Let the Finals Begin: Dallas Mavericks v. Miami Heat (5/30/11)
May 30, 2011 Blog
It’s been a long break from fantasy basketball, but with the finals starting and the NBA draft coming up in about three weeks it’s time to get back to posting fantasy news to get ready for the 2011-2012 NBA Season.
2010-2011 NBA Finals – I have to honestly say that I didn’t pick either of these two teams to make the Finals. Miami was probably a bigger surprise for me than the Mavericks. I’m a Mark Cuban fan, so I guess I’m leaning toward the Mavs to take it this season. Either way, it’s certain to be an entertaining series.
2011 NBA Draft – The draft will take place on June 23 with Cleveland grabbing the 1st and 4th picks, with Minnesota 2nd and Utah 3rd. While watching the lottery show was anyone surprised that the kid for Cleveland won the thing? Almost as good as Abe Pollin’s widow winning it last season. Although for entertainment, nothing could beat the look on David Kahn’s face when the kid won. Priceless. I haven’t dug too far into the mock drafts yet, but I’ll probably get around to it in the next couple of weeks and post some mocks from around the web.
Free Agency – The NBA Free Agency period kicks off July 1. There should be quite a few moves to shake up the fantasy world and I’ll do my best to cover them as they come in.
Brandon Roy (POR) – I’ve seen some talk of the Blazers asking Roy to retire so they can avoid a hit to the salary cap. Roy could retire thereby invoking the insurance coverage if a doctor is willing to sign off on the fact that he’s physically unfit to play. He could then sit out a year and return to the NBA for the 2012-2013 season. With the CBA issue, it might be an interesting strategy for the Blazers. I’m not sure that it’s going to be a possible to retain Roy in keeper leagues next season.
Mike Brown (LAL) – The Lakers hired Mike Brown to replace Phil Jackson for the upcoming season. Brown led the Cleveland Caveliers to some great years, but I’m not sure his brand of painfully slow paced, defensive oriented basketball is going to go over well with the LA crowd. I alwasys despised watching Cavs games because they were simply boring, even with LeBron doing his thing. If he brings the same style to LA and gets off to a poor start, it’s going to be tough to get out the the media’s doghouse. Sebastian Pruiti has a great look at how Brown’s offense might operate in LA. Fantasy owners of Laker players are also going to have to pay particular attention to how Brown divides up the playing time and how he chooses to pace the games.
Kevin McHale (HOU) – Rick Adelman is out as Rocket’s head coach and it looks like McHale is the pick to replace him. I’m not a fan of McHale’s coaching ability, but this move is likely just Daryl Morey hiring a puppet so he can control the moves from his office. It’s probably time for Houston to start rebuilding and McHale should be able to carry out Morey’s wishes on player selection and development without the pressure of putting a winner on the floor. For fantasy owners, this move could signal that there will be some great fantasy gambles on this team for the upcoming season with several young guys getting a real shot at playing time.
Golden State – The Warriors are still in the market for a head coach and it seems to have come down to either Lawrence Frank or Dwane Casey. I think Frank is a no-brainer here and the Warriors should grab him before someone else does.