BRAGGIN' RIGHTS: 2013 Fantasy Basketball Champion

Different fantasy sport, same team name; same result.

Felipe M

With the NBA Playoffs looming, now would be the time for me to give myself some kudos.  As I explained before, I am part of a highly competitive fantasy basketball keeper league and my team, Baraka Obama, was having a banner year and was coming off a trade that helped me acquire Monta Ellis.  With that move, I solidified my backcourt, but I was still thin at the frontcourt.  Even worse, I had to give up Pau Gasol to make this deal.  I was looking forward to inserting him into the lineup after battling foot issues that cost him a huge chunk of the season.  I would easily had slid him into my starting lineup and help out my frontcourt.  Alas, even with Ellis on board, my squad was still a mess.  

Very late in the season, it's hard to find any reliable and productive players on the waiver wire.  However, there was this one player that I have been keeping tabs on for the entire season.  

We first made a big deal about the firing of Scott Skiles and how that would improve the overall production from their suddenly deep frontcourt.  Not listed was Tobias Harris, but I made it my priority to keep an eye on this guy for the rest of the season.  This was back in early January, but I had this hunch that based on his ability and the scouting report that I acknowledged back on his draft day, I was just simply gravitated towards him and it was imperative to take special notice and follow him for the rest of the year.  

Harris finally busted out to have his most productive week of the season back on February 23, 2013.  It was a good showing by the former Milwaukee Bucks' player.  Considering that the game was his debut with his new team, the Orlando Magic.  Solid effort, but not good enough to warrant a roster move.  Finally, on February 27, 2013, he exploded for 23 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and two steals in 31 minutes of play.  It was unbelievable that no one else had picked him up.  I immediately dropped Michael Kidd-Gilchrist that night in order to make room for Harris and he performed beyond my wildest imagination.  

With a solid frontcourt intact, my squad was finally ready to be legit contenders for the championship.  Not only that, but the move elevated the play of Omer Asik and most notably, Spencer Hawes.  I don't know what it is, might be a mere coincidence, but sometimes, when you make certain decisions on your fantasy team, it somehow affects the rest of the squad.  We're talking in indirect, intangible terms here, but for those that are serious about their fantasy sports, sometimes outside factors, beyond your control, get together and elevates the entire team to a higher level.  Of course, the converse also holds true as a string of back luck will definitely cripple your squad.

At any rate, I was able to win the Bryant Division (yes, named after Kobe, the most hated player in my little world).  Unfortunately, I was forced to face the hottest team in the last 10 games or so, the Nut Sac Lootmonkeys (the "Sac" stands for Sacramento.  The squad is run by our resident, disgruntled Kings' fan, Josh C). 

You're talking about a team that was not only winning, but with their high scoring, they were humiliating opponents every single week.  They were definitely an immovable force in the 2nd half of the season.  They were led by the following players:

• Goran Dragic
• Brandon Jennings
• Ty Lawson
• John Wall
• Gordon Hayward
• Andre Iguodala
• Dirk Nowitzki
• Paul Pierce
• Marc Gasol
• Al Jefferson

And they still had injured players Kevin Garnett, Andre Drummond, and Kenneth Faried on the bench.  This team was very deep!

I went with my thin lineup of the following players:

• DeMar Derozan
• Monta Ellis
• Jeremy Lin
• Dwyane Wade
• Tim Duncan
• Kevin Durant
• Tobias Harris
• David Lee
• Omer Asik
• Spencer Hawes

Even with Lootmonkeys' injuries, my team just didn't look very formidable compared to his.  I gave myself an optimistic 45% chance of winning this game.  Sure enough, the 'Monkeys scored 350+ points.  Unfortunately for them, I ended up scorign 365 points!  Who would have thought that Duncan, very late in the season, would continue to get enough minutes to produce big time numbers?  And there's Harris with the surprising 44.5 points.  Wade and Ellis combined for 83 big points.  Special note is Hawes accumulated 37.5 points.  Real proud of him and the improvements he made as the season progressed.

On to the Championship Game and once again, I was stuck having to face my divisional foe and longtime nemesis, Eyebrows the Net (or as I like to call him, Tim C from KC).  After beating him in our first match-up, he went on to win the next two contests.  His team, although not as strong as the Lootmonkeys, was picking up steam as they entered the playoffs.  They defeated the best team in the league, in terms of win-loss record, Young Blood, to get to the championship game.  Final score: 346-322.

