Ty Tells You How each NBA Team Can Win the Title: Suns, Magic, and Nuggets

Before I continue with my NBA countdown today, I want to wish my beautiful little baby girl a very happy first birthday. I can't believe that she is already one. Happy birthday princess, I love you.

Now, back to the countdown.

Coming in at number 27, the Phoenix Suns. First off, I heard some story yesterday that they are utilizing the "high five" because it will grow strength between teammates and make for a better work environment. They did a study on this. That statement alone should show you how far behind most of the league the Suns really are. Studying the good things about high fives. Yeesh. This was a team that just a few years ago barely missed out on the playoffs in the hyper competitive Western Conference. But now, that roster has been ravaged and there are only few holdovers. This was also the same team that went all in on LaMarcus Aldridge when no one thought they had a chance to sign him. Guess what, he signed elsewhere. The back court is the strength, but it is filled with untapped potential. Brandon Knight and Eric Bledsoe cannot stay healthy, and their style of play seem to clash when they are on the court at the same time. Devin Booker is a great, great shooter, but until he gets some more help, it will be for moot. But man, is he a great shooter. The rest of the roster is very mediocre and old. Tyson Chandler peaked about 4 years ago. I love Chandler, but he is done in the NBA. Jared Dudley, while being a good dude, he doesn't really have it anymore. PJ Tucker can't stay out of trouble on and off the court. Alex Len is a bust. And Archie Goodwin doesn't seem to have what it takes to make it in the NBA. They drafted Tyler Ullis and Dragan Bender. Ullis is lightning fast, but he is so tiny, and he couldn't really score that much in college. Bender may or may not be good, but this preseason, he has seemed more interested in his hair looking good as opposed to his jumper looking good. He also got owned by undrafted opponents in the summer league. The Suns are in the midst of a massive rebuild. They are pretty terrible, not as bad as the three teams from yesterday, but still pretty bad. They will win between 20-25 games.

So Ty, how will the Suns win the title? The Suns only shot at the title is if Bledsoe and Knight find a way to blend their skills and become all NBA caliber and the rest of the roster plays the best basketball of their lives. That isn't happening.

At number 26, I have the Orlando Magic. I thought that they may be on the up, but not so much after this offseason. Sure, they added Serge Ibaka, but is he a real threat anymore? Was he ever a threat? Now, he is the first option on this team. Yikes. Scott Skiles also quit on this team after one year. I think that speaks volumes on both ends. Skiles couldn't handle the new NBA, and the Magic didn't like his old school approach. They also traded away Victor Oladipo. While not great, he was still a double digit scorer and a very good defender. The Thunder won that trade. Aaron Gordon is a very good leaper, but he doesn't do much else. He needs to develop a jumper and play better defense. Elfrid Payton is just not living up to the hype. the game seems to fast for him. Nikola Vucivic is a stat stuffer, but that doesn't make him great. He fills the stat sheet, but it doesn't really matter. Evan Fournier is garbage. Mario Hezjona hasn't really had a real shot to prove himself. Jeff Green is a total anomaly, and one of the more frustrating players in the NBA. DJ Augustin is a career back up, and after that, all no names. I do like the Frank Vogel hiring, the dude is a good coach, but this team is a few years away from truly competing. 25-30 wins seems to be their ceiling. 

So Ty, how will the Magic win the title? The Magic can win the title if Ibaka returns to his old dominant self on defense, and stops settling for jumpers, and the rest of the team plays much, much better than they have since they've been in the league. The Magic are a team filled with players that have not lived up to their hype and draft position. Vogel will make a difference, but it will be in a year or two.

At number 25, I have the Denver Nuggets. I really, really like Kenneth Faried and Emmanuel Mudiay. The problem is with the rest of their roster, it is junk. Danilo Gallinari has never lived up to his expectations, and he is always hurt. Their first round pick, Jamal Murray, barely scored in college. I don't care that he made a bunch of un guarded jumpers in his workouts, what I saw in his short college career, he had a tough time scoring. Wilson Chandler is on the back end of his career, and the front end wasn't all that great to begin with. Mike Miller is one million years old. Why doesn't he just retire? Gary Harris is now getting into trouble left and right off the court. Jameer Nelson's career was over 3 or 4 years ago. And Darrell Arthur is a very below average NBA player. I like Faried and Mudiay, but my like for them is completely outweighed by my dislike for the rest of the roster. Mike Malone is a good coach, but I don't think even Gregg Poppovich could win with this roster. They may win 28 or 29 games, but that is it.

So Ty, how will the Nuggets win the title? The Nuggets could win the title if Faried develops a deadly offensive game, and Mudiay gets a legit jumper. Oh, and that dumpster fire of a roster actually plays good basketball. That is not happening.

