The Lakers finally landed the point guard they have been targeting for over 3 years, Steve Blake. The Maryland star signed a 4 year $16 million contract with the Lakers which is about the same amount the Lakers were targeting him for using their MLE a couple years back. This signing is something that the Lakers desperately needed in this offseason, and allows Blake to stay in the same city he was traded to in February except that he is playing in purple and gold as opposed to red and white.
With the almost certain departure of the Jordan Farmar and Shannon Brown, that leaves the Lakers' backcourt with only Sasha and most likely Derek Fisher. What should happen is that Fisher will signa a 1 year deal with the Lakers and truly mentor Steve Blake at point guard for most of the season. They will slowly let Blake take over more of the duties as the season progresses. This is Mitch Kupchak and the rest of the Lakers' front office's grand scheme and it has been the plan for a while. It upgrades the Lakers' backcourt which has been a soft spot for the team since Gary Payton was the starter in 2004, and it gives Blake a chance to learn the offense as well as be slowly integrated into a starting role. A perfect situation from a guy who has been thrown on mediocre teams and asked to play starters minutes and lead the team to wins. Jackson and his coaching staff have shown that they have been able to consistently mentor guys and develop them well into their careers.
Blake is a great distributor who is athletic and can hit jumpers. His skill set seems to fit very well within a triangle offense as it revolves around passing and movement. Blake is less of a scoring point guard, but he can create his own shot which is critical in the Triangle Offense, and that should work well along Pau and Bynum in the middle. As soon as the defense collapses in the middle, Blake will receive the ball back and he can create or distribute very effectively. He has shown that he is a danger from the 3 point range or driving the lane. Blake is an athletic point guard who will be able to hang with the top point guards in the league, but he will need to improve his defense if he is going to be an impact player in crucial situations.
All in all, this was a solid signing for the Lakers and it helps put Lakers fans at ease while the last remaining details of this offseason get sorted out. Fisher is widely regarded to sign for 1 year which should answer any remaining questions about the point guard position. Farmar, Shannon Brown, and Josh Powell are the last pieces that may change for the Lakers. Signing Blake was a definitive statement that the Lakers are moving in a different direction than Farmar, and Farmar has made it clear the he wants to be a starter in the league. It will be a few weeks until the dust settles, and most of the inner workings can happen with little media attention due to the free agency circus surrounding the highest NBA profile free agents. Until then, the Lakers know that their point guard situation issue is addressed, and most importantly, their coaching issue is addressed. Sleep well Lakers fans.
7/7/10
Steve Blake to Lakers thoughts
7/5/10
Money Doesn't Buy Championships
We're 5 days into the free agency period and we've already seen 4 major players resign with their home teams. Dirk Nowitzki, Joe Johnson, Rudy Gay, and Paul Pierce are off the market with huge contracts and huge aspirations. I'm wondering how the liberal spending of these teams will impact their franchise. I'm skeptical about all of these signings except for 1.
It is worth noting that the first two on this list were purely business decisions because the Hawks and Mavs weren't far enough under the cap to lure a big name free agent. So, rather than rebuild and start from scratch, they decided to keep what they had and hope for the best.
Joe Johnson: Johnson was clearly a benefactor of all of the hoopla about this summer's free agency class. As Johnson's name kept coming up as one of the main targets on teams' free agent wish list, it was almost certain that he was going to cash in on all the positive publicity. He did, and the Hawks find themselves right where they left off after losing to the Magic in historic fashion in the second round of the 2010 playoffs. Johnson's deal is worth $119 million over 6 years.
Don't get me wrong. Johnson is a great player. With averages of 21.9ppg, 4.9 assts, and a steal, he is an upper echelon player in the league, however, these types of averages don't seem to work for the Hawks. Their young core has yet to make a splash in the playoffs since taking the 2008 Boston Celtics team to 7 games. Simply put, this team isn't good enough. They needed a surefire player who could lead them. Joe Johnson hasn't been outspoken enough to bring his team to the next level. He doesn't posess the killer instinct that #1 options on championship calibur teams have. I'm also worried about Johnson's inconsistency. There are games where he looks unstoppable, and games where he is more than forgettable. Undoubtedly, he is a #2 option on an elite team, which explains why the Knicks and Bulls went after Johnson first so that they could include him in their sales pitch to Lebron, Bosh, and Wade.
