SDH's 2014/2015 NBA End of Season Worst to First Countdown: 29. New York Knicks

2014/2015 Projection: 42-40, second place Atlantic Division, eighth place Eastern Conference Actual Finish: 17-65, fifth place Atlantic Division, fifteenth place Eastern Conference	Projected 2012/2013 Finish 16	Actual 2014/2015 Finish 29
Team Statistics and League Rank Points Scored: 91.9 (30th) Points Allowed: 101.2 (22nd) Team FG%: .428 (28th) Opponent’s FG%: .460 (27th) Team FT%: .769 (8th) Team Three Point FG%: .347 (15th) Rebounds per game: 40.4 (29th) Opponents rebounds per game: 43.5(16th) Turnovers per game: 13.8 (17th) Opponents turnovers per game: 13.4 (17th)	Individual Statistical Leaders Scoring (ppg): Carmelo Anthony (24.1) Rebounds per game:  Carmelo Anthony (6.6) Minutes per game:  Carmelo Anthony (35.7) Assists per game:  Jose Calderon (4.7) Field Goal Percentage:  Cole Aldrich (.478) Free Throw Percentage: Jose Calderon (.910) Three Point FG Percentage: Jose Calderon (.415) Steals per game:  Shane Larkin (1.2) Blocked Shots per game:  Samuel Dalembert (1.3)
SDH’s Hero to Honor: +Andrea Bargnani  Soon the drama which is Andrea Bargnarni will come to an end: the story of a wayward Italian boy selected first overall in the 2006 NBA Draft and the tumultuous years that would come thereafter.  He never made the All Star team, but was certainly paid like one, and despite his best efforts, never got much, if any, as a player; however, this time he deserves the spotlight as he was the only Knick that was worth talking about this season.  Although he spent the bulk of it on the the sidelines, he spent the final 29 games of the season carrying the team offensively averaging a rather efficient 16 points per game in just under 30 minutes of playing time.  In the month of March, he certainly showed that he could still put up big numbers scoring at least fifteen or more points in all but 11 games he played in and was held to single digits just four times; however, as most of his most fervent of critics would point out, none of his performances ended up as wins.  Despite the wasted sham of a season, at least Bargs still had a chance to show prospective NBA teams that there still is some "Il Mago"  left in him.	SDH’s Face to Forget: +Carmelo Anthony   After such an abysmal performance by both himself and his team, it is understandable if Melo chose to cut out of the season early and crawl under the nearest rock; however, on the flip side, it does not very good for a captain not to stay and go down with the ship.  After all, he did choose to resign with the team despite having the opportunity to jump to a better situation where he would be in a better spot to have a chance to win a championship; yet, by doing that, he must have known that the road that he chose would not have easy to drive through in the least.  In his defense, even he did not fathom that his team would fall so far considering the fact that his boss, Phil Jackson did make a concerted effort to surround him with solid veteran talent and had the team been at full strength at opening tip off, the Knicks could have at least been in the playoff chase for sure; instead, the team came into the regular season injury plagued and short handed leaving it vulnerable for dissection by the opposition.  Anthony's inability to adjust to triangle offense did not help matters either--especially considering the fact that he was the primary focal point of the offense, giving him plenty of shot opportunities; nonetheless, he can hold solace in the fact that 18 wins will probably to the lowest the team can go and there is no where else to go but up.  Hopefully, next season will erase this debacle as the Knicks come into the off-season with plenty of cap space and the chance to snag the number one overall pick in the Draft Lottery which gives Anthony as well as the fan who had so much faith in him a glimmer of hope for the future making this past season a distant memory.
