The end of week six is drawing near, which to me means only a couple things. The first being that the NBA is back in full swing, and the second being the fact that I’ve avoided writing about the Lakers for the first five weeks of school. But, at long last, I sit at my desk fresh off the top-10 plays from last night — which by the way were almost entirely Washington Wizard highlights — ready to give my first batch of early predictions for the 2010-11 NBA season. I mean, they’ve been playing for almost two full weeks now and the NBA Finals are just around the corner (June). So why not get exponentially ahead of myself?
Rookie Watch
Wizards point guard John Wall will outlast LA Clippers power forward Blake Griffin for Rookie of the Year honors. Averaging 16.8 points and 10.3 rebounds through the first week of action, it’s no surprise Griffin was such a hot commodity coming out of Oklahoma. Nobody doubts his physicality, but after watching Griffin crash to the floor and throw his body around like a rag doll, it’s no wonder the guy went down with a broken kneecap a season ago. He plays hard, almost to a fault, leaving me wondering how long the bruiser can stay healthy.
Wall, on the other hand, proved to be as quick as advertised in his nine-steal performance that resulted in Washington’s first win of the season. Leading all rookies with 23.7 points per game, Wall has his work cut out for him as the face of a struggling franchise.
Turnovers have plagued the rookie, but that’s nothing new for Wall, who struggled with high turnovers at Kentucky last season. Ultimately his speed will be tough for most NBA guards to defend, and with a lacking half-court offense, Wall will be a regular in the transition game with many high-scoring nights.
Stomaching the Blazers
I am a Blazer-Hater. No two ways about it. Since coming to the University, I’ve sat through more than my fair share of Comcast productions with Mike and Mike. I come away scratching my head or reaching for the nearest trash can most of the time, but this year’s team has a different feel to it.
The nucleolus of Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge and Andre Miller is still in place, and healthy I might add, but newcomers Armon Johnson and Wesley Matthews have provided some nice depth after an offseason of player transactions. Matthews isn’t much of a three-point threat, despite throwing 18 attempts at the basket through five games. But with the body of an NFL linebacker he is a nice change for a less than physical Portland team. Yes I said it, and you know it’s true. Portland’s lacked a penetration scorer for some time now. Roy is capable, but it’s not his style. Matthews fits that bill nicely.
I can only hope that Portland can fight its way out of a first-round playoff exit and matchup with the Lakers somewhere along the line. For more on that debate, check back this April.
LA completes the three-peat
Is it really possible that Phil Jackson is going for his fourth career three-peat this season? Twice he did so with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, and now looks to do it for the second time with Kobe Bryant and the LA Lakers. Wrapping my mind around that took me some time, too.
But here’s what has intrigued me about the Lake Show so far this season. The other night Bryant said he is feeling better right now than he did at any point last season. In leading LA to its second consecutive NBA title, Bryant paced his team with 27 points, 5.4 rebounds and five assists in his 14th year in the league in 2009-10.
If Bryant truly is feeling healthier than a year ago and the Lakers continue to lead the NBA in scoring (114.3 points per outing), he’ll see a lot of down time to stay healthy for another push deep into the postseason. And as we’ve seen over the past two years, LA can’t be beat when summer rolls around.
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