For the Championship Game and the 4th and final game between us, the Net went with the following lineup:

• Stephen Curry
• Damian Lillard
• Isaiah Thomas
• Russell Westbrook
• Nicolas Batum
• Luol Deng
• Zach Randolph
• Tirstan Thompson
• Anthony Davis
• Greg Monroe

I went with the same lineup that got me into the Championship Game, despite the fact that D-Wade was reported to miss a few games because of an ankle injury.  He would later go on to miss the entire week and post a big, whopping ZERO POINTS!  I was devastated by his absence. I even conceded the match-up to my opponent on that Saturday.  How can my team win short-handed?

What I didn't realize was that the Net was dealing with an injury of their own.  Batum had only posted 15 points as he was dealing with a shoulder problem (eventually would end his season).  With a whole slate of weekend games to go, my situation was not very favorable as I was holding onto a small lead going into the weekend.  However, despite D-Wade's absence, we prevailed!

49 points from my favorite player, Kevin Durant, 41 from Harris, 42 from Lee, Hawes and Asik combined for 60 points at center and even Jeremy Lin showed up with 40.5 to add to Ellis' 44.  

Truly a satisfying season.  I worked hard in my draft preparation during the offseason, went outside my comfort zone and made a whopping FOUR TRADES (I usually am lucky enough to perform one trade per year, let alone four), and kept my eyes glued to the waiver wire.  After years of many losing seasons and seasons where my team was knocked out of the first round of the playoffs, we finally made it over the top, defeated a couple of great teams and now we scream from the mountaintop as champions!

Can't wait for these NBA Playoffs to start all ready, but as we close out another season in our Big Ballers' keeper league season, as always, I'm looking forward for another exciting season in 2013-'14.

We leave you with our review of Tobias Harris' after he was selected by the Bucks:

"Tobias Harris out of Tennessee was selected by Milwaukee. Described as a "versatile" perimeter player with a "high basketball IQ," this player has a reputation for his hard work and for being a gym rat. On the downside, Harris was one of the few players in this draft whose lack of athleticism was a major concern."

More NBA content is available here. 

BRAGGIN' RIGHTS: 2013 Fantasy Basketball Update

Felipe M

My credentials....
(photo courtesy of Felipe M)

I haven't talked too much about my fantasy basketball team, the basketball Baraka Obama, all year long.  This is a travesty because we're having a really good season, so far.  We've lead the BRYANT DIVISION for most of the season, but team Eyebrows the Net have finally caught up and we're deadlocked at 13-5, with only 3 games (including this week) left to this season.  I believe they win the tie-breaker to win the division, but I still control my own destiny in the Wild Card meaning a possible match-up in the playoffs with arch-rival, long-time nemesis, the EJ-led Young Blood (former editor of this blog). 

Quick background on this league:

• It is a keeper league that was established on CBSsportsline, back in 2004, but most of us have been playing fantasy basketball since 2002.
• It's a fantasy point, head-2-head league.
• 1 point for every point scored
• 2 points for Assists
• -1 for turnovers
• 3 points for steals and blocks
• Nightly, individual scores are averaged, so number of games in a week are not important.  It's all about EFFICIENT PRODUCTION.
• Teams must start 4 guards, 4 forwards, 2 centers and can have up to 4 bench players, plus an IR slot for long-term, injured players
• All teams participate in post-season play, but only the top 4 teams play for the Championship.
• The middle 4 teams play for the #5 pick in next year's draft in a consolation bracket.
• The bottom 4 teams play to increase their chances in the lottery sweepstakes, for the #1 pick in next year's draft, in their own, separate bracket.
• Trades are not limited to only 2 teams as 3-way, and I believe even 4-way trades, have been completed before in this league's history.

We've just went through our trade deadline this past week and after a year full of questionable, quirky, and quizzical transactions between two teams (no 3-way deals this year), the trade deadline has thankfully come and gone, but not before its most controversial deal occurred at the last minute.  More on that later.

So far, team Baraka Obama ranks in the following categories... 

....(again, quick review on the evolution of my team name: Formerly team Kingdom Conker: named after the video games Kingdom Hearts and Conker's Bad Fur Day. After almost a decade of losing, changed the name of the team after having Kevin Durant for a 2nd full season to Baraka Obama: named after the character from Mortal Kombat and, of course, the current president of the U.S.A.  Its also the name of my current football team, but thinking of changing the name next season)...

