A King’s Revenge
2013 NBA Finals
I will keep this short and sweet… The Miami Heat are going to win the 2013 NBA Finals in 5 games over the San Antonio Spurs. The Heat will go up 3-0 then the Spurs win a desperation game 4… Lebron James will then close it out on the Spurs home court gaining a second consecutive Finals MVP and getting revenge for his 2007 Finals defeat.
2013 NBA Playoff Bracket Predictions
Here are my revised (Pre-Playoff) predictions for the 2013 NBA Playoffs. To look at my Preseason 2013 NBA Playoffs predictions to see how close I was, please visit 2013 NBA Finals Predictions. Only being a few teams/seeds off, I am sticking with my Conference Finals/Finals predictions… Place Your Bets!
Rest For The Wicked
Should a team be fined 250,000$ by the Commissioner of the NBA for “tactics” that they have been using for years? Well that is exactly what happened when the San Antonio Spurs decided to rest 4 of their top players for a regular season game against the Miami Heat. Just prior to the game scheduled on November 29th 2012, the Spurs and head coach Gregg Popovich decided to send Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and Danny Green home to rest from their 5 game road trip. The move obviously caused waves within the league office, prompting Commissioner Stern to release the following statement…” In the case of San Antonio, they didn’t just come into town and rest healthy players, they sent a 26-year-old and a 30-year-old, plus Manu and Tim home virtually under cover of darkness … and without notifying as our rules require for injury and illness.” Of course I understand completely where the Commissioner is coming from on this issue… In what was San Antonio’s only regular season appearance in Miami this season, followed up with the fact that it was a nationally broadcast game, I can see why Commissioner Stern would have an issue with this affecting the on court product. Although fans may have missed out on seeing some of the Spurs greats…. they still were able to see a great game. In a 100-105 loss, the San Antonio backups pushed the Heat starters up until the very end of the game… which begs the question, Do the Spurs really deserve to be punished? I feel San Antonio shouldn’t be punished for doing something that I think helps the NBA’s product in the long run. By the Spurs and Greg Popovich using these tactics, they are both ensuring their players stay healthy and rested for the playoffs as well as giving them the ability to evaluate bench players to improve future rosters… It also provides an opportunity to find effective rotations in case of possible injuries. I think Spurs fans (or any teams fans) would rather have their star(s) at their best for the playoffs… the latest example being Derrick Rose last year in the postseason. Granted Rose was lost during the playoffs, he played injured throughout the season and it could have been a contributing factor to his serious injury…. Never the less, the loss of Rose in my opinion devastated the “watchability” of the 76ers vs Bulls series. All in all I understand Commissioner Stern’s disapproval of how the Spurs went about resting their players, but in the Spurs defense Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili won’t be around forever so why should the league decide when a team looks to the bench for future prospects?
Hardened Rockets
With the recent shocking trade of James Harden from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Houston Rockets…. The question comes up, what does this trade do to the landscape of the NBA? With OKC coming off last years tough loss in the Finals, it seemed like a no-brainer the team would keep its young stars together for another run. However with Harden’s uncharacteristic disappearing act in the Miami Heat series, perhaps the team and General Manager Sam Presti had second thoughts of offering Harden the max contract he was looking for. In the end the trade was made to send James Harden along with Daequan Cook, Cole Aldrich, and Lazar Hayward to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, two first-round picks, and a second-round pick. After looking at the trade I honestly feel OKC came out on top in the deal. While managing to avoid a salary cap crisis in not signing Harden, OKC was able to obtain a proven scorer/defender in Kevin Martin and a solid all around prospect in Jeremy Lamb. On top of that, the picks OKC received may turn out to be lottery picks based on the uncertainty of the Houston Rockets future. If it was up to me I would hand Sam Presti the Executive of the Year Award right now… the man responsible for bringing Durant, Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka, Etc. to OKC has put the Thunder in a great position to compete for championships in the years to come. Although OKC was the winner in the trade, I respect what the Rockets organization is trying to do. With the acquisition of Jeremy Lin in the off-season and the pursuit of big names like Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum, it is clear Houston ownership is focused on winning now. I don’t feel that James Harden puts the Rockets in a position to contend this year, but he is another solid piece to build on for the future. If Houston could obtain a strong low-post presence to go with the backcourt of Lin and Harden… the Rockets could look to challenge down the road in the Western Conference.
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