The bright side for the Hawks is if they can reintegrate Josh Childress after his stint in Greece and new coach Larry Drew can help develop Johnson as a leader, they might be able to compete for a top spot in the East. If only they could have had Chris Paul instead of Marvin Williams...this would have been so much easier.
Dirk Nowitzki: Clearly loyalty played a huge factor in this decision. Mark Cuban believed in Dirk when the entire city of Dallas was crushing the team for passing up on Paul Pierce. They lived through the ups and downs together and Cuban has never backed down from defending Dirk. There was no other choice for Dirk except to go back if Dallas extended the offer. They did, and the Mavs will be putting on a very similar act that we have seen many times before. Again, this team is amazing on paper. They got their versatile swingman in Shawn Marion, one of the best point guards in NBA history with Jason Kidd, an annual contender for 6th man of the year in Jason Terry, and a constant influx of new raw talent coming in every year. Their only hole right now is filling the center spot due to the uncertainty with Brendan Haywood's free agency and the almost certain waiving of Dampier.
Dirk has shown that he is an elite player in the league, however, he has not shown that he can take his team over the top. He has a solid supporting cast and a willing owner who is ready to spend whatever it takes to win, but Nowitzki hasn't produced in big moments. After their famous flameout in the first round in the 2007 playoffs, to Golden State, a series that I still defend to this day as the biggest upset in sports history, the Mavs have never quite regained their footing. They lost this year again in the first round to the Spurs which fuels the fire against Dirk. In the end, the Mavs figured that there is too much history with Dirk and this franchise to give up on him now. If somehow the Mavs won the title with Dirk as the lead man, it would mean so much more than to bring in a new franchise player and start over. As it stands now, the team is virtually the same team that has left the floor before June every year since 2006, and has never come up with the trophy in hand. I don't see that changing, and neither do you.
Rudy Gay: By far the worst signing of the free agency period. I'm actually still having convulsions from time to time thinking about this. Lets put this in perspective, here we have a guy who has never brought his team to the playoffs, never been an All-Star, and never been a leader and is getting paid $80 million over 5 years. Not to mention that Gay isn't even definitively the best player on the Grizzlies. Granted, there are a ton of overpaid players in the league who aren't even worth close to what they get paid, but that is a reason for the Grizzlies to take a step back and learn from this mistakes.
If you look at it from the Grizzlies' perspective, they are just happy that they retained Gay. They weren't going to land any big name free agent so they just had a pile of money lying around and decided to spend it where they knew they were going to get some value. Gay brings great energy to the floor, he is a top tier athlete and a proven scorer. Definitely someone you want to have on your team, but he is commonly referred to as a "poor man's Danny Granger", and not your top 30 players to give the ball to in the last 1:30 of a close game. In the overall landscape of the league, this signing is pretty meaningless, but sometimes it just makes you wonder why you couldn't have been a standout player at a major school and land on a small market team with a ton of money in a year before the Collective Bargaining Agreement would be renegotiated. Damn.
Paul Pierce: Of course, this is the best signing so far. The Celtics believe that they were one Kendrick Perkins injury away from a Game 7 victory over the Lakers. Why would you mess with something like that? Danny Ainge had a no-brainer here. Pierce is their clutch player who gets to the foul line, has a versatile offensive game, and a solid defensive game. He has been the face of the franchise since he was drafted in 1996, and has been part of the rebuilding process through the late 90s until he won the Finals MVP in 2008. The Celtics are clearly contenders for the 2011 NBA title as long as they retain Ray Allen which is expected to happen. Resigning Pierce was just a formality. He is the one free agent who has proven he can win and deserves a raise from the team that has helped define his legacy. No arguments here. Just have to see if the Celtics can cash in this time. Most likely, this is the Celtics' last shot at it with this crew.
We've only just hit the surface of this free agency period. There is a lot more to come, and we're all hoping to be surprised.
-Izzy
We're back!
After almost a year hiatus, DishingDimes is back! We did the website domain thing and weren't pleased with the results. A few other factors contributed to us leaving the site unmanaged, but recently we decided to bring it back.
