(Ray Bala)

 

The year was 1996.  I had finished up my high school career and was heading to university.  A new beginning of sorts.  My anthems were heard on Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt, Heltah Skeltah’s Nocturnal, Mobb Deep’s Hell On Earth and Ghostface Killah’s Ironman.  I has stepping into a world of new things, new people and a new era of basketball shoes. 

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(Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports)
 

It has been my tradition to write my lone NBA mock draft on the night of the lottery and I will not change this pattern just because the year ends with a 13. The lottery fell in such a way that Cleveland will have the interesting conundrum of picking for potential or fit. It is my belief that teams should always take the best available player, with fit being a secondary consideration. The best players will figure out how to play together regardless of position. That said, the Cavaliers have a very interesting selection to make after winning Tuesday’s lottery.
 

(Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports)

 

Ben McLemore
Kansas - Freshman (Born 1993)
Shooting Guard
6'5" 189 lbs

 

(Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports)

 

Nerlens Noel
Kentucky - Freshman (Born 1994)
Center
7'0" 206 lbs

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For Christmas, my wife received an iPad Mini. For the most part, I have not used it, except for playing games from time to time with my daughter. We have had some epic Fruit Ninja battles that should be recorded in written history. This week, I was given the opportunity to look at a new app from Shout! Factory called Basketball Time Machine. I have to admit that I also downloaded Temple Run on the same day. I may have spent more time dodging monkeys and jumping trees than I did looking at basketball videos, but I found plenty of time for hoops.

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(Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports)

I've long said that any team that relies on Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith to lead them on offense is doomed.  That seems like a pretty obvious, common sense statement, but the Knicks apparently didn't get the memo.  And Tyson Chandler has had enough of the insanity.  He's come out criticizing the team's selfish, individualistic approach to the game.  He wants better ball movement.  More advantage taken of open looks.  More winning as a team.  Hey, the guy's got a championship ring - he knows what he is talking about.

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(Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports)

My uncle recently proclaimed that we are “in a golden age of television.” While other people have certainly made similar statements of late, they did not register with me until my uncle held court and talked about the many great shows that are or have been on the air over the last 10 years. Since this isn’t a popular culture blog, but a place to write about basketball, I figured I’d compare ten basketball teams to the shows that I’ve seen the majority of the episodes. The one clear omission on the TV show side is the Sopranos, which I haven’t seen yet. I plan on rectifying that situation later this year. Some of the comparisons fit very well and others required some finagling. We’ll start with a pair of teams that are already looking toward next year:

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(Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports)
 

Congratulations to our 2012/13 College Dunk of the Year Tournament Champion, Syracuse's C.J. Fair.  Fair's dunk garnered 55% of the votes in the finals, edging out Eastern Kentucky's Marcus Lewis.

 

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Carmelo Anthony - New York

replaced by

Paul Pierce - Boston

Yes Melo is putting up some gaudy numbers (22.3 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 4.2 apg), but he is shooting under 40% from the field and under 30% from the three-point line.  He's missing over 11 shot a night from the floor and is turning the ball over at the highest rate of his career.  Paul Pierce, meanwhile, isn't shooting so great himself (42.9%) but it's still at a better clip than Melo, plus Pierce is averaging a career-high 5.5 assists per game to go along with 18.6 points and 5.5 rebounds.  A surprise pick here, but the right one (I think).