It's Time for Minnesota to Say Goodbye to the Rudy Gobert Experiment

I feel like I have to address the whole Rudy Gobert situation in Minnesota right now. I will do a full NBA playoff preview when the play in is done, but for now I want to talk about what happened the other night.

Rudy Gobert punched, well attempted to punch, Kyle Anderson on the bench during the final game of the regular season. This resulted in a suspension for last night's play in game against the Lakers. The Lakers won by the way. Gobert has come out and apologized, apparently he and Kyle Anderson have made up and they want to move forward. They do have another chance to make the playoffs if they beat the winner of the Pelicans-Thunder game tonight. But this whole season, and trade, has been a complete disaster for the Timberwolves.

I thought the trade was going to work. I figured they'd be a shoo in for the playoffs. I did not think they'd have to fight through the play in. I did not expect them to be 42-40 at season's end. I did not expect them to go scoreless in the last three minutes of the fourth quarter last night. I thought KAT and Gobert would work well together. Gobert is a great defensive player and KAT is a great scorer. It made sense to me. It never worked. They barely played together due to KAT's long term injury this season. But Gobert also took a major step back. He was not the all world defender he has been before. His pick and roll game has fallen off. He is a step slower. Anthony Edwards was asked to do far too much for this team. He is not ready to shoulder a load like that just yet. I am as big an Edwards fan as there is, but he needs more time to be the face of this team. He also had a great season by the way.

The signing of Kyle Anderson seemed fitting this offseason for the T'Wolves. I was bummed the Grizzlies didn't keep him. He is a good vet player who knows his role and speaks his mind. That seems to be the issue that caused the problem the other night. Anderson told Gobert to get some blocks. Gobert chastised him back and told Anderson to get more rebounds. Anderson started to yell back and Gobert decided he had enough. Apparently Gobert was playing through back spasms and he felt like his toughness was being called out. But to try to throw hands, come on dude.

Gobert seems to have a pattern. We all remember how he dealt with COVID. I mean, he is the match that lit the shut down of the NBA in 2020. He felt sick, swore up and down it wasn't COVID, touched a ton of mics, hugged teammates and laughed it off. Guess what? He had COVID. The season shut down. Donovan Mitchell tested positive shortly after all of this nonsense. His teammates came out and complained about his behavior. You could already see the cracks. I wrote back then that the Jazz were going to have to trade one or both of them. They eventually traded both and are doing a full rebuild. But then we have the on court issues with Gobert that I already mentioned. He also came out earlier this year and called out officials for being biased. I agree that refs are biased, but the T'Wolves have stars. They have players that fans want to watch. I could watch Anthony Edwards play all day long. And it is not like the teams he mentioned are world beaters. The Suns are the 4 seed. The Lakers are the 7 seed. They both can go all the way, but I assumed the T'Wolves could too. And now this punching incident. I do not know how the Wolves don't trade him at this point. They have to try and recoup something, anything from the trade this past offseason. The T'Wolves gave up so much. So many players and so many picks. The T'Wolves should try to get picks back. They have two stars, Edwards and KAT. They have a veteran point guard in Mike Conley. Naz Reid may be the best backup big in the league and he should be fully recovered from his injury in time for next season. Kyle Anderson is a more liked player, and that is now very clear. Gobert is not the answer. He may be toast in the league. His best days are clearly behind him, and he has some issues he needs to deal with.

I think it would be best for the T'Wolves to move on no matter what happens during the remainder of the play in. This trade has already run its course and it was not good. The Timberwolves must keep KAT and Edwards and build from there. That would be the best for this franchise's future. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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A Few Thoughts on Rudy Gobert's NBA Future

Even though there is currently no basketball, and if I'm being honest, I do not think it is coming back this year, I do have a few stories about basketball for you all the next couple of days. The one I want to focus on today is the rumors, which I fully believe, that are flying around right now about the fractured relationship between Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell.

So, all of the basketball world, and most of the rest of the world for that matter, can pinpoint the Gobert incident as the starting point of shutting down sports across America. Gobert was infected, he acted nonchalant, he infected his teammate and the NBA was suspended immediately. They actually suspended it right after he was confirmed to have COVID-19 that night. For the rest of time, Gobert's name will be infamous with who was the catalyst for major pro sports leagues to shut everything down. That is a fact. And the way he treated the situation at first was wrong on every single level. To be on the court for warm ups was wrong, to touch all the microphones during his interview was wrong, to toy and mess around with teammates was wrong. The fact that he went out and thought it was okay to conduct himself in the manner he did was foolish, arrogant and, quite frankly, life threatening. With all that being said, he has tried to make up for his mistakes. He has donated a good amount of money to research. He has, I believe, let his blood get tested. He has adhered to all the guidelines since his infection. He has gone on in interviews and apologized for his actions and has said he is trying to reignite his relationship with his teammates, specifically Mitchell. But, if I were Mitchell, I would be very wary of him. I fully understand why he is pissed off, why he doesn't, or is hesitant, to try and repair their relationship. It all makes sense from Mitchell's stand point. Also, he is much more important to the Jazz franchise than Gobert is, full stop.