At the opening tip-off of the 2015 +NBA Regular Season, the +New York Knicks came into the season with a better team, new coach, new management and a better outlook for the future as they made Carmelo Anthony  the face, heart and soul of the franchise for the next five years; plus, by some voodoo or black magic, the team's new boss, Phil Jackson, managed to snag draft picks and acquired a talented group of veterans to surround his star.  Add the return of a healthy +Amar'e Stoudemire, and a solid group of returning supporting cast players which consisted of JR Smith, +Iman Shumpert, Andrea Bargnarni, +Tim Hardaway Jr., and +Pablo Prigioni, among others, Knicks fans as well as the rest of basketball viewing world would be treated to team that not only had a chance to return to playoffs, but might just also challenge for the Atlantic Division Title.  Fans also got teased in the off season as they watched their team gel rather well during the NBA Summer League as the players seemed quite at ease with the newly implemented "Triangle Offense" brought in by the team's new appointed head coach--Jackson's own protege, Derek Fisher--which combined with the roster upgrades made the Knicks look like quite a formidable foe coming into November.  Unfortunately, all these rosy projections turned into false hope and shattered dreams as fan and the rest of the world saw this one time historic franchise not only just stumble, but fall, crash and burn right in front of them finishing the league's second worst record and a rather prominent black eye.  Now all Knick fans can do is throw their hand up in the air, call the season awash and eagerly await the off season where their will have access to the most salary cap space it has ever seen in more than a decade and a chance to attain the number one overall pick in this upcoming NBA Draft. The season started well enough as the Knicks won two of the first three games and even the seven game losing skid which followed did not phase fans a bit as many considered those as "growing pains" in which the team will eventually turn things around as there were still 72 games to play; however, the losing did not stop there.  After a short respite where New York went 2-2, their wounds would burst open once again and the Knicks simply started hemorrhaging as their finished December with just one win and continued to bleed out through 2015 thus making it quite apparent to not only fans, but the rest of the sporting world that there was no bouncing back for this team and it had become blatantly apparent that this team was headed nowhere.    After witnessing the team he built crumble before him, Team President Phil Jackson had enough and decided to take matters into his own hands--first by trading away JR Smith and Iman Shunpert to the +Cleveland Cavaliers for garbage player that would be waived soon after (1/6/2015), then buying out the remainder of Amare Stoudemire's expiring contract (2/16/2015), and trading away Pablo Prigioni to the +Houston Rockets for another expiring contract and two second round picks (2/19/2015).  By All Star break, the team had been completely gutted with just four players under contract next season and with the team in complete disarray around him, both Jackson Knicks head coach Derek Fisher decided to show mercy to their beleaguered star and chose to sit Carmelo Anthony out for the rest of the season under the guise of recovery for a knee surgery (2/18/2015).  Although it officially ended in April, the Knicks had already packed in their season by January as they played out the rest of it with a skeleton crew roster just counting the days until the final horn sounding and they can finally put that sham of season behind them and finally start looking towards the future. Upon closer examination, what made this season such a shame was the fact that in the first two months, most of the losses that the Knicks had suffered were by single digits with 12 going down by five points or less, three in over time, and had the ball bounced their way in the last couple minutes or even a few seconds, their season would have probably ended far differently.  In November, the Knicks went through a four game stretch where they lost by a total of 17 points, which is an average of just four points each, with two of them being decided by one basket; in addtion to those gut churning turn of events New York had equally heart wrenching moments such as the three point loss against the +Detroit Pistons (11/5/2014), the +Milwaukee Bucks by four (11/18/2015), the +Houston Rockets by five (11/24/2014), the +Dallas Mavericks in overtime (11/26/2014), and in spite holding them to just 86 points, lost to the +Miami HEAT by seven (11/30/2014).  Had the Knicks managed to hold on and win such nail biters against the Pistons, the +Orlando Magic (11/12/2014) and the +Utah Jazz (11/14/2014)--all of which were decided by just one basket--they would have started the season at 5-5 instead of 2-8 which would have probably been much better for the team's overall confidence and morale; however, the hands of fate would not allow it and waged  a cruel campaign against the Knicks shattering both their resolve and collective self esteem.  Add the two straight games where the +Atlanta Hawks squeezed past them (11/8, 11/10) as well as the Bucks game where both teams scored a whopping 230 points altogether, the Knicks would have been right in the thick of the Eastern Conference race with an 8-5 record and had they pulled out wins against Dallas, Houston and Miami, they would have started the season with a rather respectable 10-8 record which would have given them enough momentum to at least help split the four games they started December in which they lost by a total of just 14 points--less than four per game.  Had the pendulum swung in their favor in many of those early hard fought losses, it probably would have been a far different season with the Knicks Probably earning a sixth or seventh seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs instead of finishing with the second worse record in the NBA behind the +Minnesota Timberwolves. Regardless of what may or may not have happened, either way the Knicks and their fans will be looking forward to an off season where they will not only have more than 50$ million in salary cap space as well as the chance to acquire the first overall pick in this upcoming NBA draft which is too bad of a consolation prize for finishing last place in the Eastern Conference; however, unlike most teams on the road to rebuilding, the Knicks do not have that much time on their hands.  