Usually around this time of the year, there’s a trade that is probably a second or third option on one team’s radar and a pipe dream for the other, but the former team just tires of waiting for everyone else to act, so they pull the trigger anyways. That’s probably the best way to describe what just transpired between the Warriors and Bucks. Instead of going into some breathless diatribe of which team was which, I’ll just let you figure out which is which.

The Warriors may have wet the bed, but it wasn’t necessarily an accident. I’m sure they’ve shopped around Monta Ellis, probably for the better part of time since they drafted Curry, but everyone seems to be waiting for the Magic to move Howard (which, by the way, he now wants to finish out the year with the Magic. He clearly doesn’t want to be hated in Orlando, hiring a publicist might be the wise move about a year ago). So the Warriors, unwilling and/or incapable of waiting for the dominoes to fall and stay neutral, accepted a deal in which they send off their best player — and one of the ten best pure scorers in the league — for an aging center who can’t stay healthy (Andrew Bogut) and an aging shooting guard who’s a pale imitation of the guy they’re sending off (Stephen Jackson).

It does warrant mentioning that Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis on the same team, as we’ve mentioned before, is one of the more glaring redundancies in the NBA. Two undersized shoot-first perimeter players can be valuable on separate teams, but on one roster they can’t be your two best players, you’ll have too much invested in them and be too vulnerable everywhere else on the court. Hence Golden State brought in Mark Jackson to right the ship Don Nelson had taken to crazy-town with his broken brain, chased Tyson Chandler all off-season and failed to acquire him, and are now reduced to bringing in Bogut in a thinly-veiled attempt to improve the versatility of the team, which they haven’t had in over a decade.

Maybe this was a salary dump, maybe they’re tanking the season because the draft this year is as deep as its ever been and they lose their pick to Utah unless it’s in the top-seven, maybe they just assume there will be more native Australians in the Bay area, and maybe the Warriors front office genuinely believe Captain Jack and Bogey are a better fit for their franchise and equal value for Monta Ellis. I can’t know their motivation. But I do know that this makes the Bucks infinitely more competitive and the favorite in the race for the eighth playoff spot in the East between them and the Knicks, while the Warriors are going to limp to the finish line of yet another missed post-season. But hey, at least the Warriors got rid of Kwame Brown…who they signed this year for $8 million.

Ultimately, this may work out for everyone just yet. If the Bucks sneak into the playoffs they’ll get two extra home games while losing to the Bulls or Heat in five, and the Warriors will hold onto their draft pick where they will continue to work towards resembling an actual NBA team, not the cartoon-fun version Don Nelson turned them into. However, judging on the merits of this trade alone and not all the ancillary effects of it, it’s clear which team improved their personnel and which team sacrificed their current (lowly) winning percentage in the name of long-term improvement.

For the next three weeks as the NBA prepares to take a backseat to college basketball in the American sports landscape, legions of casual fans, most of which are completely indifferent to basketball – and often athletics in general – will take a deep rooted interest in basketball games for a myriad of reasons. Be it their alma mater is participating, they filled out a bracket or are simply swept up in the moment, the NCAA tournament has the uncanny ability to rope in not only fans of the institution but American culture as a whole that’s rivaled only by the Superbowl (whose ratings are only marginally higher than the actual popularity of the sport).

NBA fans, however, have a unique relation to the NCAA tournament, as it’s essentially the playoffs for their minor league counterpart. This is where NBA prospects tend to make their name. Take Derrick Williams for example. He was known amongst afficionados, but diehard NBA fans who don’t acknowledge the college basketball regular season were fist introduced to him when Arizona knocked off Duke in the Sweet 16 last season, by the end of the tournament he was a household name for NBA fans.

Considering that this upcoming draft is expected to be among the deepest of the past fifteen years (byproduct of the lockout), if you can’t watch for any of the aforementioned reasons, you can definitely watch to see who you’ll be seeing at the pro-level in the coming years. So let’s take a gander at some of the potential NBA prospects worth keeping an eye on, and what teams that could benefit from their drafting them.
Note: This isn’t a draft projection, more so a list of guys we’ve watched this season that have varying chances at a pro career.

1. Anthony Davis, C Kentucky
   Let’s start with the most obvious. By my count, Davis is the best pro prospect to come out of college since Kevin Durant five years ago (note:He was drafted by the Seattle Supersonics, to give you an idea of how quickly time seems to have flied since Durant was drafted) and is going to immediately right the course of whoever drafts him, assuming they have a course that needs righted. If he somehow ends up on a playoff team because of a traded draft pick, lets just hope it isn’t Miami.He has the defensive presence in the post that rivals Dwight Howard and the potential offensive skill-set of Dirk Nowitzki (he’s still a bit raw on the offensive end, hence the “potential” that was tossed in). Basically, getting Davis makes up for a year in which you were bad enough to even be eligible to draft him.
2. Harrison Barnes, F North Carolina
   We tend to like Kendall Marshall more than anyone else on this team (we’ll get to him in a minute). But Barnes is your standard UNC swing man/perimeter threat in the same vein as Vince Carter and Brandan Wright. It goes without saying that there’s a lot of room in between those two examples and how they fared in the pros (and most would tell you Carter fell well short of expectations), and that’s all the more reason to watch Barnes.Personally I tend to think he leans more to the former than the latter, and the team that could use him the most is the same team that could use a great perimeter player more than anyone else, the Jazz (we exclude the Bobcats when we offer a moniker like this, of course. They need everyone more than everyone needs anyone). But they’re a likely playoff team, and at worst a low lottery pick. If Utah is lucky enough to garner a high enough pick to get Barnes, since he’s from Iowa and might not be opposed to playing in a smaller, semi-rural market, they even have a chance of re-signing him in three years if he pans out. The Wizards are a likely drafter of Barnes that will in fact have a high enough pick to snag him.
3. Andre Drummond, C Connecticut
   While Anthony Davis is the best pro-prospect since Kevin Durant to come into the league, Drummond is arguably the best center since Dwight Howard in 2003 (depending on what you think/thought of Hibbert, Monroe and Oden). Teams that could use him include: Everyone but the Lakers, Thunder & Magic (for now).Going into the tourney, UConn has two top ten picks (Drummond & Jeremy Lamb) and is somehow only a nine seed (and were lucky to get that) so there’s a decent chance they’re bounced from the tournament in the first weekend, either against Iowa State in the first round or Kentucky in the second.But this Connecticut team is the only team I can recall that could arguably be favored to beat a one-seed as a nine. However, if he gets to go head-to-head against Anthony Davis in the second round, it could be the one-on-one match-up of the tournament. Probably one of the few times two top-five picks meet each other in the first round.
4. Kendall Marshall, PG North Carolina
   With few exceptions, the quality of a college basketball team is reflective of the quality of their point guard. From watching UNC’s run to the Elite Eight and their mid-season resurgence was directly related to Marshall’s ascendance to starting point guard. He isn’t projected to be a terribly high pick, but I think that will make him all the more lethal when he ends up on a playoff team that could benefit immensely from Marshall’s arrival. If he’s available when they’re drafting, this seems like a player San Antonio would be savvy enough to acquire.
5. Jared Sullinger, C Ohio State
   Sullinger’s stock has taken a hit from last year to now. If he had left last year, due to it being a weak draft and that he was easily the best post-player in the country, he would have been a top-three pick. This year he’ll be lucky to be top eight. This is partly the result of a stronger draft class and also Sullinger’s slightly diminished play.In short, while it’s good for his long-term health that he shed his excessive weight from last season, it seems to have adversely effected his play. He somehow has no extra lift and is 20-30 pounds lighter. At only 6’9 (and this is an extremely generous 6’9), he’s dwarfed by a number of his opponents in size and height, and can’t get above any of them. This doesn’t bode well for his NBA prospects, but he’s extremely gifted otherwise. Teams that could use him: anyone that needs assistance along their front line. Ideally, the Celtics. Realistically, The Bucks or Warriors.
6. Perry Jones, PG Baylor
   His numbers are largely impressive for how high expectations are surrounding him. But despite a relatively unimpressive stretch of games leading up to the Big XII tournament, Jones has all the makings of an NBA prodigy. It seems apparent that he occasionally lacks motivation, but there are worse crimes than mailing in regular season college basketball games. By most accounts, he’s probably a better prospect than Sullinger, but he isn’t as polished. As far as athleticism goes Sullinger can’t hold a candle to him, but at the next level Jones won’t be able to rely solely on his god-given talents. Assuming they keep Nash, Jones would be a perfect fit in Phoenix and would start right off the bat.
7. Austin Rivers, PG Duke
   Rivers is probably the best streaky player in college and at only 18 years old, has as well proven to be one of the better clutch shooters in the country on numerous occasions, most notably against North Carolina. Much like Jones he’s a bit unpolished and is occasionally too quick to fire up an ill-advised shot or sometimes too careless with the ball, but his upside is somewhere between Rajon Rondo and Allen Iverson. Speaking of the Celtics, Austin is Doc’s kid, but they’re unlikely to draft him unless Rondo is actually moved. About the last thing they need is an under-sized point guard with an itchy trigger-finger. Teams that will demonstrate interest are Utah, New Orleans, Detroit & Phoenix, assuming Nash leaves.
8. Tu Holloway, PG Xavier
   Xavier essentially always has a formidable point guard, and Holloway is no exception. Most teams have him pegged as a second rounder, and that very well may be the case. But every year there’s at least one late first to early second round pick that goes unnoticed, and Holloway is my guess at that person this season. Watch him this year, if they play Duke, him and Rivers going head-to-head will rival the other potential match-up this tourney, Drummond for Uconn going up against Anthony Davis for Kentucky.
9. Thomas Robinson, PF Kansas
   I’m in the minority on Robinson, my expectations for him at the next level aren’t what they seem to be around the country. Part of that is Kansas hasn’t produced a quality, at least borderline all-star in quite sometime. But also, from what I’ve seen from Robinson this season he’s rarely stood out from the rest of his team. I can’t say the same about the rest of the top ten prospects. Watch for him in the tournament to see if he can change the trend. While I’m not terribly impressed with Robinson, his team is another story. Kansas has a comparatively easy path to the elite eight, if Bill Self can avoid one of his signature choke jobs Kansas should make a decent run.
10. Bradley Beal, SG Florida
    Everyone rightly has Beal pegged as Utah’s first round pick, and rightly so. They are the weakest team in the league at the shooting guard and Beal is the best to come out of college this season. Generally speaking, there are better players to be had where Utah will be drafting at, but they will target the best player for their weakest position. Beal will have an opportunity to make a name for himself, if they get past Virginia they will face the two-seed Missouri (who has a strong case for being a one-seed, while Florida should definitely be higher than a seven). If they pull off the upset then, it will be because Beal took over the game.

