Bench Points By Joshua S. Cobb

Put Some Respect On LA September 26th, 2018 Lately, I have been seeing a lot of analysts as well as NBA consumers feel that this new look Los Angeles Lakers team is not even a lock to make the playoffs. Let me clear the weariness up right now...the Lakers will in fact be playing in the 2019 Playoffs and will compete this season.  Last year the running narrative was that LeBron James did not have help in the Cleveland Cavaliers quest for a 2018 NBA Finals Championship. It saturated the media and even Saturday Night Live got in on the action. Though I feel that that narrative was a bit of an exaggeration, this 2018-2019 season will be a solid one for LeBron and the Lakers and they should end with around 50 wins (give or take 4 or 5 games in either direction).  The first and biggest reason why the Lakers will succeed this upcoming season is simply because they have LeBron. I know that some believe that b...

The Towns Deal Speaks on Butler's Character September 24th, 2018 We are currently in the midst of the Jimmy Butler trade drama but Minnesota found a silver lining recently. During this transitional period, the Timberwolves extended their budding superstar, Karl Anthony-Towns, to a five year for a deal worth $190 million. The Wolves have been in a drought for star-like bigs since Kevin Garnett's departure in 2007 and the Kevin Love trade in 2014. Minnesota fans had to endure the tenures of Mark Madsen, Theo Ratliff, Antoine Walker, Adreian Payne, Sasha Pecherov, Thaddeus Young and of course the stint of Nikola Pekovic. Those in-between years are now over with Karl Anthony-Towns holding it down in the low post. Towns won the NBA  Rookie of the Year Award  in 2016 and he was also made his way to the All-NBA third-team last season. Additionally, Towns averages 21 and 11 for his three year career and last season KAT poured a career high of 56 points against the H...

Timberbulls, Thibs and a Trade? September 20th, 2018 Almost nobody has been more strangled as an NBA fan base than Minnesota Timberwolves fans. Minnesota has not had a 50 win season since 2004 and recently ended a 13 year playoff drought this past season, only to be dominated in the first round of the playoffs by the Houston Rockets. Just when Minnesota fans thought their rebuild blossomed into something dynasty worthy, it is all put to a standstill in light of a recent trade demand. Over the 2017-2018 NBA regular season, we saw an underlying issue in Minnesota and it was their chemistry. From the eye test alone you could certainly see a clash among their newly acquired All-Star in G Jimmy Butler and both C Karl Anthony-Towns and F Andrew Wiggins. For the Towns and Butler rift specifically, the issue looked to be ball distribution in the clutch. For big men in the NBA that averaged over 20 points per game, Towns ranked 7th in a usage rating of 22.9. Interestingly enoug...

Rockets Going All In September 3rd, 2018 It is not crazy to think that the Houston Rockets were a Chris Paul injury away from reaching the 2018 NBA Finals and potentially winning the championship against the Cleveland Cavaliers. I think we can all agree that Houston is the undisputed best team in the Western Conference behind the Golden State Warriors, however, their win now approach has become a costly one. The Rockets’ payroll is mostly ate with the salaries of James Harden , Chris Paul and newly signed Clint Capela. That trio accounts for 80% of their cap space alone. The Rockets are over the cap and will be repeat offenders against the luxury tax. When teams are in this financial situation you can only hope that you have a contending roster. Luckily for Rockets’ owner, Daryl Morey, the Rockets are currently constructed to do just that. After a very successful season, Houston has G James Harden, G Chris Paul, G Eric Gordon, G Gerald Green, F PJ Tucker, C Nene Hil...