The Chicago Bulls led from start to finish for a much-needed road win over the Boston Celtics, 96-83. Luol Deng finished with 25 points on 8-13 shooting, making up for only nine foul-plagued minutes of ineffectiveness from Derrick Rose in the first half.
Watching Joakim Noah (15 pts, 11 rbds, 4 blks) sends my mind back to the 2007 draft, and one of the big ‘what ifs’ for Mike D’Antoni’s Phoenix Suns. The lottery had already dealt Phoenix its biggest blow, when the Atlanta Hawks (the fourth worst record) drew the third pick and kept their top-three protected pick instead of conveying it to the Suns. However, the Suns still had interest in trading up from #24 and #29 to get among the top prospects.
Phoenix reportedly had a deal in place to acquire the 8th pick from Charlotte in exchange for Kurt Thomas (among other assets) in order to select Joakim Noah. Instead, the Golden State Warriors arrived late with an offer including Jason Richardson, and selected Brandon Wright with the pick. Noah, touted as a #1 pick in the 2006 draft, fell to Chicago at #9 in the 2007 draft. Phoenix selected then sold (a typical Robert Sarver draft night) Rudy Fernandez at #24, but kept Alando Tucker at #29, a player who never cracked the rotation and who was traded for financial reasons in 09-10.
Soon after the draft, the Suns ended up trading Thomas to Seattle, a team committed to rebuilding following the departure of Rashard Lewis to Orlando and the trade of Ray Allen to the Celtics. The salary dump backfired on the Suns when Seattle traded Thomas later in the season to the Spurs, who acquired Thomas to counter the Suns’ acquisition of Shaquille O’Neal. Thomas often guarded O’Neal as the Spurs dispatched the Suns in the first round of the 2008 playoffs.
Now, seeing Noah collect boards at a top-of-the-league rate (12.2 rpg), run the floor and finish the pick and roll (0.495 FG%) and make free throws (0.761 FT%), I wonder just how dynamic a Suns team with Noah at center could have been.
Someone (perhaps me one day) ought to compile a ‘what ifs’ for D’Antoni’s Suns to see where this one would rank.
Jazz 97, Cavs 96
Sundiata Gaines upstages Lebron James’ 4th quarter heroics by hitting his first 3-pointer in the NBA to win the game at the buzzer.
Watching Bynum, one word comes to mind. Patience. The Lakers finished eleventh in the Western Conference in 2004-05 season. Kobe Bryant could only manage All-NBA Third Team and the MVP was one Steve Nash. With the 10th pick in the 2005 draft, the Lakers took Andrew Bynum and he became (at the time) the youngest player to ever play in the NBA. No-one outside of the Lakers’ front office believed in the pick, and certainly not Kobe, who would have loved to turn Bynum into Jason Kidd. But times have changed.
There was however only one talking point from the game. In the first quarter, Lebron James drove to the hoop and had his dunk blocked by Jermaine O’Neal. Dwyane Wade calmly collected the loose ball, pushed up the court and surprised Anderson Varejao at the rim with the dunk of the season. In fact, it was one of the most explosive in-your-face dunks that I have ever seen.
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