Around The League: All-Star Break Edition
Feb 19, 2024 20:54:46 GMT -6
kipper, beatonz, and 2 more like this
Post by New York Knicks on Feb 19, 2024 20:54:46 GMT -6
Who's Hot
When the Detroit Pistons traded for Jalen Smith, I knew that would make their team better. But who would've thought it would make the Boston Celtics better too? That was your typical strip it down and start rebuilding trade. However, the Celtics have gone 11-4 since the deal (8-17 before). They actually lost the first 2 games without Smith, making them 11-2 over their last 13 games. The Celtics offense, who was #3 in the league in scoring last season, has finally comes to life during this hot streak. They have scored 115+ points in 8 of their last 11 games. Most recently they drilled the Wizards with 125. Ray Allen (37) and Steve Nash (25) combined for 62 points. Ray has been on a nice run lately averaging 31.4 PPG over his last 5. Overall he's now up to 27.2 PPG on the season. Nash is #2 on the team in scoring with 22.0 PPG. While Sam Cassell is in the running for 6th Man of the Year with his statline (14.6 PPG 4.0 RPG 4.4 APG). That's a great 3 guard rotation. I do wonder about some of their front court pieces such as Darius Rice. He loves turning the ball over (2.6 TPG vs 2.9 APG), and defense is optional with him (B defensive grade). He's gonna have to give the Celtics more all around production under his new 110 million dollar contract. But all in all, the Celtics look like theyre back to being a fun run n gun squad. And it's turning their season around.
Who's Not
The Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers have a few things in common. 1) They're both in the Atlantic Division. 2) They both recently made notable trades. But unlike Boston, Phillys trade hasn't been working so far. The trade I'm referring to was acquiring former league MVP Theo Maledon from the LA Lakers. Now on paper, adding an offensive superstar (Maledon: 26.3 PPG 9.2 APG) to an excellent defensive team (76ers: #1 Scoring Defense in the League) = Great Success. But this isn't Borat. Because nobodies laughing, as the Sixers are 2-7 in the early stages of the Maledon era. So what's gone wrong? So far it's been the defense. They've allowed more than 100 points in 7 of the 9 games. Prior to the trade, they allowed over 100 points 8 times for the whole season (29 games). Now how much is this the fault of Maledon? He's never been regarded as the greatest point of attack defender on the perimeter. But to be fair, the 76ers best defender Bill Willoughby has only played 7 total minutes in their last 2 games due to a sprained wrist (he will be out for the next 5 days). They gave up 111.5 PPG in those 2 contests. But even with Bill in the lineup, they let the Nets score 128 points vs them. PG Scott Skiles had one of the best games of his career (34 points 9 rebounds 9 assists) vs Maledons defense. Vs Utah they surrendered 122 points. PG Pee Wee Kirkland scored 24 points (8/15 FG shooting). But then again LaMelo Ball shot just 10/27 from the field vs Theo. So is this like Damian Lillard joining the Milwaukee Bucks and torpedoing their defense? I don't think so. But the team is struggling. Willoughby is injured. And the Sixers are dropping in the standings. So they got some work to do for the 2nd half of the season.
BREAKING NEWS!!!
A major 6 player trade has just been announced. The Chicago Bulls have acquired 4 time All-Star Damon Stoudamire from the Seatle Supersonics. Along with Damon, the Bulls will also receive a 2012 1st Round Pick via Seattle. In exchange the Sonics will be getting 5 new players: PG Eric Snow, PG Trey Burke, PG Reece Gaines, SF Wilson Chandler, and C Erick Dampier. Where do we begin?
Let's start with the Bulls. I was writing awhile back how the Bulls need to do something splashy. And this was it. They added one of the greatest scorers in league history. He is 34 years of age, but he's still putting up numbers (22.4 PPG on 47.0/85.9/44.2 splits). Pairing Mighty Mouse and Penny in the backcourt will be entertaining. But will it make them a better team? The Bulls (19-22, 1 1/2 games back of 8th place) will now embark on a second half playoff push. They're also receiving a 1st Round Pick that should have some value. On the flipside, they're not giving up a whole lot.
Which brings us to Seattle's side of the deal. Eric Snow is also 34 years old, but he has 4 years left on his contract vs Stoudamires 2 year deal. Taking on a 4 year contract of a declining player, who has regressed on defense recently, is a strange move. Burke and Gaines are cap fillers. Dampier is a solid rotation big who can defend and rebound. Wilson Chandler is a interesting 21 year old, who's gonna get a greater opportunity to play in Seattle. What effect will this deal have on the Sonics playoff chances? They're presently 20-20, which is good for 7th place in the West. Will this deal move them up or down?
