Part 5.5 of 6 Summer Plans - School's Out Fo Summa!

(part 7 will be summer plans for Mavs and Heat, coming soon)

San Antonio Spurs 61-21 (Knocked in first round by a Grizzlies who lost last game of season so they would play Spurs in first round, ouch- but Manu was playing hurt)

Notable Free Agents - Tiago Splitter
Core players still on contract - Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Richard Jefferson, George Hill, DeJuan Blair

Recap: The Spurs started the season hot and never cooled off. They beat the teams they were supposed to beat and the top teams in the league. Then the playoffs came around and perhaps the age of Tim Duncan and Antonio McDyess caught up to them as Zach Randolph torched them offensively and Marc Gasol scorned them with rebounds. Throughout the season though, they got solid contributions from Tim Duncan although he is light years away from his prime. Manu Ginobili played great this season and Tony Parker, besides the playoffs also had a good year. Richard Jefferson did not.

Look for them to: 1. Stay the same. 2. Look for inside presence.

There's not too much the team can do other than try and get younger. The core is pretty set in stone but with Tim Duncan getting a lot older and becoming more and more like David Robinson circa 2002-2004, the team needs to get some inside scoring, something DeJuan Blair does not quite have in his repertoire. But hey, they had the 2nd best record in the league, just got ousted by an up and coming Grizzly 8th seed who had the inside presence the Spurs lacked. But this team will almost look exactly the same. Still waiting on Tiago Splitter...

Oklahoma City Thunder 55-27 (Kendrick Perkins to the rescue! Oh wait, Dallas already took care of the Lakers)

Notable Free Agents - Nazr Mohammed
Core players still on contract - Kevin Durant, Kendrick Perkins, Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka, James Harden, Thabo Sefolosha

Recap: Coming off gold medals in the world championships in Turkey, MVP candidate Kevin Durant got this team rolling. Then they really shook things up by trading Nenad Krstic and Jeff Green for Kendrick Perkins (and Nate Robinson), to compete with the bigs of the western conference (most notably, champion favorite Lakers and Pau Gasol). Well it didn't quite work out when Dallas took them out and Kendrick couldn't keep up with Dirk. Then again, it seems like no one can keep up with Dirk. In the playoffs, everyone was giving Russell Westbrook a lot of flack for not giving the ball to Kevin Durant enough, how he's a SG playing a PG, how he took too many shots. I guess it's somewhat true, he averaged 17 FG attempts during the season with 7.7 FT attempts. In the playoffs, those numbers jumped to 20 FG attempts and 8.3 FT attempts. Will a rough playoffs require a huge shake up?

Look for them to: 1. Re-Sign Nazr Mohammed. 2. Look for a low post scoring center. 3. Not trade Russell Westbrook.

First things first, Nazr played well and they can sign him for cheap to keep some front court depth available. But the team's big men are not low post scorers. Kendrick Perkins is a defensive center. Serge Ibaka is a defensive power forward with a nice jump shot but no post moves. Nick Collison is a hustle, offensive rebounder power forward, who can play great defense and take charges. Nazr Mohammed is old and is strictly there for, you guessed it, defense off the bench. They drafted Cole Aldrich last year and he is... YES A DEFENSIVE CENTER. Just like many other teams they will be looking for big men this summer in either trades or free agency.

As for Russell Westbrook, the Thunder had better be getting a GREAT point guard if they do decide to trade but I highly doubt they will. This core will be healthy and will start playing together for an entire season next year and the west is severely weak now, and all the good teams are old (Spurs, Mavs, Lakers). The Thunder are young and the team of the future, another year together will serve them well and they'll do just fine.

Chicago Bulls 62-20 (You have no idea how certain I was that the Bulls would beat the Heat in five games)

Notable Free Agents - No one
Core players still on contract - Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Carlos Boozer, Luol Deng

Recap: MVP, Coach of the year, best record in the league, taken out by the three heat. New coach, Tom Thibodeau took this first round fodder and made them into a defensive stopper team. Derrick Rose upped his game and came up with the MVP award. And the team just rolled through the season and got the top seed! What's not to like?

Look for them to: 1. Sign or trade for a shooting guard. 2. Make another run with this core.

They lost to the Heat because Derrick Rose is the team's engine. Without him on the floor or being involved in a play, the team flounders. He creates his own shot or gets someone else involved in the play. If he's held down, the team will lose. LeBron and Wade guarded Rose and the Bulls couldn't get anything going. If you look at the box scores, Rose would have like 25 shots and near 10 assists making him in that rare company of people who can't be blamed for not shooting enough and can't be blamed for not getting his teammates involved (LeBron, Kobe). But if he can work on his 3 point game, he'll have defenders being honest and not sagging off him on defense, always playing the drive.

As for a shooting guard, Keith Bogans could be upgraded. He's good on defense but not much of an offensive threat. If the Bulls could do anything to improve their lineup, it's the SG position and there have been talks about a possible Richard Hamilton trade with some other team who would end up buying him out, allowing him to sign with the Bulls. Rich get richer.

Is Joakim Noah Worth That Spicy Meatball?

Joakim Noah, while being speculated and rumored to almost be traded in a package for Carmelo Anthony, has just had his contract extended. This season he will be paid $3 million. Then the following season he will be paid: $10, $11, $12, $13 and $14 million for a grand total of around $60 million dollars! Is he worth it? Let me work it...