Carmelo Anthony has recently turned thirty and certainly did not envision spending the last five best playing years of his career on a rebuilding team especially since he signed a long term extension deal with the team and planned on finishing his career in the Big Apple thus the Knicks' front office will most certainly have plenty of pressure to ensure that their team bounces back from that horrible season as quickly as possible.  If not, they will certainly have one unhappy player on their hands and as he ages, his performance as well as his overall market value will certainly diminish thus resulting in a toxic relationship that might just possibly sink the franchise and its star player to the point of no return which makes it even more imperative that the Knicks get the job right the first time as there is little room for trial and error.  For both their sakes, Phil Jackson and his cronies in the Knicks' front office better come up big in free agency because unlike last season, the picking are rather slim compared to the last off season in terms of game changing free agents available and the patience of both his team's star and its fan base can be considered as rather slim to say the least; however, salary cap space is not a guarantee that he can get a difference maker and it may take a year or two for a lottery pick to make an immediate impact.  He literally has his back on the wall as there will be numerous factors out of his control come the off season; plus, add the pressure of needing to succeed as soon as possible, Phil Jackson will definitely have a job on his hand to turn this team to a 16 game loser to championship contender. The obvious step for next season for Phil is certainly to get the Knicks back into the playoffs which is not too much of a difficult task considering it just took 38 games to make it into the post season this year; however, that is still quite a daunting task considering the fact that his team is in rubble and be virtually has to build it back up from scratch.  Hopefully with all the tools available at his disposal--the ridiculous amount of cap space that no Knick GM has had since FOREVER and the prospect of receiving, at worse, the second overall pick in this upcoming draft--Jackson will have what he need to make this team at least semi-respectable when the NBA restarts in October; plus, he also has the additional luxury to know build the team as he seems fit since he has a virtual clean canvas to do it on.  Unfortunately, he works in an rather cynical, scrutinizing and unforgiving marketplace where every breath he makes, every move he makes, every bond he break, every step he takes . . . okay, you get the point--he will be watched very closely.  Many would scoff at the idea that Phil will buckle under the pressure considering he took two team with very high standards in excellence to twelves NBA Finals winning eleven of them; however, what these same people do not understand is that there is a big difference between coaching a team that has been given to him compared to being in the background and building a team for someone else to coach.  Perhaps his plan is to ultimately take over coaching duties once the team has been molded into his own image with all the pieces in place; however, if that is the case, he might just set himself up for failure if things fall awry.  So let us all hope that for the sake of not only the NBA, but the sports world in general, that he can turn things around as soon as possible in the world's largest and most lucrative sports market because not only the people of New York, but the entire world needs to see this team be successful and time is not on his side.

SDH Presents the NBA's Worst to First for November: 29. Brooklyn Nets

+Brooklyn Nets  Overall Win/Loss Record (as of November 30th): 4-12, fourth place Atlantic Division	Projected 2013/2014 Finish 6	This Month: 29
Team Statistics and League Rank Points Scored: 95.9 (21st) Points Allowed: 102.8 (24th) Team FG%: .437 (21st) Opponent’s FG%: .453 (16th) Team FT%: .758 (15th) Team Three Point FG%: .356 (15th) Rebounds per game: 41.7 (18th) Opponents rebounds per game: 43.7 (22nd) Turnovers per game: 15.4 (16th) Opponents turnovers per game: 14.5 (25th)	Individual Statistical Leaders Scoring (ppg): Brook Lopez (20.5) Rebounds per game:  Kevin Garnett (7.8) Minutes per game: Joe Johnson (33.9) Assists per game:  Deron Williams (6.0) Field Goal Percentage: Brook Lopez (.574) Free Throw Percentage:  Paul Pierce (.890) Three Point FG Percentage: Joe Johnson (.468) Steals per game: Andray Blatche (1.1) Blocked Shots per game: Brook Lopez (2.8)
SDH’s Worst of the Month: +Kevin Garnett  After a rather reasonably solid season in his last year in Boston, many expected much of the same from the 38 year old Garnett upon his arrival to Brooklyn; sadly, however, that did not happen. Garnett came into the season looking old, tired and played like a shadow of his former self averaging just under seven points per game while shooting a dreadful career low .371 from the field.  Now the Brooklyn Nets are now stuck with an deteriorating, washed up, and over the hill player for not just this year, but the next as he is owed a ridiculously whopping 24$  over the next two seasons.  Many blasted +Boston Celtics GM Danny Ainge for basically giving Garnett away for what was believed to be pennies to the dollar, but as it turned out, he got the better of that deal and it is the Nets that have the burden of carrying the erroneous contract extension that he originally signed KG to in the first place.   From being considered as one of missing pieces for a  championship run has not become a sad long standing reminder of the failure that the Nets have been thus far.	SDH’s First of the Month: +Mason Plumlee  Many expected this rookie who was a low first round pick in last summer's draft be spending most of his debut season on the bench as he was supposed burried under the depth chart with a roster of talented veteran bigs.  Luckily for Mason Plumlee, good fortune managed to shine his way with the early season injury of star Brook Lopez and the rather sad display of effort that his predecessors have given on the court. Plumlee can in fact be considered as one of the few bright spot of this rather pathetic Brooklyn team as has provided more energy and leadership in his 17 minutes of playing time per game than the rest of the front court on his team.  Coming off the bench, he has averaged seven points and four rebounds per game while making a unconscious .690 efficiency on the floor.  If the Nets manage to climb themselves out of the huge hole that they have made for themselves, than much of the credit of their turn around would have to go to Mason Plumlee--the sole consistent and reliable player and this shameful excuse of a team.
