1 Gamble Every NBA Playoff-Bound Team Should Make

Thought it was too late to start making gambles a few weeks before the NBA playoffs? Well, you're right.

But we don't care. We're insane and insane people like to make insane decisions, such as making gambles when there are only three weeks left in the regular season. These gambles are meant purely as suggestions and are absolutely hypothetical. In no way do we condone these moves being made. We are rational people.

A little insane, but rational nonetheless.

Taking that into account, let's take a look at a possible gamble each team heading into the playoffs could make. From resting players to making lineup changes to even going as far as firing a coach (guess which coach it is; go on, guess!), we came up with a gamble that each team should make as an attempt to improve as it enters the playoffs.

You may not agree with these ideas, but that's not the point. These are merely suggestions being made. We highly doubt there will be many lineup changes or removals being made this late in the season. It's just a little fun to come up with a few ideas that could possibly make or break a team's season.

Without further delay, let's get into this.

Chicago Bulls

The Gamble: If Derrick Rose isn't 100 percent healthy by the end of the season, should the Bulls play without him in the playoffs?

Once again, the Chicago Bulls are going through the process of having key players injured for an extended amount of time.

Last year, they dealt with Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah getting injured one after another early on in the season. This year, however, the Bulls are dealing with a much more serious ailment.

Reigning MVP Derrick Rose has been dealing with back spasms and an injured groin all year and hasn't been able to play consistently.

A groin injury is significant to a player like Rose. The Bulls point guard relies heavily on cutting and his speed, which require a lot of work out of the lower body. If he's not able to contort his hips and his legs as well as he could in his first three years, he's not going to be able to get to the rim or finish as easily when he does reach it.

In 58 games for the Bulls so far this season, Rose was a part of only 35 of them. So the Bulls must be in trouble, right? Well, it's the exact opposite.

The Bulls are currently 44-14 and may just have the Eastern Conference first seed wrapped up again with a three-game lead over the second-place Miami Heat.

Without Rose, the Bulls are involving a lot more players on offense while continuing to play the vaunted and volatile defense that still ranks among the best in the league.

Rose has played in one game since March 14th, which came April 8th against the New York Knicks when he had 29 points on 26 shot attempts in a 100-99 Knicks win. He also missed a couple of free throws that would have iced the game for the Bulls.

If Rose isn't healthy yet and the Bulls are playing well, why break apart a good thing by risking further injury to the player that will be needed later on? Perhaps it would be best for the Bulls to rest Rose the first round or two and hopefully have him healthy by the time the conference finals come around.

Oklahoma City Thunder

The Gamble: Nothing

Honestly, I tried to find something the Oklahoma City Thunder could possibly take a gamble on.

Simply couldn't find it. This is purely a hypothetically speaking article, but there just doesn't seem to be a reason why the Thunder could or should take a gamble on anything. They're the best team up and down, have a perfectly constructed starting lineup and are even getting help off the bench.

Where can you find something to gamble on?

Replacing Thabo Sefolosha with James Harden? It's better if Harden comes off the bench to offer a spark. It also causes the Thunder's starting lineup to get more congested when you consider that there will be three players who want the ball in their hands. It's difficult enough for the offense to stay quiet with two, so why throw in one more?

Experiment with Russell Westbrook as a first option? That's the worst possible thing Scott Brooks could do at this time. You have a great balance going right now; why mess it up by giving the ball to Russell Westbrook more than Kevin Durant and possibly starting a power trip and a repeat of last year's Western Conference finals?

Rest?

There's not much of a point to that. Every player is young, athletic and not prone to getting injured. They're also fighting off the San Antonio Spurs for the first seed, and giving up home-court advantage after holding on to it the entire season is not something they want to do at the end. They want to follow through and keep that No. 1 seeding.

It doesn't seem like much to gamble on. The Thunder have a great thing going and have no room to experiment.

Miami Heat

The Gamble: Should the Miami Heat rest Chris Bosh more?

While LeBron James is in the midst of winning another MVP award, he happens to have a teammate who has been having one of the more disappointing and underachieving seasons in the league this year.

