NBA Draft Recap

Best Pick (Besides Anthony Davis): Wizards 3rd overall pick, Bradley Beal

Bradley Beal is the real deal. I firmly believe that this young kid (and I can say that because I'm older than him, which is weird) will be an All-Star for years and years in the NBA. Beal is a great shooter with plenty of other assets on both the offensive and defensive end. The biggest of those assets is his phenomenal rebounding ability for his 6'3" frame, averaging 6.7 rpg in his first and only year in college. He already posses NBA range but can also attack the hoop and finish strong against bigger defenders. Beal also comes up big in the most important games, averaging 15.75 ppg and 8.25 rpg, while shooting over 60% from the field during the NCAA Tournament. My favorite thing about this pick, however, is the fact that the Wizards just got someone with a great work ethic that will grow into a leader along side point guard John Wall. For too long Washington has been plagued by immaturity and off the court issues, but drafting such a high character guy with this much talent was the perfect move to turn things around.

Worst Pick: Cavaliers 4th overall pick, Dion Waiters

This isn't so much a reflection on Dion Waiters, but more so the point in which he was taken in the draft. Most people projected Waiters to be a mid-first round pick, making it two years in a row that the Cavs made a reach for a player at the 4th spot in the draft (Tristan Thompson last year). At this point in the draft Cleveland should have drafted Harrison Barnes, who has a more versatile game and would be a better piece to fit with Kyrie Irving to build around. Someone who was only a sixth-man in college that was relied on for instant offense just isn't worth the 4th pick. If Cleveland had their heart set on this guy then they should have traded back at least a few spots and gotten something else out of the deal.

Steal of the 1st round: Phoenix Suns 13th overall pick, Kendall Mashall

Let me preface this by saying that I am a student at the University of Maryland, so I hate UNC with a passion. With that in mind, you know I mean business when I'm giving a Tarheel love. That being said, this is quite possibly my favorite pick of the entire draft. I never understood why Marshall wasn't projected as a higher pick. Yes, he didn't score much in college, but it was more a result of his situation as opposed to a lack of ability. He played with three other first round picks this year (Barnes, Henson, Zeller), so he just had to focus on running the offense and making those guys look even better, which he did masterfully. This type of innate play-making ability is rare to find, especially at this young of an age. He will need to improve his jump shot for sure but shooting is a much more coach-able trait than play-making. This young man will be one of the best distributors in the NBA within the next few years.

Steal of the 2nd Round: Cleveland 34th overall pick (traded to Dallas): Jae Crowder

The Big East Player of the Year was my favorite player in all of college basketball last year. He played with such passion and intensity you just knew he's make it to the NBA and be successful. Most players drafted in the second round either never actually play in the NBA or last a very short time. That will not be the case with Crowder. He'll never be an All-Star, but he will be one of those glue guys on a team that does a little bit of everything that helps the team win. He will be able to contribute to a team much like Kawhi Leonard did for the Spurs this past season.

Biggest Question Mark: Jared Sullinger

Had this young man come out a year ago after his freshman season he undoubtedly would have been a top 5 pick. But one year later, he ends up the 21st pick by the Celtics. This extreme drop was not due to decreased production, but because of conflicting reports about a back condition that could be career threatening. If he can manage his back problems and avoid them hampering his career, then the Celtics just got the biggest steal in the draft. There is a lot yet to be determined but Boston fans are hoping he can have a long successful career as they attempt to rebuild their team.

Biggest Winner on Draft Day: New Orleans Hornets

This is probably obvious seeing as Anthony Davis is the highest rated prospect in years. But in my eyes what makes them the biggest winners, was their second pick at 10th overall, Austin Rivers. I believe Rivers can help this team immediately off the bench, assuming they retain Eric Gordon. Rivers is an instinctive scorer who has the ability to create for others, although he doesn't always make the smartest decisions. He most certainly has some maturing to do, but he has the raw attributes to become an All-Star one day. Being the son of Boston coach Doc Rivers, Austin has a very strong work ethic and will continue to work to become great. If that happens, the Hornets just became a perennial contender in one draft.

What the Hell Are the Sixers Doing?