• 3rd in Points For
• 2nd in FG%
• 2nd in FT%
• 3rd in Rebounds, Assists, and Turnovers per game
• 6th in Steals
• 2nd in Blocks per game
• Dead last in 3-point shooting (but, thankfully, this isn't a roto-style league)

We've mentioned Young Blood leading his RODMAN DIVISION, while our very own, disgruntled Sacramento Kings' fan, Josh Chiaratti has wrapped up his dominance of the lowly BARKLEY DIVISION.  Which proves once again that if you contribute to any of my blogs, you will be very successful in fantasy sports (except for Reggie's team, Van Excellence.  He's sitting pretty at 6-12 and on his way to one of the consolation brackets.  To be fair, however, he technically never wrote a sports' article for us so that would explain that).

Clearly, at 13-5, I took my own advice leading up to our annual fantasy basketball draft.  Here's how my team looked for week 1 of play:

GREEN = KEEPER PLAYER

YELLOW =  DRAFTED PLAYER

PURPLE = ACQUIRED VIA TRADE

RED = ACQUIRED VIA FREE AGENCY/WAIVERS

GUARDS

• RAJON RONDO
• JEREMY LIN
• RODNEY STUCKEY
• BRADLEY BEAL

FORWARDS

• KEVIN DURANT
• PAU GASOL*
• TIM DUNCAN
• ANDREI KIRILENKO

CENTERS

• ANDREW BOGUT
• KEVIN GARNETT

BENCH

• J.R. SMITH
• TONY ALLEN
• THOMAS ROBINSON
• HARRISON BARNES

INJURED

• AMAR'E STOUDEMIRE (selected in the 1st round (virtually the 4th round, after keepers) of the draft.  Yep, bad move!)

*Pau Gasol acquired via trade in the offseason for Brook Lopez and swapped draft slots

I got off to an amazing start, but injuries soon caught up to me and my "Greatest Paper Team Ever Drafted" looked very vulnerable and on its way to collapse.  Nevertheless, the resiliency of the squad, led by Durant, kept me in games and maintained my pace towards the playoffs.  However, with a veteran team like this, and with Rondo's imminent exit looming after the season (after this season, I could only keep Durant or Rondo, but not both.  Who would you pick?), I had to ditch my "patient" approach to fantasy sports and get aggressive in the trade market.  At first, these trades looked awful as I was forced to trade producing veterans and depth, for more explosive players and more help (quantity over quality) in the middle.  The trades did, eventually, begin to payoff as I have not suffered a losing streak of more than 2 games all season long.  Nonetheless, I was mostly "winning ugly," while the other elite teams seemed to be crushing the competition on a weekly basis.  

As the trade deadline approached, I needed to make one more move for the final push for the playoffs.  I needed help everywhere it seemed like, but had to go after a guard.  After going through countless trade scenarios, I was approached with a deal that would sacrifice the little frontcourt depth that I had, for that elusive guard. Here's what my team looks like after the trade deadline:

GUARDS

• DWYANE WADE***
• MONTA ELLIS****
• JEREMY LIN
• DEMAR DEROZAN**

FORWARDS

• KEVIN DURANT
• DAVID LEE*
• TIM DUNCAN
• TOBIAS HARRIS

CENTERS

• OMER ASIK**
• MARCIN GORTAT***

BENCH

• AMAR'E STOUDEMIRE
• SPENCER HAWES
• KIRK HINRICH
• TIAGO SPLITTER

*David Lee was acquired in a deal proposed by Van Excellence for Kevin Garnett and Ron Artest

**DeMar DeRozan and Omer Asik were acquired in a deal proposed by Van Excellence for Harrison Barnes, Bradley Beal, and Andrei Kirilenko

***Traded Rajon Rondo and J.R. Smith for Dwyane Wade and Marcin Gortat to Ming Dynasty. A week or so after the trade, Rondo would end up lost for the season due to knee injury.

****Monta Ellis was acquired in a deal proposed by South Beach Talents for Pau Gasol

I hate making trades and work really hard to make sure that I have an excellent draft to avoid making trades and not have to depend on anybody else to improve my team.  As you can see, only 4 players remain from my original team in Week 1.  Making trades was definitely an evil necessity this season.  I don't think I've ever made this many trades in this league before.  

Regardless, there are still holes on my team, mainly the two centers that are currently starting.  Asik has 26 points so far this week, but divisional foe, team Eyebrows, has at least two centers that can score 35+ each on any given week.  No use fretting about it as we continue to march toward the playoffs and will have to continue to keep an eye on the waiver wire.  

