PED Watch: The Early Most Improved Candidates

Now well into December, we're already rounding the corner of the regular season's first quarter, weird as it seems. "Weird"s also a rather appropriate way to describe the NBA season so far; things are just a bit out of place. I mean sure, the Lakers, Spurs, Magic and Celtics are kicking ass, Greg Oden and Yao Ming are down for the count, the Clippers are underwhelming and every player who isn't a Boston Celtic hates Kevin Garnett, some things never change...

But look at the other side: The almighty Heat, despite having hit their stride since The Return, have kinda sucked so far. The Indiana Pacers, long buried in boredom and awfulness, have been kinda good. A 6'9" white dude who your arthritic grandfather can outjump is owning the rebounding game. Derek Rose can suddenly shoot, Brook Lopez suddenly can't, Darko Milicic suddenly is a legit starting center and the Post-Bosh Raptors (!) actually look like playoff contenders. Hell, the early-season MVP favorite hasn't been the best player on his own team so far, in a race where the names "James" and "Wade" are nowhere to be found for the first time in over a half-decade.

Yep, things are-a-changin' all over the league, as it is with these next few players; the guys who really put in work over the summer and have come out with significantly improved game, the early season favorites for Most Improved Player...


Roy Hibbert - A big part of the Pacers' impressive early start (and subsequent shaking of Least Relevant status) has been Hibbert showing up looking 50 pounds lighter than last spring and displaying a more polished offensive game than ever. His svelte new cut has meant an improved motor without all that weight to carry; he attacks the boards harder, still imposes as a shot blocker, and finishes with greater athleticism. Indiana's resurgence this year has been almost as unlikely as Hibbert's transition from immobile mass to future All-Star.

Eric Gordon -Despite his recent 3-point woes, the all-around maturation of Gordon's game has given the Clippers one of the best young prospects they'll ever eventually lose to free agency. One of the many beneficiaries of the "Team USA" effect(no joke, with the exception of a slightly-injured Kevin Durant, every player from that team has come back much better than last season), Gordon has become a relentless basket-attacker who gets to the line at an alarming rate and defends the wing much better than your typical scoring 2. Unfortuantely for him, the growth he experienced this summer is unlikely to be fostered well while sharing a backcourt with Baron Davis and playing for the f***ing Clippers.

Kevin Love - Nobody's arguing about playing time now. Perhaps sparked by an opening-night benching, Love has been dropping 20/20 more than your local optometrist and pairing with a fellow MIP candidate (see below) to make Minnesota's frontcourt future without Al Jefferson look pretty bright. Another Team USA vet, Love has also displayed an impressive touch from distance, recently icing 43 straight free-throws and tying a franchise mark with 8 consecutive 3's made. His improved scoring, unlikely dominance of the boards, and now unquestioned role in Minny's frountcourt will make him a strong candidate all year.

Michael Beasley -Emerging from his purple haze, Beasley has been re-born in a T-Wolves jersey as a much more potent scorer who plays with more energy on both ends of the floor. His early-season outburst of 25+ games fueled his confidence and earned him the green light as the go-to guy Minnesota thought they'd spend the whole season searching for. While he waits for his defensive attention span and decision-making to catch up with his knack for putting the ball the in the basket, Beasley can operate under the low expectations and long leash of one of the NBA's worst teams, and hopefully not lose his mind again.

Darko Milicic - I mean, the rest of Minnesota's frontcourt's here, why not round out the lineup? Milicic has come out of nowhere this year with several monster offensive performances to complement his league-leading shotblocking. He rebounds with more aggression, is becoming a more confident passer, and scores efficiently when Michael Beasley decides to share the ball. He's still eons away from justifying his immortal draft selection, but after such immense disappointment, its encouraging to see he's finally becoming, well, something.

Russell Westbrook -Team USA stand up! Westbrook has been putting up absolutely gaudy numbers for a Thunder squad that's found itself in an awkward early-season purgatory between last year's 8th seed and this season's immense expectations. While Kevin Durant's been at less than 100%, Westbrook has picked up the slack as a lethal scoring threat, improving his jumper while getting to the hoop against anyone and wetting 90% from the stripe. He's upped his assists, rebounds and steals, while owning the floor in recent overtime Ws at Indiana and New Jersey. Everyone knew Westbrook was good, but if the season ended today he'd likely get more MVP votes than his boy KD.