Coming into the season, Chris Bosh was visibly bigger and was spouting off about sacrificing time at the power forward position to play center. It was excellent to hear from Bosh. Not only did the Heat want their power forward to play a lot more aggressively, but it also happened to come at a time when Miami was losing multiple centers to free agency.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas retired, and Jamaal Magloire and Erick Dampier simply weren't worth keeping. I understand your disapproval.

As for Bosh stepping up and playing center? He's been doing that. Has he been doing it well? Not really. He's posting up only 18 points and fewer than eight boards per game, the lowest since his rookie season.

We're not really sure how he's averaging that few rebounds since there's no one he is competing with on his team for rebounds, but it's happening and we're all extremely disappointed.

In 53 games, Bosh has recorded only 10 games of 10 or more rebounds. He's had only one game of 10 or more rebounds since the All-Star break and went the entire month of March without grabbing 10 boards in a single game.

April has been no better as he has scored over 20 points one time in six games and even did as bad as scoring four points in a loss to Boston.

The lack of scoring the Heat can deal with, but the rebounding numbers?

That's something the Heat can't afford not to have. They need a player who can rebound in the starting lineup—and I'm sure that the team didn't envision LeBron James as the leader in that category.

If the backup power forward who's averaging 10 minutes less and is averaging only .4 rebounds less than the player he's backing up, something probably needs to be done.

Maybe giving Bosh some rest would help. The lack of aggression, the missed jumpers and the lack of energy could all be enabled by the weight of the season's schedule.

With Dwyane Wade getting rest for his injuries, Bosh might also need the same type of treatment to possibly relinquish these inner demons that are causing him to play with such passiveness.

San Antonio Spurs

The Gamble: Should the San Antonio Spurs go after the No. 1 seed or rest for the playoffs?

If you gave Gregg Popovich a D-League team, he'd turn them into a playoff team. Give him the Dream Team and they'd still be playing to this day winning gold medals. If you let Popovich take over the Washington Generals, he'd start a winning streak.

There's just something about this guy and his ability to run teams with players past their prime and average role players that gets the best out of them. Popovich is the best head coach in the NBA and it's not even really close. Once Phil Jackson retired, Popovich immediately took the throne.

He's continuing to give evidence of why he should be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, as well.

Despite dealing with injuries to Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan's knees continuing to wear out, he has the Spurs at 40-16 thanks in part to the MVP-caliber season of Tony Parker and the plethora of role players who have done an excellent job making up for the shortcomings of the injured Manu and Timmy.

Gary Neal, DeJuan Blair, Tiago Splitter, Stephen Jackson, Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard have all played excellent ball this season. So excellent that you'd hardly notice that Ginobili has only played in 26 games and Duncan is only averaging 15 points and nine boards per, far below what he usually averaged early on in his career.

The postseason is all about having your top players in peak condition. The playoffs can get extremely drawn out with seven games meant to decide who's the better team between two.

When that happens in four series, you want to have your main scorers rested and ready for those series that can get extended.

The Spurs are going to get either the No. 1 or No. 2 seed. They're only a game out of first place and are nearly five games ahead of the third-place Los Angeles Lakers. Instead of chasing that first seed, it might be best for San Antonio to have their injured shooting guard healthy and their aged power forward ready for the long haul.

This team is balanced enough to rely on Tony Parker and a bunch of role players for the rest of the year. Let  the Oklahoma City Thunder get the No. 1 seed if it comes down to it.

After all, at 17-11 the Spurs are the third-best road team in the NBA.

Indiana Pacers

The Gamble: Should the Pacers give George Hill a chance as starter?

Guiding one of the NBA's top success stories, Indiana Pacers President Larry Bird went into last year's offseason with the vision of creating a team capable of taking on the top teams in the Eastern Conference.

I wouldn't say that the Pacers can compete with the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat yet, but I will say that they have significantly improved from last year. After recording a 37-45 record that earned them an eighth seed last season, the Pacers are now 36-22 and with a third seed.

Thanks in part to the signings of David West and George Hill, as well as the improvement of Paul George, the Pacers have become a legitimate team to be taken seriously in the East.

The Pacers have a solid starting lineup, but could it possibly get better if they integrate George Hill into the lineup over Paul George?

