Houston, Do We Have Liftoff or A Problem?

Did the Houston Rockets' just make the biggest mistake of the NBA season? Two weeks ago, they traded Clint Capela in a 4 team trade for Robert Covington. Yes, Clint Capela was the only active big that they used this season (Tyson Chandler is on the roster this year). Yes, Robert Covington is a wing that is known for his defense and shooting threes. We all know that Mike D'Antoni loves to put up a lot of shots while sacrificing defense, but to play at a disadvantage without a big every night is INSANE. Or is it? We all know Mike D'Antoni doesn't mind sacrificing size for speed (just take a look at his Phoenix Suns' teams). Now he has two all world guards in James Harden and Russell Westbrook who are impossible to guard one on one, and have nothing but space to get to the basket because of the shooters surrounding the perimeter. The question is how long will this style of play really last. Can PJ Tucker, the new 6'6 center on the team, be able to bang down low with the likes of Anthony Davis and Nikola Jokic for 48 minutes a night while fighting for rebounds? Is depending on the guards to rebound more going to slow down the pace at which D'Antoni wants to play? We have seen both Russell Westbrook and James Harden both run out of gas in the postseason while carrying their team during the regular season. We have also seen Mike D'Antoni try this experiment and fail. Now that the league is more guard oriented, will he finally be able to reach the NBA Finals? You rarely see teams who do not prioritize defense make it far in the postseason, and we all know D'Antoni does not care anything about slowing the other team down. Houston will either soar high or remain grounded. This is a move that can save your job or lose your job. Only time will tell.


-CG

Tiger Madness

The Memphis Tigers' survive a scare at the FedEx Forum and hold on for a hard fought win against the East Carolina Pirates. Is this win going to calm the nerves of tiger nation? I highly doubt it. Before the season started, there was so much optimism for this team. Number 1 recruiting class in the nation, national title hopes, Penny and crew wanted "all the smoke". Well the Tigers' are getting more smoke than a barbecue grill on the fourth of July, and it has been showing these past 4 games. With their win tonight, the Tigers move to 7-6 in conference play and increase their chances just a little bit to get a invite to the dance in March without winning the conference championship. But before we look ahead to the big dance, lets take a look at what has them in this predicament in the first place. We had the James Wiseman vs NCAA debacle, which led to Wiseman leaving the team and preparing for the draft (feel free to play the blame game in Wiseman's decision, I'm not). Next, the injury bug has taken over this team all season long and it has hurt the chemistry. The one thing that tiger nation needs to remember when it comes to this team is that they are young. We were all excited listening to those soundbites during the offseason about this team making a national title run that we forgot that there have not been many teams this young who actually win the tournament. A team that has mostly freshmen and sophomores are prone to having ups and downs throughout a season. Transitioning from high school to college is not easy for everyone, especially the Tigers' guards who all are mostly undersized. Even in the beginning of the season there were times when Precious and James both struggled playing together on the floor at the same time. Young teams tend to turn the ball over a lot and struggle closing out games. It's what these Tigers' are doing. Let's calm down and breathe a little bit. Let's be honest with ourselves, this current team is not a national championship team. Do they have the talent to make the NCAA tournament? I believe so. But let's not be so quick to judge them. I know there are many people who are not happy with the offense that this team runs. Be patient. Young teams usually turn it on the closer it gets to tournament time. There are still a couple of weeks left.

-CG

Chess Not Checkers?

The John Beilein experiment with the Cleveland Cavaliers' is over, and it didn't last for one entire season. Beilein could only handle being in charge of an NBA team for one half of the season (and I don't think anyone is surprised). The decisions that the Cleveland Cavaliers' have made since LeBron James has left have been head scratchers, and this one was no different.  Out of all of the possible candidates that were available for them to sign as their head coach, they decided to go with a 67 year old life long college coach. Now don't get me wrong, John Beilein's resume as a college coach is not bad at all (coached 4 different teams to the NCAA tournament with 2 championship game appearances) but coaching kids and grown men are totally different. He had a "mishap" earlier in the season when he called his players "thugs" and said he meant to use the word "slugs". Players were complaining about how he dealt with them. He never understood that the kids who he was used to yelling at were grown men with families and egos. Hard to yell at people that make more money than you (if you don't believe me, go to work tomorrow and yell at your boss). The problem is not that they gave Beilein a chance, the problem is that we have seen this story far too many times. Everyone is not going to be able to make the transition as smooth as Billy Donovan did. More likely than not, most people will end up flaming out like John Calipari or Rick Pitinio. But enough about John Beilein, lets focus on the Cavaliers' organizational choices over the past 2 seasons. As times goes on, we see why LeBron chose to leave them again. They seem to always make a difficult situation even worse. Why would you decide to experiment with a team that was mixed with veterans and rookies? Why would you draft another point guard (Darius Garland) after you drafted one the previous year (Colin Sexton)? Most importantly, why would you not choose a younger coach who could grow and learn with this team? Be honest with yourself, no one thought that a 67 year old coach would finish out a 5 year deal. It just seems like Cleveland is playing chess while the rest of the league (minus the Hornets and Suns) are playing checkers.

-CG