Somewhere in Moscow, Nets owner Mikhail Prohkov must be seething in anger watching the team that he is paying nearly 200$ million for this season alone to be faltering the way that it has been and plotting not just fire his team's manager Billy King, but to literally set his aflame while he runs screaming out the doors of the +Barclays Center.  King has certainly made a huge mess of things because not only are the players that he hand picked to lead the Nets to championship glory are under performing, but he virtually sold the farm in making sure his vision become a reality.  Not only did he acquire up to 100$ million in players' contract that the team will be stuck with for the next two or three years, but he gave away the team's next two first round draft picks ensuring that it will never have any chance of getting better in the near future.  To go along with the near 75$ million dollar that the team will have to swallow over the next three years for a grossly overpaid player in Joe Johnson, whose best basketball playing years are just about done, King added another 30$ million in useless over the hill players in Garnett and Paul Pierce.  Add the fact that 36$ million of his team owners money has been sitting idle as three of the team's key players--namely, Brook Lopez, Deron Williams, and Andrei Kirilenko--have missed a bulk of the regular season thus far due to injuries, it is little wonder how King, the orchestrator of this awful mess, is not sitting at the bottom of the East River wearing a pair of cement shoes or have yet to see his lifeless corpse to wash upon the Jersey Shore. In retrospect, however, one can see the reasoning and virtue behind King's gambles which have all but crippled this team for years to come as the Nets had come off a less than spectacular finish last season winning just 48 games in the regular season while being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs as well.  King needed to shake this up and what better way to do that than to trade for two future Hall of Famer candidates who boast two NBA Finals appearances and a championship ring to boot.  Sure he would be taking 33$ million in additional salary to go along with his already balooning 80$ million payroll, but he also managed to relieve the team of bad contracts sending free agent failures +Kris Humphries and +Gerald Wallace to the Celtics.  In acquiring Garnett and Pierce, King, as many believed at the time, all but guaranteed another strong playoff run adding two although wuite overpriced piece to an already solid core of Williams, Lopez, and Johnson.  Unfortunately everything fell apart upon the commencement of the regular season as both Pierce and Garnett both showed signs of their advancing age to compound upon the loss of both Williams and Lopez at the start of the season. Even King's rather unwise selection of +Jason Kidd as head coach over much more qualified candidates can be viewed with some justification since Kidd not only had a strong history with the franchise, but also considered one of the smartest minds in basketball.  Looking back in recent years, the track record for NBA players who go straight to coaching without any prior experience has been rather positive to say the least with the most prominent examples being Larry Bird in Indiana, Doc Rivers  in Orlando, and most recently Mark Jackson in Golden State.  Plus, he would have been set with a team of veterans who have achieved great personal heights as professional and have strong reputations of being winners thus the transition would not be as difficult as any other coach starting out in the league.  Who would have guessed that Jason Kidd upon arriving in the coaching seat would act as a deer trapped in headlights or his team would come out on the court looking more like washed up has-beens rather than a the winners that they were expected to be?  So far the only highlight in Kidd's career was that stunt he pulled late in one game where he told one of his players to bump him forcing him to drop his drink on the court and lead to a delay of game and as his team continues to struggle, so will his credibility as an NBA coach. The plight of the Nets just goes along with all the drama that has been occurring in professional sports in the Big Apple as both the city's NBA teams have come out stumbling out the gates with the +New York Knicks making both them an the Nets the two biggest disappointment of this young NBA season.  Both the Nets and Knicks not only sport the two worst records in the eastern conference, but two of the highest payrolls to boot with Manhattan based team following the same example as its Brooklyn predecessor buying big name only to see them falter in the end. They also share the same financial constraints being locked into very expensive dead weight contracts in which neither can get out of nor the cap space or draft picks to get any chance of getting any better.  Both teams essentially sold the farm when it came to the future sending away valuable first round picks to focus on winning now; however, in both cases both their investments fell through leaving them in a situation where they have no choice but to push through and try to salvage the season instead of simply tanking the season because neither team have the draft picks to justify such a move.  It all points to the sad state of professional sports currently in the Big Apple where not only its NBA team, but also its +NFL and Major League Baseball team have suffered their own setbacks as well; however, that is for another story to be written about. Fortunately for the Nets, the situation is not as dire as it may seem as it is still early in the season and once their players return on the court from injury, they can still potentially make a strong run for the rest of the season.  Add the fact that the Eastern Conference is so terrible that the Nets, despite their sad record are still within an arm's reach for the Atlantic Division title as the current leader, the +Toronto Raptors, only have a three game lead ahead of them. Regardless, even if the Nets manage to pull through and finish the season respectably, they will still fail to live up to the lofty expectations placed upon themselves of winning an NBA championship.  Both the +Miami HEAT  and +Indiana Pacers are simply too strong to handle and with how sluggishly they have played thus far, the Nets will be lucky enough to even pass the first round, let alone contend to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals; however, that is right now too far away for the Nets right now.  Right now the focus should be about getting to .500 as they are nine games away from that mark before they set any more lofty goals that they simply will not reach.

