The Sophomores

By Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA - Jordan Clarkson, Otto Porter Jr., CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45393918

 The Rookies get all of the headlines for the young talent in the NBA, don't they? After your rookie season, you don't really get much hype until your on an all-star team or lead your team to wins. While the rookies were great this season, we completely ignored the 2nd year players once against. So let's take a look at some of the best Sophomore players.

Top 5 in scoring:
              5. Zach LaVine (14 PPG): This high flying sophomore is still being overlooked as a player. He averaged a good 14 PPG for this young Timberwolves team. Not only that but he played a big role in the offense. Against the Wizards, Zach LaVine came in clutch as he hit 2 three pointers in overtime to send the game into double overtime where the Wolves would win. LaVine had 25 points that night. He is still able to score behind Wiggins and Towns. There is more to LaVine than his dunks.

              4. Jabari Parker (14.1 PPG): After his injury, Jabari Parker seemed to be forgotten. However, he made a strong comeback this season. He scoring proved valuable to this Bucks team as Parker averaged a solid 15 points in their wins. Parker and this young Bucks team have what it takes to become a powerhouse with all of their talent.
              
             3. Rodney Hood (14.5 PPG): He was selected as the 23rd pick in the 2014 draft. His rookie season wasn't that great as he only averaged 8.7 PPG off the bench. Then came the 2015-16 season. Hood looked better than ever. The kid scored 30 points in a half against the Lakers. He played a key role for the Jazz not only offensively, but defensively too. He played great. That was when Hood finally started to get recognition. Now, he's starting to look like a steal in the draft.

         
           2. Jordan Clarkson (15 .5 PPG): 2nd round pick, Jordan Clarkson is a scorer. That is what he's shown to us this season. He probably would've gone top 5 if the draft was redone. While Jordan Clarkson is a scorer. He is a consistent scorer. He never had a game over 30 points this season but he's made tons of 20 point games. Clarkson had very few games with less than 10 points. Everytime I watch Clarkson I always think, how could all of these scouts miss him? How could they not see his potential?

           1. Andrew Wiggins (20.7 PPG): I've heard a lot of people say that Wiggins doesn't have what it takes to be a star player. The guy averages over 20 points in his second season. Steve Nash never averaged over 20 points once in his career and he has 2 MVP trophies. I'm not saying he's going to be better than Nash, all I'm saying is he can be a go to guy in the league. He had ten 30 points games this season! He only had 4 games with under 10 points. He is a scorer. He is going to be sharing the spotlight with Karl-Anthony Towns, not sitting in the shadows. This guy can score. He is the only Sophomore to average over 20 points this year and is looking like the best sophomore this year.

So those are the outstanding sophomores of the 2015-16 season, and we didn't even mention guys like Julius Randle and Nerlens Noel.  So next time the rookie of the year and MVP awards come out, don't forget about the sophomores.

Aaron's Awards For The 2015-16 Season

As you might not have known, last year I made a post giving who I thought the award winners were for last year. This year, I am doing the same thing. So here we go...

Coach Of The Year: Before I jump into this, I do want to give a shout out to Dave Joerger; a guy that I think should be in the running for coach of the year. The guy had to deal with 28 different players this season. A regular team only has to deal with about 15-18 different players. The best thing about this, is that Joerger still managed to help this team get the 7th seed in the west even without most of their starters that they started the year with. But enough of me ranting on about the Grizzlies, I'll make sure I'll have a different post to do that in. Right now, we need to bring back the meaning of the Coach of the Year award because right now it seems like the team with either the best or the second best record gets the award. I think that doesn't really mean much. In fact, I don't think Steve Kerr even deserves this award. While they did great, I don't think it was their coaching staff that went above and beyond, I think it was their players. I also think it shouldn't be the "Coach" of the year, I think it should be the "Coaching staff" of the year where the whole coaching staff gets this award. While the head coach does so much, assistant coaches, coordinators, all of the film guys, and especially the medical staff do so much. Now, who is the Coach of the year? It could really go to Terry Stotts, who has done such a great job coaching Portland, or even Dave Joerger. But my coach of the year has to go to Gregg Popovich. He has lead to a great Spurs record of 67-15. Not only that, but they were able to do that while resting guys. With their best player, Kawhi Leonard out of the lineup, they were 7-3! That is why Pop is my pick.
Winner: Gregg Popovich

Sixth Man Of The Year: Jamal Crawford has the points but he has done nothing other than throw up shots. Enes Kanter, on the other hand, has been grabbing rebounds and has stepped up his defense. Kanter is shooting a career high in FG percentage and 3-point percentage as he has been a big help off the bench. Crawford, meanwhile, has been shooting poorly and has tied his career low in assists per game. Kanter has affected the team to be able to win while Crawford hasn't put up good shooting percentages or assisting numbers. While Crawford hit some big shots for the team, Kanter has been the better bench player.
Winner: Enes Kanter


Rookie Of The Year: While Porzingis and Okafor played pretty good, Karl-Anthony Towns was amazing. Here is what he lead the rookies in; points, rebounds, double-doubles, and minutes. He was second in blocks, shot 54% from the field, and averaged a double-double. Not to mention, he is the only rookie this year to get a player of the week award. He has played the best out of the rookies by far.
Winner: Karl-Anthony Towns

Most Improved Player: You could make a case for Isaiah Thomas or Kemba Walker, but C.J. McCollum has gone from a 6 PPG player to a 20 PPG player. I really can't give the award to anyone else, because no one has done that this season. Nothing even close to such change. Not to mention, he has been a big part in Portland making the playoffs.
Winner: C.J. McCollum

Defensive Player Of The Year: Draymond Green and Kawhi Leonard, how do you pick between the 2. Well, Draymond has been the better defensive player. While Kawhi has been putting tons of effort on offense, Draymond has been focusing his game on defense. Even though both guy negatively affect the team when they are taken off the court, Draymond has a bigger impact. When Draymond is taken off, the Warriors allow about 12 more points per 100 possessions, while the Spurs allow about 5.5 more when Leonard is off the court. Draymond averages 1.5 steals and 1.4 blocks while Leonard averages 1.8 steals and 1 block. As you can see, both are great defensive players, but Kawhi is more of a focused offensive player.
Winner: Draymond Green
 
Most Valuable Player: Tied for 1st in steals, 11th in assists, 45.4% from 3 while shooting 11.2 3-pointers per game, made over 400 3's as he broke his own record of most 3s in a season, lead his team to the best record ever of 73-9, lead the league in points with 30.1 per game, and was only 10th in turnovers, Stephen Curry. Any arguments?
Winner: Stephen Curry

Do you agree? Disagree? Comment your thoughts down below!

The Headlines That Never Were (April 10th)

If you didn't hear, The Warriors tied the Bulls for most wins in a season on Sunday. This was an amazing feat, but there were some really great headlines that you probably haven't seen because of the Warriors accomplishment. So Let's get started with some major headlines that you probably missed.

Makel Brown nearly gets a 5 by 5. In case you didn't know, a 5 by 5 is accomplished by getting at least 5 blocks, 5 rebounds, 5 points, 5 assists, and 5 steals. This is extremely hard to accomplish and Nets Markel Brown nearly did. He finished the game against Indiana with 18 points, 11 rebounds, 6 steals, 4 assists, and 3 blocks. He was just 2 blocks and 1 assist shy. Markel Brown was drafted 44th overall in the 2014 draft and selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves. He was then traded to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for cash. If Markel Brown is able to consistantly put up numbers close to this, it will be a steal being able to get Brown at that low of value.

