February Awards –
Player of the Month: Tyreke Evans, Sacramento Kings – 23.2 points, 7.3 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game.
Rookie of the Month: Osmo Koslewski, Detroit Pistons – 17.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.1 steals and 0.7 blocks per game.
There were HEAPS of trades this month, mainly because of the trade deadline.
New York trades:
C Andris Biedrins
Utah trades:
SG Arron Afflalo
Why for New York:
Raymond Felton has gone down with a foot injury and the Knicks have a shortage of starting calibre guards so they trade Biedrins who was being pushed out of the line-up by Kelvin Rivers and bring in a player who slots into the starting line-up in Afflalo until Felton comes back.
Why for Utah:
In a strange move I will cover later, the Jazz now have Brendan Haywood starting at C with Biedrins coming off the bench as 6th man. They needed another big man in the worst way which they got for comparable value.
Winner – Both
If the Jazz’s next trade comes into account then I would say New York but solely on this one it’s a wash.
Memphis trades:
2017 1st round pick
Utah trades:
C Nikola Pekovic
Why for Memphis:
Although Pekovic is injured right now with a broken finger, when he returns he will make up an awfully good front court in Memphis. And the good part for the Grizzlies? The pick will be super low as they are now sitting on a 38-22 record.
Why for Utah:
I’m not quite sure. The best explanation would be that as being 24-33 they have decided that playoffs are out of the question and are rebuilding, shedding Pekovic’s large salary in the process. But they could have got much more for him seeing as Pekovic is coming off an All Star selection THIS YEAR.
Winner – Memphis
I hope Memphis bought Utah dinner before they screwed them over.
Oklahoma City trades:
PF Jeff Green
Milwaukee trades:
SF Wilson Chandler
Why for Oklahoma City:
They now have a player that can spell Kevin Durant without the whole game going out the window. Chandler is only 29 years old so can stay with the Thunder for a while yet.
Why for Milwaukee:
Andrew Reed has come out of nowhere to become one of the best young talents, but before this trade the Bucks had big, slow Cs trying to come off the bench and play PF. So in comes Green who will stretch the floor for slashers Jrue Holiday and Trevor Ariza.
Winner – Both
They both got what they wanted out of this trade, so good for them.
Los Angeles Clippers trades:
PF Sam Wynn
Denver trades:
PF Larry Sanders
Why for the Clippers:
Sam Wynn was one of the bright sparks out of the second round as he became an actual decent player instead of trade filler. The LAC front court was squeezing him out so they got a big expiring contract out of him in Larry Sanders who slots into the 6th man position for the Clips.
Why for Denver:
Wynn slots into the Nuggets’ 6th man position also but have one more year on his contract worth over $7 million a year, but Denver needed quality bench bigs which Wynn is, for the most part.
Winner – Los Angeles Clippers
They get a one year shorter contract while not dropping off on quality.
Los Angeles Lakers trades:
PG Devin Davenport
Chicago trades:
SG Elliot Williams
Why for the Lakers:
The Lakers’ time is now so trading away a decent young player for a proven older player is what they needed. Although Davenport could be better than Williams down the track they needed a SG to come off the bench now.
Why for Chicago:
The Bulls needed point guard depth like a diabetic needs insulin. Now with Davenport on the team they have a total of two true PGs, the other being starter Rodrigue Beaubois.
Winner – Los Angeles Lakers
Williams will help them now while Davenport has a little bust motif going on.
New York trades:
PF Drew Gooden
Miami trades:
PF Antawn Jamison
Why for New York:
To make a trade. Seriously, this has no positive attributes for New York as Jamison is 39 years old and washed up. At least Gooden still has some go in him.
Why for Miami:
Gooden is only 34 years old and is sitting as the Heat’s 8th man, which is a lot better than what Jamison was placed.
Winner – Miami
I’m not sure what the Knicks were thinking while the Heat get better.
Los Angeles Lakers trades:
PG Tony Parker
2017 1st round pick
Milwaukee trades:
SF Quinn Trent
Why for the Lakers:
The Frenchman Parker has lost a step which kills his play while Trent may not be the best at anything he has enough talents to be a quality back up.
Why for Milwaukee:
With Parker on the team they now have five PGs filling up their roster, while the pick will be in the low 20s.
Winner – Los Angeles Lakers
At least they got something of value; the same can’t be said about Milwaukee.
So no big name trades and I wouldn’t call many of them average name trades, I think a lot of teams just wanted to make a trade so they would get some media attention.
Well that is disappointing. We are one win away from 50 wins up against the lowly Cavs. So what do we do? We shoot 34% from the field with Jason Beck shooting 3/17 with Jordan Crawford top scoring with 22 points. Reggie Young shot badly but had a massive 22 rebounds and Carmelo Anthony scored 22 points and finally MAXIME Videnov is starting, which is good for the team in general.