Other players worth paying attention too (among others): William Buford, Michael Kidd-Gilchrest, Terrence Jones, Jon Henson, Tyler Zeller, Cody Zeller, Jeremy Lamb, Quincy Miller, Dion Waiters, Jordan Taylor, Bernard James, Jeff Taylor

Welcome to our second power rankings installment of the 2011-2012 (really just 2012 +7 days) season. You’ll notice there hasn’t been too much fluctuation from late January until now, at least none that’s actually relevant. We’ll do one more of these before the post-season with exclusively playoff teams. Barring some unforeseen injury (redundant), these aren’t going to change much then, either.

Onto the rankings.

1) Miami Heat
When people criticize the Heat – and specifically – LeBron for failing in the clutch, they overlook the fact that this team has to keep the game close for it to be noticeable. Along with that, they also overlook the fact that this team has lost nine games. Meaning, they’ve lost a grand total of nine games, most of which have been nail-biters. This strikes me as a positive development.

2) Los Angeles Clippers
I’m fully aware they’re the fourth best team in their conference, but remember, this list is a ranking of who I think is most likely to win the title, and the title goes through Miami. As it pertains to Western Conference teams, I think the Clippers are the best shot to beat Miami, therefore, they’re the favorite to win a title. Let me put it this way, I think the Clippers are more likely to beat the Thunder in a seven game series than the Thunder are to beat the Heat.

3) Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder are the team everyone immediately points to if they hate Miami and don’t want to concede they’re the obvious favorites. The Thunder are great, I do in fact have them as the third best team in the league, but I still contend that the Thunder don’t have the depth to contend with Miami, and that LeBron-Wade-Bosh out star-power Durant-Westbrook-Harden. If Westbrook morphs into a pass-first point guard, I’ll be inclined to reconsider my position.

4) Chicago Bulls
Still lacking firepower, and it doesn’t seem like that’s going to change. Ever. Assuming they don’t execute any trades before March 15^th. Assuming they don’t play the Pacers in the second round, they’re almost certain to make the conference finals, but they’re not going to beat Miami. Chicago’s saving grace has been their defensive savvy, but statistically speaking, Miami trumps them in that arena as well.

5) Memphis Grizzlies
They’re the three seed and their best player has missed the last two months of play. I’m not entirely certain this team won’t be in the Finals. There’s always a learning curve when a team welcomes back an injured player after an extended hiatus (see the Knicks with Anthony), everyone has to re-adapt to playing how they initially intended. Given the recent history of the Grizzlies, methinks that won’t be an issue.

6) San Antonio Spurs
I’m probably underrating them because they are deceptively deep and have managed to sustain a rash of injuries this year. But they’ve continually come up short in the playoffs these past five years, and there’s no reason to think 2012 will be any different.

7) Indiana Pacers
My bandwagon team has not disappointed. If recent history has proven anything, its that they will never, in a million years, beat the Miami Heat with these two respective incarnations, but an Eastern Conference Finals appearance is completely plausible. If they get the 3-seed and Chicago gets the two, that will open the door for Indiana to lose in five games to Miami.

Dallas Mavericks
For a team that seems to mail in every game, their record sure is impressive.

9) LA Lakers
As we mentioned yesterday, their coach may be their biggest imposition. True, losing to the Pistons and Wizards back-to-back sort of puts the win over Miami in perspective. But there’s an awful lot of panic surrounding a team that’s 23-16, sporting the ninth best record in the league. No one in the Bobcats organization can pinpoint what all the fuss is about.

10) Denver Nuggets
A team mired by a few injuries that will eventually recover. But as much as all us small market fans aspire to see Denver make it deep in the playoffs after Melo left for New York, it probably isn’t happening. Gallinari’s return won’t solve all their problems.

11) Philadelphia 76ers
Get something tangible for Evan Turner already. Or start preemptively planning for the future and shop Iguodala. Either way, one with the other offers nothing more than depth, and his skill-set is going to waste.

12) Minnesota Timberwolves
This is high, but whatever. I learned during a recent successful gambling binge in Vegas that the West is significantly better than the East. If you take out the T’Wolves first ten games the They’re winning percentage increases by well over a hundred points, and they’re going in the right direction, unlike a number of teams surrounding them in these rankings.

13) Orlando Magic
Basically, this team is either a shell of what it will be a week from now, it will be exactly the same but with its star sulking even more than usual, or they will get back a fraction of what they’ll sacrifice. In short, Orlando is probably also too high.

14) Atlanta Hawks
The league’s most ambivalent team is also one of the league’s eight most talented, so Atlanta is always difficult to define. But their ambivalence combined with the Horford injury means they’re at best a second round exit. By the way, if you have Jeff Teague on your fantasy team, kindly piss off. There’s no reason for him to be producing as much as he is as regularly as he does.