SDH's 2013/2014 NBA Worst to First Previews and Predictions: 29. Boston Celtics

+Boston Celtics  Overall Win/Loss Record :  41-40,  third place Atlantic Division	Last Season’s Rank 11	Projected 2013/2014 Finish 29
Last season’s Team Statistics and League Rank Points Scored: 96.5 (18th) Points Allowed: 96.7 (12th) Team FG%: .465 (6th) Opponent’s FG%: .441 (7th) Team FT%: .776 (5th) Team Three Point FG%: .358 (15th) Rebounds per game: 39.3 (29th) Opponents rebounds per game: 43.6 (23rd) Turnovers per game: 13.9 (13th) Opponents turnovers per game: 14.4 (11th)	Returning Individual Statistical Leaders Scoring (ppg): +Rajon Rondo  (13.7) Rebounds per game: +Jared Sullinger  (5.9) Minutes per game:  Rajon Rondo (37.8) Assists per game:  Rajon Rondo (11.1) Field Goal Percentage:  Jared Sullinger (.493) Free Throw Percentage:  Courtney Lee (.860) Three Point FG Percentage: Jeff Green (.385) Steals per game:  Rajon Rondo (1.8) Blocked Shots per game: Jeff Green (0.8)
Projected Starters Based on Talent, Tenure, and Potential Impact: C. +Kris Humphries  PF. Jeff Green SF. Gerald Wallace SG. Courtney Lee PG. Rajon Rondo	Second Unit Roster Order Ranked on Talent, Tenure, and Potential Impact: G. Avery Bradley G. Jordan Crawford F. Brandon Bass G. Marshon Brooks F. Jared Sullinger
Analysis: It is the end of an era in Bean Town basketball as all the remnants of the glory year which saw the Celtics reaching the +NBA Finals twice winning one of them in 2008--their first since 1986.  +Kevin Garnett and +Paul Pierce now find themselves in the +Brooklyn Nets while head coach +Doc Rivers found his way off that sinking ship by essentially being traded to the +Los Angeles Clippers for an unprotected first round pick--the first time that has ever been done.  Now all that is left is a rag tag group of young no name players along with a crew of less than spectacular veterans who will be led by the last vestige of the Celtics' past glory, +Rajon Rondo.  And coaching this team will be a guy that is far greener that the color of the team's uniform having not even played an +NBA team, nor even coached one in his entire career.  Brad Stevens has spent his entire career coaching in the +NCAA for +Butler University--a small school that is not even situated in any of the stronger conferences--and Celtics GM Danny Ainge tabbed him over over far more qualified candidates signing him to six year deal, twice the average length of an average NBA coaching contract. One has to ask what the hell was Ainge thinking signing a guy with absolutely no NBA experience to a contract double the average length for a coach on a team that boasts an already established star with an NBA title to his credit?  The NBA is all about reputation and credibility and to hire a person that has neither of those while expecting him to coral a bunch of spoiled millionaire athletes who make WAY more than he does makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Didn't Ainge learn from the past that historically hiring college coaches have not brought nothing but shame and disappointment to NBA?  Considering the fact that one of the worst examples of a coach who had major success in the NCAA to simply fall flat in the pro happened in Boston would make Ainge even more wary of hiring one from the college ranks.   Twelve years ago, the Celtics made the same mistake hiring someone straight from college and expected him to lead Boston back to glory only to fail miserably in the end--and he had FAR more credibility than Brad Stevens ever had. In 1998, +Rick Pitino came in and was touted as the savior of Boston Celtics basketball after winning a national title with the +University of Kentucky Wildcats and had the best credentials that any coach in the game of basketball.  Before he turned a downtrodden college program into an NCAA powerhouse, Pitino had previously coached ad experienced success coaching in the NBA as he led the +New York Knicks to the playoffs in 1989. So when it came to speculating whether he would succeed or not, there was no no doubt because his resume spoke for itself; however, Pitino would not have the same success in Boston as he did in Kentucky. He had trouble relating to the pros that he coached and was criticized and castigated by the fans and media to a point where he threw up his hands and resigned a year or two later.  So this brings forth the question--if a person with such high credentials as Rick Pitino could not assimilate himself to the NBA, then how can Brad Stevens, who does not nearly have the extensive resume as Pitino. All this spells for disaster as Ainge has virtually sent a lamb to the slaughter bringing in a coach who has never worked outside of the college into one of most highest pressure jobs in the NBA.  It is not like the college game where the coach has all the power and whatever he says goes or else. In the NBA, Coaches have little or no power whatsoever and have to be more of a diplomat because he has to deal with players who essentially run the organization and Stevens does not have the assets necessary to pull that off.  This season will simply end up ugly on so many level either finishing with Rajon Rondo being traded out of Boston by mid season or Stevens getting the heave ho.  It is bad enough that the Celtics have a team with no real big name talent and a roster full of no name scrub, but to add an equally no name coach at the helm will not only be worse but also be severely detrimental to the franchise for years to come. Ainge could have chosen much more qualified candidates who have league experience who can easily engage the players' and receive their trust and confidence at the same time.  Instead he picks some nobody who comes from a two bit Division I basketball program who has not even associated with an NBA player, let alone coach an NBA team.  Such a move will not only doom a once storied team into turmoil, but may also lead to the demise of Ainge's career as the Celtics' head of basketball relations.  It will be interesting to see how everything will play out over the course of the season although the outcome is almost predictable looking back through history.  Nonetheless, it was already a forgone conclusion that the Celtics would inevitably crash and burn sooner rather than later; however, now with the team the way it is and the team's coaching choice, the devastation will be far more gruesome that it should have been.