Our epiphany was: "We are a basketball blog." Deep. I know. We overextended ourselves. As our site took off and we had followers all over the world and started networking with other major basketball blogs, we got ahead of ourselves and lost focus. Our goal is the same as when we started this thing in June of 2008 in our dorm rooms at Stanford and Wake Forest, to write about basketball. Our duty as fans and students of the game is to increase the freeflow of opinion and to talk about the sport as much as we can. That is the best thing for the game and the best thing that we can contribute. Phil and I are determined to do this thing again. We want to serve the readers and the game as much as we can. We appreciate all the support and inquiries about our blog and whether we were ever going to come back. Undoubtedly, that support factored heavily into our decision to start writing again. We will do our best to surpass your expectations.
-Izzy
7/26/09
7/11/09
We are back!
The 2 month layoff from posting was not because we were lazy. Well...it could have been partially because of that. The most important reason for not posting was due to the fact that Phil and I have been working on a new website. The website will expand our blog from a simple blog to different topics including video debates and possibly podcasts. We are really excited about the expansion of the site. We appreciate all of your support. The site should be up in the coming days. I hope that you all will visit the site. Take care.
Izzy
5/7/09
Playoff Bullets
Here are my quick thoughts on the playoffs:
The Nuggets have been the most surprising team in the playoffs thus far. Melo is making an image comeback. He is showing a lot of heart out there on the court. The Nuggets in general are playing inspired basketball. Nene is a force down in the middle and Kenyon Martin is the closest thing we have seen to "an enforcer" in recent memory. The Nuggets success, and George Karl's job, can all be traced back to Chauncey Billups. He has put this team on his back and showed them how to win. Chris "Birdman" Anderson and J.R Smith have become huge forces off the bench. I'd even go as far to say that the Nuggets have one of the top 3 benches in the league at this point. J.R Smith is an explosive scorer and Anderson is the hustle player you need to make the big block, get the big rebound, dive for the ball, or get the big dunk. What more can you ask for? This team is for real.
- Dirk Nowitski clearly cannot carry the Mavs alone. The Mavs will lose this series, and no one would be surprised if they got swept. The Mavs need to reload this offseason and go after a player who can play alongside Dirk. Josh Howard is a great player, but another big time scorer or a defender would take the Mavs a long way. Kidd will be a free agent this summer which means two things. 1) 20 million in space and 2) Cuban can stop running stats to prove that the Kidd trade was a good one. It was not. The Mavs need to go big this summer as Cuban is one of the only owners in the league who can afford to spend money. Chris Paul anyone?
The Rockets will not go away easily. Everyone counted them out before this series even started. The series is sitting at 1-1 and the physical play shows no signs of tappering off. Blood has been drawn, elbows have been thrown, ejections have been handed out, and we have been treated to a series. This is the edge that Ron Artest brings. He brings a blue collar style of basketball to the Rockets who is ready to do the nitty gritty stuff that is essential to playoff success. I also don't want to hear that the Rockets are better without Tracy McGrady. I can assure you that Rick Adelman would love to see him out there as another offensive threat. Speaking of threats, the biggest threat to the Lakers is Shane Battier's defense. He has solidified that he is the best defender in the league against Kobe. Making Kobe work hard on every possession is as much as Adelman can ask for. Battier putting a hand right in Kobe's face is the most effective defensive strategy in basketball. Hands Down. This series is far from over.
- The Lakers were exposed in Game 1 against the Rockets. The time off showed how vulnerable the Lakers were to physical play. It also showed how tough the defense was on the interior which kept the Lakers bigs from going off. The perimeter defense was solid in game 1 which caused the Lakers to shoot 2/17. In game 2, the Lakers flipped the script and came out gunning. What is worrisome for the Lakers is they are not playing good enough defense. They seem to just be putting up volume scoring without commiting on the defensive end. Expect PJ to fix that before this series is over. There is a team in Colorado that is much further along on the defensive front than the Lakers have been this playoffs. This is also one series that the Lakers do not have a distinct size advantage. It is a struggle for the Lakers big men down low to check Yao Ming, and the penetration in the lane has not been easy. Lot of work to do here for the Lakers.