Overall it was a pretty lackluster package of players. I like the deal more for Chicago. But what does this mean for Seattle moving forward? Are there follow up moves on the horizon? What about the Bulls? Are they gonna dangle that Sonics 1st to further upgrade their roster? Trade season is heating up.
More News Around The League
- Back to the regularly scheduled program. The story this sim was the league's 12th annual All-Star Game. The Western Conference came out victorious, defeating the East 117-113. Allen Iverson was named the games MVP. As he played the PG position to perfection in this one dishing out 16 assists against zero turnovers in 28 minutes of play. Let me remind you, Iverson is #1 in the league in scoring. But in this game he proved why he's one of the league's best passers as well.
- Feeding off of all those passes was the big fella Moses Malone. He led the West in scoring (19) and rebounds (14). He represented the LA Clippers well.
- Shawn Marion was another guy that enjoyed playing with AI. Iverson was pushing the ball up and down court, and Marion was running along side him finishing with a couple of jaw dropping fast break dunks. Marion scored 16 points on 6/8 FG shooting.
- Iverson was also joined on the West by his Warrior teammate Drazen Petrovic. This was Drazens first career selection. So congratulations to him. Petro scored 9 points in 21 minutes.
- Speaking of first time All-Stars. In his first year with Minnesota, Dirk Nowitzki has been selected to his 1st career all star team. Dirk was actually the only player in this game to not make a field goal. He shot 0/2 from FG. But he did score 5 points from the free throw line.
- There were actually 2 first time all-stars coming from Minnesota. Dirk and Jordan Nightingale. Jordan had 6 points and 6 assists. Interestingly Jordan and Dirk took by far the fewest shots of any Western Conference all-stars. At times it looked like they were being ignored on the court by their fellow WC teammates. Maybe nobody likes the Wolves players?
- Joel Embiid chipped in with 12 points and 5 rebounds. During the media period of the All-Star weekend, Joel was asking about the struggling Nuggets, who have lost 25 of their last 29 games. The usually trolling and joking Embiid was visibly agitated at the mention of Denver. Is his patience running out with the Nuggets rebuild process?
- Back on a more light hearted note. Julius Randle is having the best season of his 10 year career. And he was rewarded for it with his 1st career All-Star selection. Julius looked pretty excited out there as he put up 14 FG attempts in 28 minutes.
- But that's nothing compared to Jelani McCoy, who celebrated his first All-Star game by taking a game high 18 FG attempts. He actually took more shots than LaMelo Ball and Killian Hayes combined.
- Hayes had 7 points and 6 assists, which was tied for most on the team. Hayes also bought a new friend with him this weekend. In this past he was joined by the likes of Greg Osterag, Embiid, Brandon Roy, and Dr J. This year it was Robert Traylor's turn. Tractor Traylor scored 14 points in his All-Star debut.
- All this talk about first timers. But how bout the 11-timer Mr John Drew. He is now an 11-time All-Star. The professional bucket getter Drew scored a game high 23 points for the East.
- John Drew was the top scorer for the East. But Chris Hawkins had the best game (19 points 15 rebounds 3 blocks).
- Jamal Mashburn had the worst game (29 minutes 2 points 1/9 FG)...but he did win the 3 three point shootout the night before. He had the top score in all 3 rounds. Maybe all that shooting made his arms tired and contributed to his poor ASG performance.
- Isaac Okoro won the slam dunk contest for the first time in his career. He defeated 2 time reigning champion Bill Willoughby and Baby Jordan Harold Miner in the Finals.
- In the rookie sophomore game we saw the Philly Civil War. Matt Geiger (76ers) of the rookie team battled Tiago Splitter (76ers) of the sophomores. Both players led their respective teams in scoring. Tiago scored 16 (plus 13 rebounds). But Gieger did a little more with 21 points in 20 minutes as he was named rookie game MVP. Due to his performance, the rookies were able to pull off the upset win (97-96) against their more experienced counterparts.
- 50 % of the sophomore roster consisted of D-leaguers: Splitter, Petteri Koponen, Rudy Fernandez, Josh McRoberts, and Renaldes Seibutis.
- Besides a whole bunch of the D-leaguers, the Sophomores also had Kevin Durant. KD had a nice all around game with 15 points 6 rebounds and 5 assists
- The #1 and #2 overall picks from this past draft Shaquille O'Neal and Alonzo Mourning combined for 29 points 18 rebounds and 3 blocks.
- But while the frontcourt play was excellent for the rookies, the guards were awful. Terrell Brandon and Richie Guerin combined to shoot 6 for 25 from the field.