But it's worth noting the key players that have helped this team so far.  Tim Duncan is definitely one of them.  After getting mocked at the draft for selecting him and people criticizing his age and diminished skills and body, he still has managed to play at an elite level and has been the most pleasant surprise on my team.  Duncan has always been one of my favorite players and I'm happy to have him on my squad this year.  

I cannot mention Duncan without mentioning Splitter.  He got off to a very slow start, but I've always liked his game and kept tabs on him.  As soon as he had one big game and saw that he was available on waivers, I immediately snatched him up in early December and have not let go since, providing much needed insurance in case Duncan goes down for a long period of time.  

After bashing Lin last season, I took a deeper look at his game and his projections for this season and decided that he would make a great pick in the draft.  Did I want to select him with my 2nd round pick?  Absolutely not, but that is what happened.  He got off to a very slow start as his 3-point shooting was lagging and James Harden was taking over as the primary EVERYTHING on the Houston Rockets (ball-handler, scorer, shooter, perimeter threat, distributor, dribble-driver, etc.).  Eventually, Lin did find his role on the Rockets and has played a lot better of late. 

It was very sad to trade away Rondo, but he was struggling and not producing like in years past.  Even when he would get triple-doubles, he was still not playing to the elite-level status he had been playing in the last 2-3 seasons.  I tried trading him to the Talents for Steph Curry, but it was of no use.  So I'd settled on my 2nd option, D-Wade.  Threw in a hot-streaking J.R. Smith into the deal and even with Gortat not playing as well as I had thought, D-Wade has been playing like its 2006 all over again and combined with Durant, has been one of the best dynamic duos in our league.  Even though Rondo was no longer on my team, it was still sad to see him lost for the year.

Looking back at the David Lee deal, Lee's game has suffered since he was acquired.  From being a player that can explode for +45 points/week, Lee struggled to obtain 35+/week, even scoring a low of 28 on my team (week 15).  He has turned it back on the last 3 weeks, however, and if I can find one more, legit forward, I can always move Lee to center.  

DeMar DeRozan has had a nice year so far, but can be inconsistent sometimes.  But I like his athleticism (he can really fly!), versatility (qualifies at guard/forward), and his tenacity (he really believes that he can turn around the Toronto Raptors' franchise) make him a a must-have player, especially on this team.  

The key here is Stoudemire.  If he can co-exist with Carmelo Anthony and not just flourish whenever Anthony is out with injuries, that will easily put me over the top and solidify my frontcourt and I can even slide him at center.  Currently, he's playing well with Anthony missing, but has averaged 17 points/week in the last 3 weeks with Anthony in the lineup.

And finally, a quick shout-out to Kevin Durant.  It is amazing to see how much he has developed from his rookie year, to now.  I believe I acquired him during his rookie season and he was only averaging 25 points/week in our league.  My team was undergoing yet another hard, tough, losing season and I had to start thinking young and ditch my veterans.  That deal caused an uproar in the league because of all the players I gave up to get Durant, but I didn't care.  I liked this kid since I read about him in a magazine article and how he's constantly working hard and refining his game every day and his mom keeps him in check so he can focus on his game and not get trapped in the NBA lifestyle. To see him become one of the best scoring options in the league, under my team, just makes me beam with pride.  

Is this a sad lifestyle to have to vicariously live through the accomplishments of others?  Perhaps.  But at this point, it's all about BRAGGIN' RIGHTS!

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Feel free to share your fantasy basketball season with us.

NBA PICKUP GAME 2012: Point Guards (you don't want on your team)

Felipe M

I conducted a small poll asking the simple question, "Which five NBA players would you not want to have on your pickup team?"  Needless to say, I ended up getting very different answers so I decided to split this into a 5 part series based on NBA positions.  What follows is the list of players followed by the reasoning behind the selection. 