Which leads me to my point today. With all these rumors swirling, talk of trading Gobert, or Mitchell for that matter, but more so Gobert, have heated up big time. I get it, and it makes sense. The only real problem is the contract stuff. Gobert makes a ton of money, and he isn't a free agent until 2022. So the team that takes him on, if he gets traded, has to pay him a lot, and may not get him back.

With that being said, I have been racking my brain thinking of a team where Gobert would fit. Before I fully get into it, I am not going to match the money or contract or anything like that. I am just going to go off what I think fits, and where I think it would be best for him to repair his reputation. Therein lies another problem with this. Gobert may not be wanted by a good amount of teams. His actions were rough, and players and coaches and GM's everywhere saw that. That will forever be on their minds. So taking all of that in account I thought of two teams that would fit, that can compete and where he would make sense and the Jazz could get a solid return.

The first team is Boston. In Boston they don't care if you murdered multiple people, they will still wear your jersey and say you are innocent if you bring them titles. He could go there, play his suffocating rim protecting defense and help the Celtics become instant title contenders. The only thing they are really missing is a true rim protector. They don't have a guy that can do that at as high a level right now, and they wouldn't have to give up much of their super young, super talented wing guys. Mitchell is already a great wing player, so Tatum and Jaylen Brown, they could stay in Boston. In actuality I feel like the Celtics wouldn't have to give up much. They would have to part with picks for sure, and of they had to send a few players over there, they could send a guy like Semi Ojeleye or Robert Williams, or a return of Gordon Hayward to Utah. That is who actually makes the most sense to me. Boston could give Utah Hayward because the contracts are similar in money and time, and they would have to send picks, which I think they would do quick to get a guy like Gobert. And if he instantly turns them into a contender, the fans and players and coaches in Boston would easily forget about what he did.

As for the other team, the one I think makes almost too much sense, is the San Antonio Spurs. San Antonio is quiet, they have their own culture and they protect their players. People didn't blame San Antonio when Kawhi wanted out, they blamed Kawhi's uncle. They have helped a guy like Rudy Gay restore his career. It's not like he had a rough career, he was always looked at as a guy teams were better without. That is not the case now. Nobody ever talks about Tony Parker cheating on his wife while in the league. I fully believe that San Antonio protected him, kept him out of the news and media buildings and made sure he never brought it up. San Antonio is like the New England Patriots of the NBA. If you can't restore yourself there, that means you are done. I feel like Gobert could land there and be totally out of the news, which would be the absolute best thing for him. They would have to trade some young assets, maybe a guy like Bynn Forbes or Dejounte Murray or Lonnie Walker. But I feel like the Spurs would be okay with letting one or 2 of those guys go to clear up playing time for whoever they keep. If they give up Forbes and Walker, that leaves Murray to run point. If they have to give up Murray. Forbes can return to a bench role and Walker can finally get his shine. They would make it work. And before I hear the backlash of having too many big contract guys, LMA, DeMar DeRozan and Gobert, they wouldn't be on the books for too long. LMA has a few years left, but DeRozan is a free agent this off season and Gobert would be off the books the next year. It also works for me because Greg Poppovich is not going to coach much longer. He only has a few seasons left, and getting a front court duo of Gobert and LMA could work. They are both big. LMA can score and rebound with some of the better bigs in the league. Gobert is the rim protector and rim runner that could work with Murray or Walker, whichever one they keep. The team is also filled with vets that could help take the heat off Gobert. It would also put this team back in the playoff picture. They could slow down some other teams that have bigger guys that crush them now.

Time will tell with this, but if I were the Jazz, and I wanted to rid myself of this whole thing, these are the 2 teams I would call first to test the waters. We will see. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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Ty Predicts the 2018 NBA Award Winners

As I promised yesterday, today I will be giving out my 2017-18 NBA regular season awards.

Now, for starters I am not going to do All NBA, All Rookie and All Defensive teams. That would be too much, and to be quite frank, I don't care about those teams. I know the players do, because of contract stuff, but I honestly could care less about it.

Also, I need to give a quick congratulations to Russell Westbrook for doing the unthinkable again. The fact that he went out and averaged a triple double for a second straight season is truly amazing. I know people call him a stat chaser and what not, but come on, 2 seasons averaging a triple double is something that will never, ever happen again. He is an otherworldly athlete and basketball player, and instead of always shitting on this guy, people need to start respecting what he is doing. He is an amazing talent that we are taking for granted right now. He will be so much more appreciated when he retires, but right now, respect what this man has done because it is wonderful. I only say this because he won't be winning any of my awards, but I had to shout him out because he is awesome. All kinds of props to Russell Westbrook. He is great.

Okay, now to the awards for the regular season. I'll start with the "lower" level awards and work my way up to MVP. So, the first award that I will be giving away is Sixth Man of the Year. There are not too many candidates for this award this year. Guys I thought about at first were Eric Gordon and Cavalier Rodney Hood. But, Gordon isn't doing what he did last year this year, and Hood has started more games than coming off the bench. I also tried to find a way to get Manu Ginobli in the conversation, but he just doesn't put up the numbers like he used to. When I actually thought about it though, the Sixth Man of the Year is Lou Williams. This dude is instant offense off the bench and every team he has been on, he does good things on offense when he comes in. Lou Williams is a shooter and nothing more, but the dude can fill it up. He is easily the winner of this award for the year. Hopefully next year he is on a team that he can help in the playoffs.

