Quick Thoughts
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It’s really hard to explain and contextualize this amazing Rocket run.  The Rockets are a good team and have been in the 50-win range for the last few years but this 22-game winning streak makes no sense.  As we noted last season, almost any team that ever strung together an 18-game winning streak won a title.  In fact, before 2006-07, only one team with at least a 16-game winning streak didn’t make it to the conference finals (the Mavs and Suns proceeded to get bounced in the first and second round respectively).   Houston is a good team but they do not seem to fit in the company of all these other winners.  The Rockets have one star with T-Mac (and two if Yao Ming was still healthy) and some depth but this is not the roster that you’d associate with a title contender.  This raises all sorts of questions that I’d thought we’d take a little close at this streak and see if we learn anything deeper: 

Is this streak a fluke? 

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Quick Thoughts

Quick Thoughts

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1.    Trade Progress Report:    The recent trades of Pau Gasol, Shaquille O’Neal, and Jason Kidd have all been pretty well examined and re-examined to date but I thought we could take a look a little closer and see what else the trades have yielded to date and beyond: 

–Pau Gasol:  This trade was obviously was a no-brainer for the Lakers.  They were willing to spend the cash and they got a huge asset, without giving up anything.  Since the deal, the Lakers are 14-3.  Even more impressive, the Gasol Lakers are outscoring opponents at a +12.2 ppg clip, well above the team’s +7.5 ppg margin for the season as a whole (and even atop Boston’s season point margin of +10.4 ppg).  While the Lakers 17-game stretch with Gasol hasn’t been it’s toughest, they were on the road most of the time (11 of the 17 games on the road).  Clearly, the Lakers look as likely as any team to win the title at this point.

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NBA Draft

NBA Draft Update

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Another update on the prospect rankings I’ve been doing each month. For many of these players this will be fairly close to their final ranking, as they will play in only a few more games. Others, especially players who have missed significant time due to injury, could improve or decline fairly dramatically. Right now the draft is shaping up as a fairly mediocre one. There are only a few players who I would call solid choices, in the sense that I’m pretty certain at this point that they’ll make a strong positive impact at the next level. There are also some talented freshmen and sophs who don’t appear to be great prospects at this point in their careers, but clearly have the tools and time to get to that point. I included small college players for the first time this month. Basically I added up their numbers like I would the major college players and deducted 10 points. I know, real scientific. I think it gives a good idea of where they stand though and I didn’t want to ignore these players completely. Next update will be after the tournament and will be followed by a complete draft analysis in June.

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Transactions

Transactions: 2/19-3/1

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Atlanta Hawks 

2/29    Sign Jeremy Richardson to second 10-day contract 

A great return to Atlanta for Richardson.  He scored a point a minute for each of his first two games, shooting 3-4 in 8 minutes each game. The Hawks should keep him around for the rest of the season at this point and he’ll have enough buzz to be taken seriously by an NBA team next training camp.

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Quick Thoughts

Quick Thoughts

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1.    Star  Power:  The state of the Western Conference is pretty astounding.  The top nine teams are separated by only a few games in the standing.  In fact, it seems almost certain that the eight seed in the West will break the wins record for an eight seed (currently held by the 2000-01 Minnesota Timberwolves at 47-35).  The concentration of great teams and great players, particularly after Paul Gasol came to the Lakers, has some harkening back to the 1980s and those Celtic and Lakers squads that were chock full of Hall of Famers.

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Transactions

Transactions: 2/2-2/19

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Atlanta Hawks 

2/16    Acquire Mike Bibby from Sacramento in exchange for Shelden Williams, Lorenzen Wright, Anthony Johnson, Tyronn Lue and a 2008 second round draft pick

2/18    Sign Jeremy Richardson to a 10-day contract 

A surprisingly inspired acquisition from a front office that has been in perpetual litigation for several years that has paralyzed it from making many moves.  Bibby is a bit overrated and overpriced but Atlanta is weak at the point guard slot and Bibby is certain to be an improvement and the cost in players is virtually nothing.  AJ and Lue were sharing the point and have been below average (if not as bad at the point situation for the Hawks than they were in 2006-07).  Wright is ostensibly out of the NBA at this point.  The only possible value given up in the deal is Shelden Williams, who was taken with the fourth overall pick in 2006.  He’s not been very good as a pro but might have an Alan Henderson career path.  Of this group, only Williams has a contract after the season (Williams’ rookie deal has $3.4 million next year, and a few team options that will probably be declined). 

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