A few thoughts:
- Blowouts Galore
- Starting 5 worst teammates
Blowouts Galore
Remember in 2014 with the opening round was incredible? When
seemingly every series went to 7 and provided us highlight after highlight?
Remember Lillard dropping the Rockets? Or Vince Carter turning back the clock?
This opening weekend seems to suggest those type of
highlights will be few and far between in round 1. The average margin of
victory was over 20 points a game – not a great sign for competitive basketball
going forward.
This type of aberration does not require wholesale changes
to the current seeding structure. I expect the one eastern blowout (Heat vs.
Hornets) to be much closer moving forward. The west however, is a completely
different animal. The west is so top heavy that more blowouts are on the
horizon.
Silver lining…. It is setting things up for an excellent
second round
Starting 5 Worst Teammates
Playoff basketball is great because you get to see the best
basketball players from the best league go toe to toe in high leverage
situations. This type of environment gives fans the opportunity to see the best
at their best. Watching these
games this weekend is a reminder that these guys are better at basketball on
their worst day then I am at anything else on my best day. But just cause these
dudes are talented doesn’t mean they’d be fun to play with.
While I was watching the Rockets this past weekend, I
wondered, which NBA players (Playoff teams only) would I least like to play
with? The initial answer is the entire Rockets roster. This squad is a master
class in terrible body language, ball hogging and selfishness. So in order to
challenge myself I’ll only allow one Rockets player. Because copy and pasting their
bush league squad into my lineup would be too easy
Remember this doesn’t mean these guys aren’t talented it just means they suck at being a teammate
Without further ado….
PG – Reggie Jackson (Pistons) – This guy pounds the ball
forever. No one wants to play with a guy who dribbles and dribbles and dribbles
and goes absolutely nowhere. He runs a heavy PnR offense, so part of this is by
design, but he takes it too the extreme.
SG – Dion Waiters (Thunder) – If this guy was half as
talented as he thinks he was he’d be in the running for MVP. Nothing is ever
his fault and he specializes at taking inopportune and inefficient shots. He is
the MVP of calling for the ball every possession like he has a 5 foot white
dude guarding him
SF – Lance Stephenson (Grizzlies) – Might go off for 20
points. Might blow into someone’s ear, might throw a tantrum in the middle of a possession. With the direction this series is headed, and the Grizz are down
3-0 I wouldn’t be surprised if he just walked off the court mid game… anything
is possible.
PF– LeBron James (Cavaliers) – He’s the second best player
in basketball and a probably a top 10 player ever. He also sends out cryptic
social media messages like he’s a 15-year-old girl. I know he makes the right
pass, and is unselfish on the court. This doesn’t mean he’s a great teammate.
Great teammates aren’t as passive aggressive as my Mom and they don’t call out
dudes on twitter/instagram
C – Dwight Howard (Rockets) – Listen I know he’s actually
played decently this year and I understand he plays with a black hole (albeit a
talented one). Howard’s one of those teammates that gives up at the first sign
of trouble. Him and his teammates are so ready to pack it in it’s ridiculous.
Shout out to Dwight for carrying the torch for the Rockets on this list.
6th Man– Charlie Villanueva (Mavericks) – Bro why you trying to ruin Westbrook’s flow…let my dude dance man. Nothing worse than a
scrub player doing stupid stuff to try and get under a star players skin. Nobody wants to be on a team with folks like this
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