Sitting here, bored, watching some NBA Countdown before the OKC/Chi game starts. Just had a couple random thoughts to put down here.
- Of course much has been made of the Miami Heat losing in the debut of the Big Three. They'll be fine, they just looked rusty and out of sorts on the floor. It looked kind of like street ball with really bad floor spacing and I didn't really see any offensive movements more complicated than a screen or pick and roll. They should be able to solve this with time, however, they also have to stop settling for ugly jump shots as well, especially since they have two of the best wings in the game who are both awesome at attacking the basket. Also problematic might be their lack of a back-to-the-basket scorer. Lebron, for all his size and athleticism, clearly is not comfortable working down low and Chris Bosh likewise is more of a face-up, jump shooting big man. We'll see how their offense works without a reliable scorer in the post.
- Lakers looked ugly most of the game but somehow found a way to pull out a win. Nice to see new additions Matt Barnes and Steve Blake make the contributions they were signed for, namely scrappiness, good decision making, and timely shots. Also, how about Shannon Brown with his late game heroics. Check out his PER of 34.75 after one game! Kidding aside, I feel like the game he had last night is exactly what the Lakers have been looking for from Sasha Vujacic with quick, disruptive defense and dead-eye shooting from 3. Those are valuable skills in addition to the athleticism and big dunks he already brings. It remains to be seen if he can keep this up over the course of 82 games (and more, hopefully), but if he can, he's going to be an extremely valuable guy off the bench.
- Steve Nash can't do it by himself. That much was clear last night. The Suns just need to hope that new additions Hedo Turkoglu, Josh Childress, and Hakim Warrick step up a lot more than last night. But their lack of size and rebounding is going to kill them (the Blazers had an offensive rebound rate of 43.9% WTF), especially if Robin Lopez gets into foul trouble early in games or hurt. What's Erick Dampier up to these days...
- I am so excited for tonight's nationally televised games. A few of the most electric young players (Durant, Rose, Griffin, Roy) is going to make for a fun night.