Dorrell Wright -Wright, foolishly disbanded from the Heat's makeover, landed in Oakland where he found a niche in the Warriors' new slightly-more-defensive scheme with his length and athleticism on the perimeter. Along the way, he proved himself to be a lethal 3-point shooter, which never hurts your stock in Golden State. The result has been increased numbers across the board for Wright, including a double-up in scoring. He may be seeing the floor twice as much, but his game has obviously improved if he could only log 20/game with the shallowest team in the League last year.

Raymond Felton - Mike D'Antoni has significantly augmented the career prospects of yet another point guard. After getting two MVP's for Steve Nash and a guaranteed contract for Chris Duhon, Mike plucked Raymond Felton from the obscurity of the Bobcats and made him a star in the Big Apple. Felton's responded by playmaking at a much more efficient rate and becoming the dangerous scorer that the Bobcats' molasses-paced offense never allowed for, and unlike previous D'Antoni quarterbacks, he's a solid defender, hawking almost 2 balls/game. When the Knicks return to the playoffs in April, they should give him a garnished portion of Eddy Curry's salary.

Tyson Chandler - Everyone and their grandma claimed Chandler had gone the way of forever-linked-classmate Edward Curry after the dud he put up last year. A trade to Dallas and a summer with the best young players in the country did wonders for a re-born Chandler who appears to have gone the way of Hedo Turkoglu circa 2008 instead. Anchoring the best defense the Mavs have ever fielded, he's a feared rebounder and shot-blocker who's proving he can finish without Chris Paul setting him up and earning praise from teammates and media alike for his improved basketball IQ and court awareness.

Jrue Holiday -Surprising nobody, the Sixers are pretty bad this year. A mis-matched bunch of youngsters with very little identity or cohesion are bound for another wayward season. In this instance though, the lack of direction should be blamed on the ship and not the captain, for the guy running the point for the Sixers might be the only thing that's right about them right now. Holiday brings a unique mix of scoring and adept playmaking; he's Lou Williams on ritalin. He plays a controlled game, defends well, and would be getting many more assists on a team that wasn't so shitty on offense. The 76ers have been part of rampant trade talk, in which Holidays has been rumored to be their only untouchable, which can't be very good news for him.

Seriously? Nah, You're Joking...

I know, I couldn't believe it either. Just as one often-mocked draft bust solidified his legacy, another, seemingly bound for eternal damnation, sought to create a new one. The big buzz around the NBA has been punchline/punching bag Darko Milicic showcasing more talent this past week than in seven prior seasons combined. His latest outing of 21/4/2 with 3 blocked shots was preceded by 23/16/5, swatting 6 against the feared Lakers frontcourt (I know you've heard about it 100 times by now, but read that over again a few times, maybe Youtube some Darko Milicic compilations to remind yourself just how bad he is, and really appreciate it).

Seems like Darko - who had previously developed into a respectable rebounder and good shot blocker - has found a way to be something more than a moving screen on offense, being called "unstoppable" by Kevin Durant after a close Thunder victory. After endless awkward trials to adapt Milicic to the NBA game had failed, it seemed he'd never get it together. Two games is relatively little to be excited over, but if Milicic can keep himself anywhere near this lever of production, he might be able to salvage a career that, as recently as last summer, had frustrated him to the point of near-retirement. Not to mention that the same player who began to make Joe Dumars (formerly the smartest man in basketball) look like an idiot, might make David Kahn (a mis-cue on repeat) actually look kind of smart. Funny how shit works out sometimes.

Elsewhere, the Toronto Raptors made the first big splash in the trade market, shipping Jarrett Jack, Tracy Morgan and Joe Dirt to the Hornets for Jarryd Bayless, and some guy named Predrag, who hasn't done anything noteworthy lately, but apparently this guy was fourth in MVP voting a few years ago so he must be okay, right?

In all seriousness, Stojakovic fits the Raptors mold for a ton of reasons:
a) he's white and European
b) he's allegedly a good shooter
c) he can't create his own shot or defend a third-grade child
but most importantly...
d) his contract is worth more than the BP cleanup and expires this year, giving a team with way too much long-term capital to have won two games a lot of flex room.

