On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!

As the playoffs near (thank g-d! There's nothing like playoff basketball) its time for us to analyze the best of the best this season. Personally, the NBA is a bit crooked in handing out its awards, and for some odd reason they always tend to give it to people who don’t deserve it, or people who are media whores.

Obviously, this is not the official award list. This list is purely based on who deserves the award from an average spectators perspective, simple as that. I’m not going to take into consideration anything that happened off that court or years past, or even look at the years stats. This is purely for this year and what was done on the court. Anyways, lets get started.

MVP

Not even going to waste my time here. Lebron James is clearly this years MVP, and whoever disagrees with me clearly hasn’t watched enough basketball this year. This guy does it all, he scores, passes, rebounds…..every thing a player can do on the court this guy has essentially mastered it.

He’s a freak of nature. Every time I watch him play I ask myself how a man like this is not on steroids. At 6-8, 250 pounds, he’s probably one of the fastest players in the league and he weighs as much as a center. He gets better every year with no threshold on his potential. Did I mention he’s not even in his prime yet? Imagine four years from now…..no, I don’t want too….the possibilities are way to scary to imagine

Coach of the year

This is probably the hardest award to give out. In my opinion, the nba screws up this award so often its obscured. You cant give a coach of the year award to a ‘Mike Brown,’ he has Lebron James to do all his dirty work, to make him look good. Without Lebron, Mike would not have a winning record, so giving it to a coach with a superstar like that is pointless, but the NBA always finds a way to give undeserving coaches this award

So many coaches are worthy of this award, but three stand out the most. Jerry Sloan of the Utah Jazz, Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles, and Scott Brooks of the Thunder. Let me explain each coach individually

Jerry Sloan

Probably one of the most respected coaches of all time, Jerry Sloan has never won a COY award. This makes me scratch my head and wonder who the hell is behind the award choices. This man has been in Utah for generations, always praising defense first while constantly bringing in the W’s every year.

This year was no exception. He handled this Utah team like a pro that he is even with all the controversy they had going into the season. He kept boozer focused for the entire season, worked in a healthy Deron and finally got AK47 playing at the level within himself. Utah was not expected to be a top 4 seed in the wild western conference, but never doubt the tricks Jerry has up his sleeves. If Utah can make a huge push at the end of the season and finish 2nd behind the Lakers Jerry Sloan should (but because of the NBA, probably wont) finally take his long awaited reward.

Scott Skiles

Great coach, solid in all regards. No one expected anything from the Bucks this season, at most they would be fighting for a final spot in the east. Now, out of everyone’s surprise, the bucks are holding onto the 5th seed in the east and look like a favorite to host a 1st round upset.

Scott Skiles has done wonders with Brandon Jennings. A natural scorer as he is, Skiles has kept Jennings grounded as a player and developing him as a pure point guard, which is a necessity for a successful basketball club. We all know this kid could score, who knew he was so loyal to an offense. Scott also has done wonders with Bogut. A Former first round pick, he was considered a write off due to injuries but this year Bogut made a huge turnaround, probably because of the solid play from Jennings. Lets not forget how well he implemented Salmons into the lineup with their star Michael Redd injured.

In my opinion, Scott wont win the award, but he got the bucks on the map again, and I have a feeling this team will not be one n’ done after this season

Scott Brooks

Love the Thunder, they have everything to need a successful team (except a center.) Scott Brooks has done a wonderful job of getting this team to play as a group and the results have clearly shown. OKC is now fighting for a playoff spot and potentially home court in the first round in the heavily competitive western conference.

If Scott wins this award, give half the award to Durant. Its that simple. Although I love what Scott has done since he’s been the coach, Durant is simply unstoppable and when you have a player like that on a team you’re going to win more than enough games.

6th man of the year

Love this award, by far my favorite award the NBA can hand out. The 6th man is such an asset to any team and the best 6th man this year hands down has to go to Jamal Crawford. This guy has made such an impact on the Hawks this year and he did it from the get go. The Hawks were criticized when the brought Jamal in, claiming that he’s never came off the bench before and needs starter minutes to produce, and boy were those critics wrong.

