Wiseman: The King of Potential

 

Wiseman: The King of Potential

By: Logan Duvall

26 October 2021

James Wiseman, one of the players with the highest potential in the 2020 draft. The easiest pick for the Warriors, Wiseman did not come into the league making noise. He was pretty quiet, averaging mediocre numbers, 11 points, 5 rebounds, and a block and a half. Not bad for a rookie, but nothing to be impressed by. Wiseman immediately fell from the best center in the draft to a normal role player.

    Tragedy strikes when Wiseman departs from the court during his first season in the league. Leaving with a meniscus tear to a long road of recovery. This is the last thing a rookie wants to hear. 

    Fast forward, Steve Kerr come out and says the team is not pleased with his development, expecting more out of the second pick of the draft. News breaks that the Warriors are sending Wiseman to the G-league! This is a desperate action, a "Hail-Mary" if you will, attempting to find the Wiseman that they scouted in college. 

    Are the Warriors right in thinking this? NO! Wiseman is the Drose of big men. He has so much potential that if he comes back from the injury, climbs out of the G-league, he will most-likely make his way into the starting lineup. Maybe not this season, but definitely next, he will be in the top 5 running for MVP. 

    James Wiseman's physical abilities, knowledge of the game, and sheer grit in the paint is the most we have seen since Shaq, but he can hit threes. Wiseman will win MVP in the next five seasons. If he stays healthy, he will be top 5 in points and rebounding when he eventually retires. 

Sweep the Legs Grayson

 Sweep the Legs Grayson
Logan Duvall
21 October 2021

How good are the defending champions? Well, they are really good, scarily good. The Bucks made minimal changes to their roster during the off season, adopting a "run it back" mindset. However, that does not mean the team did not change. 

    The most obvious changes to the rotation is the loss of PJ Tucker. The shoe king himself left and signed with Miami. How will this impact the regular season, but more importantly how will it impact the playoffs? Tucker was a key part of the playoffs, mainly for his defense. Take a moment and ponder if PJ Tucker was not there
to constantly harass Kevin Durant in the Nets series do they get out of that round? NO! PJ Tucker was the backbone of the defensive charge attacking the playoffs, now he is gone. 

    However, the Bucks made the best signing they could have in the mission of replacing PJ Tucker. Welcome to Milwaukee Grayson Allen! The villain the Bucks are lacking, the man who is okay getting dirty and doing anything for a ring. 

    Allen averaged 10 points on almost 40% shooting with three rebounds and two assists. This does not do Grayson Allen's game justice. Do you need a trip call Allen, do you need a kick call Allen? He is Johnny, who is ready to sweep the legs of karate kid and take out any barrier in the way. Dirty, borderline disrespectful, but efficient basketball. He is the perfect replacement for PJ Tucker. 

    Allen has been caught multiple times tripping or kicking opponents on the basketball court. Most of his troubles came from his time at Duke, but his college shenanigans did not stay in North Carolina. 

    Allen has had a feud with Young Star Trae Young. They have scuffled several times in the NBA, but eventually the battle came to the public eye. Young tweeted a video showing Allen tripping him. Young tweeted, "Damn... tell me what y’all see!! Smh! this gotta stop.! #ifyoudontknownowyouknow." The battle got so bad the Trae Young had to blow it up! Grayson Allen then apologized, whether that is sarcastic or not only Allen knows. 

    Welcome to the Bucks Grayson Allen, go get them another ring. 

All Aboard the Struggle Boat!

All Aboard the Struggle Boat!

Logan Duvall

14 October 2021

The triple double king does not preform as expected. Russell Westbrook does not show out during his first three NBA preseason games with his new team. Lakers nation has not yet lashed out, but they are clutching their pearls in fear of a stinker of a season. Twitter may have found their new Kuzma in Russ. Let us examine his triple double numbers.

    Westbrook has average a terrible 6.6 points per game. Twitter will claim, "it's the preseason, he is barley getting minutes," however, Westbrook played 23 minutes on average over the three games. He cannot simply score the ball like he once could. 

    Westbrook averaged 6.3 rebounds across his first three games. This makes sense, he is a smaller guard, 6.3 is pretty good for a point guard. However, last year he averaged 11 for the year and 7 for his career. Is Russell taking a step back?

    Finally, how well did Westbrook pass the rock? Mediocrity sums up that stat, averaging a whopping 5 per game. What is happening to Westbrook's game?

    His triple double stats are falling short, however that is the least of the Lakers worry. Russell Westbrook is averaging 6.6 turnovers per game over three games, his high is 9 turnovers in the second game. Russell Westbrook is averaging the same amount of turnovers as he is points. Westbrook averaged 4 turnovers over his career, but when he arrives in LA he decides to up it by two. 

    When the season is all said and done Russell Westbrook will drop out of the starting line up and be retired in two years. 

 

Who's going to finish last?

 

Who's going to finish LAST?

Logan Duvall

4 October 2021

Who is going to finish last? well, we have a few teams that are lined up and ready for the race to the bottom to begin. Teams who are willing and ready to hand the lottery gods their entire future. The tank is about to start.

    The obvious answer is the thunder. They have 36 draft selections in the next 7 seasons, they just need to make those picks valuable. The Thunder have gone all in on the draft and are willing to be bad while waiting for the current middle school kid to grow up and bring OKC a championship. However, the Thunder have the parasite of Shai who will ultimately bring the thunder to a record in the mid twenties and not the bottom. 

    Our Next look is the magic. A rag-tag group of young bucks that nobody wanted, with the exception of Suggs. This group will surely get the last spot right? Sure you have some talent around Issac, but the rest are duds. Markelle Fultz is a bench player pretending to be a starter. Cole Anthony is simply not good at basketball. Mo Bamba will not be known as a good basketball player, but rather the center piece of a hip hop song. However, their badness brought them a good draft selection in Jalen Suggs, who will lead them to a play-in spot. 

    Finally, the most obvious and almost guaranteed answer is the Chicago Bulls. A team build from: Lonzo Ball, mediocre at everything except shooting(he is bad at that), Vucevich, a new school big man who cares more about getting his buckets than getting a board, DeRozan, very old and cannot shoot the three ball to save his life, and finally the center piece of this dumpster fire, Zachary Thomas LaVine, who the bulls are actively trying to trade and will be gone by the all-star break. 

    The Bulls hold more talent than the other teams discussed in this post, but lack one main thing, chemistry. The only thing that would make this team dynamic worse is if LaVar Ball was the coach. Watch the Bulls crumble this year and feel no remorse, they did this to themselves. The only hope is if the hornets find themselves at the bottom first.