I'll Tell On You...

The Charlie Villanueva story is old news at this point, but I have to give my hot, not-so-fresh take on it. What we have learned in the last couple of days is that Villanueva is the league's tattle tail. Rather then tell the teacher in this case, Chaz has decided to try and bad mouth Kevin Garnett through twitter. (You can follow me on twitter @Keefe21.)

There is a lot I don't like about the way Villanueva handled this. First off, if KG called him a "cancer patient" doesn't he really have two options at that point. If Charlie is really upset about it why not clock KG right then? You said you don't think he's ever been in a fight, so shouldn't you like your chances? (Villanueva deleted the part about Garnett and fighting from his twitter page.) It's not like you getting thrown out of the game would have mattered, the Celtics absolutely dominated the Pistons the other night.

Option 2, wait for Garnett after the game and confront him like a man. I'm not saying you always have to get in a fight, but make sure he knows you're serious and you believe he crossed the line.

Not an option? Going on twitter, knowing it will be a big story (for a day), and hoping people take your side over KG's because everyone knows someone who had cancer, whether it's a family member, friend, friend of a friend, or co-worker. He tried to make Garnett look like the bad guy. But in reality Charlie just comes off as a cry baby, coward, tattle tail.

Another thing I loved about this, Villanueva said something about KG never being in a fight, well that's really not true. Wasn't a fight the reason why Garnett left his South Carolina high school? Sorry Charlie.

My last point on this, I'm sure much worse things have been said on the basketball court in the NBA. Trash talking has been a part of the game seemingly forever. I assume it's like Las Vegas, what's said on the court, stays on the court. It doesn't go on twitter you loser. Advice, next time you hear something you don't want to, make sure you have a quick comeback, either with your hands or your words. And maybe you should stop tweeting for awhile and work on earning your insane 5 year $35 million deal.

-Keefe

NBA Mid-Summer Report: Central Division

This is part 2 of my 6 segment exposé on the NBA in the summer months. Without further ado, I give you the Eastern Conference’s Central Divison…

Chicago Bulls

Starters:
Derrick Rose
Kirk Hinrich
Luol Deng
Drew Gooden
Joakim Noah

Bench:
Ben Gordon*
Tyrus Thomas
Larry Hughes
Andres Nocioni
Aaron Gray
Thabo Sefolosha
Cedric Simmons

Out of town:
Chris Duhon

Ben Gordon is still a restricted free agent. The Bulls brought back Deng, but even if they don’t bring back Gordon, look at all those guards! Duhon goes to the Knicks and it’ll be interesting to see what they do with Ben Gordon, who was the team’s leading scorer last season. The past 2 seasons the Bulls flipped flopped wins and losses. After going 49-33 in 06-07, they were picked to be one of the best teams in the East, and went a disappointing 33-49 missing out on the playoffs. They got rid of what was left of Ben Wallace (horrible pick up to begin with), but they still have a lot of problems. Is Hinrich going to be a 2 guard? Front office has made some bad moves, and they were bailed out by getting the #1 pick. Look for some kind of trade to bring in a big man in place of some of these guards. Names like Brad Miller and Kenyon Martin have been talked about.

Cleveland Cavaliers

Starters:
Delonte West*
Wally Szczerbiak
LeBron James
Ben Wallace
Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Bench:
Daniel Gibson
Joe Smith
Anderson Varejao
Sasha Pavlovic
J.J. Hickson
Darnell Jackson

Out of town:
None: Devin Brown and Dwayne Jones = unrestricted

Looks like more of the same for LeBron and the Cavs. I didn’t like the move they made last year to bring in all those guys. Didn’t help them last year and in don’t think it will this year. Delonte is a free agent, and apparently he wants a 5 year deal, the Cavs have offered 4. I think he eventually comes back and plays for them next season regardless. Once again how far can LeBron carry them. He’s gone as far as the NBA Finals, but even then the ”supporting” cast was better. Perhaps the young rookie out of N.C. State, J.J. Hickson can provide a little life into this squad.


