It’s Thursday, Jan. 24 – here’s what to watch the rest of the week
1. The LeBron-Less Lakers
Bron and his ugly beard have been out since a bad third-quarter groin pull on Christmas Day forced him out of another one of his showdowns with the Golden State Warriors. Miraculously, the Lakers still ended up pummeling Golden State 127-101, and there was much optimism that the Lakers would weather the storm without their unquestioned leader. Some even gave it the spin that if LeBron’s supporting cast was to take that next step as a unit, it would behoove them to learn to fight on their own for a bit. That was when most thought LeBron would miss only a week or two, though.
Here we are, nearly a month later, and Lebron is still watching games in $10,000 outfits from the bench. The Lakers have gone 5-9 in his absence, including inexcusable home losses to the aimless Knicks and Cavs.
It’s becoming clearer by the day that the Lakers’ offseason plan was twofold: get Lebron, and then figure everything else out on the fly. So actually, I guess that would make it onefold. This team is lucky that Tyson Chandler fell into their lap to shore things up a bit on the defensive end, but the Lakers continue to have zero long-range game. You’d find more shooting threats in a monastery.
The most embarrassing statistic during this Lebron-less run? Before spraining his ankle in Saturday’s collapse to the Rockets, Lonzo Ball had been the Lakers’ best 3-point shooter – at 37%. And now he’s expected to be out through the All-Star break.
All the while, the Lakers have been in a freefall from fourth to ninth in the West’s playoff race since LeBron started experiencing issues in his bathing suit area. Rumors swirl that he’s eyeing a possible return on Sunday at home vs. the Suns. It’s sad, but the way things are going, they actually need him for that game.
2. Riding the Merry-Go-Round at the Carmelo Anthony Circus
My teacher did a bit of a thought experiment in my high school psychology class that I still haven’t forgotten. He asked us to anonymously write down, on a scale from 1 to 10, how good of a person each one of us thought we were individually. He collected the scraps of paper and commented that every single one of the responses was between 7 and 10. We all thought we were saints.
“So the next question would be, how many of you volunteer on a weekly basis? How many of you consistently raise money for philanthropic causes? How many of you hopped a flight down to New Orleans first thing after you heard about Hurricane Katrina?”
Not a single hand went up.
Why do I bring this up? Because I, for the most part, consider myself a half-decent person. But boy, is it fun to watch this Carmelo Anthony drama unfold.
Whenever the Bulls trade or waive Melo, he will be looking to join his fifth team in a little more than six months. Two of those teams – the Hawks and the Bulls – didn’t even let him play a game for them. They were literally paid to take Anthony.
Why is it so much fun to root against the ten-time all-star?
Maybe it’s because his brand of iso-ball is so dated that it can legally enlist in the Army – I was always shocked that Mr. Efficiency, Daryl Morey, took a flier on him at the beginning of the season, though it was admittedly on a low-risk contract.
Maybe it’s because he plays no defense. Maybe it’s because, frankly, he’s kind of fat. Maybe it’s because Anthony wasn’t even good enough to make it onto the famed Banana Boat.
Maybe it’s because of his hilarious Knicks tenure, where Anthony pissed away his remaining prime years toiling for a train wreck of an organization. He clearly prioritized money and fame over winning when he inked a five-year, $124 million extension to return to the Knicks in 2014, rather than make his way to somewhere more opportune. He led the Knicks to all of one playoff series victory during his tenure. Here are some of the teams that also won a playoff series while Carmelo called New York home: The Hawks (4), Clippers (3), Grizzlies (3), Wizards (3), Blazers (2), Pacers (2), Sixers, Nets, and Jazz. Even Phil Jackson – his own team president – was bullying him toward the end of his New York tenure.
Here’s hoping that LeBron talks the Lakers into torpedoing their season by bringing Anthony on board. Wouldn’t that be fun?
