Bye Bye Rudy, Goodbye

The Rudy Gay Trade Principle Players

Rudy Gay and Hamed Haddadi go to Toronto
Jose Calderon goes to Detroit
Ed Davis, Tayshaun Prince, Austin Daye and a second-round pick to Memphis

While on its surface this trade appears to be a potential title contender dumping salary due to a recent slump in the standings, the reality is that once the deal is finalized, the Grizzlies will have most likely strengthened their team for the present and for the future.

D'Antoni Remains the Lakers Biggest Problem

Three wins is three wins. Especially this season. A season in which the Lakers have struggled to win.

It’s been beautiful to watch Kobe “Magic Bean” Bryant dish like he’s on Real Houswives. It’s terrific that the Lakers had 34 assists on 39 made buckets Tuesday night against the Hornets. It’s been exciting to see the Lakers actually look like a team that gives a damn.

That said, Mike D’Antoni is still the wrong coach for this team, and all of his flaws and all of the Lakers flaws will be exposed if the Purple and Gold can indeed pull themselves into the playoffs.

D’Antoni is the wrong coach because he isn’t a coach at all. He’s an ideologist with a philosophy. A missionary with a religion. He’s more Plato, than PATFO. More Billy Graham than Bill Self.

D’Antoni preaches “ball finds energy” and like a backwoods fundamentalist refuses to stray from that dogma. Instead of trying to figure out ways to put his players in situations that provide energy for them, to put them in situations that compliment their skillsets (a la Popovich), he instead clings to his overly simplistic mantra.

Fools (Purp &) Gold

Despite cloudy skies in Los Angeles Saturday morning and a forecast of continued rain throughout the weekend, Lakers fans are feeling much better after their team dismantled the Utah Jazz on Friday night 102-84. The Lakers played stifling defense behind terrific effort from Dwight Howard. Steve Nash took 11 shots and made six of them. Pau Gasol was 7-8 with seven boards off the bench. And Kobe Bryant had 14 assists to three turnovers, and only 10 shot attempts.

Many wise people are shaking their heads today. To them, the key is those 14 dimes and only 10 shot attempts. There is certainly some truth to the notion that a facilitating Bryant is more beneficial to this Lakers squad. He probably shouldn't be taking 23 shots a game. That said, the Lakers didn't win because Bryant passed the ball. If Bryant is shooting over 50 percent, he should be shooting the ball. This game does nothing to dispute that logic and that strategy.

What this game did is prove that matchups are everything.

LA's Lost Season?

The Lakers could turn things around. They could reasonably string together a 15-3 stretch and be right back in the thick of the playoff race and perhaps the "championship contender" conversation that they were featured heavily in during the offseason.

That very well could happen.

But the reality is, with each additional loss, the absolute certainty of the playoffs evaporates into the ether. Let’s not even talk about a championship this year.

The Lakers stink—and moral victories, while offering a glimmer of hope, are irrelevant to this particular squad. This isn’t the Bobcats. This isn’t the Orlando Magic.

Only a month ago, I wrote how Mike D’Antoni was the right man for the job because he was hungrier than Phil Jackson and because Jim Buss wanted him.

Can I recant that proclamation? Because D’Antoni thus far, has not been hungry, has not been a winner, has  not even played his role as prophet of the Seven Seconds or Less religion that he brought to the NBA—a religion he blindly follows no matter how dark and desolate his situation becomes.

Lakers / Celtics Trade Suggestions

I get that these are usually fruitless, complete stabs in the dark. But that doesn’t make them any less fun to ponder and debate about. Here’s a couple I’ve been mulling over lately.

Centers: Officially Dead

During this week that both Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard were knocked out of the Los Angeles Lakers lineup due to injuries, amidst a season that is rapidly nearing an all-star game that for the first time has eliminated the center position from the ballot--this topic seems fitting.

It is very possible that the NBA has reached a point that truly elite, back-to-the-basket centers are no longer viable building blocks.

Top 10 Backcourt Potential Pt. 2

Continuing yesterday’s conversation of the NBA backcourts with the most potential moving forward, I present the top five selections. For part one, click here.

Top 10 Backcourt Potential Pt. 1

Let's get this out of the way first. Potential is a tricky subject. One that can be interpreted in a myriad ways by everyone. It is really a made up fancy that scouts came up with to determine if a prospect was worth drafting or not. The truth is, over the past 25 years I've been following the NBA, potential has lead to some of the worst draft mistakes in league history. Likewise, players "lacking potential" have gone on to have great and sometimes extraordinary careers. So, the following list is not how it's going to end up. Injuries happen. Players are traded. Players get paid and stop working. Other players step up through hard work and sacrifice.

The following list is current pairings of young guards sharing the same backcourt that have the potential to be great. I left off Derrick Rose because I have no idea what he will be when he comes back, nor is there any indication of who the Bulls plan on putting next to him going forward. Rip Hamilton and Marco Belinelli are not the answer. Nor, is Kirk Hinrich. And, for the record, Chris Paul has been omitted for a similar reason. My cousin did point out that if Chris Paul is healthy, it really won't matter who's next to him, because that backcourt will automatically be one of the top backcourts in the Association.

13 Stories to Watch in 2013 Pt. 2

Now that we're into our second day of 2013, here's the second part to Monday's post.