Hi hoops fans, Jake Henson here. Long time reader but first time blogger for Sheridan Hoops, so go easy on me just this one time.
As usual, there was plenty happening around the league in the past 24 hours. Let’s get straight into today’s blog and do a quick catch-up on the National Basketball Association.
Rondo’s road back
Almost 12 months to the day, Rajon Rondo unknowingly suffered a torn right ACL against the Atlanta Hawks (January 25th 2013). At the time Rondo was on his way to another stellar All-Star season, averaging 13.7 points, 11.1 assists and 1.8 steals per game. The injury inadvertently ended the Celtics season and started the beginning of the end for both Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett’s tenure in Beantown.
Rondo recently sat down with Jessica Camerato for ESPN to discuss his long road back to a full health and how h
e has evolved as a person and more importantly as a professional.
“You appreciate life more. You appreciate the game more,” Rondo said. “You don’t take the game for granted every day that you wake up and get to play this game and step on the court. It’s a blessing. It’s not guaranteed. Any moment, any play, any time in the game, your life could change. So every game that I do get to play, I’m very blessed and fortunate.”
Teammates Jared Sullinger and Jeff Green also noted Rondo’s apparent attitude change.
“His attitude on the court and off the court [has changed],” Sullinger told ESPN. “Instead of being like, ‘I’ll do it tomorrow,’ it’s more like, ‘I’ve got to get it done today.’
Jeff Green said. “He put in countless hours, too, getting back out there on the floor. He’s somebody who pushed himself to the limit to get back into game shape and to get back there playing.”
In the 5 games since his return against the Lakers on January 17th (see below) Rajon has shown glimpses albeit small ones of his old self which is very encouraging for Celtics fans. Upon his return he was also named the 15th team captain in Celtic’s history, which has at least somewhat dampened some of the trade rumors surrounding the All-Star floor general.
Mediocre Bulls?
Longtime Bulls team owner Jerry Reinsdorf recently opened up with WGN’s Rich King, to discuss the Bulls current roster and the outlook going forward. Via Yahoo! Sports’ Kelly Dwyer:
“Obviously, we’re a mediocre team this year, a middle-of-the-pack team,” Reinsdorf told King. “Looks like we probably will make the playoffs but we don’t know for sure. But we’re not that bad. When Derrick (Rose) comes back, that gets us a top-five player and we’ve got a lot of things going for us.
“We have the rights to (Nikola) Mirotic, who’s probably the best player in Europe. He’s going to come either this year or the following year at the latest.”
Reinsdorf also cited the Bobcats’ first-round pick from the Tyrus Thomas trade and a potential first-round pick from the Kings acquired in the Luol Deng trade to the Cavaliers.
“We’re not starting from scratch,” Reinsdorf said. “We still have Noah and Derrick and (Mike) Dunleavy and Taj Gibson and (Carlos) Boozer. We’ve got a pretty good base.
“The future looks good, and you have to be proud of the way they’ve played this year.”
Trade news
Rumors are always prevalent at this time of the year. The murmurs for players like Rondo, Kyle Lowry and Pau Gasol will continue but our very own Chris Sheridan today wrote about the 5 players most likely to be traded. Well worth a look!
Barbosa nets new deal
The Associated Press reports that Brazilian guard Leandro Barbosa has been signed for the remainder of the season by the Phoenix Suns.
“Phoenix originally signed Barbosa to a 10-day contract on Jan. 8 after Eric Bledsoe injured his knee and then signed him to another 10-day deal.
The 31-year-old Barbosa averaged 8.7 points, 2.2 rebounds and two assists in nine games with the Suns. He scored 21 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter, against New York on Jan. 13.
Barbosa spent the first seven seasons of his 11-year career with Phoenix and was named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year in 2006-07 after averaging 18.1 points and four assists per game. He’s also played for Toronto, Indiana and Boston, with a career scoring average of 12 points per game.”
Injury Update
The Minnesota Timberwolves today announced that Nikola Pekovic underwent an MRI that revealed bursitis in his right ankle. Pekovic will be withheld from basketball activities for 7-10 days and will be reevaluated at that time. As a result he will be sidelined indefinitely.
Pekovic left last night’s game at Chicago midway thorugh the first quarter. The 6-11 center has appeared in all 44 games this year for the Wolves, averaging career highs in points (18.0 ppg), rebounds (9.1 rpg) and minutes (32.5 mpg).
Kent Youngblood of the Minnesota Star Tribune notes:
“Even the most optimistic outcome of treatment would mean Pekovic will miss at least three games. The Wolves host New Orleans on Wednesday and Memphis on Friday before playing at Atlanta Saturday. The Wolves then play four games in five nights starting Feb. 4.”
Anthony Davis
Anthony Davis’ stellar season continued Tuesday night as the 2nd year big amassed the impressive stat line of 30 points on 12-18 shooting, 7 rebounds and a whopping 8 blocked shots.
Davis, the first selection in the 2012 draft, has been the most important cog in Monty Williams’ Pelicans machine this season, averaging 20.1 points and 10.5 rebounds per game.
Who’s hot?
Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder are hot!
Durant has chalked up 11 straight 30-point games and OKC, after going 5-5 initially after losing Russell Westbrook to injury, have won 8-straight since, good for the longest active win streak in the NBA.
Enter LeBron James and the Miami Heat.
Today, KD and the Westbrook-less Thunder head to South Beach to take on the Miami Heat in what could be a preview of the NBA Finals. And something tells me that LeBron James has had this one circled on his calendar for quiet a while. I know it’s all about the playoffs for 2014 Bron, but a part of him must be getting quietly frustrated with all the recent hype surrounding Durant’s hot streak.
I’m expecting a ‘Yes, I’m still the best player in the world and this is my house’ game from King James. Must watch.
Who’s not?
The Cleveland Cavaliers are NOT HOT. The Cavs have lost 4 out of their last 5 games, suffering defeats to the Mavs, Suns, Bulls and most recently the Pelicans (tonight). The Cavs barely gave a yelp as Pelicans big man Anthony Davis starred in the easy road win for New Orleans.
To make matters worse their only win in that span came against the lowly Bucks. Hardly the improvement Dan Gilbert and Chris Grant would have envisaged after making the trade for Luol Deng in early January. The Cavs now sit at 16-29 , 3 games in the win column from the 8th place Bobcats.
Wall’s Wizards
Somewhat of a damning subplot to the Wizards season and franchise surfaced yesterday. The fact that they as a team have never been over .500 with John Wall on the roster. The bad news for optimistic Wiz fans? It doesn’t appear to be getting any easier in the short term. (Warriors game tonight) They are then faced with the Clippers, Thunder, Blazers and Spurs to end a horror 5 game stretch. If they can go above .500 through that period, it would be a terrific coup for a franchise that seems to lack the self-confidence and belief to compete consistently at a high level.
Speaking of the Wizards, John Wall had this to say to Sports Illustrated’s Scooby Axon about his Team USA snub.
“It’s more motivation because I didn’t make the McDonald’s [high school All-American] game. I wasn’t national player of the year. I wasn’t rookie of the year,” Wall told the Post. “So those are just tabs I keep to motivate myself to prove people wrong.”
Jake Henson is a fledgling NBA writer from Australia. In 2014, Jake plans to move to the United States to follow his dream of being a regular NBA columnist.
Twitter: @jwhenson_