Weekly NBA Thoughts

This week because of the start of March Madness I decided to talk about these athletes competing but also connect it to the NBA. One of my favorite things about the NBA is the yearly NBA Draft. I love projecting the order of athletes taken and seeing how these picks will affect the future of the league.

Here are the lottery picks (top 14) for the latest mock draft off my favorite site nbadraft.net:

#	Team	Player	H	W	P	School	C
1	New York	Zion Williamson	6-6	280	PF	Duke	Fr.
2	Phoenix	Ja Morant	6-3	175	PG	Murray St.	So.
3	*Cleveland	RJ Barrett	6-6	210	SG	Duke	Fr.
4	Chicago	Rui Hachimura	6-8	235	SF/PF	Gonzaga	Jr.
5	Atlanta	Coby White	6-5	185	PG/SG	North Carolina	Fr.
6	*Atlanta	DeAndre Hunter	6-7	225	SF/PF	Virginia	So.
7	*Memphis	Keldon Johnson	6-6	215	SG/SF	Kentucky	Fr.
8	Washington	Cameron Reddish	6-7	215	SG/SF	Duke	Fr.
9	New Orleans	Bruno Fernando	6-10	245	C	Maryland	So.
10	Charlotte	Nassir Little	6-6	220	SF	North Carolina	Fr.
11	Orlando	Jarrett Culver	6-6	195	SG	Texas Tech	So.
12	LA Lakers	KZ Okpala	6-8	195	SG/SF	Stanford	So.
13	Minnesota	Nickeil Alexande…	6-5	205	SG	Virginia Tech	So.
14	*Boston	Romeo Langford	6-6	210	SG	Indiana	Fr.

(https://www.nbadraft.net/2019mock_draft)

Each team here has a different outlook on this draft. Some teams are in complete rebuild mode, some are on the brink of contention, and some are favorites for the championship. These differences cause for differing viewpoints on what to do with the pick. Should they pick best available, fit a team need, or bet on a player’s potential a couple years down the road.

The Knicks offseason is going to be one of the most interesting as they could potentially be back in the same position next year or be a contender for the championship. As most people have thought I see them taking best available in Zion Williamson as they hope to pair him with 2 max free agents like Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, or Jimmy Butler.

The Suns also are in the perfect place to draft in a place of need as well as best available. In the Ja Morant pick, the Suns will hopefully be getting a very solid and potentially all-star level point guard to form a big three of Morant, Booker, and Ayton.

The Cavs lack any for sure high-level talent so I think their best bet would be to go best available with this selection. If the first two go as planned I believe that would result in them taking R.J. Barrett.

The Bulls could go in a couple different directions with this pick because they need help at the point guard and small forward positions. After the first three in this draft it is very up in the air on who will be the next picks. They could go with a guard like Coby White or a wing like Cam Reddish or Rui Hachimura.

With the Hawks having potentially two top six picks this could help jump start their rebuild tremendously. They seem to have their guards and power forward set so I could see them going for a wing with one pick and possibly trading down to get a veteran and then drafting a center later in the draft.

The Grizzlies seemed to be in full rebuild mode as they traded Marc Gasol and drafted Jaren Jackson Jr. I could see Mike Conley being dealt to acquire more picks or packaged with this pick to move up or get another veteran player. If they do make a selection at this pick, I could see them picking one of many available wings to fill a hole on their roster.

The Wizards are in a weird place. I could see them trading Wall or Beal and this pick or selecting someone to play alongside one or both of them. They, like many other teams in the lottery, have a hole at the wing position and center.

The Pelicans are in a similar place as the Wizards were, they could somehow keep their star, or they could trade him away for more picks and chose multiple top prospects in this draft. They also have a big hole at the wing spot.

The Hornets are most likely going to pick best available that’s not a point guard, assuming Kemba will stay. They have Kemba and a promising rookie in Miles Bridges and therefore any talent they can add to this team will help day one.

The Magic are in need of guards. They have a surplus of bigs/wings. I could see them taking a Romeo Langford or a Cam Reddish if they fall this far.

The Lakers could possible use this pick in a trade for another star or they could draft another player like Romeo Langford to be another Kyle Kuzma type steal.

The Timberwolves are in need of more young talent to play alongside Karl Anthony-Towns and Andrew Wiggins, preferably a guard or wing.

I am very interested to see what the Celtics do with this pick. I could see them adding another young piece that could be a future contributor or asset. I could also seem this being included in a draft day trade for a player like Anthony Davis.

The end of the season as teams jockey for final positions and the lottery balls are picked should be very interesting and could have very large potential impact on the future of the league. I can’t wait for June!