15) Utah Jazz
I’m still tremendously disappointed about Devin Harris. He was supposed to be my X-factor in fantasy basketball and I can’t help but mention it everytime the Jazz are brought up. Anyways, the Jazz are going to be like this forever because they’re a well-ran franchise but unfortunately located in Salt Lake, definitely in one of the bottom five destinations for the NBA’s proletariat (along with Toronto, Cleveland, Milwaukee & Charlotte).

16) Houston Rockets
There isn’t a better example of how imperative it is to have a star on your team than the Houston Rockets. They’ve been treading water ever since the end of the McGrady-Yao “era”, but have remained steadily competitive, constantly right above five-hundred. And while their strategy has proven futile, they seem to be on an endless receiving end of unjust criticism. They were clearly biding their time as evidenced by the Gasol trade that fell through (and they are almost objectively better off for), so it isn’t a strategy without an end-game, they just haven’t picked the right end-game yet.

17) Boston Celtics
The good news is, I feel young again every time I watch them play. The bad news is, teams with an average age older than I am rarely win NBA titles. As far as free agency is concerned, they’re in something of a quagmire. Since every star demands to play with another star, they can’t really trade for anyone without trading the one star that most would want to play with. This isn’t to diminish Pierce, Allen or Garnett, but none of them have more than two years left playing at a level vaguely resembling their prime. And with maybe the exception of Pierce, their payrolls are too bloated to have any real trade value. In other words, as disappointing as this season has been, it might be their best for awhile.

18) New York Knicks
Mike D’Antoni’s offense system is peculiar, as a capable point guard is a necessity, but he doesn’t have to be among the league’s best or anything. He just has to be a middling NBA ball handler who can distribute, it’s a bonus if he can knock down three’s. Tony Douglas, 38 year-old Mike Bibby and Iman Shumpert do not fit the above description. Raymond Felton would have been good enough under D’Antoni, and the numbers he’s putting up in Portland aren’t exactly earth-shattering.

This team was labeled as amongst the NBA’s elite at the beginning of the season because no one knew just how pedestrian Bibby & Douglas would be. Once they lost their headliner for a couple weeks (Melo) and picked up a point guard, they went on a tear. When they got Melo back along with Baron Davis (their anticipated white knight before Lin came along), they’ve since gone 2-5. Maybe they need time to develop synergy between all these moving pieces, but when you look at the records with Lin and without Melo versus their record with both of them, it’s almost inarguable that this team is better when Anthony is sidelined with injury.

19) Portland Trailblazers
I had real high expectations for this team, they were supposed to be the Pacers of the West (that title has since gone to the Nuggets). Portland’s biggest problem is they’re entirely too reliant on the raucous crowd at the Rose Garden. They have the biggest home-road win disparity this side of Boston, and it’s probably even more pronounced, since Boston has been flush with injuries this season.

20) Phoenix Suns
I hope Robert Sarver is happy with that tepid crowd that shows up every night to half-heartedly cheer for a team that is a pale comparison of what they easily could have had. Their really needs to be some clause for NBA ownership that if you’re going to rely on the team you hope to buy for income, then you can’t own said team. Ironically, I think the person least anticipating Steve Nash’s departure is Steve Nash himself.

Anyone else would have demanded a trade and mailed it in while doing so, and no one would have blamed him. Instead, he’s riding out a year on a deeply mismanaged team and organization while every basketball fan from Banger to San Diego wants to see Nash get the opportunity to use his considerable skills in his latter years on a contender, not some team that has turned into something it never should have been.

21) Golden State Warriors
This team is Tyson Chandler away from being a much more formidable opponent. But since Don Nelson gutted any defensive prowess the Warriors may have had, they’re arguably the best offensive team but the worst defensive team in the league. It will be interesting to see who they draft. Right now, there isn’t a better fit for Anthony Davis, but the Warriors will have to literally defy all odds to get the first overall pick. Otherwise, Drummond out of Uconn is a great consolation.

22) Milwaukee Bucks
This is where things get dicey for the Eastern Conference, which seven of the remaining nine teams call home. More so than who will represent the East in the playoffs, this is what makes the West the unequivocally better conference. Still. Anyhow, I haven’t watched enough Milwaukee Bucks basketball to say anything intelligent about him, but I do know that Brandon Jennings and Andrew Bogut are only going to keep you good enough to keep you out of a top-five lottery pick.

23) Cleveland Cavaliers
So it looks like Cleveland has mismanaged yet another asset. Anderson Varejao, whose one of the more underrated players in the NBA when healthy but isn’t anything more than a great defender/hustle guy that isn’t an offensive liability, is never healthy. He had a lot of market value and they may have been able to acquire a premiere scorer for him. Instead, he’s missing the remainder of the season (again) and the Cavs are noticeably worse without him (again).

While I understand the logic in not trading him (he’s a valuable commodity and reasonably paid) it seems odd that they wouldn’t try to maximize value for him by accumulating draft picks or more viable assets. As important as guys like Varejao are, they’re effectiveness is diminished when he’s lacking teammates who can regularly score twenty points. Before his second season-ending injury in two years, it seemed almost certain they could find another lottery team willing to sacrifice at least their first round pick this year (plus a couple supplemental pieces) for a player of Varejao’s caliber. Now? Not so much.

24) Sacramento Kings
So DeMarcus Cousins is playing infinitely better since they adhered to his demands and fired Westphal, I hope the current 13-26 record is worth a talented, troubled star putting up great individual stats. This team is almost entirely composed of moveable assets, none of which seem interested in getting along with each other.

25) New Jersey Nets
Do the Nets ever plan on preparing for the now, or are they just perpetually hoping to land all-star free agents? Moving to Brooklyn will obviously help their Q-rating, but it’s probably the last place Howard wants to play on his short list. My guess is him and Deron Williams both end up on Dallas by next season.

26) Detroit Pistons
Greg Monroe and Brandon Knight alone keeps this team ahead of the next four. Everyone else on the Pistons is an ill-advised lull on the salary cap, past his prime or a tremendous disappointment.

27) Toronto Raptors
They’re 27^th here but as far as talent is concerned, they’re easily 29^th. I’m guessing this doesn’t make Raptors fans feel any better. That their team has exceeded their limitations by two whole spots for nothing but shittier lottery odds.

28) Washington Wizards
I’m not sure why this team catches so much more flack for being terrible than the four teams surrounding them, but they do. It’s probably the result of being in a bigger market than New Orleans, Charloote, Toronto & Detroit, but it isn’t like they were supposed to make the playoffs this year. If people really thought Jan Vesely was going to turn this team around that’s their problem as much as it is the Wizards.

29) New Orleans Hornets
Still reeling from their owner/commissioner killing any hope they may have had for this season, they won’t see any light at the end of the tunnel until potentially the draft lottery, where even if they get the first overall pick everyone will cry conspiracy, and it won’t be totally unwarranted.

30) Charlotte Bobcats
Probably the least talented NBA team I’ve ever bared witness too (and this includes last year’s Cavs, who at one point lost 26 straight games), even if they get Anthony Davis it’s going to seem like a bucket of water thrown on the Chicago fire, and he’s the best prospect to come out of college since Kevin Durant. Even if you replace BJ Mullens with Davis, the fact Mullens needs replaced says more than anyone else can.

For all the talk about LeBron’s stint in Cleveland – his “choking” in the clutch, the “limited” supporting cast, etc. – one caveat that is often overlooked is the performance of the Cavaliers coach during those years, Mike Brown. There was a time during his tinier when Brown was thought to be a budding elite coach, someone you could throw into the foray with a top-five star and he would maximize the potential of not only the star, but also his teammates.