Lets move to Defensive Player of the Year next. When the season was at the midway point, I might have picked Kevin Durant. He was playing out of his mind on that end, but he got hurt and he was out of the race. Draymond Green was another possibility, what with him still being able to guard all 5 positions, and guard them well, but he also missed a myriad of games, thus pulling him out of the race for me. Anthony Davis was another possibility, but he has had to take some plays off on defense because he has done so much on offense since Boogie went out. No, when I actually got down to it, Rudy Gobert is the Defensive Player of the Year. You may say, he missed games too, but not as much as KD and Draymond. Also, when Gobert is out there, he is, by far, the best rim protector in the game. He is the key to what the Jazz want to do, and he is awesome. Gobert wins this award by a mile. We have three awards left to give out.

Next, Coach of the Year. This category is stacked. There are so many candidates. Guys like Gregg Poppovich come to mind. He has the Spurs back in the playoffs, and Kawhi Leonard only played 9 games all year. Nate McMillan has done a wonderful job of turning the Pacers into a legit threat. Brad Stevens is quickly climbing up the ladder as one of the best minds in basketball, and boy have the Celtics suffered crucial injuries too. Dwayne Casey finally got his team into the modern game, and the Raptors are the number one seed in the East. Hell, even Erik Spoelstra, with a garbage roster, has his team in the playoffs. But, when I really pored over it, how does Quinn Snyder not win this award? He lost his best player, he lost George Hill, Gobert missed time and he turned the keys to the offense over to a rookie. And, the Jazz won 45 plus games and are the 5 seed in the West. Snyder has bypassed any expectations I had when he became an NBA coach, and he has done a wonderful job. He is my Coach of the Year.

Rookie of the Year was a contest until recently. It was really down to 2 guys, Donovan Mitchell and Ben Simmons. I know that Dennis Smith Jr had some highlight dunks, Jayson Tatum is a key cog for the Celtics, Frank Ntilikina has been amazing on defense and Lonzo Ball has really come into his own. But, Mitchell and Simmons are clearly better than all these guys by a mile. I was pulling hard for Mitchell because of all the things he has done all year with the Jazz, but Ben Simmons, in this 16 game win streak for the 76ers, has grabbed this award and he is not letting it go. He has been, not just the best rookie, but one of the ten best players in the league right now. And for all the people who say he isn't a rookie, stop. This is his first year playing pro basketball. Sure, he was drafted last year, but he played zero minutes. This is, for all intents and purposes, his rookie year, and he will walk away, easily I might add, with the Rookie of the Year award.

Finally, we have MVP. Much like Rookie of the Year, this is a 2 man race. There were times during the year that guys like LaMarcus Aldridge, DeMar DeRozan, Damian Lillard and even Russ got some love. But, all that petered out due to various reasons. And for the people that want to float out Joel Embiid, or any Warrior player, nope. Embiid will be one of the best players soon, but he is not an MVP yet, and the Warriors guys have all missed too much time throughout the year. The MVP is between LeBron James and James Harden. And, James Harden will finally take home his first MVP award. He has been absolutely amazing this year. The things he is doing on offense are so wonderful. He has worked so well with Chris Paul. The pick and roll with him and Clint Capela is nearly unstoppable. Harden has had a great year and he will get his much deserved MVP. James has put in a hell of a season though. He has put up amazing numbers too. He played all 82 games, something he has never done. He has carried a bad team with a bad coach all year long. He has taken over games against better competition recently. But, what separates him and Harden is the fact that the Cavs are the 4 seed in the East and the Rockets are the 1 in the West, and number one overall seed in all of the NBA. That is due, mainly, to

Harden. There you have it, my 2017-18 NBA regular season award winners.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on all the internet.

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Ty's 2017-2018 NBA Preview: Playoffs and Award Predictions

With the 2017-18 NBA season kicking off tonight, god am I excited, I have one final preseason piece for everyone. As I promised yesterday, today I have all of my predictions. This will include my playoff teams from each conference, plus the playoff teams if they went with the 16 best records, the conference finals, the NBA finals, and all the award winners, including finals MVP. Anyway, lets get to it.

First off, I want to do the playoff teams from each conference. I will write them in order, counting from 1-8. I'll start with the East because it is so much easier than the West. The East is a joke. It was so damn easy to pick the 8 teams. So, I have Cleveland, Boston, Washington, Milwaukee, Toronto, Miami, Charlotte and Detroit ever so slightly over the 76ers. I have no faith in Detroit, I believe they were in the 20's in my countdown, but they are a better bet for the playoffs, in my opinion, this year than Philadelphia. But, it doesn't really matter. It is going to be Cleveland going to the finals. They will face either Boston or Washington in the East finals, but do not count out Milwaukee. I really feel like Giannis Antentekoumpo can will this team to some playoff wins, and I would not be totally shocked if the Bucks make the East finals. But, again, Cleveland will win the East with relative ease. They may have gotten older, but they have a better roster than any other team in the East, and they still have LeBron James. All that dude does is go to finals, and sometimes win them.

