Lakers VS Timberwolves: The Kobe & Rubio Show

This was a great game to watch as we saw tons of potential from both teams. It was nice to see the Minnesota Timberwolves get a win after their head coach, Flip Saunders, recently passed away. Let's take a look at the game and how the Minnesota Timberwolves came to win this game by 1 point.

Rubio Can Shoot
No, I'm not lying. The first points of the game were a 3 pointer by Rubio. He looked great. He had a very great jumper and shot with lots of confidence. He shot 10-17 in the game, most of those being mid-range jumpers, as well as shooting 2-4 from the 3-point line. He also finished strong at the rim, something that Rubio has also struggled with in his career. His shot looks really good and it really helped Rubio find open players when the Lakers had to really guard him. He has 14 assists to go along with his 28 points. Rubio said after the game "Yeah, well, it was a tough year for me last year, sitting almost the whole year, so I was working on that shot. I've been working (the) whole summer on that shot, and um a, it is something that if I want to keep being in this league, I got to knock them out, knock them down, and today, they, they did." Well, if they do continue to fall for Rubio, he will be a big key to success for this team.

Kobe Still Has The Skills
Well, if there was any doubt that Kobe wasn't going to be the best player on the Lakers, those doubts can be put to rest. Kobe Bryant is still the Lakers main man. He probably should have shot that last shot. He had 24 points on the night, and he is still shooting as much points as he always has. Last night, Kobe shot just 3-13 from deep and only shot 8-24 from the field. However, it sure didn't seem like it because Kobe was dropping amazing shots last night. He crossed up Tayshaun Prince a couple of times, and really had a great performance in terms of increasing peoples expectations.

Julius Randle and Karl-Anthony Towns
These big men have got some talent, and they were showing it off last night. Julius Randle really controlled the boards and did pretty good on the inside. However, he only shot 5-13 from the field. Towns lead all players in rebounding with 12 and had a nice inside game. He also showed us a step-back jumper in the game. Randle ended the game with 15 points and Towns ended it with 14. Both of these players have lots of potential and have lots of intelligence.

The 6th men
Louis Williams and Kevin Martin looked really well coming off the bench. Williams only shot 2-7 from three and Kevin Martin shot 0-5 from deep, but both of these players got to the line at a very high rate. Williams shot 7-7 from the line and K-Mart shot 11-12. Both of these teams are going to need this production from both of these guys through-out the season.

Other Points

• Roy Hibbert really didn't look all too great except for the fact that he had 10 rebounds and went 10-10 from the free throw line. He also had 2 blocks.
• Other than Towns and KG, the Timberwolves didn't rebound well. They lost the rebounding battle 39-51
• Nick Young had 14 points, including a near half-court buzzer-beater shot. Swaggy P was in the house last night and the crowd obviously loved him.
• Tayshaun Prince guarded Kobe most of the game, but I was really impressed with how well Andrew Wiggins was able to guard him. He really did a good job defending Kobe's shot. It should be noted that Tayshaun Prince seemed like he struggled with that.
• D'Angelo Russell didn't look too great in the Lakers opener. He shot just 2-7 from the field and 0-3 from deep to go along with only 4 points and 2 assists. He also had 3 turnovers in that game.

It was really nice to see these young talented teams play the other night and I'm excited to see them play this season.

Fantasy Friday: Riskies

This week on Fantasy Friday, we are going to talk about all you people that like to take risks. Because if you like to take risks, these are the guys you need to take. With these players, there will be risk, but the rewards could be high. So let's count 'em down!

10. Karl-Anthony Towns: This guy is a big risk. He will probably be one of the best fantasy players alongside Anthony Davis in the future, but we have no idea how his rookie season will be.We know that he can play great defense, shoot the ball, rebound, and pass. But we don't know how he will be.

9. Otto Porter: Going into his 3rd season in the NBA, Otto Porter is looking for major improvement. After averaging 10 PPG, 8 RPG, 1.8 APG, and 1.2 SPG and shooting 37% from the 3 point line in the playoffs, he could defiantly be a great addition to your team, but he could also just end up averaging 6 PPG.

