NBA: Shots From Beyond the Arc
It is time again for another round of Shots From Beyond the Arc to discuss rumblings and goings on around the league. Could LeBron end up in L. A. after all? Is Brand on the outs in Philly? Tyler Hansbrough makes his season debut, and more.
LeBron to L. A. ?
The other day I wrote that there was some wishful thinking going around on the heels of a comment made by LeBron James that he wanted to play for a winner and that ultimately meant the Lakers were on his radar screen. After some thought I think there is a chance he ens up in Los Angeles, it just will not be with the Lakers.
Just bear with me hear a minute as I lay this out for you. The Clippers currently have about $39 million committed to the payroll for the 2010-11 season which gets them significantly under the anticipated cap next summer. They can create another $2.7 million in cap space by not tendering Mardy Collins a contract offer bringing their cap number to just over $36 million. The addition of LeBron potentially makes Al Thornton expendable and they could easily deal him to a team looking for a small forward who can score for a draft pick giving them even more wiggle room to give LeBron the type of contract that would be acceptable to him.
Some would ask that if winning is a necessity for LeBron then why choose the Clippers? The immediate answer to that is look at the young talent the Clippers have amassed the past couple of years.
Eric Gordon is a rising player in the league and is the type of guy who would thrive in an offense playing off of LeBron.
They have last year’s college player of the year in Blake Griffin who has yet to play a regular season game but looked good in preseason action prior to getting injured.
They also have a big man in Chris Kaman who is more than just a servicable 7-footer. When he is healthy he gives the Clippers a legit low post scorer and rebounder and would take some of the interior pressure off of LeBron when he sets up in the post.
Ultimately, what would be better for the league if LeBron goes to the Clippers? Kobe and LeBron having a turf war over Los Angeles would be David Stern’s dream come true. What better way for LeBron to take the crown from Kobe by one-upping him in his own town? What better way to show he is the man by taking perennial loser and door mat of the, the Los Angeles Clippers, to the top of the mountain in the NBA?
Brand on the Outs, Speights on His Way In?
A couple of weeks ago I had listed Philadelphia’s Marreese Speights as a player to keep an eye on this season as someone in line for a breakout season. Speights has arguably been the Sixers most productive player this season ranking second on the team with 15 points and leading the team with 7.1 rebounds per game in just over 24 minutes per contest coming off the bench.
Over the team’s first eight games Speights has three 20-point games and three 9 rebound games including a double-double against the Knicks. In games where Marreese plays at least 30 minutes he is scoring 19.7 points and grabbing nine boards per game while shooting .605 from the field.
Recently head coach Eddie Jordan has been using Speights to close out games as opposed to Elton Brand, and with Brand struggling to find his mojo averaging just 9.5 points and shooting just .412 from the field it is just a matter of time until Speights claims a permanent starting role in Philadelphia.
Hanbrough Debuts
It looks as though that Tyler Hansbrough kid can play a little bit of basketball. The bulk of the “experts” had written Hansbrough off as being too slow and not athletic enough to be anything more than a guy who comes off the end of the bench in the NBA. That always seemed a bit harsh to me given how hard Hansbrough worked in college to become an All American and National Player of the Year at North Carolina.
Now, I never thought he was going to see the same level of success he did in college, but, he will be a productive player as long as nobody tries to make him into a franchise player. He will excel as long as teams look as him as the second or third scoring option on the floor which he will be in Indiana.
Hansbrough made his pro debut last Friday and in his first 30 minutes of action he has scored 24 points and grabbed 13 boards in two games. The biggest mark against him is he is shooting only .316 from the field hitting just 6 of his first 19 shots, but, amazingly enough he has gotten to the line 18 times which was what made him such an effective player in college. The field goal percentage will come around as he gets a better feel for how the NBA game goes, but, as long as he gets to the line 8 to 10 times a game, hits his free throws, and grabs rebounds he is going to start seeing more and more playing time. He is obviously doing something right if he is drawing that much attention from opposing teams on the offensive end of the floor.
Around the NBA
Eddy Curry has reportedly slimmed down and has been cleared to return to practice for the Knicks. Not sure if this is good news or bad news for the team, but, they are so dismal right now they need someone out there who can potentially play a little.
J. J. Hickson has started the last two games for the Cavaliers at power forward and look for him to see significantly more playing time if the Cavs keep winning with him in the starting lineup. Coach Mike Brown likes the switch with Anderson Varejao coming off the bench to give the team more depth there.
With rookie Toney Douglas scoring 44 points and hitting 57.5% of his shots over the last two games and Nate Robinson ready to come back from an ankle injury there is some speculation that Chris Duhon could end up being the odd man out in the Knicks starting back court. I am not sure how much I buy into this one. Douglas has definitely earned more minutes with his play of late, but, neither he or Robinson are suited to be starting point guards while Duhon is. Duhon is also the better on-the-ball defender of the three, not that playing defense has ever entered the mind of coach Mike D’Antoni.
