Ohonsi's NBA Blog

*I wrote this on Jan 22 Voting for all star starters ended yesterday and they’ll be announced on january 24th so it’s time to make my picks. The official reserves will be announced a week later so I’ll do the same. I combine individual and team performance but the majority of the emphasis will be on the individual aspect because the rosters consist of players, not teams. Sadly most of the media and fans in general don't use/understand this very fundamental aspect. That's why so many all-star/all-NBA (mainly referring to all-NBA) spots have been wasted for years on players who clearly have absolutely no business being on them. For example, Klay Thompson is generally perceived as a better player than someone like Devin Booker. But basically nobody would say that Klay is better if he was playing on a mediocre/bad and therefore much less popular team, like Booker does. Devin can lead a team to at least playoff contention because he's good enough off the dribble/in isola...

My mom has always been really overprotective, which is a huge understatement. Growing up, she didn’t let me play games or watch anything that promoted rated R (in some cases PG-13, way more so before high school) drug/alcohol use. I couldn’t watch shows like Family Guy, movies like 21 Jump Street, or play games like Grand Theft Auto. She didn’t want me thinking that what those things mainly promote were ok for me to even dabble in during my childhood (or ever in some situations). I knew, and still believe, that she obviously did me a huge favor. However, that led to a ton of shaming (from boys) which made me feel out of place with the teenage world. Often, I’d be in a conversation with friends or acquaintances and once the topic switched to something that I “should’ve” had at least a decent understanding of but didn’t, I got flat out embarrassed. As usual, I played it off as if it hardly bothered me because if I actually showed how embarrassed I was, that would make me look like an ev...

I was among the people (basically everyone) who thought that the Warriors would cakewalk through the west and then easily win the 2017 finals. That belief was justified since Kevin Durant, the 2nd best player in the NBA at that time (he still is), joined a 72 win team that had the reigning unanimous MVP (Stephen Curry) who had arguably the greatest offensive season ever in 2015-16 which solidified his spot as the premier 3-point shooter in history. Golden State also employed Klay Thompson who established himself as the 2nd best 3-point shooter ever during that season. He also scored 21+ points per game in 2014-15 and the next season. Dub Nation might’ve had the best offensive system the league has seen, which is still the case. In addition, they were great defensively because they had the 4th ranked defensive rating in 2015-16. However, the Spurs won 61 games in 2016-17, only 6 fewer than the Warriors. Kawhi Leonard was a legit MVP candidate, LaMarcus Aldridge showed he was still a...

Russell Westbrook sometimes struggles with taking too many threes, being turnover prone, inefficiency, playing out of control, shooting too much, and reckless defense. He’s still criticized far more than he deserves. When Russell played with Kevin Durant and they didn’t win, Westbrook got the blame basically every time because he is a “ball hog who didn’t let Kevin shoot enough”. Yet Durant, in 8 seasons alongside Russ, somehow won 4 scoring titles (3 if you don’t count the year when Russell played 46/82 games) and led the Thunder in points per game every season but the one he played about 33% of his team’s contests. Westbrook led OKC in field goal attempts per game once in the 6 years he or KD didn’t miss a significant number of contests. So it doesn’t make sense why the “poor Kevin had to endure 8 seasons with Russ” claim is still used. They went to a finals, 4 conference finals, lost in the first round once and missed the playoffs twice (one of those times was when Durant played ab...

For the last 3 seasons Draymond Green has easily been the most overrated player because he’s generally viewed as a top 15 player which is absurd. He's arguably the best defender but his offense is nowhere near as good as its perceived by most. Draymond gets his assists by holding/dribbling the ball (in place) in the post or on the perimeter then passing to teammates that become open. He also gets them when defenses double team a lethal three-point shooter (usually Stephen Curry) on pick and rolls, which creates a 4 versus 3 situation when he receives the ball. Then Green dribbles forward with no pressure which brings the defense inward so he gets to choose between an easy lob/pass into the paint or a simple pass to an unguarded shooter waiting behind the arc. When he gets the ball after a stop and pushes it into transition, many times he's able to find open long-range shooters and cutters for elementary assists without having to penetrate a set defense. Draymond Green isn’t ...