The Lakers are Not a Good Basketball Team

Prior to the start of this NBA season I wrote my big preview where I rank all the teams. I had the Lakers near the top, somewhere within the top 10 I believe. I had faith that they were going to be a good regular season team, then due to the age on their roster, they would tire out and fall in the second round of the playoffs. I assumed with guys like AD, Carmelo, Russ and Dwight Howard, they would win somewhere between 45-50 games. I think I had them as a 3 or 4 seed.

Well, the Lakers have not been a good regular season team. Where we sit right now, with about 15 games left, the Lakers are 11 games under .500 with a record of 29-40. I read a stat this morning that said, "when LeBron doesn't score 50 points, the Lakers are 0-9 since the all star break". That is brutal. This team looks like they have straight up quit on the season. I watched a bit of the Toronto game the other night, and that thing was never in doubt. It got so bad that on one particular defensive possession, the Raptors were able to get to the basket unimpeded while the Lakers pointed and yelled at one another. In that same game, LeBron blasted a ball off of Scottie Barnes' face. Last night, they were playing so bad that Pat Beverly openly called them trash and held his nose as if to say they were playing so bad that it smelled inside the arena. The Timberwolves are having a good season, but they won by 20, over a LeBron James led team.

It has just not been happening for the Lakers all year. There has never been a moment watching them this season where I thought that they had it figured out. LeBron can only do so much, and while it is a ton, he is old and getting older. Anthony Davis is never healthy. Even when he plays he looks hurt. And all that shit he talked about Phoenix, that is ridiculous nonsense coming from a guy that is barely ever on the floor. Russell Westbrook has been a disaster. I love Russ too. He is my guy. But the fit on this Lakers team is just not there. He is not great without the ball in his hands, and asking him to be a spot up shooter is taking away everything that has made him so wonderful as a basketball player. Carmelo Anthony has been a zero for this team. When the Rockets beat the Lakers the other night, Jalen Green was asked by a reporter what the game plan was in the second half, and he said, "attack Melo". I mean, that speaks volumes. They have since cut DeAndre Jordan, but who cares. Dwight Howard barely plays. Austin Reaves is an okay shooter, but he is not going to win them any games. Stanley Johnson has played better, but nowhere near the lottery pick he was. And Malik Monk does not get enough touches. Also, Frank Vogel has made some head scratching coaching decisions this year. And when this team did nothing at the trade deadline, that was a sign to me that they were going to go in the tank. The front office essentially told LeBron and Klutch Sports, this is the team you wanted, so this is the team you are going to finish the season with.

That brings up another thing that bugs me as a basketball fan and a LeBron fan. I adore LeBron. I think he is the second greatest player of all time. I bought into the hype when he was a senior in high school. I was all in. But this is the team he wanted, the team he assembled, and now he is openly complaining to the media that it is not his fault this team is so bad? That is nuts. They could have had Buddy Hield, but LeBron wanted Russ. They could have kept Alex Caruso, but the front office wouldn't pay him and they went with Carmelo. They brought Dwight back and signed Deandre Jordan because he and LeBron have a friendship. Malik Monk and Kendrick Nunn are Klutch clients I believe, so signing them wasn't even a second thought. This is just a very, very poorly constructed basketball team. They are too old. They have too many guys that need the ball in their hands to be effective. Their star big man cannot stay on the floor. They play poor defense. Everyone gives into whatever LeBron tells them to do.

The Lakers are a mess, hell, a tire fire. They might sneak into the play-in, but I would not be shocked if they get shellacked by the Pelicans or Timberwolves or, hell, even Portland. This has been a mess of a year for LeBron and the Lakers. And all this finger pointing needs to be directed at themselves. The media didn't bring this team together, LeBron and the front office did. The media isn't forcing Westbrook to airball wide open threes. The media didn't injure AD. The media is not the reason Melo has never been a good defensive player. It is the players and the people in charge. But man oh man is this team bad. And it is wild to see a LeBron led team give up before the season is even over. I hope they haven't, and they can still make a run to get in the playoffs. But the way they have looked since the all star break tells a story of a team quitting, or not even trying. That bums me out.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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Making Sense of the Lakers Offseason

I will get to some of my favorite free agent signings so far at the start of NBA free agency, but today I want to talk about the Lakers yet again.

I talked about the Russ trade last week and how I do not like the fit. You can go back and see all my thoughts on why. And since then they have signed Trevor Ariza, Kent Bazemore, Dwight Howard, Malik Monk and now Carmelo Anthony. They did lose out on the Alex Caruso sweepstakes, I think it is next to impossible for them to retain Dennis Schroeder and I would not be shocked if Talen Horton Tucker gets a better offer somewhere else. The Lakers are making moves, and they are making moves for former Lakers and former all stars.

At first glance of the new roster I thought this looks like a good roster for 2014-15. That is when all these guys were in their prime, with AD being the exception. Had this exact team been assembled back then they would have been better than the recent Warriors dynasty. It would have been a lock. Then, while on a run, I thought more about the roster. This team is old. Real old. Lebron will be 37 next season. Dwight, Carmelo, Russ, Trevor Ariza and, I believe Kent Bazemore will all be 30 plus at the start of next season. AD is young but never fully healthy. Marc Gasol is not really playable in crunch time anymore. And Malik Monk hasn't really hit since entering the NBA. I was less high after thinking about it while out this afternoon.

Then I thought more and more about it and came to an odd conclusion for me personally. I do not think this team is a title contender. I think they will be good. They will be really hard to rebound and score in the post against. They will be a playoff team. But I just do not think all these guys will coalesce and I think they will be worn out by the end of the season. But I am actually excited to watch this roster, this exact Lakers team, play basketball next season.

I am not a Lakers fan. Not at all. I do not like the Lakers or Yankees or Patriots or Alabama. I am not a front runner of a fan. Sure I love, love, love Michigan, but when was the last time they were relevant? Man that hurts my soul. And if someone asks who my favorite MLB team is I say the Cardinals, but I couldn't even tell you their record, and who besides Yadi is on the team right now. So for me to be excited to watch the Lakers, that is saying something. Maybe it is curiosity, or the fact that I want to see them stumble or that I genuinely like guys like Russ and Carmelo, but there is just something that is pulling me to want to watch. I really want to see how this all works. I'm curious who starts and who comes off the bench. If they retain Talen Horton Tucker, I want to see if he starts over Carmelo. I want to see if Dwight goes back to how he played for the Lakers in the bubble. I want to see who is taking the crucial shots. I want to see Russ' usage rate. I want to see if Malik Monk rediscovers his shot. I want to see if Ariza and Bazemore can bring the defense. There are so many intriguing things drawing me to this team. I also want to see how Lebron and AD make this work. They are the two holdovers. They also clearly put this team together, with some help from Rich Paul. These are the guys they wanted to get this offseason, and when CP3 was off the board, that opened up the Carmelo signing. I can genuinely say that I really want to see how all this works. Again, I do not think they are title contenders, but they will still be good. I think the Nuggets, Jazz, Clippers, Suns and maybe even the Mavericks are better and much younger. Those teams can run up and down the floor, and more importantly, do not necessarily need to drive to the hoop for points. They can shoot from distance. They all have younger and healthier stars too. There was clearly a shift in the most recent playoffs to younger stars, and the Lakers are going the total opposite direction.

Again, interested to watch, curious to see what happens, but do not think they are going to be the title contender that some other random fans may think. But it will be a blast to watch them play next season. That much I know.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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Congrats to the Lakers and the NBA

The NBA proved they could finish the season during a global pandemic, and they did it perfectly.

The Lakers wrapped up their 17th title, although some of those came when they were in Minneapolis, but whatever, with a dominant game six win last night. From the second quarter on, the Lakers left no doubt that they were the best team in the NBA this year. I will fully eat crow and admit I was completely wrong about them. When I did my preseason ratings, which seems like decades ago, I had them as the number seven seed in the West. Then during the restart, I picked them to make the West Finals, but I had the Clippers winning. I wasn't high on their bench, I thought that Anthony Davis wouldn't stay healthy all season, I thought Frank Vogel was a lame duck hire and I thought, very stupidly, that LeBron had lost a step. Now, he is still not, nor will he ever be as great as Michael Jordan, but he is firmly the second greatest player of all time. I have Jordan ahead of him because he never left or formed any "super team". The guys he played with were better because of Jordan, and grew with Jordan. Dennis Rodman isn't Anthony Davis or even Kevin Love. Scottie Pippen isn't as great as Davis, and Dwyane Wade was a better offensive player. Jordan did it himself. He wanted to beat the best, not play with the best. But I was very wrong on LeBron being a step slow this season. He came out on fire, played committed defense most of the year and really handled the duties of a point guard perfectly. He orchestrated their offense great. And AD, he is a truly athletic unicorn. He is as smooth as KD, blocks shots like Hakeem and cuts to the rim like Barkley. AD is awesome. He is James best teammate ever, full stop. He was great in this series too. Some people were griping about his lack of scoring, but he more than made up for it on defense. He got into the Heat's heads, and he made these guys take extremely hard shots. He was amazing. The bench, mainly Rajon Rondo, showed up when they needed to. Rondo was outstanding everywhere. He did all the things in the playoffs that make him a great player, dare I say a hall of fame player. Alex Caruso was doing the little things. He plays solid defense and he cuts when he needs to. Danny Green may have missed a big shot in game five, and wasn't shooting good at all during the playoffs, played good defense and made solid plays when he passed the ball. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope played D and hit threes. Even Dwight Howard did all the little things asked of him to help this team win. And while I know that Erik Spoelstra is a far better coach, Frank Vogel did a solid job of letting his stars do their thing. He stayed out of the way, and that is exactly what he needed to do. He was a figurehead, and that is it. The Lakers won, and they deserved to win. They were the best team this year, they proved it time and time again, and they are the rightful champs.

As for the NBA, and the "bubble", this literally couldn't have gone any better. They had 22 teams show up right in the midst of a global pandemic in a hotspot in Florida. They had some teams there for a month, others for two and the final four teams spent four months there. They provided entertainment, they provided food, they had dedicated staff, doctors, trainers and hotel employees, they had COVID testers, they had a solid set of rules, and it all worked. There were zero positive COVID tests the whole time the teams and players and staff were there. That is truly amazing. Look at what the MLB, and now college football and NFL are going through. They can't go a week without a positive test. The NBA lasted over three months without one. It worked and it paid off. The basketball didn't suffer at all. The games were competitive, they were fast paced, the scores were high, it was way better than I thought. If you didn't know, you would have no idea that these guys were in limbo for almost three months, not knowing if they were going to play again or not.

Then we had the police brutality issue, where a white police officer shot another unarmed black man who was doing nothing wrong. I will say it forever, defund the police. The shooting of Jacob Blake almost stopped all of the playoffs. There was a league wide strike. Some teams, including the Lakers, were ready to go home that night. But Adam Silver listened to the players, met their demands and made a plan, and they were able to continue. They were able to finish. I loved in the bubble that the players were able to speak their minds, and talk about social and political things. I adore that players used their platforms to talk about such things, and not focus on solely basketball. That was so awesome and so great and prolific. That was, outside of the games, my favorite thing about the bubble. I love that players spoke their minds, urged people to vote, told people in their team's hometown to make changes. Hopefully this continues the movement in our country that I feel is happening now. We are fed up, and the NBA players in the bubble echoed that sentiment. I have always loved the NBA, and I always will. But what they did in Orlando, how they pulled it off and how they used the platform, it has made me even more of a fan. I am so happy to call myself an NBA fan. I am so happy they achieved their goal. I am happy that they let their voices be heard. I'm happy no one got COVID. And I am happy that the best team, in the end, won the title.

Congrats to the Lakers, to LeBron, to AD, to Adam Silver and to the NBA. This was a historic finish to a very odd and long 2019-20 NBA season. You guys did it, and you did it the best. I am more proud to be an NBA fan than I am to be an American., The NBA is a much better place than our country, and the bubble proved that. Congrats to all involved. You guys did it. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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There Are A Lot of Winners in the Anthony Davis Trade

The Lakers finally landed Anthony Davis. After a trade demand midway through this past season, an openly flirtation with the Lakers, tampering beyond belief, Rich Paul basically getting 2 guys fired, and the Lakers offering up the majority of their young talent, the trade finally happened. Well, technically it isn't official yet, we have to wait until early July. But, both parties have an agreement that Davis will be a Laker, and the Pelicans will get Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and 3 future first round picks, including the number 4 pick in this Thursday's draft.

To me, I feel like both teams got what they wanted. If you were to tell me I had to pick a "winner" of this trade though, I would say New Orleans won, and they won it by a mile. Yes, they have to give up Davis, who when healthy is a top 3 player in the league, and pairing him with LeBron, albeit at age 35, they will make a very formidable front court. But, the Lakers had to mortgage their future for what may only be 2 years of top notch basketball. LeBron is getting older, that is just a fact. He also missed the most time of his career due to injury last year. He also looked a step slower, and his jumper, while never good, was not effective at all last year. But Davis is awesome and young. He is a force on defense, he can rebound with the best of them, his jump shot is much improved, and when engaged, or not hurt, he is nearly unstoppable. He will also be out to prove something next year.

