Overreacting to the NBA - Week 2

by Matt

The bird on the shoulders: 

The Atlanta Hawks are looking good, they knocked off the lethargic looking Cavs but really demonstrated an excellent cover up of their main weakness last year. Howard has been a god send down the middle, working his massive shoulders to pluck every rebound in sight. The Hawks got absolutely destroyed in the ECS against the Cavs primarily because the Cavs secured about 10,000 more rebounds than them. Thompson is good and will continue to hunt for the boards and will get them, but with Dwight’s massive body and good defensive instincts it will be much harder (people quickly forget he was a 3 time DPOY and easily the second best player in the league pre Lakers). He seems more interested and engaged, thriving away from the national spotlight he had last year. He seems happy to go out to 3/4 filled arenas (don't get out the pitchforks, that's generous) and play a more relaxed version of basketball. It looks like he made the correct choice for him, he isn’t going to win a ring, this team won't get out of the east but they're going to give the Cavs a much better show than last year.

The decision to remove Teague looks smarter everyday and the way he has collapsed Ty Lawson would be proud of it. Schroder looks very comfortable moving the ball around and generating good looks. It does weaken the bench to bring him forward but Bud does an excellent job of staggering minutes.

I've never really been massive on Horford, he is an excellent player and definitely a star, but he is not a super star. He has shown this on the middling Celtics (more on them later) who have a lot of excellent pieces but no centrepiece. They have tried like hell to get one though, packaging every asset they tried for Butler during the draft and will continue to knock on the leagues door for the rest of this year. Don't get me wrong, Dwight Howard is not a super star either but regardless of last seasons crapfest in Houston (I haven't seen someone give less of a fuck since I watched rondo on the Mavs) he definitely is a star and to be honest he is the perfect one for the Hawks.

The warriors are fine.

See I told you guys; nothing to worry about. Sure the weakness is there and you've played bad teams but there is literally nothing to worry about. In fact, I'm concerned that going 0-10 against the Lakers has Curry regressing to the mean so hard that he may never miss again.

The quest of the Boston Celtics 

The Boston Celtics need a star, we as it last season and we see it again this season. They need a prominent presence at the 2 or the 3 in order to make a decent statement. You can actually honestly see why they sort out Kevin Love at the 2015 deadline. They needed someone who is a star to take pressure off the rest of their players and open up the rest of the court for everyone. Even though they play a Very solid starting lineup and an excellent coach it doesn't seem to be enough. They possess a middling record and I don't really see the turnaround from good to great with this team happening. Further there have been a few key games and they have underperformed in them.

It's well known they tried to package Crowder (excellent stop gap defender, but lacking offensively) and the Brooklyn pick (lacking in steam due to their desire to be competitive) for any star player. The league is uncertain as to how good these will be, I'm surprised that Chicago didn't bite on the offer for Butler, it would have been a great reload (they then retooled). Crowder will be good on any team but when a team tries to actively trade you it does lower the team value. Remember Brook Lopez in the whole Dwight Howard saga, Lopez is great and he has been untradeable since then with teams knowing he is always available. It's also unfortunate that Jaylen Brown plays the 3/4 as well, the main position the Celtics are actively seeking.

Is there even a star on offer at the moment though? Deron Williams says that there is no such thing as an unobtainable star after his 2012 shock trade and that gives GMs hope. But a team is always one injury away from a fire sale. Would New Orleans actually trade Davis? He is one of the best players in the league but they can't really build a competitive team around him and as we saw in 2014, that team has a ceiling and it's a first round exit. Holiday can't stay on the court and Tyreke is exactly known for his slick passing. Would the Pelicans consider trading Davis to the Celtics for all their future picks and some good young players? They won't, but it's interesting to think about.