As an ardent observer and semi-reluctant fan of the Cavs during the LeBron era, I witnessed this reputation gradually erode after the Eastern Conference Finals against the Orlando Magic in 2009, when Mike Brown semi-famously stood outside the huddle while his assistant drew up a play in the waning minutes. This was the first year the Cavs – with Garnett sidelined with injury – were the favorites to make the NBA Finals and considered a coin-flip against the Lakers for the title. So for them to lose to under-the-radar Orlando (who should have never been under the radar in the first place) was a bit jarring.

Needless to say, things only got worse from there. After another stellar regular season in 2009-2010 that notched them the best record in the league, they struggled with the Bulls in the first round of the playoffs then promptly lost to the Celtics in convincing fashion, during which LeBron seemed to fluctuate between competitive overlord and total indifference (the latter specifically defined the last few games). Obviously, given that LeBron was a free agent and the actual superstar in the equation, his story was going to dominate their post-season collapse. Mike Brown, however, was almost immediately canned one season after winning Coach of The Year and putting up the NBA’s best record in back-to-back seasons.

This was (and still is) somewhat unprecedented, and while the story was put on the back burner, there were mixed opinions over whether or not he deserved his fate. The best example of this are the job he was fired from and the job he later received. After being canned by Cleveland for under-performing, he managed to end up with what’s definitively the better of the two gigs: head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. His behavior this season, to put it mildly, has been pretty erratic.

It’s a mix of insecurity & general incompetence, but mostly insecurity. Now, he hasn’t exactly caught a lot of breaks. First there was the lockout, then a trade for two of his four best players was leaked, only to be revoked, resulting in one of those players being traded for cash because he was so emotionally crippled by the “betrayal”. Coupled with the fact that reportedly all the players wanted Brian Shaw (long time Lakers assistant) to succeed Jackson and Kobe refused to endorse Brown’s hiring, the pressure has gotten to him.

Since then, he’s conceded being deferential to Kobe (the “he has to let me coach him” moment), the weird outburst he had on an official a few weeks ago, now he’s come forward to state that he doesn’t understand why Kobe isn’t part of the MVP discussion, and that he ought to be. I’ve never really understood the machinations of Mike Brown, and what little grasp I had of them has long-faded.

I guess the first question anyone would have is: On what planet is Kobe Bryant not apart of the MVP discussion? He leads the league in scoring despite battling injuries, is shooting as high of a percentage as ever, everyone has decided that his supporting cast isn’t good enough for him now (a supporting cast which includes all-stars Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol, as well as specialized wing defenders in Matt Barnes and Ron Artest) and are still currently the fifth seed in the West.

I know Brown is making his new coaching strategy to be at the beck and call of his star (because that went so flawlessly in Cleveland), instead of providing guidance, insight or attempting to create any cohesion amongst Kobe and the rest of his team; but there isn’t a sane person invested in watching the NBA, either for recreation or a living, that doesn’t have Kobe in his top five for MVP (along with LeBron, Paul, Durant & Rose).

It often seems that much like he did in Cleveland, Mike Brown operates in a bubble of sorts, incapable of learning from past mistakes or challenging his premiere players on any level. It doesn’t pay to be a passive coach. Well, it pays, but it doesn’t win anything. Every highly reputable coach makes it a point to at least attempt to quell any locker room strife of derision between the players and front office, which the Lakers have experienced a lot of this year. Since he’s technically neither, it might be in Brown’s best interest to, I don’t know, maybe act as some sort of intermediary. Instead, the players hold a meeting in which he isn’t invited. He doesn’t seem to command the respect of anyone, anywhere, much less within the Lakers franchise.

When Brown was first announced as the Cavs new head coach, I was encouraged by the hire. After all, he was coming out of Rick Carlisle’s camp, who I held in high regard (and still do). But he has been slowly treading downhill ever since, employing no offensive strategy other than “LeBron/Kobe get the ball in isolation: Go!”. LeBron is a more adept passer than Kobe so it worked well enough more often than not in Cleveland, but Kobe is the spitting definition of the term “score first player”. Kobe is one of the greatest isolation players to ever take the court, and he’s always in the MVP discussion regardless of Mike Brown screaming persecution in his defense.

But that isn’t the objective of a coach. Instead of rushing to the defend his star who doesn’t need it, he should be developing some sort of strategic offensive that makes his team more competitive in the post-season where most everyone has them pegged to be a first round exit. And you’re not going to believe this, but apparently Lakers are still dismissive of his game plan. As far as any outside observer can tell it’s probably because he doesn’t have one. If he was less preoccupied with complaining about a media oversight that’s more a figment of his imagination than anything else, and more concerned with the clear lack of offensive rhythm afflicting his entire team, the Lakers might fare better league-wide and his star-player whom he’s taken up the cause of would go from an MVP contender to an MVP favorite. But no one should hold their breath.

Superman needs first rate assistance.

The one constant storyline of this NBA season that continues to fester at the seams and will until it’s resolved, is the uncertain fate of Dwight Howard. Ultimately, he’ll get precisely what he wants whatever it happens to be (his list of acceptable suitors changes weekly), it’s just a matter of whether he’s appeased during or after this season. But one thing is for certain, the discontent with his handling of the matter at hand extends beyond just the Magic fan base and through the media all the way to the casual NBA viewer and diehard fans of every franchise in the league this side of the Heat and Knicks.

Either way, the Magic are f!cked, and they know it. That’s why they’re so reluctant to deal him away and there’s even been rumors that Otis Smith is tempted to call Howard’s bluff by seeing if he re-signs at season’s end. That seems ill-advised, but if they think their best option otherwise is to acquire Brook Lopez for the best big man of the the last five years and almost certainly the next 5-10, it’s as good an option as any. But the onus for this isn’t on Otis, it’s on Howard.

If Smith had his way, Howard would have signed an extension months ago and the Magic’s primary concern would be on amassing a playoff run this season. Since everything is operating on Howard’s terms, it’s Howard’s responsibility to state them while limiting the distraction. This is probably a fool’s errand given the media coverage surrounding a player like Howard (which I hope he understands is going to increase at least five-fold regardless of where he lands, and will be subject to even greater scrutiny should he end up in LA or New York), but Howard has done the polar opposite of what would be deemed good form.

From naming a new acceptable destination every few weeks, to even throwing his current employer into the mix to repeatedly disparaging his teammates and coach, it’s a testament to Howard’s talent that he hasn’t been ran out of town yet. Howard’s point of view is understandable. Much like Carmelo Anthony, Howard wanted to avoid the backlash LeBron faced when he left at the last minute. Also similar to Anthony, he’s botching it unimaginably, and it’s really a “Your Mileage May Vary” scenario whether Anthony’s or Howard’s approach is a better service for himself and the organization he’s aggressively trying to leave behind.

Anthony made it abundantly clear that he wasn’t ever going to stay in Denver last season, but he only named one potential suitor that he would re-sign with at the end of his current contract, effectively narrowing Denver’s options. Why would, say, the Dallas Mavericks propose or accept a trade offer for Anthony if they knew he was going to jettison for New York the second free agency hit? So it wasn’t a question of where Anthony would go but for how much he would go for.

Dwight Howard has named several potential signees, which now I think include the Clippers, Mavs, Bulls, Nets & Lakers. Or no, he took the Lakers off his list recently. So there are four teams the Magic can realistically haggle with. This would inarguably be a preferable approach to Anthony’s if he would just lay his cards on the table and leave it at that. But this has turned into a Godfather-sized saga at this point.

Some might consider this over-compensating to avoid the LeBron plague, and the reason for that is this is exactly what we’re dealing with. It may be warranted, but there are few things at play here. One is, if you’re going to leave your team, regardless of how you do it, people are going to be upset. Namely the fans of the team you’re planning on abandoning. The blow can be softened, but when you’re leaving for no other reason than seemingly to improve your Q-rating, no one’s going to thank you for time served.

