Bradley Beal Going to the Suns Doesn't Move the Needle Much

Bradley Beal and the Wizards are finalizing a trade to the Suns for Chris Paul, Landry Shamet and three second round picks and pick swaps. The Wizards will also send a few other players to the Suns, but Beal and Paul are the big names here. I already wrote about where I think CP3 should go next. Today I want to talk about Beal's fit with the Suns.

On paper it appears that the Suns have a coveted "big three". Beal will soon be teamed up with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. Deandre Ayton is still a Sun for now. Josh Okogie will fill out the starting five. But, on paper, this looks like a very good, very high octane offense. The Suns now have a ton of firepower. They could score in bunches. Those three will be hard to defend. Booker and KD are solid defensively. Ayton, when engaged, is a very good pick and pop guy and an okay rebounder. Okogie is, probably, the best guard rebounder in the NBA. And Frank Vogel can coach up some defense.

The accolades stop there for me on this trade. The Suns now have three ball dominant scorers. KD has proven he can play off the ball and spot up if need be, but he is best with the ball in his hands. Booker has learned how to be a true scoring guard playing next to CP3 the past couple seasons. But when Paul went out in the playoffs last season and they let Booker run the show, he got a taste of being the main guy with the ball in his hands. And he seemed to enjoy it. He was the only Suns player who really showed up against the Nuggets, and he played well running the show. And Beal, ever since John Wall got hurt and then traded, has not had to share with anyone on the Wizards. Kristaps Porzingis didn't need to handle the ball. Kyle Kuzma is best suited as a spot up shooter. Johnny Davis couldn't get on the court. Deni Avjida was much more of a defender than anything else. Beal got to do what he wanted when he wanted in Washington. And he produced points, a lot of them, but not too many wins. The Wizards were a purgatory type team, but Beal was getting stats. Now he is going to a team that wants to win. In fact, I think the Suns need to win. This is a team that has title aspirations and they don't want to flame out in the postseason again. But how well will these three guys share the ball remains to be seen. Also, Ayton will be looking for touches too. I also do not like the injury history. Beal would play a decent amount of games for the Wizards, but any time any little thing would flare up, he'd sit. KD cannot stay healthy. He always seems to get hurt and miss 20 plus games now. Booker is coming off two seasons that have been cut down due to injury. And Ayton is soft as they come. The Suns will also have to scrounge for a bench. They only have five guys under contract. Those five players are KD, Booker, Ayton, Cam Payne and Bradley Beal. And they all make a good chunk of money. The Suns are going to have to settle for mid level guys, vets looking to ring chase and G League guys. And if the big stars get hurt, those types of dudes are going to have to play real minutes against the best the NBA has to offer. Just ask the Clippers how that worked out for them last season. Injury risk should be of very high concern in Phoenix.

All in all the trade was going to be made. The Wizards got a solid guy in Shamet, I'm sure they will waive CP3 and picks. But compared to a trade like Rudy Gobert last season, the Wizards didn't get nearly as much. They are clearly going to rebuilding mode and it makes sense for them to get off this contract. The Suns, they might be stuck. They might not get the reward they are searching for with this trade. They may have to settle for 4 or 5 seeds for the foreseeable future. I'm not as jazzed for this deal as I thought I was going to be when Beal eventually did get traded. But the Suns will be fun to watch when all these guys play together. They just might not be that dominant. 

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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Carmelo Anthony is not an All Star

Carmelo is not even a paper star

With Kevin Love going down with what looks to be a regular season ending surgery, the East All Stars needed to find someone else to take his place. They had any number of players to pick from. I was hoping they would not take another guard because this All Star game is filled with great guards, and much to my pleasure, they did not. But, there choice to replace Kevin Love has me really scratching my head.

How on Earth is Carmelo Anthony worthy of an All Star spot? I just do not get it. If the All Star game were just about putting "super stars" in it, then if Carmelo is an All Star, so is Dwayne Wade, LaMarcus Aldridge, Joel Embiid, Dwight Howard, Tristan Thompson, Blake Griffin and Nikola Jokic. All these players are well known names to your average NBA fan, and a few are way more deserving that Carmelo, I'll touch on that in a bit, but if most of them were mentioned, people would laugh at you. But, for some inexplicably reason, Carmelo will be making his 8th straight All Star team despite the fact that he plays no defense, he shoots the ball way too much, he is not the best player on his team anymore and that team is an absolute dumpster fire.

The fact that the Knicks have an All Star is asinine. And, if the Knicks are going to have an All Star, I'd first look at Courtney Lee, who has been surprisingly consistent this year, then Kristaps Porzingis before I even mentioned Carmelo's name.