That is all. Congratulations to all the teams that earned some cash during All-Star Weekend. And good luck in the 2nd half of the season.
When the Detroit Pistons traded for Jalen Smith, I knew that would make their team better. But who would've thought it would make the Boston Celtics better too? That was your typical strip it down and start rebuilding trade. However, the Celtics have gone 11-4 since the deal (8-17 before). They actually lost the first 2 games without Smith, making them 11-2 over their last 13 games. The Celtics offense, who was #3 in the league in scoring last season, has finally comes to life during this hot streak. They have scored 115+ points in 8 of their last 11 games. Most recently they drilled the Wizards with 125. Ray Allen (37) and Steve Nash (25) combined for 62 points. Ray has been on a nice run lately averaging 31.4 PPG over his last 5. Overall he's now up to 27.2 PPG on the season. Nash is #2 on the team in scoring with 22.0 PPG. While Sam Cassell is in the running for 6th Man of the Year with his statline (14.6 PPG 4.0 RPG 4.4 APG). That's a great 3 guard rotation. I do wonder about some of their front court pieces such as Darius Rice. He loves turning the ball over (2.6 TPG vs 2.9 APG), and defense is optional with him (B defensive grade). He's gonna have to give the Celtics more all around production under his new 110 million dollar contract. But all in all, the Celtics look like theyre back to being a fun run n gun squad. And it's turning their season around.
Who's Not
The Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers have a few things in common. 1) They're both in the Atlantic Division. 2) They both recently made notable trades. But unlike Boston, Phillys trade hasn't been working so far. The trade I'm referring to was acquiring former league MVP Theo Maledon from the LA Lakers. Now on paper, adding an offensive superstar (Maledon: 26.3 PPG 9.2 APG) to an excellent defensive team (76ers: #1 Scoring Defense in the League) = Great Success. But this isn't Borat. Because nobodies laughing, as the Sixers are 2-7 in the early stages of the Maledon era. So what's gone wrong? So far it's been the defense. They've allowed more than 100 points in 7 of the 9 games. Prior to the trade, they allowed over 100 points 8 times for the whole season (29 games). Now how much is this the fault of Maledon? He's never been regarded as the greatest point of attack defender on the perimeter. But to be fair, the 76ers best defender Bill Willoughby has only played 7 total minutes in their last 2 games due to a sprained wrist (he will be out for the next 5 days). They gave up 111.5 PPG in those 2 contests. But even with Bill in the lineup, they let the Nets score 128 points vs them. PG Scott Skiles had one of the best games of his career (34 points 9 rebounds 9 assists) vs Maledons defense. Vs Utah they surrendered 122 points. PG Pee Wee Kirkland scored 24 points (8/15 FG shooting). But then again LaMelo Ball shot just 10/27 from the field vs Theo. So is this like Damian Lillard joining the Milwaukee Bucks and torpedoing their defense? I don't think so. But the team is struggling. Willoughby is injured. And the Sixers are dropping in the standings. So they got some work to do for the 2nd half of the season.
BREAKING NEWS!!!
A major 6 player trade has just been announced. The Chicago Bulls have acquired 4 time All-Star Damon Stoudamire from the Seatle Supersonics. Along with Damon, the Bulls will also receive a 2012 1st Round Pick via Seattle. In exchange the Sonics will be getting 5 new players: PG Eric Snow, PG Trey Burke, PG Reece Gaines, SF Wilson Chandler, and C Erick Dampier. Where do we begin?
Let's start with the Bulls. I was writing awhile back how the Bulls need to do something splashy. And this was it. They added one of the greatest scorers in league history. He is 34 years of age, but he's still putting up numbers (22.4 PPG on 47.0/85.9/44.2 splits). Pairing Mighty Mouse and Penny in the backcourt will be entertaining. But will it make them a better team? The Bulls (19-22, 1 1/2 games back of 8th place) will now embark on a second half playoff push. They're also receiving a 1st Round Pick that should have some value. On the flipside, they're not giving up a whole lot.
Which brings us to Seattle's side of the deal. Eric Snow is also 34 years old, but he has 4 years left on his contract vs Stoudamires 2 year deal. Taking on a 4 year contract of a declining player, who has regressed on defense recently, is a strange move. Burke and Gaines are cap fillers. Dampier is a solid rotation big who can defend and rebound. Wilson Chandler is a interesting 21 year old, who's gonna get a greater opportunity to play in Seattle. What effect will this deal have on the Sonics playoff chances? They're presently 20-20, which is good for 7th place in the West. Will this deal move them up or down?
