Around the League

[Lipoli390]

Just a few tidbits of interest from around the League.

1. So much for tanking, the Sixers are winning. The Sixers are now 3-0 after beating the Bulls tonight. Two of those three wins have come against the teams most pundits viewed as the top contenders in the East. Evan Turner was huge again tonight. Turners is really pissed at the Sixers' front office for refusing to negotiate an extension. So even though the Sixers are doing well, I have to believe he's available at a reasonable price. The question is whether the Wolves have what the Sixers would want in exchange -- of course, not considering Ricky, Love or Pek. Would they take D. Williams in exchange and, if so, is that a deal Flip should do? How about Shabazz and Shved for Turner. Hard to believe the Sixers would go for that, but if I were Flip I'd at least offer it. But the real key to the Sixers success thus far is their rookie, Michael Carter-Williams. Some really good basketball minds saw him as a potential star, but his draft stock couldn't overcome his poor shooting in college. But he's proving to be an emerging star and will likely stifle any plans the Sixers might have had to tank this season.

2. There's an emerging franchise player in the West and he has the Pelicans in the hunt. The franchise player's name is Anthony Davis. Starting in the preseason and so far this season, Davis has been dominant. Tonight he had 25 points, 8 boards, 6 blocks and 6 steals. Now that's what I call a killer stat line. He came out of college touted as a potential franchise player. It looks like that's exactly what he'll be. His emergence, combined with the acquisition of Holiday, Evans and Morrow, puts the Pelicans on the map as a contender with the Wolves and others for one of the last 3 or 4 playoff slots in the West. If Eric Gordon is healthy, the Pelicans have three all-star caliber players in their starting lineup -- Davis, Holiday and Gordon.

3. Lillard's rookie season was no fluke and he seems poised to help lead Portland into the playoffs this season. He continues to put up great numbers and lead his team. Batum looks like he's about to have the all-star caliber season that caused Kahn and Adelman to pursue him so aggressively last year (and caused Portland to keep him). And Aldridge looks like he'll be having an all-star caliber season. Lillard, Batum, Aldridge and Matthews make for a very formidable foursome. So look out -- yet another team that could keep the Wolves out of the top 8.

4. How long before Randy Wittman is fired? His Wizards are losing are losing miserably. So what did Wittman do? He called out his team and dropped the F bomb in reference to way his players played defense. You might have heard that when asked last week about their 1st round pick, Porter, Wittman responded "I don't even know who he is." He explained later that Porter hasn't played or practices much because of an injury. But the point is Wittman's arrogant dismissal of his young, new arrival. Wittman is a jerk and always will be. And he's also a horrible coach, which is why his teams have always underachieved. I remember watching him yell at Love for no good reason during games. He would lapse into demoralizing tirades against a young talented player working his tale off under the boards. Randy tries to emulate his hero Bobby Knight. But this isn't college and Randy isn't half the basketball mind that Bobby is. Why the Wizards gave Wittman another chance as a head coach is mind-boggling.

[mjs34]

Couple of things Lip. First I wouldn't do the trade for Turner unless we had an agreement on an extension. Turner has said he expects to get paid, and the wolves can hardly afford to overpay for another guy after handing out deals to Bud, Brewer, Martin, and Pek.

And B, the pelicans dropped their first two games, and are now 1-2, but I agree whole heartedly on Davis. I actually posted something similar in another thread.

I think as good as Portland looks, the biggest factor in a turnaround this season may be the additions of Mo Williams and Robin Lopez. Williams will allow Stott's to get Lillard some rest, and Lopez seems to be the perfect fit in their starting lineup. Most don't remember, but Portland was a borderline PO team last season before tanking their last ten or so games.

[60WinTim]

One of these days, Lip, you will realize you need to remove the "for the last 3 or 4 playoff spots" when referring to the Wolves as a "contender"...

I really enjoy League Pass this time of year as I get an idea what teams look like. Portland looked pretty good, although I have never cared for LMA's game - stellar mid-range game, subpar everything else for a guy his size.

[Bayou Wolf [enjin:6635650]]

I was at the Pelicans game last night and watched how absolutely dominant Davis is....also how absolutely horrible the Bobcats are.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

It has been an interesting start to the season, Lip, with several surprises. The theme of this post is going to be "Don't listen to anything longstrangetrip says, because he is likely to be wrong", because I am feeling especially wrong these days! Here are some of my clunkers so far this year:

1) Carter-Williams was a terrible draft choice, and Philly wont win 25 games this year. I saw MCW as Jonny Flynn redux, another PG from Syracuse that couldn't shoot. I completely ignored his ability to distribute and get to the basket, his length and his defense. He looks like the early favorite for rookie of the year.

2) Anthony Davis will be a good, but not great, player in the NBA. I thought he would always be offensively challenged, and gloated during his average rookie year. But man, does he look great this year! His stat line last night was ridiculous.

3) Anthony Bennett is one the top three players in the 2013 draft. Anyone following him in preseason and the Cavs first three games? Disaster, so far! He is 0-12 from the field this year, and was terrible in pre-season. Tony Bennett may have left his heart in San Francisco, but Anthony Bennett left his talent in Las Vegas.

So, take everything I say with a grain of salt!

Lip, thanks for the scathing discussion of Wittman. I don't know how he continues to survive. Bad guy, and bad coach.

I'm not on the Portland bandwagon. They looked good last night, but really laid an egg in Phoenix on opening night. I didn't like their offseason at all. I have talked about my thoughts that McCollum will never be a good NBA player (not really a point guard at all, and too small to be a SG), and I think the same about Thomas Robinson and Robin Lopez (I like the Williams pick up though). I compare their depth to the Wolves, and they come up way short.