a reaching Carroll and generally scattered Raptors defensive set in their wake. The ball travels from the top of the key, to the wing, to the post and then back behind the arc. In three seconds.

0:10-0:14 – Curry instinctively looks right to a chillin’ Andre Iguodala, towel in hand (little known rule: it’s mandatory that all NBA players have a towel in their hand or on their person while on the bench), and reaches for the low-five. The video pauses to emphasize the ball still in mid-air as Curry gestures to Iggy.

0:16 – Conspiracy? Did the high (low)-five happen before the shot went down as many are reporting? Or did he hesitate, only finishing the hand slap ritual once the ball tickled the twine? Our parent’s generation had the grassy knoll and a suspected assassin murdered in a police station, but I challenge them to unravel a mystery of this magnitude. I think it’s clear he waited for the shot to go in, but he’s still taking a major risk. What if he clanked the shot and Iggy left him hanging as punishment? How awkward. But things like that don’t happen to this MVP or his team.

0:17 – Iguodala’s sheer display of towel-waving glee after the high-five reminds you why life is worth living. He wasn’t even this happy when hoisting the Finals MVP trophy last year. Priorities, man.

God bless the NBA.

A July Snapshot of the Association

~ dnathanfati ~ 1 Comment

The draft, free agency and Summer League have come and gone, and we are now entering the dog days of the NBA calendar. It’s this time of year that I love to speculate on where teams sit and critique roster-building plans. Below I’ve separated teams by rough groupings, to organize my thoughts about each squad’s place in the pecking order. I will be delving deeper into each of these categories in the days to come.

Contenders – teams that will be in the hunt in late May

Warriors – The Champs bring back just about everybody, while finding relief from David Lee’s monster cap hit. The talent, depth and versatility they bring to the table makes them favorites for a title defense, barring injury.

Spurs – A ridiculous offseason has the Spurs back in the championship race. It will be interesting to see how the new pieces fit and how LMA adapts to the Spurs’ pace. They could be devastating.

Rockets – I love what they did this offseason. Assuming Ty Lawson gets himself together, these guys are fast, deep and versatile in the mold of the Warriors. I like every player on their roster.

Thunder – With their stars back healthy the Thunder still have the best top three in the league. Can Enes Kanter contribute without killing an already suspect defense? Will Billy Donovan’s coaching provide a bump after the Scott Brooks era was finally put out of its misery? Most important will KD, Russ and Serge stay on the court?

Grizzlies – While the rest of the NBA zigs, they zag. Focus on controlling a slower pace and letting their bigs dominate has been fruitful for the Grizzlies and the addition of Brandan Wright is huge behind Marc Gasol. Can they solve the outside shooting issues that have prevented them from getting over the hump?

Cavaliers – They likely will breeze through the East with Dan Gilbert writing all those checks and LeBron in Year 2 of the Cavs reboot. David Blatt or Coach LeBron need to show Kevin some more love.

Bulls – The Mayor Freddie Hoiberg looks to change the culture, hopefully improving a stagnant offense and playing his guys sane minutes. Bulls are a fringe contender, I fully admit my homerism factored into putting them up in this tier.

Quasi-contenders – Teams that may have an inflated belief in their chances

Clippers – Doc GM has made some curious moves, but when all was said and done I actually like what they pulled off this summer. Lance Stephenson is better off the bench than in a star role, and the DeAndre coup was very necessary. Not to mention the Paul Pierce reunion.

Hawks – Setting out to prove it wasn’t a fluke last year. They won’t win 60+ games, but bring back a lot of talent. Can they replace DeMarre Carroll’s versatility?

Heat – One of the best starting 5’s in the NBA. Hoping for a Chris Bosh comeback tour after the scary blood clot and Hassan Whiteside to build on his breakout campaign. They will go as far as D-Wade’s knees take them.

Wizards – Very quiet offseason and the loss of Pierce hurts. But this is a solid team that needs a full year of John Wall and Bradley Beal holding down the backcourt together.

First round fodder – Should make the playoffs but don’t have enough to make noise

Mavericks – Did an OK job recovering from the DeAndre fiasco, but they’re old, lack depth and will be desperate for a Deron Williams renaissance that I’m not sure is possible.

Raptors – The Carroll addition was nice but they overpaid for Cory Joseph and lost Amir Johnson. I still have a  bad taste in my mouth over how they shriveled in the playoffs; Kyle Lowry needs to bounce back in a big way.

Hornets – MJ’s team seems perpetually fated to live in the middle. The Frank Kaminsky pick won’t make enough of an impact.

Celtics – A great coach and a roster full of solid role players is enough to make the playoffs in the East. Probably not enough to beat one of the top four in the first round.

Up-and-comers – My favorite group, teams that are building upon a talented foundation. May not make the playoffs but will be exciting to watch develop. Next post will be about this group, so will save my thoughts for that.

Pelicans

Bucks

Jazz

Suns

Magic

Timberwolves

Pistons

Going nowhere fast – Uggh

Kings – This team is what Judd Apatow’s ‘Trainwreck’ should have been about.

Nets – Just a depressing team trying to get out of bad salary hell.

Lakers – Waiting out Kobe’s contract while trying to develop D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle and other young pieces.

Knicks – Carmelo’s career trajectory makes me sad. I loved watching him play for the Nuggets during my career at University of Colorado.

Nuggets – Speaking of, the Nuggets embody the fact that NBA teams can fall apart quickly. Doesn’t seem that long ago I was wearing my Anthony, Billups, Martin, Smith & Nene shirt.

Trail Blazers – Another sad NBA tale. This was a fun team last year that won 50 games and immediately lost 80% of their starting lineup to free agency.

Pacers – Have Paul George back at full strength will help, but their big man talent is nonexistent and I have visions of Monta Ellis jacking 30 shots in January while George and Frank Vogel shake their heads.

76ers – Please.