2016-2017
Shooting guard Nick Anderson is the first pick in the draft, going from LSU to Dallas while PF Phil Dean goes #2 to Denver and Atlanta takes PG Drew Moncrief with the third pick. What was surprising about the draft wasn’t who was drafted, but who was traded. Kyle Lowry was shipped to Minnesota for Anthony Bennett while Milwaukee takes a chance with Rajon Rondo with Aaron Gordon being traded again to Memphis. The biggest trade of the draft was also the smallest, with number one pick from last draft Rodney Norwood was actually traded for an actual human being. For some reason Golden State thought that trading Norwood for Shaun Livingston would be a good idea, even if Livingston has a longer contract. Anything is better at $8 million than absolutely nothing at $5 million.
With both teams going 29/154 you would expect the scores to be pretty low. And in the SA/PHI game it was horrendous as the Sixers stole a 44-39 full time win with only 12 assists credited in the whole game. Compare that to the 35 turnovers in the game, you know it’s going to be ugly. Just a precursor to what will happen when the humans retire. Greg Arenas was the best player in the game, going only 4/10 for 10 points and 7 rebounds and the only player in double figures.
I didn’t think that the turning point would come this quickly but without anyone else to sign and a salary cap floor to catch the Milwaukee Bucks signed Entap Greg Arenas to a one year, $5.5 million contract. That’s right, Arenas is making over a million dollars more than All NBA Second Teamer Nerlens Noel and his rookie contract. Really makes you think about humanity is up a creek with no paddle. Onto free agency proper, Roy HIbbert goes to San Antonio, Philadelphia signs Monta Ellis as they seem to have unlimited pockets. The biggest deal was Bradley Beal spurning the Wizards to go to Charlotte as nearly all of the major players go back to their respective teams. It’s important as it was a big free agency with Lebron James, Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant and Kevin Love being just a few going back. I guess after last free agency teams settled down and got their players.
Most teams have about two to four Entap players on their squad through the draft so the Leps are starting to really make a dent but they’re not at crisis point yet. San Antonio on the other hand have gone all in, with eight Entap on the squad compared to only seven humans which is really an emergency. They do have the likes of Klay Thompson, Jimmy Butler and Roy Hibbert but it’s going to be a struggle from now for the Spurs.
The rookie/sophomore game was a showcase of how bad those Leps are, with both teams shooting sub-20% from the field and 0/29 from three. Seriously, if you’re going to shoot badly, don’t shoot from further away. Dario Saric was great for the sophs with 7 points, 18 rebounds and 5 steals as the second year guys won 47-42. He got 18 rebounds not because he’s good, it’s because there were 171 rebounds in the game so as a PF, he was bound to get a few. There were only 13 assists on the game and two players in double figures with Eddie Smith’s 4/15 shooting nabbing him 13 points. Dear god this was brutal basketball.
Philadelphia supporters, rejoice! The Sixers made it to the NBA Finals after a stellar performance from their starting five, especially with the addition of Monta Ellis in the off season. Unfortunately, no-one could stop the rampaging Thunder as they again notched up a 70 win season to take their second title in a row. It was again Kevin Durant who did the damage, averaging 30 points and 7 rebounds on the season. The Spurs on the other hand were a delight, winning 19 games on the season even with their eight Entap players. Sure they relied very heavily on their starters but at least they were watchable. The eight Leps played 5216 combined minutes for 461 points (15.9% FG, 2.1% 3P) and an assist to turnover ratio of 188/378. Yikes. Miami and Atlanta were the worst teams in the league at 12-70 apiece.
Anthony Davis was the best player on the season by far, averaging 26 points, 13 rebounds and 2.5 steals and blocks a game but his Pelicans only finished at 39-43 which might cause some friction in his camp. The worst player in the league was Marcus Denmon, a second year point guard for the Spurs who averaged 0.7 points, 0.6 assists and 1.8 rebounds a game. The reason he was so bad? He averaged 15.5 minutes a game and shot 6.3% from the field. He went 23/363 and hit only three of his 216 three point attempts at just over 1%. He had more turnovers than points or assists for an efficiency rating of -1.7. Troubling, there were twenty players with efficiency ratings of negative numbers, meaning that the Entap are getting more and more opportunities to suck.
NBA Champions – Oklahoma City defeated Philadelphia 4-3
Most Valuable Player – Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors – 27.3 points, 6.6 assists, 5.0 rebounds, 1.4 steals, 0.0 blocks
Defensive Player of the Year – Nerlens Noel, Philadelphia 76ers – 16.9 points, 1.8 assists, 8.9 rebounds, 2.1 steals, 1.7 blocks
Sixth Man of the Year – Reggie Jackson, Dallas Mavericks – 13.5 points, 3.6 assists, 4.3 rebounds, 0.7 steals, 0.0 blocks
Rookie of the Year – Kenyan Johnson, Atlanta Hawks – 2.8 points, 0.7 assists, 2.4 rebounds, 0.3 steals, 0.0 blocks
Coach of the Year – Doc Rivers, Los Angeles Clippers – 62-20 (.756)
All NBA First Team –
Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
James Harden, Houston Rockets
Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder
Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans
Andre Drummond, Detroit Pistons
League High Points – Kevin Durant (OKC) – 30.1
League High Assists – Chris Paul (LAC) – 10.4
League High Rebounds – Andre Drummond (DET) – 13.6
League High Blocks – Anthony Davis (NOH) – 2.5
League High Steals – Victor Oladipo (ORL) – 2.7
League High Turnovers – DeMar DeRozan (TOR) – 3.7
League High Efficiency – Anthony Davis (NOH) – 33.7
League High PER – Anthony Davis (NOH) – 31.5
League Low Efficiency – Marcus Denmon (SAS) – -1.7
League Low PER – Drew Moncrief (ATL) – -9.8
Number of Entap (Percentage) – 84 (19.7%)
Notable Retirees – Shawn Marion, Vince Carter, Paul Pierce
Hall of Fame Inductees – None