NBA - Young Money

45/19/8 blocks for Howard tonight? Jesus. Thats domination. What the hell has gotten into these kids lately? That looks like a line for Blake Griffin (beast himself) against a sub .500 college squad. Superman was in the building tonight.



47 points for Durant tonight. A little bit of confidence after he won horse this weekend? He has been on fire over the last month. This kid is still so young. Theres just no doubt that he is going to be unstoppable over the next 10 years as he keeps improving the jumper and some go to post moves. Hes just too long and too good. Benjamin Button... I mean Oden is a nice kid, but Durant should have been drafted first.

The league has such a fantastic crop of young talent. Good god I love it. We have been lucky to see a lot of amazing talent enter the league and pan out over the last 5 years. The NBA's popularity is really dependent on its superstars. Remember how noone really cared about the NBA in the late 90's and early 2000's? Well there was a direct correlation with that lull and the lack of big time talent coming in after Duncan in 1997. Number 1 overall picks after Duncan were Olowakandi, Elton Brand, Kenyon Martin, Kwame Brown, and Yao. Are you kidding me? Wish I was born as a future 7 footer. And Im not playing it up either, there werent even any successful top 5 picks in that dark age. Kenyon Martin made an all star game but other than that, noone in the lottery in 2000 even starts in the NBA right now, unreal.

Things have changed drastically since Melo won a title at Syracuse and LeBron's high school games were being televised. The rosters at the all star game this weekend were just stacked with young stars. There is a handful of 10+ year veterans like Pierce, Duncan, Shaq, Kobe, KG, etc, and the rest is just loaded with 22-27 yr olds. Thats why there is such a large number studs hitting free agency around 2010. Lebron, Stoudemire, Wade, Bosh, Dirk, Joe Johnson, Redd, Manu, McGrady, Rip, Ray, Stephen Jackson, Chandler, Josh Howard, Jermaine O'Neal, TJ Ford, and more. Better clear some cap space for the Summer of Lebron, whole leagues gettin flipped.

I flip on Sportscenter tonight and see Howard and Durant just crushing it. Think about the Darko draft being about 5 and a half years ago so those cats are in their prime. Lebron went first and rightfully so as his potential knows no limits. Darko 2nd to Detroit which is that much worse when you see the next 3 selections are all franchise players. Melo is a beast. Bosh made the leap to a top 10 player this year. Wade is being overshadowed by Kobe/Bron but he is the third or fourth best player in the NBA.

Im not sure if you've heard of PER, or player efficiency rating, but its a stat that John Hollinger came up with to show how good a player is on a per minute basis. "PER takes into account positive accomplishments, such as field goals, free throws, 3-pointers, assists, rebounds, blocks and steals, and negative ones, such as missed shots, turnovers and personal fouls. The formula adds positive stats and subtracts negative ones through a statistical point value system. The rating for each player is then adjusted to a per-minute basis so that, for example, substitutes can be compared with starters in playing time debates. It is also adjusted for the team's pace. In the end, one number sums up the players' statistical accomplishments for that season." I don't buy into it as the be all and end all because it falls short on defense, but it is pretty impressive. The score is based on 15.00 as league average. It gets a lot of attention as the best measure of a players performance, and some of this years numbers are off the charts. The top 4 are James, CP, Wade, and Howard (young blood). Lebron James PER of 32 is the best of the last 30 years and only matched by a couple of Jordan's seasons. Same thing with CP3's 30. Its one of the best PER's of all time for a point guard.

The NBA is stacked with young talent. Lets hope the Celts can steal another one before LeBron puts on more muscle and the big three get arthritis.

Fun Fact: 24 year old LeBron James is criticized for his outside shot that manages to go in 32% of the time. Well when Michael Jordan was 24 years old he had played 4 years in the NBA and attempted 189 three pointers and only 16% of them went in. So Michael Jordan scored 31 three pointers through age 24 while LeBron is at 580 and counting.

-Wolfie