But, unless the Lakers can get another top level guy to come over on a deal worth much less than they expect, their roster is decimated. I saw a snapshot of the roster now, and outside of LeBron and Davis, it is bleak. They were able to keep Kyle Kuzma, who was, for some unknown reason, almost the guy who was the make or break player in this deal. Sure, he is a good scorer, and he can kind of hit threes, but he is a big minus on defense, and he will now have to be the third or fourth option. I don't know if he will like that. All the guys he came in the league with too, and had befriended, they are gone. He is the lone young player on the Lakers now. They we have guys like Mo Wagner, who can't rebound or play defense, Rajon Rondo, who is about a million years old, Lance Stephenson. who should have been out of the league 2 years ago, Issac Bonga, who I know zero about, Tyson Chandler, who is older than Rondo and Alex Caruso, who looks like the dude you hate to play in your local rec league. Dare I say, the Lakers bench is worse than the Warriors bench right now. Again, this can change if they get a Kyrie Irving or Kemba Walker or Jimmy Butler, but I don't see that happening. But, kudos to LeBron, Rich Paul and Anthony Davis, you whined your way to a trade to the Lakers, even if it meant destroying your future. It is now more clear than ever who runs the Lakers.

On the other hand, the Pelicans absolutely crushed this deal. They traded away a disgruntled player for 3 young guys that have certain skills they need, and first round picks for three years. They have the number one and number 4 pick in the upcoming draft. And lets say the Lakers have solid seasons the next 2 years, they will still get their pick, plus a second first rounder in the next 2 drafts. That is some Danny Ainge dealing KG and Paul Pierce to the Nets type shit. This is a homerun of a deal. I know Jrue Holiday was upset when Davis asked out, but if I were him now, I would be very excited for the future of the team. He is still there, and he is an underrated guy, plus he has all this young talent coming to play on his team. The Pelicans don't have to immediately blow it up and rebuild now. Holiday can slide over to the 2, and Ball can be the point. While I have been very tough on Ball as a player, he is a good point guard. He has great court vision, is a willing passer and plays solid defense. His shot is pure trash, but he won't need to shoot too much on this team. This may be the best thing for him too, getting himself and his dad out of LA. I still think very highly of Brandon Ingram. He is one Duke guy that I actually like. He also started to show flashes last season of what he can do. He is a long and lanky shooter. He can also get to the rim very quickly. His long stride is very good for the fast break. I bet of all the players traded yesterday he is the happiest. He looked miserable playing next to LeBron last year. Now he has a fresh start, and he will be one of the go to guys in New Orleans. Josh Hart was one of the few young guys that LeBron counted on last year. That shows maturity to me. The fact that he was willing to do what was best for the team is a trait I love in professional players. By the way, he can shoot and play defense as well. Hart will step in right away and be a solid contributor, do the little things asked of him, and I bet he will become an instant fan favorite. The Pelicans, who own the first pick, are going to take Zion on Thursday. That is the type of star power they need to replace Davis. Zion is not Davis, not yet at least, but he might be the best prospect since Davis. This kid is an amazing leaper with good passing skills and a willingness to play defense and be coached. He may not have been happy when New Orleans won the draft lottery, but if I were him now, I'd be stoked looking at this current team he's about to be on. The combo of him and Ball, especially on fast breaks, is going to be awesome. Zion will also get Ingram and Hart plenty of open looks. He will help out Holiday a ton. This is as about a perfect situation as a rookie can get. And with the fourth pick, they can go strictly based on need, and get a pretty talented player. I don't think they will get Ja Morant or RJ Barrett, and I don't see them taking a point guard like Darius Garland or Coby White due to who they acquired in the trade. But that means they can look at a guy like Jaxson Hayes, the big center from Texas. Or they can check in on DeAndre Hunter, a solid shooting 3 or 4 who plays defense. Jarrett Culver could be another option for them as a solid backup to Holiday. Brandon Clarke could be on their radar now. They can look at some overseas talent. They have, pretty much, endless options for the upcoming draft.

This was the homerun the Pelicans wanted to get with this Davis deal, and they absolutely knocked it out of the park. The Lakers should also be happy in this deal. They all got what they wanted. I will just say, I am more pumped to watch the Pelicans than the Lakers next year after this trade. They should be the more fun team to watch on League Pass.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

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This Lakers Season Was a Hilarious Disaster

I have waited to write this until it was official. And as of last week, the Los Angeles Lakers, and LeBron James will not be in the NBA playoffs this year. I have a ton of feelings about this news.

First of, the hater in me is thrilled. I have never liked the Lakers. I actively root against them. Ever since they picked Kobe over Shaq, my hatred only grew. I despise the Celtics as well, but you better believe that I was pulling for them when they played each other in the Finals in the early 2000's. I don't like their fair weather fans. I don't like the air of arrogance they have. They have been irrelevant for about 5 or 6 seasons now. They traded away a lottery pick point guard, D'Angelo Russell, to take Lonzo Ball, who is a bust. I am just almost overcome with joy that they will not be in the playoffs this year. This also makes me laugh at all the journalists, especially the ones at ESPN and Bleacher Report and The Ringer that were certain they'd not only be a playoff team, but a top 3 or 4 seed. This includes me as well. I had them as a top 10 team in my preseason countdown. But, to hear all these major journalist back track now is delightful. To hear all their excuses makes me crack up.

I admit, I was very wrong. I thought LeBron himself would push this team to the playoffs. He could not. But these other journalist keep making excuses to try and save face. They say, LeBron missed 20 games. So what. He has done that the past couple year, his week or 2 off to Miami, and was still able to walk his way to the Finals in the East. They bring up injuries to Ball and Brandon Ingram. Ingram got hurt pretty much right after they were eliminated. And, as I already said, Ball is a bust. The journalists loved all their one year contract guys. They thought giving Rajon Rondo and JaVale McGee and Lance Stephenson and Michael Beasely one year, "prove it" deals, would make this team solid. Well, none of those guys can shoot. Rondo is so much better at facilitating offense. He's better at drive and kick. That doesn't work with LeBron. Michael Beasely is an even bigger bust than Ball, can't shoot from anywhere, doesn't play defense, and isn't even on the team anymore. Lance Stephenson was a half season wonder that is somehow still getting playing time in the NBA. He's trash. JaVale McGee only works as a spark plug off the bench. The Lakers signed him to be their main pick and roll guy. It was all a mess from the jump. When they signed LeBron this past offseason it was huge. Then, the front office went and did all this ridiculous stuff to squash any good will they received by getting LeBron. They surrounded him with vets he likes, but as I said, none of them can shoot. I mean, they are awful, dreadful shooters. And for the young guys on the team already, Ingram is the only one that is a threat to shoot, and he played better when LeBron was injured.

Then we had the whole Anthony Davis thing. Rich Paul screwed over one of his clients by making Davis' trade request public, then it all blew up in his face, Davis' face and LeBron's face. The Pelicans asked for the world, with the Lakers putting up Ball, Ingram, Josh Hart, Lance Stephenson and multiple picks, and they still asked for more. They played the hell out of the Lakers, Magic Johnson, Rob Pelinka, Rich Paul and LeBron. Of course the Pelicans turned the offer down, and that was when the season really cratered for the Lakers. After the All Star break, and LeBron "activating playoff mode", the Lakers went into the tank. They couldn't do anything right. They lost to the Pelicans when they rested Davis. They barely beat them, at home when Davis played about 20 minutes. They got crushed by real Western Conference playoff teams. Then they got roasted by the Suns. That game culminated in disgrace when LeBron went to throw the ball in and he hit the back of the backboard. It was very upsetting to see him, a legend, do that. The Davis thing really screwed with this locker room, and with any chemistry they may have built up in the first part of the year. LeBron said he wanted to grow with this team when he signed, but the moment things started to get rough, he wanted to team up with a super star. It didn't pan out for him, and now he will be home for the playoffs for the first time in 15 years.

Which lead me to my final thing, LeBron James. LeBron is an all time great. He is either the second or third greatest player of all time. Going to 8 straight Finals may never happen again. His dominance is almost un reachable for any future star player. But, he really screwed this team with his want to team up with another star. He also learned what it is like to play in the Varsity conference in the NBA. It isn't a cakewalk in the West. Almost every night is a tough game. He can't just take time off when he pleases. He needs to bring it, especially with the way that roster was constructed. I'm still in shock that he couldn't will this team to the playoffs, but like I said at the top, it also kind of makes me laugh because I loathe that team.

All of this is to say, I feel, and I know a lot of people agree with me, the Lakers are, by far, the biggest embarrassment and were the most overrated team in the NBA in the 2018-19 season. They tanked without tanking. They're going to miss the playoffs for the fifth straight year. They are still irrelevant. They are banking on getting Davis in the offseason, I don't think it will happen. And LeBron is only getting older. If I were a Lakers fan, I would be very concerned about the future of this team. They don't seem to be the destination they once were, and a lot of the star players coming on the market this summer don't seem very interested in teaming up with a 35 year old LeBron James. Also, if they hire Jason Kidd I would be even more embarrassed to be a fan.

This season has been a mess in Laker land. They can make up for it if they have a big summer, but I don't see that happening. This is a mess, and I only feel like it is going to get worse. This is a bummer to see LeBron end his career like this. A real bummer.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

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Who is Really to Blame for the Lakers Mess?

The other night LeBron James passed Michael Jordan on the all time NBA scoring list. Good for him. This is a humongous achievement. James has earned it. He is one of the greats, no questions asked. But, when my watch and phone kept popping off about this, I naturally assumed that the Lakers had won their game against the Nuggets, and maybe they were actually going to make that push to get the 8th seed in the West.

That was not the case.

While all ESPN and Bleacher Report could talk about was LeBron's achievement, the Lakers were in the midst of losing by almost 20, and dropping their third straight game, and dropping 6 games below .500. They have been in a freefall since LeBron "activated playoff mode". They are very far out from the 8 seed now, with only 17 games left. They need so much help, and if they were to get the 8 seed, they would get swept out of the first round, and possibly cripple their chance to get AD this summer.

But, all of this preamble is just to say that there is a lot of blame to go around the whole Lakers organization for how poorly this season has played out. But, the most blame belongs to 4 people. We have LeBron, Magic Johnson, Rob Pelinka and Jeanie Buss. Jeanie Buss is trying to play it off like she had nothing to do with the players they signed, saying that management is to solely blame. Well, you are the owner. You hired these 2 guys to run the team. You gave them the keys to the car. You have to take some of the blame. Some of this falls in your lap. You cannot just get off scott free because you are only the owner. Some of the decisions you have made lately have hurt this franchise.

Now, lets look at why I think Pelinka and Johnson are to blame. These 2 had zero history in running a basketball team. They have never had this type of power. Magic is a hall of fame player, a bad coach and a horrible talk show host. What he did best was play basketball. That doesn't mean he can run a team. He proved that with his piss poor coaching, and now he is proving that with how he signs players. And all of the tampering, which I really don't care that much about, he has got to stop being so blatant about it. Don't go on talk shows and wink when talking about soon to be free agents. Don't go on ESPN and openly pine for AD. Just stop. With Pelinka, he was good at being a sub with the Fab Five at Michigan. He was even better as an agent. But, again with the picking of players, he has been atrocious. Why did he think it was cool to go out and sign all these odd vets to one year deals? Did he really think this would work? Did he think LeBron could literally drag a group of guys 20 and under, and washed up vets to the playoffs in the West? Come on man. That is preposterous. That is nonsense. I mean, Lance Stephenson, JaVale McGee, Michale Beaseley and Rajon Rondo were your answers to surround LeBron with? That is so stupid. They should have just kept Julius Randle and D'Angelo Russell. They would be so much better off with the young guys and LeBron. They would have been more fun.

Finally, we have LeBron. I think he deserves the least blame, but he still deserves some simply for the whole handling of the AD trade saga. He let his buddy Rich Paul try to force 2 teams hand, and it backfired in hilarious fashion. LeBron, who has always been a GM and player wherever he has played, also made it so widely known how much he yearned to play with AD. I'm positive he told Magic and Pelinka to offer the farm. He didn't want to have happen happen. He didn't want Rich Paul to fail. He didn't want to fail, and he wanted to get AD. Well, the Pelicans didn't flinch, and it all blew up in their face. Also, LeBron is still hurt, looks disengaged, doesn't try on defense and only seems to expend any effort on offense. He has packed it in. He has suffered the longest injury of his career, and he has let his effect his play. He also didn't get what he wanted at the deadline, and he has openly pouted. All of this has led to the team he is supposed to be leading having another bad year.

The Lakers are going to miss the playoffs. They are going to fire the head coach. They are going to lose a ton of young talent, and they are going to have to start all over again, letting 2 guys that have no idea what they are doing, an owner that doesn't want to take any heat and a 35 year old star player running the team. This will only get worse before it gets better. I don't even think AD will help much, if they get him this summer. I didn't like this move for LeBron from a basketball standpoint, and, at least this season, is making me look right.

While I enjoy seeing the Lakers struggle, I don't like seeing how bad they have been lately. They are a mess, and there is a good amount of blame to be spread out amongst the 4 people I mentioned. I'm very curious to see what they do this summer, and since they won't be making the playoffs, the summer will be here much sooner than LeBron is used to. That is weird.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

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The NBA has a Superstar Sensitivity Problem

Recently, while listening to all the NBA podcasts I do, I have found myself being a bit irritated at how sensitive some star players in the league have become over the past decade. Now, I have to say at the top, I have no ill will for these guys wanting to go win titles, get paid and have fun playing the game. While I may not like "super teams", and I think the money is absurdly high among all professional sports, again, I have no problem with these guys doing what they want to do. They're human and allowed to lead the lives they want to live. But, I also think they should know, or at the very least expect, that they are going to be in the spotlight, and that a good amount of people are going to root against them for doing such things, and then going to the media, or their front office, to complain or demand a trade.