It seems like a far-fetched idea at first when you weigh the factors of George being far more athletic and younger. However, when the postseason comes along, you have to also think about player consistency and who can provide solid games throughout a seven-game series.

George is a great athlete with tons of potential, but he hasn't been at the top of his game in April. In seven games, George has recorded only two games of at least 10 or more points. Hill, on the other hand, has started the past two games and is capitalizing off of significant minutes to the tune of two consecutive games with at least 17 points.

Like I said, this is purely hypothetical. It would be insane for the Pacers, or any other playoff-bound team, to potentially ruin chemistry by elevating a bench player over a starter. All we are simply doing is weighing the options and wondering if Hill would benefit this team more as a starter.

We don't know what we're going to get out of George come playoff time. We know what we're getting out of Hill. He's coming off the two best seasons of his career and appears to be finally getting into a rhythm after dealing with injury problems the first half of the year.

He's shot at least 37 percent from beyond the arc in the past three seasons and it may be more beneficial to the Pacers to add on another terrific three-point threat like Hill.

George has been equally great from the land of three, shooting 38 percent from deep, but you have to wonder how he'll perform in his second-ever postseason versus a player like Hill, who is going to be there a fourth consecutive time this year.

Los Angeles Lakers

The Gamble: Should the Los Angeles Lakers give Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol a larger role on offense than Kobe Bryant?

The Los Angeles Lakers have several significant advantages over nearly every one of their opponents.

First off, they have Kobe Bryant, which is an advantage of unbelievable proportions. He's 33 years old and dealing with a lot of trouble in his shooting arm, yet he's leading the league in scoring and is still capable of going off for 40 points on any given night. He's doing this despite lacking the athleticism he had in years past. Bryant is scoring this well mostly off of jump shots.

However, the Lakers have just as big an advantage down in the post that they simply don't exploit enough.

The frontcourt duo of Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol may just be the greatest advantage a team has over any other opponent.

Gasol is a versatile big who can hit in the post and from the mid-range, while Bynum is finally healthy and having the best year of his career. The Lakers center hasn't dealt with injuries all year and has responded by averaging 18 points, 12 boards and two blocks per.

Yet who's the player taking an NBA-leading 23 shots per game? It's not either of those two.

We know that Kobe is capable of doing anything on the offensive end of the floor. Even at the age of 33, we're still surprised with what he can do when the ball is in his hands.

It just seems like the Lakers are wasting a lot of Bryant's energy by having him shoot 23 times per game, while Bynum and Gasol are combining for only 27 shots per. There is no other frontcourt in the league, possibly with the exception of Oklahoma City and Memphis, that can compete with the Lakers frontcourt.

Gasol is too long and versatile and Bynum is too long and big. They're nearly unstoppable when they're at the top of their games, but we never see it because the ball runs through Bryant.

Instead of having it go through Kobe, why not allow the two big men down low to take some time running the offense even if Kobe is on the floor?

You establish a post presence and get Bryant rested for the postseason. There's no reason to have him taking that many shots, averaging 38 minutes per and exerting that much energy just to get a high seeding.

Boston Celtics

The Gamble: Should the Boston Celtics start Greg Stiemsma at center?

When the Boston Celtics elected to trade Kendrick Perkins away for power forward Jeff Green, we were all left saying the same thing.

"Why?" It's not like the Celtics weren't a legitimate threat to win the title. Though they still finished with the best record in their division, it's not saying much because their division was terrible at the time, and had the No. 3 seed. All of this was done without their imposing figure and anchor in the middle.

Perkins was supposed to be key against a team like the Miami Heat. The Celtics center has long given Dwyane Wade and LeBron James trouble on their drives. He's hard-nosed, enjoys throwing elbows and couldn't care less what you think of it.

He played just as large a part than his teammates in the Celtics constant success against Wade's Heat and James' Cavaliers.

Then they traded him and lost in five games to the Heat in the 2011 playoffs. With Jermaine O'Neal playing his age and Shaquille O'Neal sitting out with injury trouble, the Celtics were left with no answer in the middle to defend James and Wade.

As a result, they were incredibly weak in the middle and attempted to create the facade that O'Neal or Kevin Garnett would be sufficient.

It's a year later and the Celtics still don't have a true center.

