The Straight Hoop

Dunking Raptor.         Basketball in Toronto is at a very interesting place at the moment. The Raptors have acquired some interesting talent to build around and are not done making moves. It seems like Toronto is ready to part ways with forward/sometime center Andrea Bargnani. I was one of the super optimistic people thinking that this season could be a career season for the 7 footer; to say I was too optimistic would be a huge understatement. Before Bargs went down with an injury he was shooting 39% from the floor and grabbing a whopping 4.3 rebounds per game. Now Bargs has never been known for his rebounding and I knew this coming into this season, but foolish me, I began drinking the Italian Kool Aid from the beginning in large part to a huge import player coming to the team this season. More on him later. But shooting 31% from three and taking around 4 per game is not a recipe for success. However, this is a down year for him and at best he co...

    I was 17 when the Sonics left Seattle, and frankly, I didn't care all that much. I know what that sounds like, an NBA blogger (Technically I am one of those right?) not caring that there home team being pilfered right from under there nose doesn't make all that much sense. Keep in mind, I was 17 and had bigger thoughts on my mind. Like who am I going to prom with and what will I do after high school. But I will say that the drafting of a skinny kid who couldn't bench 185lbs did peak my interest in the NBA. Just not enough to invest any significant time following the NBA at all. Ironically, my interest in the NBA started a little bit after the Sonics moved towns. The deeper I got into the NBA and the more successful OKC become, the hurt of losing a team I didn't fully appreciate began to settle in. I didn't understand the sadness and outrage of losing a team that had been moderately successful at the best. Now I understand more than I ever thought I would at 17. ...

   Two key cogs in the Pistons engine. That's how engines work right?        The more I look at this Piston team the more I'm starting to like it. They have some serious pieces in place for the future in the front court. I really like the idea of a lineup with Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe at the 5 and the 4 a lot. Greg Monroe still gets his offense from the low block but with an improved elbow jump shot Monroe could develop into a great high post big. And Monroe's passing has only been getting better. He is averaging a career high 3.2 assists which is good enough for 5th best out of centers. While his turnovers are super high right now, 108 is the most for centers in the top 50 of assists, he still is only 22 and has plenty of time to cut down on those. The second half of the Pistons big lineup would be Drummond. Detroit took Drummond largely on potential and Drummond has shown flashes of the athletic monster he could be. His quickness and ...

Welcome to the Future indeed How good has the Thunder been as of late?  Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook have the Thunder humming offensively with the best offensive rating in the league while also sporting a top ten defense. Kevin Martin has been exactly what he has been advertised as and Hasheem Thabeet hasn't been the absolute worst backup center. Surprising, I know. While Harden is emerging as a top-15 player down in Houston, the Thunder haven't missed a beat and seems ready to, at the least, compete for the Western Conference title. The scary thing is they should be even better in the coming years. "But Kevin, everyone knows the Thunder are only going to be getting. There core players are all under 26." Yes, I know this dear reader of my blog. But what I am saying is with the assets gained from the Harden trade, the Thunder's supporting cast has a chance to become something really special. Right now, the Thunder are stacked with young prospects and co...

The Utah Jazz seem to have an embarrassment of riches of big men. Two veteran pivots, in Paul Milsap and Al Jefferson, and two young bigs, Enes Kanter and Derrick Favors waiting in the wings. With the quality of players at both positions the problem becomes minutes. Here's a hint why, there isn't enough. This leads us to another question, who goes and who stays. Of course not a simple question to answer. With the news breaking that the Jazz will entertain trades for either Jefferson or Paul Milsap I thought I would throw my two-cents into the bloggesphere. Cause there aren't enough opinions there already right? I got to say, the more I think about it the more I think that the Jazz could be a scary playoff opponent if they make one more move. The jump to semi-contention is waiting for the Jazz and it starts with Derrick Favors. Derrick Favors is getting around 21 minutes off the bench and it is becoming clear that he deserves more. If don't get where I'm going wi...

Apparently there are 4s.  The Knicks are a very interesting team. They easily have one of the oldest teams in the league, 3 pieces that still havent found out how to fit well together yet, and Rasheed Wallace. With an injury to Amare Stoudemire keeping him out 6-8 weeks the Knicks have some rotation tweaks to make at the 4. I am no stranger to Carmelo's versitlity and has ability to play the 3 and 4 effectively and neither are the Knicks. With Melo at the 4 and Tyson Chandler at the 5 the Knicks posted 107.6 points per 100 possessions, the highest for a Knicks lineup that played at least 100 minutes together. While we wont be seeing this exact same lineup featuring Baron Davis, Landry Fields, and Iman Shumpert, the new edition of Ronnie Brewer and the return of JR Smith and Raymond Felton should be able to at least match or improve the Knicks offense with Melo being Melo at the 4. The Interesting thing about the lineup of Melo, Tyson, B.Diddy, Shump, and Fields was that it a...

With the NBA back for an amazing full length season, I have decided to throw my hat into the massive pool that is Basketball blogging. Here, I will be analyzing the recent goings on and rumbling throughout the league. As for myself, I am a Seattlite that misses the Sonics, a lot. I cannot understate this. I miss them bad. Which basically makes Chris Hanson my hero. But while I wait to get the Green and Gold back in my life I will, look objectively out unto the NBA landscape and give my 2 cents on other peoples teams I guess. I have a couple ideas on my first pieces. All in all Im pretty excited. Should be a fun season, as long as the Mayans weren't right. For all of us I hope they weren't.