Is RJ Barrett The Best College Prospect?

Duke has 3 of the top 4 college prospects by all accounts. This Duke team is absolutely sensational with the chance of winning the NCAA Championship this year. When Zion and Rj first came into college the debate was who was going to be better? Rj was the top ranked high schooler by ESPN, while Zion was lighting up the world with his dunks. As the season progressed it was clear that Zion was the better player, but now you can't help but question if Rj truly is the best player on Duke.

This season Rj is having an incredible year of averaging 23.3 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game. Barrett has just broken the Duke Scoring Record by a freshman in the season, this includes people like Marvin Bagley and Brandon Ingram. Barrett is having an incredible year and averaging more points than Zion is, which is 21.6 points. Barrett is also averaging 2 more assists than Zion, which means his playmaking for other is better.

Barrett's father is a retired professional basketball player, which I think means something. When a player's family member was in the pro's this will help ease the transition to the professional league. Look at Donovan Mitchell's rookie year, his father was a baseball player in the minors and Mitchell's ease to the pro's was easier than the average players. There's a number of professional athletes all throughout the leagues whose parents were in the pro's and their team easing into the professional league was easier. 

Barrett's godfather is Hall Of Fame Point Guard Steve Nash. Steve Nash is one of the greatest point guards of all time and his playmaking was phenomenal. With Nash showing Barrett a few things. it's no shocker that Barrett is averaging 4.2 assists without even bringing up the ball most plays. With Nash being a mentor to Barrett it'll help him become a great playmaker and better decision maker.

Coming into college, Rj was highly regarded as the best high school player. ESPN, Rivals, and 247Sports all had him ranked as the #1 overall high school player. Barrett was the most skilled player coming into college and during the McDonald's All-American game Barrett proved this to be true by dropping 26 points. 

Since Zion has gotten injured Barrett has stepped up tremendously, becoming the leader Duke needed. Rj Barrett will become in talks more for first overall if Zion remains to sit out. When you look at Barrett's stats his assists and rebounds have gone up, with him even dropping 33 points against UNC. Barrett should be considered the first overall pick if a team is looking for a potentially more skilled player. 

Tanking the way to Williamson?

The league has had a lot of teams not do well this year. For one reason or another there is just so many struggling franchise that the top teams are few. But saying that only three teams really have a shoot at the number one pick. The Cavilers, the Sun, and the Knicks are the front runners for that pick. The truth that we all know is the pick will probably be Zion Williamson. Should your team go after Him?

The Cavs have had alot of luck in the past with getting these picks. They are no strangers to having young talent who could have a great future. The benefits with the Cleveland team is clearly needs some hope to aid their young core. The young core could push forward with all the talent already on their team. Zion would bring much need spark to the fan base to see a future star. The question stands if he is a good fit for the team. Kevin love is still a big piece of the team. the team will find it impossible to trade him because of his contract. Also the team has promising young players who are showing great improvement for the last couple months. I think overall the team that cavs have isn't a long term team and they will try to build around Zion if they do get to pick him.

The suns are playing a odd game plan. They don't really have one right now to improve their team. They have lots of talent but no direction. Honestly If they were to pick Zion, it wouldn't change the team very much. They many win more games or the same. Devin Booker Is on the team and a stud. the only the thing is that he doesn't have the best judgment for the team. I believe the first real move the suns need is a new coach and GM. James Jones has not done a great job for the suns. Previously in the year he released Tyson Chandler for no real reason with a buyout. they could have put him in a trade package or something to benefit the team. Zion Williamson is the kind of player who needs to develop with a good team of mentors and coaches. He doesn't fit here because no one player will change the team. They have management problems and until they have a game plan with a new or old management that could work. Zion would be wasted here no matter what.

The last team is the Knicks. they have the most win or bust mode in the off season. they have traded they whole team away in hopes to get two super stars and the number one pick. If they do get all of these then Zion would be learning under two stars we cant yet because nothing happened yet or he could be alone on very low powered team overall. The knicks don't have anything right now minus some young players who could be good in the future. But only time will tell. If Zion does become Knicks it could the best situation or the worst. He does go alone they mostly build around him. the Knicks could use in any situation. It would be the most usage in any point.