This irritation for me it all started with the Kristaps Porzingis trade. When it happened I was flummoxed. I wrote about it. I trashed the Knicks. But, about a week after the trade stories started to come out that Porzingis went to the front office and griped about the direction of the team. He complained that he had no help. Okay, fine, but have you played all year Porzingis? In fact, I don't think you've played a game in almost 2 years. So, while you want to be on a competitive team, that needs to start with you actually playing. You can moan and groan all you want, but you aren't even playing. In fact, I'd like to see you go a full season without getting hurt just once. Then, if you do that,, and lead a team to a conference finals, go ahead and complain all you want. Until then, don't yearn for things when you haven't really proved anything yet.

Then the Anthony Davis trade demand came out. I have been highly critical of this. This was done all wrong. From Davis' demand while still under contract for the rest of this season and all of next season, to Rich Paul leaking it to Adrian Wojnaworski before Davis could tell the Pelicans front office, to the handling of the Lakers offer, it has been a cluster. This has been a disaster all around. A GM lost his job over this. Davis, who up until now was beloved, is almost becoming a villain. When he did come back from his "injury", the Pelicans fans booed him. Then he decided to leave a game after trying to block a shot, and left the building, with Rich Paul. Now, he is going to be on LeBron's show, "The Shop", and he is also talking about his love for all things LA. He is handling this awfully. He is going to get traded to some team not in LA, other teams can offer so much more for the Pelicans future, and I blame it partially on him. He is talking to media, but saying stuff like, "all 29 teams are on my list", or, "I just want to win". Sure, that may sound nice, but the "29 teams" thing is a slap in New Orleans face, and the winning is nonsense. He wants to be in LA, and he wants to play with LeBron. If he just came out and said that, I would respect him so much more. But no, he is trying to be coy.

Then we have KD's endless fight with the media and journalists. Prior to the All Star break he chided a journalist who simply asked him about his impending free agency and New York. A very simple, non threatening question, right? Well, KD took this way, way too seriously and painted a very broad brush basically saying that all journalists are out to get him. KD needs to calm the hell down. Ever since he left the Thunder to ride on the Warriors coattails, he has become a curmudgeon, and it doesn't fit him. He is a hell of a player, one of the greats, but his whole "heel" turn is off putting. I mean, the journalist was just doing his job. If anyone should understand that it should be a guy like KD. He has changed so much, for the worse, since he signed with Golden State.

Then we have the Kyrie Irving interview yesterday of him chastising another journalist that simply asked him about the video that leaked of him and KD talking in the tunnel during the All Star game. Now, I do think people are making far, far too much of a video of 2 buddies talking, but for Kyrie to say that "you guys are making the league not fun" is a little much. Again, this person is just doing their job. You'd think, just like in KD's case, he would understand that. But nope, he just went off and said some crazy stuff. He is a super star, and the media is going to ask him questions like this. That is how they get people to come to their websites and read their stuff. While you think you may be winning, and knocking that person down a peg, you are actually helping them by going off like that.

Then last night I read a headline that said that James Harden is upset that his peers are critical of the way he plays the game. Newsflash Harden, you are a bore to watch. Again, you are a magnificent scorer, one of the best ever, but the way you do it is a slog. You foul hunt. You slow the game down. You shoot too many free throws, and you gripe to the officials too much. It is so boring to watch. You are my least favorite player to watch, and I know for a fact that I am not alone. A lot of people do not like to watch you play, and that most definitely includes your peers. Get over it. You are great.

It is frustrating to hear these multi millionaire super star players gripe about people calling them out for their sometime childish behavior. I mean, do you think Jordan cared what his peers or journalists said? How about Charles Barkley? Or maybe Hakeem Olajuwon or Shaq? They didn't give a shit. They just went out and played. Hell, there are even current stars that could care less what the media or other pro players say. Look at Russell Westbrook. He could care less what anyone thinks of him. Or Jimmy Butler. I may not like the way he handled his exit from Minnesota, but he never chastised the media for the way they handled it. In fact he did an interview for ESPN and Rachel Nichols on exactly why he wanted out. Joel Embiid doesn't give one shit what the media or Russell Westbrook says about him. Kawhi Leonard just continues to not talk, and that may be the best way to handle all this. And then we have Giannis. Could this kid be any cooler? Could he be more loved? Could he be more fun? Giannis is the best for so many reasons. He loves to play the game, he is a great interview, his teammates and the front office love him, and when questions of his impending free agency in 2021 come up, he takes the Kawhi approach and is silent. These are the dudes I respect. These are the dudes that handle it correctly. 

That is the point of my old man ranting. Some of these young star are far too thin skinned. They need to get over it. We need less Kristaps or KD's and more Kawhi's and Giannis' in the league right now. They know how to deal with all this stuff so much better.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

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Let's Talk About the NBA Trade Deadline

The NBA trade deadline has come and gone, and AD is still a member of the Pelicans, more on him at the end. Without AD being moved, we did have some big names get traded to new teams. Let’s get right to it.

I already talked about Porzingis to the Mavs. But, after he was traded, only a few days after, the 76ers pulled off a big deal. They traded for Tobias Harris. I know his name isn't as exciting as AD or Porzingis, but he gives the 76ers a fourth star, and a guy that will buy in and contribute to an already contending team. Harris has always fit in wherever he has played, and he is in a contract year.

The Clippers also made out pretty well in this trade, getting guys on good contracts and future picks. They are setting themselves up for the summer. They also got rid of Avery Bradley, he went to the Grizzlies, and acquired a few none essential Lakers to get off the Mike Muscala contract. They did good.

Philly traded Markelle Fultz today. I hope this works out for him, I still have a little faith, but this was for the best. They sent him to Orlando, and they got a first and second round pick and Johnathan Simmons. The 76ers still lack a real point guard, but they added a shooter, Simmons, and they added an all around good to great player in Harris. They are making their push.

Not to be outdone, the Raptors got Marc Gasol today. I know that Gasol isn't as good as he used to be, but that could have been the situation as much as age. He is now on a team that I picked to make the Finals. He gets to go play with Kawhi and Serge Ibaka and Danny Green. And the Raptors didn't have to give up too much. They let Jonas Valenciunas go, it was his time, and some other throw in names. This also helps the Grizzlies continue rebuild around Jaren Jackson. My only gripe with Memphis today, they are hanging on to Mike Conley. He deserves better than that. He should have been traded to a contender.

The Bucks got a much needed added three point shooter next to Khris Middleton in Niko Mirotic. He is really going to help spread the floor, thus giving Giannis more space to operate. They also were able to trade a disgruntled player in Thon Maker. He should be happy with the playing time he will get in Detroit.

The Pelicans added a few guys, namely Stanley Johnson. But, they got a ton of picks in return. This is just them gearing up for whatever they end up doing with AD.

In addition to Muscala, the Lakers also added Reggie Bullock. Both these moves puzzled me. How do these guys fit with the Lakers? Is Bullock going to take minutes from one of the young guys that is probably still super angry that they were bandied about in rumors? Is Muscala a better option than Tyson Chandler? I don't think so.

Harrison Barnes got traded mid game last night. But, I like his fit with the Kings. He can go in there and provide veteran leadership, and he doesn't have to be "the man". The Kings needed a wing like him if they want to continue their playoff push. And they only had to trade the hardly played Justin Jackson, and the hasn't played all year Zach Randolph for him.

Otto Porter got traded to the Bulls. If you are puzzled, you aren't alone. I do not get this trade for either team. I assumed, if Porter was to be dealt, he would go to a contender. But nope. He ended up on the Bulls. And the Wizards got Jabari Parker and Bobby Portis for him. This is probably the weirdest deal of the day in my opinion. It makes absolutely no sense for either team. This one is absurd.

Phoenix got off Ryan Anderson's contract by trading him to the Heat for Wayne Ellington and Tyler Johnson. This might be the most boring move of the deadline. It does nothing for either team. At all. There were other guys traded, but nothing that really makes a difference.

Now for AD. I love that the Pelicans didn't just give LeBron what he wanted. I love that Dell Demps told them, after they offered 6 players and 2 picks that he wanted 6 more picks. I love that they have decided to wait for the summer when the deals can get so much better. And I love that a small market team didn't just give in to the glitz and glamour of LA. Anthony Davis signed a deal through next season, and the Pelicans don't have to trade him until next year's deadline if they don't want to. They didn't let him or his agent tell them what to do. Sure, he said he wants out, but again, he is under contract for one more year. And while the Lakers deal seemed super good, there are other teams that can do better on July 1st, depending on what the Pelicans may want. I'm pretty sure that Lakers deal will still be there. But, a team like the Celtics can offer a much more enticing package centered around Jayson Tatum, and a whole bunch of picks. The Knicks, especially if they win the lottery and sing KD, would be super appealing. Or, what about the teams that would be willing to dump a good amount of quality guys for a one year rental? The Thunder did it with Paul George, and he stuck around. The Raptors are banking on, if they make the Finals, that they can convince him to stick around. Milwaukee, if the players were good enough, could pair up Giannis with AD. There are so many more opportunities that will open up this summer.

This deadline was nuts, and I'm excited to see how these guys look on their new teams. If I had to say that just one team "won" the deadline today, I would go for a tie. I love what the Clippers did, a team I despise by the way, getting a ton of picks and opening up a ton of cap space to go after AD, KD, Klay Thompson or Kawhi. And I love that the Raptors are going for it and taking on Gasol. This makes them very formidable. Those are my "winners" of the day.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

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A Few Thoughts on Anthony Davis's Future in the NBA

To no one's surprise that watches a good amount of the NBA, Anthony Davis has requested a trade from New Orleans. He has come out since this morning and said that he wants to finish the season there, and he is willing to wait until then, but he wants out.

I have a few thoughts.

First off, these players need to stop coming out and saying they want out. The players in professional sports leagues have so little power, and when they come out and request a trade, that gives all the power to their current team, and really handcuffs their wanted destination and themselves. Just wait until the offseason, and do this behind closed doors. In this day and age of social media I know that is hard, but if you put in the effort, it can be done. I just want these players to not give what little bit of power they have to the front office. Look out for you if you want to be on a different team.

Second, I'm pretty sure he wants to be a Laker. This has been the rumor all year long, and now that he has formally requested a trade, it seems like they are the one and only contender. I don't think they are, more on that in a minute. But, if he were to become a Laker this season, what changes in the West? Yes, pairing LeBron with AD would make for a great duo, but think of the players they would have to give up. I'm pretty sure the Pelicans are going to pass on all the one year contract guys. I'm pretty sure they don't want Rajon Rondo back. I'm also pretty sure they would pass on Michael Beasely, Javale McGee and Lance Stephenson. The Pelicans are going to want a humongous haul, and they are going to want the young guns. If I were them, and I was going to move AD within the conference, I would, just to start out, ask for Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma. Then, I would ask for one of Josh Hart or Kentavious Caldwell Pope, and, at the very least, 2 picks. And if the Lakers say no, I would immediately pull the offer and look for another team. If you are going to part with your best player, the player you took number one overall and have built your team around, you should want a king's ransom. And, as I said before, with AD publicly saying he wants out, the Pelicans have all the power. They hold all the cards, and if any deal isn't to their liking, they can just walk away. They can do that this offseason too. They are in prime position to get the very best deal.

So, if the Lakers are willing to trade all those guys, and picks, sure they get AD, but does that put them above the Warriors, Rockets, Nuggets, Thunder and Trailblazers? I don't think so. LeBron and AD are great, wonderful players. LeBron is the best player in league. AD may be the best big man. But those 5 teams I mentioned have a much better team around them. If AD joins the Lakers via a mega deal filled with young guys, their starting five for the playoffs would be Rondo at the 1, Hart at the 2, LeBron at the 3, AD at the 4 and that either McGee or one million year old Tyson Chandler at the 5. All 5 of the teams I mentioned are better than that Lakers lineup. So, at best, if AD were to join the Lakers, I feel like they would be the 5 seed, and a first round out in the playoffs. Those other 5 teams are so much better than them with the Blazers being closest in talent. I also think it might handcuff their future, and their ability to get another big star this offseason. That is just my opinion.

Also, I feel like the Lakers being the top bet to land him is all about GM LeBron once again. This is what he does. He goes to a team and changes it all. Coaches and young players be damned, LeBron is going to get guys he wants to play basketball with. If this trade goes down, with all the young guys, this will prove that LeBron runs the team. I will hear no one say that this was Rob Pelinka and Magic Johnson's idea. I won't buy Jeanie Buss saying that this was the plan all along. I won't hear any NBA journalist say this was a great front office move. This would all be about who LeBron wants to play the game with. I also think this trade would doom Luke Walton more than he already is. This would be the nail in his coffin, especially if they are a first round out. He is as good as gone regardless of what happens, because the "powers that be" want him out.

Finally, I want to talk about a few other teams that I think would be a possible better fit. The team I want him to join is the 76ers. I love love love the idea of him playing next to Joel Embiid. I love him running the pick and roll with Ben Simmons. I think he would be an ideal guy for Jimmy Butler because AD goes so hard. This would push them over the top, and they would only have to give up picks and a few players. I'm sure the Pelicans would take a flyer on Markelle Fultz. I'm sure they would also want some guys like JJ Redick, TJ McConnell and both of their rookies. And the 76ers would happily oblige to add AD. I like the idea of him joining the Spurs to play with Greg Poppovich. They would have to give up DeRozan, Patty Mills, Jakob Poeltl and a guy like Brynn Forbes. But man, a lineup with AD, LMA, Dejounte Murray and a few young guys they have would be nice. I think if Toronto is willing to take another guy that may leave this offseason, this would put them over the top in the East. AD and Kawhi Leonard would be better than Embiid and AD. They would lock it up on the defensive end. The Raptors would have to fracture their youth, but they have a much, much better shot at the Finals than the Lakers, so it is worth it.

