It's NBA time

[stuporfly]

Just in case you thought the whole Dwight-to-Brooklyn chat was over...

The story that never went away last year is back .. like a zombie. Turns out Dwight Howard to the Nets was not dead, just dormant.

By all accounts, some of which are more alarming than others, things are not going well in Los Angeles.

But whatever the degree of discord or disharmony that exists in the Lakers locker room, there are some fairly simple facts to consider:

The Lakers are multiple games under .500, in 11th place in the Western Conference and in real danger of missing the playoffs. That was the case before their 112-105 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night, and they only dug themselves a deeper hole.
The Lakers are “old as sh-t” as Kobe Bryant pout it a few days back, and they surrendered two future first-round picks in the deal to acquire Steve Nash. Pau Gasol has been benched more than he has been used in fourth quarters since Mike D’Antoni took over, and even Bryant’s highest point production level in six years is not making things better.
Howard is going to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, and there is a genuine chance the Lakers could lose him with nothing in return (Dallas and Atlanta will have max room) is he decides to bolt in July. If the Lakers have a strong feeling in mid-February that Howard is unhappy and has one foot out the door, they will have no choice but to move him.

Those, folks, are the plain and simple facts.

But then we also have the matters which are open to debate and dispute — such as how much internal discord there is in the Lakers’ locker room. In a report in Monday’s editions of the New York Daily News, Stefan Bondy paints a picture of a team in total disarray. An excerpt:

”A league source told the Daily News that the Lakers stars got into a heated exchange following a New Year’s Day loss to the 76ers, and Bryant went for a low blow – referencing and agreeing with Shaquille O’Neal’s criticisms of Howard being soft. Howard was restrained from going at his teammate, according to the source, and there have been rumblings from the center’s camp that he’s been unhappy with Bryant since earlier in the season. Three days after the altercation, following a disheartening loss to the Clippers, Howard complained about the lack of chemistry on the Lakers. It was a comment seemingly directed at Bryant, who is averaging a league-high 22 shots despite playing with three potential Hall of Famers. “Look at the difference between our team and (the Clippers),” Howard said. “They just play together. They share the ball. Everybody’s excited when something happens. “(Chemistry) is something we have to do to get better,” Howard told reporters in L.A. “We have to play like we like each other. Even if we don’t want to be friends off the court, whatever that may be, when we step in between the lines or we step in the locker room or the gym, we have to respect each other and what we bring to the table.”

No, that does not sound like a happy camper.

Which leads us to the Nets, who have gone 5-1 since P.J. Carlesimo took over and would be content to let him keep the job for the remainder of the season if Phil Jackson tells them he is uninterested or would prefer to wait. Both Jackson and Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov have been flying waaaay under the radar over the past week since it became known that Jackson was the Nets’ one and only choice, but rest assured there is some back-channeling going on.

As columnist Charley Rosen has pointed out, the Nets’ current personnel would be a fit for Jackson’s triangle offense if a power forward could be found who can step out to 17 feet and knock down a jumper. (Kris Humphries does not have that in his repertoire.) But Humphries and Brook Lopez both become trade-eligible on Jan. 15, and the Nets would surely be willing to include either of them in a trade with the Lakers if it would bring back Howard.

Brooklyn would have to provide the Lakers with more than just Lopez or Humphries in a trade of that magnitude — but they actually have three nice young pieces (Mirza Teletovic, Tyshawn Taylor and MarShon Brooks) that would sweeten the pot, give the Lakers a stretch 4 and/or a point guard of the future and bring the total salaries into line.

[TomAz]

It's quite a stretch to go from "this is a trade that might make sense for both teams" to "the teams are talking trade". He says "Turns out Dwight Howard to the Nets was not dead, just dormant" but then only talks about why it would make sense. Propaganda even a 5th grader could see past.

[stuporfly]

It's quite a stretch to go from "this is a trade that might make sense for both teams" to "the teams are talking trade". He says "Turns out Dwight Howard to the Nets was not dead, just dormant" but then only talks about why it would make sense. Propaganda even a 5th grader could see past.

Totally, though it wouldn't surprise me if a conversation between the teams really does happen, especially if the Lakers continue to struggle and Dwight continues to complain.

[unit300021]

I don't see Dwight leaving LA for Dallas or Atlanta. Only way is if he does a sign and trade to Brooklyn. I think Dwight just loves the limelight and attention he gets from being in LA or would get in New York. Dwight was on the Ellen show, that doesn't happen if he is in Dallas or Atlanta.

[Phunkevil]

Dwight pulling a Dwight again?

[santasutt]

That's 3 in a row for the re-charged Celtics.

Avery Bradley is the difference maker for the D.

Huge win at MSG tonight.