James Harden gets 40 points in Kobe's last game in Houston. Last night, Harden left Kobe with a loss. Harden picked up 40 points as well as 13 assists to give Houston the win. While Harden played great, Kobe did just as well for his age as he took it right at Harden and the Rockets. Kobe had 35 points and wa perfect from the free throw line as he was 11-11. While Harden got the last win, it's sure nice to see Kobe able to get 35 points.


Trey Lyles gets a career high of 22 points as injured Jazz keep pushing to the playoffs. The Jazz are playing against all odds this season as their star power forward is out with a knee injury. The Jazz ended up having to start Trey Lyles as a result. He ended the night with 22 points. Not to bad for a guy that isn't supposed to be starting. But the Jazz didn't win this game because of their offense. It was because of their defense. At one point in the 3rd quarter, the Jazz pulled away as they went on a 24-0 run. This was a key game as they are hanging onto their 1 game ahead of the Houston Rockets and the 8th seed in the Western Conference. The Jazz are playing so they can get their star, Gordon Hayward, a look at the playoffs, something he hasn't seen since 2012; something he has only seen only 1 time of his 6 years in the league.


DeMar DeRozan passed Vince Carter to become second in all-time points for the Raptors franchise. The Raptors beat the Knicks last night to keep them in the running for the 1st seed in the East. On the other hand, DeMar DeRozan finished the night 27 points as he passed Vince Carter in all-time Raptors scoring. That just shows you how great of a scorer DeRozan is and how long he has been with the Raptors. He now only trails Chris Bosh who has 10,275. DeRozan has 9,426. He has averaged 18 PPG over his career and he is averaging a career high in points this season with 23.6 PPG.

Well, have you heard all of this news? Or has it been covered up by the Golden State Warriors. Or Was there something that I forgot. Comment below with your opinions.

Washington Wizards VS Detroit Pistons (March 14)

I was watching the Wizards and Clippers game last night, so I decided to do something I haven't done in a while, a game breakdown. However, there will be tons of these once the playoffs start.

Now the first thing I want to get out of the way, is that the crowd in D.C., are horrible. So, if anybody goes to Wizards games, you need to step it up, that simple, because the atmosphere is horrible in that arena. Gortat threw down an alley-oop dunk and I heard barely anything from the crowd. The bench was cheering more than the crowd was. So step it up D.C., or else Washington could end up moving to the other Washington.

Now that I have that off my chest, let's get to the game, because the Wizards haven't played like this in a while. One thing I want to point out is that Markieff Morris is playing really well with this Wizards team. He had 3 assists and let me tell you something, they all were really great assists. He took great shots and looked really good in the offense. Morris looked so good last night and I'm very happy for his play.

I also want to point out just how great the Wizards defense was last night. The Wizards defensive rating was at a great number of 82.1. They also caused the Pistons to turn it over 20 times. But what really sent the Pistons home was them controlling the rebounding battle against the Pistons know that the Pistons are 4th in rebounding percentage.

The Wizards really contained everyone, but offensively, they were amazing as they had 34 assists, something that not many teams besides the Warriors have done this season. They moved the ball so well and it started with John Wall getting 12 of the assists. For some reason, the Pistons weren't able to defend Wall in the pick and roll and when they did, Wall would kick it out to a shooter and they would get a wide open shot. The Wizards limited their turnovers to only 10 in that game which is really good. 62 of the their points came from inside the paint. The Wizards just seemed unstoppable last night. Also, Nene provided great minutes off the bench, not letting the Pistons get any momentum as he ended with 20 points on the night. He will be a key player for the Wizards for the rest of this season.

A big reason why this Pistons' team lost was because they didn't get up enough shots. They got only 79 shots up compared to the Wizards' 90. That could have been 22 points alone if they had gotten as much shots up as the Wizards. The Pistons also didn't shoot well from the 3-point line or inside the paint. However, they shot really well from mid-range, but didn't put up enough mid-range shots. Take a look at the chart below provided by www.nba.com/stats .

Credit: www.nba.com/stats

So as you can see, their shooting was pretty bad and they kept settling for outside 3-pointer, which wasn't working. You can't take 23 three pointer if only 3 of them fall and expect to win the game.

Anyways, the Wizards are a big threat if they move into the playoffs as we have seen in this game. They can surely move up into a seed and nobody is going to want to play this team knowing their past 2 years of success in the playoffs, even thought they had lower than the 4th seed both of those last two years. The Wizards could cause a lot of damage if they play like they did last night.

There Is Nothing Wrong With The Cleveland Cavaliers

By Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA - LeBron James, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36918817

Lately in the news I've been hearing that the Cavs are struggling since the all-star break. However, compared to the rest of the league, this is simply not true. I tried to look for reasons why the Cavs are losing, adn I could not find many.

If you look at the Cavs record since the all-star break,it is 7th. You may look at that, and think that it is very bad. The Cavs lost to the Pistons where they just didn't play their best, Kyrie was the only one really playing great. The loss to the Toronto was just the Cavs playing a really good Raptors team. The game they lost to the Wizards, the team didn't have LeBron James. And the loss to the Grizzlies wasn't that bad as you would think it is. While the Grizzlies have had a lot of injuries of late, they still have managed to get the 8th best record since the all-star break. Not to mention, the only blowout loss, was the one where they didn't have LeBron.

Their offense and defense doesn't seem to be the problem as they have the 4th best net rating since the all-star break in the league and they have the 3rd best rebounding percentage. Their effective and true shooting percentages are both top 5 since the break, so it isn't them missing shots either. So if it wasn't anything the Cavs were doing wrong, it must be the opponent.

There was nothing special with the Cavs' opponents shooting percentages at all since the break, in fact, they aren't that high. I looked at 2nd chance, fastbreak points, points off turnovers, and points in the paint for the Cavs opponents since the break and I saw nothing, in fact the Cavs actually did very good in limiting these categories. So really, couldn't find anything wrong with the Cavaliers.



I then decided to check their clutch stats and how the team did when the game had a differential of 5 points or less in the last 5 minutes of the 4th. The Cavs game up quite a bit of possessions and lost 2 games in the clutch because their opponents FG% was so high. 48%. 9th worst in the league. The only other teams above .500 that were worse were the Detroit Pistons who only lost 1 game in the clutch and the Thunder who are actually struggling. It should be noted that the Thunder lost all 5 of their games in the clutch since the all-star break.

So is there really anything wrong with the Cavs? They lost a couple of close games and 1 without LeBron James. They just need to play a little better defense down the stretch. I wouldn't say that this team is struggling like the Thunder are though. The Cavs are fine. They are playing good defense and are playing good offense as well and they are still a title contender.

Should The 3-Point Line Be Moved Back?

Last Friday, Dallas Mavericks owner gave reporters his thoughts on moving the 3-point line back. Cuban told reporters:

"It's getting too close, guys are shooting a foot behind it anyways. ... That's something we should look at. It's worth looking at."