As far as the West, the 4 teams at the top were easy, but then it gets really difficult. There are about 7 teams vying for the 4 final spots in the West. As far as the seeds go, I have Golden State, OKC, Houston, San Antonio, Denver, Minnesota, New Orleans and Portland. This leaves out Memphis and the Clippers. Both teams have the talent to get to the playoffs, but I see too many things getting in their way. Memphis has no one outside of Mike Conley Jr and Marc Gasol. The Clippers best players are bound to get hurt. Danilo Gallinari is already hurt. Blake Griffin will get hurt. Patrick Beverly is bound to miss time. It always happens to the Clippers, so I do not see that changing at all this year. And while I think the Utah Jazz will play great defense, and really push for a playoff spot, the West is too good and they will miss out barely. As frustrating as it is to write, the Warriors will easily get to the Finals for a fourth straight time. They may go undefeated again on their way back to the Finals. As far as their Western Conference Finals opponent, I have them facing OKC. I am not too sure why, maybe I just want the Thunder to face KD, but I feel like, once the Thunder's big three figure it out, they are going to be very, very good. Chris Paul and James Harden will choke, they always do. The Spurs do not have enough behind Kawhi and LaMarcus Aldridge to really push. And the four other teams, the Warriors would dominate.

So we will have the inevitable Cleveland-Golden State finals for the fourth straight year. The funny thing too, even with my top 16 teams, which I will get to in a moment, I'd still have the Cavs and Warriors in the Finals. As far as just getting the top 16 teams in the playoffs, leaving the conferences and division winners and all that nonsense out, just flat out taking the 16 teams with the best records, I'd have, in order, Golden State, Boston, OKC, Houston, San Antonio, Cleveland, Washington, Denver, Minnesota, Milwaukee, Toronto, Miami, New Orleans, Portland, Utah and Charlotte. So, that gives 9 West teams and 7 East teams. I really struggled with figuring out who the 16th seed would have been. I went with Charlotte, but I really thought long and hard about the Clippers, again, I remembered their poor health and lack of any kind of solid guards, and Memphis, but I remembered they only have 2 great players, and a bunch of mediocre role players. But again, even with Cleveland being the team with the 6th best record, they would still face off with Golden State in the Finals. Both outcomes reveal the same result for me.

So, as far as the champ, it is the Warriors. They are going to easily win the Finals once again. They are too good and too loaded. They could even take some injuries to key guys, and they'd still walk to the title. The Warriors are too god damn good to be beaten. If they do not win the Finals I'd be shocked. They are that great. In fact, I think the Warriors will win 70 plus games during the season, and go undefeated in the playoffs and completely sweep their way to a title. The Warriors will be your 2018 NBA champs.

As far as award winners goes, lets start with the smaller ones first. For sixth man of the year, I'll go with Tristan Thompson. He has totally embraced his move to the bench, and I think he is going to be great off the bench for the Cavs. He is a perfect energy guy, and I think he will destroy second unit centers. I suppose 6th man of the year is probably the "smallest" award the NBA has. Now for the "big" ones. For coach of the year I have Jason Kidd. I love what the Bucks have going, and much to my surprise, a lot of that has to do with Kidd's direction. He has turned himself into a solid NBA coach, and with the way the Bucks are rising, I see Kidd getting another award to add to his trophy case. For rookie of the year I have Dennis Smith Jr. I love everything that Smith Jr has going for him. He is hyper athletic, he has great teammates, he will run the pick and roll to perfection with guys like Nerlens Noel and Dirk Nowitzki, and he is going to put up gaudy numbers because he will given the keys to the Mavericks offense. He is in an ideal situation for a rookie, and he has something to prove after "dropping" to 9th in the draft. For defensive player of the year I have Rudy Gobert. There is no better rim protector in the NBA, and he will be the best defender on one of the best defensive teams in the NBA. For Finals MVP I have Steph Curry finally getting his. He has won 2 regular season MVP's and 2 titles, but he hasn't gotten that Finals MVP yet. That changes this year. It is his turn after Andre Iguodala winning the first, and KD winning last year. And the final, and most important award, the regular season MVP, I have Kevin Durant. He is going to go off this year, and with a full season, a title and a finals MVP under his belt, he is going to win his second regular season MVP. I was going to go with LeBron, but I just feel like KD is going to tear the league apart this year. Hopefully this doesn't spell doom for him, seeing as David Johnson and Deondre Francois, my preseason NFL MVP and preseason Heisman winner, both went down with season ending injuries in week one of the NFL and college football seasons. I don't think anything bad will happen to KD though. He has suffered through enough injuries.

Anyway, I am so excited to watch the NBA kick off tonight. This is my favorite time of the year because now I have college football, the NFL and now, the NBA. There will always be some kind of sports event that I love on during almost every day of the week. What a great time to be a sports fan. Enjoy the NBA season everyone, and thanks for reading my preseason countdown and picks. I'm sure I'll have many pieces during and after the season, but this is how I see everything just a few hours before the actual season tips off. I cannot wait.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

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Ty Tells You How each NBA Team Can Win the Title: Rockets, Trailblazers, and the Jazz

Day 7 of my NBA countdown has us finally getting to the top 10. It will be team number 10, but we are on our way to the elite. The best of the best. What separates the teams from being elite today are any number of things. Some don't think defense is important. Others are a bit too young, and don't have the necessary experience to go any further than round 2. Some are just one or two players away from being truly competitive. These teams are good, and may make some noise, but none will go any further than round 2 of the playoffs this year. Here we go.