The Raps are an absolute mess (speaking of the BP disaster...) but at least Brian Colangelo's begun to reason that re-building comes through change and sustainability, not greedily throwing money at your problems like he (...and BP...) did this summer. After burying the Raptors' slowly-fossilizing remains in the bloated contracts of Andrea Bargnani, Jose Calderon, (indirectly, now) Hedo Turkoglu and Amir Johnson, he's finally starting to dig them out of their hole.

See you guys in a few days. Please, for your safety, remember to stay of out Blake Griffin's way.

Requiem for a Career

"Microfracture surgery" and "Greg Oden" are probably the most devastating injury-related terms in pro basketball right now, so when they're mentioned in the same sentence, you know not to take the situation lately. News broke last night of yet another devastation, the latest in a list longer than Shawn Kemp's baby mamas, one that will keep the former no. 1 pick in suits for the rest of the season.

The easy assumption is that his career is over. There have been too many long-term issues with this dude's entire anatomy for any GM off the Great Lakes to want to invest in him; forget the wear-and-tear of an NBA season, Oden's body has regularly succumbed to rehab. In terms of on-court development, he's essentially still in his first year; he's not getting any younger and, at this rate, will be ordering off the senior's menu at IHOP by the time he fulfills his rookie contract. With every passing season, and every awkward, dubious ailment, there was always that slight hope that "maybe, just maybe, Greg Oden can stay on the court this year", but any optimism the Blazers and their fans could've held onto must be dead now. We hardly knew ya.

Whether Oden's ever healthy enough to return to pro basketball, this latest setback will likely cement a historical draft day faux-pas; one that reeks eerily of Portland's immortal fuck-up in '84. Although Oden was touted as a revolutionary defensive presence, nobody needs Captain Hindsight to point out the meteoric rise of the neglected Kevin Durant, only adding insult to injury, after injury, after injury. There's no telling where the Blazers would be had they gone the other route on that fateful day (clearly much closer to a title), but at least they walk away from this mess finally knowing damn well never, under any circumstances, to draft a center with their top pick.

While we're witnessing history here, we're also caught up in a young man's tragedy. I'll be the first to admit that I've had many laughs at Greg's expense, from his bumbling injuries, to him awkwardly and unintentionally ending Dikembe Mutombo's career, to him getting his penis shown to way more people than was ever hoped. But you can't help but feel terrible for this guy right now. His entire life, he was touted as basketball's next big thing; a can't-miss prospect bound for NBA stardom, success and (obviously) millions upon millions of dollars...And now that's all in serious jeopardy. Even if Oden's able to bounce back and have a productive career (which seems very f***ing unlikely at this point), it certainly won't be like it was supposed to.

Never mind Lebron, Greg Oden's really the one asking himself "What should I do?". Hell if I know; he's in an unbearable predicament none of us should envy. All the best going forward, Mr. Oden.

The Appearance of Legitimacy

The 2010-11 NBA season, barely a fortnight old, will be a climactic paradox and carefully manipulated optical illusion. Most fans are going to be distracted by the trials of the Heat, the tribulations of the T-Wolves, the Lakers' quest for another 3-peat, and countless other compelling stories that are unfolding. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, a league that couldn't appear to have much more going for it is having, at least by David Stern's standards, a meltdown.


The last decade was far from kind to the NBA; two waves of economic crisis, rampant player misbehavior, dwindling ratings and attendance, Donaghygate, that whole dress code mishap...Things were another Damon Stoudamire drug arrest away from coming completely undone. The Sternbot, as usual, did a respectable job of protecting his product, but the owners got greedy and began overpaying mediocre-awful players of all shapes and sizes. While those ratings fell and attendance died along with the average American's disposable income, revenues hardly justified the reckless spending, but didn't stop the madness.


Jerome James. Raef Lafrentz. Brian Cardinal. Wally Szczerjiashnfk. Adonal Foyle. The Kandi Man. Beno Udrih. Erick Dampier. Eddy Curry. Rashard Lewis. Charlie Villanueva. Darko Milicic. Amir Johnson. Most recently, Mike Conley. A combination of temporary on-court brilliance and temporary front-office stupidity led to a lot of teams in small markets leaking money like blood in your typical Dexter episode...and the league's apparently losing millions, headed for a lockout, and talking about contraction. Things are about to get ugly.