- The Magic will almost undoubtedly lose Alston for the next game. That will be a crushing blow to the Magic for game 3, but they can still win that game. In fact, they should beat the Celtics in the series. I don't see any reason why they lose this series. They outmatch the Celtics in size and if they limit their turnovers, this series should go to Orlando. Dwight Howard has to transform from class clown to proven team leader. This is the big test for the Magic. A series win against the C's will be a gigantic step for the organization. The encouraging thing is that this Magic team is essentially the same team as last year, and the improvement is drastic. I do think this is another series that goes to 7 games, but facing the Cavs in the next round is not something to look forward to. I think the Magic are the only team in the East who can legitimately challenge the Cavs. That series would be a treat for NBA fans. Orlando...please finish this.
The Celtics are beat up. Fatigue has clearly played a role in this series, and will become an even bigger factor as the series goes on. Yeah yeah...defending champs. They can overcome anything. No. Please don't kid yourself. The Celtics need KG. That is the end of it. Here is an interesting thought experiment. Lets imagine KG never came to the Celtics. The Celtics now have Pierce, Allen, and Al Jefferson. Jefferson got injured at the end of the season. Would Jefferson have a better chance to come back during the playoffs than KG? Would the Celtics have won the championship last year with Jefferson instead of KG? Give that some serious thought. I think the Celtics would have still won the championship last year, and this year, Jefferson would probably be able to come back, or at the very least, have a better chance to come back than KG. This playoff season has brought the emergence of Rajon Rondo. He has lived up the potential that he has. The success of a healthy Celtics team rests on how well Rondo can play. He has 4 triple-doubles this playoff season, the first player since Jason Kidd. Rondo is for real. Injuries have decided this postseason in the East. A healthy Celtics team on the court means a very different outcome. Next year.
The Cavs are playing flawless basketball. I'm wondering whether the Cavs are actually this good or their competition has been this bad. Lebron is the MVP and he is playing like it. There has been no legitimate defense against Lebron, and I don't know if such a thing is possible. The one concern for the Cavs is the lack of challenge for the Cavs. If you buy into the "Must be battle tested before the finals" menality, then no, the Cavs are not ready, and hopefully the Conference Finals will provide that test for the Cavs. If you buy into the "Bring on anything, and we are ready" menality then yes, the Cavs have what it takes to live up to any challenge. Not much else to say about the Cavs. Their play says all that needs to be said.
- The Hawks? Have fun on your summer vacation next week! This series is over.
4/17/09
Quick Playoff Predictions
Things have been hectic which is why I haven't been able to post in a while. I hope to get back to my normal posting routine now that things have cooled down.
Since the playoffs are upon us, I'm going to give a quick prediction on each series. We all know that the rounds before the Finals are just entertainment before the Cavs and Lakers play.
Eastern Conference
Cavs vs Pistons: The Pistons don't have a chance. Yes, the Pistons have a lot of experience, but experience does not matter when you are a sub-500 team going up against the team with the best record in the league and the player who will undoubtedly be named the MVP. Look for this series to be the only sweep all playoffs. Prediction: 4-0 Cavs
Celtics vs Bulls: This series will be a breeze for the Celtics. Of course, the big drama is losing KG for the playoffs. The Bulls still don't have the personnel to match up to the Celtics firepower. We will get a treat to see a two up-and-coming point guards in Rondo and Rose go up against each other. It will also be interesting to see the KG story unfold. Will he be on the bench as an emotional lift? Will it be too painful for him to be on the bench? Will he focus on rehabbing so he can possibly make a comeback later on in the playoffs? That is why everyone will pay attention to this series. It has more to do with the storyline than it does basketball. Prediction: Celtics 4-1
Magic vs Sixers: Again, not much to see here. The only weakness I see for the Magic is the health of Lewis and Turkoglu holding them back. Even without them healthy, the Magic have a lot more than the Sixers. Who is going to Dwight Howard? I bet Tony DiLeo has been asking that question since these matchups have been set. The Sixers barely edged out a Cavs team on the last night without any of their starters. Look for this series to be over quick. I do think the Magic are a little too inexperienced to effectively close teams out. This is also virtually the same team that gave the Pistons fits last playoffs. I could see the Sixers putting up a fight. Prediction: Magic 4-2
