Rudy Gay - The Most Interesting Man In The NBA

Remember back to the 2007-2008 NBA season. The Raptors were coming off their best regular season in franchise history. Chris Bosh was the face of the franchise and still relatively likable. Only one problem. Bosh was trailing Kevin Garnett massively in the All-Star vote. Garnett's stats weren't as good but he was playing his first year for the eventual NBA Champion Boston Celtics. The hype alone surrounding the Big 3 was enough to push Garnett into the starting lineup.
So Bosh dropped this video, which was then a pretty revolutionary marketing strategy. His votes skyrocketed but it was not enough to oust Garnett, or LeBron James for that matter, of a starting forward spot. Garnett ended up missing the game due to injury, and Bosh took his place in the starting lineup. The video worked (kind of), and Bosh earned his second consecutive All-Star start.
Memphis Grizzlies forward Rudy Gay recently put out a All-Star promotional video of his own, shown above. It parodies the Dos Equis commercials and is just as good if not better than Bosh's video two years ago. Only one problem. Gay, unlike Bosh two years earlier, doesn't deserve to be an All-Star. In fact, he's not even in the Top 10 vote-getters amongst forwards as of the last update on January 13th. It's not that he isn't a great player, but more due to the fact that he has names like Durant, Anthony, Gasol, Griffin, Duncan, and Nowitzki to compete with.
In that respect, it almost feels like a good video was wasted to fight a losing battle. Maybe next year. By then, Duncan and Nowitzki may be showing their age and Carmelo will be in the East. 

Team USA's Top Five Players

Any stock broker, single guy at the bar, or college quarterback can tell you it's good to have options. Such was the case for this post. The beginning of the NFL season and the end of the FIBA World Championship have provided an endless amount of things to talk about. In fact, I narrowed it down to a few ideas:
1) The amount of times Fran Frashcilla said "feast or famine" in one broadcast. I can imagine a broadcast journalism professor shouting at the TV, "Redundancy, Redundancy!"
2) The Cold War 2.0: How much the US and Russia still hate each other. The US gets mad when Russia takes credit for the 1972 Olympic gold medal in basketball. Russia gets mad when the US takes credit for Carly Patterson's 2004 Olympic All Around Gold Medal. There's still monkeys up in space somewhere. When will it all end?
3) Russian national team coach David Blatt's facial contortions. Furthering my point that international basketball not only has the strangest looking players of any sport, but coaches as well.
4) They say the camera adds ten pounds. Does HD add five years to Brett Favre's appearance?
Ok, so I like lists. A lot. I also was talking about options earlier. Team USA has 11 first or second options on their respective NBA teams, and one third option (sorry Tyson Chandler). So in an effort to tie all of this together, if I had the option, here are the top five players on Team USA I would take to build my team around.

Number 5: Rudy Gay - Before this tournament I would have said Danny Granger, but what Gay has done in this tournament is undeniable. So much so, that Granger has been relegated to the end of the bench. Gay gets overshadowed in Memphis because Zach Randolph helps with the scoring load. He also happens to be overlooked in FIBA play because he's playing behind Durant.
Here's what I love best about Gay's tournament: he's shooting 58 percent from the field, compared to his career 45 percent in the NBA. If there's one knock on Gay is that he needs to develop a more consistent outside shot. He's shown he can do that in FIBA play, let's see if it translates to the NBA. If it does, Gay will average 20 points a game and battle for one of the last All-Star spots in the West.

Number 4: Andre Iguodala - Iguodala may be the best player the casual NBA fan has never heard of. He averaged 17/6/5 last year. He's just a notch below the elite guard-forward guys such like Wade, LeBron, and Kobe.
What has hurt Iguodala through out his career is that he's never played with a playmaking point guard that can create opportunities for him. Louis Williams, Allen Iverson, Andre Miller were all shoot first point guards. Jrue Holliday will be handed the reigns this year, but he seems to be pretty offensive minded as well. Too often Iguodala has been isolated and forced to create his own shot, which has led to some bad shots, and a not-so-impressive shooting percentage. The talent is there, he just needs to be surrounded by players that can bring it out.
I also love Iguodala's durability. He's played all 82 games in five of his six NBA seasons. If I'm building a team, I want a guy I can count on to be out there every night.