At number 12, I have the Houston Rockets. Man, did this team underachieve last year. They were a year removed from the West finals, and they went out of the playoffs last year with barely a whimper. They did finally get rid of Dwight Howard, but I don't think he was the sole problem. This team does not care about defense at all, and it all starts with their star player, James Harden. Harden is one of the best scorers in the league right now. He can make shots from anywhere. He is deadly from down town. He gets to the free throw line regularly and he will always have the ball in his hands. The problem, he simply thinks that defense is optional. Harden is a horrendous defender. He doesn't even try, which makes it worse. Sure, he can go for 30 any given night, but the guy he is guarding is just as capable of putting up 30. The hiring of Mike Dantoni won't help out his, or the team's defense for that matter. Dantoni is an offensive wizard, but he, much like Harden, thinks defense is optional. This team will score a ton, but they will give up a ton of points too. There are some other decent pieces on this roster. Patrick Beverly is a pesky defender and okay point guard. He may be the only guy on this team that tries on the defensive end. But, when you have Harden as your point guard, having Beverly is kind of pointless. He won't do all that much for the Rockets this year, except annoy their opponents. The Donatas Montejunas hype is over. He is never healthy. He can't score like projected, and he, like most of the roster, could care less about stopping his man. Montejunas is kind of a waste. They signed Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon this offseason. Both are good offensive players. Anderson is a great shooter, but he is just as bad on defense as Harden is. Gordon, when healthy, is a very good, all star caliber player, but he can't stay healthy, and he too thinks defense is optional. They signed Nene, who will bring some toughness to this team, but he looked a step slow in the Olympics. Montrez Harrell will try and take the Nene slack, but he is very inconsistent. Trevor Ariza is a good shooter, but he has lost a step or two, and he doesn't attack like the rim like he used to. He also plays no defense. Clint Capela is the new big man, with Howard gone, but I don't think he is ready to be a starter in the NBA just yet. This team is going to score a ton of points. They may average between 115 and 120 points per game. But, they will give up 110 to 115 points a game. That will net them 43 or 44 wins, but no more. Unfortunately for the Rockets, defense is a very important thing in the NBA.

So Ty, how will the Rockets win the title? The Rockets could win the title if they average about 140 points per game. The only way they can win is if they outscore every other team. That will not happen.

At number 11, I have the Portland Trailblazers. This team surprised everyone last year, including me. They were supposed to be rebuilding, yet they made the second round last year. Damien Lillard is one of the 10 best players in the league. He is clutch, can score from anywhere and is the man on this team. He could be a little better on defense, but man oh man is he elite on offense. CJ McCollum is about to become a perennial all star. He is a great, clutch shooter as well. He also has a very calming demeanor. He is never flustered and plays well within his limitations. This is one of the better backcourts in all the NBA. Allen Crabbe proved to be a decent shooter and a good defender last year. Who knew. Meyers Leonard has been a waste. He is too big and talented to be this mediocre, but he is just average. He also gets hurt way too often. I did not like the Evan Turner signing, but I don't think it will hurt them. He is an okay player, but when you have Lillard and McCollum, I see no reason for Turner. Al Faroq-Aminnu has proven that he is a good enough scorer and defender. He stretches the floor and plays heady defense. Maurice Harkless seemingly came out of nowhere to be a pretty reliable player last year. He doesn't do one thing exceptional, but he seems to do everything pretty well. He's a good basketball player. Mason Plumlee is an average big man, They have a big discrepancy when it comes to big men. Noah Vonleh has also been relegated to bench duties. The lack of a true big will hurt them. This team is so much better than anyone thought they would be. They will continue to win between 44 and 47 games because they have an excellent back court. I love Damien Lillard and CJ McCollum.

So Ty, how will the Blazers win the title? The Blazers will win the title if, much like their first round series last year, every team they run into in the playoffs has a star player get injured. They won't get lucky like that again, but this team is good. Don't sleep on the Trailblazers.

At number 10, I have the Utah Jazz. I know that I have them in my top ten, but I'm not as high as some other people are on them. I think they will be good, but they will go no further than the first round this year. But, they do play some incredibly good defense. I love teams that play good defense. Gordon Hayward is a good NBA player, but I don't think he is as good as others. Some people seem to think he is all star caliber, I don't. I think he is a fine NBA player. He can get you 16 points a night, and he will play some good defense. I do however love Rudy Gobert. He is an excellent big man. His offensive game is coming along quite nicely and he is already a great rim protector and rebounder. Gobert is an all star caliber player. I also really like Derrick Favors. He doesn't jump off the page, but he is consistent and reliable. He is a good low post player. Getting George Hill will be huge for this team. He is a solid point guard and he does everything the right way. This was a great pick up. I also like the addition of Boris Diaw. Sure, he is older and looks a bit out of shape, but he will make open shots and he will find the open man. He is an excellent passer. Joe Johnson was a fine addition too. He doesn't play much defense, but he will be instant offense for a team that needs some instant offense. Alec Burks is a good young player, he is just a but inconsistent. He can fix that. Trey Lyles seems to be coming along just fine. He is a big that can go inside and out. He needs some more time, he is very young, but he looks like he will be a solid NBA player. Rodney Hood has gotten better every year, and I think now is his chance to break through. He's a good shooter and a good defender. This Jazz team is good, and they are on their way back to being a regular in the playoffs. They will win 46 or 47 games this year, about good enough for the 5 or 6 seed.

