Roundball Wrap-Up: Wednesday December 11th

Your favorite inconsistent NBA post is back from last year!  I never really had a full grasp on how to do this blog, but I think I have figured it out. There will be similar elements from Bucks Buzz, but in reality, it will be its own post on Wednesday (Or Thursday). I do not really have a time for when it will be up but there will be all sorts of random shit I happen to come across on the Internet plus some thoughts about the week that was.

Players of the Week 
Kevin Durant - Without question, the Most Valuable Player so far this season. Durant is averaging 29 points
a game with eight rebounds and six assists to boot. Durant deserves this one so far without question. KD won this honor not like a Susan Lucci's career award rather he is currently in an amazing five game stretch. Durant had 36 points, 10 rebounds and five assists against Indiana which to me said 'Alright we are giving Paul George too much love' and he just tore up the court. Actually, he said that in a way telling media row 'Write about that.'  In his last five games, three of them have been double-doubles for Durant which was a past knock on KD that all he could do was get buckets. Durant is also doing more in the paint as he is not shooting much from three. I would pay thousands to watch a playoff series with KD and George going at it.

Andre Drummond - This is more like a Susan Lucci as it seems we have it with SnoTap's second POY. Drummond did have a monster effort against Milwaukee last Wednesday with 23 points and 19 rebounds, but Dre is doing big things in his second year with Detroit. Drummond is averaging nearly 13 rebounds a game with 13 points per game. When big men are doing these sorts of things in their second year of professional basketball, it is pretty telling. Drummond can definitely be one of the best in the next coming years. I realize that might sound like hyperbole, but Dre is truly a great player.

'I am not mad, I am disappointed' Player of the Week
Kobe Bryant - This might be a troll move by me here, but I will go with it because people expected so much from Kobe in his first couple games back with the team. People drew up unrealistic expectations for a 37-year old coming off an ACHILLES injury. I saw folks saying he would score over 30 points in his first game back with the team on Sunday against Toronto. He struggled mightily, and played a little bit better against Phoenix yesterday when he had 20 points on 6/11 shooting. The microscope on Kobe will be large for awhile especially if he keeps struggling to Kobe's standards. I think he will be fine, but I am glad to see people tempered their expectations.

Team of the Week
Oklahoma City Thunder - Not only does KD get the POY, Oklahoma City wins Team of the week with winning eleven of their last twelve games. The Thunder are now at 16-4 with one game back of Portland for the best record in the Western Conference. They had impressive wins against Indiana, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver, San Antonio, Golden State as well as beating Atlanta. They head to Memphis tonight in what is always a spirited rivalry especially with Kendrick Perkins and Zach Randolph if he plays. Oklahoma City is rounding into form nicely, and showing it really does not matter about the supporting cast in the regular season as long as Durant and Russell Westbrook are two of the starting five.

Team of the Weak
Orlando Magic - It appears Orlando has fallen back to earth in the recent games. No one expected much from Orlando, but they were hanging around with sub-500 group of teams who could have turned it around ending up in the playoffs. Now Magic look like they are heading for Tanksville USA. Orlando dropped six straight games and they are not doing it in close fashion either minus a defeat to a fellow tanker, Philadelphia. In their five losses during this streak, they have fallen by 75 points combined including a 38 point defeat to New York Knicks.

SnoTap Medical Injury Report  
Tyreke Evans - Not many serious injury issues, but Tyreke Evans will miss two weeks with an ankle injury. This does not help New Orleans one bit whose already lost Anthony Davis. They have a brutal stretch of games until the New Year with two games against Denver and Portland including other hard battles with Golden State, Memphis and Los Angeles Clippers. New Orleans needs to find a way to remain .500 by the end of the month if this team wants to at least still have a voice in the playoff hunt. If Evans is back then Davis should be back by mid-January.

Trading Places
I know I shit on Rudy Gay's deal earlier in the week, but honestly, it is not a bad trade for Sacramento honestly with the players they gave up in the deal. They did not give up a draft pick which is important. Kings gave up John Salmons, Greivis Vasquez, Patrick Patterson and Chuck Hayes. Maybe Vasquez turns out to be something, but he might be the only one where Kings fans are saying 'We should not have dealt him.' Sacramento getting Quincy Acy is a sneaky good piece as well whom could turn into something.

This Week in GIFs, Vines, Tweets, Instagrams, Videos, Links, Pictures and anything else 
This Knicks fan is not happy about the lost to the Celtics. (H/T Barstool New York) 



Steve Nash having a good time at the Jay Z concert where they chanted 'Kobe' yet he needs to drink quicker.