But, the NBA wants those ratings, so they figured, lets put in an aging guy, that's way past his prime, because that will give us ratings. Newsflash NBA, you guys are as popular as you've been since the Michael Jordan era. More and more people are watching the NBA now. League Pass has been an enormous boost in your popularity. The glut of good young players seems to be endless. The Warriors are must watch sports television. Russell Westbrook and James Harden have been electrifying this season. LeBron James is quietly having one of his better seasons. The Spurs are playing great. This has been a great year for the NBA,

Putting Carmelo on the All Star team definitely leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I know that the game is a pointless exhibition, but the NBA has, by far, the best All Star game. Major League Baseball's All Star game is a baseball game, so it's boring. I do not watch hockey, so I cannot comment on their All Star game. And the Pro Bowl, the Pro Bowl is by far the dumbest and most pointless of all the All Star games. But, the NBA All Star game is filled with scoring, tremendous dunks, guys going crazy scoring buckets, tons of transition and alley oops, it is just a fun game. Last year's All Star game almost had a combined 400 points, which I loved. But, for some unknown reason, after the Love injury, the powers that be decided that Carmelo Anthony was the best possible replacement in the Eastern Conference.

When I saw that Love was going to be out, I started to rack my brain thinking about who would replace him, and when I saw Carmelo's name on some lists, I literally laughed it off. I thought it was a joke. I figured that someone like Bradley Beal, Kristaps Porzingis or Joel Embiid would be picked as the replacement. Joel Embiid was definitely the sentimental choice. He has been great when he has played this year. He looks like the real deal. I wrote awhile back that he is the one and only reason to watch the 76ers. But, he has missed a ton of games recently, and he is injured. That was his death blow to making the All Star team. He has also pulled out of all the rookie and skills stuff as well, so there's that as well. Porzingis, unfortunately for him, plays on a terrible, terrible Knicks team, and he has actually taken a step back from last year. Some of this is his fault, some is the organizations fault. He doesn't attack the glass like he did last year and he has been settling for way too many jumpers. But, he also has to play with ball stoppers all over the floor. Derrick Rose still thinks he is an All Star, he is not, and he will not even look in Porzingis direction. Carmelo, to his credit, will try and get him the ball, unless it is a crucial possession. Then, he thinks he has to do it himself, which has stunted Porzingis' growth. With all that being said, Porzingis was rightfully left off the All Star team.

The guy I think should have gotten the spot was Bradley Beal. He has been playing very good basketball this year. It seems that he and John Wall squashed whatever beef they had, and they have looked great during their recent run of wins. Beal has been healthy and has been stuffing the stat sheet. He is scoring in bunches and has looked like the players the Wizards hoped he would be when they drafted him in the lottery to pair up with John Wall. Bradley Beal is the biggest snub in this entire All Star game, in my opinion.

There are many others who should have been considered ahead of Carmelo. Some may say, what about Chris Paul? He is hurt, so it would have only been a lets put him on the team, but find a quick replacement type deal. Other may mention Andrew Wiggins, too young and hasn't fully figured it out yet, or Karl Anthony Towns, he hasn't regressed as much as Porzingis, but his numbers aren't All Star worthy yet. People might say, what about Damian Lillard or CJ McCollum? Both guys have been fine, but All Stars, no way.

I legitimately believe that Bradley Beal is the biggest snub, and the NBA could have fixed that with the Kevin Love injury. But, they decided it would be better to put a "legend" in the game. I think Carmelo Anthony is incredibly overrated. He is an elite scorer, but other than that, what has he really done? He has never been to the Finals, he has never won the MVP, he has proven he cannot be the best player on a title contender and he constantly gripes and complains that he doesn't get what he wants. He has had a very average NBA career, if you take away his offense. He is a very, very poor man's Clyde Drexler. Drexler was great, but no one ever brings him up when people talk about the greatest NBA players, and I feel like that will be Carmelo's destiny. When I tell my son about watching the NBA when he is my age, I will talk about guys like LeBron James, Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Steph Curry, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, all of these guys and many, many more before I even get around to Carmelo. Is he an all time great? No way. Is he an All Star this year? Absolutely not. The NBA got this very, very wrong.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He booked his ticket last year to attend the All Star Game in Charlotte. He just heard it had to be moved to New Orleans. No w why would the league do that? Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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Ty Tells You How each NBA Team Can Win the Title: Heat, Timberwolves, and Wizards

Day 5 of my NBA countdown, and we will finally get our first playoff team. Finally, I'll get to write about one team that will be playing some meaningful basketball. Tomorrow is when I start with all good teams, but today, we finally get our first playoff spot. On with the countdown.

