This has already been a pretty jam packed day in the NBA and there hasn’t even been a game played yet. The morning started off with James Dolan rescinding the lifetime ban on Charles Oakley at MSG for the incident Wednesday Night. Although this a positive sign in helping mend what a fucking absolute mess the devil himself, James Dolan, has created, Oakley still isn’t pleased. Oakley wants a public apology from Dolan, and not to him, but for the New York Knick fans. Oakley said that even though the ban has been taken off that he’s still hurting, and deservedly so and doesn’t know when or if he’ll ever come back. I can’t blame the man either, after having been arrested and charged on three accounts and have this entire situation blow up because of James Dolan and his pathetic insecurities, he shouldn’t just give in and be all buddy buddy with him at the Garden. Oakley is pissed and deservedly so, I’d tell you one thing if I was him I wouldn’t return to MSG for the rest of the season.
In other news Cleveland Cavaliers power forward, Kevin Love, will be out for an estimated six weeks. Man, this is the last thing the Cavs needed. The Cavs just have looked off lately, especially without JR Smith, missing him on both sides of the ball. Smith set a Cavs record in three-pointers last year with 204 and making a very respectable 40 percent from behind the arc. So, the Love injury is terrible as they are now down two quality starters and big pieces to their teams. Without Love, who is a great rebounder, outlet passer and floor spacer, it is expected that Channing Frye will start in place of him. Frye can also space the floor and is a very good 3-point shooter, at a 42.2 percent clip this year in fact. But he is nowhere near the offensive threat or passer for that matter that Kevin Love is. What does the injury mean? Aside from Frye getting a huge upgrade in minutes, it means a lot more of Kyrie Irving and Lebron James. Expect them to dominate the ball and for their offensive numbers to significantly go up to compensate for Love’s 20 plus points a game he was contributing. It also means Tristan Thompson will be more important than ever on the glass and even chipping in a little more offensively. However, it is not all doom and gloom for the Cavs, JR smith should be back in three to four weeks, figure Mid-March for a realistic return date. Also, Love should be back soon after and they should have the whole squad back for April and get some chemistry before the playoffs start. All Cleveland has to do now is stay afloat and maintain the number one seed with the Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards coming in hot at just 2 and 4.5 games back respectively.
The other team being the Cavs normal top competition, is the slipping Toronto Raptors, however the Raptors just made a huge splash acquiring athletic big man Serge Ibaka. The trade has the Magic sending over Ibaka in return for a first round pick and talented young guard, Terrence Ross. Ibaka has been almost forgotten of late, as does almost anyone that goes to the Orlando Magic, who are an embarrassment of an organization. However, Ibaka is quietly putting together a nice season with around 15 points and 7 boards a game to go along with 1.6 blocks, down from usual, but still a prescience defensively. None of those numbers exactly jump off to you, but his real impact will come from serving as a stretch 4. Ibaka has a great mid-range jumper to go with a career high in 3-point percent at a shade under 39. What this will really do is give the dynamic duo of Kyle Lowry and Demar Derozan more space to operate and drive with Ibaka bringing his man out of the paint more frequently. The threat of Ibaka’s jumper should be more than enough to create space, clearly, Jared Sullinger hasn’t been impactful enough for them at the 4 spot as he’s more of a traditional Power Forward. The move means the Raptors should not only right the ship but also become serious contenders to take on the Cavs, Celtics, and Wizards. The eastern conference just got a little more interesting, and I love it.
