2014-15 NBA Sternless Season...

[cincrazy]

I'm trying to figure out what Adam Silver has to do with Lillard being left on the team.

Also, the West is MURDEROUS. Everyone knows that. Lillard obviously deserved to be on the team, but a name like Durant isn't being left off in his prime. And say what you want about Harden, but he's been one of the best players in the league all season, an obvious MVP candidate. He's leading the league in scoring at 27.3 ppg, is dishing out 6.8 assists per game, and 5.6 rebounds. His defense, while not great and probably never will be, as improved since last year.

I feel bad for Lillard. Great player. But someone deserving was going to get shafted. I wish they would just disband the notion of conference vs. conference and take the most deserving players, period. Same thing for the playoff races.

[Chip R]

Dwight Howard out at least a month.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12...-knee-problems

[Kingspoint]

I'm trying to figure out what Adam Silver has to do with Lillard being left on the team.

The commissioner made the replacement pick for the injured Kobe Bryant.

[Kingspoint]

And say what you want about Harden, but he's been one of the best players in the league all season, an obvious MVP candidate. He's leading the league in scoring at 27.3 ppg, is dishing out 6.8 assists per game, and 5.6 rebounds. His defense, while not great and probably never will be, as improved since last year.

But, he's not one of the best players in the NBA. He's not even in the top-50 discussion. "Improved Defense over last season?" No he hasn't. He's still in a class all by himself as the very worst defensive player in the NBA. To be on the court as often as he is, he's a huge liability on the team. Fortunately, he has Dwight Howard covering the paint along with one of the best Defending Guards in the league playing along side of him. He can play his poor Defense and his mistakes get picked up by Howard and Beverly. His Offense sucks. He has one move: Take three to four steps without dribbling the ball and then run into the opponent and flop around looking for a foul call. There's no talent in that. It's just taking advantage of the NBA willing to give him these calls and when they decide to stop giving him these calls the way they stopped giving Dwayne Wade the same calls, his career will be over.

[Kingspoint]

Dwight Howard out at least a month.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12...-knee-problems

That's a devastating blow. Terrence Jones is back just in time, and with Howard out, that opens things up in the middle for Josh Smith. The Defense takes a huge hit, though.

[Kingspoint]

Another huge blow to a Western Conference playoff team...

Rajon Rondo (face) has been diagnosed with an orbital fracture to his left eye and a nasal fracture, and he's expected to be reevaluated this week.

We're going to call Rondo "out indefinitely." Playing with a broken nose is common, but an orbital fracture is a different beast. Rondo will miss at least the next three games as he undergoes additional tests and evaluation. While Rondo is sidelined, Devin Harris can be expected to step into a much larger role, with Raymond Felton and J.J. Barea picking up the slack behind him. Monta Ellis will also carry a bigger load, as well.

Source: Earl K. Sneed on Twitter

[Kingspoint]

As far as the Trail Blazers go, Nicolas Batum is single-handedly destroying this team, losers of 8 out of their last 10. He's injured so badly he can't make any of the five shots he manages to take during a game. He no longer can rebound, pass well or play Defense. When the ball comes to him, it's certain to be moving onto someone else. He's making everyone worse around him. He doesn't have to be guarded by anyone. Then there's the issue of what's going on inside his head as he deals with a divorce that he can't handle and separate from his play on the field.

Terry Stotts is making a huge mistake letting Batum dictate when Batum plays and when Batum doesn't. He needs to sit Batum down for at least a month and let him get his wrist healed. There's five or six players on the team that could take his minutes with no problem of playing at a much higher level.

[Kingspoint]

New Orleans ends Atlanta's 19-game winning streak, trouncing them by 15, outrebounding them by 20, while dishing out 30 assists with 10 blocked shots. The Pelicans have won 6 of 7 with victories over the Clippers and Mavericks, also.

http://www.nba.com/games/20150202/AT...fo.html?ls=slt

[Revering4Blue]

Or how about Charlotte winning at Washington without Kemba Walker or the Bucks winning in Toronto, while holding the Raptors to 75 points.