Detroit Pistons

Starters:
Chauncey Billups
Richard Hamilton
Tayshaun Prince
Rasheed Wallace
Antonio McDyess

Bench:
Rodney Stucky
Jason Maxiell
Amir Johnson
Aaron Afflalo
Trent Plaisted

Out of town:
Jarvis Hayes
Lindsey Hunter, Theo Ratliff, Juan Dixon, Walter Hermann = unrestricted
Flip Saunders

Rumors were flying around about a complete shake up of the Pistons. Billups and Sheed to the Warriors for Baron Davis. Well that clearly isn’t going to happen now, but Detroit feels as though they need to do something else. 6 straight years to the Eastern Conference Finals is great, but one 2 trips to the NBA Finals, with 1 Championship. They’re one of the Top 5 teams in the NBA every year, but they want to be the best. The starters continue to get older, but they’ve drafted well of late (post Darko), and have brought in some productive players. Flip Saunders it out, it’s now Michael Curry’s job. This team can coach itself to the playoffs, with the question being, how far can they go?

Indiana Pacers

Starters:
T.J. Ford
Mike Dunleavy
Danny Granger
Troy Murphy
Jeff Foster

Bench:
Brandon Rush
Jamaal Tinsley
Marquis Daniels
Shawne Williams
Travis Diener

Out of town:
Jermaine O’Neal
Kareem Rush

Did you know that Danny Granger and Mike Dunleavy combined for 38.7 points per game last season? Probably not. The Pacers are never on TV and no one talks about them. With Jermaine O’Neal gone to Toronto they don’t have anyone people have heard of. They have a grand total of 0 All-Star appearances on their roster. With that said, they could surprise some people this year. In the East, Indiana could even find themselves in the playoffs. Not sure if they’ll leave Tinsley on the team as a back up, but their starting 5 is sneaky good and I loved the pick of Brandon Rush. He won’t, however, play along side his brother Kareem who went to Philly.

Milwaukee Bucks

Starters:
Mo Williams
Michael Redd
Richard Jefferson
Charlie Villanueva
Andrew Bogut

Bench:
Tyronn Lue
Desmond Mason
Joe Alexander
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute
Ramon Sessions
Charlie Bell

Out of town:
Yi Jianlian
Bobby Simmons

I love the move to pick up Richard Jefferson. He may not love leaving New York City for Milwaukee, but on the court it could be what he needs. He is no longer playing with Kidd and more importantly Vince Carter. Reports were that Jefferson would obsess over making the All-Star team and just try to pad his stats on the offensive end. RJ would try to be better than Vince rather than making his team better. The Bucks now have one of the best scoring wings combos in the league with Jefferson and Redd. It’s not Ray Allen and Pierce, but it’s still good. Milwaukee also drafted Joe Alexander and signed Tyronn Lue in the off season. All of that makes sense to me. But giving Bogut (career 11.9 pts, 8.5 rebs per game) $76 million. I don’t get it. Two steps forward, one step back. In the end I think the Central Division could be competitive this year.

Next: Southeast Division

-Keefe

Eastern Conference Outlook

-Keefe

The NBA's Eastern Conference is more top heavy than Dolly Parton. Only five teams have a winning record, only three teams score more than 100 a night, while six give up over a century. Despite the five teams above .500 only two have a legitimate shot at winning the whole thing. Boston (41-10) and Detroit (39-14) are running away and hiding from the rest of the conference. Orlando, Toronto, and LeBron (going forward I will refer to the Cleveland Cavs as LeBron) all think they have a chance to win the East, but they would need a MC Hammer type collapse from the Celtics or Pistons to do so.

Washington is a bit of an x-factor right now. Antawn Jamison has been playing by himself and putting up great numbers, but if he can get a healthy Caron Butler and Gilbert Arenas back they could be a tough out in the playoffs. I also want to see how the Hawks play with Mike Bibby. I really like the move. A lineup of Bibby, Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams, Josh Smith, and Al Horford could create a minor shakeup in the East. Keep an eye on these guys. But let's look at the real contenders.