At number 18, I have the Miami Heat. Oh how the mighty have fallen. This team played in four straight finals, and were a few Dwayne Wade jumps shots form being in the East Finals last season. But, LeBron is gone, Wade is gone, and now, after some news I read today, they are going to let Chris Bosh go. I feel so bad for Chris Bosh. He has taken so much heat from the media, but the dude is a perennial all star, played big time minutes for the Heat when they had their "big three", grabbed huge rebounds and made some big time shots. He was such an underrated, great NBA player. Totally under appreciated as well. I hope his blood clot problems clears up so he can play again, but he needs to make sure he is fully healthy before he tries to play pro basketball again. So, that leaves this team in the hands of Hassan Whiteside, Justise Winslow and Goran Dragic. While those guys are good, I would not want them to be the core of my team. Dragic can be a wizard with the ball, but he plays a bit out of control at times and he is not a great jump shooter. He also seems to get weary of being on the same team for more than 3 years. Justise Winslow is a very good defender, but he does not shoot the ball like he did his one year in college. I think that he relied a bit too much on Wade being his mentor, so he didn't work on his jumper as much as he should have his rookie year. He is going to become an elite defender, but he needs to get some kind of offensive game going to be a starter in the NBA. Then we have Hassan Whiteside. This dude is a beast. He dunks on everyone. He blocks shots and rebounds at an elite level. He is a very good low post guy. But, he has terrible attitude problems and he can flip at the switch of a hat. He has a worse temper than Boogie Cousins, and that's saying something. I don't think I would have given him a max contract because I don't think that he is a franchise player. He's good, but he can be a headache. The rest of the roster shakes out like this, Udonis Haslem, who is way, way past his prime and frankly, I can't believe he is still in the league, Tyler Johnson, who they massively overpaid, and should probably be a good bench guy, but will start on this team, Wayne Ellington, who has been nothing but inconsistent his whole career, Josh McRoberts, who cares more about his look than his game, and has also had a decline in minutes every year that he has been in the NBA and Jason Richardson, who does some nice things, but I don't think he is ready to fill Wade's shoes. The Heat should be in rebuild mode. They can lure top free agents, so maybe they won't be so good this year, but they can get some top guys next year. I see them winning about 32 games this year.

So Ty, how will the Heat win the title? They could win the title if Whiteside stops being childish. Dragic scores at will and Winslow starts to hit the three like in college. That is not happening, but don't be dour Heat fans, they will be good again in a year or 2.

At number 17, I have my new favorite team, the Minnesota Timberwolves. I am still a little shocked by the Thibodeau hire, but hey, maybe he is the best fit for the job. I love their roster, but I think it is still a year away from being in the playoff picture in the hyper competitive Western Conference. Karl Anthony Towns is an incredible basketball payer. While he may not be as good as Anthony Davis yet, he is damn close. He is unstoppable in the post, he plays good defense, he is a good rebounder and a great teammate. Towns is on his way to super stardom. Andrew Wiggins is hyper athletic. He moves so seamlessly and effortlessly on the court. He is a joy to watch, and he is one of the best young defenders in the league. He needs to work on his jumper and focus a bit more, but man, he is super athletic. Zach Lavine is a better version of Aaron Gordon. Lavine has incredible leaping ability, but he has worked to make his jumper better and worked on his handles as well. He is doing what a pro should do. Ricky Rubio is a wizard dribbling and passing, but he is horrendous on offense. It may not matter, because the T'wolves drafted Kris Dunn, who is great, and they may trade Rubio so Dunn can take over the point guard duties. Kris Dunn was my second favorite player, behind Buddy Hield, in last year's draft. Dunn is going to be good. Shabazz Muhammed has surprisingly stayed out of trouble and stayed in shape, and is a great bench scorer for this team. The additions of Jordan Hill, Cole Aldrich and Brandon Rush, while it may not sound glamorous, will be huge for this team's depth. The NBA needs to watch out for the Timberwolves because they are coming and they look like a team that will be good for awhile. I don't think they are a playoff team yet, but they will win 42-44 games.

So Ty, how will the Timberwolves win the title? The T'Wolves can win the title if Towns takes that next step to super stardom, Wiggins unleashes hell on the league, Dunn becomes an elite point guard and the bench helps out immensely. I love this team, but they are a year or two away from being a legitimate threat.