Let me start with a shout out to my boy Owen Hamill, for he is the reason I am including this section. The Sixers just continue to baffle me on draft nights. This is nothing against Moe Harkless, because he is a talented scorer and rebounder. The problem I have with this pick is that they continue to fill up their roster with small forwards that have very similar skill-sets. Iguodala, Evan Turner, Thadeus Young, and now Harkless all play a similar brand of basketball, which simply doesn't fill a need. With an aging Elton Brand and an inconsistent Spencer Hawes, I would have liked to see the Sixers go for a big man like Tyler Zeller. That being said I'm not going to jump all over them just yet. The front office may have a master plan that involves trading a player or two in order to fill an actual need. But until then, I'm left here scratching my head.

You Already Know What This Article Is About

"It's about damn time." That says it all. These were some of the first words uttered from LeBron after officially being crowned King James. Just take a moment to look at the picture above. This is a picture of pure relief. The Heat have finally broken through and won a Championship in the second year of the Big Three era, giving LeBron his first Championship after nine years in the league. The part that amazes me the most is how James, and the rest of the Heat, did this while being the most scrutinized player/team of all time. And yes I meant to say of ALL TIME. LeBron James was on the cover of SLAM magazine at the age of 16, along with the caption "The Chosen One"...16 years old. From that moment on, it was either greatness or bust for LeBron. Micheal Jordan, the greatest NBA player of all time, came into the league with almost no pressure. The great MJ was cut from his high school basketball team, not celebrated as a prodigy.

When LeBron made it to his first NBA Finals back in 2007 against the Spurs (with a team that had no right making it past the Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals), the man was Twenty-three years old. Twenty-three! Yet to this day he still was being chastised for how he played in that series. For his entire career if it didn't result in a ring then it was simply failure. Now I'm not sitting here saying LeBron hasn't deserved any criticism or that he hasn't made any mistakes. He has on both counts. But I'd much prefer it if athletes biggest mistakes were televising free agency decisions and being a little arrogant, as opposed to many the alternatives: dog fighting, DUI manslaughter, rape, etc.

Once LeBron took his talents to South Beach, his teammates also became subjected to all the hate as the Miami Heat were held up to a standard never before seen in sports. The most perfect example I can think of is two images from the past two finals that were essentially the same, but resulted in extremely different reactions. After losing to the Dallas Mavericks last year, while walking back to the locker room, Chris Bosh became overwhelmed by the disappointment and broke down in tears. As a Miami fan I liked that because it showed how much he cared, and more importantly, how motivated he would be to never let that happen again. However, for this show of emotion, he was absolutely torched. People in the media were calling him Bosh Spice (a not so clever comparison to Posh Spice, a member of the Spice Girls). I personally received many texts and comments from people about how one of my favorite players was "such a girl" or a "pansy".

But none of that bothered me, quite frankly. People have their opinion and that's fine. What truly frustrates me is when people are inconsistent with their criticism. And that is where the second image comes in. Last night, while walking to the locker room after the game, Kevin Durant hugged his parents and just started crying. And today? Nothing. No one is hating on Durant. No one is calling him a girl. No one is disrespecting him. This perfectly portrays the pressure and the added difficulty of being a member of the Miami Heat over the last two seasons.

Now, I'd like to point out that this isn't me trying to complain about how the Heat have been treated. I hate teams for various reasons and have no problems with others doing the same thing. Plus I'm a Steelers fan at the University of Maryland, so I'm no stranger to having my favorite team hated on. I simply want to point out what the Heat have overcome to become Champions so all of us fans can truly appreciate the greatness that we saw this season.

But I digress.

Now onto the main purpose of the article I intended to write, which is a to provide a review of the Finals and give my opinion on why it turned out the way it did. And for those of you still reading (thank you), I will keep it brief.

The biggest weakness going into this series for the Heat was their lack of a supporting cast surrounding the Big Three. Seemingly out of nowhere, this was no longer the case. Shane Battier scored 17 points in each of the first two games of the series. Then Mario Chalmers decided to have one of the best games of his career in the critical Game 4 victory, scoring 25 points. To finish off the Thunder, Mike Miller went off for 23 points in Game 5, hitting 7 of 8 three-pointers. This all happened while OKC seemed to be missing a member of their "Big Three", as Harden scored under 13 points per game on less than 38% shooting.

I'm not going to sit here and blame the 22 year old Harden though. In fact, I won't blame a single member of the Thunder. The Heat were just a better, more desperate, and more experienced team that could not be stopped. Over the past two years I have watched at least a hundred Heat games, and never had I seen them play the way the did in Games 2-5. Everyone was moving without the ball. There were almost no isolation plays. LeBron was posting up or attacking the basket, settling for far fewer jumpers. Bosh was constantly fighting for offensive rebounds. Wade lived off backdoor cuts and constant motion as opposed to the isolation heavy offense that he's used to. With the way the Heat played there was not a team in the NBA that could have hoped to stop them.