This week I am going to talk about my favorite team, the Boston Celtics. I have kept quiet about them most of the season through their ups and downs, but I think this is a great week to discuss their season at the present status of the team. This week they played the Warriors, Kings, and Lakers.

The first game of the week for the Celtics was a 128-95 win over the Warriors. This was a huge statement win for the Celtics and the start of a big turnaround week. The players accredited to the long plane ride that really brought together a group that has been tense all season.  The big story from this game was the 30-point performance from Celtics Forward Gordon Hayward. It has been proven this season that, when Hayward scores the ball well, the Celtics also do well.

(https://nesn.com/2019/03/celtics-notes-gordon-haywards-showing-vs-warriors-should-inspire-confidence/)

The second game of the week for the Celtics was a 111-109 win over the Kings. Normally a close win over the Kings would be disappointing due to the poor reputation the Kings had built over the past decade. Although in this game the Celtics played a young, fast, and exciting, up and coming team. Many teams have said that the Kings are the hardest team to play in the league because of their pace that they play with. This game shows two more players stepping up, Al Horford and Jayson Tatum, with 21 and 24 points.

(https://www.clnsmedia.com/podcasts/al-horford-jayson-tatum-tonight-vs-chicago-bulls/)

The third and final game of the week for the Celtics was a 120-107 win over the Lakers. This was the perfect cap to this week. This game came at the perfect time for the Celtics as they are on the upward trend and the Lakers are falling down and out. This game had Kyrie Irving show out against his former teammate LeBron James with a 30-point performance. It is always great as a Celtics fan to see them beat the Lakers and especially to have the Celtics streaking before the playoffs and the Lakers on the outside looking in.

(http://www.zimbio.com/photos/Kyrie+Irving/Boston+Celtics+v+Los+Angeles+Lakers/kIRfpoz3sV3)

I really hope that the Celtics build off these performances and go into the playoffs on a hot streak because they are more than capable to make the finals. The biggest thing they need to continue is the team play. It’s not only the different players stepping up to score for the team but it’s the other four or five below that player that add double digits that make this team a threat and amazing to watch. I believe that if the Celtics bring back the win at all cost, dive on the floor, and championship driven basketball, they will reach and possibly win the finals this season. I am very excited and intrigued to see what this post season and off season bring for the Celtics.

(https://www.nba.com/video/2018/08/14/20180814-gametime-celtics-projected-roster)

This week has been a pretty slow NBA week as not really anything crazy has happened. There was the usual Celtics and Lakers struggle stories, as well as the normal break out games. When watching this week’s NBA and reading through the news articles and watching TV, one story stuck out to me that I really wanted to write about.

This story came from the quotes and conversation that Commissioner Adam Silver had at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston, Massachusetts this past Friday. The general topic of what Commissioner Silver discussed was the overall league health and player anxiety in relation to the schedule length.

(https://www.strategy-business.com/article/NBA-Commissioner-Adam-Silver-Has-a-Game-Plan?gko=15bd9)

The first part was about the question that always seems to come up every season, ‘should the NBA shorten the length of their season?’. Adam Silver’s words basically represented what the general public thought. He was on the thought that all players and coaches would be on board with the shorten schedule, but the holdup is the owners and loss revenue that the league would have to try to make up in other areas.

One of the ideas he had to shorten the season and also maintain revenue was to replace the All-Star weekend with a midseason tournament similar to what is done in Premier League Soccer. This quick idea came after saying that the All-Star game was still a flop this year after the leagues attempt to fix what used to be a very exciting part of the season. Mr. Silver also is on the idea of needing a big change because of the drop in ratings from 2010 to now.

The last thing that Commissioner Silver talked about was the players overall health and relationship with each other now versus in years past. He said that today’s league is full of player anxiety and connects that to the players being on their social media and closed off from the potential communication and relationships person to person. He said that teams used to say that championships were won by who had the best relationship on the bus. That was the place that friendships and the deeper family bonds were built. With most players throwing on their headphones and isolating themselves and communicating via social media, it’s a lot harder to communicate person to person and truly build those connections of the past.

(https://deadspin.com/this-photo-of-team-usa-sleeping-on-an-airplane-is-the-b-5929343)

(https://www.sneakerfiles.com/flashback-friday-1992-olympic-dream-team/)

I am very interested in this topic and I can’t wait to see what comes of Adam Silvers words in the future. It feels great as an NBA fan to see the person in charge of the league’s future really trying to make a difference and improve the sport not only with money in mind, but also the players, coaches, and fans as well.

(http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26114198/silver-talks-player-anxiety-potential-nba-changes)