Overall it was a pretty lackluster package of players. I like the deal more for Chicago. But what does this mean for Seattle moving forward? Are there follow up moves on the horizon? What about the Bulls? Are they gonna dangle that Sonics 1st to further upgrade their roster? Trade season is heating up.
More News Around The League
- Back to the regularly scheduled program. The story this sim was the league's 12th annual All-Star Game. The Western Conference came out victorious, defeating the East 117-113. Allen Iverson was named the games MVP. As he played the PG position to perfection in this one dishing out 16 assists against zero turnovers in 28 minutes of play. Let me remind you, Iverson is #1 in the league in scoring. But in this game he proved why he's one of the league's best passers as well.
- Feeding off of all those passes was the big fella Moses Malone. He led the West in scoring (19) and rebounds (14). He represented the LA Clippers well.
- Shawn Marion was another guy that enjoyed playing with AI. Iverson was pushing the ball up and down court, and Marion was running along side him finishing with a couple of jaw dropping fast break dunks. Marion scored 16 points on 6/8 FG shooting.
- Iverson was also joined on the West by his Warrior teammate Drazen Petrovic. This was Drazens first career selection. So congratulations to him. Petro scored 9 points in 21 minutes.
- Speaking of first time All-Stars. In his first year with Minnesota, Dirk Nowitzki has been selected to his 1st career all star team. Dirk was actually the only player in this game to not make a field goal. He shot 0/2 from FG. But he did score 5 points from the free throw line.
- There were actually 2 first time all-stars coming from Minnesota. Dirk and Jordan Nightingale. Jordan had 6 points and 6 assists. Interestingly Jordan and Dirk took by far the fewest shots of any Western Conference all-stars. At times it looked like they were being ignored on the court by their fellow WC teammates. Maybe nobody likes the Wolves players?
- Joel Embiid chipped in with 12 points and 5 rebounds. During the media period of the All-Star weekend, Joel was asking about the struggling Nuggets, who have lost 25 of their last 29 games. The usually trolling and joking Embiid was visibly agitated at the mention of Denver. Is his patience running out with the Nuggets rebuild process?
- Back on a more light hearted note. Julius Randle is having the best season of his 10 year career. And he was rewarded for it with his 1st career All-Star selection. Julius looked pretty excited out there as he put up 14 FG attempts in 28 minutes.
- But that's nothing compared to Jelani McCoy, who celebrated his first All-Star game by taking a game high 18 FG attempts. He actually took more shots than LaMelo Ball and Killian Hayes combined.
- Hayes had 7 points and 6 assists, which was tied for most on the team. Hayes also bought a new friend with him this weekend. In this past he was joined by the likes of Greg Osterag, Embiid, Brandon Roy, and Dr J. This year it was Robert Traylor's turn. Tractor Traylor scored 14 points in his All-Star debut.
- All this talk about first timers. But how bout the 11-timer Mr John Drew. He is now an 11-time All-Star. The professional bucket getter Drew scored a game high 23 points for the East.
- John Drew was the top scorer for the East. But Chris Hawkins had the best game (19 points 15 rebounds 3 blocks).
- Jamal Mashburn had the worst game (29 minutes 2 points 1/9 FG)...but he did win the 3 three point shootout the night before. He had the top score in all 3 rounds. Maybe all that shooting made his arms tired and contributed to his poor ASG performance.
- Isaac Okoro won the slam dunk contest for the first time in his career. He defeated 2 time reigning champion Bill Willoughby and Baby Jordan Harold Miner in the Finals.
- In the rookie sophomore game we saw the Philly Civil War. Matt Geiger (76ers) of the rookie team battled Tiago Splitter (76ers) of the sophomores. Both players led their respective teams in scoring. Tiago scored 16 (plus 13 rebounds). But Gieger did a little more with 21 points in 20 minutes as he was named rookie game MVP. Due to his performance, the rookies were able to pull off the upset win (97-96) against their more experienced counterparts.
- 50 % of the sophomore roster consisted of D-leaguers: Splitter, Petteri Koponen, Rudy Fernandez, Josh McRoberts, and Renaldes Seibutis.
- Besides a whole bunch of the D-leaguers, the Sophomores also had Kevin Durant. KD had a nice all around game with 15 points 6 rebounds and 5 assists
- The #1 and #2 overall picks from this past draft Shaquille O'Neal and Alonzo Mourning combined for 29 points 18 rebounds and 3 blocks.
- But while the frontcourt play was excellent for the rookies, the guards were awful. Terrell Brandon and Richie Guerin combined to shoot 6 for 25 from the field.
That is all. Congratulations to all the teams that earned some cash during All-Star Weekend. And good luck in the 2nd half of the season.