They added some size in Brandon Bass, but have been running with Garnett as the center for the majority of the season. Chris Wilcox was waived, O'Neal has only played in 25 plays and even the Celtics aren't desperate enough to implement Ryan Hollins.

Instead, they've been using rookie Greg Stiemsma as the first big man off the bench. Undrafted out of the University of Wisconsin, Stiemsma has played surprisingly well for Boston and is averaging three points on 52 percent shooting to go along with three boards and nearly two blocks per in only 13 minutes per.

Perhaps this is the center the Celtics could use. As great a defender as Garnett is, it's tough to believe he's going to be able to defend Dwight Howard, the Chicago Bulls frontcourt or the constant drives of Wade and James. Throw in a bruiser who can inflict some damage.

Stiemsma isn't much, but he's something to have in the middle.

Los Angeles Clippers

The Gamble: Should they start Nick Young at the 2?

At the beginning of the season, we thought it was a little strange to see the Los Angeles Clippers starting Chauncey Billups at the 2. After all, he was 6'3" and was a point guard his entire career.

How could he make that transition and how could he play defense?

Well, we were somewhat wrong. Billups was only shooting 36 percent from the field, but was converting on a career-high two three-pointers per game at a 38 percent clip. Basically, Billups couldn't create his own shot, but he sure could shoot from the perimeter. With Chauncey hitting timely three-pointers, the Clippers weren't in as bad a shape as we thought.

Then Billups got hurt and was diagnosed to be out for the rest of the season. Even though he was replaced by an actual shooting guard in Randy Foye, the Clippers struggled.

They lost the veteran leader and the second point guard on the floor that could create plays for his teammates and for himself. Foye simply can't fill those shoes.

However, the Clippers did pull off one of the better moves before the trade deadline by acquiring Washington Wizards guard-forward Nick Young. The Wizard can't do much when it comes to passing and rebounding, but he has a great shot and a ton of athleticism.

Currently, the Clippers have him coming off the bench while Foye continues to start. You see where I'm going with this? I'm suggesting that the Clippers give Young a chance to start at the 2 spot. Young may be undisciplined and isn't versatile in his overall game, but he can score prolifically on drives and jump shots and that's always a positive.

The Clippers get plenty of scoring from Chris Paul, Caron Butler and Blake Griffin. However, there's always room to add another player that could help stretch the floor and allow more room for drives and easy dunks in the middle.

Atlanta Hawks

The Gamble: Should the Atlanta Hawks activate Al Horford for the playoffs, even if he's injured?

A story that we haven't heard much of—that is probably the most inspirational this year—is that of the Atlanta Hawks.

The Hawks are at their usual mark of being an above-average team that can't quite compete with the elite teams of the East.

However, there's more to that 34-24. It's the fact that they're doing all of this without Al Horford being in the lineup since January 11th when he tore his left pectoral muscle. The injury was so severe that he got immediate surgery and was deemed out for the next three months.

Obviously this meant trouble for the Hawks.

They had just lost Jamal Crawford to free agency and still had no one to rely on at center. What the Hawks did was compensate and make the best out of a bad situation. They implemented Zaza Pachulia at the 5 and just began to rely on big players that they didn't usually rely on, which is why you know of Ivan Johnson.

Thanks to Johnson's improved play, Josh Smith having the best season of his career and Jeff Teague playing well, the Hawks are still a playoff team—and with virtually the same winning percentage they have every year.

Once the playoffs come around, however, teams need to be at full strength and can't be lacking in any department because those weaknesses get exposed throughout a seven-game series. The Hawks already have a tough time in the playoffs and it only gets amplified if they're going to be set to play without Horford.

His injury was listed as keeping him out for three months, so he would be on schedule if he came back yesterday. He hasn't, and the most recent reports still had him questionable for the playoffs.

The Hawks may not want to quickly throw Horford into the starting lineup when he's ready. Instead, if he is healthy enough, they have to wean him back into the starting lineup with light minutes and light play off the bench.

They might need him for the first round, but he'll be desperately needed by the second round if they're going to take on a team like Orlando or Chicago.

Memphis Grizzlies

The Gamble: Should Gilbert Arenas get a larger role off the bench?