Since the start of the season Jamal has been killing it off the bench and he seems to love his role in Hot-lanta. He’s finally going to the playoffs this year and maybe he can be the Hawks missing piece to actually make a push in this years playoffs.

However, knowing the NBA and how the media works, odds are they are going to give the award to Anderson Varejao because of the play he pulled against the Lakers, and if the NBA does than something is really wrong here. Sure, the man is a game changer off the bench. He’s a pest on the court and seems to get in everyone’s head, but he is not worthy of 6th man of the year.

When a player like Varejao is having an off game, its simple to replace a player like that since all he does is play defense. Just substitute another big man and your money. Compared to Jamal, the impact he has on the hawks is much more critical to the teams success. If Jamal were to get hurt, we would see the Hawks losing much more than Cleveland would if Anderson got hurt (in fact, he is hurt right now and Cleveland continues to win). That’s what this awards all about, the impact these guys have when they step on the court and not about the attention they draw from the media.

Most Improved
This one is tricky since no one this year made that big of a leap in their game to earn this award. Because of that only one person comes to mind, Kevin Durant. You may be asking my why, since this man has always been able to light up an opponent. To me, there is more to it than his scoring ability.

Again, we know Durant can score, and even though he improved on that this year, it is his leadership, smarts and consistency that to me have earned this award. This man will do great things for the NBA and for the Thunder. Last year, the exact same Thunder team couldn’t make the playoffs. But this year, with their improved Durant leading the way they are now fighting for a top seed in the west.

The team as a whole should be nominated for most improved, but since it can only go to a player, its gotta be Durant.

Defensive Player of the Year

This award, from the first day of the season will be between these two players: Ron Artest and Dwight Howard. Both are top defensive players at their respected position. Stat wise, Dwight should take this award home, but these awards should not rely on stats to decide who wins what. In order to see what I’m talking about, you must watch these two guys play.

Ron Artest was signed by L.A to play defense and he surely has done his job, except against Lebron (who is un-guardable.) He might not be like he was when he won the award back in the day, but this knuckle-head still has some juice left him in. We will see what happens in the playoffs. If he plays defense and brings the Lakers to the finals, he should win the award. Unfortunately, these are regular season awards so the playoffs don’t count. Because of that, Dwight will take this award home.

There you have it, those are my guesses for this years award races. Knowing the NBA as well as I do, they will probably try to give every award to Lebron James or any member of Cleveland. Sure, I may be a little bit bias, and I’m ok with that. Maybe ill talk about why I hate Cleveland so much as my next post, but until then.

T-T-R

Im Just Boshing You

Raptor fans, oh how I feel for you. In due time, you will all be holding your breaths awaiting for the notification of Chris Bosh’s destination for 2011. For the last seven years you have been watching this kid grow up to be one of those most effective and respected big men in the league. This man saved this organization after the dreaded VC incident (I’m sorry for bringing up the horrible past) and at one point actually put Toronto on the map as a legit basketball organization. After seven years of loyalty on all ends of the court, Raptor fans will pray as they watch the biggest summer in NBA history unfold, with the future of their organization in its hands.

Chris Bosh cannot leave Toronto. He has done too much there to just get up and leave. I was once invited to see the Raptors at the Air Canada Center and the city just absolutely loves Chris. Just the other night when he scored his 10,000 point as a Raptor (first Raptor to reach 10,000 might I add) the ACC went nuts, absolutely nuts, while bosh was focused on the court showing no recognition to the crowd. Everyone was standing to appreciate the hard work this man has done for the Raptors while Bosh didn’t even show emotion as he nailed his 10,000 point as a Raptor, and his career. There’s no doubt in my mind that everyone in Toronto wants this guy to stay, and if he doesn’t it will be a devastating blow to the city and the organization.

One year after his rookie season, Bosh was given the keys to the raptors organization as the face of the franchise, and boy did he respond. He was undersized for his position, a scrawny teenager drafted out of Georgia Tech to play with the big boys right from the get go. Following a solid sophomore season, Bosh had no limits to his potential. Every year he just kept getting better and better, it was a joy to watch this kid develop.