[Chillzzz]

Love living in LA right now with Clippers winning and Lakers losing

[vulcandeathgrip]

http://youtu.be/dWRFkElwTxc

so gangsta

[tyles]

Love living in LA right now with Clippers winning and Lakers losing

It's like living in bizarro world. I feel bad for Lakers fans... kinda.

[thom cobain]

Don't feel bad. Laker fans have seen worse. And we will be back.

[tyles]

Don't feel bad. Laker fans have seen worse. And we will be back.

Sure, but now they'll have to deal with a Clippers franchise that has gotten a taste of what winning is like. Unless Sterling and co. let CP3, Jordan, and half the team go, I think the cross-town rivalry is going have a Golden Age. Should be nice.

[thom cobain]

It's about time. I thought the Clippers would suck forever.

[unit300021]

All things considered for tonight's game for the Lakers, they played a lot better then I thought they would.

[stuporfly]

Is "we lost, but it could have been worse" the current reality for Laker fans?

[theklein25]

Bye bye queens and welcome back supersonics http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlespo...r-500-million/

[eddiebrock]

steve nash video had me dying.

I was at that lakers-nuggets game a couple of days ago crowd was awkward as fuck for the first half. you could literally hear the ball bouncing on the court from the top stands. Picked up in the second half though. Overall, this doesnt seem like a team thats even in contention for a championship. Moves have to be made.

Gasol is usually the scapegoat but at this point i dont think they can get much value for him. Heard the grizzlies are shopping rudy gay. Someone like that would definitely shake things up. Time for Mitch to put his big boy pants on and try to give memphis back the goods he stole a few years ago.

[lehorne]

the roaches in the ceiling rafters weren't chanting "MVP" for Kobe like they did in the pre-season? CP3 is being is being discussed with merit.

Can Chris Paul win the MVP award? Are CP3's numbers good enough to keep LeBron James from winning again? By Kevin Pelton | ESPN Insider



Listen closely during tonight's broadcast as the Los Angeles Clippers host the Dallas Mavericks -- or any future Clippers game, for that matter -- and you're likely to hear "M-V-P" chants when Chris Paul heads to the free throw line. Because MVP voting isn't the same as All-Star voting, the biased opinion of the Clippers' faithful won't make a difference, but the team's performance has made Paul a legitimate candidate to become the first Clipper chosen as MVP since the franchise was in Buffalo. Can Paul actually win the award? Let's take a look at his candidacy.

With an even 8.0 wins above replacement player (WARP) through 35 games, Paul is on pace for 18.7 over the full season. That's on the low side for an MVP. Dating back to 1979-80, the typical MVP has posted 21.3 WARP, and more than two-thirds (23 of 33) have cleared the 20-WARP mark. However, Paul looks much better when we consider the per-minute aspect of the rating system, player win percentage. Paul's .748 mark is nearly average among MVPs (.756).

Of course, MVP voters are unlikely to make their selection based solely on advanced stats, as seen during the debate over Derrick Rose's selection two years ago, or the recent Miguel Cabrera-Mike Trout AL MVP discussion. Historically, writers have tended to favor basketball's equivalent of the triple crown stats: points, rebounds and assists per game, with a healthy dose of team performance. When Insider contributor Justin Kubatko came up with an MVP predictor for Basketball-Reference.com, he was able to predict two-thirds of MVP selections using just those four factors.

It's hard to compare Paul's production with that of the average MVP, because the production of point guards is very different from the stat lines for big men. So let's instead focus on the six awards won by lead ball handlers in the past three decades -- Magic Johnson (1986-87, '88-89, and '89-90), Steve Nash (2004-05 and 2005-06) and Rose (2010-11).

Comparing past MVP PGs to CP3
Player Year Team Win% WARP Wins ORtg APG Rank
Magic Johnson 1987 LAL .796 22.4 65 1 1
Magic Johnson 1989 LAL .809 23.2 57 1 2
Magic Johnson 1990 LAL .811 23.8 63 1 2
Steve Nash 2005 PHX .693 14.7 62 1 1
Steve Nash 2006 PHX .718 17.4 54 1 1
Derrick Rose 2011 CHI .679 16.6 62 11 10
Chris Paul (projected) 2013 LAC .748 18.7 63.3 4 2
Average .751 19.7 60.5 2.7 2.8

A few factors are clearly required for a point guard to win MVP. He must play for an elite team led by its offense (the Lakers and Suns led the league in offensive rating during Johnson's and Nash's MVP campaigns) and he must be near the top of the assist leaderboard (Johnson fell behind Utah's John Stockton twice). Rose is the oddball candidate here; it appears that because Rose is a score-first point guard, voters evaluated him more as a combo guard in the vein of Allen Iverson rather than a pure point guard.