SDH Present the 2013 End of Season NBA's Worst to First: 29. Phoenix Suns

Phoenix Suns Overall Win/Loss Record (At Season’s End): 25-57, fifth place Pacific Division	Preseason Prediction: 15	At Season’s End: 29
Team Statistics and League Rank (At Season’s End) Points Scored: 95.2 (21st) Points Allowed: 101.6 (26th) Team FG%: .443 (23rd) Opponent’s FG%: .470 (25th) Team FT%: .744 (20th) Team Three Point FG%: .330 (28th) Rebounds per game: 41.6 (19th) Opponents rebounds per game: 43.4 (22nd) Turnovers per game: 14.9 (29th) Opponents turnovers per game: 14.8 (5th)	Individual Statistical Leaders (At Season’s End) Scoring (ppg): Goran Dragic (14.7) Rebounds per game:  Marcin Gortat (8.5) Minutes per game: Goran Dragic (33.5) Assists per game:  Goran Dragic (7.4) Field Goal Percentage: Marcin Gortat (.521) Free Throw Percentage: Jermaine O’Neal (.830)   Three Point FG Percentage: Jared Dudley (.391) Steals per game: Goran Dragic (1.6) Blocked Shots per game: Marcin Gortat (1.6)
Taking a Look Back at the Season that Once Was . . . SDH Worst to First Recap Time Period Wins/Losses Rank Change (+/-) By November 30th 7-10 22 -7 By December 31st 4-11 25 -3 By February 28th 9-18 27 -2 At Season’s End 5-18 29 -2	SDH Player of the Year:  Jermaine O'Neal Some may asking the question on how could I name a player who had just played 55 games in the regular season as the player of the year?  And the answer is this: there was literally no one else on that Phoenix Suns team even worth mention and this season can be seen as a reemergence of sorts.  After struggling through the past three years with numerous health issues, many had written off O'Neal as a washed up has-been upon his arrival in Phoenix; however, instead on living up to the rather low expectations put upon him, O'Neal stepped up to have one of his best seasons ever averaging 8.3 points, 5.3 boards and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting a rather efficient .482 from the field in just under 19 minutes per game.  That may not look like much; however if once were to stretch out those numbers through 48 minutes, he would have hypothetically averaged 21.0 points, 13.6 rebounds and 3.6 blocks per game for the season.  That in itself showed not only how valuable Jermaine O'Neal was to that sad excuse of a Phoenix team, but also how much a valuable commodity he still can be in the NBA.
Analysis: With the prospect of no longer having their floor general for the past eight years, Steve Nash, in the lineup, the Phoenix Suns still came into the regular season with rather high spirits.  They found what they believed to be the perfect replacement for Steve Nash--a player, who similar to Nash, originally played for the team, but left and subsequently found his way back to the team where he started his career.  Goran Dragic, who Phoenix initially traded away, had come off a breakout season as he led the Houston Rockets within one game of the NBA Playoffs and was tabbed by management to be one to lead the next generations of Suns to future glory.  The Suns also added two players who were high on skills, athleticism and potential, signing away forwards Michael Beasley and Wesley Johnson--two young prospects unable to realize their potential on the former teams, but had the opportunity to become breakout players with a bit of time, patience and proper guidance. To round out their shopping spree, the Suns picked up one of the leagues best post scorers in Luis Scola, whose contract had been waived by the Houston Rockets in accordance to the NBA's amnesty policy of the new collective bargaining agreement--a valuable steal in their eyes. These new additions would join an already solid roster of players which included veteran swing men Jared Dudley and Shannon Brown--two up and coming players that finished 2012 with very solid seasons and were looked upon to be more than adequete complements the team new acquisitions.  Along with Brown, the Suns also boasted one of the top centers in the NBA in the 2011/2012 season in Marcin Gortat who had a breakout season and was highly considered as one of the top up and coming young big men in the league.  Gortat led the Suns in scoring, rebounds, blocked shots and field goal percentage and look to build up from that monumental season.  Add in solid, if not unspectacular veteran backup point guard, Sebastian Telfair, last season's first round draft pick Markieff Morris and this season's first round pick, Kendall Marshall, the Suns had quite a solid and balanced enough roster to take on any team in the league. Many expected that Phoenix with the fresh infusion of youth added along its already solid group of veterans would at least be able hold their own in the super competitive Western Conference.  Some might have gone as far to predict that at best, the Suns would not only prove themselves a worthy match for the West, but also qualify for playoff spot as well--something that they had been unable to do for the past couple of seasons while under the leadership of future Hall of Fame candidate Steve Nash. Unfortunately none of what many had hoped happened as this team who supposedly had so much going for it suddenly bottomed out and came completely undone.  