That's it for today. Come back next week for my next 3 teams.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the X Millennial Man Podcast. His daughter is a prodigy since she is able to read at the age of one. Why else would Ty write a happy birthday message. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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Hiring Jeff Hornacek is Phil Jackson's Latest Bad Decision

Another roll of the dice from Phil Jackson

The New York Knicks have reportedly hired Jeff Hornacek as their next head coach. This is an uninspiring hire, in my opinion. What has Hornacek done to deserve this job? Yes, he took a Phoenix Suns team two years ago that was going to tank and had them on the verge of nearly making the playoffs, but look at what happened after they traded away Goran Dragic and Marcus Morris and injuries beset that team. Look at how poorly prepared and how poorly they played this season. They went all in on trying to sign LaMarcus Aldridge, missed out on that, then still tried to cobble together a team that would fight for a 7 or 8 seed in the West. They went out and signed Tyson Chandler to help lure LMA to Phoenix, but that didn't work and they were left with only Chandler. I love Tyson Chandler. He is one of my all time favorite players. I love the tenacity with which he rebounds, plays defense and throws the ball down, but he is old, especially in basketball terms, and his prime is way past him. His prime past his last year in Dallas. I firmly believe that Chandler has a real shot at the hall of fame, but his playing days are all but over, and that pains me. So, to have Chandler as your back up plan to missing out on LMA, that's not great. This isn't to say that signing Chandler was all Hornacek's idea, the front office deserves equal, if not more, blame, but Hornacek still liked the signing enough to agree to it.

Then, the front office broke up the Morris twins. It's been widely talked about that they play best when they are on the same team, but the NBA is a business and trades happen. The fact that it's a business still didn't deter Markieff Morris from acting childish. He was a headache the moment they traded his brother. He said that he would never play in a Suns uniform again before last season started. Then, the season came and he wasn't getting paid, so he stepped back on the court, but he was a malcontent, hell bent on getting traded. He got his wish, but that made the Suns even worse. The head coach of an NBA team is supposed to be able to deal with stuff like this and get the best out of his players. Hornacek did the opposite. He looked defeated the moment Markeiff came back and constantly let his coach have it during timeouts on national TV. There are so many moments from last season where you can see Markieff Morris either yelling, or just plain not listening when Hornacek is talking. He lost control of one of his better players.

Things got even worse in Phoenix when all the injuries happened. Brandon Knight missed more than half the season. Eric Bledsoe was in and out of the lineup. Tyson Chandler was non existent by the middle of the season. This team was a shell of it self before the all star break. They were starting guys like Jon Luer by the middle of the year. Once again, this falls on the front office and the coach. Injuries happen and teams learn to deal and adapt. Last season the Thunder only had Kevin Durant for 22 games, but they still won 45 games. The Cavs lost both Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving during the playoffs and they still made the finals. Steph Curry has only played in half the Warriors playoff games, but they are in the conference finals. I know, these are elite teams, but even some lower level teams, the Chicago Bulls for one, have dealt with tons of injuries and they are still somewhat competitive. This did not happen with the Suns. They went into full on tank mode. Hornacek also didn't really help develop his younger big men. Alex Len was a lottery pick three years ago, but he still looks uncomfortable and slow in the NBA. And now, Len is all they have in the low post. The only player on the Suns last year that looked half way decent was 19 year old rookie Devin Booker. Booker is a lights out shooter and looks like he could be a 20 point per game scorer for the length of his career. But, he didn't really start showing true signs of lighting it up until they had let Hornacek go. Booker is also still very green on defense. He has a long way to go before he is a good two way player.

Why did the Knicks, and mainly Phil Jackson, decide that Hornacek was the right guy for their open head coaching job? What has he proved? Did they see something that I didn't see? Are they looking past everything I just mentioned above? Or, has Phil Jackson just totally checked out?

I think Phil Jackson has checked out. I think he figured that Horancek was a "big enough" name to calm his fan base down, but true Knicks fans should not be happy with this hire. Hornacek runs a fast paced, guard heavy offense. Where does that leave guys like Robin Lopez, Derrick Williams and their rookie sensation, Kristaps Porzingis? Porzingis may be the only one who will make the transition, but it will be tough. Then, the guards he is relying upon to run this offense are guys like Sasha Vuvajic, Langston Galloway and Carmelo Anthony. Vuvajic does not belong in the league. He is old, slow and cannot shoot or play defense. Langston Galloway peaked two seasons ago as a rookie on one of the worst Knicks teams ever.

That leaves us with Carmelo Anthony. While he may be one of the better scorers of all time, he has zero interest in playing defense or passing the ball. He is more concerned with his brand as well. And, he is old and way, way, way past his prime. The Knicks would be better off trading him, but that leaves the Knicks roster as bare as the Suns and Hornacek has already proven he can't do much with a mediocre roster. Carmelo is also a very strong personality and we all saw how Hornacek clashes with strong personalities.

What this all boils down to is the fact that Phil Jackson has done much more bad than good since taking that job with the Knicks. He gave Anthony the huge contract. He hired Derek Fisher and then fired him one and a half seasons later. He bad mouthed the selection of Porzingis. He clearly would much rather be in LA, but he chooses to mope and complain in New York and no one will call him on his BS. Well, I'm calling him out. Phil Jackson, you have made one terrible choice after another. Your work in New York is uninspired and crummy and you just gave the head coaching keys to another incapable former player. I do not like this hiring one bit, but Phil Jackson is to blame way more than Jeff Hornacek will be after the Knicks, once again, finish well below .500, out of playoffs and Carmelo Anthony shoots well below 40 percent from the field. Phil Jackson is keeping this once proud franchise, the one he played for, in the gutter of the NBA. The Knicks are a joke and a whipping boy and it is because of the poor decisions that Phil Jackson continues to make. It is sad.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. After the disasters of Isiah Thomas and now Phil Jackson, Ty is wondering when the gypsy curse will be lifted off of the New York Knicks front office. Ty is on twitter and you should follow him @tykulik.