And that’s generally what seems to be motivating Howard. To say the Magic lack the foundation to produce a title team is disingenuous at best and a bold-faced lie and convenient excuse at worst. Not only were the Magic in the finals just three scant years ago, they’ve been consistently competitive since and with Howard at anchor, they haven’t needed much more help in the post.

Which is to say, he deserves credit for being the primary reason behind Orlando’s recent success, but if you want to leave and your heart isn’t in Orlando anymore, just give us a legitimate reason why, because you weren’t complaining when your front office put together a nucleus that took you to the Finals. Some of their subsequent trades and acquisitions haven’t been well conceived, but Howard almost certainly signed off on all of them. You and your employers took some shots, they fell through, it doesn’t imply anything is structurally wrong with the organization. Try and try again, then maybe improve your free throw shooting if you want to be a go-to-guy in the clutch.

But this is where we’re at now when a team’s best player wants to skip town. He either has to spring it on everyone at the last moment, pissing everyone off in that city in perpetuity (and everywhere else if you do it presumptuously on national television), or drag the process out for the entire final season of your contract, making every game being played in the process feel even more inconsequential than it already is, while everyone waits for ownership to decide where they can best get seventy cents on the dollar.

It isn’t all gloom and doom for Orlando, Denver has been the one notable exception that’s excelled after their star forced a trade, but the same can’t be said for Cleveland, Toronto, Phoenix, Utah & New Orleans, who were really screwed over by Stern nixing the Odom-Martin-Scola triumvirate they would have acquired, that was supposed to be in New Orleans’ best interest. Point being, if they play their cards right they can maintain a degree of respectability and still be competitive, even if that level of competitive is more along the lines of second round playoff appearances as opposed to Finals losses.

All told, this is always going to be a story in the NBA, just with different players. Today it’s Dwight Howard, tomorrow it’s Kyrie Irving (probably, almost certainly). It would help if Howard’s aspirations were born out of a desire to win titles, but it’s fairly clear he has ulterior motives. And those motives seem to be, Orlando isn’t cool enough for him and he wants a brighter spotlight. No one can really blame him. I would never live in Orlando. But given what he wants, on the other end of the spectrum he can’t blame us for not liking or respecting his Decision.

The Knicks haven’t exactly been a powerhouse in the twenty years since I’ve been an NBA consumer, but it typically feels like they should always be far worse than they ever actually are. This is something of a backhanded compliment, because they’ve been absolutely dreadful with fewer bright-spots than any other team in the league this side of the Warriors, Clippers, Bucks, Raptors & Bobcats (who didn’t exist for the first half of this span). But even in a season like this one, with inflated expectations they were falling woefully short of, facing a coaching change and a potential massive overhaul of the roster, Mike Dantoni has seemingly found the point guard he so desperately needs to make his team(s) functional.

I speak, of course, about Jeremy Lin. It has become popular opinion to compare Lin to Tim Tebow, and at first glance the comparison is apt. Two athletes with limited expectations producing wins with either an unorthodox and/or unexpected flair. But analogizing one with the other is misguided in a myriad of ways that aren’t necessarily being overlooked so much as discounted. Which is a bit flummoxing, since there appears to be a lot of hand-wringing about this story being overblown, even more so than Tebow’s second half run this past NFL season. I’m not sure I understand the confusion here. Both stories are fun, flashy and being done on a grand scale, one in the NFL, in which everything is done on a grand scale; and the other in the most historic basketball arena on the planet.

I rarely buy into the New York City allure that it’s denizens tend to speak so highly of, but the one that I’ll admit that carries a certain buzz most other sporting venues are hard-pressed to match is MSG, and you could feel the energy during that Lakers-Knicks game emanating through the television. I watched the first half of the game at the four corners of the track at my gym on mute, and the buzz was unmistakable. It stopped me dead in my tracks on several occasions.

The last paragraph might say more about me than it does about Jeremy Lin’s impact or the unchecked kinetic forces of human emotion provided by Madison Square Garden, but as avid of an NBA fan as I am, no regular season game has struck the same chords in me like last Friday’s Knicks win over the Lakers. So if you feel like this story is overblown, maybe my reaction will help you understand why it’s so oft-discussed. And it if doesn’t, I can tell you that nothing like this has happened in the NBA before, and probably never will again.

As you can see, it’s simply the perfect storm of hype-inflating variables all coming together to form a media maelstrom of opinions, stories, interviews & interest. Not only is Lin on an Atlantic Division team he’s in Manhattan, not only is he an underdog he’s a former high school standout from Palo Alto who graduated from Harvard, was sleeping on his brother’s couch and happens to be excelling on the only plain of American culture where a Harvard graduate would be even considered an underdog without the notion being met with laughter. Oh, and he’s Asian-American, which makes him unique to this landscape and immediately recognizable. Most importantly, however, he’s playing tremendously for an all-star, much less a second year 4^th stringer who was fortunate to make a roster.

This isn’t the saga of Tim Tebow, who played college football at Florida, one of the five to ten biggest programs in the country; was a first round pick and if he never had a season like he had last year, he would have turned out to be a bigger disappointment than he’ll almost inevitably end up being. With the Broncos, Tebow succeeded by protecting the ball, having capable talent on his defense, taking advantage of opposing defenses in the waning minutes who weren’t accustom to defending against a primarily running quarterback, and luck. His statistical production was among the worst in the league and the wins they produced were as much a byproduct of a parity driven league as they were his football acumen.

Conversely, Jeremy Lin’s hype is far more merit-based. He’s been the driving force behind the Knicks recent upswing and his numbers were enough over the past six games to earn him conference player of the week. I’m not sure if such an award exists in the NFL, but I’m almost certain that Tebow failed to even make the ballot if it does. While the Broncos far out-performed with Tebow at quarterback, it felt like Tebow was more a beneficiary of playing in a weak division with a great (and underrated) coach; while Lin has been the catalyst in saving a dying team and hopeless fan base that came into the season with artificially inflated aspirations.

And all this is being accomplished with the Knicks two high-prized acquisitions in Amar’e and Melo sidelined with personal tragedy and injury, respectively. There isn’t an appropriate comparison because the two sports are managed so drastically different, but let’s just do this by scale. If 22 NFL players start from scrimmage and five NBA players, this is like Tebow losing the best 40% of his starting lineup before winning six straight games. I know this is a basketball post, but just look at some of the scores in those games Tebow won and you can deduct that he wasn’t going to make the playoffs if that were the case.

About the only similarity between the two stories is the media coverage of the two is proportionally identical (something like this will always be a bigger story in the NFL, because everything about the NFL is blown out of proportion). Lin has yet to be name-dropped at a Republican debate — and probably won’t be for a number of reasons I won’t get into – but five minutes doesn’t pass on any ESPN outlet without him being mentioned. He’s made plenty of headlines on various cable news outlets and assuming he keeps producing similar numbers, even with losses to teams like New Orleans he will remain in the news.

Personally, I consider this a good thing. It remains to be proven if Lin will be playing like this through March, April and the playoffs but that sort of speculation is tiresome and completely irrelevant. This is simply a side-story that has come to overthrow every other dominant story-thread of this lockout-shortened NBA season.

While the Tebow story wore on my nerves to the point I only watched the Steelers game because I had money on it (note: I’m glad I did, the game itself was incredible and I covered the bet). Lin actually plays well through the entire four quarters and as evidenced most notably against Toronto, also comes through in the clutch. He’s humble almost to an obnoxious degree (take some credit, man) while rejuvenating a franchise in dire need of rejuvenation. And as much as I may hate to admit it, the NBA is simply a better product when the Knicks are competitive, which Lin appears to have made them. As a diehard fan of the NBA, for all the cultural significance of Lin’s emergence aside from basketball, nothing else is necessary for me to tune in this afternoon against the Mavericks.

For the last few weeks, “Linsanity” has had all the eyes of the nation focused on New York. The Knicks point guard is certainly the biggest story in all of sports at the moment and is making quite an impressive run.