The current CBA on its deathbed, its wake will be marred by bickering and litigation between players who are understandably pissed about not benefiting from this idiocy, and owners who can't afford to keep being, well, idiots. This idiocy might cost us the first few months of next season, maybe the whole thing, hell it might be even longer if the same type of logic that dug this whole is used to bury it. In the meantime, keeping this impending mess buried beneath the headlines will be easy for Stern and Co: there should be no shortage of them. But the NBA might have done too much damage to get itself there; we've got ourselves a League that's very top-heavy on talent, leaving many teams struggling to stay above water; rising salaries working against a shrinking cap. The front office is going to have to work harder than a Scott Skiles team on a 3-game losing skid to stay out of the danger zone yet again, and after the run they've just had, can ill afford another blow...



...But in the meantime...


- The New Orleans Hornets (!) have slugged it out as the last remaining unbeaten team, against the better judgement of just about everyone. Defensive cohesiveness and a balanced scoring attack have triggered an impressive run that can hardly be blamed on a soft schedule and has stolen all the wind from those Chris Paul trade rumors. Yes, it's still early, but the Hornets have stood out among a slew of impressive starts. I know I was far from alone in pegging them as a lottery team; they're making plenty of fans second-guess themselves with every passing game.


- Minnesota might finally be forced to give the best player starter's minutes after Kevin Love erupted for the hallowed 30/30 against the Knicks; something nobody's done since Moses Malone 28 years ago. Yeah, Shaq, Hakeem, The Admiral, Patrick Chewing, The Mailman, Barkley, Timmy D, KG, none of them ever did that. It's a pretty loud statement coming from a guy who's been averaging 28 minutes/game so far this year, but given the stubbornness and lack of clarity shown by the T-Wolves' suits the past few years, there's no telling if the message was heard...




- Alarms are continuing to sound in Miami after they blew a 20-point lead to the Jazz and needed an LBJ Takeover to even make things close with Boston for the second time in as many weeks. While there are obviously cohesion issues with a team assembled largely form players who've never shared uniforms, more glaring problems are showing. Lebron's complaining about minutes (and then explaining himself...seems like he's had to do that a lot lately...at least he got a Person of the Year nod from Time out of it). Dwyane looks like he misses having the ball so much and goes 1 0n 5 with little hesitation. Bosh is being regularly manhandled on a team even shorter on size than the Raptors, and he'll be the only player not to regularly benefit from Wade/James double-teams. Time (and a healthy Mike Miller) will only help, but talk of 70 wins has suddenly ceded and been replaced with more question marks than Pat Riley had ever hoped to answer to.



- Things are looking relatively better in the city LBJ deserted, where the "desolate" Cavs have been playing close to .500 ball against tough-ish opposition and actually spent a couple days ahead of the Heat in the East standings. Cleveland has a reasonably talented team (at least when you put them up against the rest of the Right Coast's bottom feeders), and now that they're not being coached by a McDonalds mascot's lost brother, are continuing their tough defending while moving the ball more effectively than they're used to and taking advantage of their many shooters. Feel-good stories are corny as hell, but this is a team that had every reason and excuse to fall apart; and one we should all be rooting for.



- A quick moment to truly appreciate what the Indiana Pacers did to the Denver Nuggets the other night: A merciless and ridiculous 54-point quarter, in which the Pacers were an ill-advised Josh McRoberts 3 attempt from going 20-20 from the field. Yup. The f***ing Pacers. The Nuggets have been known to indulge in the occasional defensive lapse, but that'd be too absurd to believe if I hadn't seen it (what up League Pass!). Of course, if only logically follows that two nights later, those same Nuggets handed the defending champs their first loss of the season.



I'm out for now; check back later this week for PED Watch, as Banter takes a look at the season's early Most Improved Player candidates.

One Week In...