At number 16, aka my first playoff team, I have the Washington Wizards. They have fallen on hard times, but John Wall is too talented to let this team miss out on the playoffs again this year. And, as frustrating as it was to watch a Scotty Brooks coached team in OKC, he is definitely a step up from the disaster that was Randy Whitman. John Wall is awesome. He is one of the best point guards in the league. I love how fast, yet controlled he plays the game of basketball. He is great, and he is definitely one of my personal favorite players. Bradley Beal, on the other hand, has proven time and time again that he can't stay healthy. I do not understand the contract they gave him, and if I were John Wall, I'd be upset that the Wizards seem to value Beal more than him. When in there though, Beal is a great shooter. He doesn't play a whole lot of defense, but man can he score. Marcin Gortat is still there, but no more Nene. I think they will miss Nene's toughness, but Gortat is a better offensive player and a better fit to run the pick and roll with Wall. Otto Porter is in now or never mode. He looked really good two years ago, but last year was a bit of a step back. I think he is a good player, but he needs to show it. He can score and defend pretty well, but he needs to put it all together for a full season. This may be his last chance to do that with the Wizards. Kelly Oubre is still incredibly young and needs work, but he could be a very good bench player. They traded for Trey Burke, but he just hasn't been able to translate his college game to the pros. He is a bit too short, and bigger defenders completely shut him down. Markieff Morris is still there, and while being a good player, he is a total head case. They also signed Ian Mahinmi, but that was a pretty blah signing. This team is playoff good, especially in the East. They won 40 games last year, and I don't see how they don't up that to 44 or 45, especially if Wall stays healthy for most of the year. I like them to be the 8 seed in the East.

So Ty, how will the Wizards win the title? The Wizards can win the title if they have a miraculous run through the playoffs and beat everyone as the underdog. That won't happen because Brooks could not do that with a really good team in OKC. I love John Wall, but his team is destined to be a first round out for a long time in the playoffs if they keep giving guys like Bradley Beal max money.

That's it for today. Come back tomorrow for the next three teams.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He knows it is fall not by the leaves changing color, but by the reemergence of Colin Cowherd's inexplicable racism towards John Wall. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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Ty tells you how each NBA team can win the title: Celtics, Raptors, & Wizards

I really like the NBA, but I love playoff caliber basketball.

A new week is upon us and that means we are back to my NBA countdown. We got our first playoff team at the end of last week, but this week, it's all playoff teams, ending on Friday with my number one overall team and my pick for the Finals, MVP of the season, Coach of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year. Let's get on with numbers 15, 14 and 13.

Coming in at number 15, we have the team that surprised me the most last season, the Boston Celtics. I was shocked and impressed how well they played the second half of last season. They finished with one of the best, if not the best, record after the All Star break and made the playoffs. They got swept out of the first round by the Cavs, but the fact they made the playoffs was a big surprise. I really like their coach, Brad Stevens, and I think he's on his way to becoming one of the best coaches in all of basketball. Their roster leaves much to be desired, but it's playoff caliber, especially in the East. Isiah Thomas is a great player. I like how fiercely competitive he plays and he's a threat to put up 40 on any given night. His back court mates are good, not great, at one specific skill. Avery Bradley is an elite defender and guards the oppositions best scorer every game. He is not that good of an offensive player though. Marcus Smart is also a very good defender, he was exceptional in college, but he's also lacking on offense. That puts all the pressure on Thomas to score and while he may be up to it, it won't happen night after night. Drafting RJ Hunter was a good move by the Celtics because this kid can flat out score. I didn't know much of him until the NCAA tournament last season, but when I watched him play, he made shot after shot. He has the tools to be a good bench scorer in the NBA. Evan Turner is a bust in every sense of the word. He can't score, he can't rebound and he gets dunked on with consistency. He's not that good of an NBA player. The frontcourt is just okay. Jared Sullinger is fine, but he's too small to guard fives and too slow to guard fours. Kelly Olynyk plays out of control. He hasn't brought the three point shooter and post scoring he had in college to the NBA, and his play on Kevin Love in the first round of the playoffs was dirty. There's no middle ground on it, it was flat out dirty, he meant to hurt Love. Tyler Zeller may be a fine NBA player, but I don't know, not a big enough sampling. They signed Jae Crowder and traded for David Lee and Perry Jones this offseason. Jae Crowder is a good big man that does the dirty work in the NBA. He rebounds, plays post defense and doesn't care about stats, only wins. I like Crowder to supplant Olynyk in the starting lineup by midseason. David Lee was, at one point, an All Star. He definitely helped the Warriors win a title, but he hasn't been an impact player in the NBA in a couple of seasons. His best days are behind him. Perry Jones is an enigma. He has loads of potential, but he couldn't get off the bench in OKC, and when he did get playing time, he didn't produce. He may be good, and getting out of OKC will be best for him, but we will have to see how he does with an expanded role. The rest of the roster is young and unproven. The Celtics will win anywhere from 42 to 45 games and are a lock for the playoffs.

