The Kings Should Sell High on Rondo Now

NBA.com

Rajon Rondo has had a break out season this year. After not playing up to par since his torn ACL in 2012 he found himself looking for anybody to give him a second look after controversy in Dallas. The Kings took a chance on Rondo and signed him to a one year deal worth $9.5 million. For the production Rondo is putting out the Kings picked up Rondo for a steal. He is averaging 11.9 points per game, a league leading 11.2 assists per game, and 6.5 rebounds per game. The only thing that Rondo has not been able to do for this team is put up some wins.

The Kings are 12-20. Despite only being 2 games back of the 8th place Utah Jazz the Kings have underperformed this season. With a line up consisting of DeMarcus Cousins, Rudy Gay and vintage Rondo, and being lead by George Karl, the Kings should be at least at a .500 win percentage. The team struggles though and DeMarcus Cousins still throws fits when it is completely unnecessary. Just a few nights ago he threw a fit when the ref called him for his 5th foul of the game. Rather than just walking away and giving Karl time to move him to the bench he got himself ejected. At the time he was ejected the Kings were up by 2 in the third quarter. The outcome of the game may have been different had Cousins been able to re-enter the game in the fourth. But the Kings would fall to the Warriors 122-103.

With all this said maybe it is time for the Kings to cash in on Rondo rather than hope for a playoff run. First things first, Rondo is a free agent at the end of the season. He may decide to go else where after this season and he will be looking for a big pay check. If the Kings continue to struggle like they are, I'm sure Rondo will look to play somewhere other than Sacramento next season.

Also Rondo turns 30 in a couple of months. I doubt his production will continue at it's current level throughout an entire max contract. So the Kings should attempt to acquire young players or even draft picks in exchange for Rondo.

The Kings really need to take a hard look at what their future holds and whether they will continue down the path they're on and hope that the wins come with better chemistry. Or if Cousins, Rondo and Gay aren't the future and trade them now for something valuable in return. I'm sure that the Kings can get a good return on those guys, including first round picks. Either way the time is now to decide whether or not they should part ways with these players and they should start with Rondo while he has high production.

Cavaliers Look to Take Another Step Forward

Today Kyrie Irving is going to make his season debut against the Philadelphia 76ers. Irving has yet to play this this season due to a knee injury he suffered in game one of the NBA finals in June. Irving fractured his knee cap and had surgery the following day. He would watch his team compete against the Warriors from his hospital room. The Cavaliers were also without Kevin Love during the finals last year after he suffered a dislocated left shoulder in the first round of the playoffs last year. With both Irving and Love back to full health the Cavaliers should be able to do bigger things this year. The Cavs will be without Mo Williams (sprained wrist) and Iman Shumpert (groin) for today's game.

It will be exciting to see Irving healthy. It was said his recovery time would be three to four months, but the Cavs were being very cautious with bringing him back. Hopefully it pays off and Irving can stay healthy. Adding him to this team should only improve there chances at competing come playoff playoff time. And it's good news for Cavaliers that he is returning sooner rather than later.

Brooklyn's Blurry Future

Elsa/Getty Images

The Nets lost again last night to the Miami Heat 104-98. The Nets now sit in the 14th seed at 7-18. A record that is only better than two teams in the whole league. Those two teams behind the Nets are the Lakers and the Sixers. Both of those teams are in the rebuilding state and are looking for a high draft pick next summer. As for the Nets, well the season is slipping away. Last week they were only five games out of 8th place. They could probably make up that ground if they could string together some wins. But after finishing there six game home stand 2-4 there is a lot of concern. For one the Nets are seven games behind the 8th place Detroit Pistons. They are slowly letting a possible playoff run get away. For bad teams making the playoffs isn't everything. In fact when a team is on a downward spiral the team will trade away some of there good players for draft picks and look to improve through the draft. By using their own picks and the ones they obtain they can start to build a team geared to win in the future.

This is where the Nets problem lies. Not only did they trade there 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2018 first round draft picks, but they had no protection on there 2014, 2016, and 2018 first round picks. Combine that with the Joe Johnson trade that ended up allowing the Hawks to swap first round picks with the Nets last year, the Nets haven't been able to do much rebuilding. The Nets have been making all the wrong moves since 2012. Remember the trade in 2012 for Gerald Wallace? We traded a top three protected pick and it landed at number six. The guy the Blazers drafted happened to be all-star Damian Lillard.  Dwelling on the past won't do much for the Nets now, so let's look at what there future holds.

