Paul George and Kevin Durant named players of the month.Paul George of the Indiana Pacers and Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder have won the NBA's Player of the Month award for their respective conferences. George averaged 23 points and 6.1 rebounds on 47% shooting from the floor and 40% shooting from deep on the month. He currently leads the NBA in DWS with 1.9, as he continues his absolutely stellar defensive play from last season, in which he also led the league in DWS. George has accumulated 4.4 total Win Shares this season, leading the Pacers to a league-best 19-3 record and has emerged to be the favorite to take home the MVP this year.
Durant averaged 27 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists in the month of November for the 16-4 Thunder, while shooting a 47.5% and 37% from 3 point range. Durant is tied with George with 4.4 total Win Shares, but they get them from opposite sides of the ball; Durant is worth a stellar 3.1 OWS and "only" a 1.3 DWS. He has taken a larger offensive responsibility from years' past, as Durant is now distributing the ball on top of scoring; his assists per game are at 5 for the year, the highest in his career.
Michael Carter-Williams and Ben McLemore named Rookies of the Month
Carter-Williams has been simply phenomenal for the 76ers and has emerged as the front-runner for Rookie of the Year, averaging a surprising 17.7 points, 7.3 assists, 5.8 rebounds and is leading the league in steals with 3.1 per game. Despite an abysmal 40.8% shooting percentage from the floor, Carter-Williams has still managed to put up a PER of 19.1 and a solid .089 WS/48. Although the 76ers are only 7-16, Carter-Williams has shown off his massive potential to start the season.
McLemore hasn't been impressive at all, in my opinion; he has been as inefficient as they come, scoring 9.7 points on 9.3 shot attempts, which is just brutal. He's shooting 36.7% from the floor and has a well-below-average-PER of 10.8. The flashes have been there for McLemore, as he has displayed a solid shooting stroke at times, but he hasn't been making good decisions with the ball, averaging nearly as many turnovers as assists (0.9 turnovers to 1.1 assists) and has frequently taken ill-advised shot attempts. The Western Conference's rookie class has been weak compared to the Eastern Conference (The Magic's Victor Oladipo is right on Carter-Williams' heels for the Rookie of the Year), and there really isn't a strong candidate out there in the West, save for Utah's Trey Burke, but he has only played 12 games to McLemore's 20 games. I understand why McLemore won the award, but I would have given it to Burke. That's not to say Burke has been great, or even good, but he outperformed McLemore, mostly thanks to his passing ability and had a PER of 15.1, which is slightly above league average. It will be interesting to see if any other candidates emerge from the West, as the top-two candidates aren't looking like Rookie of the Year material.
Rudy Gay dealt to Sacramento
This one is an interesting move for both sides. The Kings traded Greivis Vasquez, John Salmons, Patrick Patterson and Chuck Hayes for the Raptors' Rudy Gay, Quincy Acy and Aaron Gray. This deal makes Sacramento more talented, as Gay has been seen as a good player for most of his career, but it does make the Kings bench a lot weaker as Isaiah Thomas has now been inserted into the starting lineup. Gay has struggled to start the year with Toronto, shooting only 38% to go with his 19.4 points per game; he's had his worse WS/48 of his career since his rookie season at .034 and has been worth a -0.4 OWS, which is awful for a player who is known for his offense. The Kings acquiring Gay may not be as good for them as they think; this makes the Kings a lot closer to mediocrity in a brutal Western Conference and hurts their chances at a Top-5 pick in what may be the most talented draft class since the 2003 draft class, which had LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Carmelo Anthony.
Kobe Bryant makes his return
Bryant returned to the Lakers line up on Sunday and looked awful; he only scored 9 points and had 8 turnovers in a Lakers loss to the Raptors. He admitted to being over his normal playing weight at 225 pounds (he is listed at 205 pounds on NBA.com). Bryant had a much better outing his second time around, leading the Lakers in scoring with 20 points on 6-11 shooting, but the Lakers still came up short against the Phoenix Suns. It is nice to have Bryant back, but it will take some time before he gets back to form and for the Lakers to get used to playing with him and vice versa.