Well, it's happened; we're officially back into the regular season grind. After about a week's worth of action, our appetites for somewhat meaningful basketball have been whet, but there's plenty of the ususal early-season uncertainty lingering; things have yet to really take form. While the dust settles and we wait for everything to fall into place, here's a few thoughts from Opening Week:

- When the Wolves traded Al Jefferson to the Jazz in what had to be salary dump (though presuming to know what exactly motivates David Kahn's decisions is foolish and dangerous), the assumption was that versatile pivotman Kevin Love would become the team's new focal point. Naturally, a few eyebrows were raised when Love spent the latter of their opening-night L to the Kings on the bench, his minutes beasted by journeyman Anthony Tolliver. Immediate rumors of dissent began cirulating, stemming from Love's open doubts about his team's long-term plans and an alleged beef with head coach Kurt Rambis. This pattern continuing will lead nowhere constructive, but then again, nothing Kahn's done yet has either. Now that the Knicks are a somehwat-legitimate franchise again, it's comforting to know that at least one billionaire out there's willing to place his valued asset in the hands of a confused dunce for our amusement.

- Rajon Rondo continues to defy adjectives, racking up a ridiculous 24 assists to help the Celts avoid a second humbling loss to a much worse team. Rondo's brilliance - especially in the playoffs - has been almost redundant, but there's still a seeming reluctance to include him in the discussion of Paul, Williams, and (in some circles) even Nash as the NBA's best point guard. Put that talk to rest. I know, me, you and half the European Rider Cup team have nicer jumpers, but Rondo is a transcendant game-changer in every other aspect. As Boston gradually slides into senility, this'll be more and more his team, and that doesn't seem like a bad thing at all.

- The Heat's opening night L to the Celtics stirred up painful memories of last spring's dismantling of the Cleveland Cavaliers: an awkward mess of laughable offensive chemistry that eventually drove Lebron James into "F*** This, I'm Taking Over" mode, only to fall juuust short of a win. Obviously there was going to be a few jitters on opening night, on the road, against the menacing D of a team that arguably was a Kendrick Perkins injury away from kicking off the season with their own ring ceremony...But Miami looked just fucking awful. Alarms went off immediately, but the Superfriends responded with complete dustings of (expectedly) New Jersey and (impressively) Orlando. James, Wade and Bosh are (understandably) still getting used to their new surroundings, and although this was (obviously) going to be a process, Miami (clearly) got sent a message on opening night.

- Nobody's really surprised that the Lakers are still 3-0, but anyone who nabbed the Hawks, Blazers and Hornets as the squads joining them among the last unbeatean deserves a beer or five. Portland took advantage of a sorta weak week (although they looked very nice in an opening-night road win against the unorthodox Suns), while N.O. grinded out three impressive wins over playoff teams that were all favored. The Big Easy was supposed to be a Big Question Mark this year with Chris Paul's ominous trade desire, but a healthy CP3 and a roster of similar talent almost won the West a couple years ago. Obviously it can't be assumed they'll keep this up all year, but if they do, it'll be hard to picture him going anywhere.

- From an allegedly unhappy superstar to one who's just plain blatantly unhappy, Carmelo Anthony has become more vocal about his need to find a basketball court closer to sea level. An obvious inconvenience to a team whose Western Powerhouse status was already in danger, but how exactly this will play out is anybody's guess. Everyone from 'Melo to Spike Lee and countless internet conspiracy theorists see blue and orange in Anthony's future, but the odds are stacked against the Knicks landing him. See, the simple truth is that Carmelo Anthony is incredibly unlikely to be a free agent next summer, so he's unlikely to have an ultimate say in the matter. There's a 0% chance the Nuggets are going to let him walk, and only a minutely higher chance that a team will part with the proper talent to land a Top-10 player only to lose him in a couple months. 'Melo's going to be dealt to a team he's happy with and will commit to, but New York simply doesn't have the pieces (outside of Amar'e of course) to make much of an offer. Unless Denver's front office feels desperate, the market for a superstar gets Sham-Wowed, or the conspiracy theorists are all right, bet against the Knicks. Again.

- And finally, this week delivered the shocking revelation that, after months of relentless demonization, Lebron James would've handled The Decision differently. Really. No Shit. Because it went so smoothly, and everybody really agreed with how things played out. James said what we all wanted to hear, but after hating Lebron became a popular fad and the race card was played so stupidly, this admission seems kinda trite and results-oriented. It's the season now Lebron, let this be the end of the drama and let your play do the talking; it's what we'd all rather hear.