[Kingspoint]

Or how about Charlotte winning at Washington without Kemba Walker or the Bucks winning in Toronto, while holding the Raptors to 75 points.

Most definitely. The Bucks had a lot of hope at the beginning of the year and were looking like a contender for a Top-4 seed until they lost the "expected" Rookie-of-the-Year to a season-long injury. They've been up-and-down since then, but they haven't gone away. Then they lose their best player in Walker and should be heading towards the lottery, but they're showing a ton of courage. Kudos to the Head Coach. (Can't believe I'm praising Jason Kidd for Coaching.) Charlotte has completely turned their season around and had an impressive win against a Toronto team that had come out of the funk they had been in.

And, then there's Memphis, who outscored the Suns 8-0 over the final 1:49 to win by one, including a put-back Offensive Rebound and One for the winning points with under five seconds left.

[Revering4Blue]

New Orleans ends Atlanta's 19-game winning streak, trouncing them by 15, outrebounding them by 20, while dishing out 30 assists with 10 blocked shots. The Pelicans have won 6 of 7 with victories over the Clippers and Mavericks, also.

http://www.nba.com/games/20150202/AT...fo.html?ls=slt

And the Pelicans are still without Jrue Holiday. Granted, the Hawks aren't a fluke. They were a tough out last year, even without Horford. But, by and large, the East just isn't that strong. In fact, it's so weak that the Pacers, who will land up in the lottery at this rate, along with getting Paul George back, could be right back at or near the top of the East next year.

As much as they've been hyped, the Bulls and Cavs aren't exactly the second coming of the '86 Celtics and '83 76ers, respectively. And next year, just in their division alone, they'll have to fend off the aforementioned reloaded Pacers, an improving, young Bucks team and, yes, even the Pistons could be a factor if: 1) Brandon Jennings returns next season at full strength. 2) The Greg Monroe issue is resolved in a positive manner. 3) The Pistons emerge from the draft with a solid Small Forward, such as Arizona's Stanley Johnson.

[Revering4Blue]

Most definitely. The Bucks had a lot of hope at the beginning of the year and were looking like a contender for a Top-4 seed until they lost the "expected" Rookie-of-the-Year to a season-long injury. They've been up-and-down since then, but they haven't gone away. Then they lose their best player in Walker and should be heading towards the lottery, but they're showing a ton of courage. Kudos to the Head Coach. (Can't believe I'm praising Jason Kidd for Coaching.) Charlotte has completely turned their season around and had an impressive win against a Toronto team that had come out of the funk they had been in.

And, then there's Memphis, who outscored the Suns 8-0 over the final 1:49 to win by one, including a put-back Offensive Rebound and One for the winning points with under five seconds left.

Both Kidd and Steve Clifford deserve a lot of credit. As you mentioned, both teams could have packed it in. As for Memphis, that Jeff Green trade is, IMO, the most impactful in-season deal thus far.

[Revering4Blue]

Also, Deron Williams returned from an 11 game absence to help lead the Nets to victory against the Clips. On a related note, the Nuggets are aggressively pursuing Brook Lopez.

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.c...trade/related/

[Kingspoint]

Both Kidd and Steve Clifford deserve a lot of credit. As you mentioned, both teams could have packed it in.

The Larry Sanders fiasco was a huge distraction that they've overcome while they've been devastated by injuries. As Starters Brandon Knight, Ersan Ilyasova, and Zaza Pachulia return from injuries, along with anything they might be able to pick up at the trade deadline to cover the losses of Jabari Parker, Kendall Marshall (I mentioned Milwaukee by mistake when referring to Kemba Walker's loss instead of Charlotte) and Larry Sanders, the Bucks should only get better as the season moves along. I have to admit I was dead wrong about Kidd.

[Tom Servo]

Yeah I hate to say it is a Nets fan but Kidd is doing a good job in Milwaukee and I'm wishing ownership had gone with the squeaky wheel over Billy King right about now.