NBA Chop Up

There are a couple Main Things I Love About The Winter Time …… Family Thanksgiving, My Birthday, Professional Football and “The NBA” !!! 

It’s been a Loooong and Entertaining Off Season Thus Far !!!!

Let’s Chop It Up Briefly about this Off-Season and the Upcoming Season…..

Let’s start with the Defending Champions, Golden State Warriors. The Warriors have made some minor additions in the Off-Season thus far. They’ve traded PF David Lee, whom was somewhat important in the Championship Series to the Boston Celtics for F Gerald Wallace and then traded Wallace to the Sacramento Kings for Jason Thompson, which was an Excellent trade for the team. This move gives them more depth in the front court to help bang against some of the elite teams in the conference (Spurs – Duncan/Aldridge) (Clippers – Griffin/Jordan) (Thunder – Ibaka and Adams) just to name a few. Of course the Warriors return their Main Core, Splash Brothers (Curry/Klay), Finals MVP Andre Iguodola, Draymond Green (Fresh Off that NEW CONTRACT $$$) They will Definitely be in the running again this year. Will they Repeat …. I Don’t Believe so. I feel the Spurs, Clippers and OKC if Healthy has improved their team and will show up when it counts most. P

Lebron James and The Cleveland Cavaliers, have also added some depth for Lebron’s 3 Championship run in Cleveland. Added that much needed scoring at PG Mo Williams. Mo has been here before. Will this 2nd go around work out this time ??!! They’ve resigned Kevin Love even though he’s coming off his playoff shoulder injury versus the Celtics. He will definitely give them that much needed Scoring and Rebounding from the Post or Perimeter that they could’ve used in the Finals. For me the X-Factor with this team will be the return of a Healthy “Uncle Drew” aka Kyrie Irving. Kyrie has embraced playing with some support behind him. I feel that LBJ has taken the Wade approach with Kyrie, meaning it’s Kyries’ Team, I’m just part of the supporting cast. Rightfully so, LBJ should take that approach to improve the confidence of his young Co-Star of the show. Another factor with Cleveland is, can they get thru this contract issue with PF Tristan Thompson ??? He will be VERY Important to have going into the season. J.R. Spliff, I mean Smith will return as well making this team complete and ready to go.

Quick Briefing on Key Players with New Teams:

• LaMarcus Aldridge: (Spurs) Man O’ Man is LA going to take this team to another level !!! He will give them that low post scoring and rebounding that is needed in this conference & in the playoffs. He will also help to relieve some of the work load off Hall of Fame PF Tim Duncan, as well as some of the other aging starts on the team … Tony Parker, Manu Ginobilli. The Spurs have 2 Great Young Pieces to build off heading into Life After Duncan, Parker & Ginobilli with Extending the contract with 2014 NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard. Great Move !!!

• Greg Monroe: (Bucks) This guy was probably the next Big Man of Free Agents who was most coveted during this off season. Greg Monroe is a very agile Big Fellas and can play both the Power Forward and Center position. He will bring some inside toughness to a Young Milwaukee team and it’s going to be interesting to see how this will formulate. I personally like Greg Monroe, still a little bothered that he chose the Bucks over My NY Knicks !!!

• Monte Ellis: (Pacers) Monte, is a unique player. He can put the ball on the floor, play some defense and get other players involved. My thing with Monte is he takes to many bad shots during the course of a game. Being in a disciplined system with Frank Vogel and having some backcourt support with Paul George, Rodney Stuckey and George Hill. I don’t think it’s enough though. Indiana lost their Big Fellas up front … Roy Hibbert (Lakers) David West (Spurs), which leads to my other 2 players on new teams…..

• Roy Hibbert: (Lakers) The Big Fella will definitely bring some much needed Offense & Defense to Kobe’s squad. After Shaq, Pau Gasol & Andrew Bynum, the Lakers haven’t had a Solid Post presence since. Roy will also bring a veteran presence to the team, as we all know the Lakers are rebuilding the franchise.

• David West: (Spurs) Mr. West will provide EXTRA Veteran Leadership to a squad that really doesn’t need it, however it won’t hurt to add more depth, especially with Tim Duncan getting to the end of the road.

• Deron Williams: (Mavericks) Deron has finally returned home to Dallas. After a great start in Utah and a Subpar performance in NJ/Brooklyn (Nets) Deron gets 1 last chance to revive his career. Deron will bring some veteran leadership to join forces with PF Dirk Nowitzki and Coach Carlisle. I like Deron in the mix with the Mavs, as I believe he will help them as long as he’s healthy and playing with confidence in which he seemed to have lost while playing in Brooklyn the last couple of years. It should be a better transition for D-Will as he won’t have to shoulder much of the load with Dirk & Chandler Parsons. It will be fun to watch this upcoming season.

This NBA Season will be very interesting with all the new draft picks ….. PF/C Karl Anthony Towns (Timberwolves – Kentucky), C Jahlil Okafor (76ers – Duke), PG DeAngelo Russell (Lakers – Ohio St.), PF Kristas Porzingas (Knicks – Latvia)

I can’t wait as this NBA Season is going to be exciting. The league should be well balanced this season with all the draft picks and new faces in different places.

Stay Tuned.

Peace.

INSPIRE.