You have to give the kid credit, he has the skill and the opportunity to do great things, which is exactly what the league needs. But the buzz is heavy and plenty of good things going on elsewhere get overlooked.

Meanwhile, the forgotten contender San Antonio Spurs capped off their NBA-best ninth win in a row against Toronto on Wednesday. They are easily the hottest team in the league right now. With the victory, the Spurs improved to 5-0 on their rodeo trip, ensuring a winning record on the annual journey with four games left to play. This is the longest rodeo trip streak since opening the 2005-06 one where they won 6 in a row. Music to my ears!

The best part of all this is that they are under the radar, and could perhaps be one of the best Spurs teams I’ve seen since their last title team in 2007. Before the 9 game win streak San Antonio was tied for 8th in the West. They now hold a one game lead for 2nd over the Los Angeles Clippers, who they play tonight at the Staples Center.

San Antonio has looked really good this season. Role players like Neal, Green, Splitter, Leonard have been incredible in the absence of Manu. This is exactly what the Spurs do year in and year out. They find guys to fit the system, put aside their egos, and come off the bench to give big contributions.

Maybe the most appealing improvement has come in road games. After starting 0-5 away from the AT&T Center, the Spurs have fought their way to 8-8 overall on the road. A very encouraging sign for Coach Pop and a steady dose of pressure for the top seed Oklahoma City Thunder.

But as always in this organization, whether ups or downs, nothing changes. True to form Popovich refuses to get caught up in the win streak.

“I’m going to go ahead and guess we’re going to lose at some point,” he said.

Even with a victory he will continue to tell these guys they need to get better. He will continue to yell and scream at every timeout. He will continue to do what he does best, get one of the most efficient teams of the last 15 years ready to play.

One thing that absolutely has not changed is winning. Three of the top five players in the league with the best winning percentage for their careers play right here in San Antonio. Manu, Tim, and Tony.

Whether it’s on Sportscenter or not, they get the W’s, and that’s just the way they like it.

We’re almost a quarter of the way through the regular season after roughly one month of games. Well, everyone except for the Clippers, at least. Somehow they managed to only play fifteen games to everyone else’s 17-20. Either way, this seems like as good of a point as any to rank the league from top to bottom. Because that’s always so meaningful and not at all a gimmick used when you can’t think of anything original to write. Nope, this is totally imperative.

Without further ado, our inconsequential rankings.

1) Miami Heat
This pains me as much as it pains you, but I can’t overlook the fact that this team is 8-1 without their second best player (who also happens to be a top five talent in the league) & the majority of their losses came on a west coast road swing, a scenario in which every team from the eastern seaboard gets their asses handed to them. They’re still the favorite, no matter how much I want to think the Bulls, Pacers or Nuggets are.

2) Chicago Bulls
This team looks almost identical to last year’s but with Rip Hamilton thrown into the mix, but with Taj Gibson and Luol Deng currently sidelined, and the team seemingly over-reliant on their point guard to score over 30% of their points and assist on another 20%, we can’t even begin to fathom putting them past Miami, they haven’t done anything noteworthy that would lead us to believe they’d overcome that 4-1 loss last year in the Conference Finals. Wednesday’s loss against Indiana has us more likely to move them down than up.

3) Denver Nuggets
We hope this year isn’t an anomaly with all the deep semi-star teams competing at the same level as the top-heavy legitimate-star laden teams, but between the lockout and all the moving pieces and the condensed schedule, we’re inclined to believe it is. Never the less, teams like the Nuggets seem to be making the most of it, and right now we have them as the favorites in the west, not necessarily to get to the Finals, but to win a title (we’ll get to that later). This difference is based on who we think will be waiting to play them from the East.

4) Indiana Pacers
So we wrote last weekend that over their next three games, if the Pacers went 1-2 it should be regarded as a success. Instead they went 2-1, with wins in Los Angeles and Chicago (the one loss came at home to Orlando). As of now this team is exceeding even my somewhat oversized expectations from the beginning of the season. I’m not sure if you can win a title with Danny Granger, David West and Roy Hibbert as your three best players, but more importantly no one’s ever won a title with their 6^th, 7^th and 8^th best players being Paul George, Tyler Hansbrough and George Hill.

5) Oklahoma City Thunder
Let me state, Oklahoma City would still be my pick to make the Finals in the west, but not to win the title. When it comes to the Mavericks you’re not going to beat the Heat by matching them star for star, which is why everyone has the Thunder pegged as the Heat’s biggest challenge. Basically, you have to circumvent the star-philosophy with a deep roster of capable talent (i.e. the Pacers and Nuggets). Right now, the Heat have better stars and a better supporting cast (something we couldn’t say last season), and despite the Thunder holding the league’s best record there isn’t any other reason for me to think that will be relevant in a seven game series.

If Perkins and/or Ibaka level LeBron a couple times early in a theoretical match-up and LeBron subsequently curls up in a ball like he did against the Thunder – which is entirely possible – the Thunder could win a title. But I don’t see this Heat team blowing two straight finals and this Thunder team is still relatively inexperienced and relies way too heavily on Durant, an erratic Westbrook and a hot-and-cold Harden for me to rank them any higher.

6) Los Angeles Clippers
To be honest, while I don’t think it’s sustainable in the long-term, the Clippers didn’t really miss much in Chris Paul’s absence with Mo Williams and Billups available to fill the void. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Paul is redundant or overpaid or that the other two guys are as good as he is. It’s just with Paul’s ongoing health issues, having two better than average back-up point guards is probably a necessary precautionary measure. They might be thin up front, but so is most of the league, and with their depth along the perimeter it might not matter in the long run.

7) San Antonio Spurs
Every time I catch a box score of a Spurs game this season, point totals look something like this:
Parker: 20 points
Bonner: 17 points
Splitter: 15 points
Duncan: 14 points
Point being, when you think the Ginobli injury will absolutely cripple this team, Popovich inexplicably works around it and makes a team including Gary Neal, Kawhi Leonard & Daniel Green a viable playoff contender. If the Hawks had this same core of guys getting 15+ minutes a night they’d be lucky to have two wins this season.

Orlando Magic
The Magic are out-performing at least our expectations of them, but we can’t rank them much higher considering Dwight Howard is probably going to be in New York, New Jersey, LA or Dallas by the end of February. If they’re smart they’ll either accept or make the rumored proposition of Tyson Chandler and Amar’e Stoudamire for Howard. With any other style of play other than Dantoni’s, Chandler and Amar’e are viable assets regardless of who the point guard is. And if the Knicks have decided they’d rather have Howard, Melo and go after Deron Williams at the end of the season, well, it seems the Magic would be wise to go for this particular bait.

Everyone knows Howard is leaving at the end of the season, this is bar none the best offer they’re going to receive if it does, in fact, exist. The two big men will sulk for a bit at first, given that it seems pretty clear they both went to play for the Knicks specifically for being in NYC, which obviously won’t be the case if they’re playing for the Magic. However, they’ll eventually come around and your franchise will still be relevant. The Magic have to know they want to avoid becoming the franchise they were between Shaq and Howard (though saying this is unfair to both Grant Hill & ownership, but I’m saying it anyway).

9) Dallas Mavericks
So it seems obvious at this point that this team is almost willfully experiencing a hangover from last season’s title, in fact Dirk Nowitzki even admitted as much recently, hence he has taken the last four games off for conditioning. To say the least this is fairly unorthodox. But even under those circumstances and all the personnel changes and condensed schedule for a veteran’s veteran team, they’re still tied for 7^th in the west and likely to climb the standings once Nowitzki returns. I’m probably over-selling them right now, but seeing this team defend its title in a meaningful way would be great to watch.

