http://www.nba.com/bulls/news/smith_090420.html?rss=true Sam Smith ranks all the backcourts in the league. This is his ordered top 10. Bulls #2. # Lakers: Derek Fisher and Kobe Bryant # Bulls: Derrick Rose and Ben Gordon # Atlanta: Mike Bibby and Joe Johnson # Boston: Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen # New Jersey: Devin Harris and Vince Carter # New Orleans: Chris Paul and Rasual Butler # Utah: Deron Williams and Ronnie Brewer # Miami: Mario Chalmers and Dwyane Wade # Phoenix: Steve Nash and Jason Richardson # San Antonio: Tony Parker and Roger Mason Thoughts? I'd probably take SA, Miami or NO for this playoffs but seems like Smith has come around on Ben G.
Thoughts? A Chicago writer put the Bulls back court as #2. What a shock. He also left off Portland with Brandon Roy and it doesn't matter.
If you click the link, he has them at #11 if that matters to you. Clearly, Sam is letting a sample size of 1, one playoff game, inform his rankings. If that sample size makes sense, so does the order. Rockets backcourt kicked Portland's ass in game 1.
I'd put Miami ahead of the bulls, and I'd put Boston ahead, at least until the bulls beat them. Rondo has actually outplayed Rose through two games, and Allen and BG are basically even at this point, maybe a slight nod to BG, but Allen has hit the biggest shot so far...
Actually this was published yesterday morning though, so it came before Ben's 42 point effort last night. But still. As big a fan as I am of Rose and Gordon, Sam Smith is pretty frequently a major putz. Smith is really the Rasheed Wallace of NBA journalists. He can be extremely knowledgeable and has a ton of resources to bring to bear when he's serious, but most of the time his writing smacks of "cut the check". He didn't exactly get in-depth on Vinnie in his post-game blog.
A slight nod to Gordon? Gordon has destroyed Ray Allen. Gordon is averaging 31 points on 63.9 TS%. Ray Allen is averaging 18.2 PPG on 62.4 TS%. Yes, Allen hit the big shot, but that's because he had the opportunity to do so. Ben Gordon hit all the big shots asked of him, not only in game 2, but also in game 1. The shooting guard matchup isn't even close at this point. Gordon is owning it.
Like I said a slight nod, but Boston is a lot more balanced than the bulls. If the bulls showing that kind of balance, they'd be blowing the C's out. Instead, the same guy is shooting until Vinnie takes him out. The TS% are basically the same. Allen is actually forcing BG into tough shots, BG is just hitting them. It's not like BG is forcing Allen into tough shots. And once Allen woke up in the second half, he actually outscored BG 28-25. So BG really only "won" the first half of game 2. If the bulls win, it will be because of the continued strong play of their backcourt. But Rondo is putting up better numbers than any of the other three and last time I checked, Rondo and Allen were the ones with the rings. So until the bulls win, it's the C's backcourt that should be higher.
My new center rankings. 1. Shaquille O'neal 2. Ben Wallace Dwight Howard doesn't have a ring yet, so I can't rank him higher than those two.
Wow, there don't seem to be many very good backcourts in the NBA. Most of this list is 1 star and just some other guy. My top 4 would be NJ, Boston, Atlanta, and Utah. I tend to not count teams like LA and NO who have the best player but are not very balanced.
It's sort of a dirty little secret that there really aren't a lot of good teams in the NBA for that matter
