Summer Check-in

I wanted to get one post in before I take a long break and start writing again when the NBA season starts up. 

First, congratulations to Lebron and the Miami Heat for their championship.  This was a well played playoffs and they certainly deserved to win after coming back in the Indiana series and the tightly contested series with Boston. 

Second, thanks to everyone that read and contributed to my postings.  Whether you sent me a link or we had a discussion about it, I do appreciate it and it makes my basketball watching that much more fun when I have people to share it with. 

Lastly, thanks to my family, especially my wife, for putting up with this minor obsession I have.  I am sure I have talked her ear off and been annoying but they have always been there. 

This was a great year and I had more fun than I can remember in recent years.  The prospects for next year are even brighter.  My local team, the Boston Celtics, look to be even better than last year, despite losing Ray Allen to a division rival.  And my favorite team, the Knicks, have an interesting team that may be better next year, despite some head scratching moves, that I will discuss in a few sentences.  Additionally, the Nets will be moving to Brooklyn and contesting for King of New York status.  That should make for some interesting storylines. 

Now, back to the Knicks.  What the heck happened?  Heading into the offseason, the Knicks were in the enviable position of not only being good right now, but had a solid core to be great in the future.  With a veteran, high caliber cast of Carmelo, Amare and Tyson Chandler leading the front line, they had great pieces in the backcourt with Jeremy Lin, Landry Fields, and Iman Shumpert.  I even liked their supporting cast of Jared Jeffries, Josh Harrellson, and Steve Novak.  Of the last six players I named, only Novak and Shumpert are returning, but Shump is coming off of knee surgery so who knows what the recovery time and form he will return in. 

I hated seeing Fields and Jeffries go because it seemed like they were great locker room guys, but I could sort of understand it.  Fields contract was a little high and parting with Jeffries to get Camby and Thomas is sort of an upgrade.  Not matching on Lin was really confusing though.  He showed he could play and the fans LOVED him.  I am not sure what the owner, James Dolan was so mad about with the Lin situation.  Supposedly, he was upset with Lin and his team for going back to the Houston Rockets and getting a better deal.  They could have offered Lin 4 years $6 million and Lin would have signed it.  That's the most upsetting part.  Besides that, they told Lin to go out and get the best deal he could.  Of course a team with enough foresight and need would sign him to such a deal.  How could an owner not acknowledge that this is a business anyway?  All players acknowledge that they are just part of a business, that they could be traded, waived, or signed solely based on "business reasons".  How is an owner unable to acknowledge this and call Lin disloyal for looking for the best option?  But, enough about that.  This will probably work out for both parties.  It is once again Melo's team.  They just have more pressure to produce without Lin than if they had kept him.  Lin will also flourish in Houston.  They will not be a great team, but he will probably average a 17 and 6 for the season. 

Good luck to all, let's just stay away from the negativity.  This is just a game afterall and I know we read and listen to analysts all the time, but I was surprised how negative Steven A. Smith was with the Lin situation.  He was the last to come around to admit that the kid could play and was the first and loudest to say good riddance when he signed with Houston.  Sadly, there may be other factors to Smith's assessments than purely from an analytical standpoint.  I was given two examples here and here (Thanks BG!).  I hope Smith truly felt those things and was not motivated by the fact that he shares the same agent as Melo. 

But enough ugliness.  I am still assessing how my predictive powers were this year (pretty horrible) and am going to challenge myself to improve next year.  I will be sending out some invites next season to see how I stack up against friends in predicting wins and losses next year.  I am thinking about the parameters (most likely a simple for or against the knicks with the spread), but will fill you in as the season approaches.  If you are interested in joining me, send me an email at malajas@inbox.com. 

Have fun for the rest of the summer.  I will write more soon.