The same players who had brought so much optimistic hope to Phoenix fans had suddenly crashed and burned coming out of the games leaving Suns fans dismayed and disgusted how a team that looked so good play so very bad. Goran Dragic, the same player who Phoenix had tabbed to be the team's floor general of the future certainly did not show the same swagger and leadership as he did while playing at Houston.  Depite finishing the season leading the team in scoring, assists and steals per game, Dragic's overall play was absolutely dreadful as he focused more of getting his own shots instead of facilitating for his teammates as his predecessor once did.  That surprising selfish play from Dragic severly hurt the team, especially the play of Marcin Gortat who saw his touches drop dramatically along with his scoring that went from just under 16 per game, to a little over eleven.  To make matters worse, the two diamonds in the rough that Phoenix proudly tipped their hats to fell well short of expectations as Michael Beasley stumbled out of the gates struggling to play out of his more favored power forward position while Wesley Johnson, who had hoped for a fresh start, did not even get a chance to play despite being promised to the contrary.  All of these sad changes of events have to be blame to former head coach Alvin Gentry who had been subsequently fired by the Suns for his horrible mishandling of the roster; however, by the time they gave him the boot, it was already too late as the Suns were unable to recover from the after effects of Gentry's poor decision making. The Suns, a team that looked as if they had so much going for it coming into the season, simply stumbled through the regular season wandering aimlessly in a daze while mercilessly getting smacked around by their opponents.  They resembled a chicken who just had its head cut off flapping around wildly until the blood stopped circulating from its lifeless corpse finally laying to rest.  What was supposed to be a seamless transition from the Steve Nash era turned out to be a complete debacle as a team that supposed had to tools to pull of at least one or two more playoff runs looked like a complete train wreck upon season's end.  Hopefully, after to grabbing the fifth overall pick in the NBA draft, they can find someone to help right this ship that has gone woefully off course and maybe Phoenix can just chalk that poor performance as a fluke and look to move from there.

SDH Presents the NBA's Worst to First for January and and February: 29. Orlando Magic

Orlando Magic Overall Win/Loss Record (as of February 28th) :  16-42 (fourth place, Southeast Division)	Last Month: 21	This Month: 29
Team Statistics and League Rank (as of February 28th) Points Scored: 94.0 (24th) Points Allowed: 99.9 (21st) Team FG%: .452 (12th) Opponent’s FG%: .461 (22nd) Team FT%: .767 (11th) Team Three Point FG%: .337 (28th) Rebounds per game: 42.7 (13th) Opponents rebounds per game: 42.1 (15th) Turnovers per game: 14.6 (12th) Opponents turnovers per game: 12.1 (30th)	Individual Statistical Leaders (as of February 28th) Scoring (ppg): Arron Afflalo (16.7) Rebounds per game:  Nicola Vucevic (11.4) Minutes per game: Arron Afflalo (36.4) Assists per game: Jameer Nelson (7.4) Field Goal Percentage: Andrew Nicholson (.528) Free Throw Percentage: Jameer Nelson (.900) Three Point FG Percentage: E’Twaun Moore (.364) Steals per game: Jameer Nelson (1.3) Blocked Shots per game: Nicola Vucevic (1.1)
Worst Player of the Month: Hedo Turkoglu Both owner Rich Devos and team GM Rob Hennigan must be thinking the same thing--soon they will rid themselves of the onerous contract of Hedo Turkoglu.  Since returning to the Magic, Hedo has been nothing but a blight with a bloated contract--a dinosaur from a past age.  Now he currently is spending the final year of his contract sitting on the bench while earning his guaranteed $11.8 million and the Magic do not seem to be missing him one bit.  In the eleven games he has played, Hedo contributed next to nothing as he only averaged just 2 points per game while shooting an abysmal .264 from the field.  There certainly will not be any tears shed or long goodbyes once the season finally ends and both him and the Magic finally part ways--the only tears that will be shed will be those of joy as the magic can finally remove that financial dead weight of their backs.	First Player of the Month: Moe Harkless Nothing much was expected from this 19 year old Saint John's product when he was packaged in the three team trade that shipped Dwight Howard out of Central Florida and on that sinking ship otherwise known as the Los Angeles Lakers. Nonetheless, Moe Harkless has been quite the pleasant surprise for this rebuilding Magic team.  For the past four months, Harkless went from a being a long term project being given sparse minutes for playing time to becoming a full time starter.  His minutes and production increased each month from just 4.6 points per game in November to 11.5 per game in February.  His rather impressively rapid development has certainly has made him a key figure for the team's front office
