Wondering why there’s no post from me for the last two days. Let me tell you, it’s a real bitch to write when your keyboard looks like this.
Take One: Bargnani a Top Ten Center.
He’s not. Unless you’re completely ignoring the defensive side of the ball, and even then, it’s delusion to think otherwise. Unlike Yahoo Sports, one should classify him ahead of Roy Hibbert and Greg Oden (that truly was an insult), but he’s not top ten. Here are ten centers better than him: Dwight Howard, Andrew Bogut, Andrew Bynum, Joakim Noah, Brook Lopez, Marc Gasol, Al Jefferson, Marcus Camby (even though he’s 49), Al Horford, and Chris Kaman. The window for Bargnani to be considered a top talent in the league is closing fast. The good news is that he’s only 24, the bad news is that growth of a player slows down with age and the progress and level of consistency he’s shown over the last four hasn’t exactly left you in anticipation of seeing something great. Good kid, though.
Take Two: Nene
The Nuggets will be open to trading Nene and all the Raptors have to do is offer their TPE in return, instantly sending the Nuggets within a minor move of getting under the tax. Nene’s salary is $11.3M, but the Nuggets would be saving $22.6M by shipping him off since they’re over the tax. . On paper, this might sound like a good move for the Raptors as they appear to get tough with a bruiser like Nene in there. I thought so too, until I saw last year’s playoffs where Nene appeared, dare I say it, soft. David Ramsey’s article further reaffirmed my belief that Nene is more style than substance when it comes to grinding it out. My favorite line from the article:
If Nene can’t dominate Krylo Fesenko, the Jazz’s version of the Pillsbury Doughboy, Nene will never dominate.
Take Three: Team Canada
They lost to 81-71 to Lebanon who I wasn’t aware had a basketball program. They followed it up with a two point loss to Lithuania, which one could see coming. Their next games are: France on Tuesday, New Zealand on Wednesday and Spain on Thursday. There are a total of 6 groups and 24 teams, and only 8 teams get eliminated, meaning that Canada needs to finish in the top four in their group to advance. Right now they’re fifth but I reckon they can move to four if they win a couple games.
Our man Kleiza dropped a game-high 18 on Leo’s boys, he’s averaging 35 minutes a game and netting 22.5 points per. He took 15 shots, of which 7 were threes of which he hit on three. So that’s Kleiza for you. I know this is not really a ‘take’, but to make it one, I think Leo Rautins should be fired regardless of the outcome, because anything associated with Leo can’t be good.