So Ty, how will the Jazz win the title? The Jazz can win the title if they, much like the Blazers, strike injury luck with their opponents and a star gets hurt on every team they face. They also need Hayward to be more assertive and Gobert's offensive game to drastically improve. They aren't there yet, but they are going to be good for awhile if they all stick together.

That's it for today, come back next week when it is all elite teams that all have a legitimate shot at the title.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. The Head Editor can not get behind the Jazz and Quinn Snyder's pass the ball thirty times and miss a three type of offense. Hey, Ty knows more about these things. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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The USA Men's Basketball Team may not be a Dream Team, but it will Still Easily Win the Gold in Rio

If Rio can build the rims, the US will dominate them.

Last night, and last week for that matter, Team USA basketball kicked off their preliminary games, en route to the 2016 Rio Olympics. I have watched both games, the first against Argentina and the second against China, and if they do not breeze to the gold medal, it will be a total and utter embarrassment.

I know the US doesn't have guys like LeBron James, Steph Curry, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Anthony Davis and Kawhi Leonard, amongst other stars, but they still have Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Boogie Cousins, Kyrie Irving and a plethora of other future and current NBA all stars. The US is not hurting for talent when it comes to Olympic basketball. Sure, other foreign teams have some former and current pros, but it is nothing like what the US has. When they played Argentina the other night, I noticed that Manu Ginobli was playing. He is a great NBA player, and a possible hall of famer, but his best days were 4, or even 5 years ago. He is not the threat he once was to US basketball during Olympic competition. I didn't recognize anyone else playing for Argentina. When they played China last night, I saw one guy that looked familiar to me, but had it not been for NBATV, I would have not remembered that he played in the NBA for a few years. I don't even remember his name, and I just watched the game last night.

That US / China game last night was a complete bore to watch. I usually enjoy a good blowout, it makes the game that much less intense, but this was an absolute drubbing. Team USA won by 49 points, and it wasn't even that close. Team USA didn't shoot the three particularly well, but they didn't have to because they got to the basket at will, and China may be the worst shooting team in the entire Olympic field. They have size, but they cannot make a shot from 16 feet and out. And then, this happened to both Argentina and China, they have no one, and I mean NO ONE, that can guard players like KD, Draymond, Kyrie Irving or Boogie Cousins. KD, who is essentially a guard, is 7 feet tall. He can shoot over some of the best defenders in the world that are taller than him. I saw one play in the Argentina game where a guy under 6 feet was matched up with him on a switch and KD backed him down, and decided to shoot a fade away. The Argentine defender had no chance, and KD was laughing as he walked back down the court. Draymond is a total harbinger to what a lot of the international players see. He stands at 6'9, but he rebounds and defends like a center, and he can run the point. He will lead this team in assists one game, rebounds the next, drop a triple double in the third game, and for the hell of it, he may lead them in scoring in the gold medal game. Kyrie Irving is so much faster and such a better ball handler than any of his competition will have ever seen. He will get to the basket with little to no resistance and, now that he has a jumper, he will be able to shake bigger defenders for some of the most wide open jump shots anyone will have ever seen. Boogie Cousins is an absolute beast on the low block, and none of the international players will be able to contend with his size, his shockingly fast feet, his beautiful footwork in the post and he will out rebound anyone that comes his way. He may be a hot head, but he has seemed to have been able to keep a cool head in international competition.

After those guys, the US can throw Klay Thompson out there. He will lock down anyone on defense and he can shoot and drive with the best of them. They can throw Harrison Barnes at anyone. He is young, fast, plays defense and can get to the basket with ease. Jimmy Butler is on the team. He is another great defender that can score at the basket with some of the greatest players in the world. DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry come off the bench. They can both catch fire at any moment, and with the three point line being closer, they can score in bunches very, very quickly. Paul George is back. He is another threat outside or inside on offense, and he is a very good defender.

The only 2 guys that won't really scare anyone will be DeAndre Jordan and Carmelo Anthony. Carmelo, while he plays very well in the Olympics, is old, plays no defense and only wants to shoot threes. He's on this team because he is never going to win an NBA title, so at least, he will have a few gold medals when he retires. DeAndre Jordan is only on this team because they need at least 2 big men. He is an average defender and rebounder for his size. He is a terrible shooter and free throw shooter. He is a very sub par passer. All he is good for is alley oops, that's it.