1. Rajon Rondo--Why Rondo gets so much hate among NBA fans is a perplexity to me.  Obviously, getting into a fight with Kris Humphries earlier this year, probably didn't endear himself to many fans.  In my opinion, Rondo would be great as playground point guard because all he would do is pass you the ball, non-stop!  However, Rondo shows up among many NBA fans' most disliked players all over the Internet. 
• Why? He does come off pretty weird, as a guy who dances to the rhythm of his own beat--maybe a bit arrogant for many NBA fans. Also, many people think he's overrated because he looks to be too afraid to shoot and score and has yet to develop a long range shot.  I like him, but many fans don't.
2. Ray Felton--Felton has been one of the more productive point guards since he entered the league with the Bobcats, but a reputation of selfishness and poor dieting has followed him throughout his career. His weight would be magnified as he arrived in Portland, unprepared for a shortened-NBA-lockout-induced-season and out-of-shape, flushing the Blazers' chances to make the playoffs and Felton and his weight were deemed the scapegoats.  
• This season however, he's been playing like a man on a mission with the New York Knicks, playing admirably for the club and being the main scorer sometimes on a team full of injured players. However, as one pollster explained his reasoning in selecting Felton, "too many donuts in his system. I don't like subbing in the playground, but you know this spare tire would be out of air after only eight minutes of outdoor summer heat." Despite his valiant effort this season, Felton proves that a bad reputation is harder to shed than a few pounds.
3. Jeremy Lin--The reason why Felton is playing so hard this season is because he's trying to make sure people know that he is a million times better than Lin. Lin is better paid and gets more publicity, but this season, Lin's inconsistent play is making NBA fans screaming out "FLUKE!" As one fan noted, "he took the money and ran...Can we please kill 'Linsanity' once and for all?"  Another fan stated that he's "one of the worst starting point guards in the NBA...the only thing this untalented PG does better is sell jerseys in Taiwan."
• Both his FG% and 3-point% are down from last year, but he was never a deep-threat to begin with, though the Rockets are asking him to shoot more from beyond the arc. Because of his poor shooting (and playing alongside teammate James Harden) his scoring is down as well, but playing against a Knicks' Defense earlier this month, showed that he can flourish if he is asked to dribble penetrate more often during games.  The fact that his turnovers per game are down either shows smarter decisions by Lin or a decrease in handling the ball for the Rockets. Besides that, Lin provides a decent, all-around game for a player at his position, but in the playground game, if you're not scoring and hitting your shots, you're not getting the ball, period.
4. Jameer Nelson--The reason I can't stand Nelson is because during the 2004 NBA draft, Nelson was the last player still in attendance who was yet to be picked and he looked devastated. Then Dick Vitale was interviewed during the draft's telecast and pleaded with all NBA teams to select the Senior out of St. Josephs's because he did things the right way and stayed in school and blah, blah, blah!  So by association, I've never really liked Nelson.  However, since Nelson has been the main scoring threat on the Magic this year, he has seen steady increases in production, although his 3-point% is down from last year (not so easy to hit those 3-point shots without teams double-teaming the post, huh?). However, Nelson can be inconsistent as well, scoring 28 points and dropping 10 dimes one night only to score 8 points and 5 assists in the next game. 
• Nevertheless, I can picture myself being on Nelson's team and experiencing a guy who can dribble his way to the paint with ease, but then inexplicably dish the ball to someone and would give dirty looks each time he thought his teammates were not cutting the right way or not rotating properly. Basically, he would glare at you, as if to blame you for his shortcomings.
5. Jerryd Bayless--Back when I covered the 2008 NBA Draft, I remember Bayless being described as an explosive guard who can one day give opposing teams trouble with his speed and raw scoring talent.  Unfortunately, Bayless has not met expectations and had one fan saying, "I spent a season watching him play and he consistently made stupid a$$ decisions."
• Since being drafted in 2008, Bayless has already played for four different teams.  "NBA journeyman" was not part of the scouting report on him.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Goran Dragic, Steve Nash, and Ty Lawson were inserted by me because even though they are pretty good point guards, the fact of the matter is that I can see them push the ball and running up-and-down the court constantly. In the playground game, that running up-and-down the court and trying to constantly score on transition can be beneficial as the opposing team might not see it coming and lazy, transition defense is the norm in the street game.  But for a guy like me, I'm not very interested in running up-and-down the court for a whole game.  I'll take Rondo and his half-court game any day.  

Read more about the NBA, here.

2012 RANDOM NBA THOUGHTS: Vol, 2

Felipe M

Today's Random NBA Thoughts are based on the games that were played on Monday, December 17, 2012. 

Chicago Bulls at Memphis Grizzlies: This game matched the top two defensive teams (in terms of Average Points Allowed Per Game) in the NBA. And judging by the score, it was definitely an offensive stalemate. For the Bulls, this marks the 5th consecutive game that they have failed to score over 100 points.  While the Grizzles' center, Marc Gasol was held to only 4 points, we did experience a Wayne Ellington sighting as the former Tar Heel scored 11 points, on 3-4 from 3-point-land, grabbed 2 boards, and 2 assists in 20 minutes of playing time.