Number 3: Russell Westbrook - I admit, I'm placing Westbrook this high based off potential. While he still needs work on his shot and needs to his limit his turnovers, he's entering his third NBA season and will turn 22 later this year.
Westbrook fits the new mold of point guards. He's big, fast, athletic, and has ability to get to the basket at will. If he continues to improve it's not inconceivable to see him developing into a Chris Paul type of point guard that is an elite player on both ends of the floor.
The big difference right now is that Westbrook is nowhere near the shooter Paul is. He's entering his third year, which is normally around the time guys start to improve their shot. Derrick Rose improved his shooting considerably from his second to third year.
The good thing is that with Durant around, Westbrook will never be expected to carry the scoring load.

Number 2: Derrick Rose - Is Rose this high on the list because he plays for the Bulls? Yes. But I mean that in a objective way and not a homer-pick kind of way. The fact that I've been able to see about 85 percent of Derrick Rose's NBA games allows me to comment on the types of things that don't show up in the stat book.
For instance, what's the biggest knock on Rose? He only averages 6 assists a game. The line of thinking as that the elite point guards average around 10 or more assists per game. And if a point guard doesn't average his 10 then he's either not elite, or a dreaded "score-first point guard."
While his stats may suggest otherwise, Rose is in fact an elite, "true" point guard. His lack of assists have more to do with the incompetence of his teammates than anything he's done. Rose's game is penetrating and then either kicking it out to a teammate or finishing the drive. He's also improved his shot to the point where teams can't play off him like they did in his first two seasons.
Team USA's style of play doesn't utilize is skill set and he has still managed to play very well. At this point, he has better body control and his a better finisher at the rim than Westbrook. They both have a similar skill set.
Rose also has the experience of putting an entire team on his back early in his NBA career and carrying them to the playoffs. Last year's Bulls team had no business being in the playoffs, and the 2008 Bulls had no business taking the Celtics to 7 games. Replace Rose with any other point guard besides D-Will, Paul, or Nash, and the 2009 team doesn't make the playoffs, and the 2008 team is eliminated in 5 games.

Number 1: Kevin Durant - Everything that needs to be said about Kevin Durant has already been said. He's the best scorer in the game at age 22. He should have been drafted before Greg Oden. He's a humble and hardworking guy. The only thing left for him to do is win a couple of MVP awards and NBA Finals trophies.
Here's my attempt at a fresh take on Kevin Durant and the number 3 player on this list, Russell Westbrook. Durant (2nd overall) and Westbrook (4th overall) were drafted in the 2007 and 2008 drafts, respectively. Very rarely do teams get back to back top 5 picks, and when they do (Bulls, Grizzlies, Clippers, T'Wolves) they fuck at least one of the picks up. The selections of Durant and Westbrook will be only the 4th successful back to back top 5 picks for a team in the last 20 years, and the first since 1992-93. Here's the 3 other duos:
1990-91 - Derrick Coleman (1st overall) and Kenny Anderson (2nd overall). During their 4 years together Coleman average 20 points and 10 rebounds for the last three years with the Nets that were not marred by injuries. Anderson averaged 17 points and 9 assists a game. The Nets would never make it out of the first round of the playoffs.
1991-92 - Larry Johnson (1st overall) and Alonzo Mourning (2nd overall). During their 3 years together Johnson averaged 18 points and 9 rebounds and Mourning averaged 21 points and 10 rebounds a game. The farthest Charlotte would get is to the second round of the playoffs.
1992-93 - Shaquille O'Neal (1st overall) and Penny Hardaway (3rd overall, drafted by Golden State and traded to the Magic). During their 3 years together, Shaq averaged 27 points and 12 rebounds a game, while Penny averaged 19 points and 7 assists a game. The Magic would be the the most successful of the duos, reaching the 1995 NBA Finals, and the 1996 Eastern Conference Finals.
It's hard to imagine Durant and Westbrook matching the play of O'Neal and Hardaway. The Magic duo was one of the greatest of all-time. However, you'll notice a pattern amongst these three duos. The Magic were the only duo unaffected by injuries, and consequently advanced the furthest in the playoffs (Penny's string of injuries would begin the year after Shaq bolted to LA).These duos also spent no more than four years with each other, not enough time to build a championship winning chemistry.
If Durant and Westbrook and can stay healthy and remain in Oklahoma City, they may experience something none of these duos experienced, an NBA Championship together.