"Boys Among Men" is a Must Read for Any NBA Fan

With the Season over, it is time to download and read about the NBA

Before I get started with my blog today, I need to touch on Kobe's last game last night. Yes, he scored 60 points and yes, the Lakers won, but stop with the love. First of all, he had to take 50 shots to get there! Let me repeat that, 50 SHOTS! That is way, way too many shots. He also shot 22 of 50, which looks nice at 44%, but still, 50 shots, come on. Also, the Warriors broke the single regular season record for wins last night, but you wouldn't know that if you turned on any TV sports show today because they are all only talking about Bryant. The Warriors won 73 games! My god, that's wildly impressive, but no one is talking about it. Good for you Kobe, you scored 60 points in your finale, but it took you 50 shots and your team won 17 games all year. Bravo. Now go away and never return. Okay, that's out of the way.

I just recently finished one of the best books that I have ever read. I'm not much of a reader, so for me to buy and finish a book in less than 2 weeks is a big deal. This book is absolutely phenomenal and it has a great subject matter. The book is called "Boys Among Men" and it's about the prep to pro generation that took over the NBA from 1995-2005.

This was such a fascinating read. I'm a huge NBA fan and I became a huge NBA fan right around this wave of high schoolers forgoing college and declaring for the draft at 18. One of the best things about this book was the fact that the author, former Grantland contributor and all around awesome NBA writer, Jonathan Abrams, not only focused on the successful ones that did it, but he dedicated equal time to some that barely, or never, spent any time in the NBA.

I knew that I was going to like this book from the very first page because the book opened on Kevin Garnett and his ascension to the top of the high school basketball player rankings. Abrams did talk about Moses Malone, Daryl Dawkins and a relative unknown prep to pro player from the 70's, Bill Willoughby, but the first chapter was pretty much all about Garnett. I'm a huge Kevin Garnett fan. I've been a fan of his his entire career and I respect the hell out of him. This book did not make my fandom waver one bit. He was a down on his luck, quiet kid that just wanted to blend in. He ran into academic and, unlawfully accused, police action, so his decision was pretty much assumed the moment he moved to Chicago to finish his high school career. He was going to go pro, it was just a matter of where he would be drafted and how he would be brought along. I loved the stories that were told about the back and forth between Kevin McHale, the Timberwolves coach at the time, and Flip Saunders, the GM, about whether to take Garnett or not. It was fascinating. As I said, I was immediately on board. It didn't even matter that the next chapter was solely focused on Kobe Bryant.

I've made it very well known about how I feel about him, and this book did not change my mind either. Her has been, and will always be, a dick. This book told that story very well. But, when the first two players since Moses Malone to go straight from high school to the pros are Bryant and Garnett, it seems like everyone is going to be a star, but that is not quite the case. Sure, Abrams talks about guys who had pretty decent, long lasting, even multi all star appearances NBA careers like, Jermaine O'Neal and Tracy McGrady, but he also brings up the guys that weren't ready and needed college, or just proper role models in their life. Guys like Korleone Young, Robert Swift, Jonathan Bender, Lenny Cooke, Jeremy Tyler and Leon Smith. Some of the stories from these guys are downright depressing and riddled with one bad decision after another. Some you will feel sorry for, others, you will think, they were too young and made dumb decisions, because every 18 year old makes dumb decisions. The stories about Lenny Cooke and Leon Smith are so sad because you can easily predict what will happen, and what happens is very depressing. Abrams even focuses on guys that had decent careers after starting out very tough. We get great stories on Kwame Brown, Eddy Curry, Tyson Chandler and Monta Ellis. Sure, they had a very tough start to their careers, but they kept with it, got better, made millions of dollars and carved out a niche for themselves to make it in the league. Some of their stories are downright uplifting.

The book closes with Leon Smith's story, but prior to that, we get the LeBron James story, and you may not believe it now, but at one point in his high school career, he wasn't looked at as the best high school player in the country. It's pretty cool to read about a very young LeBron James. Abrams also touches on Sonny Vacaro and the shoe industry that he helped build and also talks about how shady some of the things that Vacaro, Reebok, Adidas and Nike did to these young kids after some got some shine and fame.

"Boys Among Men" is a great book and a must read for every hard core NBA fan out there. Hell, I think even bandwagon NBA fans would enjoy this book. This was a fascinating time in the NBA and it lasted for one full decade and Abrams captures that exceptionally. I highly recommend you check out "Boys Among Men".

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He went out last night in his rec league basketball game and dropped 100 points on 100 shots, so his percentage is still better than Kobe's. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.