Of course for Cuban, this is bad timing on this statement noting that Stephen Curry has become probably the most popular player in the league and 3-point shooting has become something that fans want to see. However, Cuban explained that this wouldn't be to hurt 3-point shooters it would be to help other players who aren't 3-point shooters. He told the media:

"I don't think the number of shots would decline, but I think it would reward skill and open up the court some more. So guys would still take [3-point] shots if it's seven inches back or whatever, but at the same time, it opens up the court for more drives, more midrange game. I think it'd open it up more so guys with different skill sets could play. It would open up play for more drives. Guys with midrange games would be rewarded and that would stay in the game. There would be more diversity of offensive action in the game."

While Cuban has a point, he doesn't seem to understand that the mid-range game is just fine. Since, the 2011-12 season, mid-range shot attempts have been fairly similar. Not to mention the mid-range game is still used by many of the league's stars including, Carmelo Anthony, John Wall, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and Dirk Nowitzki. And besides that, it doesn't matter where you put the 3-point line, the teams are already spacing the floor more because of guys like Stephen Curry and it is opening things up. Teams can create that without moving the line back and the Warriors have proven that. Also, moving back the line would create problems such as the corner shot. How would you move that back? Would you move it back? Not to mention, an NBA 3-pointer is hard enough to hit. It is 23ft. 9in. It would take away from the stretch 4 position such as Kevin Love, DeMarcus Cousins, and Ryan Anderson's game.

Teams such as the Spurs and the Grizzlies have proven you can win without the 3-point shot. The Timberwolves have big men Gorgui Dieng and Karl-Anthony Towns that constantly use the mid-range shot to force defenders out on them. Marc Gasol uses Mid-range all of the time. And lightning quick John Wall uses mid-range to not allow players to sag off of him and protect the basket. However, Mark Cuban is missing the fact that players are having to be guarded different. By having defenses more perimeter orientated, they are having to pressure at the 3-point line more, making the inside of the paint so much more open. Big men are having to come out from underneath the basket to get out on shooters making it acutally easier for players to get to the rim. I acutally think that moving the line back could actually counter what Cuban says it will cause.

Of course, this wouldn't affect Stephen Curry, it would acutally cause the players such as DeMarcus Cousins not have as much skill. Stephen Curry already broke his own record of 3-pointers made in a season (again) and if you move the line back, it will actually cause Curry to have an even bigger advantage against a lot of players such as John Wall and Chris Paul.

So as you can see, Mark Cuban's logic doesn't make much sense to me. While I see what he is trying to get at by moving the line back, it seems like so much a hassle for something that really wouldn't change much and would probably be changed back in later years. If you want to see the whole article with all of Mark Cuban's quotes, you can check it out here. As always, hope you all loved the breakdown and I'll be hoping to give you guys more here at NBA Inside The Play Nation!

 

All-Star Saturday Night Breakdown

By TonyTheTiger - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29372049

All-Star Saturday Night is one of my most favorite nights of the year. It's entertainment at it's best. You have the dunk contest, three point contest, and the skills competition along with things in between for our amusement. I've decided to breakdown every event from All-Star Saturday Night so everybody can see how every player participated and what their outcome means.

First off, it just didn't feel right when we started off with the Skills competition. I was very disappointed that there was no Shooting Stars competition. That was such a fun event. I felt like, once the first half court was made, that is when All-Star Saturday Night officially began. In case you don't know what the Shooting Stars event was, there is a video on it below. Anyways, onto the Skills competition...

The Skills Challenge had a different format this year as the "bigs" went up against the "smalls", the smalls being guards and the bigs being F/Cs. I'll breakdown each participant's performance below.

• Jordan Clarkson had a tough time as he was out in the first round. He wasn't that fast dribbling and did absolutely horrible in the passing section of the competition missing all 3 passes. He let C.J. McCollum get the layup before him and Clarkson was out before he even got to put up a shot as sharpshooter C.J. made his first shot. Clarkson isn't the most talented guard as you could see in the competition even though he is a dynamic scorer.
• Emanuel Mudiay struggled in this competition as he went up against Isaiah Thomas. He ended up losing because he couldn't get the passing as he missed all 3 tries while Thomas got it on the first. Mudiay then came down and lost control of the ball. By the time Mudiay made it to the 3-point shot, Thomas had already made the shot on his second attempt. Mudiay might have had a better shot if he was able to make the pass on his first try, but considering how this guy averages quite a bit of turnovers per game, maybe that is why he struggled with the passing station.
• Draymond Green did pretty well in this contest, though he didn't make it past the first round. He zoomed through the dribbling course and made the pass on his first try. He then did the layup with ease but failed to make a three pointer as he clearly rushed the first one and it was flat. He then missed the second and Karl-Anthony Towns made his before Green could get up another shot. However, Green had given us a look at his guard like skills for a big man and they were impressive to say the least.
• Anthony Davis really took it easy in the contest going pretty slow throughout the whole thing. He couldn't seem to get the three point shot to fall either as DeMarcus Cousin got the shot before he could. Davis looked really tired and slow in the game and if you looked at his face, he looked like he had been a victim of fatigue.
• DeMarcus Cousins had a big disadvantage in this competition. He was probably the slowest one out their. He was no match for Karl-Anthony Towns' speed and Cousins isn't the best ball handler. While we didn't see that much skill from him in the passing as he really couldn't get on pass though, we did get to see Cousins' range as he did hit a clutch three against Davis.
• C.J. McCollum did great in the first round as he went through the competition with ease and hit his first 3. The second round was a different story. He lost the ball through the dribbling course to start it and couldn't catch up with Isaiah Thomas. It is clear that he may be a sharpshooter, but McCollum could work on his dribbling and passing a little more.
• Isaiah Thomas was amazing in this competition. He was so speedy through the dribbling course and he never missed a pass at the passing station. In the final he sped past Towns to get his layup first. In the other rounds, he hit the 3-pointer easily. Of course, when he went against Towns in the finale, he couldn't make the 3-pointer. Isaiah Thomas really showed the world just how talented he was though.
• Karl-Anthony Towns was a beast as he lead the bigs to the win. He showed off his speed dribbling and gave the most effort out of all of the contestants. Towns made it to the end and shot the 3 well enough to win. He is a really talented big man and like Green he shows guard like skills with his passing ability. It was a joy to see Towns in this competition.

The 3-point contest was cool to see as the Splash Brothers took on the rest of the contestants. Let's take a look at how they all did

• J.J. Redick started off great. He hit his first 5. Then he cooled off. Last year if you remember, Redick kept stepping on the line so they didn't count. Well this year, he made sure he was behind the line. Redick started to get tired and that is probably a result of how much jump he has on his shot. Redick tried to win in the tie breaker to get into the final round, but he was taken down by Devin Booker. He really isn't made for the contest because of the jump he has to his shot.
• James Harden just isn't made for this contest. He never seems to be able to just set up and hit shots. Honestly, he can't seem to make them consistently in this contest and he is more of an in game shooter. Nevertheless, I was surprised that Harden did as well as he did.
• Kris Middleton did horrible in this contest. He just couldn't make that many shots. If looked at his shot, it seemed really off center. I was disappointed that Bosh wasn't in the contest, instead we got Middleton who didn't perform well in the contest at all.
• Kyle Lowry shot the ball flat and strong in the contest. That is why he had such a hard time getting shots to fall. He kept hitting back rim. Towards the end, he got tired and started shooting short. It just wasn't that great of a contest for Lowry.
• Devin Booker came out with the jitters. He started off poorly but ended great. This kid is going to be the next Steph Curry in the league. He is a great shooter and he will win this contest sometime in his career. He was nothing short of amazing. I was really impressed with how he played.
• Stephen Curry played real well, hitting the clutch 3 to get him to qualify for the final. He did even better in the final, he just couldn't compete with Klay's 27. The thing I liked about Curry is he didn't really jump on his shot. It was a great set-shot.
• Klay Thompson lit it up just like Curry did last year. He had 27 in the final round. Klay is such a great shooter and if you think about it, it's kind of scary to think that both him and Curry are on the same team. Both of them are too good of shooter.