8. Tristan Thompson: This man could be your guy to get your rebounds, blocks, assists, and hopefully some points. If he plays enough. The Cavs have such a big roster for PF and Centers including Kevin Love, Varejao, and Mozgov, that Thompson might not get much playing time.

7. Wesly Matthews: Coming off an injury is tough, and not to mention, he is on a completely different team. The question is can Matthews do it. I mean this guy could average 20 PPG this year, and he could average 11PPG this year. We don't know so buyer beware.

6. Tim Duncan: Timmy could be a great addition to your team. But let's face it, Ol' Timmy's gettin' old. It might not be long before he gets a severe injury or his numbers drop drastically due to his age. Last year he averaged about 14 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 3 APG, and 2 Blocks per game, so he could average those numbers again, or he could go "it's time to hang 'em up". So take him if you want, but you could end up with a retiree by the end of the season.

5. Joe Johnson: Johnson averaged 14 PPG last season, but now his fellow overpaid player, Deron Williams, is gone. Which could open up the for Johnson to get into the offense. You can't forget just how great Joe Johnson is, but you also can't forget how he looks nothing like his old self. Are you willing to take the chance with Joe?

4. Deron Williams: Deron Williams hasn't averaged this low of point since his rookie year and his assist numbers are way down too. But maybe all Deron Williams needed was a change of scenery right back to his hometown to get him going again. He could be averaging 18 PPG and 10 APG again, or be even lower. So go ahead and get him, just don't say I didn't warn you.

3. Brook Lopez: This could be Brook Lopez's healthy season, or it could be another one where he has another foot injury. Chances are it's the foot injury. But, if he is healthy, you could be getting 20 points and 20 rebounds along with 5 blocks a night. Wouldn't that be nice? Yeah, it would! Brook Lopez is a BIG risk, but the rewards are so valuable.

2. Kevin Martin: This man always seems to average about 20 PPG. Snubbed as an all-star about 3 times, this guy will just score and score and score, that is, if he can stay healthy. He had a broken wrist last season and didn't know. He scored 37 points right after he broke it in a game. He was out for a while. While he did get a broken wrist, most of Martin's injuries have been minor. But another problem facing Martin is that he may need to step it down on the scoring as many other scorers such as Wiggins, LaVine, Shabazz, and Towns step into the mix. This could mean that Martin would have to step down on the scoring, but he could end up averaging 20 PPG again.

1. Paul George: After that freak of nature incident with Team USA, Paul George has came back averaging 8.8 PPG in 6 games, but we all know that if he is back to his old self next season, you need him on your team. Paul George is entering his 6th season. In the 2013-14 season (the year before his injury) George averaged 21.7 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 3.5 APG, and 1.9 Steals per game while only giving up 2.5 turnovers per game. Paul Goerge would be one of the best players to have on your fantasy roster if he were to average those numbers again. So go ahead and take him, because he is worth the risk.

So if your feeling lucky, go ahead and take some of these guys, but if you aren't just stay away from them. These guys are high risk high reward. So go head and take them, if you dare!

Do You Remember The Klay and Love Trade Talks?

Do you remember the Klay Thompson and Kevin Love trade talks. Back when Kevin Love wanted to be traded from Minnesota and Minnesota was offering Kevin Love for Klay Thompson. But in the end, the Warriors said no and the Wolves ended up trading him off to the Cavs. Let's take a look at how it would affect the 4 teams.

"Kevin Love (15847116411)" by Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA - Kevin Love. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kevin_Love_(15847116411).jpg#/media/File:Kevin_Love_(15847116411).jpg

"Klay Thompson in 2015" by Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA - Klay Thompson. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Klay_Thompson_in_2015.jpg#/media/File:Klay_Thompson_in_2015.jpg

Cavaliers: If Love was traded to the Warriors, the Cavs would have Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett, unless they found another team to trade them off to. But they wanted Love. Who else would be willing to trade off a franchise PF for these 2 first picks in the NBA draft two consecutive years. I'll tell you who. The 76ers. Of course this team would trade off Thaddeus Young, K.J. McDaniels, and draft picks for Wiggy and Bennett. They would be more than willing to do that. So you would probably see Thaddeus Young on this team and I honestly think that he would fit better for that role in Cleveland than Love. K.J. McDaniels would be a solid role player for the team. Now, I could go and breakdown how this would affect the Nets and all of that, but I'm not going to.

