We're Back! The Past 3 Weeks in Bullet Points

After a restful hiatus, DI is back and better than ever. It was a busy January of getting caught up on the latest crop of prospects (analysis coming shortly), playoff football, and Dog Days Association hoops. Good, interesting stuff all around, here were the highlights according to the Index...

- The Lakers mini-resurgence is an interesting basketball riddle. The quick analysis says that Kobe is working the ball around, getting easier shots for his teammates, and the team as a whole is more functional. I can't totally refute that- Pau and Nash are taking, and making more shots, and Earl Clark (who DI predicted would be a good player - is he finally going to pay that off?) has emerged as a legitimate threat, especially from beyond the arc. However, the more seminal cause of the upswing in L.A seems to be their dominating of the glass and the sharp decline in the shooting percentage of their opponents. Is Kobe shooting less and the team playing better D related? Have they just decided to finally play up to their ample abilities? This is interesting viewing, if nothing else...

- DI's biggest break with the mainstream in this year's draft class was on our championing of Tony Wroten. Last week's trade with Cleveland has cleared a rotation spot for Wroten and we're excited to get our first real look at the kid. Treat yourself to his highlight package from last week's win over the Lakers- time will tell if he'll be a consistently productive player but damn is he fun to watch. (Skip ahead to 1:53 for evidence of that)

 

  - One of DI's other favorites, Bradley Beal, has been quietly killing it over the month of January. The analysis is not too complicated- in December Beal shot 19% on threes, in January he's at a whopping 52%. He's just young, and this is still looking like a throwaway year, but make no mistake, he's a stud. Say whatever you want about our methods, but I think we can all agree OKC knows what they're doing, and they were about to trade Harden for this kid more or less straight up. What more do you need to know?

- We never quite bought the Warriors as a playoff team- too many guys having career best seasons, it usually doesn't last play out for a full 82 like that. But hey, they may just have what it takes to stick. If Bogut can stabilize the interior for them, and Curry doesn't miss too much time with his latest ankle tweak, they are probably going to hang on to the 6th or 7th seed in the West. They don't have any real sink holes (peace Monta) anymore, and that bench is just really, really good. Personally, I hope it works out, that's a great fan base and they deserve it.