Chris Paul and the Los Angeles Clippers: What does the Future Hold?

May 23, 2013   Roundball Direct   No comments
Chris Paul, Credits SB Nation

Chris Paul, Credits SB Nation

By Julianne Collie,

And so another season has ended with a sigh of disappointment for the Los Angeles Clippers.  Only this time, the team was coming off their best regular season record in franchise history, making the sting only that much more painful.  After going 56-26 in the regular season, and picking up a legitimate rival in Los Angeles along the way, the Clippers still could not manage to make it out of the first round of the NBA Playoffs.  If the Clippers want to be seen as a championship contender in the near future, a few issues must be addressed in the off-season first.

The Clippers entire 2013-2014 season is contingent upon Chris Paul’s return to the team.  Their sudden downfall could not have come at a worse time, as Paul will be a free agent this summer.  The Clippers completely fell apart for four straight playoff games against the Memphis Grizzlies, giving Paul plenty of reason to take his talents elsewhere.  Chris Paul is the Clippers most valuable asset; as such, they will almost certainly max out his salary, as they should.  Re-signing Paul will be the Clippers number one priority moving forward; without him, the team will undoubtedly regress back to the disappointing team they once were.

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Grizzlies Road To The Western Conference Finals

May 23, 2013   Roundball Direct   No comments
Tony Allen; Credit NBA

Tony Allen; Credit NBA

By Kendall Burke

The Grizzlies don’t have a trio of superstars like the Miami Heat. They don’t have a trio like the San Antonio Spurs, who have dominated the NBA for four years. However, the Grizzlies’ threesome of Marc Gasol, Mike Conley, and Zach Randolph have stepped up and led Memphis to an unexpected spot in the NBA Western Conference Finals.

Gasol is still Pau’s little brother in the eyes of many. Conley, the son of a track star, was almost traded early in his career. Randolph isn’t a veteran to Memphis; this is his fourth NBA team. However, these underdogs have found themselves a couple games away from the NBA Finals.

“Me, Marc and Zach, we all tried to take the team and put them on our back and say, ‘Hey, this is what we’re going to do. This is what we’ve got to do to be great and get to where we want to go,’” Conley said Friday. “We knew we had to step up, and we all did that.”

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Shane and Gain

May 23, 2013   Roundball Direct   No comments
Shane Larkin, Credit University of Miami

Shane Larkin, Credit University of Miami

By: Jesse Moore

The 2013 NBA draft class doesn’t appear to have any “can’t miss” type of prospects, let’s just call it how it is.  This year’s class is widely viewed amongst NBA executives as light on star power but rather deep with potential solid NBA regulars.  A 206 pound shot-blocking center, Nerlens Noel out of the University of Kentucky, seems to be the number one overall prospect but is not expected to appear on an NBA floor until after the season begins due to a torn ACL that he suffered in February.  Michigan point-guard Trey Burke, Kansas shooting-guard Ben McLemore, Indiana’s duo of Victor Oladipo and Cody Zeller, as well as Georgetown’s Otto Porter and a few others are all looked at as having the potential to be above-average NBA players.  With those players all expected to land somewhere in the top 10 picks of this year’s draft, the supply of impact talent seems to falter once the lottery picks are through.  Although it is rare for a player drafted outside of the lottery to become a great player, one of the players in this draft class that can potentially be that guy is Shane Larkin out of the University of Miami.

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NBA Draft Rumors for May 22, 2013

May 22, 2013   Roundball Direct   No comments
Alex Len; Credits University of Maryland

Alex Len; Credits University of Maryland

Some executives believe that McLemore could end up being the best player to come out of this draft class. He is an all-around talent and he has plenty of potential at 20 years old. Not only is he an exceptional shooter, he’s also a terrific athlete, as evidenced by his 42-inch vertical. McLemore showed glimpses of greatness during his one season at Kansas and he averaged 15.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steal in 32.2 minutes. He would be a quality pick for Orlando and someone who could play alongside the Magic’s young core of Maurice Harkless, Tobias Harris and Nikola Vucevic.

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And The Winner Is…. The Cleveland Cavaliers… “Maybe”?

May 22, 2013   Roundball Direct   No comments
Ben McLemore, Credits Kansas Univ

Ben McLemore, Credits Kansas Univ

By Reggie Richardson

The Cleveland Cavaliers defied the odds, by jumping from a projected third place selection to the first place position in Tuesday night’s NBA draft lottery. The conventional wisdom is to take the best available big man, and then cross your fingers that he doesn’t turn into the next Sam Bowie, or Greg Oden. The Cleveland franchise has had its fair share of set backs and heartaches in recent years. The most notable was the loss of their hometown hero and star LeBron James. James left the Cavaliers franchise in 2010 to join the Miami Heat. LeBron led Miami to the NBA championship last year, and is on pace to do the same thing again this season. He also won the fourth MVP award of his illustrious career, while Cleveland missed the playoffs for a third straight season. So the question is will the 2013 draft deliver the type of impact player that James was during his stint with the Cavalier franchise? To determine that we need to breakdown the two potential first overall NBA draft choices. 

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2013-2014 Marquette Men’s Basketball Outlook

May 22, 2013   Roundball Direct   No comments
Buzz Williams; Credits Marquette

Buzz Williams; Credits Marquette

By Alexander Maykowski

Only four teams have made the last three Sweet Sixteens: Florida, Kansas, Ohio State and Marquette. To add to that, Marquette made the Elite Eight last year and boasts the 11th rated 2013 recruiting class according to ESPN.com. ESPN also ranked them 9th in their Very Early 2013-14 rankings, while CBS Sports put them at 10th in their Way-too-early 2014 Top 25.

All of this was done under the assumption that leading scorer Vander Blue, a junior, would be back. Then, on, April 16th, against the advice of his coach, Buzz Williams, Blue announced he would declare for the 2013 NBA Draft. This decision, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, was predicated on the determination that Blue had “lost interest” in attending classes.

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