According to the Washington Post, Al Thornton’s agent negotiated the buyout, seemingly without Thornton’s knowledge. Regardless, it sounds like he’ll be headed to California, joining the Warriors after he clears waivers, as the Warriors like his size, athleticism, and scoring ability.
Erroll specializes on This Day In NBA History for Stacheketball, and buying a lot of kicks. You can follow him on Twitter: @EAbra.
NBA All-Star weekend tips off tomorrow and I’m anticipating it to be one of the best we’ve seen in a while. Me and the chief-of-staff, Rey-Rey, will be tweeting all weekend from Staples on behalf of American Express and AmexSports (Follow us on twitter for all updates, behind the scene pictures and live tweets: @TheNoLookPass & @Suga_Shane).
For all the participants in this weekends events, check out http://espn.go.com/nba/allstargame. On to my predictions for the weekend.
Rookie/Sophomore Game MVP:
This game has some promise although Tyreke Evans, the reigning Rookie of the Year, won’t participate. DeJaun Blair took home the MVP last year and he will be suiting up for the Sophomore team again this season but I’m going to go with DeMar DeRozan here. Kid’s been a beast as of late and one of the lone bright spots on a dismal Toronto team. His jumper has really come along and I don’t really need to tell you about his athletic abilities.
Skills Challange:
The skills challange is setup in such a manner that it favors speedsters with passing accuracy and a nice mid-range shot. That mid-range shot and passing accuracy become very important half way through the challenge because you have to hit a 20 footer and then thread a some what difficult pass into a tiny hole. I have to eliminate Chris Paul because of how hurt he’s been looking the last few weeks. He’s going to be lacking the necessary speed to win it all.
I’m going to go with Stephen Curry here. Curry has some sneaky quickness to him plus he is the second most accurate passer and the best shooter in the bunch. D-Rose fans: Sorry i snubbed your dude, but I’ll make it up to you in a bit.
3-Point Shootout:
This event will probably be the funnest of all the sideshows mainly because of all the characters involved. Mainly Paul Pierce. He was really lobbying to get himself selected because he wanted to have a nationally televised shootout versus his Celtics teammate, Ray Allen. Well, Paul got what he wished for but it’s not going to be easy to repeat as the 3-point champ this year. Ray Allen happens to be the newly crowned 3-point king and James Jones is a dark horse to surprise everyone. I honestly don’t know who will win this one but I’m going to go with my gut here and select Ray Allen.
Slam Dunk Contest:
I keep having these horrible nightmares where Blake Griffin pulls a Shannon Brown and disappoints the entire world. Deep down inside, I know you are all fearing the same outcome. But really, who would bet against Quake? Anyone? No? Didn’t think so. Then again, DeMar DeRozan is a scary foe in this competition.
All-Star Game:
Have you seen the Eastern Conference starting five? It’s pretty much you All-NBA First Team and your TeamUSA starters for London 2012. No joke. This has to be the meanest 5-man line-up we’ve seen in a long time. If the East doesn’t take this, then blame it on Rondo (why not?).
All-Star MVP:
Derrick Rose has to be the MVP, right? Now that he is a starter, the offense is going to run through him for the majority of this game. And after watching him go H.A.M. vs. the Spurs (and the majority of this season) I feel compelled to side with Rose. After all, why can’t he be MVP?
The Shoes:
By far my favorite part of the All-Star weekend. This is the part were we, the fans, win. Enjoy.
Shane is a part-time contributor for Stacheketball & NBAOffseason.com and a full-time lover of fresh socks. Find him tweeting nonsense at @Suga_Shane
Call him what you want to call him — KD, Durantula, KSmooove or my personal favorite Kid Delicious. No matter how you spell it it always reads ‘points’. Durant is going to get his and there isn’t much a defender can do to stop him. Despite the slow start to the season, Durant is well on his way to his second NBA scoring title in just as many years.
While Durant’s numbers are all down from last year, the kid is still putting on an offensive showcase every night. For the season, Kevin is averaging 29.1 points per game on 47.4% from the field, 34.5% from three and 87.9% from the line. Last year KD was putting up 30.1 points per game on 47.6%/36.5%/90.0% shooting.
