The Half Court Heave is a panel of four dudes, two Def Pen Hoops writers, myself, and the chillest dude I could find on Twitter to write a roundtable. Or mailbag. More like a panel. Something of that sort.
The Goal, with a capital G, of the Half Court Heave is to ask very pressing questions concerning this thing called basketball. Questions that pop up on the interwebs during the week, on Twitter, Reddit, and not Google Plus. And we’ll get them answered for you.
Yes, just for you. Did Zaza Pachulia really trip the android? Why does Draymond Green look like he had 5 plates of comfort food before Game One of the Western Conference Finals? How does one become more like Shea Serrano? Well, stuff like that, and normal questions that us writers can actually coherently answer.
Hot takes are welcome here. Welcome to the First Edition of the Half Court Heave.
This weeks edition features some chill people. Here’s who they are, what they do, and where you can block them for their horrendous takes.
Andrew Bernucca – Andrew is the resident Euroleague expert (meaning, he’s the only guy on NBA twitter who actually knows the dudes from Europe when they get drafted) here at Def Pen. He is THAT guy who claims Euroleague Basketball is better than college basketball. Andrew also does some decent stuff for The Step Back. You can follow him on Twitter @krosoveri.
Justin Hodges – Justin is the resident NBA draft expert (meaning, he’s the only guy on NBA twitter who actually watches college basketball before March) here at Def Pen. He also contributes for a Sea of Blue and Soaring Down South. *Please keep Justin in your thoughts and prayers, as he is a diehard Kentucky basketball and Atlanta Falcons fan.* You can follow him on Twitter @HodgePodgeHoops.
Grant Afseth – Grant is the lead NBA writer and Indiana Pacers analyst at Indiana Sports Coverage. He also is the Editor of Myles Turner’s official website. Don’t tell him Paul George sucks. It’s just a bad idea. You can follow him on Twitter @GrantAfseth.
Oh yeah. I’m Austin Hutchinson. I’m a suffering Bulls fan (we’ll get back to that later) and I cover the NBA and help create dope content for Def Pen Hoops. You can follow me on Twitter @AE_Hutchinson.
Let’s get it.
1.) Rank your Top 10 players from the remaining playoff teams (including Houston) and discuss your list.
Bernucca:
The four best players in the league are still in the playoffs: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard and Steph Curry. That’s my order for the top four but 2-4 can basically be put in any order. I won’t argue. But James is number one, that can’t be argued. The next six get really tough because we still have John Wall, Draymond Green, Kyrie Irving, Isaiah Thomas, Kevin Love, Klay Thompson, and Lamarcus Aldridge. That’s seven players for six spots and the guy to drop here is probably Aldridge.
He was a roller coaster ride for the Rockets series, occasionally playing really well and dominating down low. But at other times in the series, it appeared Eric Gordon could guard him in the post. So even though he was impressive in Game 6, and mainly was impressive once Nene went down for the series, Aldridge is going to get dropped from the list.
The five-spot is going to go to Green. You could argue has been the best player on the Warriors so far this post-season. He’s currently averaging 14.9ppg, 9.1rpg and 7.3apg. He’s shooting 50 percent from the field and 51 percent from three, that’s inhuman.
My sixth spot goes to Thomas who’s been phenomenal even though he’s coping with the loss of his sister. That 53 point game in Game 2? Come on now, dropping him any lower would be incriminating.
The rest of the list is pretty easy for me. Wall and Irving are seven and eight in whichever order, and Love and Thompson are nine in ten in whichever order.
Hodges:
My top ten would go as follows:
LeBron James
Stephen Curry
Kevin Durant
Kawhi Leonard
James Harden
John Wall
Kyrie Irving
Draymond Green
Isaiah Thomas
Klay Thompson
LeBron James at one is a no brainer. I’m giving Stephen Curry the edge over Kevin Durant due to the consistent domination throughout this postseason, even though Durant can’t help that he was injured. Kawhi Leonard has the edge over James Harden because of his defensive dominance. John Wall has blown up onto the scene as an absolute superstar, which gets him the nod as the second best from the East. Draymond Green is fantastic, but I give Kyrie Irving the nod over him because of his accomplishments beforehand. Isaiah Thomas has obviously been an absolute offensive force this year, and Klay Thompson is still the premiere three-point flamethrower in the NBA aside from Steph.