When it is all said and done, I feel like AD will be a Laker, but it will come at a tremendous cost. I also think that "Laker Nation" would be ecstatic at first, but when they run into the buzz saw of teams like the Thunder, Nuggets and Rockets, it would blow up in their face. And then just imagine them facing the Warriors. The Warriors don't need any added incentive to kick team's asses, especially since Boogie is back, and looks really good. Now imagine how much they would want to destroy a team that has AD and LeBron. It would be brutal.

I wish AD would stay in New Orleans. I wish he would try and build a contender. I feel like he is taking the easy way out. I feel like the young stars in the NBA aren't used to losing, and they want to win easily, so they are taking the easy way out. I do hope, wherever he ends up, AD is happy. I enjoy watching him play, and he is great. I just don't want him to leave New Orleans. Especially not for LA.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

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Anthony Davis to the Warriors Would Also Make the NBA Unwatchable

A week ago I wrote, pleading to LeBron, to not join the Warriors. It looks like that is a pipe dream, as it should be, but the Warriors are in the mix for another superstar, and they wouldn't really have to give up too much to get him.

I have read and heard rumors that the Warriors are going to go hard after Anthony Davis this summer. First off, please, please, please do not let this happen. This would be just as bad as if LeBron joined the Warriors. I would be very hesitant to watch any of the regular season, or the playoffs, if this happened. And as I said last week, and on Monday, the NBA is only second to college football as my favorite sport to watch. But, if the Warriors are able to acquire Davis, without having to give up one of their 4 All Stars, what would be the point of watching? This would give them an actual center, even though Davis claims to be a 4, and a center who is entering his prime and was an MVP candidate last year.

The proposed package that I have seen would be Andre Iguodala, Jordan Bell and some picks for Davis. That is one of the most one sided trades that I would ever see in basketball, if it were to happen. I know that Iguodala is extremely important to the Warriors, but they can win, right now, without him. Hell, they did that for the first 3 rounds and the first 2 games of the playoffs. I know that he is their lock down defender, and one of the few guys that can "slow down" LeBron, but he is old in NBA terms. I know he is a sometimes shooter who can sometimes be lethal, but not anymore. He passed up tons of open looks in the 2 finals games he played because I think he thought he didn't have the legs. As far as Bell goes, he will be a second year guy that hasn't done much. I know he was a spark off the bench for the Warriors, and he was a solid rebounder, but isn't that is ceiling? I don't really think, as much as I like him, that Bell is ever going to become an All Star, and he will only be a starter on a team that is either tanking, or a fringe playoff contender. And I know he had his moments in the finals, but so did JaVale McGee. I think the team around him made him much better as a rookie than many thought. Then we have the picks. I know draft picks are very valuable in the NBA, but that is only lottery picks. Will the Warriors ever be in the lottery? Not unless something really terrible happens. So, that means that they will be in the 28, 29 or 30 range. There aren't too many superstars or even fringe all stars that get picked that late in the first round.

That is all the Warriors would have to give up, in this reported purposed deal, to get Anthony Davis. That is insane. The Pelicans would be insane to do this. The NBA would be stupid to let this happen. This would totally dampen down the game very, very much. The West, and this is even if LeBron goes to a West team, would be pointless. The Warriors would run ramshackle through the conference. The James thing was a rumor, but this Davis thing feels real.

Say it happens, I know that some will say this will crush their chance at depth, but I disagree. First off, a starting 5 of Davis, Draymond, KD, Steph and Klay is more than enough for this team to win 75-78 games, even if they go 50 percent. Then, I feel like they can poach ring chasers, at the league minimum, to fill out the rest of the roster. They can go out and get guys that have made money, been starters and now, just want rings. Look at David West. He was an all star before signing with the Warriors 2 years ago. Now, he is a 2 time champion who barely saw the floor in the playoffs this year. They could easily get guys like Trevor Ariza, JJ Redick, Brook Lopez and Serge Ibaka, just to name a few. These guys have been in the league long enough, that by now, all they should want are rings. They don't need the money either.

I really don't want this to happen from an esthetic point of view too. This would be, like I said, just as bad as LeBron joining, but it might be worse. Davis would fit ideally in with the Warriors. He isn't ball dominant like LeBron. He is a true center, which the Warriors need. He is young. He is entering his prime. He is a great scorer with, or without the ball. He is a great rim protector and rebounder. He has everything that the Warriors "need". But, like I said Monday and last week, it would be pointless to even watch. The outcome would be easier to pick than it has the past 4 years. I wouldn't tune in to watch a midseason game between the Warriors and Rockets. I wouldn't care about the first 3 rounds of the playoffs. I would tune in just to see who the Warriors would sweep in the Finals, but that would be about it.

I don't like where the NBA is headed. I don't like these guys jumping on the bandwagon of teams they cannot beat themselves. There is no competition anymore. Guys just want to play with their buddies. This would be like a pickup game where one team is clearly better than the other because they got all the height and skill because they all teamed up on the other players. I'm not a fan of the super teams. I'm not a fan of ring chasers. I want these players to stick it out and win a title the "right" way.

I'm pretty sure Davis will stay in New Orleans, but the fact that I am writing about it today means that this is a real thing that could really happen. Lets hope it doesn't.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on all the internet.

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The Boogie Cousins Injury Sucks

Last weekend Boogie Cousins, a center/power forward for the New Orleans Pelicans, and one of my favorite players, ruptured his Achilles. He didn't just tear it, he ruptured it. This is a brutal, brutal injury for the team and Boogie.

The Pelicans were a middling Western Conference playoff team. I believe they were in the 6th or 7th spot the night he got hurt. They have 2 All Star starters on the team, Boogie being one and Anthony Davis the other. But besides those 2, the cupboard is pretty bare in New Orleans. Jrue Holiday is a very solid point guard. He is the only other player on their roster that can get buckets and create for other guys. The Pelicans are paying him way too much money, but his deal was more to keep Davis happy, and to try and get Boogie to sign this offseason. Outside these three guys, the Pelicans roster is filled with either rookies or unproven veterans. In fact, some of the guys seeing critical minutes and starting games should be in the G League. That is how brutal this roster construct is.

Coach Alvin Gentry is doing an okay job, but he may be better suited as an assistant at this point in his career. His one saving grace, and the reason the Pelicans are clinging to a playoff spot right now, is due to his version of the twin towers. When Boogie and AD played together, the Pelicans would win games, or at least make them interesting. AD had been relatively healthy this year and he is looking like the perennial all star that many pegged him to be when he came into the league. He has extended his range, he is a great rebounder, he is one of the best rim protectors in the NBA, he is one of the best rim runners in the league and he is a matchup nightmare every night.

Boogie has been out of his mind this season. He was putting up double doubles like no one's business. He has had some games of 30 plus points and 15 plus rebounds. That is amazing. He does lack effort on the defensive end, which needs to be fixed, but he has not been the headache that he was while in Sacramento. He was also rebounding at an amazing clip. He is in a contract year, and he is playing like it.

Then, the injury occurred. I was actually watching the game when it happened. When and how it happened makes this even worse. The Pelicans were on their way to a win over the Rockets. He and AD had played very well. They were up about 4 points with about 2 minutes left in the game and Boogie was going to the line to add to their lead. He made the first free throw, but then the second one happened. When he put up the shot it looked to be short, and he tried to chase down the rebound. The shot was very short, it grazed the front rim, and Boogie tore off the free throw line to try and grab it. As he took off from the line, something looked wrong. He came up lame right away. Right after he planted and took off, it looked like he was buckling under pressure from his legs. He then tried to get up and he immediately went right back down to the floor. Something was horribly, horribly wrong. His face showed it, the trainers got him off the floor ASAP, which is never a good sign, and the reports were that he was going back for an MRI right away. None of that is good news.

The early reports would only say that the news was "not good". I assumed that he tore his ACL. That is what it looked like to me. I've watched enough sports and seen enough injuries like this, I knew it was bad. But, I did not know it was worse than a torn ACL. He ruptured that shit. That is horrific. That is a tough injury to come back from. Just ask Wesley Matthews. He was tearing the league apart, ruptured his Achilles, missed a year and now he is on a terrible Mavericks team and he is an average player. Boogie is better than Wes Matthews, but still, he has a long road to recovery ahead of him. It is going to take him months before he can even get back on a court again.

Then, it will take a few more months for him to get back into playing shape. I don't doubt that he can do it, but he may not be the player that he has been his entire career up to this point. I mean, 75 percent of what he was is still an All Star, but he was a force. He was a nightmare. He was someone that teams had to openly prepare for. He is an old school bully of a center/power forward who just happens to have modern skills. His first step is amazing, and he can shoot from outside.

I think what makes this the worst for him though, he was going to get paid this offseason. He is in the final year of his contract, and he was most definitely going to get the max. Be it the Pelicans, or any other team that needed a 4 or 5, he was going to get the 5 year 200 million dollar contract for sure. Now, I don't know. He will still get paid, but maybe more teams will be hesitant to give him the years and the money. If I were a betting man I'd say he will get a 3 year deal worth much less than 200 million dollars. That stinks for him.

I hope he gets better soon, but it will be a long while before we see Boogie on the floor. I love watching Boogie Cousins, so I am very upset by this injury. This stinks and I wish star players in the major professional sports would stop getting such devastating injuries. This is just a real bummer. Get better soon Boogie, the NBA needs you.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

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Was the 2017 NBA All Star Weekend Worth a Watch?

Next year the game should be played on the blacktop of any local school

Last weekend was NBA All Star weekend. This is a three day period that I very much look forward to. I love all the extra stuff that the NBA does leading up to the All Star game on Sunday night. I watch it all. I watch the skills competition, the celebrity game, the three point contest, the rising stars game and the dunk contest. I usually find it all very, very enjoyable. In fact, I wrote last year around this time that I thought that the dunk contest was back after the show that Zach Lavine and Aaron Gordon put on, even though some think that Gordon got robbed, I personally do not. For the most part, last year's skills competition, three point contest, dunk contest, I found it all very exciting. I was very hopeful that this year would be the same.

Unfortunately, All Star weekend was a pretty big let down this year. It was quite dull in fact. The rising stars game was fun, I do have to say. It was cool to see the World rising stars play the US rising stars. I like that format since the NBA is a global phenomenon. Jamal Murray looked every bit as good as people said he was leading up to the draft and Johnathan Simmons is an inspiration to guys that may not think they have a shot at the NBA, but if they put in the work, they can make it. Other than those 2, Nikola Jokic and Karl Anthony Towns were the only other standouts.

The celebrity game prior to that was a complete dud. Winn Butler from Arcade Fire takes it way, way too seriously. Master P was an absolute nightmare. Go watch the "highlights". The famous NBA impersonator, his name escapes me now, is a really good player, but he was trying way too hard to capitalize on his 15 minutes of fame. The only true highlight, and what saved the game, was the 7 year old child with a rare disease coming on the court, showing some sick dribbling skills and draining his only shot attempt. That kid and that moment was great. He should have been the MVP of the game, not only for the shot, but for the whole weekend. This kid was so funny and so much fun to watch allAll Star weekend long.

Then, we went to Saturday night. I recorded all of the competition stuff because I did not want to watch commercials so I could fully enjoy each event. They started off with the skills competition, and unfortunately, that was the "best" part of the night. I like the new setup of "Bigs" versus "Littles". It's pretty cool to see these big guys, each 6'9 or taller, going up against guards who are wonderful at the skills they put in the event. I was certain that Isaiah Thomas was going to win. He did great in the first two rounds, breezing by the completion, but when he went up against Gordon Hayward, he could not knock down the three and Hayward made one on his fourth try. Kristaps Porzingis, as far as "Bigs" went, looked pretty impressive. He was dribbling by the cones easily, putting the pass through the net with no problem, making the layup and dribbling down court for the pull up three. He breezed by all the "Bigs", and faced Hayward for the title. Again, Porzingis eased his way to victory, draining a pull up three with ease. It was an okay start to the night.

But, it got worse from there.

The three point contest was next, and I was hoping for Klay Thompson to do something like he did last season, but he did not even make it out of the opening round. In fact, most of the shooters looked a bit off all night. Shots were either short or very long. On some racks guys would find a rhythm but on the next rack, they'd brick 4 of the 5 shots. Wes Matthews and CJ McCollum did not do well. As I said, Klay was bounced before the second round. The only 2 who did any good were Kyrie Irving and Eric Gordon, and that is who made it to the finals. They had a decent final, it went to a 60 second overtime, and Gordon came out on top. But, I think it was partly due to the fact that Irving got tired and knew he needed to save himself for the All Star game on Sunday night. There were no amazing numbers put up by any contestant and the final, even with an overtime, was pretty bland.