Toronto fans waited patiently as Bosh was developing into a nightmare for opposing forwards. Everyone knew that Bosh was going to be the guy that would lead Toronto back to the playoffs since the ______ era, now it was time to build around him.

Their first attempt was to bring in a solid PG in TJ Ford. That plan did not go so well, even though it brought them the Atlantic division title. The Raptors than brought in Bryan Collangelo and made a block buster trade to make bosh happy by bringing in Jermain O’neal and drafting Andrea Bargiani. Jermain was plagued with injuries and the fans grew tired. Jermain later became Shawn Marion and Marion became Hedo Turkoglu (and we all know how that experiment is going).

During all this, CB4 was a saint. He did not create problems by criticizing the player Toronto brought in to play with him. He rarely showed dis-trust and dis-respect for anyone in the organization. He was calm, patient and solely focused on basketball and improving his game. Bosh new that they were going to build around him, its just unfortunate that none of the attempts meshed well together.

As of now, the Raptors are loosing ground in the eastern conference and are currently holding on to the 8^th seed with Chicago 3 games back. Bosh has done what all free agent superstars SHOULD be doing during their troubles and all season: not saying anything about where he’s going and focusing on basketball.

Bosh is aware of all the things Toronto has done to retain him, like signing his good friend from college Jarret Jack to a 4 year deal (he’s more effective than Turkoglu IMO) and during the trade deadline, there were talks of bringing in his best friend Josh Powell from the Lakers. Bosh knows what’s going on, he knows that Toronto will do anything to keep him, and Toronto just might have to do that.

Come July, CB4 will have the Raptors organization by a thread. Sure, he gets the most money if he signs with Toronto, but at this point in his career that’s not a priority. No one really knows what’s going on in Bosh’s head although there have been signs of him claiming he wants to stay in Toronto. Although he has never mentioned the phrase “I want to stay in Toronto” or anything along that line, CB4 has stated his love for the city and the players he is with at the moment. But we all know CB4 wants to win, and as of now it doesn’t look like Toronto is the best destination for that. For Bosh, that’s what its going to come down, his desire to winnow or his desire to stay loyal to the organization that brought him up and trust they will bring in a winning cast.

Of course, we all know that Bryan Colangelo and crew will do whatever it takes to keep CB4 in a Raptor uniform past this season. What can Toronto offer but more money that will intrigue CB4? Come next season I don’t believe Toronto has that much cap space, maybe a MLE the most since signing Turkoglu in the off-season (if CB4 signs with Toronto.) That would mean bearing any trades, the Raptors roster wont be any different than it is now, and the results of this roster…well….lets just say its not up to level if we hope to retain Bosh.

If Bosh decides he wants to leave, he has plenty of options to do so with plenty of teams clearing cap space. He can go to Miami to team up with wade, he can chose New York’s spot light and #1 city in the world with the potential of playing with LBJ (imagine!) Or he can go to Chicago, and develop alongside Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah. The point is Bosh has numerous options, he must feel like a kid in a candy store with a unlimited tab.

If he leaves Toronto (and sadly it’s a big possibility,) I cant imagine how long it will take for the organization to recover. Assuming the raptors finish in the lower seeds of the eastern conference, Toronto will get a mid 1^st round pick………..oh wait, they traded it to Miami to get Marion/Turkoglu. If Bosh leaves WITHOUT any deal worked out to get something in return, Toronto will suffer and they will suffer hard. They’re best player will be a Italian forward who has shown signs of flashes and little consistency on the boards paired up with an aging forward whom Toronto is grossly overpaying. Toronto needs to find a way to get something out of Bosh if he decided to cross the border, here’s a couple of situations I worked out:

Sign n trade Bosh to New York for David Lee, Chandler: This would be best case scenario. Lee would be a huge downgrade from Bosh but he has room to grow, and who knows how effective he can be in a new offense and players around him. Chandler would be a bonus, an athletic forward with a progressing shot and respectable D, he’s an asset on any team. Bosh gets to go to NY and potentially play with another superstar.