Now if you know all-star weekend, you know that the dunk contest is usually where it's at. And it was true for this year. The contest was thrilling. Let's take a look at how the players did.

• Will Barton was really disappointing. He just couldn't make the dunks that LaVine and Gordon could make. He just can seem to get enough air on his dunks.
• Andre Drummond was pretty disappointing too. I thought he was going to do great in the contest. When he brought Steve Nash onto the court, I was expecting something really special, but it wasn't that great of a dunk.
• Aaron Gordon was great. He had the style. He did great, especially for a two foot jumper. His under-the-legs dunk was the dunk of the night by far. What he did was beyond amazing. He really set the bar high. In fact, he might have set it a little too high as he ran out of dunks towards the end and couldn't find something really creative like his other dunks. But that is besides the point. Gordon put on a show, a great show for the whole NBA nation. Even though he didn't win, he did some amazing dunks that left my jaw dropping from a dunk contest that hasn't been that good for years.
• Zach LaVine was just as great as Gordon was. The two dueled it out with some amazing dunks. Just when you saw one of Gordon's spectacular dunks, LaVine would could out with something spectacular as well. He gave us an alley-oop, between the legs, and a windmill FT line dunks, dunks that have never been done in an NBA dunk contest before from that far out. While Gordon had the better dunk, Zach LaVine's performance was just as amazing as he came out to win the contest. When Zach was handed the award, he said that Gordon was the dunk contest too. Not to mention, after the dunk contest, LaVine said that the dunk contest win was a win for his old head coach that recently passed away, Flip Saunders. Flip was the won who drafted LaVine and LaVine said that "He's the one that always believed in me and drafted me!". LaVine and Gordon's performance was completely amazing and I'm still in awe about that contest.

As you can see, All-Star Saturday night is one of the best event of the year. It is sad though, that it is once a year, and we have to wait another year to see the next one. But that, it was makes it so amazing. It doesn't happen that often. And it doesn't happen that often when we get to see an All-Star Saturday night as great as this. As Kenny Smith always says, "it's over ladies and gentlemen, it's over". Now we wait, til next year.

Those Rising Stars Could Go Far

By Dennis Adair from Gainesville-StPetersburg, FL - Devin Booker Scored 12 Points, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41913721

The Rising Stars game on Friday showed us a lot about some of these young talented players and what their future could hold.

I really only noticed two disappointing players out there and they were Bojan Bogdanovic and Elfrid Payton. I was pretty disappointed by these two players just in the overall game. Payton just didn't seem involved at all and Bogdanovic just hovered around the three point line the whole time not really looking to score at all.

I did see a lot of great things from multiple players though. Let's start with the USA and their players.

• Okafor gave us a look at his improved jumpshot and his ability to handle the ball. I was real impressed with just his overall footwork.  
• Rodney Hood gave us a look at his pure athleticism and his great defense. That is what I love about Hood, his defense. He is a great young guy to have on your team because he has potential, but he already comes with great defense which is what you want from a role player on your team. 
• DeAngelo Russell was putting away the worries that he will turn in to a "Ricky Rubio" type player where all he can do is pass and can't score that well. He shot well from three (4-7) and looked to score at a great rate.
• Devin Booker honestly came out as the winner of this game. Last month, I was convinced that this kid was going to be the next Steph Curry with just the way he shoots and his ability to move without the ball. He showed the world that he can shoot. He went 5-8 from 3-point and finished the game with 23 points. I have a lot of confidence that this kid has a bright future in the NBA.
• Marcus Smart didn't give us any offense from himself really, but he proved that he can run the point; a topic that was very debatable when he first came into the league. He also gave us great defense in a Rising Stars game.
• Jordan Clarkson has a lot of confidence. That is definitely a bright spot for that kid. He thinks he can do it. He is going to look for any way to score because he feels like he can take it at anyone. Scoring 25 points last night, that is pretty good for a second round pick.
• Jabari Parker was amazing in this event considering he came back not long ago from an ACL injury. He showed off his athleticism and his ability to play the PF spot no problem. And that will be a big thing for Jabari. A player that I compare him to is Anthony Bennett. He is really more of an undersized PF and that was a big problem for Bennett which is why he really didn't have success in this league (so far). 
• Karl-Anthony Towns really struggled in the first half of the game. He looked kind of confused like it was an actual game going on, but he caught on in the second half that their wasn't that much defense being played and grabbed 18 points and 7 rebounds in the end. He also showed off his passing ability with some great dimes. 
• Zach LaVine gave us his explosive ability as always, but made sure that people knew that he wasn't just a dunker as he had some nice 3 pointers and mid-range shots. He also showed off his passing and rebounding abilities a little bit. He also gave us a look at his ability to play the 2-guard position, something that was concerning with Zach coming into the league was what positions could be play. He is a little bit undersized at the SG position but is also not really a PG. Zach was great in this game as he grabbed the MVP trophy at the end.

While the winning Team USA was vey impressive, The World Team was just impressive. Let's take a look at them.

• Trey Lyles really never got a chance to prove himself in this game I thought. He played a little over 12 minutes and only made 1 shot. Hopefully he is back next year and shows us a little more.
• Neto was great from a PG stand point. He passed the ball really well as he usually does. While he only took and made 1 shot, he was having too much fun passing to think about scoring.
• Clint Capela gave us a lot. He didn't do lot last year til the playoffs and looked great as a role player. Capela can play defense and rebound, but offense is really where he struggles. He looked great getting dunks in the Rising Stars game though. Hopefully he can develop a post hook move or something so he can become a more dominant player on the offensive end.
• Dwight Powell's ability to rebound is amazing. This guy should be in the dunk contest because his timing and jumping ability is pretty amazing. He can play defense and run the floor well as he showed us in this game, he looks like he will have a bright future in this game.
• Mario Hezonja did a little bit of everything in this game. He had 19 points, 7 assists, 10 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block, and 3 three-pointers. He will be a great all-around player in this league if he is able to put up numbers like this. He is a highly intelligent basketball player with a great basketball IQ because of his great decision making.
• Nikola Jokic, pronounced  Nee-Co-La Yo-Kik-ch, played well. The reason why I put up the pronunciation is because I'm tired of people saying his last name as it sounds. It's not to be taken as a joke, mis-pronounced last name pun intended. This guy deserves to have his name pronounced right after that preformance. He was so physical inside battle for rebounds with Towns just getting into players. His hustle in the Rising Stars challenge was great, couldn't have asked anymore out of him.
• Andew Wiggins put on a show for Toronto, dunking anytime he could. He gave us some great post-up game and passed well too (although he did have a couple pretty bad passes). He reminds me a lot of DeMar DeRozan except with a better post game. He can attack the paint really well.
• Emanuel Mudiay shot the lights out from 3. I was very impressed with his scoring mentality. However, he isn't the best point guard as even in the Rising Stars game, he turns the ball over a ton. He had 5 turnovers in 25 minutes of play. That's a lot. He really needs to cut that down. But if he can pass better and attack the rim better, Mudiay will be a great prospect.
• Kristaps Porzingis has the hype. Is the hype what he is. Yes, he showed the world that the Porzingis hype train or whatever you want to call it isn't exaggerating. The unicorn is real. This guy is over 7 ft. tall and can shoot the three like Dirk and can dunk and play defense like Dwight. Well, not that good yet, but he could end up being that great. Porzingis had 30 points and shot 5-8 from three. Not bad. I was a little skeptical of Porzingis considering he was getting all of this hype and he plays for the Knicks. But Porzingis is real. I'll tell you that.