76ers: The 76ers would have Wiggins and Bennett (most likely). They would start both of them and they wouldn't have Mbah a Moute. It would be Carter-Williams, Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett, Nerleans Noel, and most likely Freeland. Carter-Williams wouldn't be traded off since they have all the talent they want as it will be a great starting 5 when Embiid comes back. This would be a team how the Timberwolves are except with even more potential. This would be a dominating future team.

Timberwolves: This would be a playoff team. They would have David Lee and Klay Thompson starting along with Rubio, Pekovic, and Brewer. Along with LaVine, Budinger, Mo Williams, Shabazz Muhammad, and Dieng off the bench. Great roster. I would actually expect this team to make the playoffs. Klay Thompson would work so well with Rubio and Klay would become an all-star. Brewer wouldn't be traded. Neither would Mo Williams. This would be a content team and they really wouldn't be the future team that you would think. The big thing though, K.G. might not come back to the Wolves. I honestly think that Kevin Garnett wouldn't come back to the Wolves unless the Wolves were to trade off David Lee for him. There would be no Wiggins on this team. That just wouldn't be there. It would be a totally different team with Klay Thompson as the face of it.

Warriors: The Warriors would take a big effect. They would have Curry passing to Love off great pick and pops with Kevin Martin coming off of weak side screens. That would be amazing. I honestly thought at the time that if the Warriors made this trade, they would be the best team in the NBA. I honestly thought they made a big mistake. And I still do. I think that if they took the trade, you would have so much better of a team. I know Klay is great. I know that. But Klay Thompson and a David Lee who has rarely played at all this season for Kevin Love and Kevin Martin who are both averaged over 15 PPG this season. I'd say that it would be worth it. That would be a great team. Not only that but you would have Draymond Green coming off the bench. A great player coming off the bench. So your bench would have a lot of strength. This team would have been unstoppable. And they are right now to.

So as you can see, it's very complicated. And I just did those 4 teams. As you can see, the Warriors and the Cavs would still be great, but the Wolves and the 76ers would have big changes.

Injured Teams

This year has been struck by injury for many team. Many teams were hoping for playoffs and more but then injury got in the way. Lets take a look at the worst

5.Oklahoma City Thunder: Durant and Westbrook went down. But Westbrook came back with fire in his eyes. After Ibaka went down and Durant was out for the rest of the season, it's really hard to see this team making much noise in the playoffs. But you never know with Westbrook.

4. Minnesota Timberwolves: This is a team that suffered way too many injuries this season. They were looking at the possibility of the 8th seed in the West. All of a sudden, Rubio went down on their 5th game against the Magic. Kevin Martin played against the Knicks and broke his wrist at the beginning of the game. After he broke it, he scored 37 points that night. Nikola Pekovic went down (as usual) Shabazz Muhammad went down for the season after averaging about 13 points per game. And this is just to start with.

3. Miami Heat: It's bad enough that LeBron James left their team. Now Chris Bosh is out with blood clots on his lungs. This team thought they could do some great things in the playoffs. Dwayne Wade and Shabazz Napier are out. How does this team expect to beat anyone with two of their stars out. It's going to be a bumpy ride for this Heat team. Someone needs to send them a sympathy card.

2. Los Angeles Lakers: Julius Randel goes down before the season even starts. So does Steve Nash. Kobe goes down of course. Nick Young is injured. The playoff hopes that this team had pretty much flew away. They had to start players like Wayne Ellington who was supposed to be a bench player this year. No playoff for this team. And no more Steve Nash.

1. Indiana Pacers: This team was coming back from the loss in the Eastern Conference Finals looking toward next season. Then Paul George goes down ruining all their hopes of a title run for next season. Minor injuries occurred along the way like George Hill going down. They still await the return of Paul George. We all miss him. But I'm pretty sure the Pacers miss him most.