Sign n trade bosh to Huston for Kevin Martin and Brooks (or Scola, Ariza, Battier) Another best

case scenario for Toronto. They would get a wing scorer which is desperately needed on that team if Bosh is gone and will get a nice complementary player as well. Houston will get Bosh, potentially a healthy Yao, and strong complementary players to go along with them.

Sign n trade bosh to Portland for Aldridge + filler: This trade would make sense for both teams. Bosh and Roy would be a devastating duo in the west, making Portland’s rebuilding stages complete and ready for a championship run. Toronto would get a poor mans Bosh so the offense wont have to change that much since Aldridge’s game is similar to Bosh.

If I were Toronto, I would pray he stays…..screw it ill just say it, BOSH HAS TOO STAY! He means everything to Toronto, Bosh solidified Toronto on the basketball map. He should retire in purple and red, he should recruit people to play with him and not be recruited. Bosh did state earlier this season that he would rather lead a franchise than share the role, which he can definitely do in Toronto. He constantly states how amazing the city is, and he’s probably settled in Toronto after seven years here with his family…….OK im going to stop ignoring the giant panda in the room and mention that Bosh looks like a raptor…..think about it, if he looks like a Raptor, and plays for the Raptors, than its destined that he will remain a Raptor.

Choose your own adventure: Bosh, its all up to you now. There are two keys in your hand. The key in your left hand opens the gate to the path of Village Hero. Whenever you walk by the streets of Toronto people will look up in awe (not because you’re taller than them) and respect for the man that stuck by his town for better or worse. The key in your right hands holds the path of The Messenger. You will be seen in Toronto as a respectable man who once brought joy to the town. You will pass by the city every so often bringing gifts of joy and thoughts of what could have been. You will not be verbally shunned, but there is an obvious tension in the air whenever you come back to visit.

Choose wisely Bosh, Choose Wisely.

T-T-R

You Be The Judge?

(Title photo courtesy of The Vancouver Sun)

(Raptor photo courtesy of Lookliker.com)

Sit Down, Shut Up and Play Some Basketball

(photo courtesy of yahoo! sports)


Yesterday, a couple of buddies and I were watching the Lakers take on the Kings and someone brought up the fact that the NBA hosts some of the strangest players in the world. We're talking personality strange, visually strange....some of them just make you wanna ask 'why?' Every so often, I will present you with a player who needs to sit down, shut up and play some basketball.

Even though I said I will present a player who needs to get his head back in the game, this edition of "sit down and shut up" will not focus on one player, but on an a team as a whole: The Los Angeles Lakers.

This may come to a surprise to some. you may be asking "why is this idiot telling the defending champs to shut up and play basketball," and normally I wouldnt tell any defending championship team to shut and and play ball. But this team, if these Lakers continue to act like fools off the court, I 'guarensheed' that they wont repeat this year.

Everyone on the Lakers should observe Kobe, he's probably the best in the league at strapping down and playing ball when things are getting rough on and off the court. Although the main reason why the Laker players are in shambles is because of Kobe (he has been taking way too many shots lately), he still handled this situation the best. What did he do? He kept quiet, and continued to only focus on basketball.

This whole ordeal started with Pau Gasol claiming that he needs more touches. A couple of days later, he says that the ball needs to go in the paint more. I agree, the lakers should force the ball inside at least once during their possession especially with those big boys down low. The problem here is simple, Gasol needs to shut up. You're a professional for heavens sake, is this how you're going to handle your problems? Blabbing to the media is not going to get the message to Kobe, shaq learn't that the hard way and look who came out on top?

If Gasol wants to get his message to Kobe, all he has to do is sit down with him. Now I'm not a Laker insider or anything, but I'm sure Kobe would be willing to sit down with his #2, the man who brought him that 4th ring without shaq to discuss how to bring in a 5th. To me, Gasol has earned his respect to this organization and to Kobe. Im not sure how intimidating Kobe is in public, but all this man wants to do is win, and win the right way. He dosen't respond to the media about team troubles, he talks to the team and Gasol should do the same. I mean lets be real here Gasol. If Kobe had a problem with you (and your not perfect, lets be honest) how would you feel if you heard it through twitter? Wouldn't you rather verbally tell Kobe whats wrong, and how you feel we can fix this? Its like you guys are kinder-gardeners, Kobe stole Gasols juice and Gasol having a fit but the teacher wont do anything.