As stated before there is not much hope of the Nets making the playoffs this year. They have fallen behind in what is now a tougher eastern conference. The Nets cannot tank though. Unlike the Sixers they own there picks so they want to do as bad as they can. And for the Lakers, they also want to tank because they keep their pick because they put a top three protection on it. This means when the draft lottery comes around and the Lakers end up with the number one, two or three pick they keep it. If they land outside the top three the pick will go to the 76ers, who wisely traded Phoenix for. For the Nets they put NO protection on their picks. NONE! That means if the Nets win the draft lottery and have the number one pick, it will go to the Celtics. This is horrible and it gets worse.

The Celtics play in the same division as the Nets. So whoever the Celtics draft with the Nets picks in 2016, 2017, and 2018, will have to play these guys play four times a year. The Celtics made the playoffs last year and will most likely make the playoffs again. Giving a contending team like this high draft picks will only help them improve and create longevity. By the time the Nets own their first round draft pick again, (which is 2019) the Celtics may be the second or third best team in the conference or maybe in the league.

The Nets strategy should be to win as many games as possible because they will only hurt themselves more by losing games. Not only will the Celtics get a higher draft pick, but big name free agents do not want to play on a losing team. The Nets have to show something promising this season and they need to trade Jarrett Jack and Joe Johnson for someone. Johnson has an expiring contract worth about $25 million the Nets do not want to do a salary dump rather find a team with some decent assets that could develop into something more. Jarrett Jack still has some value and it's worth exploring what his value is because he will not be the starting point guard for the Nets two years from now.

Corey Sipkin/New York Daily News

The Nets might be able to draw free agents in because they are in the Big Apple and they also have ample amount of cap space to offer a max contract and possibly sign another solid player. The Nets have a good foundation to build on, but you can't build something without supplies.

NBA MVP

Photo Credit: Gerald Herbert/AP

It is early in the season to start talking about the MVP race, but it is always a fun discussion. Without a doubt Stephen Curry has been the overwhelming favorite so far this season. It is worth noting that he has earned every little bit of spot light he has gotten so far this season. With the light so bright on him it has overshadowed other players who have been playing very well this season. So lets take a look at the players who have been been playing very well so far this season.

Kevin Durant has playing much better than many expected him to after missing almost all of last season. He is averaging 27.5 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game all while shooting 53% from the field and 44.3% from three. Those shooting percentages are the highest of his career and if Stephen Curry wasn't playing out of his mind Kevin Durant would easily be the front runner for MVP.

Just behind Durant would be Paul George.

Photo Credit: Andy Lyons/Getty Images

George is also returning from injury. He played at the end of last season, but he had a minutes restriction and was just getting back on the court. This year he has had the whole off season to work himself back into basketball shape and that's exactly what he did. George is averaging 27 points, 8 rebounds, 4.2 assists per game, just on par with Durant's numbers. George isn't shooting as good as Durant with a field goal percentage of 44% and three point percentage of 42.9%. What stands out about George's play is how well his team has performed so far this season. His team is 13-9 and while they have struggled a little bit as of late, they have still played better than many expected them to this season. And the reason for them playing so well is because of George's presences on the court. For that reason he is third behind Curry and Durant.

Photo Credit: Jesse D. Garrabrant

Another player who has played very well this season is Kawhi Leonard. Leonard has been scoring the ball more this season and very efficiently. Leonard has averaged 20.7 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 2 steals per game. He has brought the same defensive mentality he does every season while putting points up on the board. He has also done this while shooting 50.3% from the field and 48.3% from three. I would move Leonard higher on this list, but the team play of the Spurs has been the main reason for their success so far this season. Not to say Leonard hasn't contributed, but their have been games where Lamarcus Aldridge has been the Spurs best player. Spurs fans should be excited because the future for this team is very bright and Leonard is only 24, so he still has time to continue to improve.

Photo Credit: usatoday.com

And what would an MVP list be without LeBron James. James has averaged 26.4 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 6.4 assists per game. James has not shot well from three this year sitting at 28%, but his usage percentage is at it's highest since 2009-2010. That means LeBron is really carrying the team right now. And LeBron doesn't mind. He has said multiple times this year that he wants to play all 82 games. That can't happen of course since he sat out one game so far, but he hasn't been resting as much as we saw in Miami and I'm sure basketball fans appreciate this.

