The Moonball Blog

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Summer Breeze or Winds of Change?


Lots of earlier movement in the NBA off-season. Baron Davis' signing with the Clip-jobs, JO to Toronto, rumors of Josh Smith strongly considering Philly, Richard Jefferson relocating to the Dairy Land and a bevy of newly drafted players swirling with potential. Wow! All this, and nary a Moonball post after TV Dave's Shire-ian Special.

I like Davis to L.A.. Despite the body blow to the Bay Area, Davis is an Angelino both by birth and by the stars in his eyes. The Clips gotta bring back Brand, but assuming that they do, things could get interesting in the Staples Center next season. Sure L.A. has to figure out a better idea than starting an aging Cuttino Mobley, and their bench is currently occupied mostly by numbs nuts and do nothings. But with Davis, Brand, Kaman, and young guns Al Thorton and Eric Gordon, Los Angeles the Lesser is a couple defensive oriented role players away from challenging the Lakers' ultimate home court advantage. The West is getting old at the top. I am sure San Antonio will be back strong, but I have my doubts about Dallas and Phoenix. Denver proved themselves as suckers, and GState just lost their juice. Even with Portland on the rise, there is all the sudden some room for new faces in the brutal Western Conference.

Jermaine O'Neal appears old and broken, but if he can stay on the court, the work of emerging superstar Chris Bosh just got a lot easier. No knock, but Boshy is a finesse guy. Silky jumper, gliding drives, swooping rebounds. J.O. is a grinder. He holds his position on the block, bangs in the paint and defends the rim with force. Toronto's style will challenge O'Neal to rediscover his up and down game, but what he will offer the Raptors on D will be significant. Losing T.J. Ford is not a small change for Toronto. I am a big Jose Calderon fan, but holding down the pg position for 82 on a good team will be a challenge for the young Spaniard.

Smith to Philly could also change the playoff landscape in 09. From a Celtics perspective, no individual player presented more defensive problems for the Champs than the high riser Smith. Losing the young fella would be horrible for the Hawks. Despite their bevy of forwards, Smith has the potential as a game changer like few others in League. He and Horford were developing into a monster front line, despite being undersized. Put Smith next to Dalembert, and last season mercurial finish in Philly could be just the beginning of something real good. The Sixers have a bunch of free agents of their own they need to wrap up, and signing Smith without securing some of their perimeter shooters may not amount to much. But going hard for the best young talent on the market is a good sign for the City of Brotherly love.

Whether the Nets are positioning themselves for a run at LeBron, or just shedding a max wing player in an effort to regroup, Milwaukee finds themselves much better equipped to compete in the coming season with a real scorer joining Michael Redd in the line up. Mo Williams will have to work on his distribution skills, especially as Andrew Bogut inches into his prime. But for the first time since breaking up the Robinson-Allen-Cassell trio, the Bucks are trotting out a squad with legitimate talent to make some noise.

As for the newbies, most rookies have little to no impact on their team, and the 2008 Draft will not be an exception. Beasley should get a chance to score some points in Miami, and Derrick Rose may find himself a starter in the Chi. I like Love in Minny, and I worry for OJ in the Memphis morass. Maybe two or three other guys will make some waves in League, but expect most to post 10-16 minutes on the good nights. The Rookie of the Year? Greg Oden, with team mate Rudy Fernandez running a distant second.

2 Comments:

  • Excellent recap from the Outside Shot. Good things to come in the NBA! I love the changing West -- and the Clips are most interesting. But now that Baron's a Clipper, can an injury layoff be far behind? If not, they'll have the biggest resurgence, followed by the Bucks and maybe Heat. I'm not ready yet to put the Wolves up there, but they will win 15 more games if they put it together right. BRoy will still own them for the rest of his career, though, I'm afraid.

    By Blogger TVDave, at 12:23 PM  

  • it is too sad to even talk about baron davis and his defection to the south. golden state has been gutted.

    By Blogger lyndaellen, at 1:36 AM  

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