One key stat that sticks out is that both his Free Throw Attempts and FT% have fallen. Last year Durant was taking 10.2 FTs/Gm and making 9.2 of them. This year he is 8.8/9.1. Some of this is due to his shot selection. Last season Durant took 5.3 shots per game at the rim, converting on 3.7 of them, good for 69.8%. This season, his percentages are up at the rim to 78.6% but he is taking only 3.9 FGA/GM — making 3.1 of them. Like wise, he has taken less shots from 15 feet and in this season compared to last season — 4.9 FGA/Gm last season vs. 4.2 FGA/Gm this season — and is shooting a lower percentage — 46.9% vs. 45.2% this season. What Durant has done is increase the number of threes he takes a game from 4.3 3pA/GM to 5.3 3PA/Gm while shooting a lower percentage.
Still, Durant’s overall numbers have been solid and he still leads the NBA in scoring. With the way the rest of the field has been playing over the last couple of weeks, it seems like Durant will successfully defend his scoring crown.
The Competition:
Currently, six players — not including Durant — are averaging over 25 points per game (see chart below for details).
Of those six players, Amar’e has the best shot at catching Durant. But to even call it a chance is a stretch. Amar’e will have to up his scoring average, which is currently at 26.2-ppg, by 5.2 points per game just to match Durant’s scoring average. This might have seemed feasible a month ago when Amar’e and his Knicks were tearing through the NBA. But over the last month of action, Amar’e scoring average has been sinking almost as fast as the Knicks record. Since January 13th, Stoudemire has been averaging 25.6-ppg and the Knicks have lost 10 of 15.
All of the players who had caught fire last month were doused by a fire extinguisher this month. Only Carmelo and LeBron are scoring above their season averages over the last month worth of games and even they haven’t increased their scoring enough to challenge Durant. As the rest of the field has cooled off, Durant continues to torch the twine. Kevin’s 30.5 points per game in February is only second to Carmelo’s 32.8ppg.
On average, each player was going to have to increase their scoring per game by 8.6 points to just match Kevin Durant’s output for the season. The low was a 5.2 point increase (Amar’e) and the high was 14.4 ppg increase (Carmleo). Everyone on this list would have to average at least 31.4 points per game to close out the season and no one is even close to what they need. Carmelo, who’s been blistering as of late with 32.8 ppg in February would need to average 39.5 ppg for the rest of the season. That’s how far ahead Durant is in this race. This years scoring title is a one man race.
Barring some kind of catastrophic injury to Durant or a dry spell equal to the one that started the American dust bowl, it is safe to say that Durant will take home the scoring title for the second consecutive season.
The 30/30 Club:
Durant has all but secured his 2010-11 scoring title and will become one of 11 players to have won the scoring title in consecutive years. But there is another illustrious club that Durant may be able to join; The 30/30 Club. This 30/30 doesn’t refer to one of Kevin Love’s box scores, it is a group of individuals who have managed to average 30 points per game in consecutive seasons.
While Durant isn’t quite there yet — averaging just 29.1 points per game — he has turned up the jets in the last two months, averaging 30.5 points per game in January and a scorching 31.2 points per game over the last month of play. Still, he will need to burn a little hotter to close out the season if he wants to finish with an average of 30 ppg. If he maintains an average of 31.2 ppg for the rest of the season, he will finish just short of 30 with 29.9 ppg.
Averaging 30 points a game for an entire NBA season is already a grueling task, one that’s only been accomplished 77 times by 30 different players. (Jordan x 8, Chamberlain x 7, Robertson x 6, Barry x 4, Dantley x 4, West x 4, Iverson x 4, Abdul-Jabbar x 3, Baylor x 3, Bryant x 3, McAdoo x 3, James x 2, Gervin x 2, Wilkins x 2, Archibald, Bellamy, Erving, Free, Hawkins, Issel, King, K. Malone, M. Malone, Maravich, McGrady, Pettit, Scott, Twyman, Wade, and Durant.) Only 13 of those 30 have averaged 30 points per game in two or more seasons and of those 13 players, only 11 of them (pictured above) have done it in consecutive years: Chamberlain (59-66), Baylor (60-63), Robertson (60-62, 63-67), West (64-66), Barry (66-69), Abdul-Jabbar (70-73), McAdoo (73-76), Dantley (80-84), Iverson (01-03, 04-06), Bryant (05-07), Jordan (86-93).
One of the reasons that membership into this club is so limited is that when a player shows the league that he can score at such a high volume, coaches begin to game plan to stop said player. Those 30-ppg usually represent a large percentage of the opponents points so if you can stop or slow down that individual player, you will essentially beat that team.
Last season Durant was the youngest player to win a scoring title and one of only two players 21 years old or younger to average 30 points or more per game (the other being LeBron James). This season, Kevin Durant has the opportunity to be the only player in NBA history to rack up two 30-ppg seasons before his 23rd birthday.