The dunk contest was next, and this was a flaming bag of garbage. First off, no Zach Lavine. He said he wasn't going to do it before he got injured, but man did the dunk contest need him. At least we had Aaron Gordon, and his first attempt, with the drone, could have been amazing. But, Gordon looked like he was tired, and he just did not have it in him to do anything coming close to what he did last year. It took him four attempts on the first try with the drone before he finally put one dunk through the hoop. By then though, he already looked defeated. Glenn Robinson III had a pretty good first round dunk, dunking over 2 people backwards, but they gave him a perfect 50. No way was that dunk a 50. DeAndre Jordan should not have been in this contest. Seven footers never really do anything great in dunk contests. They are so big and do not have to have the amazing vertical that shorter guys have to do these amazing dunks. Jordan dunked over a DJ booth, but it was not that interesting, or that hard for a pro, for that matter. He was scored accordingly. Then there was the unknown Derrick Jones Jr. All week leading up to this contest people talked about what a leaper he is, and how he was going to replace Lavine no problem. Well, his leaping ability is nothing to shake your head at. In fact, I was very impressed at how high he can jump. But, the problem, he kept missing dunks. It took him 4 attempts to put one through in the first round. This contest hearkened back to the days of Nate Robinson, who I believe one time attempted like 25 dunks before putting one in, and that is not a good thing. By the time a dunker is on his third or fourth try, as a viewer, I check out. It is not impressive to me anymore. Derrick Jones Jr eventually put down a sweet windmill off a pass off the side of the backboard that he also put between his legs, but other than that, the contest was a total waste. Glenn Robinson III won, but it was basically by default due to all the misses Derrick Jones Jr had in the final round. This dunk contest stunk. It was real bad. I knew last year's would be hard to follow up, but this was a nightmare. It was boring and pointless.

Finally, we had the All Star game on Sunday night. The game went exactly as I expected. The dunks were so much better in the game than they were in the dunk contest. Giannis Antentekoumpo threw down thunderous dunk after thunderous dunk. Anthony Davis was hammering home alley oops. LeBron was putting on a show. Steph Curry got in a few dunks. John Wall was going hard with his left hand. Any dunk in the game was better than any dunk in the dunk contest. But, a lot of dunks were missed too. That was kind of a bummer.

No defense was played, but I definitely thought that was going to happen. People that are complaining about the lack of defense are the same people that would complain if these guys went out and tried as if the All Star game is not a glorified exhibition. They are the same people that praise guys like Pete Rose when he runs over a catcher in the MLB All Star game. They are all old, curmudgeon sports writers that claim the game is not competitive and needs to be changed. It does not. The people tuning in want to see a million points. I was hopeful that at least one of the teams would eclipse 200 points. I do not expect the players to go 100 percent on defense and I expect the players to let these guys get off crazy dunks and shoot open shots. I say again, it is an exhibition game. I do not want players to hurt themselves trying too hard in the All Star game. I was completely fine with all the points and broken records and lack of defense. None of that stuff bothered me. I think it is great that Anthony Davis shattered Wilt Chamberlin's scoring total in the All Star game. I loved seeing him go for 52, in his home arena. I loved his array of dunks. I do not care that he took 39 shots. The people complaining about that need to let it go. It was known that everyone on the West was going to defer to Davis. I also loved seeing Russell Westbrook go for 40 plus, KD getting a triple double, LeBron putting on a dunk show, everything Giannis did. I thought it was a very entertaining All Star game, and the second best thing from the weekend, behind only the 7 year old kid.

2017 in New Orleans was a very inconsistent All Star weekend. There were 2 good things, the game itself and the kid, but everything else I thought was pretty rough. I wonder if this will lead to some changes. I guess we will have to wait until next year to find out. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He will maybe give the NFL Pro Bowl another shot if a team can score over 200 points. Just don't get in Kirk Cousins way. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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The Biggest Trade in the NBA Just Happened Because the Sacramento Kings are a Joke

It is tiring trying to figure out the King's plan

I have many ideas for pieces this week, but something real big happened in the NBA last night. That means my NBA All Star weekend wrap up will have to wait, and my reviews of the season premiere of "Bar Rescue" and "John Wick: Chapter 2" will have to wait a few days.

As I'm sure most, if not all, NBA fans know that Boogie Cousins got traded to the Pelicans last night for next to nothing. I know that I said the biggest name was already dealt, with Serge Ibaka heading to Toronto, but this trade is, by far, the biggest trade that will happen no matter what else, if anything, happens before Thursday's deadline. Even if someone like Jimmy Butler, Paul Milsap, Blake Griffin or Gordon Hayward gets dealt, doesn't matter. Boogie is the biggest name. I did not think that Boogie would get traded this year. I figured, there is only about 25 games left in the regular season, and the Kings are somehow still in the playoff race, so I just assumed that they'd ride it out through the rest of this year.

I guess I was wrong.

The timing of the deal is incredibly weird as well. I mean, this happened literally about an hour after the All Star game ended. The All Star game was in New Orleans, so Boogie technically does not have to leave, but still, very weird timing. I did think that something was a bit off because Boogie barely played, but I assumed that he had a minor injury and that he was just resting. But, after watching the All Star game, then looking at Twitter and Bleacher Report and other sports websites, all of the sudden, I see this breaking trade. I did not believe it at first. I thought it would fall through and neither team would be able to come up with an equal deal. I mean, what do the Pelicans have that the Kings covet? Nothing besides Anthony Davis, but he is pretty much untouchable. But, much to mine and everyone else's surprise, the deal went through, and the Kings got absolutely fleeced.

More on that in a minute, I want to talk about the pairing of Boogie and Davis. On paper, this looks great. This is one of the best front court's in the history of the NBA. Two young stars, in their prime, averaging a double double each and playing exceptional on both ends of the floor. It should be an absolute slam dunk. But, the pessimist in me does not think that they will be able to coexist, and they are fighting to get the 8th spot in the West, which means they will face the Warriors in the first round, and probably get swept. If that happens, I do not see anyway that the Pelicans will be able to resign Boogie this offseason. He will want to move to a team in title contention. Davis is a great, great, great player, but he is who New Orleans needs to build around. He and Boogie essentially play the same position and the Pelicans have already tried something akin to this when they signed Omer Asik. Now, Asik is not 1/1,000th the player that Boogie is, but it is the same idea. Two big guys, one scorer and one all around guy, but it just did not work out. There was not enough space in the post. Davis can float out to the perimeter, but I think he is a much better slasher and rebounder going to the basket. Unfortunately for him, Boogie is a low post player, an absolute excellent one, and he will be clogging up that lane. So, while it looks great on paper, and I really want it to work out, I just do not think it will work. There is not enough time for them to get any continuity and they will be an easy out for a higher seeded West team, that is, if they make the playoffs. Looks great on paper, I just don't see it working on the court.

Now, the Kings. My oh my did they get absolutely robbed. This deal makes the Kings front office, and mainly Vlade Divac, look so under qualified to run a NBA team. Boogie is easily a top 10, top 5 in my personal opinion, NBA player. He is a throwback center, but he has expanded his game and he plays more defense now, and can sometimes hit a mid range jumper. The trade rumors have always been around. He is a headache, a coach killer, a ball stopper, a malcontent, everything nasty that can be said about a player has been said abut him, but it always ended with the caveat that he is an elite player. So, if you are going to trade him, you need an elite level trade package, no matter what baggage Boogie may bring with him. When the rumors started a few years back, it was always Boogie for another star, or a plethora of very high, unprotected picks. It was always looked at as a blockbuster. It needed to be big time.

What did the Kings get in return you ask? They got 2 picks, a 2017 first and second rounder, probably in the high teens in the first round and mid forties in the second round, and Buddy Hield and Tyreke Evans. The picks are fine, but not Boogie Cousins fine. As I said, if you are going to trade Boogie for picks, you need unprotected lottery picks, not some mid first rounder and mid second rounder. That is insane and stupid. Then, you get an unproven rookie, Buddy Hield. I really like Buddy Hield, and I think he can be a very good pro, but he is a rookie that has struggled so far. His shot is not falling and his defense is not up to task yet. Now, he is going to one of the most dysfunctional franchise in the NBA. That will only hurt his game. He will not figure it out for awhile, if ever, playing for the Kings. They have not had a prospect grow into a decent NBA player, Boogie being the lone exception, in over a decade. Look at the list. Guys like Jimmer Fredette, Ben McLemore, Nik Stauskas, Ray McCallum Jr, Thomas Robinson, Orlando Johnson and Tyler Honeycutt. By my count, only one of those guys is still on the team, McLemore, only 2 are still in the NBA, Stauskas and Robinson, and who knows about the rest. Apparently Jimmer scored 73 points in a game in China, but he was recently cut from a D League team, so I take very little stock in his high point totals. Basically, with rookies, the Kings don't have a good track record. I feel bad for Buddy Hield.

They also got Tyreke Evans, in a return to his first team, but he is wildly inconsistent and has never really put it together in the NBA. He has moments, but more so than not, he has been a very mediocre NBA player. His addition to the trade adds nothing at all. It was basically a throw on at the last moment in some kind of saving face, but it still makes this trade look really bad.

Funny side note. People have even tried to make this trade on the video game "NBA 2K17", and the game says that the trade is too unfair for the Kings. So, that means artificial intelligence is smarter than the Kings front office.

This is an absolute disaster for the Kings. This puts their franchise even further away from rebuilding. They are going to be very, very bad for what seems to be another decade now. If they couldn't win and make the playoffs with Boogie, how on Earth are they going to win with a bunch of castoffs that haven't proven themselves in the NBA in their short careers? I mean, a starting five of Darren Collison, Ben McLemore, Buddy Hield, Kosta Koufos and Willie Cauley-Stein is worse than anything the 76ers or the Lakers or even the Nets will put out on a NBA floor. This trade is real bad and real shocking. I hope, but don't think, it will work out for the Pelicans, and I know that this trade just set the Kings back for at least another decade.

The Kings got fleeced and they don't seem to care, or even realize it. At least Boogie got out of there and he may end up loving New Orleans and playing with Davis. But if he doesn't, he is a free agent and will have his pick of teams to sign with this summer. The biggest winner, by a country mile in this very bad trade, is Boogie.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is putting his name into the conversation to be the GM of the Kings. How could he do any worse. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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Ty Tells You How each NBA Team Can Win the Title: Pelicans, Mavericks, and the Bulls

Day 4 of my NBA countdown features teams 21, 20 and 19. These teams are good, but they could be better, or it is just a weird collection of players that I don't think will work out that well, or they are way too old to be highly competitive anymore.

Coming in at number 21, I have the New Orleans Pelicans. This team should be so much better than what they put out there on the floor. I know they had a ton of injuries last year, but that doesn't excuse their horrendous start, and the total lack of defense they "played". I really like their coach, Alvin Gentry, but I think he is better fitted to be an assistant as opposed to the head coach. He did great things while in Phoenix, but that was another team that he was the head man for, and they never reached their full potential. The roster has some great players, but they either get hurt too much, play hero ball or just haven't figured it out yet. Look, I'm about as big an Anthony Davis fan as there is. He is the new wave of centers. He can score in the post, rebound, block shots, run the floor, shoot the three and guard multiple positions. But, he has not been able to stay healthy for one full season since he has been in the league. I think he is a legitimate MVP candidate, if he can stay healthy. Unfortunately, that is a big if. He has all the tools, he just needs to not get injured. I really like their pick of Buddy Hield. As you all know by now, I would have taken Hield over any of the "one and done" players in this most recent draft. I love his game, he can score at will, and he will learn to play defense. He and Anthony Davis should make a fine pair. But, as I look at the rest of the roster, I don't see much. Omer Asik is done. He is garbage now. He can't score, he can't rebound and he doesn't defend like he used to. He and Davis were supposed to be the ultimate rim protectors, but Asik has not lived up to it. Tyreke Evans is not that good either. Sure, he can go for 30 one night, but the next night, he will go for 5 or 6 points on 2 of 15 shooting. He is exactly like Jeff Green. Has all the tools, but can never put it all together for a full season. Jrue Holiday is a very good point guard, but he too, much like Davis, just can't stay healthy. Kendrick Perkins was washed up in OKC, Solomon Hill is, at best, a tenth man off the bench, Norris Cole is a waste of a roster spot, Langston Galloway shouldn't even be in the NBA and they signed Lance Stephenson. Why on Earth would anyone want him on their team? He is a team killer. Their other pick in the most recent draft, Cheick Diallo, barely played in college, so who knows what he brings to the table. This team has one super star, one rookie that should be good, and nothing after that. The Pelicans will hover around 35 wins, depending on health.

So Ty, how will the Pelicans win the title? The only way they win the title is if Davis stays healthy and is the MVP, not impossible, Holiday stays healthy and continues to be lightening quick and the rest of the roster plays the best basketball of their lives, impossible. I feel sorry for Anthony Davis because he is a great player stuck on a mediocre team. Maybe Buddy Hield will be the guy they need to be Davis' sidekick.

At number 20 I have the Dallas Mavericks. This team would be much lower, like near the 76ers and Lakers, if Rick Carlisle wasn't the coach. He is one NBA coach that is near Poppovich's level. The Mavs still have Dirk, but isn't he like a trillion years old? How much game does he really have left? I know he is a great shooter, but he is a total liability on defense, he can't rebound and his legs are going to give out on him soon. Wes Matthews played pretty well last year, coming off a torn ACL, but he may be the new first option for the Mavs. Can he handle that? I don't think so. He is a good spot up shooter and a good slasher, but to be the main guy, that doesn't suit his game. They did end up with Harrison Barnes and Andrew Bogut, after the whole KD signing, but does that even matter? Barnes looked atrocious in the finals. He couldn't make anything, and he was wide open. He also got abused on defense, but the Mavs gave him a max deal. Maybe he needs a change of scenery, but I just can't shake how bad he was in the finals. Bogut is a fine rim protector, but he is always injured, he cannot run anymore and his offense is non existent. He brings nothing to this team. Seth Curry, not Steph, signed with the Mavs, but he is, at best, your tenth or eleventh guy off the bench. The Mavs will look for more out of him, and I don't think he can do it. Deron Williams is still there, and while he played okay last year at times, his career was over while he was in Brooklyn. The rest of the roster has guys like Charlie Villanueva, Jose Barea, Justin Anderson, Devin Harris and Dwight Powell. Anderson and Powell are young, but not really all that good, and the rest of those guys, they are dinosaurs when it comes to NBA age. The Mavs will step back to about 30-35 wins, at best, this year.