Afseth:
Based on the remaining players in the post-season and their performance in the post-season, I would go with: LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, Stephen Curry, John Wall, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, Isaiah Thomas, Al Horford, Bradley Beal, and Avery Bradley.
Hutchinson:
This is a toughie. Either way I’m going to get sine flack for not having somebody ahead of so and so… oh well. Here goes nothing.
- LeBron James
- Kevin Durant
- Kawhi Leonard
- Stephen Curry
- James Harden
- John Wall
- Draymond Green
- Isaiah Thomas
- Kyrie Irving
- Klay Thompson
I really, really want to put Leonard at two. What he’s done this season as an offensive player and in the playoffs has been remarkable. I need to see him outplay Kevin Durant in these conference finals before I can say that one of the greatest scorers ever in KD is worst than Leonard. Harden had an eh playoffs, but his presence was still a driving force in the San Antonio series. I have Draymond Green that high. Yup. He’s been a great shooter from deep this entire playoffs, and his ability to keep Golden State’s machine running smoothly on both side of the ball is invaluable.
2.) Is having a mediocre team better than tanking? Define Basketball Purgatory.
Bernucca:
This all depends on what we consider mediocre. If the Raptors, Clippers, Jazz, etc. are considered mediocre, then yes, being mediocre is better than tanking. There’s nobility in being a competitive 50-win team and I have a lot of respect for the teams in that area who are sticking with it. Only one team can win the championship, and there’s nothing wrong with being good but not being good enough to win a championship. It’s believing that the winning culture will one day pay off.
But if we’re talking about mediocre teams like the Pacers, Bulls, Pistons, etc. then no. I’d rather be tanking then in the position those franchises are in. That’s because those teams are in basketball purgatory. They’re stuck with a roster that isn’t cohesive And is barely good enough to make the playoffs. At the same time, they don’t have any flexibility to change their rosters to become better. Their only option would be to blow up everything and become really bad, with hope that in the long run that leads to them becoming really good.
Hodges:
Having a mediocre team is better than being a tanking team. A team that is good but not elite still has the advantages of being able to win a lot of basketball games as well as being able to play in the playoffs. Tanking is an ideology that can work if you’re lucky enough to hit the jackpot on your draft picks, but you’re not luring in elite free agents when you’re not even winning 30 games every year. A team in mediocrity gives itself the potential to add those one or two missing pieces to immediately assert themselves to superiority. Whereas tanking is, in some cases, a decade long process.
To me, there is no such thing as basketball purgatory. Every NBA team has the same process. Build a team with good coaching while developing the talent you do have and try to make the playoffs. Then when you are in the playoffs compete to win a championship. Some say that if you’re never competing for a championship then you are stuck in basketball purgatory. In that case, there’s currently 28 of 30 teams in the league that would be stuck there.
Afseth:
I think it’s important to take all perspectives of fans into account. I know many analysts like to say that if you don’t have the foundation to become a championship contender then you should tear your team apart to gain those pieces. I disagree, there is nothing wrong with having a winning team. Most fans will either check out from watching and buying merchandise if you tank or will just go to liking a different team. Many teams who are bad stay bad for a reason, players like LeBron James don’t come around enough to successfully tank.
Hutchinson:
This question is very subjective. To tank should be a last resort. Mediocrity is a failure to tank or to succeed. Personally, as a salty Bulls fan, I’d rather see a team tank and build around high draft picks so by the time they hit their primes LeBron is myth. Alas, that’s a very short-sited view of things. Fans want their teams to make the playoffs every year, be title contenders. It’s become exceedingly difficult to beat LeBron or Golden State, as the talent disparity (gap* for you kids at home) is very, very wide. In reality, it may be profitable for a franchise to remain “non Final-contenders” while making the playoffs in the 40-50 wins range. The fans may not like it, but this is a business folks. Blame superteams.
Basketball purgatory is a very real place. It’s the state of a franchise failing to tank and/or failing to truly contend, and not attempting to do either in the near future. It’s mediocrity without direction, at its finest. The Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls, Brooklyn Nets, and Sacramento Kings all qualify.
3.) Is the Eastern Conference that much “weaker” than the Western Conference, or is LeBron just that much better?