It was nice to see all of these young guys play as well as they did in one game. It really gave us a chance to look at how these players could be in the future. These guys are the future of the NBA. They are going to be the future stars, the future role players, the future championships, and the future All-Star teams so it was nice to see them play in this game to give us just a taste.

Fantasy Friday (Jan. 21)

And we are back after missing two straight weeks of fantasy posts. I apologize for that, and to make it up for you guys, I will take a look at some injuries that have happened of late, and break them down for you.

Jarrett Jack: This guy is out for the season and there is no chance he will return at the end of the season because the Nets aren't in the playoffs run, he is old, and they don't want to risk to have the injury come back. Sorry if you had him, but you now need to drop him.

Eric Bledsoe: There is no possibility that this guy will come back at the end of the season because the Suns aren't in the playoff race anymore. The last thing the Suns want to happen is to have Bledsoe turn out to be like Derrick Rose and Bledsoe is starting to look like him with the injuries. You just are going to have to drop Bledsoe.

Derrick Favors: The Jazz don't want to risk anything with him. He has missed over 15 consecutive games now with back spasms. They want him to be healthy for the remainder of the season. However, you would think that the Jazz would like him back as soon as possible considering that they are right on the edge out of the playoffs. Derrick Favors is a buy low guy right now and you should consider trading for him since he will most likely come back soon and bring in big numbers with him.

Anthony Davis: It has been the sum of Davis's career. Very minor injuries seem to get in his way. He has had shoulder issues as well as ankle issues. I expect him to get a couple more injuries this season. Hopefully he won't get an major injuries though.

Blake Griffin: Blake has been know to have injuries that keep him out for a little bit. However, this has been Blake's best season stat-wise. He is a guy that you could buy low into right now and I do suggest you make a trade for him if it is worth it.

Well, there are some injured players that either need to go or you should trade for. Next week, I hope to have the players of the week so stay tuned in for that.

NBA Inside The Player Of The Week (Jan. 12-18)

Kemba Walker took over in the game against the Jazz. He had 52 points. Not only did he help take a win vs the Jazz, he helped his team in any way he could this week. Kemba had multiple stellar performances this week while making very few mistakes. Let's take a look at Kemba's play, shall we?

The fact that Kemba Walker posted up 28 PPG this week, is amazing alone. However, Kemba did much more than scoring. He averaged 5.8 APG and 4.3 RPG as well. In the game against the Jazz, not only did he have 52 points, but he almost posted a triple-double, getting 8 assists and 9 rebounds. The Jazz couldn't really double-team Kemba because he was able to find his teammates so easily.

The pick and roll game worked very well for Kemba this week, and you can see it in his game vs the Jazz. Most of Kemba's points either came from him being the ball-handler in PnR or being on the weak side off a PnR with a catch and shoot as you can see in the video above.

Kemba's shooting performance was amazing this week. He shot 49.4% from the field, 54.8% from 3-point, and a whopping 95% from the FT line. Those are 50-50-90 numbers. If he keeps shooting like this, the Hornets will win a lot of games.

Defensively, Kemba looked okay. He averaged 1.8 steals this week. The Hornets overall did a really bad job, especially when defending the PnR. I put most of the blame on Cody Zeller and Marvin Williams for losing the roll man consistently. Hopefully they can pick that up because there defensive rating is really high and you don't want that. Other than that, Kemba looked great. He did a great job of not turning the ball over this week. He only averaged 1.3 turnovers per game.

Kemba played really well this week and that is why he deserves the NBA Inside The Player Of The Week award. While his team didn't win all of their games this week, they were able to get together some big wins, because of Kemba's performance. If Kemba keeps playing at this level and the Hornets can pick up their defense, it would be hard to see this team losing many games. 

 

Is Russell Westbrook Is Better Than LeBron James?

"Russell Westbrook shoots against Cavs (cropped)" by Erik Drost from United States - Russell Westbrook. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Commons.

Both Russell Westbrook and LeBron James are athletic all-star players at their positions. Both of these players are given a lot of hype due to the teams that they play for and their fan base. However, if someone was to ask who was the better player, chances are that most people would say LeBron James as most people call him "the best player in the world". Lot's of people would say it's unfair to argue which one is the better player since they both play 2 different positions but both of these player have the same style of play. Not to mention that James is handed the Point Guard role most of the time. So which one is better, Let's dive into the stats to find out.

Lets' start out by looking at their scoring abilities. They are about the same, James averages 25.8 ppg while Westbrook averages 25.5. Can you really say that LeBron is the better scorer though? No. Westbrook is a second option on his team to start with, LeBron is the first option. We saw last year what Westbrook can do as the first option; it's scary. It is impressive that Westbrook can average those numbers with a guy who averages 26.5 PPG.

While these two are similar in their numbers for scoring, they both score in the same ways as well. By getting to the rim. However, Westbrook does spread out his scoring more. 53.6% of LeBron's points come from the paint while only 42.6% of Westbrook's comes from the paint. While you think both of these guys just take layups all game, you are actually wrong on that. While LeBron shoots layups more than any other shot, you may be surprised that Westbrook shoots more jump-shots than he does layups. Now you are probably saying that I'm crazy, but Westbrook has made 163 jumpshots and only 130 layups. Now, you could include dunks in this but if you included bank shots also, then Westbrook still has more jumpshots. The reason why is because Westbrook takes tons of pull-up jumpers, and he hits them at a pretty good percentage (comparing them to his other percentages). He shoots 50% on pull-up jumpers and 34.7% on 3-pointer pull-up jumpers. He has made 78 pull-up jumpers this season, so I'd say he should keep shooting pull-up jumpers.

Both of these guys have about the same shooting numbers as well, Westbrook shoots 45.8% from the field while LeBron shoots 50.1% from the field. Both of those players also shoot very poorly outside the paint and beyond the 3-point line. Westbrook is only shooting 30.4 from three point land while LeBron is shooting an even lower percentage of 28.8% (he has seemed to be shooting a lot better of late though). Russell Westbrook is clearly the better Free Throw shooter though, which has never really been LeBron's best thing. Westbrook shoots a pretty good 83.1% while LeBron shoots 71.7%.

Now, what do these guys do besides scoring. LeBron doesn't have the reputation of being one of the best players in the league just because of his scoring, because in that case, James Harden would be the best in the league right now. LeBron is well known for his rebounding and passing along with his overrated defense. Let's compare LeBron's numbers to Westbrook's.