So Ty, how will the Mavericks win the title? They can win the title if they find a fountain of youth, everyone drinks from it, returns to their primes and Harrison Barnes plays like a completely different player than what we saw in the finals. It's too far fetched.

At number 19, just missing out on the playoffs, I have the Chicago Bulls. This team is so much like the Knicks, with one major difference, it is scary. First off, I loved when they moved Derrick Rose to New York for Robin Lopez. I thought that was one of the best offseason decisions, but everything after that, total chaos. To go out and sign Dwayne Wade and Rajon Rando made absolutely no sense at all. First off, those two guys hate each other. Go back and watch some old Boston-Miami games, they despise one another. Second, they are both ball dominant players. Spoiler alert, there is only one ball, so only one guy can have it at a time. Third, Wade is only good for about 41 games of full effort now and Rando, he couldn't hit the ocean with a pebble. This may end up being a disaster. The only reason they aren't as low as the Knicks is Jimmy Butler. He is a much, much, much better all around player than Carmelo Anthony ever was/is/will be. Butler is a great defender, a great scorer, a great slasher and an awesome teammate. I would take him one hundred times out of one hundred to be on my team over Carmelo. He is the one reason the Bulls aren't as low as the Knicks. But, how will he fare playing alongside Rando and Wade? Will he get the touches he has earned? Who knows, but Jimmy Butler deserves better. He is an awesome basketball player. From there you have guys like Doug McDermott, average shooter, horrible defender, Nikola Mirotic, great shooter, even worse defender than McDermott, Taj Gibson, good glue guy, but not great at any single thing, Robin Lopez, good big man, but not even the best Lopez brother and Bobby Portis and Tony Snell, neither has had a real chance to play all that much. Not a loaded roster. I think Denzel Valentine could be good for them, but I don't know how often he will see the floor, considering all the three point shooters they seem to think they already have. He is a much better defender right now than both Mirotic and McDermott though. The Bulls could be the first team to crack 40 wins, or they could totally implode with this odd roster and only win 25 games. I'll go with the 40 wins because I think Jimmy Butler is that good.

So Ty, how will the Bulls win the title? The Bulls could win the title if all these weird pieces find a way to coexist and play team basketball, and the Cavs or Celtics or Raptors suffer catastrophic injuries to their star players. I just think teaming up Rondo and Wade, while you already have a great, young star, is going to blow up in their faces. What an odd offseason the Bulls had.

That does it for today. come back tomorrow for the next three teams. We are finally at the playoff eligible teams. Woo hoo!

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. What a difference a year makes. Both New Orleans and Chicago were in his top ten teams last year. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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DeAndre Jordan Does Not Belong on the NBA First Team

DeAndre Jordan should not even be warming the first team's bench

Yesterday the NBA released their all NBA teams. The teams were pretty much what we all expected. The first team had LeBron, Russell Westbrook, Steph Curry, Kawhi Leonard and DeAndre Jordan. The second team had Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, Damien Lillard, Boogie Cousins and Chris Paul. The third, and final team, had Klay Thompson, LaMarcus Aldridge, Paul George, Andre Drummond and Kyle Lowry.

They got it right for the most part.

As far as snubs go, maybe flip Durant and Westbrook, but I don't think it really matters, they are both great and they both deserve a spot. Anthony Davis was hurt, but when he was in there, he was great, and he lost 24 million dollars by not making the team. If Kyle Lowry made all NBA, I think DeMar DeRozan deserved equal consideration. Other than that, they got everything right except for one humongous, glaring, gaping hole on that first team.

How on Earth does a player like DeAndre Jordan make first team all NBA? He shouldn't be on any of these all NBA teams. All he is good for is rebounding and dunking. His defense isn't anywhere near elite. His offense is a joke. His free throw shooting is even worse. His demeanor on the court is garbage. He carries himself so poorly. He isn't even the best player on his team. He isn't even the second best player on his team. When you look at the other first team players, those players were the best players on their team this year, and yes, Westbrook was better all year than Durant, that is a fact. DeAndre Jordan is way behind Chris Paul, and even though he is an abusive man child that whines and complains and blames everything on everyone else and never comes up big when the Clippers need him most, Blake Griffin is still better than DeAndre Jordan. Hell, guys like Paul Pierce, Jamal Crawford, and at times, even Jeff Green were more crucial to the Clippers than DeAndre Jordan.

DeAndre Jordan is a problem for this Clippers team. He cannot be counted on late in games because his low post game is non existent and his free throw shooting is the worst that I have ever seen. He is worse than Drummond. Hell, he is a worse free throw shooter than Rajon Rando, and Rajon Rando is a garbage free throw shooter. His defense is not nearly as threatening as it was a year or two ago. People attacked him way more this year and would score or draw fouls on him more often than him getting a block or altering the shot. And on offense, unless it is a lob from Chris Paul for an alley oop, he is completely useless. He is a poor screener. He rolls away from the rim way too often on pick and rolls. He cannot move in the low post. He can't shoot free throws, so he obviously is no threat to shoot jumpers. When he gets the ball in the high post, he is so quick to give it up for fear of getting fouled, or having the ball stolen from him. He is a problem on this Clippers team when they have to run half court offense.

With all those problems, the people that vote on all NBA put DeAndre Jordan on the first team. What a joke. Why was he even considered? Is it the LA thing? Since the Lakers are a dumpster fire, do the writers, most of whom live in LA, feel like they need to have someone, no matter how crappy they are, from an LA team be on the all NBA first team? That's not fair. With DeAndre Jordan being first team all NBA, I'm surprised these dip shit voters didn't put Kobe Bryant on any of the all NBA teams. Then, to vote DeAndre Jordan over guys like Boogie Cousins, LMA, Andre Drummond, what a crock and slap in their faces. LaMarcus Aldridge completely overhauled his game to fit in with the Spurs, and they were a great regular season team, due to him and Kawhi Leonard. LMA definitely deserved that spot more than Jordan. While Andre Drummond is an equally terrible free throw shooter, he is a much better rebounder, defender, low post threat and teammate than Jordan will ever be. I'd take Andre Drummond 10 times out of 10 before I'd take Jordan if I were starting a team and I had to pic between the two of them for my center spot. Then there's Boogie Cousins. While he may be uncoachable and a very tough player to play with, Cousins is the best center in the NBA. He has all the tools that the old time centers had and he can also run and shoot the way the newer bigs can. Boogie Cousins is a tremendous talent that deserves that first team spot so much more than DeAndre Jordan. Cousins is a better rebounder, defender, and is so far ahead of Jordan on offense, it is almost laughable that he didn't get the first team spot. If I were Boogie Cousins I'd take this very personal and go at DeAndre Jordan every shot I get for the rest of my NBA career. Then there are guys that didn't make any all NBA teams that I would take well before I take Jordan. I'd take Anthony Davis, Steven Adams, Serge Ibaka, Bismak Biyombo, Al Horford, Paul Millsap and many more centers and power forwards before I'd even consider DeAndre Jordan.

The love for Jordan needs to stop and stop now. He is a very marginal NBA center. If he did not have Chris Paul throwing him passes, he may be out of the league, that is how overrated I truly think DeAndre Jordan is. The voters got this one terribly wrong. I don't think anyone could pose an argument that would sway me on this. This is a joke and this proves how useless and pointless all these all NBA teams are. Who in the hell cares, all the fans know who are the best players in the league, and Deandre Jordan is not one of the top five. He isn't even one of the top 25 players in the league. What a crock is truly is that he made first team all NBA. He should be getting rewarded for his mediocre play all season. This was a huge mistake.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He looks forward to the day when NBA writers value the players skill more than their geographical location. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Is it Time to Give Up on The OKC Thunder?

The hoop is a symbol of the current state of the Thunder

I know that in my NBA mid season review and my NBA preseason preview I had the OKC Thunder as a dark horse championship contender. Yes, they're my favorite team, but I legitimately thought, at full strength, they could compete with the Warriors, Spurs and Cavs. They have two of the five best players in the game on their team. Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant are lights out. They are superior scorers and a threat to anyone that the opposition puts on the floor. After those two guys, with Serge Ibaka being the lone exception, they're pretty thin. Sure, Steven Adams is a good defender and rebounder and Anthony Morrow is a good shooter, but guys like Dion Waiters, Kyke Singler and Enes Kanter do not make a title contending team.

The Thunder do have the third best record in the West, and in the league I believe, but last nights game, that they absolutely blew to the Clippers, shut down any hopes of winning a title that I had. The hopes were pretty fleeting to begin with, the Warriors are historically good and the Spurs are the Spurs, but I still had hope because of Durant and Westbrook. They both played good last night, except for the dumb three that Westbrook took with 10 seconds left, but they always perform. It's the rest of the team that concerns me. In the first half of last nights game, they couldn't miss. Same couldn't be said in the second half, they were ice cold. Not only were they missing shots, but they were playing no defense and looked undisciplined. It was frustrating. They are so Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde. The Thunder will look unbeatable during one half, but then they turn a switch and they look like a mid level Eastern Conference team the next half.

Last nights game wasn't the only time this has happened. They've looked very mediocre since the all star break ended. They can't close teams out, i.e. The Warriors game last week. They had that game won multiple times, but they couldn't close it out. Sure, Curry hit a miraculous shot to win, but the Thunder should've never been in that position. They had that game won, but they found a way to blow it. They also have trouble putting away, or even beating teams they should beat. Take the recent Pelicans game. The Pelicans have no one besides Anthony Davis, but the Thunder decided they didn't have to play hard and decided to not play defense and they lost to a very mediocre team. They've looked downright bad since the break. I don't know if it's coaching or they don't have what it takes or the talent drops off way too much after Westbrook, Durant and Ibaka, but something is wrong.

Yes, the Thunder will make the playoff and even win a round or two, but when they have to play the Spurs or Warriors, they will get scorched. I want to believe in them, but they've done nothing lately that lets me believe in them. They're in a bad funk and they need to get out of it before they get trounced in the playoffs to an inferior team.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He wants to believe in the Thunder, but reality keeps getting in the way. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Mid Season Checkup on Ty's NBA Predictions.

Ty's picks are actually in better shape than the hoop.

Now that we have made it to the All Star break in the NBA, I want to go back and look at my giant, 10 day NBA preview I did before the season and see how it looks now. I did get some things wrong, we all do, and I will address those first, but I feel like I picked the top teams pretty well, with one exception.

So, before I pat myself on the back, let's get to the stuff I was off base on. First of all, I was way off on the New Orleans Pelicans, the Dallas Mavericks, the Portland Trailblazers, the Houston Rockets, the Washington Wizards and the Milwaukee Bucks. In the case of the Pelicans, I thought they'd be much, much better than they've shown this season. Sure, they've suffered a plethora of injuries, but they just don't look like that good of a team right now. I watched them play the OKC Thunder last night and they got blown out. The game wasn't even competitive mid way through the third quarter. Sure, they didn't have Eric Gordon and Tyreke Evans, but they still have Anthony Davis, my preseason MVP and Defensive Player of the Year winner. Davis has looked good, but he was supposed to look great. He was supposed to be the new face of the NBA. He hasn't shown that he is ready to take the next step, but he still has time. This is a lost year for the Pelicans. Too many injuries and a terrible start doomed them. They should blow it up and try to get a decent pick to add next to Davis.

I also thought that the Bucks would be a much better team than they are right now. They haven't really had to deal with any injuries, they just can't play competent defense and they have no go to scorer. Giannis Antentekoumpo has not taken the leap he was expected to take, becoming kind of a nuisance. Jabari Parker has not lived up to the hype that he can be a top tier scorer and he plays no defense whatsoever. The Greg Monroe signing has been an absolute disaster and their back court is mediocre at best. They have looked pretty awful this year. They already had their highlight of their season, when they ended Golden State's perfect start.

The Washington Wizards can't stay healthy and they can't get John Wall any kind of significant help. Wall is a star. He is one of, if not the, top point guard in the NBA, but he has no help at all. Bradley Beal was supposed to be his wingman, but he can't stay healthy and when he is in there, he's been ice cold from the field. Marcin Gortat looks slow and is not scoring like he did a year ago. Nene looks disinterested and I wouldn't be surprised if he gets traded. Otto Porter Jr has been hit or miss and other than those guys, they have very average NBA players. But, it all really boils down to piss poor coaching from Randy Whitman. The fact he still has a job is ridiculous. He is the one wasting John Wall's talent. I feel bad for John Wall because he's a really great basketball player.

The Houston Rockets have been a mess from the start of preseason. James Harden decided he'd rather party than stay in shape. Dwight Howard can't get touches, but he also mopes and complains more than any NBA player I've ever watched. The trade for Ty Lawson, which I loved, has been a complete disaster. And this team, as a whole, plays absolutely no defense. The offense they run is equally terrible. I swear, they tell Harden to dribble for 20 seconds, then either shoot a 3 or try to drive to draw a foul. It's atrocious. They fired their coach after 11 games, but they haven't been any better since letting McHale go. As was reported last night, this is truly "a broken team".

Now, to get away from teams I thought would be good that aren't so good to teams that I expected to take a step back, but are playing much better than I thought. First, the Trailblazers. They traded away 4/5 of their starting lineup and made some interesting offseason moves, but damn it if it isn't kind of working for them. They lost LaMarcus Aldridge, Robin Lopez, Wes Matthews and Nic Batum, but still find themselves in the playoff race. If they do end up making the playoffs, it will be as an eight seed and they will get crushed by Golden State, but I thought there was no way they'd win more than 25 games this year. Damien Lillard really is that good.