How the Celtics can win it all.

The Celtics will win the title if, Thomas becomes an All Star, that may happen, RJ Hunter becomes a 20 point per game scorer, that won't happen and the frontcourt plays way beyond expectations. The Celtics are getting back to good basketball, but they still need a couple of years before they are on the same level with the elite teams from the East.

My number 14 team is the Toronto Raptors. this team is sliding back. They're still good enough to be the fifth or sixth team in the East, but they seem to get a little worse every year. Their roster is full of talent, but it doesn't seem to come together to put this team in the top of the East. Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan are two of the best young guards in the league, but DeRozan can't seem to stay healthy for a full season, and Lowry finally showed up this offseason in shape, but that should've happened last year when he signed his big extension. Jonas Valanciunas has been an okay player, but he hasn't lived up to the hype surrounding him when he was drafted. He looks afraid to take big shots or come up with big rebounds of defensive plays. He shies away from the big moment. James Johnson and Patrick Patterson are fine players, but they're nothing to write home about. They don't really affect the game too much. They did a lot this offseason, but it seems like too much and a bit desperate. DeMarre Carroll is a pretty decent NBA player, he proved that last year with the Hawks, but he's not worth the money the Raptors gave him. Corey Joseph finally gets his shot to play after spending his first couple of seasons on the Spurs bench, and he's looked good in the preseason, but is that smoke and mirrors, or a sign of things to come? Also, will he really steal minutes from DeRozan and Lowry? I don't think so. They signed Anthony Bennett after the Timberwolves bought him out, and while it may be nice for him to play in his home town, he's from Toronto, we are talking about one of the biggest, if not the biggest, busts of all time in the draft. I really like their pick of Delon Wright in the most recent draft. In fact, I think that was their best offseason move. The Raptors have gotten better every year under DeWayne Casey, but they seem to fall apart at critical and crucial times. Toronto seems like a 45 or 46 win team to me, good for the sixth spot in the East.

How the Raptors can win  it all.

The Raptors will win the title if DeRozan can stay healthy all season and play at an extremely high rate, Lowry and Valanciunas play to the level of their contract, DeMarre Carroll proves he's not a one season wonder and the supporting cast plays much, much better than expected. The Raptors stink of a team that will start hot, fade late and shit the bed in the playoffs, basically what they've done the past two years.

My number 13 team is also from the East, the Washington Wizards. I really like the Wizards, but I just don't think they have enough talent on their roster to be better than fourth or fifth in the East, probably fifth. Now, the starters are where all the talent lies. John Wall is one of the best point guards in all of basketball (what would Colin Cowherd say?). He's the fastest basketball player I've ever seen, he lays really good defense, finds the open man all the time and is becoming a pretty good shooter. Bradley Beal is one of the best young scorers. Otto Porter JR is going to have a huge season. He's been on the verge of breaking out, and I think that happens this season. He will finally live up to being the third overall pick. Nene Hilario is one of my favorite players to watch. He's a throwback in every season of the word. He plays awesome defense, rebounds at a very high rate, has excellent post moves and does all the dirty work. Marcin Gortat is a good scorer, and he pairs well with Nene in the frontcourt. Gortat is a scorer and Nene does everything else. The bench is the problem for me. First of all, they lost Paul Pierce. While he's a million years old, he hit big shot after big shot and gave this team a swagger they didn't have before. The Wizards will miss him. The bench has guys like Drew Gooden, DaJuan Blair, Kris Humphries and Ramon Sessions. Not world beaters and past their primes, if they had one. I do like their pick of Kelly Oubre JR. He's another one and done, and who knows with these kids, but being on a veteran team and not having to have an immediate impact will benefit him. He's going to be good. The Wizards will win close to 50 games, probably 48 and be the fifth seed in the East.

How the Wizards can win it all.

The Wizards will win the title if the starters can play all 48 minutes in every regular season game and playoff game and not have to rely on their bench. The starters are great, but the bench is very weak and will be their undoing. Another second round exit is in the cards for the Wizards.

So, there's my 15, 14 and 13 ranked teams. Tomorrow we get into the top 10 and things will become very interesting.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. His NBA League Pass is mostly for the OKC Thunder, but he enjoys some low tier eastern conference playoff teams. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik