Basketball Insiders Week in Review 3/29

The Curious Case Of Reggie Jackson

Reggie Jackson played his first game wearing a Detroit Pistons jersey on February 22 against the Washington Wizards. He and his new teammates walked away with a resounding win that night, 106-89. It was a promising start for a player who finally realized his dream of landing a starting gig in the NBA. The camera caught Jackson battling a case of nerves by showing the viewing audience his sideline vomiting after going 0-for-8 in the first half. Once he settled down, he ended up with 17 points, five assists and five rebounds. Hope was restored for the new starting point guard.

However, the new Jackson-led Pistons lost their next 10 games. They are now 3-11 since the Jackson trade with a current record of 25-44. This puts them in 12th place in the Eastern Conference and dead last in the Central Division.

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David Blatt Meets the Challenge

By Moke Hamilton

Nine months ago, with Cleveland Cavaliers general manager David Griffin sitting to his left, David Blatt sat before the assembled media at the Cleveland Clinic Courts and spoke of the challenge that awaited him with his new opportunity.

Making the quantum leap across the pond and attempting to replicate his international success as a head coach in the NBA—that would be no easy task.

“It is a challenge,” Blatt said on the day he was introduced by Griffin as the 19th head coach in franchise history.

“But the game is not so different as people think it is,” he said.

According to Blatt, his leadership, his work ethic and the chasing of his dream—winning at the highest level—made him the ideal candidate to lead the Cavaliers in their genesis.

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Meeks Recalls Scoring on Nash’s Final Assist

Steve Nash grabbed Jodie Meeks’ attention. Contest the Houston Rockets on defense, then get back for the outlet pass and he would find him for a fast break, Nash told him. He would get the ball to him so Meeks wouldn’t have to dribble, Nash mapped out, just get to the basket.

“A couple plays before that, I had missed one,” Meeks recalled. “So I made sure to make that one.”

Meeks caught the pass and connected for a driving two-handed dunk, just as the point guard had outlined. On April 8, 2014 the assist was celebrated for moving Nash into third place all-time. Nearly one year later, it is remembered as the final assist of his career.

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A Very Different Nuggets Team

By Steve Kyler

The Denver Nuggets have endured an ugly season, so it’s only fitting that as the 2014-15 season winds down some sunshine is poking through the proverbial cloud that’s surrounded the team for months. Last night in Orlando, forward Danilo Gallinari dropped in 40 points and Denver won, 119-100, ending a three-game skid and showing how right things could look for the Nuggets.

The Nuggets overwhelmed the Magic defensively, executing arguably the best defensive performance the team has put together all season, and everyone that played contributed in a big and unselfish way.

After the win an almost giddy Melvin Hunt, the interim head coach of the Nuggets, was all smiles and jokes. His enthusiasm for his team is infectious and it’s clear why the Nuggets have turned things around. Under ousted head coach Brian Shaw, post-game sessions became more about blame and finger pointing while Hunt just loves to gush about his team.

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Recent Struggles Don’t Concern Blazers

By Alex Kennedy

The Portland Trail Blazers have been struggling. The team has lost four straight games, with losses to the Washington Wizards, Miami HEAT, Orlando Magic and Memphis Grizzlies on their recent five-game road trip. The team has allowed over 105 points per game during the losing streak, and some fans and media members seem concerned about the Blazers’ struggles.

However, talk to the players in the locker room and they don’t seem nearly as worried. LaMarcus Aldridge spraining his left index finger in the loss to the Grizzlies was obviously concerning, but he’s currently day-to-day and hopefully won’t be out long. But as far as their play goes, the team believes this is just a rough stretch that they’ll bounce back from.

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Why Rudy Gobert Deserves Most Improved Player Consideration

This season we have seen a number of players take their game to the next level. Guys who have thrived in a larger role, proving that they have the talent to be impact players at the NBA level. Basketball Insiders’ own Alex Kennedy took a look at thetop candidates for Most Improved Player just a couple weeks ago; now, I’ll offer my take on which of those players is most deserving of the award this season.

It goes without saying that Chicago’s Jimmy Butler and Golden State’s Draymond Green have made tremendous strides this season.

With Derrick Rose again sidelined for much of the year, the Bulls needed Butler to step up and be a leader in their backcourt, and he did just that. He has improved his numbers in nearly every category and been a major reason the Bulls haven’t dropped off despite losing Rose. Butler has increased his scoring from 13.7 points per game last season to 20.2 this year, and despite his increase in usage, has been seen his field goal percentage rise from 39.7 percent a season ago to 46.2 percent during the 2014-15 season. He has continued to play hard-nosed defense and you could argue that Butler has been the Bulls’ most valuable player this season. His growth has been a crucial part of Chicago’s success on both ends of the court.

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Elfrid Payton Belongs in ROY Race

By Cody Taylor

Coming from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, which is in a mid-major conference, Orlando Magic point guard Elfrid Payton still hasn’t been completely acclimated to the media attention in the NBA. Instead, Payton lets his performances on the court speak for him.

That explains why the rookie remained relatively quiet on Friday night after a game in which he became just the seventh rookie in NBA history to record back-to-back triple-doubles and the first to do so since Antoine Walker in 1997.

Payton recorded 15 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds last Wednesday in the Magic’s first nationally-televised game of the season in Dallas. He then turned in a 22-point, 10-assist and 10-rebound performance on Friday against the Portland Trail Blazers. Payton mostly downplayed any significance of his rare feat with reporters, but his play on the court has put the rest of the league on notice with what he can accomplish on any given night.

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When Will the Marvin Williams Criticism End?

Charlotte Hornets forward Marvin Williams isn’t a bad player. He hasn’t had a bad career.

He had averaged 10.4 points and five rebounds over the course of his career, and he has been a really effective role player for three separate franchises over 10 NBA seasons. At only 28 years old, there are still good years ahead, years in which he could pursue a championship, or maybe a Sixth Man of the Year award, or any of a number of things for which he could someday be remembered.

Right now, though, at this point in his career and for the better part of the last decade, he has first and foremost been known as the player picked ahead of Chris Paul and Deron Williams in the 2005 NBA Draft

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Mirotic Deserves Rookie Of The Year Love

By Lang Greene

When it comes to the Rookie of the Year award race this season, Minnesota’s Andrew Wiggins has received the majority of the headlines. Wiggins’ ascent in the rankings was helped by the early season-ending knee injury to talented Milwaukee rookie Jabari Parker and a relatively slow start by Philadelphia’s Nerlens Noel.

While Wiggins, averaging 16 points and 4.4 rebounds on the season, has been the most consistent rookie throughout the campaign there’s an ongoing trendy movement tossing Noel’s name into the Rookie of the Year discussion. Rightfully so, as Noel has proved to be a legitimate box sheet stuffer in all major categories since the All-Star break averaging 13.1 points, 10.1 rebounds and 2.8 blocks.

But hidden in all of the Noel and Wiggins talk has been the emergence of Chicago Bulls forward Nikola Mirotic during the stretch run. Unlike Noel and Wiggins, who are both on lottery bound teams, Mirotic had to bide his time and wait for an opportunity to showcase his skills on a squad with legitimate title aspirations.

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The Case For NBA Coach Of The Year

As the NBA’s 2014-15 regular season winds down, so do the various award races including “Coach of the Year.”

While a number of candidates stand out, a first-time head coach is the prohibitive favorite.

No, Derek Fisher of the New York Knicks will not earn the honor as a rookie with his 14-58 squad of futility.

Steve Kerr is the prohibitive favorite, with the 58-13 Golden State Warriors having the best record in the NBA.

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The Case For NBA Rookie Of The Year

A funny thing happened along the way to determining the 2014-15 Rookie of the Year winner. Many people presumed that Andrew Wiggins winning the award was a foregone conclusion, but a legitimate race to the finish is underway with the emergence of other legitimate (and somewhat unexpected) candidates.

Make no mistake, as Wiggins has still been impressive for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Although he suddenly has plenty of company in this discussion, his current 16-PPG average still leads all rookies by a fairly wide margin and he remains the guy Minnesota asks to guard the high-scoring wings around the league.

Perhaps the player presenting the strongest case in challenging for the award is Chicago Bulls rookie forward Nikola Mirotic. His offensive productivity during this most recent stretch without the services of Derrick Rose has been one of the biggest reasons the Bulls have been able to maintain the three seed in the Eastern Conference. It may sound crazy – and absolutely no disrespect is intended to veterans like Pau Gasol, Joakim Noah or Jimmy Butler (slowed by injuries) – but Mirotic has arguably been Chicago’s best player over the second half of the season.

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Chris Paul, Clippers Peaking at the Right Time

By Jesse Blancarte

Stuck in the bottom half of the Western Conference playoff race for most of this season, the Los Angeles Clippers are considered by many fans and analysts to be a fringe contender at best.

It’s not hard to understand why, either. This is Chris Paul’s fourth season with Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan and second season under head coach Doc Rivers. Donald Sterling was removed as the team’s owner and replaced by the energetic and deep-pocketed Steve Ballmer. Spencer Hawes was added last offseason to be the first big off the bench and spread the court with his shooting. J.J. Redick and Matt Barnes entered this season healthy after struggling with injuries throughout last season. The excuses of past seasons were gone. This was supposed to be the Clippers’ season to graduate from the league’s best aerial attack to true championship contender.

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