Detroit Pistons 49-14
Chucky Durden blasts Mike Woodson again so luckily he is a free agent and we have a certain Colin Horvath to take his place next season.
After a crazy eight days without a game we go to New Jersey and lose again, 113-105. Danny Granger finally plays well against us with 27 points while Mo Williams had 24 points and 7 assists of his own. Dirk Nowitzki doubles up off the bench with 11 points and 10 rebounds but Jordan Crawford nullified his 22 points with 7 turnovers.
Detroit Pistons 49-15
Although the trade deadline has passed I’m very interested to try a Dexter Floyd/Ekpe Udoh front court as they demolish Golden State in our 112-92 win. Floyd had 16 points, 9 rebounds and 6 blocks while Udoh teamed up with 11 points, 8 rebounds and 6 blocks off the bench. Ty Lawson was our best with 21 points and 9 assists but his opponent was no slouch either as Steph Curry had 26 points and 7 assists.
Detroit Pistons 50-15
Woo! 50 wins!
Jason Beck just hasn’t been as good as I thought he would be and his contract is HUGE, so come draft time I will be trying to trade him to anyone who will listen.
Another loss, this time to Chicago 119-113 as we have a meltdown, leading by as much as 12 in the third term. Carlos Boozer and Justin Cabrera go wild with 30 points, 25 rebounds and 7 blocks between them as our only highlight was Orko with 28 points. Derrick Rose can’t come back quick enough.
Detroit Pistons 50-16
We get revenge the next night with a 90-83 win back in the comfort of Detroit. Dex Floyd battles with Justin Cabrera all night and has 15 points, 18 rebounds and 3 blocks to counter Cabrera’s 9 points, 21 rebounds and 9 blocks. Luckily we had Ty Lawson and Jordan Crawford to do the scoring, as they had 16 and 14 points respectively. Unfortunately Crawford strained his knee in the third term, and although he didn’t go out of the game the doctors have given him a two week holiday until he heals.
Detroit Pistons 51-16
With two minutes to go and up by 10 points you would think that we had it in the bag, right? Wrong. Boston scores the next 10 points to force the game into overtime and then outscores us 13-4 in the extra period to win 103-94 and these late game collapses are really starting to piss me off. Tony Rein had 30 points while Andrea Bargnani and Chris Bosh make fools out of our front court with12 points, 14 rebounds and 5 blocks for Bargnani and 10 points, 14 rebounds and 4 blocks for Bosh. On our side? Dex Floyd with 4 points, 20 rebounds and 5 blocks while Jason Beck had 6 points on 3/13 shooting. Jeff Brown played well in a starting role with 18 points but my mind is made up, Jason Beck is going to get traded this offseason.
Detroit Pistons 51-17
The front court must have heard me screaming as Dex Floyd has 22 points and 16 rebounds and Jason Beck 19 points but it isn’t enough as we crumble again, this time going down to Miami 113-94 as they outscored us 64-34 in the second half. Dwayne Wade put on a show with 27 points while Kobe Bryant shot poorly for 19 points. Aaargh, this team is so unbelievably inconsistent.
Detroit Pistons 51-18
Six losses in eight games with a 101-89 defeat to Chicago as I have just noticed that we have nine away games in a row and 13 of our last 15 games on the road. Yikes. This one was game three of our road nightmare and we are currently 0-3. Third year player Emmett Cooper was the best on the court with 20 points and 7 rebounds while newly acquired Devin Davenport had 11 points off the bench. I’m not even going to go over our players, it was just embarrassing.
Detroit Pistons 51-19
Zero from four as we lose to Toronto in a very winnable game, 101-92. We were level at three quarter time but our trademark collapse reared its heard. Trent Bailey of all people beat us with 27 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds while D&M teamed up for 25 points, 22 rebounds and 5 blocks. To counter that Jason Beck went 1/5 from the field for 5 points and Dex Floyd had 10 points, 15 rebounds and 4 blocks. Orko took advantage of Kevin King being injured with 29 points but I’m sick of us collapsing and we need our two star guards healthy to do any damage.
Detroit Pistons 51-20
Nine days for Rose and seven for Crawford.
116-101 is the score of our fifth loss in a row, this time to Milwaukee. Jrue Holiday had 24 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists while ex-Piston Trevor Ariza had 25 points as they ran us over from the get-go. Ekpe Udoh had a massive (for him) 29 points and 6 blocks, helped by Jason Beck’s 22 points but they shot a massive 43 free throws which hurt us all over the court.
Detroit Pistons 51-21
We started the month with an embarrassing loss to Cleveland, but tonight we snap our losing streak with a 115-92 win over Cleveland. Ty Lawson and Jeff Brown do their best Rose/Crawford impression with 26 and 22 points respectively which let our bigs do that they do best in rebound and defend. Carmelo Anthony needed 20 shots for his 21 points as they were held to only 40% shooting. Phew, that’s a relief.