The Warriors Worst Home Lost In Over A Decade

Last night the Celtics beat the Warriors 128-95. Gordon Hayward had one of his best games all season with 30 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. According to Adam Himmelsbach, this was the first time since March, 27th, 2006 where the Warriors had a wire-to-wire lost. This basically means that the Warriors never had a lead at any point during the game, where the Celtics lead by as much as 35 points. The Warriors only shot 22.9% from 3's and didn't have a single quarter where they outscored the Celtics. The Warriors basically got destroyed last night and this isn't a good sign for the playoffs. If they want to make a deep run in the playoffs they need to take every game serious, even if it's a team with a lot of problems. This is a promising sign for the Celtics as they hopefully have seemed to have things going in the right position, we will see tonight if they continue this play against the Kings.

The Most Important Player To The 76ers

With the playoffs approaching the 76ers are the heavy favorite to win the Eastern Conference. They are the most dominating center in basketball with Joel Embiid, and a 6'10 point guard in Ben Simmons. The Sixers also have Tobias Harris, who arguably could've been an all-star this year and Jimmy Butler who is a 4 time NBA all-star. With all of this talent on one roster, the most important player to the Sixers playoff run is JJ Redick. 

JJ Redick is the best 3 point shooter they have, shooting at a 38.4% and making an average of 3 three pointers a game. The 76ers make an average of 11 3 pointer, that means that Redick is responsible for 27% of the 3's made a game. In today's game spacing is everything, and with Ben Simmons you need spacing due to his lack of an outside shot.

Ben Simmons is at his best on a fast-break and when he has space. In the playoffs every team is going to play off Simmons to limit what he can do, they are going to play more to the help. When JJ is in he can run off screens and help open the floor more with his 3 point shooting, creating more of a problem on the defenses. If Redick is hitting it will cause teams to play more tightly on Simmons to prevent the pass to JJ and help Simmons have an easier time to blow past the defender. 

Joel Embiid will have an easier time also with Redick on the floor. With Redick being the best 3 point shooter on the team, he can draw the defenders outside of the paint to help create a more one on one approach of defending to Embiid. Embiid is averaging 27.3 points per game and 13.5 rebounds per game, he's the most dominating center in the league. Embiid is going to be a huge contributing factor for the Sixer's playoff success, but without Redick his job gets a lot harder. 

With the floor spacing being important to shot creators, this only helps Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris. As a shot creator you need as much room as possible to work your defender one on one. Typically teams will play some form of help defense, but with a deadeye 3 point shooter out there this makes it a lot harder to do. With a 3 point shooter, teams will be forced to have their defenders play tighter on them, causing a shot creator to have more of an isolation play.

When JJ Redick was out this season they had Landry Shamet come in and fill his role, running off screens hitting 3's. They don't have that anymore due to a trade prior in the season. Redick can not get hurt as they don't have any insurance in case he does. The Sixers tried to get Wayne Ellington, but he decided to go the Detroit Pistons. This makes Redick's presence a bigger importance as they don't have any true 3 point shooters coming off the bench in case of an injury. 

In the 2017 playoff's, JJ Redick was on the Clippers and they were playing against the Utah Jazz. The Jazz's game-plan was to stop JJ from breaking free and hitting 3's. That plan proved to be successful as they beat the Clippers 4-3 in that series, Redick helps makes other players jobs easier and without him being a factor it only makes their jobs harder. In the 2018 playoff series against the Miami Heat, JJ was unstoppable for the 76ers. He was hitting virtually every 3, averaging 2.6 3's made and 20 points per game. Redick was the MVP that series and the reason why the Sixers made it to the next round.