Jigga....it's been real. Me.....wait I got 2 beers left.
— Steve Nash (@SteveNash) December 10, 2013

Channing Frye announces Miles Plumlee has a new nickname. No word whether he still gels his hair.

Everyone calls @milesplumlee13 PlumDog he told me, he wishes everyone would call him MC PlumLord!!!!!! Do you like that nickname?
— Channing Frye (@Channing_Frye) December 10, 2013

Charlie. 

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NBA Roundball Wrap-Up: Wednesday November 20th

Your favorite inconsistent NBA post is back from last year!  I never really had a full grasp on how to do this blog, but I think I have figured it out. There will be similar elements from Bucks Buzz, but in reality, it will be its own post on Wednesday (Or Thursday). I do not really have a time for when it will be up but there will be all sorts of random shit I happen to come across on the Internet plus some thoughts about the week that was.

Players of the Week 
Ty Lawson - Denver's point guard is off to a fast start to the season, and it appears like he is fitting right in with Brian Shaw's system. In the last two games, Lawson had 28 points and 17 assists against Houston and 29 points and eight dishes against Oklahoma City. He is currently averaging over 10 assists a game in his last five games, limiting his turnovers and finding ways to the basket. For the season, Lawson is averaging 22 points a game which is six points higher than his career-best average last year with 16 points a game. Who knows if this will continue but Lawson is having a pretty good week.



LeBron James - Yes, he did struggle against Atlanta in a win last night, but LeBron had a silly weekend against Dallas and Charlotte. He scored 39 and 33 in those games, but the way he did it was very impressive. James only missed nine shots in two games and had over 30 points in both of the game. For the year, LeBron is 61 percent from the field.  That is usually what an NBA big man does, not a star forward. Additionally, much of this is due to LeBron picking and choosing when to shoot the three. He is only shooting about two per game and making them at a 50 percent rate.Extremely efficient start to LeBron James season.

'I am not mad, I am disappointed' Player of the Week
Joe Johnson - This is going to be a pretty big anti-Brooklyn post this week, but Joe Johnson gets the honors. He is off to a rough start to the season only averaging 12 points per game in eight games played. Johnson's season high for the season is 19 points against Miami in the first game of the season. He is not really shooting the ball efficiently nor is he making 3-pointers. We will talk more about the Nets' struggles in a second here, but Johnson's struggles is a large part as to why Brooklyn is scuffling their feet. He needs to get going a little bit more. Also do not forget how much money Johnson makes each ear.

Team of the Week
Portland Trail Blazers - They probably should have had the spot last week, but the Blazers have it now after an impressive start with winning nine of their first eleven. Many people had questions about what the ceiling was for the Trail Blazers before the season start, and they might be better than expected. LaMarcus Aldridge is playing great to begin the year as well as Wes Matthews continues to get better for Portland. Another thing worth noting is Blazers have scored at least 100 points in eight of their eleven games.

Team of the Weak
Brooklyn Nets - I feel like it is fair to be concerned about this squad even if we have seen this before with teams thrown together at the drop of a hat. Brooklyn does not have what those teams had... a real head coach. No knock to Jason Kidd, but he as out of his element as Donnie was in The Big Lebowski. He is an empty suit out there, and players are starting to notice it. Brooklyn needs to start stringing some wins together to get this team some confidence because they have a great deal of players who are used to winning basketball games. If this continues for another week, the natives will get restless.

SnoTap Medical Injury Report  
Kobe Bryant returned to practice - This is not an injury rather a player returning from injury this week. Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant is back to practice, and now comes the speculation when he will play again for the team. My buddy Kappy has went on #VinoWatch to see when Kobe will play again as some believe he will be back before the month ends. If I had to guess, Sunday December 1st against Portland. There is no way Kobe is coming back on the road, and I do not think he will be ready for the game against Golden State on Friday.

This Week in GIFs, Vines & Videos 
Andre Drummond sick alley-opp - Detroit's point guard Brandon Jennings threw a ball off the backboard to Drummond for a sick dunk. Best part about is Coach Sheed screaming in the background. Here's the GIF and the video is below. (H/T Guyism)



Tony Allen kicked Chris Paul in the face earning him an ejection and a one-game suspension. IN THE FACE!  IN THE FACE. (H/T SB Nation) 

In another great Detroit moment, Tony Mitchell and Coach Sheed had a dunk contest and it was excellent. 