Russell Westbrook is a 6-3 guard. LeBron James is a 6-8 forward. Westbrook somehow is averaging 7 rebounds while LeBron is still averaging a great 7.4 rebounds. Both of these numbers are great, but Westbrook is 6-3. That is shorter than Troy Daniels, Matthew Dellavedova, and Ricky Rubio, and he is averaging 7 rebounds. LeBron is still averaging great rebounding numbers, but Westbrook's are astounding. In fact, Russell Westbrook leads all guards in rebounding this season, and that includes guys like Nicolas Batum (who should be listed as a forward, but plays the guard position this season).

Not only that, but while Westbrook is averaging over 25 points, he is averaging 9.5 assists as well. LeBron averages 6. That is still a good number, but 9.5 is a great number, especially when you are averaging over 25 points.

Defensively, who is the better player? Russell Westbrook averages 2.5 steals to LeBron's 1.5. LeBron has Westbrook in blocks, but not by a lot as it is only a difference of 0.5 and neither of them average over a block. Both of these guys aren't great defensive players, mainly because most of their effort is contributed to offense, however, Westbrook seems to put in more effort on defense. However, defense is more than just getting steals and blocks. In PnR, LeBron is the better defensive player by far. Same with Isolation. The better on-ball defender is probably LeBron, while the better off-ball defender is most likely Westbrook.

As you can see, both player are very talented and are very similar in there style of play. To me, Russell Westbrook is the better player, but it is really close. They're really close in numbers which does make it hard to see which one is better, but considering that Westbrook is the number 2 option while LeBron is the number 1 option, Westbrook seems to average great numbers still.

So next time you are comparing LeBron to Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant as the best player in the league, add Westbrook in there. Most people say he is overrated (which is somewhat true) but he IS underrated compared to LeBron. Which one is the better player is a close call and you can make a case for either one.

NBA Inside The Player Of The Week (Jan. 5-11)

Chris Paul has been taking the Clippers on his back lately. With Blake Griffin out, Chris Paul has been able to lead his team to a perfect record this week. Why? Let's jump on into the stats!

Chris Paul has been amazing offensively this week. he has averaged 23.7 PPG while shooting 53.6% from the field and 50% from deep. And you need that when your star player is out. While you might think Chris Paul has been getting to the rim a lot, he actually has been doing the opposite. He has taken 51 jump-shots which he has made 51% of. He only took and made 4 other shots which were all layups. Not only were they all mid-range jumpers, but he has been making those shots on his own. This week, he was only assisted on 3.8% of his jump-shots. That means that 96.2% of his shots were unassisted. Chris Paul was taking the team on his back and making plays.

Not only did Chris Paul get his own offensive game going, but he got everyone else involved too. He averaged 12.3 assists this week. The game against the Hornets he had 19 assists. And he wasn't just assisting one person. J.J. Redick received the most assists from Paul with only 4.3. He had everyone involved, but Blake Griffin was out, and that could have been the reasoning for the spread out assists. 

His offense wasn't the only thing going for him. Paul also played really great defense. He averaged 2 steals and 0.7 blocks (which is pretty impressive for a 6 ft. PG) this week. And not only did he play good defense but Paul also did a good job on the boards. He averaged 5.3 rebounds per game (also pretty impressive for a 6 ft. PG) this week.

While Chris Paul played great this week, he did have some flaws. Paul happened to shoot only 62.5% from the FT line this week which is uncharacteristically low since he is shooting 88.7% from the FT line this year. He has also turned the ball over a lot this week, doing it 3.3 times per game. He also has gotten into a lot of foul trouble averaging 4.3 fouls nearly fouling out of one game with 5 while the other two games he had 4. 

The Clippers also had an easy schedule this week facing the Pelicans, the Blazers, and the Hornets. All of those teams aren't even over .500. That shouldn't take away from what Chris Paul and the Clippers did this week. Chris Paul did some amazing things this week and that is why he is your NBA Inside The Player Of The Week. 

NBA Inside The Player Of The Week (Dec. 29 - Jan. 4)

Stephen Curry was seen sitting on the bench quite a bit this past week. That is because he was having shin pains. The Warriors have seem to have most of their success come from Stephen Curry who may just be the best player in the world. With him out of the lineup, it seemed like it might have been pretty tough for the Warriors to win games. However, Draymond Green completely took over the games while Curry was out. Let's take a look at how Draymond Green helped his team win 3 out of 4 games this past week.

In 3 of those 4 games, Draymond Green had a triple-double. He rebounded and passed the ball really well. And while his scoring numbers weren't that flashy, Draymond Green shot well from the floor, especially from 3. He shot 53% from deep this past week. But it wasn't like he was taking tough shots. If you watched the video above, you can see that Draymond Green wasn't taking tough shots, they were actually open shots. Why was he this open though? The reason why is because Draymond Green was passing so well, that the opponents were so much worried about the other players that Draymond was passing to as they were about him. Forwards and Centers aren't used to a guy passing like that from that position. With that being said, Draymond Green was getting open jumpers all night.

Draymond was outstanding in transition. If you watched the video above, you could see him running the floor beating all of the bigs in transition. He did really well sharing the ball in transition as well as scoring in transition. That is big though. If you have a big guy who can run the floor and pass in transition, you are going to get a lot of easy points. That is why Draymond is so valuable.

Draymond also really helped his team on the defensive end. He averaged 1.25 blocks and 2.25 steals this past week. And to top that off Draymond's assist ratio this week is top 11 in the league in the last 5 games. He is the only PF/C to be on there.

Draymond Green is obviously this week's NBA Inside The Player Of The Week. He has earned it this week by showing us that he was the main reason's for this Warriors team's success and that he clearly deserved this award. Him and his team battled without Stephen Curry for most of this week. So congratulations to Draymond Green on winning his first ever, NBA Inside The Player Of The Week award.

Fantasy Friday: New Year's Resolutions

It's a new year! And there are some players that have had a great year, and there are some that are ready to put 2015 behind them. Those players are ready to start off fresh and come out with some new numbers. That is their New Year's Resolution. Let's take a look at them.

Kevin Love- This last year didn't go to well for him. He struggled as he was averaging under 20 PPG, something he hadn't done in a while. He wasn't shooting as well and not getting as much boards. To top that off, he was injured in the playoffs and the Cavs ended up losing in the Finals. Recently it has been real bad though. In December alone, Kevin Love has been averaging 12.7 points, and has been shooting 37.3% from the field and 27.1% from 3-point land. Coming into this next year, Kevin Love wants to bring that up. His New Year's resolution is to get out of this shooting slump and average 20 PPG. Can he do it? It's a New Year's resolution people!

Draymond Green- You heard this guy, he thinks the Warriors can get better. He isn't satisfied at all. As you can see, he already brought his 3-point percentage from 33% to 40%, which is insane. So this guy is always going to be getting better. For Green's New Year's resolution, he is looking to clean it up and cut it down to 1 turnover per game instead of 3. Good luck Green!

LeBron James- LeBron wants to be as good as he can right? Well he can start by shooting better. I think that is what LeBron wants to do. Increase his range. By the end of the year, LeBron wants to be a 38% three point shooter. Do I think that's possible, eh. But he can certainly bring that up.

Chandler Parsons- Yeah, Parson is having troubles. He is averaging a career low in points, rebounds, and steals. This should be the part of his career where he is at his best. And Chandler Parsons could be all-star material right? Yeah. That is why he wants to average at least 19 PPG for the year of 2016. Parsons wants to average the best numbers in his career yet. He doesn't want his career to end at the age of 27, he wants his best years to be now!