10) Atlanta Hawks
So this is handily the least stressed team in the league. Everyone looks pretty content to make the post-season and lose in the first or (probably) second round. But the Hawks are currently sporting the league’s sixth best record and seem to be doing so effortlessly. Charles Barkley provided color commentary for their triple overtime loss to the Heat, who were without LeBron & Wade. He basically just eviscerated them for not giving a shit and it was completely warranted. But the Hawks were somewhere else that night, as they often seem to be. For most teams in the league, if they had done what the Hawks had accomplished at this point in the season, we’d assume they’d only improve. But with the Hawks, this is probably the high point of their season.

11) Los Angeles Lakers
Judging by their chippy behavior in Wednesday’s win against the Clippers, someone’s fearing the same inferiority complex their Staples Center cohorts have dealt with for thirty-five years. They’re definitely a less stable team and are currently aging at a volatile rate, meanwhile the Clippers appear to have stolen at least a portion of the limelight and the Lakers can’t seem to string together a succession of impressive wins. People keep telling me it’s a long season and assuring me they’ll turn things around, but that’s just the thing. It’s a long season, and even if this one is shortened it seems that with this collection of veterans playing for this coach, the Lakers aren’t going to improve any time soon. If they do and the Lakers manage a top-five seed in this Western Conference, Kobe should be hands down the MVP.

12) Philadelphia 76ers
Of all the deep yet star-deprived teams this season posting winning records, Philadelphia is the one I trust the least. It’s a combination of them lacking depth up front in favor of too many interchangeable perimeter assets, their weak schedule up until now and their recent descent back to reality (oh, and my own preset notions about who and what the Sixers would be) that’s influencing this belief. But still, they’re far better than we thought they would be and are going to finish as probably the sixth seed in the East.

13) Utah Jazz
Much like the Sixers and Clippers have too many guards, the Jazz have gone in the opposite direction and have a surplus of big men in Paul Milsap, Derrick Favors, Al Jefferson & Enes Kanter. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but when Devin Harris is having the season he’s currently experiencing and Raja Bell is your starting shooting guard, some of those big men should be used to shore up what they’re missing on the exterior. But also much like Philly, the Jazz are doing more than anyone expected of them. Even more so than Philly, they seem less likely to keep their playoff spot.

14) Portland Trailblazers
I’m not entirely sure what’s happened to Portland. They started off the season stronger than anyone, making mince-meat out of high-caliber opponents and coasting to a 7-3 record. They’re now 11-8 and still clinging to a playoff spot, but they don’t have the same panache that they did, and there’s really no explanation for it. I suppose this is an example of water seeking its own level, because just as there was no reason for them to start out in the middle of a hot streak, there’s no reason for them to suddenly plummet.

15) Boston Celtics
They’re likely to make the playoffs – I think they have yet to play a single game fully healthy – but this is the last “run” for a short-lived “dynasty”. Enjoy it while it’s there, but between them, the Lakers, Knicks, Magic and several others are all looking to make significant changes for the long and short term, it seems almost inevitable that the Celtics will be apart of the Great NBA Migration of 2012.

16) Memphis Grizzlies
I’m sitting here watching this Grizzlies on Thursday night as I write this, and as disappointing as losing Zach Randolph for what’s effectively the entire season must be, the fact they don’t have to wear these green and yellow Mike-N-Ike uniforms every night has to more than make up for losing one of the 10 best post-players in the league. Good lord, it’s a good these were probably worn in the black & white era. Anyhow, like I mentioned, this is a team missing its best player so their ceiling is limited, one would assume. They’ll almost certainly make the playoffs and maybe even pull off a similar upset like last season, but getting past the second round of the playoffs seems unlikely.

17) Minnesota Timberwolves
If it wasn’t for the slow start full of narrow losses Minnesota would be higher. In fact, they should be higher after what they did to a Nowitzki-less Mavs team this week, but they’re really, really green. It’s tough to make a playoff run when Darko Milicic is your most seasoned veteran, and he’s widely regarded as a tremendous disappointment. We’ve heaped enough praise on Adelman here, but if they win one or two playoff games this year they’re maxing out their potential.

18) Houston Rockets
Darryl Morey has put together a team just lingering over .500 and may even get the 7^th or 8^th seed but probably won’t, much like every other year for the past few. One silver lining, after watching how Gasol has played this year, Morey and the rest of the front office has to be ecstatic that the three-way deal with the Lakers and Hornets fell through. At the same time, it isn’t going to be all that rewarding drafting in the early to mid-teens again.

19) Golden State Warriors
This is another potential trade partner for the Knicks, considering how badly the Warriors wanted Chandler. It would actually make sense for both teams if he was sent to Golden State in return for Ellis or Curry, who are somewhat redundant in the Bay Area. Their record doesn’t indicate it but Golden State is competitive in most every game they play, they’re simply lacking size at pretty much every position on the court, most notably in the back court. Marc Jackson has instilled a much needed defensive presence, but we’re a few years away from this core group of players being any sort of worrisome opposition.

20) Milwaukee Bucks
Bogut’s out indefinitely, and as much as we might like Brandon Jennings on a personal level, he’s content to keep his shooting percentage right around the bare minimum to stay in the starting lineup. Once he realizes he isn’t Kobe Bryant and the Bucks stop relying on Bogut’s health every single season, they might be able to win a playoff series with Jennings, Jackson & Bogut. I’m not holding my breath, though, for any of this to happen.

21) New York Knicks
I was tempted to put them higher just because of the potential for this team once Baron Davis comes back, but we’re not certain his impact will be the cure-all everyone is hoping for and we’re willing to eat crow at the end of February when we do this again, should the Knicks turn things around. Right now, however, this team is completely disorganized. They were simply dominated by the Cavs earlier in the week, an that isn’t something Cleveland has been able to say too often the past 1.5 seasons. If they make some sort of trade it will only further confuse their stilted chemistry, so consider us sellers on the Knicks, whom we have as the first team in the bottom third of the league.

22) Cleveland Cavaliers
Byron Scott, as predicted on this site some time ago, has this team far better positioned beyond any reasonable metric. Their best player is a rookie point guard and their second best player is known more for resembling a Brazilian Sideshow Bob than any on-court performance, but as is his wont, Scott has numerous players on this team playing beyond their potential, most notably Alonzo Gee (who? Exactly) and the team in general all seems to be on the same page. They’re still a limited roster and they’ll endure some simply brutal defeats, like the record breaking loss to the Bulls last Friday. But with a few lucky breaks they stand a chance of snagging the eigth seed in the East, where they will play either Miami or Chicago, if it’s the former, well, it will be nice to hear something obsessively bandied about on ESPN besides the NFL.

23) Sacramento Kings
If you’re loaded with talent and potential does it really matter if no one’s on the same page or wants to pass the ball and everyone hates the city they’re relegated too? We’re finding out this year with the Kings, and the answer seems to be a resounding No. It took roughly ten games for DeMarcus Cousins to be rumored to want traded, then for him and his agent to drive the coach out of town, and now the team stands at a formidable 6-13, good for last in the division.

Maybe if they could keep this group of players together they could be reminiscent of the Webber-Bibby-Divac days, but they’re going to be forced into way overpaying guys like Tyreke Evans and Cousins, who are second-tier stars at best and will occupy all of their cap space. Such is the dilemma of being a small market NBA team. You not only need to draft talented and capable players, you need to draft talented and capable players who don’t mind not playing in a top ten market.
24) Phoenix Suns
You know you’re in trouble when the most compelling story to your team is whether or not your perpetually cost-cutting owner will go the full mile and cut his team’s beloved, aging point guard and give him an opportunity to win a title with a franchise that isn’t regularly signing bad contracts and crippling the team’s talent level. If you’ve watched Nash play this season you know he can still be a major contributor to at least one of the following contending teams: Oklahoma City (move Westbrook to the 2-guard), Dallas, Miami, LA Lakers, Memphis, Indiana, Atlanta, Utah and New York. That would make any of those teams an exponentially better TV product and we could all finally and completely ignore the Suns.