Gasol is not the only Laker who needs to sit down and shut up. Ron Artest has been pissing me off all year. To me, this guy is Bi-polar. When he's on the court, hes all basketball. He looks focused, and has a killer instinct when he plays (only defensively, offensively he has been a joke.) The problem (and what has always been the problem) has been his public shenanigans. One day he shaves his head in three different languages, the next he claims hes gonna break a world record (him and Odom plan to make the most FT as a pair in 60 seconds,) and then the next day he claims that he wants to be the best defensive player, AND THEN the next day he will claim he needs to get faster to be the best defender he can be......I dont know, the guy just doesn't make sense to me....He's like a dog chasing his tail

Artest claims that he signed with the lakers to win a ring, hes the only Laker on the roster without a ring. All Ronald has to do is play hard every night like he has been doing and if I were Phil Jackson, I would buy him a muzzle that he would need to wear during media hours. Again dont get me wrong, I love Artest and in my opinion was the second best off season move, (besides Crawford to Hot-lanta) I just wish he wasn't aware of the English language

Ohh yes, there is more. Lamar Odom needs to shut up as well as Josh Powell. The other day, Lamar posted that he is ready to "personally" shed the "Soft" tag the Lakers own in the league and that he's willing to take a game suspension to do so. (source: http://www.ocregister.com/sports/odom-238453-lakers-fisher.html) Is it just me, or do the Lakers love the media? I understand that they are in the media capital but come on Lamar? You basically just told the media that the Lakers are soft....and its been exactly a week since that statement was made and have you done anything to make the team 'harder?' I certainly dont think so, and I have this feeling that Lamar will not take that game suspension during the regular season, he wants to be hard but the league knows him as an amazing guy. To me the Lakers look just as soft as they looked at the beginning of the season, they still dont demolish teams and they let them stay in the game unlike other elite teams that close their opponents within minutes of opening tip.

And then, there is Josh Powell. This makes me laugh, I just dont understand it. Josh Powell decided one day to plead on twitter that the Lakers need a change. To quote Josh: "kobe…kobe…we still need to step it up..can’t keep winning like that…there will be a change…trust me…" .........what does a player get out of that? did he think Kobe would respect him more by saying that to the world? did he do it to get more playing time? I cannot imagine how Phill or Kobe would feel if they saw this in their twitter news feed, it makes the team look like losers, it makes them look so soft.

Championship teams do not complain. Championship teams do not force blame. Championship teams do not make excuses. Championship teams do not use the media to convey feelings towards teammates. Championship teams win by trusting in one another and playing hard every night.

The Lakers are supposed to be a championship team.....so start acting like one.

T-T-R

p.s i know the last two articles have been heavily Laker based.....i promise you this is not a Laker site, its just the past 2 nights i've watched the Lakers so they've been on my mind.

Lakers Hold Off Warriors 124-121 In Scoring Shootout

(photo courtesy of Yahoo! Sports)

One of my favorite match-ups for a while now in the NBA has been whenever the Los Angeles Lakers take their business into the Oracle Arena to face the Golden State Warriors in what always promises to be an epic offensive showdown. Epic may be too strong of a word to use in this situation, but this truly was an epic game to watch for NBA fans who love high octane offensive games.

Whenever these two teams meet, it always feels like they both sides forget the meaning of the word "defense" and just let loose offensively. The Lakers shot a quite 56% which is impressive, but also expected since L.A had the size down-low. Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol Both had effective nights for the Lakers. Bynum and Gasol combined for 45 points and 23 rebounds, 14 of those belonging to Bynum.

Despite Monta Ellis shotting a lousy 27% on 5/23 shooting, Golden State managed to shoot an impressive 48% on the Lakers 3rd ranked defense but it really felt like they shot much better than that thanks to there 13 three-pointers. The Lakers have been criticized all season long for there weak defensive play against quick point guards, and tonight was no different. Monta and Stephen used there quick legs to speed by Fisher and Farmar and created enough penetration and seperation to either take it to the rim (muahaha) or dish it to a teammate for the three. If you ask me that's how Golden State kept up with L.A tonight.