Team USA, as I stated at the top, should breeze to a gold medal. I think there are only two teams that may give them a bit of a hard time, and by hard time I mean, Team USA will only win by 15 or 20 points, are Spain and France. Spain has been a thorn in the US side since the 21st century, but a lot of their players are older and breaking down. Sure, they have the Gasol brothers, but Pau Gasol is about a million years old and Marc Gasol, he is coming off an injury that ended his season. I'm not even one hundred percent sure he is playing in these Olympics. France has some solid, current NBA players, but 2 of the three "stars" are very old and getting slower. Tony Parker is the point guard, and while he is great, he is not ready to guard Kyrie Irving, DeMar DeRozan or Klay Thompson. And Thompson himself can lock him down on defense. Boris Diaw is one of the best passers in the league, and he may be the only guy that can guard Draymond in all of the Olympics, but he will be tasked with having to guard Boogie Cousins and being the guy that switches in pick and rolls onto KD, Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, basically, any outside threat Team USA has, and they have a lot. Diaw is a very smart and capable defender, but he won't be able to get to that gear that he will need to, to keep up with those guys. Rudy Gobert is the wild card for France. He is an excellent rim protector and rebounder and a very capable low post scorer. He is also very young. But, how many block shot attempts is he really going to get when France and the US meet? I'm sure the coaching staff for Team USA will put together a game plan that all but eliminates the threat that Gobert brings, and I'm sure it will work. When you have the shooters that Team USA has, it is damn near impossible to stop them.

USA will, or at least should, win the gold medal and every game should be at least a 20 point margin of victory. I think a lot of summer league and D League teams would put up a better fight than some of the international competition will bring. This is going to be a bloodbath and one of the easiest gold medals the US will win in the upcoming Olympics. This is no 1992 "Dream Team", but it is nice to know that when 2/3 of the biggest stars in the game pull out of the Olympics, we can still field a team that is more than capable of breezing its way to a gold. I'll be watching every single blowout that I can, and if the US lets any team closer than 10 points, I would consider that a bummer. They should, and most likely will, crush everybody in Rio.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is sad that they could not find room for Christian Laettner on the team to bring back at least one Dream Teamer. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Ty tells you how each NBA team could win the title: Pistons, Mavericks, & Jazz

I love the NBA, and I really love playoff caliber basketball.

Continuing my NBA countdown, I'll be giving you teams 18, 17 and 16. Today we get our first playoff team. This team will actually replace a team from last seasons playoffs. The three teams I'll be talking about today are right on the verge, or missed their window. They have decent enough rosters, but are just on the outside of the playoffs, with one exception. My first playoff team may surprise you, but that's the fun of making preseason predictions. On with the countdown.

Coming in at number 18 is the Detroit Pistons. There are things I really like about this team, but there's just as much that I dislike. They might surprise, but probably not. First, the dislikes. For one, they completely over paid to keep Reggie Jackson. Being an Oklahoma City fan, I watched Jackson grow into a quality NBA starter, but I also saw how he reacted when he didn't get his way. One year, he'd have a huge impact during OKC's playoff runs, but last season, with Durant and Westbrook out for extended periods of time, he did not respond to the challenge. Instead of being the leader they needed, he became a ball hog, so far as to veterans icing him out and not passing him the ball. He then complained that he wasn't getting the touches or minutes he thought he deserved when Westbrook returned, and basically demanded a trade. His wish was granted much to my delight. Now, GM Stan Van Gundy gave him a max contract and that's insane. He's not a max player, and if he doesn't get his way, he'll openly complain. Another reason the contract baffles me is, the Pistons have a much better point guard in Brandon Jennings. I know he's coming off a torn ACL, but he's ten times the player Reggie Jackson is. He's also a lefty, and lefties are very tough to guard. Jennings can shoot okay enough, and he's really good at finding the open man. Unfortunately, for him and the Pistons, I think he's trade bait since they gave Jackson so much money. Some team will greatly benefit if Jennings is traded, and the Pistons will suffer. I'd take Jennings over Jackson 10 times out of 10.Now, a player I like. Andre Drummond is a good big man to have, but his front court mate, Greg Monroe, left and signed with Milwaukee. That will be tough on Drummond. Drummond is a great rebounder and defender though, and he may strive being the focal point of the Pistons half court offense. They drafted Stanley Johnson, who I like a lot, but he's only 19 or 20 years old. He's another one and done, and it takes time for these guys to develop before they become a true threat. Besides Marcus Morris, who I think is a really good, really underrated player, they "beefed" up their bench with guys like Steve Blake, way too old, Danny Granger, way too old and oft injured, Aaron Baynes, won't succeed outside of the Spurs organization and Ersan Ilyasova, just not that good of an NBA player. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is a good shooter, but he hasn't figured out the NBA game just yet. The overpaying of Reggie Jackson and signing or trading for veterans that are ten years past their prime make the Pistons a 35 to 37 win team. That may get you in the playoffs in the East, but probably not.

How the Pistons will win it all.

The Pistons will win the title if Reggie Jackson and Brandon Jennings find a way to mesh together and play high level basketball, that won't happen, they both think they're alphas, but only one of them is(Jennings), Drummond becomes a 20 point a game scorer, Stanley Johnson becomes a key contributor right away and the old vets find the fountain of youth and play like they did in their primes. Sorry Detroit, that's not happening.

