The NBA is about to take a short break as the player’s head to New Orleans for the NBA All-star game. During that time, injured players will rest up injuries and teams will hunt the waiver and trade wires in hopes of bolstering their teams for the second half of the season.
So what should we be looking at for part of the NBA season? Here are 5 storylines that you all fans should be looking forward to.
5. Will Carmello be moved around?
The New York Knicks aren’t looking like a serious championship contender this season or next. Thanks to cancerous contracts like Amare Stoudamire’s, trades that didn’t fit such as Andreas Bargani and how the players view head coach Mike Woodson, the Knicks are looking like a disaster. How will the team start to re-build? One answer could be moving it’s star player, Carmello Anthony.
Rumors started early in the season that the Knicks were looking to trade Melo during the NBA trade deadline. Melo is up for a new contract next season and there is a chance that he will not re-sign with the team. So rather than let Melo walk in the off-season and get nothing, their best bet would be to try to move him while the time is right.
One team that has been mentioned numerous times when talking about trading for Anthony is the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakeshow are looking as bad as the Knicks have this year. Missing their own star in Kobe Bryant, the team has been exploring the possibilities of moving their center Pau Gasol for some younger pieces with their eyes on rebuilding in the off-season. Whether or not the Knicks and Lakers, or another team can find a way to swap players and contracts before the trade deadline isn’t certain right now. Don’t be shocked if you see the Knicks say goodbye to Mel sometime this season.
4. Will another team step-up in the Eastern Conference?
The Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers are head and shoulders above any other team in their conference this year. The East is really suffering as several key teams like the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia Sixers are in major rebuilding times right now. The other teams in the mix like Brooklyn and Chicago haven’t stepped up to be a serious threat to beating either squad in a 7 game series.
So who could step-up and possibly give either team a run? Of the obvious teams, Brooklyn looks like the best bet. The team that was supposedly built to compete with the Heat and Pacers in the previous off-season is just now starting to gel. Coach Jason Kidd managed to keep the boat afloat while the veterans (Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierece) and the younger core group (Joe Johnson, Deron Williams) figured out how to work together. The loss of center Robin Lopez would hurt the team in the long run when playing either the Pacers or the Heat. How to make up for that loss of height, plus how the bodies of KG and Pierce hold up the rest of season is the real question about the Nets and their chances of possibly giving the top 2 seeds in the conference a run.
Another team that could stun some pundits would be the Atlanta Hawks.
The young Hawks team looked like it might be one of those squads that were rumored to be tanking the season for a chance to get a top pick in the draft has turned out to be a good team. Coach Budenholzer has managed to bring the defensive toughness that he learned while being an assistant for the San Antonio Spurs to a team of young, C-level players. With Paul Milsap playing at an all-star level and Jeff Teague looking like a top-level point guard, the Hawks could really put a scare into either team.
3. Will Anthony Bennett spend time in the D-league?
Coming out of UNLV, many thought power forward Anthony Bennett would be the next coming of Larry Johnson. Going #1 to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Bennett has been a total bust so far. Barely getting minutes, he’s been out of shape at times throughout the first part of the season. When he has played, he hasn’t shown the offensive game that got him drafted number 1. Add in the fact that he’s been totally clueless on defense, then you have to wonder when Dan Gilbert will wash his hands with the experiment and send him to the D-league.
That would be a first. No other #1 pick has spent major time in the D-league without recovering from an injury before ever. With his struggles on the court and the teams disappointments overall, maybe letting Bennett gain some confidence on the D-league level could be a bright spot in an other wise dark season.
2. Can Kevin Durant win the MVP?
For the last 3 seasons, the league MVP award has belonged to Lebron James. This season, it looks like Kevin Durant is ready to really challenge the king for the MVP award. Once again, Durant has put his team on his back after his running mate, Russell Westbrook went down with an injury. Leading the league in scoring, Durant has picked up his game all across the board this season and kept Oklahoma City among the top 3 teams in the West.
If the voters look carefully, then we might see a new person at the podium this year to receive the MVP award and the name you could hear will be Kevin Durant.
1.Who’s really winning by loosing?
College stars Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker have played so well at times this season that many teams have been rumored to be loosing on purpose in order to get in a better position when the draft comes around.
Some of the teams we thought were going to pack it in for the season like Boston, Philly and Phoenix have looked way better than we thought they would. Boston and Philly, despite having young teams have put up a good fight at times this season. At one point, both were the number 1 teams in the Atlantic division. Phoenix has been a problem for every team in the West all season and are challenging for a play-off spot in the deep West.
Combine that with the fact that Wiggins, Parker, Center Joel Embiid, UK’s Julius Randle and OKS guard Marcus Smart, have all show flashes of glory and agony this season. Each player seems good enough for any team to want to reach up for a chance to add their skill sets to their team, but no one seems that much of a stand-out where you would torpedo your whole season.