3. The End of Grit and Grind
Ownership is finally ready to throw in the towel on the skeleton known as the Grizzlies. The organization will reportedly be entertaining trade offers for Mike Conley and Marc Gasol in the lead-up to the Feb. 7 trade deadline. Both certainly still have some juice, but the main obstacles in any swaps will be Gasol’s age (33) and what’s left on Conley’s contract ($67 million through 2021).
Somehow, this team started the season 15-9, and briefly held the best record in the Western Conference. Since then, they’ve gone 4-20 and are currently mired in a seven-game losing streak. But let’s not focus on the here and now. Let’s focus on legacy that this team is leaving behind.
I have never, ever before seen a team that played this type of basketball, and yet was so much fun to watch. The core of Mike Conley, Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph and Tony Allen consistently punched opponents in the mouth with suffocating defense and nightly tenacity, a style which Allen infamously dubbed “Grit and Grind.” Needless to say, the name stuck.
Keep in mind – this team was nothing before those four guys came together. No history, no identity, no appreciation.
The foursome was able to string together five consecutive seasons in which all of them were healthy for the majority of the season, and it was an absolute pleasure to watch. From the 2010-11 season through 2014-15, the Grizzlies went 248-146 and scared the living daylights out of teams in the postseason.
You might think I’m kidding, but I’m not – some of my absolute favorite NBA playoff memories are sitting down with my Pops and watching those amazing Grizzlies teams do battle with the Oklahoma City Thunder. It felt like they met every year. In 2011, they matched up in the Western semifinals, and OKC beat them in 7. Two years later, Memphis returned the favor, with a five-game trouncing of the Thunder in the Conference semifinals, a year in which the Thunder were the top seed in the West. In 2014, they met again, this time in the first round. Oklahoma City won in seven.
It didn’t make sense how consistently good they were during that stretch, but not much ever made sense about the team. Why didn’t they change their name after they moved from Vancouver? What the $#@! would a grizzly bear be doing in Memphis? It never really mattered, it just kinda fit.
Grit and Grind.
4. No Longer Keeping Pace
You could argue that the closest thing the NBA currently has to an heir to that Grit and Grind throne would be the Indiana Pacers. Delighting the fans in a small market, the Pacers have the NBA’s sixth-best defense and Myles Turner is lapping the field in blocks per game – he leads the league with a mighty 2.78 per game.
The Pacers currently sit at 32-15, good enough for third-place in the top-heavy East. They even beat the Raptors Wednesday.
But any feelings of hope are sadly lost for the Pacers – their best player and leading scorer, all-star Victor Oladipo, is likely done for the season. Though full details are not out yet, Oladipo injured his right knee in the second quarter of that win vs. the Raptors, and it didn’t look good. I’m the furthest thing you’ll find from a doctor, but it didn’t seem like the standard ACL/MCL business – could have been a dislocated kneecap. Awful either way.
Nobody thought this team to be a title contender, myself included. And last week, I decried the snoozefest at the top of the conferences on both coasts – nobody wants to watch a Milwaukee-Denver NBA Finals. Adam Silver would throw up on live television.
But that doesn’t mean I want to see guys hurt. Oladipo is one of the bright young stars in this league and has been nothing but a revelation for the Pacers in the wake of the Paul George trade. Get well soon.
5. Did You Know?
Did you know that the following players are still on an NBA roster?
- JJ Barea – not only is he still in the league, but the Mavs are 1-8 without him this season!
- Corey Brewer – Brewer played some fantastic D on James Harden in his Sixers debut
- Channing Frye – is still on the Cavs roster solely to tell stories
- Ish Smith – top 10 first name in NBA history
- Jose Calderon – does anybody know what this guy sounds like when he speaks?
- Udonis Haslem – yes, actually
- Timofey Mozgov – the MozGod now calls Orlando home
- Ian Mahinmi – this guy refuses to quit, or improve
- Ryan Anderson – he’s the highest paid player on the Suns by nearly $9 million
- Luol Deng – Keyser Soze has nothing on the trick Luol Deng pulled on the Lakers
- Thabo Sefolosha – once the secret defensive weapon for some incredible Thunder teams
Hey, maybe you can do it too.