The one thing I will be critical of the Thunder for is their defense on LeBron James. They continued to put smaller guys like Sefolosha and Harden on LeBron, and he just continued to overpower them and take them to the hoop. The only type of defense that has historically given James trouble is length, which is exactly what Kevin Durant has. I understand that you want to stay out of foul trouble, but Durant should have manned up on James to try to throw off his rhythm. That being said, I don't believe it would have really changed the outcome of the series. LeBron and the Heat were going to find a way to win no matter what, and they did just that.

I look forward to what I believe will become one of the most historic rivalries of all time between the Thunder and the Heat in the upcoming years.

Let us finish with a moment of silence mourning the fact that this will be my final article about the Miami Heat for a while.....and now you can celebrate.

NBA Finals Prediction

I am going to get this out of the way for those of you who are simply reading this to find out my prediction: Miami Heat in 7 games. Now let the angry comments explaining why I am a biased fool commence. But for those of you patient enough to stay with me for a few minutes just hear me out. From the start of this abbreviated NBA season I have predicted a Finals match-up between the Miami Heat and OKC Thunder; however, I never imagined that OKC would make this decision so difficult. I have gone back and forth so many times that I wouldn't be surprised if later in this article I decide to go with the Thunder in 6 games, so be sure to pay close attention should you decide to continue reading.


This is such a difficult match-up to call that I even had trouble deciding how to go about writing this article. At first I thought I could do a position by position match-up analysis, discussing which team holds the advantage at each position. After playing that scenario through my head I realized that it would be a completely moot point. When analyzing on-the-court talent it is a complete wash between these two teams. OKC is certainly the more complete team, but the Heat have arguably 3 of the top 4 players in the series. With that in mind I am going to use this article to discuss the one thing that the Heat have that the Thunder lack: a true chip on their shoulder.


Let's just be honest for a moment. The Heat have absolutely everything to lose, where as the Thunder have nothing to lose. OKC has essentially been deemed the "golden child" of the NBA. They are a team that was built "the right way", and has possibly the most likable and humble of all superstars in the NBA, Kevin Durant. This is in no way a bad thing, however, historically it is the teams that have a chip on their shoulder that generally win championships. Last year, the Mavericks were essentially ruled out in the first round against Portland, and Dirk Nowitzki was labeled as soft and horrible in the clutch. After being disrespected time and time again, Dirk and his teammates shed their labels and went on to win the Championship.


The Lakers won the two prior Championships behind the leadership of Kobe Bryant, who as we all know, plays with a chip on his shoulder even if it's something he needs to fabricate himself. I could go on and on, but my point is, the Thunder just don't really have anything to be angry about. They're one of the most popular teams in the league and have not yet had to experience the feeling of making it to the Finals and then losing. This is not the case for the Miami Heat.


After the infamous "Decision" by LeBron James, in which he took his talents to South Beach, the Heat have become the most hated team in the NBA, lead by the most hated and scrutinized superstar, LeBron James. In all honesty, the intense hatred that is directed at LeBron (which I am reminded of all the time due to the fact that I'm a Heat fan and my friends all know that) makes me sometimes think that he's been caught stealing purses from old ladies. I wouldn't be surprised if a national poll revealed that LeBron is more hated than O.J. Simpson. To compound his problems, the Heat made it to the Finals where he seemingly froze, resulting in a devastating loss. If he fails to win a ring once again, he will face yet another year of critics discussing his shortcomings on what seems like a daily basis, and he knows it.


LeBron isn't the only member of the Heat with something to prove. That loss in the finals affected everyone on that team. The normally cordial and friendly Dwyane Wade came at this NBA season with a vengeance, sporting a mean scowl and the attitude to match it. Essentially, losing is not an option for this team. Their window for success is closing, where as the Thunder know they have plenty of chances to win Championships for years to come. Out of that desperation, I believe the Heat will pull together to overcome their demons and become NBA Champions.


And just as an add-on so I can feel like I did some form of basketball analysis, the Thunder are primarily a jump shooting team, making about 50% of those jump shots in their wins against the Spurs. The Heat are very good at closing out, making jump shots more difficult, leading me to believe the Thunder won't be able to score enough to win four games.