Hawks vs Heat: I really think the Hawks could sneak up on people. They took the Celtics to 7 games and then people started looking their way. The Hawks pretty much have the same roster as last season, and they have had some big wins this season. Just like many players (Robert Horry and James Posey) come out during the playoffs, I think we will see that with the Atlanta Hawks. They won't have it easy though. Dwyane Wade, the MVP candidate, is an overachieving team. Wade is good enough to single handedly win a series. Look for Wade to put this team on his back as he has all season and give the Hawks a lot of trouble. I think Wade will only be able to carry his team to a certain extent. Their inexperience under playoff conditions will cause them to drop 1 game at home. Both teams are horrible on the road (16-25 and 15-26, respectively). I'm giving the series to the home team, the Hawks. Prediction: Hawks 4-2
Western Conference
Lakers vs Jazz: The Jazz played the Lakers hard last year. Although people think the Lakers will waltz through the playoffs, don't expect it to be that easy. The Jazz are going to put up a fight. Deron Williams is the second best point guard in the league. He is a big time player that comes through in clutch situations. If the game is close, I wouldn't be surprised to see Williams drop 11 straight points. The Jazz are a physical team that doesn't have much of a low post presence outside of Boozer. They also play pretty good defense and have bodies to put against the big front line of the Lakers. To counter Deron Williams, the Lakers have #24. We are all aware of what Kobe can do. The Jazz will have to try and limit the rest of the Lakers and let AK47 to the best he can against Kobe. To make matters worse, Pau is the best 2nd option in the NBA. Like Boozer, he is a double-double machine. Boozer will have to play amazing defense against Gasol in order to have a chance in this series. As for Bynum, if he is half as productive has he has been, it is going to be a long night for the Jazz. No surprise here. Prediction: Lakers 4-1
Nuggets vs Hornets: The best point guard in Chris Paul and the third best point guard in Chauncey Billups go at it. The Nuggets have the big names, but their embarassing loss to the Blazers the other night could not have been encouraging for George Karl. Melo is still inconsistent and has a chance to make a name for himself. Billups is a proven leader with championship experience. Nene is a solid big man that can go up against a healthy Chandler and the Nuggets have, in my mind, the 6th man of the year in J.R Smith. Smith is explosive and dangerous. The more you see Smith play, the more you know he is for real. Smith was the only reason the Nuggets didn't get completely embarassed last year against the Lakers in the first round. If the Hornets have a healthy Chandler and Peja can come back to somewhat of what he has been in the past, the Hornets have a chance. In fact, I think a healthy Chandler means the Hornets win. David West and Melo will also be an interesting matchup. The Hornets are only 6 games worse in terms of records compared to the Nuggets. Their seeding is not indicative of their talent. Prediction: Hornets 4-3
Spurs vs Mavericks: Like the Celtics, the talk is about losing Manu. Pop is going to let that distract his team. The Spurs have a lot to lose by going out early in the playoffs. An early loss for the Spurs will have the basketball world talking Tim Duncan retirement. The Spurs have a lot to prove. The Mavs have always been the team that never could. The Spurs have the young gunners and the veteran leaders in Parker and Duncan. The Mavs have veteran gunners like Dirk, Josh Howard, and probably the 6th man of the year in Jason Terry. Most importantly, Jason Kidd is the veteran that needs to step up and lead this team. This is about as good as it gets for NBA fans. A team that has nothing to lose in the Mavs, and a team that has everything to lose in the Spurs. This is going to be a good one. In the end, I don't think the Mavs are durable or patient enough to hang with the steady Spurs. Prediction: Spurs 4-2
Blazers vs Rockets: This could be the year the Rockets finally make it out of the first round. The good news for the Rockets is that they match up to the Blazers well. The bad news is that they are the Rockets. Battier will play Brandon Roy and that is going to help them out a lot. If they can limit Brandon Roy, things might swing Houston's way. The Rockets have a couple of offensive options. Nothing too overwhelming. The Blazers have great offensive players like Aldridge and Outlaw. They also have a good group of young players in Bayless, Fernandez and Rodriguez. The Blazers are undoutedly more talented right now compared to the Rockets. There are rumblings that Yao's foot is hurt and won't be 100% for the playoffs. I think that is where it ends. Another injury-plagued season for the Rockets leads to another tough first round matchup, and leads to an early summer vacation. A lot of people think this series will be close. I would like to see this go to 7, but it will end in Game 6 at the Toyota Center. Prediction: Blazers 4-2
Izzy
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