Analysis: After two months of staying moderately respectable in the NBA, the Magic have finally slipped and fallen to the bottom with only the lowly Charlotte Bobcats there to cushion their fall.  The Magic entered the new year with a solid 12-19 record and finished the first two months of 2013 with just four wins to their credit.  Orlando started January losing four straight before they stopped the bleeding by winning two of their next three against the LA Clippers (1/12/2013) and the Indiana Pacers (1/16/2013).  Unfortunately the Magic could not hold onto the momentum as they would finish the month of January losing every game and continued losing in the month of February dropping five straight before ending the slide with a win against the Portland Trailblazers (2/10/2013).  The Blazers win lost its luster the following night as Orlando would drop another five before ending that streak with a big win against the Philadephia 76ers (2/26/2013) then ending February on a sour note losing their last game to the Sacramento Kings by a whopping 24 points (2/27/2013). Regardless of their rather poor showing in January and February losing most of their games by ten or more points, the Orlando Magic did show signs of life in a few of them and possibly could have had them if they had managed hold on.  They started the new year with a heart breaking loss to the Chicago Bulls (1/2/2013) losing by just one basket followed by three hard fought losses against the New York Knicks (1/5/2013), Portland Trailblazers (1/7/2013), and the Denver Nuggets (1/9/2013).  Orlando managed to hold on until the Knicks pulled away in the fourth quarter beating them by eight points, then fell to the Blazers in overtime, and suffered the sting of a painful three point loss to the Nuggets.  The upset win against the Clippers helped soften the blow of losing so closely in the previous four and despite getting shellacked by the Washington Wizards (1/14/2013), they bounced back by grabbing another big upset against one of the Eastern Conference's best, the Indiana Pacers. Unfortunately the Magic would suffer two heart breakers by the Charlotte Bobcats (1/13/2013) and the Dallas Mavericks (1/20/2013) losing by a total of twelve points followed by two more gut wrenchers at the hands of the Toronto Raptors (1/24/2013) and Detroit Pistons (1/27/2013) losing by a four points combined.     If they had managed to stave off the Knicks, Blazers, Bobcats, and Mavericks fourth quarter run, and the ball would happened to have bounced their way against Chicago, Toronto and Detroit, it would have been a whole different story for the Magic.  Instead of finishing January with a loathsome 14-31 record, they probably could have been 21-23 and be within an earshot of the final playoff berth.  Winning those games would have certainly given Orlando a boost in self esteem heading into February as they would have had the added confidence, but they came in as losers and were thus treated like losers.   While the Magic had their hearts broken in January, they would have their spirits and hopes shattered the following month as their opponents simply manhandled them beating Orlando by an average margin of 15.8 points.  Among their eleven embarrassing losses in February, the only game that Orlando put forth a respectable effort was the game against the Memphis Grizzlies where the Magic would lost by just six points (2/22/2013) while the rest simply mopped the floor with them. Nonetheless, having such a poor showing in both January and February actually helped the Magic than hurt it as they would receive a greater chance of locking the number one overall pick come draft day.  Although they would have been most certainly guaranteed the first overall pick regardless looking at the history of the past two, at least there will not be as much suspicion from conspiracy theorists saying that the draft was rigged in Orlando's favor.  And despite resting second to last in the NBA standings, no one can really refer to the Orlando Magic as a "doormat" because the number shows the complete opposite.  In fact for a team that has lost their star player and currently sport one of the youngest and most inexperienced rosters in the league, the Magic still manage to execute rather efficiently on the offensive end shooting a rather high .450 field goal percentage,  And despite  allowing their opponents to shoot a higher field goal percentage, they have only managed to beat the Magic by a mere five points per contest thus far this season. That is quite remarkable considering that no one would have given Orlando a chance in hell after they had given up one of the greatest big men who currently plays for what many considered as virtual nothing.  The players that the Magic picked whom many have not given much credit have been proving many of their haters and critics wrong as they have performed way better than anyone could have expected or hoped. All three players that the Magic have received during that trade have already stepped in the starting lineup and have become major contributors to that team.  The biggest and most surprising contribution most certainly will be Dwight Howard's replacement at the center position, Nicola Vucevic, who has been having a phenomenal season in just his second year averaging 12 points and 12 boards per game while leading the team in blocked shots per game as well.  Add the impressive contributions of their two rookies Andrew Nicholson and Moe Harkless along with them receiving the number one overall pick in the NBA Draft, the Magic's future looks rather bright to say the least and will certainly be turning head come next season for sure.