Minnesota Timberwolves at Orlando Magic: In what could've been the weirdest game of the night, the T'Wolves took a commanding halftime lead as they scored 32 points in the 2nd Quarter--and then they went on to score only 32 points in the entire 2nd half.  Despite having two players grab double-digit rebounds, the T'Wolves edged out the Magic in the rebound department by only 1 (43-42).  Even then, the T'Wolves grabbed more offensive rebounds (15-6). The rest of the game was evenly matched for the most part, but the most glaring stat of the night was that the Magic hit 42.9% from beyond the arc, while the Wolves struggled at 28% which might have proved to be the difference in the game.

On a fun note, this game matched up starting centers Nikola Pekovic vs. Nikola Vucevic. I can only imagine how much the broadcasters of this game enjoyed having to announce both players' names on a constant basis tonight. More importantly, both players achieved a double-double.

Los Angeles Clippers at Detroit Pistons: Having seen Chris Paul live, I can honestly say that he is without a doubt, the smartest point guard in the NBA. And tonight, he proved once again why he might be the best point guard in the NBA despite the lack of athleticism that has been on display by his younger, more explosive counterparts. Dropping 7 dimes, swiping 3 steals, and scoring 14 points to go along with numerous plays that could have made tonight's highlight reels.

However, the real treat (well, for any real NBA junkie, that is) came in seeing just how far away Brandon Knight is from even sniffing Paul's elite status.  Shooting 5-16 from the field (3-10 from 3-point-land), Knight scored 16 points, but committed 5 turnovers (which cancelled out his 5 assists).  Perhaps Knight was missing the play of fellow backcourt mate, Rodney Stuckey, but it's safe to say that Knight was definitely schooled tonight.

Check out more articles on Brandon Knight, here.

Houston Rockets at New York Knicks: The date we have all been waiting for--the #1 team, in terms of average 3-Pointers Made per Game, was hosting the #2 team in the Rockets.  And both teams did not disappoint as they combined for 60 attempts from the 3-point line.

And, of course, the biggest sports story of the night, the triumphant return of Jeremy Lin to Madison Square Garden.  Lin has had an up-and-down season as he has struggled to find a proper role on a Rockets' team that revolves around superstud James Harden. Lin also had to face a Knicks' team determined to spoil his return, especially Ray Felton who clearly was trying really hard to prove that he's better than Lin despite not getting the same publicity (and getting paid a lot less as well).  However, Lin proved to be up for the moment as he scored 22 points (on 9-15 shooting from the field), 8 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals.  More surprisingly, Lin was able to maneuver his way down the paint against a tough Knicks' defense which is anchored by Tyson Chandler, who looked to intimidate Lin by committing hard fouls on the guard. But that did not stop Lin from continually driving down the lane time and time again, frustrating Chandler and whoever the Knicks assigned to defend the determined point guard.

San Antonio Spurs at Oklahoma City Thunder: On most nights, this would be the marquee matchup of the night, but you knew that the Spurs would not go 100% against their biggest rival on the road and the Thunder were able to even the season series at one. While not a single Spurs' player logged over 30 minutes in this game, the Thunder were clearly determined to win this game as they had four players (including both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook) logging in over 30 minutes. This will prove to be a more competitive game when these two teams meet up in San Antonio on March 11, 2013.

Sacramento Kings at Phoenix Suns: If there was ever a microcosm to describe the Kings this season (heck, even in the last 2-3 seasons), it would have to be the 3rd quarter of this game where the Kings only scored 14 points after leading by as many as 19 points before the game reached halftime.

Some would say that the Suns have had a tendency to comeback from large deficits this season, but the Kings have proven time and time again, that despite having highly talented and athletic players, they are clearly the dumbest team in the NBA.

DeMarcus Cousins has already gone through his annual wacky episode(s) where he has gone after Spurs' color analyst, Sean Elliot, admitted that he's been lacking confidence this season, visibly getting into confrontations with coach Keith Smart, and getting suspended for hitting O.J. Mayo below the belt.

Cousins is the biggest problem on a team full of problems and despite all of the lottery picks that they have accumulated in the past few years, there seems to be no direction, goal, or structure on this team (except getting a new fancy stadium from the highest, bidding city).  Brand new year, same old story in "Swerve City."

For more on the wacky Sacramento Kings, click here.

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