New Year, Same JaVale
If you remember, everyone’s favorite former Nugget came out this season with a brand new hairstyle consisting of three cornrows braided together on the back of his head:
Well, with the new year came a slight change to his infamous ‘do. And it still ain’t pretty:
You do you, JaVale.
Darren Collison, Late to the Party
This flop by the Sacramento King’s guard pretty much speaks for itself:
Westbrook’s Aim
Russell Westbrook is an alien who is currently averaging a triple-double, leading the league in scoring and has almost single-handedly propelled the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 21-15 record. But he’s not perfect. On Wednesday night, Westbrook threw the ball to official Tre Maddox following a play, but Maddox wasn’t paying attention and got hit in the head.
The result of the errant pass? Westbrook’s 10th technical foul of the season, and lots of laughs from everyone around the league. Following the game, Westbrook apologized saying "I called his name. He turned right at me and then looked away. I don't know what to tell you, brother. I really don't. I'm not the type of guy … I would never, ever disrespect the game like that and throw the ball at the referee. I've never done it before. That's just not even heard of in the game before. To get a tech, it's crazy to me. But you take the good with the bad."
NBA Fan Voting
This season the NBA made some changes to the All-Star game voting. In addition to the fan vote, players and select media personnel will also cast votes for the All-Star game starters. The fan vote will make up 50 percent, while the player vote and media vote will consist of 25 percent each.
Yesterday the early returns for fan voting were released and in the Western Conference, they were not very good:
Of course, fan voting has always been a popularity contest above anything else. But it’s also quickly turned into a gimmick. Yeah, it’s fun and what not that the citizens of Georgia have rallied behind their man Zaza Pachulia, but c’mon. The dude is not an All-Star. And it’s not fair to guys who actually deserve to be there, like Anthony Davis or DeMarcus Cousins who might get snubbed because of it. It is just a meaningless game, but NBA fans should take their privilege to vote a little more seriously.
Would my opinion of this be different if it were Nikola Jokic and not Pachulia? You bet.
The Nuggets Defense
For a while the Nuggets were able to escape the wrath of an appearance on the Stiff List, but no more. Since December 15, Denver’s offense has looked extraordinary, posting an offensive rating of 113.9 and scoring 113.6 points per game, good for third in the NBA in both categories. On the other end of the floor it has been a complete nightmare, as the Nuggets give up 115.6 points per game and have a league-worst defensive rating of 116.4 in that span. Adam talks about this more extensively in today’s Locked on Nuggets, but the point is the same. This defense is stinky, and some major schematic changes will need to be made in order to solve anything. Yuck.