The other team that I kind of crapped on, thought they were too old and that they missed out on some key free agency moves, the Dallas Mavericks, have been very competitive. Dirk is still Dirk. He is still getting 18 to 20 points per game and his jump shot is still unguardable. Wes Matthews, their only free agent signing after the DeAndre Jordan fiasco, has been great, coming off a torn ACL. He has actually looked really good, considering his injury. Chandler Parsons has been okay, he just does what he does, and that's enough for this team. But, Deron Williams has been rejuvenated by his move to Dallas. He was done in Brooklyn. His career seemed to be over, but he has played some pretty good basketball since joining the Mavericks, much to mine, and everyone else's surprise. He looks like a decent NBA point guard again. You have also got to give a lot of love to Rick Carlisle for the job he's doing with this team. He is a top of the line NBA coach. .

Now, let's get to the stuff I was on the mark with in my preseason preview. Golden State and San Antonio have been great. Golden State, whom I've written about a couple of times already, has been historically great. They are the most fun to watch NBA team that I've ever seen. Steph Curry is the best player in the NBA, no questions about it, and they also have Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Harrison Barnes, Andrew Bogut and Andre Igoudala, and I could name a lot more. They are so, so good.

The Spurs are right there as well. The Aldridge signing has been great and Aldridge has taken very easily to playing the "Spurs Way". David West, who they signed for the veterans minimum, has been a great addition as well. Then they still have Kawhi Leonard, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli. I know Ginobli just recently got hurt, but they can plug Patty Mills, Danny Green, or anyone on their bench to take over until Ginobli returns. Sure, they got blown out by the Warriors recently, but the Spurs save their best for the playoffs. I still really like the Spurs to compete for the title this year.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have been pretty good as well, yet no one is really talking about them. They won their 40th game last night and Kevin Durant looks like he is 100 percent back. To go along with Durant, Russell Westbrook is still doing all the great and reckless things he does on the court, but he's found a way for it to help his team this year. Serge Ibaka is still one of the top rim protector and he has increased his range all the way out to the three point line. Steven Adams is the new Bill Laimbeer and the rest of the team knows their place. Andre Roberson is a lock down defender, DJ Augustin and Cameron Payne are strictly there to give Westbrook short breaks. Enes Kanter is instant offense off the bench and Dion Waiters, when he is on, can score in bunches. OKC is lurking and I wouldn't want to play them in the playoffs if I were either San Antonio or Golden State.

In the East, there are two teams and that is it. The Cavs, another team I've written plenty about, is the best team in the East, but they have a problem with their roster and since they fired David Blatt, Tyronn Lue hasn't really set the NBA coaching world on fire. I wouldn't be surprised if they make some moves, trading guys like Kevin Love, Timofey Mozgov and/or Tristan Thompson or Anderson Varajo and bringing in more shooters, but it won't matter, they will still lose in the Finals. LeBron James and Kyrie Irving are great, but then you have guys like JR Smith, Iman Shumpert, Matthew Dellavedova and James Jones that are playing critical minutes in the playoffs. LeBron the GM needs to make better player personnel decisions and sign good NBA players, not his buddies.

The other team from the East that is setting the world on fire completely took me by surprise. I thought the Toronto Raptors would be good, but not this good. DeMr DeRozan and Kyle Lowry are playing All Star level basketball, although Lowry is the only one that made the team. Jonas Valenciunas is becoming that rebounder and low post scorer that they need him to be. Corey Joseph has been awesome since he signed there this offseason, scoring points and playing good defense. DeMarre Carroll, who's been out with an injury, looked just as good as he did last year in Atlanta, playing lock down defense and hitting open shots. The Raptors have been a whole hell of a lot better than I thought they would be, especially after their rough finish in the playoffs last year, and they look like a real threat to the Cavs. I would love if the Raptors faced the Cavs in the East Finals, swept them and then get crushed by either OKC, Golden State or San Antonio. That would be hilarious to me because it would freak out David Silver and make the fans in Cleveland that much more miserable. I really, really like Toronto.

As far as award predictions, Steph Curry is the MVP. I picked Anthony Davis, but it's Curry. Emmanuel Mudiay, my preseason rookie of the year, has been hurt and can't shoot, so I will now go with Karl Anthony Towns. He is a star in the making. Kawhi Leonard is hands down the Defensive Player of the Year and Gregg Popovich has to be coach of the year. You can't give it to Steve Kerr, and Adam Silver doesn't have the cojanes to give it to Luke Walton, so it's Poppovich.

To close it all out, at the All Star break, my finals prediction is going to be Golden State and Cleveland. I know I picked San Antonio and Cleveland, and that could still happen, but Golden State is something special this year. Not only will Golden State repeat, probably sweeping the Cavs out of the Finals, but I think they will break the single season record of wins. In 1996 the Bulls finished 72-10 and I think the Warriors will finish this season at 74-8, besting them by two games. The Warriors are that good and they will finish their historic season with a second straight NBA title.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He really wanted an all Canada final of the Raptors and the Grizzlies, but then he realized that Memphis is not in Canada. He also realized their are no Grizzlies in Tennessee, no lakes in LA, and definitely no Jazz in Salt Lake City. The NBA is weird. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Warriors may be the best team in NBA history

Steph Curry would average over 60% on these rims

As you all know by now, I'm a HUGE NBA fan. It is on my TV whenever possible. I wrote a ten part season preview. I love the NBA almost as much as college football.

NBA basketball is getting back to the good ole days. Sure, teams don't shoot the midrange jump shot as well anymore, and if you turn on ESPN, all they show are Clippers highlights and the men's college game is becoming borderline unwatchable, with all the one and done players, but the NBA has gotten a wee bit better. It's more enjoyable to watch games now than it was 5 or 6 years ago. Most of the teams have become pretty competitive, save for the 76ers, Lakers and Nets. The East has even improved from last year. The West is still much better though and will continue to be for awhile. The Spurs signed LaMarcus Aldridge and resigned Kawhi Leonard. They also still have Tony Parker, Manu Ginobli and Tim Duncan. When the Thunder are at full strength, Durant has missed the past 10 days, they're as competitive as any team in the league. The Clippers look bad right now, much to my delight, but they will fix things and still win in the 50's. The Mavericks have played surprisingly well 15 games into the season. Dirk is still Dirk, and Wes Matthews, coming off a torn ACL, looks pretty good. The Pelicans had a terrible start, a possible playoff hopes crushing start, but Anthony Davis is back completely healthy, and they've won their past two, beating the Spurs in one of those games. The Rockets are a mess, I'll give you that. Firing Kevin McHale may prove to be a huge misstep. It's not his fault that Dwight Howard doesn't care about basketball that much anymore. And what in the world has happened to James Harden? He was the MVP runner up last year, but this year, teammates are griping about playing with him, calling him a diva and a ball hog, and he spent the entire offseason partying and not staying in shape. It's gotten so bad with him that even Bill Simmons has cooled on the Thunder trading him being the worst thing that ever happened in the NBA, and he hasn't shut up about it for five straight years. The Grizzlies and Jazz are .500 teams right now, but they, much like the Clippers, will figure it out.

All these teams pale in comparison to what the Golden State Warriors are doing right now. As you all know, the Warriors beat the Nuggets last night and tied for the best start in NBA history at 15-0. Sure, they've had some close calls to inferior teams, the Nets, but other than two or three games, they've been blowing out teams. Each win seems to be by at least ten, and the starters rest almost all of the fourth quarter. Steph Curry has been unbelievable to start the year too. He's averaging something like 33 or 34 points a game, shooting almost 50 percent from three, 60 percent from two and 90 percent from the free throw line. That's incredible! I don't know that there's ever been a 60, 90, 50 player ever. It would be astounding if Curry can accomplish that this year. He's also stepped up his game on defense as well this year. Sure, he won't be first team all defense, but second or third team is a real possibility. But, it's not just Curry winning these games. You're probably thinking, well it's him and Klay Thompson scoring in bunches. Nope, Thompson has, I don't want to say struggled, but he hasn't been scoring like he normally does. He still is playing absolute lock down defense though. That part of his game has never wavered. He's one of the best, if not the best, maybe a step behind Kawhi Leonard, the best defender in the NBA. Harrison Barnes, who turned down an extension, betting on himself, has been a beast so far. His numbers may not show it, I think he's a 14 point per game and 5 or 6 rebound per game player statistically, but what he's doing for the Warriors is awesome. He's already had two of the best dunks of the year, he's is getting to the line more frequently, and he's hitting midrange and floaters on a regular basis. He's going to get paid this offseason if he keeps this up. Draymond Green is proving that he's an elite defender, rebounder and he's becoming a pretty good scorer. He's also a total pain in the ass with the opposition, and the Warriors love that about him. I've never seen a guy under 6'8 that can guard centers like he does. It's amazing. He made the right decision to stay in Golden State. This is the perfect team for him to be on. The other players on the team are doing whatever they need to do to help this team to continue to dominate. Andrew Bogut is protecting the rim and grabbing rebounds like he has his whole career. Andre Iguodala is knocking down open threes and dominating on defense like he has his whole career. He's also taken to being a sixth man better than anyone who used to be a franchise player that I've ever seen. He clearly just wants to win. Shaun Livingston is still a point guard in a 6'7 players body. He has command of the second unit and he finds the open man every time. Festus Ezeli is still crushing it on defense for the second unit and he seems to have found a bit of a scoring touch lately. Mo Speights and Leandro Barbosa still play out of control at times, but they are both instant offense off the bench for a team that has a ton of offensive weapons. The only other bench player that kind of contributes is James Michael McAdoo and in his limited playing time, he hustles his ass off. That's great for an 11 or 12th man off the bench. You usually don't see a lot of hustle from guys that deep on the bench.

The main reason I'm singling out the Warriors today is, I feel like I didn't give them enough love in my preseason preview. I had them as the second best team coming into this season behind the Spurs. Time will tell, but the Warriors, right now, are far and away the best team in the NBA. They may be historically one of the greatest teams of all time if they continue to play like this. I never thought, not only would I say it, but see a team that has a chance to win as many games as the Chicago Bulls did in the 95-96 season. That was the team that went 72-10. That was unreal to watch that team play because they could've won 75 or 76 games that year. The Warriors won't win all 82 games, that's impossible, but I think they have a real chance to tie, or even surpass the Bulls team that won 72 games. Their schedule will get tougher and players will get injuries, it's a long season, but they seem to have a goal in mind. This offseason a lot of people said that they didn't earn the title, they didn't have to play all the tough teams, they faced teams with key injuries and so on and so forth. The thing that was said that really got to them, in my opinion was, that they were "lucky", and that they weren't "true" champions. First of all, that's bull shit. Any team that's won a title in any sport needs luck, be it with health of their players, bounces going their way, a player on a hot streak, any kind of luck has been involved with every champion in every sport. But saying they weren't "true" champions, that just gave a team that won 67 games and a title last year, a chip on their shoulder. Now, they don't just want to beat you, they want to destroy you. That's the killer instinct that people talk about when it comes to champions. Sure, they won last year, but they want to continue to win and they want to crush you while doing it.

I'm not a Warriors fan, I'm indifferent when it comes to the Warriors. They're a ton of fun to watch, and Steph Curry has surpassed LeBron James and Kevin Durant as the best basketball player in the world, but I'm a Thunder fan, so that's who I root for.

Oh, they are also doing this without Steve Kerr. Luke Walton has been the interim head coach while Kerr's back heals. That's crazy.

I just want to apologize to the Warriors fan base and the Warriors organization for not ranking them as the preseason number one team in the NBA. They're doing something magical right now, and this could be a historic season. Just sit back and realize when you watch the Warriors this year, you could be watching a historically great NBA team. Maybe the greatest of all time. The rest of this season will be the judge.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He has seen one team go 82-0 in an NBA season, his Oklahoma City Thunder on NBA 2K13. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Ty tells you how each NBA team can win the title: Cavaliers, Warriors, Spurs

I do believe I have mentioned that I love the NBA, and championship basketball is the best of all.

We've now reached the end of my NBA countdown. Today I will give you my number 3, 2 and 1 team. I will also give you my Finals matchup and winner and hand out all the other big awards. Let's get on with it.

Coming in at number three I have last years Eastern Conference champs, the Cleveland Cavaliers. First of all, they have the greatest player in the world in LeBron James. He is the MVP every season, but it wouldn't be fair if they gave it to him every season. He single handily won two games in the Finals last year, one of the games in Oakland. It goes without saying that, as long as he's on the Cavs, they will be one of the top teams not only in the East, but in all of the NBA. Kyrie Irving is still recovering from his knee injury last season, but when he's healthy, he's one of the better scoring guards in the league. He shoots a bit too much, but LeBron will get him to be more of a distributor. Kevin Love is coming back from his shoulder injury, but if the Cavs continue to use him like they were at the end of the regular season and in the first round of the playoffs against the Celtics, the Cavs "big three" could be unstoppable. Love is a good outside shooter, but is better with his back to the basket and stepping back to shoot threes. He's also the best outlet passer in the NBA and the Cavs are devastating when running the fast break. Timofey Mozgov is one of the better rim protectors in basketball and he's got semi decent post moves. Tristan Thompson still hasn't signed his offer and if he continues to hold out, it will be rough for himself and the Cavs. They need him for his rebounding prowess and he needs the Cavs because playing with LeBron makes everyone better. He's not a max contract player and the sooner he realizes that, the better it will be for all parties involved. Anderson Varejao comes back from injury, but that's becoming his story every year. He comes back in great shape and then he, inevitably, gets a season ending injury. He can't be counted on anymore. Matthew Dellavedova was a flash in the pan. He played two okay games, ESPN covered him like he was an All Star, and then Curry brought him back to Earth by crushing his soul at every moment possible in the Finals. He's a tenth man off the bench, at best. James Jones is too old and can't hit the open three anymore, Mo Williams is back, but he left last time around with the Cavs because he couldn't coexist with James for some unknown reason and Joe Harris is too young and inexperienced. JR Smith and Iman Shumpert are both back. Smith is an excellent streak shooter, but he fades in crucial moments and gripes about his playing situation too much. Shumpert is hurt, but when he gets back, he's this teams best defender by far. He can also hit the wide open three. They signed Richard Jefferson this offseason, but he's so old, I thought he was retired and out of the league. No one else on the bench really plays that much. The Cavs "big three" is one of the best in the league and when they're all healthy and playing their game, they are deadly. The problem lies within the rest of the team, mainly the bench. Smith needs to play hard every night, Varejao needs to stay healthy, Williams needs to find a way to coexist with LeBron and Shumpert needs to get healthy. The Cavs will win 55 or 56 games and be the clear number one seed in the East this year.

