Announcer: How would you guard you?
Monta Ellis: “Ain’t no way.”
- Ain’t no way, indeed. Fortunately checking himself is not a problem that Golden State Warriors guard Monta Ellis has to worry about, but it’s one that’s becoming increasingly difficult for his opponents. Long an ETB favorite, the pint-sized Oaktown star wowed us with one clutch play after another last Saturday night against the Kings, a game in which he scored 16 fourth-quarter dingers en route to 34 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, and 80% FG. The numbers, however, do not come close to telling the full tale of his dazzling dominance of Sactown. With Baron Davis fouled out and on the bench for much of the final stanza, Ellis scored 9 straight for Golden State with the game still in the lurch, including a beautiful drive to the baseline and under the basket that ended with the kind of elegant scoop-and-score usually reserved for the Kobe and LeBrons of the world. Still only 22-years-old, Ellis is destined to become an All-Star mainstay.
- This isn’t necessarily a criticism, and it’s something that’s pretty much out of his control, but it feels like Carmelo Anthony has become one of the least-written about superstars in the NBA this year. Maybe it’s because of all the big names being traded or speculated about being traded, and it probably has a lot to do with now sharing the Denver spotlight with Allen Iverson. And yes, I know, Anthony was voted in as a starter for the Western Conference All-Star team, so it’s not like he’s losing fans or people are forgetting about him. But really, you just don’t hear about him that much. Honestly, in my one-man view, ‘Melo just isn’t all that of an exciting player, which is an odd thing to think about a guy who has averaged at least 26 points in each of the past three seasons. There’s something… I don’t know, slightly ho-hum about his game. Am I crazy?
- There’s a little bit of Nostradamus in me. Maybe even a lot. Since his last appearance in NBA Front-Row Seat, Detroit Pistons rookie guard Rodney Stuckey has really started coming into his own. Right now, he’s far and away playing like the best guard in this year’s freshman class, though Mike Conley Jr. is also showing steady improvement down in Memphis. Flashing about ten times more confidence over the past two weeks than ever has since rejoining the team on December 21 (broken left hand), Stuckey has averaged 10.3 points, 3.3 assists, and 56% FG over the team’s last six games. He’s shown great on-court chemistry with fellow up-and-comers Amir Johnson and Arron Afflalo, too, remarking after Friday’s win over Portland that “[they] have a lot more years that we’re going to be doing that. That’s just the beginning of it.”
Listed at 6-5 and 205 pounds, Stuckey has a real knack for splitting double-teams, getting to the rim, and finishing. In fact, some of his monster dunks are making it hard for Afflalo to make a favorable impression on the team’s vets; said Chauncey Billups after Sunday’s win over the Charlotte Bobcats: “That was horrible. [Afflalo] looked like me dunking. He should be ashamed to have even done that right after Stuckey dunked on somebody’s head.” (Here’s the dunk.)
- Jamaal Tinsley’s future with the Indiana Pacers seems to be somewhat up in the air. After a strong start to the season, the seventh-year guard has been battling a sore left knee that’s kept him out of 12 of the Pacers’ last 22 games. He’ll turn 30 on February 28, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the team sees what they could get for him in a possible deadline deal. His replacement, third-year PG Travis Diener, has been solid-not-spectacular, averaging 10.2 points, 5.3 assists, and just 1.1 turnovers since stepping into the starting lineup on January 24. He’s clearly not a long-term answer there, but Tinsley doesn’t seem to be either and he definitely has more trade value despite not exactly being the world’s biggest Good Samaritan.
- Two bright spots in an otherwise vexatious season for the Chicago Bulls: Andres Nocioni and the development of Thabo Sefolosha. With the bigger-name Bulls succumbing to injury (Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, Kirk Hinrich), mentally checking out (Ben Wallace), or still trying to mature (Joakim Noah, Tyrus Thomas), both of these guys have taken advantage and are having respectable seasons. Now in his fourth NBA tilt, the 6-7 Nocioni has recently shouldered more of the scoring load, going for at least 20 points ten times since January 2. Over a six-game stretch in January, he averaged 22.3 points, 5.1 boards, and 3 three-pointers.