Brandon Jennings- He has started in all but 3 of his game up until now. Jennings has been bench after coming back from injury. Obviously, Jennings wants to start. But how is he going to. He has to prove himself, and the only way to start is to average starting numbers. He is going to average 18 PPG and become 6th man of the year. Then Jennings will prove that he is starter material. So he will either become a starter or he will be traded.

Michael Carter-Williams- He is sick of missing shots. He is going to develop a jumper. Not only that, but MCW is going to shoot at least 75% from FT and 33% from 3-point land. And just when you think he is satisfied, he will average at least 9 assists. MCW is going to be a valuable fantasy player to have. At least, that's the plan.

So, how did you like the resolutions. Do you have any that I didn't mention? Share them below in the comments section if you do. As always, I will see you next week. Happy New Year From NBA Inside The Play Nation! 

What Is Wrong With Philly!?

"Colangelo" by PO1 CHAD J. MCNEELEY, USN - Defenseimagery.mil, VIRIN: 060406-N-0696M-067. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons.

I can think of many words that describe the Philadelphia 76ers. A lot of them have to do with losing. Just the other day I came up with a new word to describe them. Confusing. If you haven't heard, the Sixers have just waiver 4 year guard, Tony Wroten.

Tony Wroten started his career off with the Memphis Grizzlies who drafted him 25th overall in the 2012 NBA draft. He played 7.8 minutes per game in 35 games with the Grizzlies and was sent and recalled from the D-League multiple times. After averaging 2.6 points and shooting very low from the field in his first season, the Grizzlies didn't look at Wroten with much value. They decided to trade Wroten. The 76ers would get a steal out of the trade as they traded away a top 50 second round pick. The 76ers of course would keep that pick and it would turn out to be K.J. McDaniels. So what would end up happening is that the Grizzlies would give Wroten away for a pick they would never aquire.

Wroten's first year with the 76ers was a good overall year. He would play alongside rookie of the year, Michael Carter-Williams at the guard positions. Wroten would play 72 games and start in 16 of them as he proved to the team that he could be a dynamic player. Wroten would have promising numbers at the end of the season averaging 13 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1.1 steals.

Wroten's third year would be a great one, although it would be cut short with injury. As he would play just 30 games and start in 15 of them, Wroten would end up partially tearing his ACL. During the 2014-15 season, Wroten would average a stunning 16.9 points, 5.2 assists, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.6 steals.

This year, Tony Wroten has played just 8 games with limited minutes as he just came back from the injury. He was looking like he was going to be part of the future as it seemed like this team could have used him in the backcourt since they already had 3 lottery big men in Okafor, Embiid, and Noel. But out of nowhere, the 76ers made this trade.

The 76ers traded 2 future second round picks in exchange for Ish Smith. Smith is a 5-year player who has played for 9 teams total, and if you count Philly twice it's 10. He has averaged 4.3 points in his career. While he has had a pretty good year this year averaging 9.5 points and 5.9 assists, Smith hasn't had a steady career.

When Philly got Smith, they had to waive someone. They decided to waive Wroten. This is one of the three reasons why this trade makes no sense. It's because out of all of the players, the sixers decide to waive Wroten. Out of all of the players that should be in the D-League right now, they pick Wroten, a guy who just averaged 16.9 PPG! That makes no sense.

The other thing that doesn't make any sense is that out of all the players the sixers traded for that was worth dropping Wroten for was an inconsistent 27 year old named Ish Smith. This guy is getting into his golden days right now. He is 27 years old! Tony Wroten is 22! It would be one thing if Smith was 23 or 24 or even 25, but guess what, he is 27 years old. How long will it be before the 76ers start winning games? Maybe not even til Smith is 33. Wroten would be 28 when Smith is 23. That is what doesn't make sense about this trade. The 76ers gave up 2 second round draft picks and Tony Wroten for an aging inconsistent role player.

The third reason is because the 76ers just brought in Jerry Colangelo who was supposed to be making good moves here. Instead he just makes a trade and ends it badly. This doesn't surprise me though, because I'm not a Colangelo fan. When he was with the Phoenix Suns, he made some very, very poor moves that lead to the Suns not winning a championship with what could have been a really stacked team. I think Colangelo is very overrated and hasn't done anything special so this third thing doesn't surprise me.

I don't see the 76ers winning anytime soon. I have just lost a lot of faith in them after they released Tony Wroten. If you have any sense to make out of this, please comment below so I can at least see a little bit of sense in the 76ers transactions. As for Tony Wroten, I hope that he finds a team that values his potential and will use him to his best abilities. C'mon, this looks promising...
  

NBA Inside The Player Of The Week (Dec. 22-28)

Russell Westbrook isn't the most finesse or skilled player in the NBA, but he sure gives a great amount of effort and hustle. His athleticism is at a superhuman level. With that, he can produce big numbers and help his team win without a great amount of outside shots. This week, Westbrook proved to be most valuable to his team, even more valuable than Kevin Durant. That is why he is your NBA Inside The Player Of The Week.

This week, Russell Westbrook played 3 games, his team won 2 of them and he was the main reason why. This week alone he averaged 26.3 points. While he only shot 27.3% from the 3-point line, he managed to shoot exactly 50% from the field. It is worth noting that Westbrook took it upon himself to score. 41.7% of his shots, he held the ball for more than 6 seconds. Westbrook took it at the defense all by himself. Also, 60% of the time he took more than 6 dribbles on a shot attempt, meaning that he was attacking the defense as much as he could.

Westbrook did a lot more than just scoring. Rebounding was a big thing in Westbrook's game this week. Like I said before, Westbrook's hustle and effort is through the roof, and it showed as he grabbed 8 RPG this week. For a point guard, that is really great. Westbrook also passed the ball really well as he averaged 9.3 assists this week. And he was assisting his teammates really well as his teammates all shot over 50% when being assisted from Westbrook.

Russell Westbrook also really went after it on defense as well, getting 3 steals per game. In fact, in the loss to Chicago where Westbrook was struggling with shooting the ball, he not only pitched in with 7 rebounds and 8 assists, but he also contributed with 6 steals as well. The downside was the Russell turned the ball over and didn't shoot well in that game as well as putting up some bad shots at the end of a close game which lead to their loss.

As you can see, Russell Westbrook contributed with near triple-double numbers this week and made big contributions to his teams' success this week. That is why he is your NBA Inside The Player Of The Week.

Fantasy Friday: Christmas Presents

If you play fantasy basketball, you know that there are players that excel in certain areas, but there are areas you might not know they excel in. So let's take a look at what unexpected presents your fantasy players might be leaving you under your tree.

Serge Ibaka: This guy has been doing good. While he is not a premier scorer, he is well known for his rebounding and defense. What you might have missed on Ibaka, is his 3-point shooting. Ibaka has shot 40% from three point range this season and has made 18 three pointers as well.

Carmelo Anthony: He is a scorer. However, besides scoring, Melo does a lot of rebounding. He averages 7.3 RPG. Not only that but Melo also gets 1 steal per game.

Gorgui Dieng: This big man is known for his shot blocking and rebounding, but what you might not have known is that he shoots overly well from the FT line for a big man. He shoots 87.9% from the FT line and gets there at a pretty good rate.He has made 58 free throws this season. Not only that but he is averaging 1.1 blocks and 1.1 steals. He is great with steals and blocks.