Starting with the 2011-12 season and the following years (in other words, not including this 2010 season, as Noah's extension kicks in in the 2011 season) the following players will be paid around the average of those five extended players.

Atlanta's Josh Smith: $12.4, $13.2 million
Boston's Rajon Rondo: $10, $11, $12, $13 million
Detroit's Richard Hamilton: $12.6, $12.6 million
Detroit's Ben Gordon: $11.6, $12.4, $13.2 million
Golden State's Monta Ellis: $11, $11, $11 million
Golden State's David Lee: $11.6, $12.7, $13.8, $15, $15.4 million
Houston's Kevin Martin: $12, $12.9 million
Indiana's Danny Granger: $12, $13, $14 million
LA Clippers' Baron Davis: $13.9, $14.8 million
LA Clippers' Chris Kaman: $12.2 million
Milwaukee's Andrew Bogut: $12, $13, $14 million
Philadelphia's Andre Iguodala: $13.5, $14.7, $15.9 million
Phoenix's Hedo Turkoglu: $10.6, $11.4, $12. 2 million
Portland's Lamarcus Aldridge: $11.8, $13, $14.1, $15.2 million
San Antonio's Manu Ginobili: $13, $14 million

Well I honestly didn't know what I'd find 10 minutes ago, but I've come to two conclusions. First, some teams overpaid some players based on prior accolades from previous teams: Ben Gordon, Baron Davis, Hedo Turkoglu come to mind. Other teams got lucky and have some really good players for a decent price: Lamarcus Aldridge, Andrew Bogut, and Rajon Rondo.

So what can we make of Joakim Noah's new deal? It's definitely debatable. But overall, it's a good deal. Good centers are hard to come by and Joakim Noah, all 6'11 and 225 lbs of him, is a good center. The other big men who make around what he makes from the list above: Lamarcus Aldridge, Andrew Bogut, Chris Kaman, David Lee. Ok so over half of those players are better than Joakim Noah but Noah is a part of that Chicago core and they didn't want to risk losing him next summer. Especially since they just got Carlos Boozer and are looking to make a playoff push to try and compete with the Miami, Boston and Orlando heavyweights.

Plus he's got mad comedy:



"I have my friends, I don't care."

He's got heart and cares a lot about winning. Although we'll see if that hustle and hard work continues after this huge extension. I say it does continue. He is a key piece to this Chicago team and will continue to be a key piece for the next half decade. Here is to you, Joakim Noah! Although I'll never forgive you for taking out the Bruins your two years in college, I got respect for your work ethic!

Weekend wrap- First set of playoff games!

I was watching the two ABC games this weekend as well as did most of you and here are some quick thoughts:

Saturday - Cavaliers vs. Bulls

Straight up, the Bulls are not big or athletic enough to hang with the Cavaliers. Joakim Noah simply could not handle Shaq and bounced off him in the post, got spun moved on, had to hold Shaq down to prevent a dunk, and couldn't stop fouling after that. Luol Deng was also bounced around trying to guard LeBron. This game was literally like watching a college basketball team run all over a YMCA team. Just watch the highlights and you'll see what I mean - notice the bulldozing of LeBron.



Sunday - Lakers vs. Thunder

I have a couple things to say about this game, first being, one of the commentators said that Russell Westbrook's favorite player growing up was Magic Johnson. Fun Facts: Westbrook was born in 1988. Magic Johnson retired in 1991, played the olympics in 1992, COACHED the Lakers as a replacement coach in the 1993-94 season (not a successful season), and staged a failed comeback as power forward in the 95-96 season. So unless Westbrook has some crazy childhood memories from when he was 4 years old and younger, I do believe this is impossible.

Actual game notes - Ron Artest guarded Kevin Durant. Durant had a horrible game shooting 7-24 and 1-8 from 3 point land. But what I was looking at was how Artest was constantly plowing through screens by Nick Collison. If he goes under those screens, Durant gets open shots, if he doesn't plow through, Collison keeps setting them and gets hit by a big Artest trying to lock down Durant. Near the end of the game, there were far less screens by Collison on Artest. I love it.

I love when Mark Jackson exclaims, "You know the rule! Hand down, man down!"

Can't really call the refs biased in this series so far. Lakers had 27 fouls to Thunder's 21 including 5 on Kobe, 6 on Lamar, and 5 on Artest. And Nick Collison kept doing his thing by taking two charges. Durant got to the line 11 times... a legitimate 11 times.

And finally (and Jeff Van Gundy shared this sentiment sometime in the 4th), Durant takes some bad shots. He reminds me of Kobe Bryant circa 2004-2005 season, trying to go 1 on 3 forcing shot after shot after shot while Jeff Green, Thabo and Harden stand around the 3 point line, wide open after their man left to double team Durant, with their hands ready for a pass... only the pass never comes. And Durant goes 7-24. We'll see how he responds on Tuesday.

Kobe constantly passed out of double teams to Derek Fisher and Ron Artest for open three pointers. Problem is Ron hit only 1 of 8 from 3 point land. One more thing, Kobe did my favorite play in all of basketball: Kobe passes to Pau only it skips through his hands into the Durant's possession for a turnover, races downcourt (along with 4 other Lakers) to swat Durant's shot away and Pau grabs the rebound (1:30 mark of highlights video).

Chris Bosh - Right in the kisser

Antawn Jamison hits Bosh in the face with an elbow. Speculated he'll miss the rest of the season leaving the 8th seed in the East open for the Chicago Bulls to take.