The Hoops Nerd gives MIP Awards to the most intriguing player in each team during the NBA pre-season. Northwest division will be at the image of this Kevin Love photo. Not all that relevant, but wicked entertaining. It's crammed full of team that are trying to make something happen. Some are trying to bottom out, some are trying to win the goddamn championship, but every team in that division is strategically lead, despite having financial or health-related issues. Here are the five most intriguing players in that division...
DENVER NUGGETS
Here's a guy who genuinely hard to grasp. He's built like a superstar, looks like he's part of some rapper's crew and yet, he's been awfully quiet on the court. Don't get me wrong, when Wilson Chandler wants to get to the rim, he gets to the fucking rim and standing between him and the bucket is at your own risk. But the talented wing player doesn't seem to understand how skilled he is, or at least he seems to be wrestling with off-court issues. Something's off about Chandler. He's still young, explosive and with Italian sharpshooter Danilo Gallinari injured for a couple of months, he'll have the chance to start and I am already anticipating the crazy, up-tempo tag team he'll form with power forward Kenneth Faried.
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES
If the Timberwolves' starting five can remain healthy, they will hold very little intrigue to me in 2013-14. They'll be flat-out great with Kevin Love and Kevin Martin spacing the floor, Ricky Rubio distributing the rock and Nikola Pekovic brutalizing folks under the tim. They make a lot of sense. Bench has always been more of a problem. Here's that kid Dieng, who was labeled a second-round pick early last year, who had a killer NCAA tournament with the eventual winners Louisville and who shows a grown man game already. I have seen him play last week and I think he can be a factor on the bench. He plays an enthusiast, smart and sefless brand of basketball. He moves well without the ball and he's not afraid to use his body to create scoring opportunities for his teammates. He's already an upgrade from the moribund Greg Stiemsma, but I believe he is bound to become a deluxe rotational player in the future.
OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER
OKC had the James Harden blues last year. The guy they used as a sixth man became a budding superstar once they traded him to Houston and they were left with a gaping hole on their bench. Comes in Jeremy Lamb, a polarizing prospect who's been an enigma to NBA scouts since his UConn days. There is a LOT of pressure on him, this year. OKC need him to step up and offer scoring off the bench. They have nobody else to turn to right now. Reggie Jackson will play behind Russell Westbrook, so he'll see less minutes than Lamb, who will share the world with defense specialist Thabo Sefolosha. It's make or break year for Lamb. The mushy-faced, lanky shooter will play his fate as an NBA player in the following month.
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
T.Rob. T.Rob. T.Rob. Who are you, really? Are you this powerhouse forward we were advertised before the 2012 NBA Draft or are you a lonely and confused kitten, like you've shown last year? To his defense, T.Rob has been shown no love so far in the NBA: he was buried in the rotation in Sacramento, buried in the rotation in Houston, traded to make cap space for the Dwight Howard singing and got called a bust by just about every journalist in the business. Harsh. He'll have a strategic role to play in Portland due to the strained relationship all-star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge has with the team. Robinson is still young enough to make it and will be given every possible opportunity to become a viable option for Aldridge, in case Portland wants to use their star as a trade chip.
UTAH JAZZ
You heard it here first. The pundits have it all backwards. It's unfair and unrealistic to expect Trey Burke to carry Utah on his back next season. I believe Enes Kanter will be the tipping point. He is VERY complementary to his frontcourt buddy Derrick Favors. If he can secure his tasks of controlling the ball under the rim and be a threat from the low block, he will enable Favors to play his wild, athletic style and create a dynamic and fearful frontcourt, unleashing the armada of perimeter shooters in Utah, notably Burke, Alec Burks and Gordon Hayward. Kanter is in no way a superstar, but he can be a catalyst for his team at his position. He is a critical piece in a well-thought system. But does he have it in him?
No comments:
Post a Comment