Kevin Durant: Durant is a great shooter and a great scorer. People probably don't know that he is great defensively though. Durant has averaged 1.3 blocks and 1 steal per game this season. He has also been rebounding good with 7.7 rebounds per game. Kevin Durant will stuff your stockings full of surprises.

Matthew Dellavedova: Delly is known for his assists and his ability to get some points. Most people don't know how good his shooting is this season though. He has shot 44.9% from the field, 45% from the 3-point line, and a whooping 91.3% from the FT line. That is a major improvement from last season.

While these guys are giving you great unexpected presents, some of the players are giving you a big hidden lump of coal that you might not notice.

Rajon Rondo: While Rondo has been Mr. Triple-double this year, he has shot 53.6% from the FT line. That is something that most people might not notice.

Brandon Knight: He has played really well this season but you might not have noticed that he is averaging 3.3 turnovers. That is a lot for a point guard who only averages 5.2 assists.

LeBron James: LeBron averages great numbers. People look at LeBron and see all of the big stats. However, people might not notice that he is only shooting 26% from 3-point range. Not only that but he is attempting 3.8 threes per game.

There are many more of these surprise stats. If you have any, leave them in the comments section below. I hope you all have a great week in fantasy and that you have a Merry Christmas. See you next week.

Merry Christmas!

From NBA Inside The Play Nation

NBA Inside The Player Of The Week (Dec. 15-21)

LeBron James had a great week. He came through for his Cavs team as he won all 3 games this week including games against the Thunder and the Celtics. LeBron's performance this week was great which earned him the NBA Inside The Player Of The Week award.

This week, LeBron averaged 26.7 PPG. He lead his team with a Kevin Love that hasn't been producing this past couple of weeks and a Kyrie Irving that just came back from injury. Not only did he lead the team in the scoring department, but he also made big contributions from other areas. He averaged 7 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2.3 steals. 

While LeBron only played in 2 fourth quarters this week considering he did play a game against the 76ers, but he still managed to do well in the 2 games he played in the fourth. He averaged 7.5 points, and a whopping 3.5 assists and 1.5 steals. LeBron clearly stepped it up in the fourth this week.

While LeBron's play was great, he did have areas of concern. This week he averaged 5 turnovers to his 6 assists. Not really what you want from your starting SF. He also struggled shooting from 3 this week, but you expect that from LeBron. He shot just 18.2% from 3-point range this week. Of course, LeBron's play in the other categories did make up for this. And James did keep it under control in the 4th quarters shooting just attempting 2 threes in the 4th quarters this week. He really shot inside the paint during crunch time.

As you can see, LeBron was the main reason why the Cavs won all of there games this week. That is why he is your NBA Inside The Player Of The Week.

Kings VS Raptors: Toronto Needs Valanciunas Back

The Kings and the Raptors went head to head on December 20th. The Kings came out of Toronto with the win and it is clear that the Raptors are struggling. Why are they struggling though? The main reason is because both Valanciunas and Carroll are out of the starting line-up due to injuries. Let's jump into the game.

The Kings Dominated On Offense
This Sacramento Kings team couldn't miss the other night. Maybe this had something to do with Carroll out, but the Kings still shot 52.6% from the field as well as shooting 42.9% from 3-point range. Of course, this isn't that surprising since the Kings are 5th in field goal percentage and also 5th in 3-point percentage. It also isn't surprising that the Raptors only shot 37.2% from the field and 27.6% from the 3-point line knowing that they are 21st in field goal percentage and 17th in 3-point percentage.

Kyle Lowry Had a Short Night
Lowry really struggled in this game, and he never got to go on a hot streak considering the fact that he was ejected in the 4th quarter. When he argued with a call, the ref gave him a tech. Lowry continued to argue and was thrown out of the game with another tech. The Raptors were only down by 7 at that point.

Bismack Is No Jonas
While Biyombo had 13 rebounds in the game, rebounding is about the only thing that he did. He shot 0-7 from the field and had 2 points off of free throws. He didn't have an assist or a steal. He only had 1 block defensively. They need Jonas. Bismack just doesn't have the offensive caliber that Jonas has on the floor. The Kings had 52 points in the paint and Jonas would have cut that down. Biyombo can rebound and that is about it.

The Kings Of Tempo
There were tons of fast break points for this Kings team and the Raptors couldn't stop it. The thing is, when you have DeMarcus Cousins getting 5 fastbreak points in a game, then your guy are not getting back. Everybody on the Kings were getting out and running in transition and the Raptor were not getting back.

Rajon Rondo Is a Beast
He was the reason why they won this game. He had 19 points along with 13 assists. This kid had 12 points in the paint. 12. He was getting to the rim and finishing on Lowry. He was getting his teammates involved and getting high percentage shots in the paint and Lowry couldn't guard him. Rondo is showing that he deserves to be a starting point guard. Without him, I don't think that the Kings win this game.

Other Points

• DeMar DeRozan lead the way for the Raptors with 28 points. He also added 7 rebounds.
• All 5 of the Kings starters had over 10 points. The team really moved the ball well as they had 26 assists.
• Omri Caspi had a double-double, 15 point and 11 rebounds. He has proved to be a great asset for the team. Expect him to keep up his production.
• The Raptors were short-handed and only played 3 guys off the bench, even after Lowry was ejected. Hopefully they can get Carroll and Jonas back soon, because they don't have much of a bench without them.

As you can see, the Raptors are suffering in some areas without Carroll and Jonas. Hopefully they can get them back soon. Hope you guys liked the post. See you next time on NBA Inside The Play Nation. 

Fantasy Friday (Dec. 18)

Well, we are back to our weekly players in this post. We got some players that haven't definitely changed their fantasy value. So let's take a look at them shall we?

Over-Performers Of The Week

• Kobe Bryant: He has been great this past week. In 4 games he has averaged 20.3 PPG, 6 RPG, 4.8 APG, and only 1.5 turnovers while shooting 50.8% from the field and 37% from downtown.
• Raymond Felton: This has been an amazing week for him as he has averaged 14.3 points, 6 rebounds, 5.7 assists, and 1 steal.
• Will Barton: Barton has been doing more than scoring of late. In his last four games he has averaged 18.3 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 3 APG, and 2.3 steals. Amazing right?

Under-Performers Of The Week

• Kevin Love: While he has been efficient with his other numbers, he has only averaged 13 PPG this week.
• Jared Sullinger: This week he has only averaged 8.3 points and 8.8 rebounds. The big thing is that shooting horribly; under 20% from beyond the arc, 40% from the FT line, and just 36.8% from the field.

Pick-Ups Of The Week

• Matthew Dellavedova: Averaging 8 points and 6 assists could do you good in your league. He is only 9% owned in Yahoo and 12.4% in ESPN.
• D'Angelo Russell: This week he has averaged 14.3 points, 6 assists, and 2.3 steals. He has been playing great. The only problem is he is owned by over 3/4 of the fantasy leagues in both yahoo and ESPN.
• Raymond Felton: He had a triple-double this week and has been averaging great numbers. He is owned by just 30% in Yahoo and 31.8% in ESPN.

Hope you all liked the post and we hope you have a great fantasy week. Until next Friday.