Redick is one of the clear leaders in the locker room and beloved by his teammates. On the JJ Redick Podcast you can find his teammates on there like Jimmy Butler, Joel Embiid, and Tobias Harris. They do admire his career he has had so far and do seem to have some admiration towards how good of a shooter he is. Redick has talked about how if Ben Simmons needs any help with his jumper, he'll be there to give him tips and he has given him tips.

JJ Redick is one of the best shooters of all time. He was a 3 point specialist with every team he's played for and been the vocal point to many of opposing defenses in the playoffs. If the Sixers want to have a long post-season run they need to incorporate Redick into the offense as much as they can. Redick is averaging a career high 17.9 point per game, with his scoring averages only going up every year. He is the key factor to the Sixers success and his importance shouldn't be devalued. 

Bogut's Returning To The Warriors

The Golden State Warriors has signed the NBL’s MVP Andrew Bogut, league sources tell "The Athletic NBA" Bogut’s representatives are working this week through letter of clearance process from Australia’s Sydney Kings.

After 13 seasons in the NBA, Bogut, 34, spent the 2018-19 season with the Sydney Kings. He averaged 11.4 points, 11.6 rebounds, and 2.7 blocks per game for the Kings, and was named the league's Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of the Year. With his season in the NBL now over, Bogut is able to sign elsewhere. As we all know Bogut did announce that he was retiring from the NBA his plans has changed since then. 

Bogut, was originally selected by the Bucks with the first overall pick in the 2005 draft and went on to spend 13 years in the NBA. He last played with the Lakers during the 2017-18 season. He also played with the Golden State Warriors for four years and won an NBA title with them as well.

During his time in the NBA, Bogut averaged 9.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.6 blocked shots through 694 games. 

Bogut is a great pick up for the Warriors, but he has now had issues with both his back and his knees, two injuries that are often reoccurring. He seems to be developing a more longeterm approach to injuries/health compared to his younger days.

what is tampering?

Tampering is considered a evil practice in  many sports leagues. There are so many rules, but none of them are straight forward either. There are many problems with activity and who is doing it. But is this a real issue or just something the owners are using to control player movement .

For the players that have the player empowerment movement in mind are facing this tempering charge as slow down in the progress of it. The movement as push major strides for more money for the players and more guarantee contracts. This had led to many owners finding it difficult to control players actions. So I believe the tampering is a weapon used against the players and there agents.

For the owners the tampering rule is to protect small market teams that aren't great location. Teams like New York or LA aren't affected by the player movement because players want to play there mostly. The teams like Cavs or the pelicans struggle to get players because they don't win games or have a nice city. Other problems come when winning isn't happening ticket sales are very important. They need to make money and if businesses aren't around the small markets they need regular ticket sales and season tickets. The tempering chargers are to protect the small market beat all these odds.

The overall is the tampering chargers feel more like a balance of power for each side to prove who is stringer. Everyone is trying to beat the system. the players looking for loopholes while the owners are trying to block them. It is battle and I dont see it ending anytime soon.

Lonzo Ball out longer than we expect

Lonzo Ball went down with an ankle sprain and bone bruise against the Rockets on January 19. Since Ball has been out the Lakers defensive play has been plummeting while he’s been away. Ball’s absence to the team has been really detrimental to the team, even Lebron came out saying how his absence has impacted the team. We obviously miss another ballhandler, another playmaker," he said, per the Los Angeles Times' Brad Turner "A guy that’s very, very good defensively. With his ability to get a steal and pressure the offensive point guard and then push the pace for us, get into our early offense. So we miss that a lot."

It's been 14 games as of Thursday that he’s been out and from reports of the Lakers doctor it looks like they will be without him longer. Per Lakers beat reporter Mike Trudell, Ball still needs more time before returning to the court, stretching beyond the initial projection of a 4-6 week window

Even if doctors clear him for a return in a week's time, Ball is unlikely to make a big enough difference for the Lakers to get them back into the top eight of the Western Conference. The Lakers already put themselves and tough spot they are exactly three spots from the eighth seed. It’s highly unlikely they can put themselves into a contending spot. This truly might be Lebron’s first year in the league not making it to the playoffs.