Bernucca:
It’s a little bit of both, but the Western Conference is definitely stronger. There are four players in the league right now that if you add them to almost any team, you say that’s a championship contending team. Those four players are James, Durant, Curry and Leonard. Three of them are in the West and one is in the East. So the West is clearly the stronger conference.
Hodges:
Top to bottom the West is obviously better than the East, and in a lot of ways that is because of LeBron James. There is no sense of competitiveness in the East because no matter what teams do, they cannot take down LeBron-led teams. It’s caused several teams to utterly give up and accept rebuilding, while others end up jeopardizing their entire teams by attempting to build up in order to match what LeBron has. While the West is beginning to do the same thanks to Golden State, there’s still so much more star power on that side of the league.
Afseth:
I do think that the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James are built in a way that no other Eastern Conference can truly combat their amount of shooters. Not only just from a standpoint that they can’t keep up with knocking down enough of their own shots, no team has the defensive versatility to handle cross matches, the pick-and-roll, and to recover in help defense against them. They are genuinely that much better than every other team in the Eastern Conference.
Hutchinson:
The Eastern Conference is not star heavy. At least Top 10 star heavy. The kind of guys who win championships. LeBron and the Cleveland Cavaliers are in the way of every team in the way of every team in the East, and might be for the next three years plus. Yes, the East is weaker than the West. You can just look at the overall standings the past 5 years. But that “weakness” is not a pass for why LeBron’s teams are always on the top of the East. He is simply that dominate.
4.) Gun to your head, how many games does Cleveland and Golden State lose in the conference finals?
Bernucca:
If Cleveland plays Boston I think they lose one, if they play Washington I don’ think they lose any. I think the Warriors lose one to the Spurs.
Hodges:
Depends on who either end up playing. I think the Wizards are better built to take a game or two from Cleveland, and the Celtics would more than likely get swept. San Antonio probably has enough to compete with the Warriors up to six games while the Rockets would be lucky to win one. All in all, I see both teams losing just one game in the conference finals.
Afseth:
I think that both teams will end up sweeping the Conference Finals. The Spurs don’t have enough shooting or frontcourt defensive versatility to keep up with the Warriors and neither the Wizards nor the Celtics have enough to keep up with the Cavaliers. I don’t see either the Warriors or Cavaliers slowing down anytime soon so I think it will be fairly easy for them.
Hutchinson:
I think each team ends up losing a game. Popovich will work his magic and steal one at home, and IT will carry his team to at least one win. Could Cleveland and Golden State both sweep? Sure. But that’s no fun at all.
5.) Who’s one less-known player on either Cleveland or Golden State that you think will make a large impact going forward.
Bernucca:
For Cleveland I think it’s Deron Williams. A player with that playmaking ability and that elite understanding of how NBA offense’s work off the bench is something they haven’t had when playing the Warriors before. Matthew Dellavedova was a good back-up point guard, don’t get me wrong, but he’s not anywhere near the creator that Williams is.
For Golden State I think it’s their big men, Zaza Pachulia and Javale McGee. A big part of Cleveland winning last years Finals was Andrew Bogut’s injury. His absence led to Tristan Thompson having a serious impact on the back boards and the Cavaliers as a whole having greater success when attacking the rim. But McGee and Pachulia are both exceptional rebounders and rim protectors. Those assets could be decisive in the Warriors match-up with the Cavaliers.
Hodges:
For Cleveland, Channing Frye is absolutely a difference maker. He is nearly automatic from the perimeter and seemingly always makes huge shots for them. For Golden State, rookie Patrick McCaw if given minutes can make a huge impact going forward. He’s not a player to shine away from the huge moment and could come through in big situations.
Afseth:
I’ll go with Channing Frye for the Cavaliers and maybe Ian Clark for the Warriors. It’s hard to pick for either team since both teams have a lot of familiar faces and the Warriors aren’t playing many of their unknown guys for many minutes.
Hutchinson:
For Cleveland, I think Richard Jefferson will have to step up and play very well against Golden State, just like he did last year. His length, defensive intensity and ability to hit the occasional three is much needed against fast paced Golden State offense.
For Golden State, I think Shawn Livingston makes a huge difference. If he can outplay Deron Williams in the Finals, that may just be the icing on the cake of a Golden State sweep.
Thanks for reading the first edition of the Half Court Heave! Have a question you’d like to submit? Tweet at myself or Def Pen Hoops. Come back next week for the second edition of our panel!