Weird NBA Team of the Week
Washington is currently 3-7 for the season, but they are honestly one of the strangest teams in the game right now. When I say strange, I obviously mean awesome.  First, we have Marcin Gortat with his best attempt at being Hakeem Olajuwon .  Then we have Martell Webster and Kevin Seraphin doing God knows what. To wrap it up, Seraphin hanging out with the Dwarf Mamba.



Charlie.  

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SnoTap NBA Preview: Detroit Pistons

Andrew Kasmarek, Mitch Pratt and Charlie Tritschler are getting you ready for the NBA season. The previews feature all sorts of information to get you ready for the start of the season. 

What I know

• Greg Monroe is a stud big man that gets no credit for being one because the Pistons have not been good for a couple of years. Look at his season last year.  He averaged 16 points per game with 9.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists. Also factor into the equation he is only 22 years old and that makes him even more scary.
• Detroit has not been to the playoffs since 2008-2009. By making some of the biggest splashes, they are tired of being a lottery team. If this does not work in two years, Joe Dumars should not have a job. 
• Andre Drummond has the best Internet game in all of the land. This summer, Drummond tried to get the attention of Jennette McCurdy the star of iCarly through Twitter and Instagram and now they are dating. Game respects game.   

Big Question
Besides his dating life, time to get giddy about Andre Drummond? - This could be the next in the long line of players who did not have ambition to play college basketball. If you can remember, Drummond had a mediocre campaign at UConn and did not have any sort of impact of the team.  He is only 19 years old with a great deal of time to develop his skill. Drummond's per 36 last season was 13.8 points per game along with 13.2 with almost three blocks. One thing Drummond needs to get better at is shooting free throws.  Dre is only a 37 percent free throw shooter and that is Dwight Howard bad.  It is also something that can keep him on the bench in the fourth quarter.

X-Factor
Mo Cheeks keeping this team together - Detroit is not really the most put-together team out there. They have some new starters who bring new attitudes with them. Both of those men happen to be known around the league for not having the best ones. Josh Smith is consider moody around the league with some of a reckless nature about him. Jennings could also be grouped as moody and someone who does not take criticism well at all.  If Cheeks can figure out a way to manage this team, Detroit might have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs this year.  Yet things could end up very bad for this team. If Smith starts getting frustrated, it could lead to some dissension among this squad. Even with Jennings out for the first three weeks, it is important for this team to get off to a fast start.

Key Additions
PG Brandon Jennings, SF Josh Smith - No question about it, these two players are impact players. The question with both of them is 'What player am I going to get?' Both have multiple personalities on the basketball court. Jennings showed at different points of the season he could not only be a scorer but also a passer. He also moved his 3-point shooting up from 32 percent for his first three years to a 37 percent spike. Now he did shoot more threes, but he also  made more. Jennings still need to work on getting to the free-throw line where he only averaged 3.5 free throws a game.

Smith is a different kind of bird too. He comes from Atlanta where there are times where he looks like the poor man's LeBron James.  Someone needs to get inside Smith's head that he is not a 3-point shooter. I have no idea how this is possible unless they make him do push-ups after every 3-point attempt a la Willie 'Mays' Hayes. Last year, Smith's two-point percentage was nearly 50 percent while his 3-point percentage was a mere 30 percent. STOP SHOOTING JOSH.  The big thing with both of these players is they are both pretty young meaning Smith and Jennings could change the way they play basketball.

Key Subtractions
PG Jose Calderon, PG Brandon Knight, PF Jason Maxiell - They are ready to give up a top ten pick with Knight sending him to Milwaukee and believing Jennings will be a better player. Calderon played well for them coming over in a trade. Maxiell is a solid backup big man who moved on to Orlando.  

Pistons Draft
SF Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, PF Tony Mitchell, PG Peyton Siva - I love the Tony Mitchell pick maybe more so than the KCP pick. Mitchell had sort of a down year at North Texas as he was expected to be a top 15 pick to begin the year. Caldwell-Pope is a guy I am not sure if he is just the best player on a shitty team or he is actually a good player. No real read on Siva. There were moments where he could be play in the league and others where he looked like an adult recball player.

Prediction
I think Detroit makes the playoffs. Eastern Conference is pretty damn weak making Detroit a real possibility for the playoffs. I feel like they kept it together as a unit plus Drummond and Monroe become the next twin towers of basketball.

Charlie.

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