Detroit Pistons 52-21
It’s two wins in a row with a 110-106 win over Sacramento as Orko lit the Kings up with 25 points in 31 minutes. Ekpe Udoh is becoming my favourite player, bench or not, with 20 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocks and he is showing a scoring touch that he didn’t have in previous seasons. DeMarcus Cousins had 23 points and superstar Tyreke Evans 21 points and 8 assists but they couldn’t contain our three point shooters, as we went 50% from downtown.
Detroit Pistons 53-21
Game eight of our nine game road nightmare is a 95-84 beatdown from Washington, as Omer Asik and Michael Nicholson come out on top of our front court. Asik had 19 points and 14 rebounds while Nicholson doubled up as we shot 39% from the floor with Jason Beck having 18 points and 12 rebounds on 8/17 shooting.
Detroit Pistons 53-22
Jordan Crawford is fully fit while Derrick Rose has been given the all clear to play with us again which equals a 109-88 win over Houston as Rose picked up from where he left off with 22 points and 11 assists while Crawford had 14 points. This was a real team effort as we had seven players in double figure scoring, while Houston’s top scorer was Andray Blatche with 15 points.
Detroit Pistons 54-22
We went 3-6 on our nine game road nightmare which puts us third in the East, with Toronto leading at 57-17 and New York right behind at 53-20. Cleveland look to have the wooden spoon all sewn up as they are seven games behind (in front?) of Charlotte at 17-58.
The Lakers are still topping the West with their 46-27 record but Dallas, Portland, the Clippers and Minnesota are all good chances of snatching top seed. Seattle won a whopping four games that month and put them on the cusp of not being the worst team ever, as they sit on the bottom with a 8-65 record.
Detroit Top Points – Derrick Rose (20.3), Jordan Crawford (18.1), Osmo Koslewski (14.4), Jason Beck (14.3)
Detroit Top Rebounds – Dex Floyd (10.3), Jason Beck (8.5), Ekpe Udoh (5.2), Osmo Koslewski (4.8)
Detroit Top Assists – Derrick Rose (8.6), Jordan Crawford (3.2), Ty Lawson (2.7), AJ Price (2.1)
League Top Points – Kevin Durant OKC (24.9), Lebron James DAL (24.1), Monta Ellis GSW (23.5), Kevin King TOR (23.2)
League Top Rebounds – Blake Griffin ORL (11.2), Travis Randolph NEV (11.2), Marc Gasol MEM (10.7), Matt Bailey LAL (10.5)
League Top Assists – Deron Williams UTA (10.9), Chris Paul PHI (10.4), Rajon Rondo TOR (9.4), Vlasi Kazapov LAC (9.0)
League Top Blocks – Justin Cabrera CHI (4.8), Travis Randolph NEV (4.4), Mike Ohnstad LAC (4.1), Derrick Favors NJN (3.6)
League Top Steals – Andre Iguodala LAL (2.2), Sam Dye PHO (2.1), Monta Ellis GSW (2.0), Vlasi Kazapov LAC (2.0)
Rookie Top Points – Osmo Koslewski DET (14.4), Jerry Dickenman SEA (13.4), Lawrence McSwain CHA (12.0), Kyle Wallace MIN (11.4)
Rookie Top Rebounds – Ashley Mosley MIL (9.0), Jarvis Collier PHO (7.3), Alan Slocum SEA (7.0), Rob Penders HON (6.5)
Rookie Top Assists – Ron Nelson SAS (6.0), Jerry Dickenman SEA (4.1), Tahric Tahid DAL (4.0), Kyle Wallace MIN (3.9)
Fourth and final round of draft prospects (previous rank in brackets) –
1 (4) – PF Matt Landram (Virginia Tech) Freshman
Would you look at that? Landram is now 0.8 rebounds away from averaging a double double on the season. It looks like he is finally finding his groove.
2 (5) – PF Damon Alexander (Georgia Tech) Junior
Numbers – 32.2 points, 14.5 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game. Not much else to say.
3 (1) – PF Jarrett Omara (Kentucky) Junior
A better defender than either of the other PFs above him as his numbers show – 3.4 blocks and 2.3 steals per game as a Yellow Jacket.
4 (2) – PG Sam Baron (Michigan State) Sophomore
This year is the ‘put up huge numbers’ college crop as Baron is averaging 28 points, 10 assists and 6 rebounds per game and is still only the fourth ranked player. BTW, the other MSU PG, Jeremy Dixon is averaging 25 points, 10 assists, 9 rebounds and 3 steals and is only at #7.
5 (NR) – PF Mike Garner (UCLA) Sophomore
Back in the top five with his sizzling month of play, but there is still another two PFs below him, making it six PFs in the top 10 draft prospects.