As for the multi-talented Sefolosha, he’s dropping hints of potentially becoming a stat-stuffer someday soon. Exhibit A: February 6, when the “Swiss Mister” hung 22 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks, and 2 three-pointers on the Trail Blazers. Exhibit B: three days later, Sefolosha put up a near-idential boxscore: 22 points, 4 assists, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block, 2 three-pointers. Pretty good, pretty good.
- Speaking of young players thriving on bad teams, Miami Heat forward Dorell Wright is finally starting to show why the team drafted him 19th overall back in 2004. Over his past five games, the 6-8 Wright has averaged 16.2 points, 8.2 boards, 1.2 steals, and 63% FG, and his minutes have not been negatively affected by Shawn Marion’s arrival (yet). That could change after Udonis Haslem returns from a sprained left ankle sometime after the All-Star break and reassumes the starting power forward job, pushing Marion to Wright’s small forward spot. Even if he does come off the bench, Wright should continue getting 20-30 minutes a night; that’ll come at the expense of Ricky Davis, who’s just kind of “playing” lately and not really making much of an impact. In contrast to Wright, Davis is not a part of this team’s future and could still be dealt before the February 21 deadline. If the Heat are wise, they’re actively shopping him now, listening to any and all offers they might get, and then picking the best one.
- ESPN analyst and LSD Godfather Bill Walton recently ripped into Shaquille O’Neal on ESPN (video) in light of O’Neal’s recent proclamations that he’s all of a sudden “back” following his trade to Phoenix. Here’s the crux of Walton’s comments:
“Six weeks ago Shaquille O’Neal was on the verge of the all-time consecutive fouled out rule, and Pat Riley saved him. This is going to be very, very tough for Shaq to work his way through. What he did in Miami by saying ‘I can’t play at all’ and now ‘I’m going to win the championship (in Phoenix),’ that’s absolutely ludicrous. Shaq’s arrogance is an insult to people that think.”
Zing. O’Neal responded with the typically childish rhetoric he falls back on when criticized, misusing the term “hypocrite” in bringing up Walton’s injury-riddled career and asserting that he deserves more respect from Walton because he’s accomplished more in his career than the former Boston Celtics star ever did (how is that relevant to the conversation?). We’re no fans of Walton’s NBA commentary here at ETB, but he’s the first and only TV analyst who’s had the courage to publicly call out, um, The Big Uncriticizable for essentially dogging it this season in Miami. And I find it rather odd that in his response O’Neal really didn’t address any of the discussion points Walton brought up.
- Speaking of dogging it, with Pau Gasol now in Hollywood enjoying a miraculous drop in symptoms related to a chronic back ailment, Memphis Grizzlies coach Marc Iavaroni has considerable wiggle room to experiment with both his starting lineup and his bench rotation for the next few months. Versatile forward Hakim Warrick benefitted by getting his first start of the year on Tuesday against the Kings, putting up 24 points and 13 rebounds on 62% shooting in a season-high 32 minutes. My preseason pick to win the league’s Most Improved Player Award, the team’s first-round pick back in ’05 has struggled to stay in the rotation from the get-go; his 7 DNP’s so far are seven more than he had all of last year.
- Playing for bad teams that are decimated by injuries tends to work statistical magic for those left standing and logging heavy minutes, as is the case with Los Angeles Clippers swingman Corey Maggette. Over the past month, the 6-6 slasher is fifth in the NBA in scoring, averaging 25.7 points in his last 12 games. That’s a solid number, but it hasn’t done much to change his team’s fortune: the directionless Clips are 6-11 since January 2 in games Maggette has suited up in. And the thing is that for all his natural talent, he still hasn’t elevated his all-around game–the assists, steals, rebounds, etc–and become the more well-rounded player he seems capable of being. Like the Nets’ Richard Jefferson, Maggette is pretty much good for points and free-throw attempts, and that’s about it. In fact, both of those two currently avearage 9.2 FT attempts/per, which ties them for sixth overall.
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