Stephen Curry sitting 4th quarters and it's OK

Stephen Curry is having an unbelievable season thus far in the NBA season. His team stand at 20-0 which has set the NBA record for most wins to begin a season. He has also showed no signs of slowing down. He is averaging 32 points per game and is adding 6 assists and 2.4 steals per game to his stat line. Not to mention he is shooting 52% from the field, 45% from three and 94% from the free throw line. He is doing all of this while averaging 34.3 minutes per game. Out of the top 10 scores in the league only Blake Griffin is averaging less minutes at 34.1 minutes per game. But Giffin is scoring average is about 7 points lower than Curry's. Curry is offensive production is through the roof.

Luke Walton has had a strategy where if his team is up by a significant amount by the end of the third he will sit Curry the whole 4th quarter. The whole quarter! Just imagine the Cavaliers sitting LeBron James the going into the 4th quarter because they are up 15. The Cavaliers will most likely start to lose the lead to a good team and need LeBron to come back in and put the game out of reach for good. With the Warriors they don't really need to worry about that because they have so much team depth that if their bench goes in they will either hold the lead or even increase it. That's just how good this Warriors team is.

This teams determination is nothing anyone has ever seen before. They did win the championship last year, yet they are playing like they have something to prove. A championship team playing with a chip on their shoulder is unheard of and that is what makes the Warriors so deadly. They are a great team with plenty of motivation in a regular season that many teams view as pointless. While most good teams are resting guys in anticipation of a long playoff run come April the Warriors are looking to destroy every opponent they come across. This is great for the NBA because it gives value to what would normally be a boring regular season. Every night the Warriors have to bring their A-game because they know better than anyone that any team they go up against will want to be the ones to over come the odds. And that just brings out the best in everyone at the end of the day.

More Likely to Reach 20 First

Photo Credit: Bill Streicher/USA Today

The Warriors are now 19-0 after a win over the Utah Jazz last night. The Jazz made it the toughest outing the Warriors have had so far, but weren't able to top them. On the other end of the spectrum the Sixers are 0-18 matching the Nets 2010-2011 record for worst start to the NBA season. Both teams are off to historic starts whether it be in a good way or a bad way, but will the Warriors hit 20-0 or will the Sixers take tanking to a whole new level and reach 0-20.

Photo Credit: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

First lets look at the Sixers match up tonight. Tonight the Sixers are playing the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers currently hold the second worst record in the league sitting at 2-14. Tonight might finally be the break the Sixers have been looking for. The Sixers have been able to keep games close and have almost come out with a win on a few occasions now. That's not to say the Sixers will have it easy tonight. I'm sure Kobe will want to come out and put on a show for his hometown Philadelphia after announcing his retirement a couple of days ago. Also Hibbert may not be the most offensively skilled center in the NBA, but he can still play solid post defense. This might be a night where Okafor struggles a bit more to get looks. And tomorrow night the Sixers will go up against the New York Knicks, who have done better than many have expected so far. The Knicks are looking to improve their home record of 3-6 so far and they will be looking to take advantage of a weak team to do so. 

Photo Credit: Tony Gutierrez/AP

For the Warriors they have set the NBA record for most wins to start a season and are now one win away from being 20-0. On Wednesday, the same night the Sixers play the Knicks, the Warriors will be in Charlotte taking on the Hornets. The Hornets have gone 7-3 in their last 10 games and are 8-2 at home this season. Also Nicolas Batum has played very well recently. The question isn't whether the Warriors can slow down Batum, but rather if the Hornets can slow down Curry. There are no words to describe how Curry has been playing so far. With the way the Warriors have been blowing out teams lately, it shouldn't be a surprise if they roll into Charlotte tomorrow and win by 30.

It is more likely that the Warriors start 20-0 than the Sixers starting 0-20 due to the fact that the Warriors are one game closer to their mark and the Sixers have a much more favorable schedule. The Sixers should be able to get a win on the board tonight or tomorrow. For the Warriors, they are favored to win against Charlotte and that comes as no surprise. But in all honesty by Wednesday night the Warriors will probably be 20-0 and the Sixers will probably be 0-20.