Would Anyone Believe that We Actually Miss Kobe?

Short Excerpts from longer form articles from the Basketball in a Nutshell Writers during the 2018 NBA off season

My first moment of loving the game came two and a half years ago, March of 2016, while I was working as a news anchor at a small radio station in Latrobe, Pa. I was presented with the opportunity to announce the championship game at the highest classification of the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League when the local team made a deep run. It was a thrilling game that went to double overtime! Unfortunately, the hometown team lost by a thin margin, but it was an experience that I will never forget. People from around town actually started approaching me in the days after to tell me how much they enjoyed my call of the action. That’s when I thought “there’s something to this sport. Maybe I should give it a shot.”

This great league with the most marketable, universal athletes has been pretty boring over the last thirty-eight some odd years in terms of who wins the ship. In the 80s we all knew it would be the Lakers, 76ers, or Celtics hoisting that trophy every year. Yeah the Pistons temporarily turned that narrative around 2x in that period, but what else after that? We get the Bulls/Rockets/Bulls dynasties for the entire 90s.

Dallas locked in the skills of the legendary power forward and become the first team to test paying an active player social security payments. Cleveland retained the arm of forward Kevin Love in what can only be a ploy to convince him into being the starting quarterback for the Browns. Overall, even as the NBA snowglobe ended up shaking heavily this offseason, once the snow settles the results should look very similar to the 2017–2018 season.

It might be possible that the ancient and secret art of MCW whispering was passed on during that time and that we may see magical results this year due to it, assuming MCW legs hold up. Coach D’Antoni’s freestyle system might fit him better than anyone suspects. Honestly he doesn’t have to shoot much, he just has to feed the post to Nene or drive and dish to Eric Gordon and Ryan Anderson and help crash the boards.

Celtics are clearly one of the only teams who can challenge the Warriors for their throne. Not only is their conference Lebron-free, but they are adding a healthy Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward to a team that was 5 minutes away from making the Finals. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are only getting better, and they’ve held on to their collection of future first-round picks… for now.

Next year, I and most fans anticipate the NBA to adjust free agency and try to capitalize on a week that needs more effective structure. Minor changes like moving up the moratorium deadline from midnight to during the day help in significant ways. 2019 free agency might be even more chaotic than this year and I fully expect that the story lines will dramatically change once again.

“A bad manager can do more to hurt his team than a smart manager can do to help his team.” I heard this on The Ringer’s baseball podcast with Ben Lindbergh and Michael Baumann and it is interestingly applicable to the NBA. After all, there aren’t that many smart front offices in the league and the rest of the teams did a lot of damage to themselves over the last couple of summers, leaving them capped out with bad contracts and unable to really improve themselves for this coming season. It’s understandable that the teams that already had good decision-makers in place benefitted the most.

Perhaps one of the more curious moves in the offseason was that the Utah Jazz handed Dante Exum a 2-year, $22 million deal, eve though he’s averaged 40.5 games in the first four years he has been in the NBA, and he’s only been productive this past season, as he had played well in 14 games in the regular season. However, that may not be a big enough sample size to suggest sustained improvement as that was his only season of posting a PER in double digits, and he has a career PER of 7.5. The Jazz are betting big on Exum, and time will tell if their decision to pay him that much will succeed or not.

Boston was the second seed in the East and once Kyrie went down they really never seemed to be in contention for the number seed. Conventional wisdom will tell you that with a healthy Kyrie, and Hayward this team is should be favored in the East and might be a threat to Golden State.

I don’t believe it.

First myth here to dismantle is that there is such thing as a healthy Kyrie for a full season. It doesn’t exist. It never has, just go ask Coach K, he’ll tell you. So the 60 games you got from Kyrie last year is probably what you should count on in the regular season from him.

So, who are the next teams to pretend you’ve been a life long supporter? Here’s three:

1. Atlanta Hawks — Yes, they finished last in the East last year at a measly 24–58. But this is the perfect time to jump on that bandwagon. The Hawks are taking calculated risks, acquiring draft picks, and pleasing fans with cheap concessions. Combine all that with residing in the Eastern Conference and you might see the Hawks back in the playoffs in 2020
2. New York Knicks — The Knicks are awful right now. With Porzingus hurt and possibly not playing this season, they may be unwatchable. However, with rumblings of Durant and Kyrie interested in playing at Madison Square Garden, you better jump on this bandwagon quick. It may already be too late.
3. Denver Nuggets — Denver has a young team. 8th youngest in the league last year. But this team sure plays at a high level. Denver has drafted well and nearly made the playoffs in a loaded Western Conference. Couple that with ownership that isn’t afraid to express interest in big free agents, this team is ready to fight.