By these standards, Paul does OK. If the Clippers can maintain their current 63-win pace, they will actually be among the best of these teams, though they've become contenders thanks more to balance (their defensive rating ranks third in the NBA, just ahead of their fourth-ranked offense) than sheer firepower. And Paul is currently second in the league in assists per game behind Rajon Rondo, a spot he'll surely have to hold to fill out his MVP résumé.

Paul's problem is the Clippers might actually be too good and too deep. The same factor that limits his WARP also hurts his per-game statistics: Paul is playing just 33.1 minutes per game, which would be the fewest of any MVP in NBA history. Only Nash (34.3 in 2004-05) and Bill Walton (33.3 in 1977-78) have won the MVP while playing fewer than 35 minutes a game.

Much of the difference between Paul's per-game statistics and those of the typical MVP point guard can be explained by playing time, with pace of play also a factor. (Though the Clippers have pushed the tempo this season, they still have far fewer possessions per game than Johnson's Showtime Lakers during a faster era, or Nash's Seven Seconds or Less Suns.) During their MVP seasons, Johnson and Nash averaged 21.3 points, 11.0 assists and 5.4 rebounds per game, better than Paul's 17.0 points, 9.3 assists and 3.6 rebounds. Adjusted to Paul's pace and minutes, the stats of past MVP point guards look much more similar to his line. Johnson and Nash would average 18.5 points, 9.5 assists and 4.6 rebounds over an equivalent number of possessions.

The larger obstacle to Paul's candidacy happens to wear No. 6 for the Miami Heat. LeBron James, winner of the award three of the past four seasons, remains an unstoppable force. James is on pace for 25.0 WARP, with an .800 winning percentage. In the past, such a lofty performance has virtually guaranteed an MVP unless another candidate is putting up similar stats. When James was beaten by Rose in 2010-11, his individual numbers (including 21.2 WARP) were down while he adjusted to playing alongside Dwyane Wade in Miami.

The best hope for Paul, or Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder (on pace for 22.5 WARP himself), is that voters simply get tired of writing James' name and want a new, fresh story. In that case, the battle for the top seed in the Western Conference also could serve as a runoff for MVP votes, with the San Antonio Spurs playing spoiler. Because Paul won't beat James on stats, he'll have to do so on the strength of a compelling narrative. If the Clippers can beat expectations by finishing with the NBA's best record, Paul just might have a chance to make those MVP chants come true. Otherwise, they're just a nice gesture from adoring fans.

[eddiebrock]

melo mvp tbh

[weeklymix]

[Chillzzz]

I love how at Laker games fans still chant MVP for Kobe at the freethrow line as if a player on an under .500 team with slim playoff chances could possibly be the MVP.

[unit300021]

CP3 should be a serious contender for MVP it just the majority of the fourth quarters he spends most of the time on the bench. And I got a feeling Durant is winning it this year.

[gam3g3ni3]

It's getting so hard for me to watch Laker games. Lord they are atrocious. Gonna stick with watching the Spurs

[Chillzzz]

Durant will win it because it'll go to whoever has the best record and voters are going to get tired of voting for Lebron, CP3 should get serious consideration though.

[vulcandeathgrip]

I reckon Durant will win and is worthy. He has improved again this season. CP3 is having an amazing year and should be right up there.

I am really enjoying the impact and contributions by some of the lesser hyped additions teams made in the off season. Guys like Matt Barnes, Jarrett Jack, Reggie Evans & Nate Robinson have been integral to their new team's success.

[TomAz]

fuck the spurs, david stern's little boy favorites. go fuck yourself with a giant hitler dildo stern you fucking embarassment to fair play.

[weeklymix]

fuck the spurs, david stern's little boy favorites. go fuck yourself with a giant hitler dildo stern you fucking embarassment to fair play.

Hahaha.

[eddiebrock]

I love how at Laker games fans still chant MVP for Kobe at the freethrow line as if a player on an under .500 team with slim playoff chances could possibly be the MVP.

kobe fucked your bitch or somethin?


30.2 ppg
5.10 rpg
4.8 apg
+25.36 efficiency

5 time NBA champion
2 time finals MVP
2008 League MVP
5th all-time nba scoring leader

i think he's fifth place in mvp race right now which is right where he should be since the lakers suck. but with numbers like that some chant shouldnt bother you much.

[WhyTheLongFace]

LOL at Kobe being in the MVP race. That's like saying Megatron is in the NFL MVP race.

[eddiebrock]

5th place is hardly in the race

[bobert]

Dwight Howard has looked great the last couple games - actually looks like a top-3 center again. If he can maintain this level of play and help the Lakers reach the postseason I'll take back all the mean things I said about him.