Team USA Improves To 5-0

I've been watching many of these FIBA games and have been thinking about why I'm enjoying this tournament so much. The obvious answer is that the USA is beatable. It's much more fun when you're rooting to win and not rooting to win by at least 40. But no, it's not that.
Another answer could revolve around the nationalism that goes hand in hand with an international sports tournament. One problem: besides the rivalry between Turkey and Greece, there aren't any countries and fans that blatantly hate each other like you'll see in the World Cup.

It finally dawned on me while watching this morning's USA-Tunisia game. It's the funny looking guys on the international teams that you just don't get in the NBA. Think about it, if you saw any NBA player walking down the street, somebody could point towards him, tell you that's Player X, and you'd believe them. Brian Scalabrine is the only exception. Even a weird looking guy like Chris Kaman gets a pass because he's a seven footer.
Each international team has at least five Scalabrine's. In fact, Tunisian forward Radhouane Slimane's baldness attracted more attention than anything that actually happened in the game. Slimane is 30 years old and looks about 45. Just think about how hard it is to look 15 years older than you are.
Slimane is exactly the type of guy you would immediately D up on in a pick up game thinking you'd get a rest on defense. First possession, he hits a mid range jumper in your face and you shrug it off as luck. Then he does it again the next time down the floor. "Shit," you say to yourself and play defense for the rest of the game.
Anyway, what I wanted to talk about is how much Eric Gordon and Rudy Gay have improved their stock during this tournament.
Gordon led all scorers against Tunisia with 21 points on 7-10 shooting. I was more impressed with his defense. He recorded three steals in 25 minutes. Gordon has been USA's best option off the bench, and his play has led some to speculate about his possible insertion into the starting lineup.
But at who's expense?

Rose and Billups have both looked lackluster at times. I think pairing up Gordon with Rose would be ideal because Rose's ability to penetrate would create plenty of open looks for Gordon.
Another possibility is starting Gordon next to Billups and moving Billups back to point guard where he's more comfortable. This would be a better defensive backcourt but would lack speed and athleticism.
My guess would be that Coach K sticks with his original starting lineup. Rose is too versatile not to start, and I think he likes the veteran leadership that Billups provides. If it ain't broke don't fix it. Gordon has excelled off the bench, so he'll likely remain in the 6th man role.
Rudy Gay is another player that I've been impressed with. I think it's not so much that he's improved, as it is I wasn't aware of how good he was. I always assumed Granger was the better of the two players. The stats last season would suggest that (Granger - 24/5/3, Gay - 19/6/2) they're more even than I thought. Also take into account that Gay plays with a 20 ppg scorer in Randolph, and Indiana's offense is run through Granger.
Gay has shot the ball well and shown a willingness to rebound the basketball (the same can't be said for most of his teammates). At this point, Gay has cemented his spot as the back up small forward. The Tunisia game is evidence. Granger got the majority of the minutes during garbage time in the second half because he needed to find a way to work Granger into the game somehow.
USA will face Angola on Monday for their first game in the 16 team single elimination tournament. More on that tomorrow.