How the Cavs can win it all.

The Cavs will win the title if LeBron keeps being LeBron and Irving and Love stay healthy and are actively involved in the offense. The surrounding players need to contribute more and keep their heads in the game. They also need to resolve this Thompson situation before the season starts.

Coming in at number 2, I have the reigning NBA champs, the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors didn't really change too much about their roster and this is a team coming off a 60 plus win season. They caught every break they needed, stayed healthy all season long and beat the teams they were supposed to all the way to a championship. Their best offseason decision was to resign Draymond Green. He is the perfect fit with this team. Had he gone anywhere else, it would have been a mistake for him and the Warriors would've missed him dearly. Getting rid of David Lee was a good choice too. Sure, he helped them in the Finals, but he was a huge contract wasting away on their bench. The Warriors have the best backcourt in all of the NBA. Steph Curry, the reigning MVP, is a wizard with the ball and can shoot the three from anywhere on the floor. He also has the fastest release I've ever seen. Curry is the best shooter of all time, yeah I said it. Klay Thompson is a great shooter, but he excels on defense. He locks everyone down that he guards and when he and Curry are shooting well, this team is unstoppable. Harrison Barnes didn't sign the extension the warriors offered him, betting on himself, but he's finally living up to the hype that was praised on him coming out of high school. I think the put back dunk on LeBron in the Finals gave him the extra confidence he needed. He's starting to come into his own. Andre Iguodala, the reigning Finals MVP, is back and while he's older, he still contributes on both ends of the floor. Shaun Livingston is a 6'6 back up point guard and fits in very well with what the Warriors do. Festus Ezeli and Marreese Speights are a two headed monster in the frontcourt. Ezeli is a fierce defender and rebounder and Speights gets points in the paint. Andrew Bogut is still one of the best rim protectors, when healthy. Leandro Barbosa comes off the bench and he's a bowling ball that provides instant offense. The Warriors are one of the best teams in basketball, and they will win 60 games again this season. They will fight with my number one team all year long for the top spot in the West.

How the Warriors can win it all.

The Warriors will win the title if they do exactly what they did last year. They would also need every break to go their way again. It's hard to repeat in the NBA, but the Warriors could and, may do it.

Coming in at number one I have the San Antonio Spurs. This team got the premiere free agent, and they don't even really need LaMarcus Aldridge. They have an older version of him in Tim Duncan, but this feels like a passing of the torch. Duncan has been the face of the franchise for over a decade now, but when he retires, Aldridge will slide right into his place. The naysayers will say that they're too old, but that doesn't matter with the way Poppovich regulates minutes. Everyone should be fresh come playoff time. The back court still has Tony Parker and Danny Green. Parker, when healthy, is probably the smartest player in the NBA. He knows when to shoot and when to get guys involved and he runs the Spurs offense to perfection. Danny Green is an elite defender and he can hit the open three. Besides Duncan, the frontcourt has the best young small forward in Kwahi Leonard. He's an excellent offensive player, he's a great rebounder and he's the only guy that can shut down LeBron James on defense. He, along with Anthony Davis, is the next big superstar in the NBA. Duncan is Duncan. He may be playing on one leg and can barely get up and down the court, but he's one of the better low post scorers, and still protects the rim and rebounds at a high rate. Aldridge will join Duncan and Leonard in the front court and they will be an unstoppable force. Leonard will lockdown the opposition and score in double figures, Tim Duncan will do Tim Duncan things, and when Aldridge fully figures out the Spurs system, watch out. Aldridge will be an MVP caliber player in a year or two. The Spurs bench is elite. It's the best bench in basketball. Manu Ginobli, while getting older, is still a wizard with the ball, and still hits clutch shots. Boris Diaw has had a major resurgence with the Spurs and he's one of the best passing big men in the game. Patty Mills comes in the game and he can put up 20 points in 10 minutes. David West left a ton of money on the table to come and compete for a title with the Spurs. His addition is almost as big as Aldridge, but for different reasons. West is a veteran who loves to play defense, rebound and score when needed. He's a perfect fit with San Antonio. The Spurs look really, really good going into this season. Once Aldridge gets acclimated to the Spurs way of basketball, they will be dominate. I expect the Spurs to win at least 62, maybe 64 games and be the one seed in the West.

Why the Spurs will win it all.

The Spurs will win the title once Aldridge and West figure out Spurs basketball and the rest of the pieces continue to do what they've done for a decade. This team is the best coached team in the NBA and they now have, if they didn't already, the most talent in the NBA. I love this Spurs team.

That's my countdown, all 30 teams. I will revisit later in the year, but this is how I see the NBA looking right now. As for my predictions, my Finals matchup is the Spurs-Cavs and I have the Spurs winning in 6(Sorry LeBron). My MVP is Anthony Davis and he will also win Defensive Player of the Year. Coach of the year will be Erik Spoelstra simply because the Heat will be the most improved team in the NBA. And finally, Rookie of the Year will be Emmanuel Mudiay. I love the way he plays the game and while the Nuggets will be bad, he will get a ton of playing time and I think he will be good immediately.

Thanks everybody.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He once drained 25 straight threes with Shawn Kemp on the Seattle Supersonics in a game of NBA Jam. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Ty tells you how each NBA team can win the title: Bulls, Grizzlies, & Pelicans

I love watching the NBA, I especially love watching really high quality competition.

Now we are getting to the elite teams in my NBA countdown. We are officially in the top ten and every team from here on out has a legitimate shot to win the NBA title this year. They all need some breaks to go their way and health is of the utmost importance, but these teams are the cream of the crop in the NBA. On with the countdown.

Coming in at number 9 we have the Chicago Bulls. This team is the epitome of a team needing health and everything to break in their favor to win the title, but , that could happen. Let's start with the bad news about the Bulls. First, they fired Tom Thibadeau for being too tough on his players. Never mind the fact that they improved every year under him and they played some of the best team defense in all of the NBA, management felt that a hard nosed coach wasn't the right fit. So, to replace Thibadeau, they reached into the college ranks and hired former Iowa State head coach and former Chicago Bull, Fred Hoiberg to take over. I don't know if this will work, but the Bulls seem to think it will. Another bit of bad news for Chicago is all the off the court and new injury to Derrick Rose. First, he was accused of sexual assault in the offseason and I don't know if that case has been closed yet. Next, he said at the preseason meetings that he was in a contract year, and claimed that if the Bulls don't pay up, he'd think about leaving. Now, I can't think of a franchise that's been this patient with a star player, waiting for injury after injury to heal, hoping that he'd be back at full strength. They've given him all the time in the world, letting him miss seasons and multiple games during "healthy" seasons, just to get back to full strength. Now, he is out for all of the preseason and may miss opening night due to an orbital fracture. Since his MVP year, he can't stay healthy and he doesn't play like he used to. I think it's time for the Bulls to move on from Derrick Rose. This brings me to the good news, Jimmy Butler is on this team. He's the unquestioned leader of this team now, in my opinion. He's an All Star, a 20 point per game player, a lockdown defender and has a tireless work effort. Jimmy Butler is a legitimate MVP candidate. They have Pau Gasol and Joakim Noah. Gasol is a great post player and fits in with what the Bulls want to do on both ends of the court perfectly. Noah, when healthy, is one of the better rebounders in the league and plays some of the best defense in all of basketball. Younger players like Doug McDermott and Tony Snell are going to get more of a chance to play with the new coaching staff. One of the knocks on Thibadeau was, he didn't like playing younger guys, well, this staff will play whoever is playing best, regardless of age. McDermott looks to be a good three point shooter, but has to work on every other aspect of his game before he's a legitimate NBA player. Snell on the other hand, he's got a quick first step, can shoot the mid range jumper, is long and lanky and plays good defense. Given more playing time, he'll continue to get better and better. Another younger player that did get critical playing time last year, Nikola Mirotic, is back and looks like a better, in shape basketball player. He's good. Aaron Brooks, Taj Gibson, Kirk Hinrich and E'Twaun Moore all come off the bench. Brooks is a good back up point guard, Taj Gibson was, at one time, one of the better low post players in basketball, and while injuries have hampered his development, he's still pretty good. Hinrich is fine off the bench, but his best days are behind him. E'Twaun Moore is an interesting piece on this team, providing instant offense, but he's very inconsistent. Bobby Portis, the rookie from Arkansas, was a good pick by them, and I see him playing a pivotal role off the bench for the Bulls this season. The Bulls will be one of the top three seeds in the East and win 52 or 53 games this year.

How the Bulls can win it all.

The Bulls win will the title is all their pieces buys into the new coaching staff's philosophy on offense and continues to play suffocating defense. They also need a healthy, focused solely on basketball Derrick Rose to compete for the title. The Bulls will be good, it's just a matter of how good and how healthy everyone can be all season long.

Coming in at number 8 is the Memphis Grizzlies. This team is good, plays old fashioned basketball and are a tough team to face in the playoffs, but they are also getting very old and may have missed their window to win a title. They gave Marc Gasol the big contract he deserved this offseason. Gasol is probably, right now, the best center in basketball. He has great low post moves, a decent jumper, he's a good rebounder and plays good defense. Gasol is great. Mike Conley is a great point guard. He shoots the ball very well, finds the open man every time, plays good defense and runs this offense perfectly. When he needs to score, he scores, when he needs to get players involved, he gets them involved, he's the best example of how a point guard should play their position. The only problem with Conley, he gets hurt at the most inopportune times. Take last year for example, the Grizzlies are cruising in the playoffs, take a game from the Warriors in Oakland and then boom, Conley basically breaks his face. The Warriors cruised after that. Jeff Green joins Conley in the back court, and while he's extremely athletic, he's also extremely inconsistent. One night he'll go for 20 and 10, the next night, he'll foul out in 12 minutes. Zach Randolph is still there and still averaging double figures in points and rebounds and still getting on other teams nerves. He's the definitive player of how Memphis wants to play basketball. He's the inventor of their motto, "Grit and Grind". Tony Allen is exactly the same type of player as Randolph, he just happens to play guard and he's not as good a scorer. Allen is a pest on defense and that's exactly what Memphis needs from him. Coming off the bench you have guys like Beno Udrih, he's fine, but not great, Vince Carter, bless his heart that he's still playing, but he's not the same player, Courtney Lee, who's a good scorer off the bench and they signed Matt Barnes. I can't stand him, but I can't think of a better place for him to play than Memphis, he'll fit in there great. The Grizzlies will be good, and win 45 to 48 games, but, as I said before, their chance to win the title probably passed. Too many other teams in the West have gotten better and a younger than Memphis.

How the Grizzlies will win it all.

The Grizzlies will win the title if they "Grit and Grind" every team to death in the playoffs, making the games very low scoring. That's how they win in the regular season, and they'll have to do that in the playoffs to win the title, that's their only chance.

My number 7 team is the New Orleans Pelicans. They have the best young player, and future best player in the NBA in Anthony Davis. He's the best all around center in the NBA. He's a fantastic rim protector and rebounder, can fly through the air for alley oops, can shoot mid range jumpers and is now working on his three point shooting. He's already unstoppable, but add in three point shooting, he'll go down as one of the greats. I love the way Anthony Davis plays. If anyone one single player can lead his team to a title, it's him, he's that good. The problem with the Pelicans is the rest of their roster. It's a good roster, but needs to be great. Guys like Jrue Holiday, Omer Asik, Tyreke Evans, Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon have the potential, they just haven't lived up to it yet. Jrue Holiday is a really good point gurad, he just needs to get other players involved more often. If Asik can stay on the court, it would be impossible for most teams to score on him and Davis. Tyreke Evans has all the tools, he just needs to put it all together. Ryan Anderson is a great three point shooter, but he's not so good on defense, and he has a hard time staying healthy. And Eric Gordon was at one time, the next big thing. Now, he's a bench player, but he can still light up a scoreboard, if he's interested in focusing on the game. The Pelicans took a huge step forward last year, making the playoffs, and they'll continue to get better. Anthony Davis is one of the top three players in the NBA right now and he will single handily make this a 48 or 49 win team.

How the Pelicans will win it all.

The Pelicans will win the title is Anthony Davis goes on a Michael Jordanesque run in the playoffs and wins every game, making every critical play in every critical moment. It's a tall task, but he's that good.

There you have it, teams 9, 8 and 7. Come back tomorrow for 6, 5 and 4. We are truly getting to the elite of the NBA.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He is still troubled by the time the editor had Tom Chambers go for 100 on him in a Playstation game. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.