Kobe Bryant had a quite but effective night going for 28 points on 50% shooting. He did have 9 turnovers in the process thanks to Golden States tough defense and traps they sent for him. Monta Ellis also played some stellar D on Kobe especially being undersized for guarding him. The Lakers won this battle tonight by there domination on the rebounding end. As a team, the Lakers doubled the Warriors rebounding total and then some by out rebounding them 56-25, 14 of them being offensive. Due to the second chance points that those rebounds created, the Lakers were able to sneak away from Golden State with the W.

Golden State had plenty of chances to take over this game. Golden State, although being out-muscled in the post, played incredible help defense by forcing the Lakers to commit 24 turnovers compared to there lone 5 and as a team collected 14 steals. For the Lakers to pull away from this one is amazing considering those numbers. Golden State had the game going into the half. They were playing better basketball by out hustling the Lakers and beating them up and down the court. When the second half began, they seemed to have lost that offensive spark they had the whole first half and essentially 'put their foot of the pedal' and slowed down the game to the Lakers pace, and they took advantage.

As the shout-out began to wind down, the Warriors took possession with a 3 point deficit. After a clever push-off move by Stephen Curry, Ellis dished him the ball for a routine 3 pt jumper to tie the game. What looked in rimmed out, but Golden State got the offensive rebound and dished it to Ellis. Ellis's shot bounced not once, not twice but thrice before bouncing out and the Lakers took the victory.

All in all, a fine game for both teams. I really love Golden State. I truly feel that if they made the playoffs they can make a little run if these guys played like they did last night. The Lakers are just fundamentally great to watch. They're like a fine tuned oil machine with there offense and once there defense picks up (which it will for the playoffs, i've always said they are a June team and you heard it here first) they will be unstoppable.

Until next time

T-T-R

Recommended game for March 16th.

East Coast: Indiana vs Charlotte. (Statement game for Charlotte and they are looking to make a playoff push, look for them to come out strong)

West Coast: L.A vs Sac (have a good feeling. L.A coming off a back to back and Tyreke is just awesome)

What To Expect Taking it "To-The-Rim"

(photo courtesy of Yahoo! Sports)

Hello NBA fans across the globe!

Welcome to "To-The-Rim," a blog for ballers and ballers only. If you were lucky enough to stumble across this blog and are an NBA fan than you are in luck! To-The-Rim will be (bearing that I update the blog regularly) your number one source for your daily NBA fix.

Some of you may be wondering what to expect from this blog. Well, this goes back to a couple of months ago. I was taking the subway with a friend of mine who dosent really follow basketball (i know, right?) and he started asking me questions about the sport and the league (this was a couple days after the Jamison trade to the Cavs, so he wanted to know how trades, and the rest of the league works). I explained to him the stupid salary cap rule for trades and other stuff in the league.

Now if you're like me (if your not, than get off this webpage!) and love the NBA, than you know what your getting into asking us questions like "has Lebron surpassed Kobe?" or even worse "where will all the free-agents go next year?" Ask me any of those questions and expect to be either in a heated debate, or passed out on the couch. Anyways i completely went off track here my bad coach......

When it was time for us to get off the subway (after maybe 30 minutes of pure NBA chat) someone sitting across from me asked me where i knew all this stuff. I told him i was just a fan and he didn't believe me. This little incident lifted my moral because it made me think of all those 'wasted' nights watching my favorite team win or lose, or my favorite player hitting that clutch shot. It made me think that maybe more people will want to hear my opinion of the sport.

So here we are now. After months of consideration and time on my hands, To-The-Rim is up and running and heres what to expect:

- Analysis of "game changing" games in the league (by this i mean impact games, like playoff match ups or great 1-1 battles)
- recent news or reports on players and coaches (firings, signings, player and coaches statements, etc.)
- Opinion based articles about the league (responding to trades, rumors, up and coming players etc.)
- Random and fun related NBA things!

Anyways, tomorrow you should expect my first post to the site. I plan to watch LAL @ GS tonight, maybe i will report on the game.

Until Then

T-T-R