Apparently there was no new content at the site yesterday. At all. That's just not fair to you readers who came to the site (sometimes more than once) and didn't see anything new. I'll take the heat for that, so direct all hate mail to me. Anyway, apologizes over. Utah Jazz basketball engage! The Utah Jazz were shut out once again for an All-Star, and you could argue that one of our guys was one of the several deserving snubs in the West. The All-Star Break is more than the about the game, but it means we're closing in one the trade deadline. So it's no surprise that the guy who is our best player is the #1 guy fans of other teams want us to trade away. You just can't win as a small market fan it seems!
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No doubt by now you have heard about the NBA All-Star reserves. They were selected last evening and well, there were no real surprises.
The East:
Head Coach: Tyronn Lue (CLE) (Seriously)
On #INSIDEtheNBA, the fellas analyze the Eastern Conference reserves for #NBAAllStarTO: https://t.co/MTqUYZsFrT pic.twitter.com/4wwSLuXBqL
— 2016 NBA All-Star (@NBAAllStar) January 29, 2016
- PG: Kyle Lowry * (TOR), John Wall (WAS), Isaiah Thomas (BOS)
- SG: Dwyane Wade * (MIA), Jimmy Butler (CHI), DeMar DeRozan (TOR)
- SF: LeBron James * (CLE), Carmelo Anthony * (NYK), Paul George * (IND)
- PF: Paul Millsap (ATL), Chris Bosh (MIA)
- C: Andre Drummond (DET)
The players with an * are all selected to start. So that seems fun? (Sarcasm.) I do like how Paul Millsap is back for another go-around. He really deserves it and it's even more startling to notice his career progression -- from being a #47 pick to being one of the best bigmen in his conference. I expect that Lue is going to put in some crazy line-ups in this game, none more crazy than 1 PG, 2 SG, 3 SF, that's the starting line-up. It makes no sense.
The West:
Head Coach: Gregg Popovich (SAS)
On #INSIDEtheNBA, the fellas analyze the Western Conference reserves for #NBAAllStarTO: https://t.co/MCOtowX0gt pic.twitter.com/C5qM1afr0R
— 2016 NBA All-Star (@NBAAllStar) January 29, 2016
- PG: Stephen Curry * (GSW), Russell Westbrook * (OKC), Chris Paul (LAC)
- SG: Kobe Bryant * (LAL), James Harden (HOU), Klay Thompson (GSW)
- SF: Kevin Durant * (OKC), Kawhi Leonard * (SAS)
- PF: Draymond Green (GSW), Anthony Davis (NOP), LaMarcus Aldridge (SAS)
- C: DeMarcus Cousins (SAC)
So, the fan vote hurt the West just like it hurt the East. In total there are only seven All-Stars who are either a PF or C. There are 24 All-Stars. This is a distribution which did not previously exist. Oh well, this is who the fans want to see. This will be yet another ASG I pass on watching. At least fans on both sides made sure no real PF or C started for either conference, so that makes it fair, I presume.
There were, of course, no Utah Jazz players selected. When only FOUR total bigmen make it in the West you have to figure that the pickings will be slim, particularly for the Jazz where all three of our best three players are SF/PF/C -- and compete against one another here for limited space. Gordon Hayward really turned it on and played like an All-Star. But while he may get some mention from us there were other players like Dirk Nowitzki and Damian Lillard who did not make the team, but would have gotten the nod over G-Time.
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If you are keeping score at home, the last time the Utah Jazz had an All-Star was point guard Deron Williams. And the last time we had an All-Star our head coach was Jerry Sloan, Andrei Kirilenko was on the team, and Jeremy Evans was a rookie. It's been a while, is what I'm saying.
I immediately regret posting that video. Now I miss having a 'take control' player on the team.
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The NBA's trade deadline is 20 days away, so everyone is losing their minds. I know, I know . . . we all want the best for our team and imagine countless dream scenarios where our guys fleece another team. I don't know how often that happens in our favor (like, we got Kendrick Perkins and Tibor Pleiss back for Enes Kanter, a former #3 Draft pick). The worst thing about this time of the year isn't that everyone puts on their GM cap and goes nuts on ESPN's trade machine. No, it's not that at all. Rather, it's that STUPID PEOPLE go on the Trade Machine and make a mess of things. But beyond that somewhat innocent sin there are the few trouble makers out there who are just trying to make people mad.
Hence:
I'd love to hear how the Knicks are going to get Jeff Teague with the non-Melo non-Zinger assets they have. Seriously I am all ears.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) January 29, 2016
Teague/Korver for Hayward/Burke. That's the trade.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) January 29, 2016
I recant my fake trade. Utah fans would riot if they traded Hayward. Back to drawing board. Schroeder for Hood is interesting...
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) January 29, 2016
I can't wait to talk on tomorrow's podcast about Utah fans and their predictably irrational love for Gordon Hayward. Get ready @HousefromDC
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) January 29, 2016
Hayward to Atl, Teague to Utah, Korver to Cle (trade exception). Utah would cut 7.5m and be 15 mill under cap for a 2nd move. I like it!
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) January 29, 2016
Of course, after being bombarded by Jazz fans (and some beat writers), he responded with this:
Let's see if the Utah fans approve this one - Hayward to Minnesota for Towns, Wiggins and two first round picks.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) January 29, 2016
(Fine, fine, I've just been trying to neg Hayward's trade value b/c I want Boston to get him w/o giving up a Nets pick... you got me...)
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) January 29, 2016
Let's be real, most Boston Celtics fans have a big, poorly hidden desire to add Gordon Hayward to their team (and to reunite him with his college coach Brad Stevens). The Celtics have also historically done well with homegrown white American small forwards from Indiana. So I see that. Some of them come clean on it:
Should the Celtics trade for Gordon Hayward? https://t.co/ymYEcmIEn1 pic.twitter.com/k1QvBRe7Ei
— CelticsBlog (@celticsblog) January 26, 2016
Report: Ainge "quietly aggressive" https://t.co/ma5cxzfXhW pic.twitter.com/pgPAxAH43x
— CelticsBlog (@celticsblog) January 29, 2016
I personally don't see a lot of Rambo in Danny Ainge, but I do love what Celtics Blog is doing. More power to them.
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Seeing how we're on a Gordon Hayward Kick right now . . . this was a great picture of him and future teammate Trevor Booker. I just had to share it!
#TBT @gordonhayward & @35_Fitz #butler vs #clemson @utahjazz pic.twitter.com/s8VGUGsaWu
— Vivint Arena (@vivintarena) January 28, 2016
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And before we really start to publish a lot of our own trade deadline content, just a quick poll to gauge your feelings on things.