Number 17 on my list is the Dallas Mavericks. What a crummy, terrible, horrible, asinine way to lose your top free agent this summer. I wrote about how cowardly this all made DeAndre Jordan look, and it was a huge blow to the Mavericks hopes of making the playoffs. Now, as I wrote in my piece, Jordan wouldn't have made them an NBA championship contender, but he would've kept them in the playoffs at least. I feel bad for Dirk Nowitzki as well. How many other legitimate superstars have left as much money on the table to help the team get better. Nowitzki will go down as one of the best big men shooters of all time, but the end of his career is going to be tough because the Mavericks aren't going to be as good as they've been lately. Not only did they miss out on DeAndre Jordan, but they let Tyson Chandler walk without trying to sign him, Monta Ellis left in free agency and their "big" offseason additions were Wes Matthews, coming off a torn ACL, Deron Williams, who hasn't been an impact player in about 6 years and JaVale McGee, who is the most out of control player in all of basketball. Go google some JaVale McGee "highlights" and watch with amazement at how absurd some of the stuff he does is. They still have Chandler Parsons, but is he truly a quality starter in the NBA? I haven't seen it since his third year in Houston, and he gets injured all the time. He may have been a one season wonder. Devin Harris is still around, but all he's any good for anymore is shooting the three. JJ Barea is still there, but he's just getting older and older. Samuel Dalembert may end up being a good defensive center, but he will not help this team on offense. I want to touch on the Wes Matthews signing again for a minute. They ended up giving him a max contract after the whole DeAndre Jordan thing, and while that was a poor decision, Wes Matthews is a really good NBA player. He led the league in three point percentage last year. That's right, Wes Matthews and not Steph Curry hit threes at the highest rate. He also plays excellent defense. He is a very, very good basketball player. The Mavericks are going to step back this season. The question is, how far of a slide back will they take? Will they be a mid 30 win team, or will they tank? I'd guess they will end up in the mid 30 win column. Dirk has too much pride to give up at this point in his career and Wes Matthews will want to show people he's worth the big contract. Unfortunately, the rest of the roster is average.

How the Mavericks will win it all.

The Mavericks will win the title if they can get the Steve Nash from ten years ago to come back and play for them, Dirk finds the fountain of youth, Matthews becomes an MVP candidate, Parsons proves he's not a one season wonder and the bench highly exceeds expectations. This will be a rough year for the Mavericks, Mark Cuban and, most importantly, Dirk. They will struggle in the West and Dirk may call it quits after this season. We will have to wait and see.

Finally, my first playoff team. Coming in at number 16 is the Utah Jazz. I thought that I'd never say this, but Quinn Snyder may be a competent coach (ed note: That sentence makes me angry). He has a young team that's buying into playing team basketball and being stout on defense. Gordon Hayward is becoming a really good NBA player. He's playing like a max contract guy and I didn't expect that. He looks likes he's going to be good for a long time. Trey Burke has had a rough start to his young career, but the Jazz have tempered that problem by drafting Dante Exum last season. He got hurt, but he's a 6'6 point guard, and he looks to be really good. Burke is more of a bench player anyway, but it pains me to say that because he was a star when he played for Michigan, and you all know I'm a huge Michigan fan, both football and basketball. Derrick Favors is a pretty good NBA player and forward. He's a good post player and very good rebounder. Alec Burks is quietly becoming a pretty good scorer in the NBA. He's instant offense for the Jazz. Rodney Hood is a lefty sharp shooter, and he's playing good basketball right now in his young career. Rudy Gobert is an upgrade from Enes Kanter, especially on defense. He's not the scorer that Kanter was, but his imposing presence in the post made it an easy decision for the Jazz to trade Kanter to OKC last season. The issue with the Jazz is the rest of their bench. They took a shot, it may end up working out for them, by drafting Trey Lyles in the lottery this past draft. He barely saw the floor in his one season at Kentucky, and no one knows how good he really is. He has a ton of potential, but he's extremely raw. He is the definition of a prospect. And, other than Hood and Trevor Booker, the rest of the bench is question marks. Is Jeff Withey really worthy of an NBA roster spot? Trevor Booker is okay, but will he take the next step? The rest of the bench, literally, who are these guys? I don't know much about them. Like I said, the Jazz will make the playoffs, taking the Mavericks spot from last season, in the hyper competitive West, but they will get swept out of the first round. They will win either 44 or 45 games this season.

How the Jazz will win it all.

The Jazz will win the title, now they're the first team in my countdown that has a "shot" simply because they will be in the playoffs, if they catch fire at the exact right time and run off a series of monumental upsets. They will be the eight seed in the West and they will have to go through a murderers row of opponents. That won't happen this year. they'll be a nice story and Jazz basketball is on it's way back, but they're not elite. Not yet.

So, there are my 18, 17 and 16 teams in the NBA. Come back next week and we will get into the upper echelon of teams in the NBA. All the teams next week will be playoff teams and you will get my Finals prediction and my pick to win the Finals next Friday.

It will feel good to write about teams that are actually good.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. We all watch sports here at SeedSing, but Ty is the only one that really knows what he is talking about. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.