UPDATE: Steve Blake diagnosed with a torn ligament
Blake had an MRI on his hyper extended elbow and it was revealed that he had torn ligaments in his elbow. Blake will be out at least 6 weeks and this leaves the Lakers without an active point guard until Jordan Farmar. The Lakers have stated that Mike D'Antoni will not be looking at another point guard until he sees how Kobe Bryant handles the starting point guard duties; Xavier Henry will continue to run the backup point guard duties. We discussed yesterday how the Lakers should look into another point guard and now seems like a good time to invest in somebody (D.J. Augustin should be ready for a phone call from his agent).
Standings:
Eastern Conference Standings
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Western Conference Standings
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|---|---|
1. Indiana Pacers (19-3)
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1. Portland Trailblazers (18-4)
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2. Miami Heat (16-6)
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2. San Antonio Spurs (17-4)
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3. Atlanta Hawks (11-11)
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3. Oklahoma City Thunder (17-4)
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4. Boston Celtics (10-14)
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4. Los Angeles Clippers (15-8)
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5. Charlotte Bobcats (10-12)
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5. Houston Rockets (15-7)
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6. Washington Wizards (9-11)
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6. Denver Nuggets (13-8)
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7. Detroit Pistons (10-13)
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7. Phoenix Suns (12-9)
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8. Chicago Bulls (8-12)
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8. Dallas Mavericks (13-10)
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9. Cleveland Cavaliers (8-13)
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9. Golden State Warriors (13-10)
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10. Toronto Raptors (7-13)
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10. New Orleans Pelicans (10-10)
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11. Brooklyn Nets (7-14)
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11. Minnesota Timberwolves (11-11)
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12. Orlando Magic (7-15)
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12. Los Angeles Lakers (10-11)
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13. Philadelphia 76ers (7-16)
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13. Memphis Grizzlies (10-11)
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14. New York Knicks (6-15)
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14. Sacramento Kings (6-14)
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15. Milwaukee Bucks (5-17)
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15. Utah Jazz (5-19)
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NBA Stats Leaders:
| Points per Game | Rebounds per Game | Assists per Game | Player Efficiency Rating | Win Shares | Win Shares per 48 minutes | True Shooting Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Kevin Durant - OKC: 28.4 | 1. Kevin Love-MIN : 13.8 | 1. Chris Paul- LAC: 11.9 | 1.LeBron James -MIA: 28.9 | 1.Kevin Durant - OKC: 4.6 | 1. Chris Paul - LAC: .278 | 1. Kyle Korver-ATL : 71.6% |
| 2.Carmelo Anthony -NYK: 25.6 | 2. Dwight Howard - HOU: 13.2 | 2. John Wall - WAS: 9.1 | 2. Brook Lopez - BRK : 28.5 | 2. LeBron James - MIA: 4.5 | 2. LeBron James- MIA : .275 | 2. Wesley Matthews -POR : 67.3% |
| 3. LeBron James - MIA: 25.0 | 3. DeAndre Jordan-LAC: 13.0 | 3. Stephen Curry - GSW: 8.9 | 3. Anthony Davis- NOP: 28.3 | 3. Chris Paul- LAC: 4.4 | 3. Kevin Durant - OKC : .272 | 3. LeBron James-MIA: 67.2% |
| 4. Paul George - IND: 24.7 | 4. Andre Drummond -DET: 12.7 | 4. Ricky Rubio - MIN: 8.4 | 4. Kevin Durant - OKC: 27.4 | 4. Paul George - IND: 4.4 | 4. Paul George - IND: .258 | 4. Jodie Meeks-LAL: 64.8% |
| 5. James Harden - HOU: 24.6 | 5. DeMarcus Cousins - SAC: 10.5 | 5. Ty Lawson - DEN: 8.4 | 5. Chris Paul - LAC: 27.0 | 5. Kevin Love - MIN: 3.8 | 5. Anthony Davis - NOP : .250 | 5. Marco Belinelli - SAS: 64.6% |