25) New Jersey Nets
One would think Deron Williams would have more of an impact on their record than he has, but even with a point guard of his caliber when the second best player taking the court for your team is arguably Kris Humphries, who’s just overwhelmed with distractions; or rookie MarShon Brooks, who no one had any immediate expectations for; we can’t be too down on the guy. Long story short: This team is in limbo until the Nets finally and mercifully move to Brooklyn.

26) New Orleans Hornets
So Eric Gordon didn’t sign the contract extension offered to him which means the Timberwolves first round pick is likely the only substantive asset they’re likely to end up with, and as we mentioned before, that pick is even less likely to be all that valuable. This is so much better than having the current two best players on the Rockets, who are actually posting a winning record. David Stern (or whoever he’s passing the buck to these days) really screwed the pooch on this one and sort of royally f*cked this franchise for whoever buys it, if anyone actually does so. The prospects are looking grim these days.

27) Detroit Pistons
Few teams inspire more apathy in its fan base than the Pistons. Drafting Greg Monroe and Brandon Knight appear to be steps in the right direction, but it doesn’t begin to make-up for signing Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva to huge contracts like they’re Chris Paul & Tim Duncan (they’re not even Ty Lawson & Anderson Varejao). As a result they’re 4-13 and our pick to finish with the worst record in the league. To their credit, it’s a good year to do so.

28) Washington Wizards
I mean, what’s to say? The roster is a flashback to late 90′s NBA, John Wall doesn’t have any guidance, they currently have the worst contract in the NBA (Rashard Lewis’) and the highlight of Jan Vesely’s career is quite possibly is kissing his girlfriend on draft night. They have potential, as evidenced by their win over the Thunder. But, sorry, other than locking in a top five pick I don’t have any good news.

29) Toronto Raptors
Much like the Bucks, the Raptors seem to pin all their hopes on an injury prone center they drafted first overall several years ago. The strategy is working out just as poorly for them. To be fair, the Raptors are one of the more player abused franchises of the past decade, first with being tricked into hanging their hopes on Vince Carter before everyone realized he didn’t/doesn’t give a shit, it doesn’t help that after he left he all but admitted to tanking games in order to force a trade. And then again in 2007, when Chris Bosh headed to Miami and became the forgotten third of the Big Three. Anyhow, at least they have cap room and are appealing to (some) European players, Steve Nash and Tristan Thompson. Hopefully they make good on their top-five pick in the upcoming draft.

30) Charlotte Bobcats
I know the Bobcats gutted their roster intentionally but I’m still unclear as to why. This isn’t like the NFL where you can attract high profile free agents regardless of where you’re located, no one in the NBA aspires to play basketball in Charlotte in their prime. Do they think Dwight Howard is going to make a b-line to Charlotte because Jordan created some cap space. This is a woefully stupid idea, and as a result their team is composed mostly of other team’s discards.

I guess cutting cap space can be synonymous with tanking to improve your lottery position, but don’t you want to hang onto some assets in order to actually sell tickets and generate a profit. Kemba Walker looks promising but limited (Yahoo even compared his shot selection to Antoine Walker after Wednesday’s game), and he isn’t attracting much attention as a result.
So that’s where we’re at a quarter of the way through the season. It’s about what you’d expect save, for a few surprises. Injuries are going to play more of a role now than they have since I’ve been watching the NBA (roughly twenty years). Injuries render everything unpredictable, that’s why we favor the deep teams so much this season. In other words, we fully expect teams 21-9 to be inverted when we do this again in February.

Current Record: 7-9
Upcoming: Houston, at Dallas

It may have come with Chris Paul on the sideline, and with the way Mo Williams was playing in his stead the Clippers weren’t missing much. But even then Williams managed to get himself ejected from the game. At that point it was the Timberwolves game to lose and if the rest of the post-Garnett era was any indication, that’s exactly what they were going to do.

But Ricky Rubio and Kevin Love both came through with big shots in the clutch, but it didn’t feel atypical. It felt like this is something Twolves fans should be accustom and that the past four years haven’t been mired in unnecessary chaos. Timberwolves critics would put caveats on the win, most notably Paul and Williams being absent for the fourth quarter (if not more) of the game, but the Timberwolves are a franchise in need of evidence that the team is improving with baby steps, and beating the Clippers in such climactic fashion is just that.

Naturally, because this is the Timberwolves, no small moment can be enjoyed without being overshadowed by something far more pressing. In this case it’s the matter of re-signing Rubio and Love, the two players most integral to their win over the Clips. The offer on the table right now for Love is for four years, $60 million. This is one year and $20 million guaranteed less than the max Love is eligible for. I’m not sure why David Kahn would attempt a low-ball that doesn’t really offer his employer or Love any leverage, it’s simply one less year and twenty-million fewer dollars than he’s allowed to offer, which Love’s “camp” won’t interpret as anything more than an insult. And all the harrowing January wins in the world aren’t going to save them if Kevin Love (who we tend to think of as a top ten player) ends up signing with the Lakers or some other Pacific Division team. This is a guy you fill you’re supposed to fill your cap space with.

I could understand if Kahn offered Love a two year extension. Given how tentative it is that Love would actually want to re-sign with a small market team that has been so woefully mismanaged, but the short-term deal could be something of a trial period, given that the team has righted the course with Rubio and Derrick Williams injecting some life into the supporting cast. This team actually has numerous assets now it’s somewhat imperative they don’t mismanage them. Contraction talk is always looming in the NBA, and after the Hornets, Kings and Bobcats, there isn’t a franchise more likely to succumb to a shrinking league. This shouldn’t dictate their every action, but it should create a sense of urgency.

Note: Next week we’re going to forego these weekly updates as they’re growing increasingly tedious, and rank every team in the league 1-30. After everyone has played close to twenty games this feels appropriate. Hopefully we’ll have this up by next Friday, if not then by next Sunday. We can all but assure you those two days will have no effect on the rankings themselves.

Current Record: 10-4
Upcoming: At Los Angeles, Orlando, at Chicago

The Pacers are (record wise) amongst the elite in a top-heavy eastern conference, only a couple games removed from the top seed and twice as many losses away from the 9^th. Just last night they beat the Warriors, and beating this year’s Warriors team on the road is no small feat, but it won’t be advertised as much.  As it turns out, you have to make the playoffs more than once every decade for people to give a shit about you. Since last week, the Pacers are 3-1, in addition to beating Golden State they’ve won contests both in Toronto and against Boston. Impressive wins because every win this year is hard-fought and ugly it seems, but if we’re being honest they’ve been the beneficiaries of a comparatively easy schedule.

That’s all about to change, as you can see above their opponents for the next week are absolutely brutal. If they walk away from this next slate of games going 1-2 it would almost be considered a success, as everyone they’re about to play against has far more experience,  and/or home court advantage or in the case of the Lakers, two integral former Pacers from just last season (though it’s debatable if Josh McRoberts was ever “integral”). So 1-2 would be about where the expectations are set, 2-1 would be nice but is unlikely, 3-0 is impossible, 0-3 would – to say the least – be quite discouraging.

This team doesn’t show any signs of relinquishing but 10-4 is usually a good enough winning percentage for something better than fifth place in a conference. The Pacers are younger than everyone else they’re competing with, and therefore might drop to the fifth or sixth seed with a sterling record that is usually good enough for a top-three finish. The next few games will be a solid indicator of where they’re likely to end up.

We like they’re chances because they still have the advantage of their depth — something a number of teams in the East lack – and they haven’t done anything to prove otherwise (except maybe that loss in Miami, which we’ll never forget apparently). But when you have a roster without a top fifteen player, recent history has proven you’re vulnerable in the post-season and the long-term. This Pacers team is the year’s most likely to be the exception to the rule.