So much amazing is happening, and the Shootaround crew is here to help you keep track of it all. You'll find takes on moments you might've missed from the previous night, along with ones you will remember forever.
When James Harden returned to Oklahoma for the first time, the basketball reception from his former teammates was in line with the Thunder’s newfound edge. Harden didn't just go 3-for-16; he had six of those attempts sent back, and for as much love as Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook have for their friend, it was clear they wanted to show him what he would miss.
Last night, Harden returned the favor. His 46 points were a career high, and he did it on 19 shots. Sixteen of those points came during a fourth quarter in which his team trailed by 11 with eight minutes left. In many ways, it was just another great James Harden game, only with the volume turned up. But that final 3, the one playing on a loop above, is all anyone needs to get that last night was about something more. Harden probably didn’t need to try to make Ibaka fall over twice, and he probably didn’t need to stare down the Thunder bench after burying the game-tying 3. But he did. If it seems a little vindictive, that’s because it is. And I love every bit of it.
I handed out midseason awards for MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and Sixth Man of the Year on Wednesday. Now it’s time to address the “other” three major awards races.
Rookie of the Year
1. Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers
2. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Charlotte Bobcats
3. Tie: Anthony Davis, New Orleans Hornets/Andre Drummond, Detroit Pistons
So much amazing is happening, and the Shootaround crew is here to help you keep track of it all. You'll find takes on moments you might've missed from the previous night, along with ones you will remember forever.
Let's forget for a second that though the Knicks were playing on the road in Charlotte, the noise in the building was mostly for them. Let's put aside that the Bobcats were losers of four in a row going into the game, that they had a charming if overmatched lineup (Kemba, MKG, Bismack, Gerald Henderson, former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill and the robot from Short Circuit) on the court, and that they were playing like a bunch of Treadstone/Blackbriar agents trying to viral off their blues (BOURNE LEGACY JOKES, GUYS. AMIRITE?). Let's forget all that. You say caveat, I say cave-J.R.-SMITH-HEROBALLLLLLLL!
Evaluating wing players is difficult because there are many types: shooting specialists, athletic freaks, defensive specialists, slashers, and more. Very often, teams choose a player based on need as opposed to sheer talent. That said, here are my top prospects.
1. Kentucky's Starting Five: DEUCES
It would be easy to be flippant about the starting five on Kentucky's national championship basketball team all declaring for the NBA draft, in unison, on Tuesday. You could mock coach John Calipari for building his program around one-and-done players, you could raise an eyebrow at noted NBA power broker World Wide Wes' presence at the NCAA tournament final as an obvious UK fan. Or you could just see the shared elation on the faces of Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Terrence Jones, Doron Lamb, and Marquis Teague, and let these guys live a little. I defy you to read this Kidd-Gilchrist quote and begrudge these guys a single thing in life: "I want to spoil my mom. I think I'm going to spoil my mom to death. That's one thing I'm looking forward to." They earned it. All of them.
There are lies we tell ourselves about the Kentucky Wildcats and John Calipari — comfortable fibs, supported by deceptive history, that help us sleep at night. They certainly make it easier to imagine a national champion from outside Lexington raising the trophy in early April, and they preserve a Manichean black-and-white simplicity that stifles the unpleasant nuances of truth. They are:
1. A team led by freshmen and sophomores can't win a national title. Experience trumps ability in the tournament, at least to some extent. Freshmen-heavy teams like Kentucky will always falter in the big moment because they're not suited to handle the intense pressure to which older players have become accustomed. That's why even the superlatively talented John Wall-DeMarcus Cousins-Eric Bledsoe Kentucky team of 2010 couldn't beat West Virginia and star senior Da'Sean Butler in the Elite Eight.
2. On top of that, Kentucky is perpetually full of great athletes who can't shoot. They lost to West Virginia after going 4-for-32 from beyond the arc, and it keeps them from being truly great.
3. John Calipari's success comes with a price. He's a dirty coach who had to vacate two Final Four appearances — one at UMass and another at Memphis — and he's more of a snake-oil salesman than a true leader. No one doubts his recruiting acumen, but his lack of strategic excellence (and maybe a dose of karma — see Memphis vs. Kansas, 2008) will always deny him the coveted title.
It makes me feel good, reading these words to myself. Unfortunately, they're bogus, and Kentucky is going to win a national championship.
(Note: I have consistently jinxed college basketball teams after writing about them this season, a trend that continued when New Mexico lost to Colorado State last night just hours after I called them a sleeper to make the Final Four. So, if the Wildcats lose in the Sweet 16 this year, you're welcome.)
Obsessively combing through information on high school basketball players has never been the coolest of hobbies. Outside the fungal patches of obscurity that grow in the crevices of the blogosphere, it is the pastime of someone with too much time on their hands and not enough imagination to use it constructively. You could be memorizing digits of Pi or playing the air harpsichord. For most sports fans, those talented 17-year-olds are just names with exaggerated dimensions and statistical accomplishments that sound fictionalized. Did you hear how Darvious Smithstein had a quadruple-double in the Altoona Class D semifinal — and all in the second half?
