Tuesday, January 21, 2014

NBA News

Milwaukee Bucks

Larry Sanders
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After making the playoffs as an eight seed last year, the Bucks have the worst record in the league at 7-33. Last year's team and this year's team are vastly different. Four of last year's five leading scorers no longer play in Milwaukee. One of the holdovers, the Center Larry Sanders, has been a major disappointment. During the 2012-13 season, Sanders averaged 9.8 points per game, 9.5 rebounds per game, 2.8 blocks per game (lead the league), and was a leading candidate for NBA Defensive Player of the Year. This year, he has only played in 15 games, an averaged 6.7 rebounds per game and 1.8 blocks per game. However, John Henson has done well in his place. He averages 12.3 points a game, 8.3 bounds a game, and 2.2 block a game, as well as a 20.8 PER. No other player on Milwaukee is having a good season. The Bucks problem is scoring. They are last in the league in points per game with 91.4, field goal percentage with 42%, and points per shot with 1.1. While their defense is not outstanding either, the offense is atrocious and there is not much to improve it. OJ Mayo and Brandon Knight, their bester scorers, are way too inconsistent to be number one spot. I doubt they will go out and pick-up a high-profile shooter. They will be sellers if they make any moves. The good thing about being awful this year is the possibility to pick number one in the draft.

Anthony Davis

The number one pick in the 2012 Draft is having a terrific sophomore season. While his team is 8 games under .500, the Power Forward is averaging a double-double with 20.3 and 10.4, while leading the league with 3.0 blocks. His PER (26.8) is in the league's top five.
Against Golden State on the 18th of this month, Davis put together an incredible performance, albeit in a loss. He scored 31 points and had 17 rebounds  while going 11-17 from the field, and 9-12 for the charity stripe. Davis is truly developing into a All-Star Power Forward for the next ten years.

Trades involving the Nets

The Nets made two trades Monday. In a deal with Chicago, they would have sent Tornike Shengelia to the Windy City in exchange for Marquis Teague. In another deal, Tyshawn Taylor went to the Pelicans, while Brooklyn got the rights to Edin Bavcic. Bavcic was drafted by Toronto in 2006 in the second round and has never played the NBA. He is currently playing for KOAD in the Greek A1 Basketball League. While these deals were made to free up room under the salary cap, the pick up of Teague is an interesting move. Under the tutelage of Jason Kidd and Deron Williams at point guard, Teague may become a serviceable bench player. It is surprising that these moves have come during a strong stretch. 

All-Star Game Uniforms

The NBA All-Star Game Jerseys
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The 2014 NBA All-Star Game is being played at New Orleans Arena on February 16. The uniforms were released last week and they are ugly. The jerseys look nothing like a basketball uniform. It looks like a cheap t-shirt you can buy at a kiosk. The jersey looks unfinished with just a crest on the front. They need something more. The back of the uniforms looks normal and fine, there are no complaints here. And let's not forget those sleeves. Sleeves are fine when players want to wear sleeves under their uniforms, and they should make custom sleeved uniforms for those players. However, sleeves are being forced upon jerseys and they do not work. They were ugly last year, they ugly during March Madness, they were ugly on Christmas, and they will be ugly on February 16.