While the chase for this years scoring title is all but over, the race for the history books has just begun.
(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
All player and team stats via www.Basketball-Reference.com & Hoopdata.com – An NBA blogger’s best friends.
Shane is a part-time contributor for Stacheketball & NBAOffseason.com and a full-time lover of fresh socks. Find him tweeting nonsense at @Suga_Shane
Blake Griffin is having a rookie season for the ages. He is one of five players who averages 20 and 10 on the season. He is 12th in scoring and 4th in rebounding, yet what everyone will most remember about his great rookie season are the dunks.
Last night against the Warriors, Blake had easily one of his top 3 dunks of the season, and it came on his first career alley oop from Eric Bledsoe.
video via @outsidethenba
The best part of this lob was the fact that the ball was already well on its way downward and Blake just took it and elevated up for the sick reverse dunk. At this point, the only thing that would surprise me from Blake Griffin would be if he shattered a backboard somehow, and even then I wouldn’t be shocked.
Nick is a contributor to Stacheketball and full time lover of all things roundball related. Follow him on Twitter to discuss basketball or mid 90′s television @Jubanator14
Against the San Antonio Spurs, D-League call-up Anthony Tolliver played the first piece of defense that has been seen in Golden State Warriors colors this season. Check out this block that Tolliver pulled off on George Hill, as he not only stops him, but grabs the ball!
Tolliver’s block was reminiscent of LaPhonso Ellis‘ block back in the day.
Editor’s Note: Today we take a look at five players who are gunnin’ hard for that number one spot. Which number one spot, you ask? The number one Most Improved Player in the NBA — that’s what. These guys have all picked up their game as compared to last season and look to legit to quit.
Trying to “hook” into the MIP race
Even though including a sophomore is unusual, Marc Gasol has increased his numbers across all major categories and is in the top five in the league in FG% (58%). His scoring has gone from just 12ppg to almost 15ppg (21% increase) , his rebounding from 7.4rpg to 9.4rpg (21%), and his minutes played from 30 to 36 per game. And all this within an offense that has gone from bottom five in the league in scoring to top five (and league leader in offensive rebounding). Besides the scoring and rebounding numbers, at 7’3″ he is a good defensive center who also is a great passer out of the post.
“Hey, Brandon, have you heard I’m second in MIP… no offense, 2nd-place ROY?”
The Milwaukee Bucks are not all about the John Salmons trade, as they have been a playoff contender thanks to Andrew Bogut. His scoring has improved by 4.2 per game to 15.9 PPG (24% increase), and his blocks are at 2.5 after just 1 per game last year, a huge 150% increase. And this is despite the main scoring threat Michael Redd being down with a season-ending injury.
Pointing towards rebounding as important in the MIP.
The Chicago Bulls improved last season with Derrick Rose, but this year’s inside game has been the “Arc of Noah“. That has him improving from 7.6 rebounds per game to 11 RPG, making him in the top 5 of the NBA’s bounders in only his second season. And unlike others like M. Gasol and A. Bogut, he is the “sole provider” of rebounds (10.7 RPG, a 35% increase) down-low as Chicago is comparably weak inside. The scoring has gone up (10.3 PPG, a 35% increase) as well, and the Bulls are still a playoff contender. Noah this year makes a strong run as a young, third-year player who averages a double-double.
“Charging” towards a strong MIP finish
Almost 26 PPG? Seriously, those numbers are MVP-type. So it’s no surprise he should be in the Most-Improved-Race. Last year 19.0, this year 25.5 PPG (21%); not to mention assists up almost 2 a game to 5.4 APG(38%). Even with a team that’s crazy-wild with offense, that’s still an improvement (Golden State Warriors were wide-open last year, too, so the numbers are a valid comparison).
Strong drive towards the finish..
The speedy “Mr. Brooks” has compiled great numbers on an injury-decimated team that was supposed to be a basement-dweller this year. With Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, both perennial all-stars, hurt this year the Rockets needed more punch and Brooks delivered. His assists numbers through the roof (5.2 APG, a 42% increase) and his scoring numbers a career high (19.7 from last years’ 11.1, 43% increase) With his speed to the hoop and great talent for finding teammates in a good spot to score, Brooks can almost single-handedly take credit for Houston’s unexpected run towards a playoff spot. He’s my choice from the combination of huge statistical increases, a depleted supporting staff, and a good record which at least contended for the playoffs.
What do you think? Do you have another candidate for Most Improved Player attention? Let us know in the comments!
All Statistics through Sunday’s (March 28) games.