Boston Celtics: They came out of the gates hotter than Rose McGowen in Planet Terror, and kept it going. Tough schedule coming out of the All-Star break, they just lost and gave up a season high 124 points last night to the Denver Nuggets, but did get Kevin Garnett back after he missed 9 games (C's went 7-2 in that span). C's have the Warriors tonight, Suns and Shaq on Friday, Portland Sunday, and the Clippers before heading home. It's going to be a great test for a Celtics team that won their first 16 against the West.

Rajon Rondo has made major strides in his second season, running the show surrounded by three superstars. The unselfishness of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett has been well documented. The only worry concerning those three is injuries, particularly Allen and KG. In Garnett's absence players like Leon Powe and Big Baby Davis really emerged. In fact as a Celtics fan I would much rather have Powe on the floor over starting center Kendrick Perkins. Perk is taller, but doesn't score, rebound, or defend as well as Leon.

The bench has been better than expected. Like the supporting cast in Ocean's 11, you got your Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, (Pierce, KG, and Allen... that's how I see it too), but what really makes the movie is the rest of the team, (Rondo, Powe, Perk, Davis, T.Allen, House, Posey, Scal... only included Scal to add up to 11). Anyway these guys have all been solid, but the question remains, do they need a back up point guard? They don't need a starter, Rondo has shined. Can Tony Allen and Eddie House bring the ball up and set up the offense when Rondo is out of the game? So far Danny Ainge seems to think so.

Detroit Pistons: The Pistons once again have the league's best scoring defense (89.9, Celtics are 90.1). Also once again they are lead by Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace, and Tayshaun Prince. Somehow they are #1 in Marc Stein's power rankings. I don't see it. They just got killed last night by the Orlando Magic, but similar to the Spurs, they are built strictly for the playoffs. And in the East they do not have to bust their ass all season to get home court for the first couple of rounds.

Rookie Rodney Stuckey, Jason Maxiell, and Antonio McDyess will help out the 4 big guns as they try to return to the Eastern Conference and NBA finals. Can Flip Saunders lead them to the promise land? He's gotten them to two conference finals but not over the top, including a shocking 4-2 loss to LeBron last year. However, I would be equally surprised if this year it is not the Celtics and Pistons playing for the right to represent the East.

No other team deserves their own breakdown. Quick takes on the rest of the East that could win a playoff series...

Orlando Magic: Dwight Howard is a monster (shoots below 60% at the stripe), Hedo Turkoglu and Rashad Lewis both putting up solid numbers. But the Magic shoot more 3's than anyone in the East, they strike me as a team in the NCAA tourny who could shock a team, but no way could they win a best-of-7 with Detroit or Boston. PG play is weak as well; they miss the playoffs if they were in the West.

Toronto Raptors: Chris Bosh is one of the best players in the conference, and they have one of the best point guards in the East in Jose Calderon, but they might not even get out of the 1st round. Home court would be huge for them especially if they're facing LeBron.

LeBron: No Jason Kidd, no Mike Bibby, no chance to make it back to the Finals. The LeBron-factor has to scare some teams, but the Pistons will be ready this year and the Celtics won't lose 4 games in a series to him.

Wiz/ Hawks = sleepers. I mentioned it at the top these teams, when healthy have a ton of talent, and if they can put it together they could take out the Magic, Raptors, or LeBron.

I will break down the Western Conference 2nd half outlook tomorrow, which will include 10 of the best 12 teams in the NBA. Also I will have a chance to see Shaq play in a Suns uni, albeit his first game. I'm looking forward to seeing how all these trades pay off in the Western Conference. It's hard to pick a favorite right now. Hornets, Suns, Lakers, Jazz, Spurs, Mavs, Rockets, Nuggets, Warriors, and Blazers... it's going to be fun.