When Gilbert Arenas was a part of the Orlando Magic, he complained that his inconsistent shooting was due to being on the bench and the fact that he couldn't get into a rhythm with the minutes he was receiving.

So, what's the excuse in Memphis?

Arenas is averaging only 15 minutes per game off the bench, but is shooting 42 percent from the field and 38 percent from deep in 10 games. He's only averaging five points per, but it's five more points than what he was averaging before joining the Grizzlies. Prior to being signed by Memphis last month, Arenas was a free agent the entire year.

Gilbert has been a tremendous step up for the Grizzlies and could play a huge factor when the playoffs come around. The Grizzlies are already receiving a lot of attention for the possibility of finally riding into the postseason with a healthy Rudy Gay, Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol.

Now they have Gilbert Arenas, who is actually hitting his shots?

This team went from a possible conference finals contender to a legitimate title contender. Arenas isn't going to go out and get 30 points per night, but he will play a tremendous factor in any series if he can go out and provide the shooting that he did throughout his career.

Like he said though, Arenas claims to need minutes in order to establish a rhythm. That's natural for any shooter. You might need two or three shots before you get a feel for your range and just how your shot is feeling that night. The life of a shooter sounds easy, but it's a huge mental game out there for players like Arenas.

The Grizzlies should experiment with Arenas as a seventh man, possibly a sixth if he's playing that well. If he can prove that he can still hit the three-point shot, the Grizzlies should reward him with at least 20 minutes per game.

He would make Memphis an easy contender for a title if he can push them over the top.

Orlando Magic

The Gamble: Should the Orlando Magic keep Stan Van Gundy if they limp into the playoffs?

In my personal belief, Dwight Howard didn't want to play with the Orlando Magic. Judging by the demeanor he carries today, it doesn't seem like he's completely comfortable that he's still in a Magic uniform.

My belief?

He didn't leave because he felt bad about it. He has a huge following in Orlando and has said in the past that he loves the fans and has even cried on the bench on occasion because of the feeling that he let them down. It's admirable of a player to have those types of feelings for your fanbase, but it would have been the right thing to do to just leave and not play this out anymore.

What we're getting out of Orlando is a team that's still in disarray.

Even though Dwight Howard is still playing incredible basketball, the Magic have not been. They're 2-4 in the month of April, with their only wins coming against a spiraling Philadelphia 76ers team and an awful Detroit Pistons team. They lost to Denver, Detroit, New York and Washington in that time.

Excuse me if I'm wrong, but isn't the end of the season where you're supposed to be getting the best out of your team? The Orlando Magic are attempting to fight for a playoff spot, yet they're blowing it by losing to teams that they should be beating. Based on the strength of schedule, the Magic shouldn't have even lost in this month yet.

But here we are and the Magic are in a three-way tie for fourth place. The toughest games they have coming up are against Atlanta, Boston, Denver and Memphis. Tough, but all winnable games. If the Magic can't beat those teams and limp into the playoffs with wins against awful teams, they should reconsider their stance on keeping Stan Van Gundy around.

You don't want your players to be uncomfortable, yet we saw nothing more uncomfortable than Howard coming over to Van Gundy during an interview where the coach had just said that the center wanted him fired. That's extremely awkward and it's something you don't want the team to get involved in and possibly get distracted by.

In the middle of all this hoopla surrounding Howard and Van Gundy, it may just be the best for the Magic to give Dwight what he wants. He already has the team hostage, so why not let him get his way so this team can just move on.

Dallas Mavericks

The Gamble: Should the Mavericks experiment with a different starting center?

"

"Tyson, to me, turned everything around this summer when we signed him," Dirk Nowitzki said Tuesday. "I think he came off a two-year injury and we didn't really know what to expect. But looking back now, that was almost the key signing. His positive energy, his defense I think is really what turned this whole thing around and what really won us the playoffs. Every big game down the stretch we did it with defense."

"

The moment I read that quote from Dirk Nowitzki was the exact moment where I stopped taking the Dallas Mavericks seriously. We knew that the Mavericks weren't going to keep Chandler around. They weren't vocal at all about keeping him or Caron Butler or J.J Barea, and it's believed to be because of a possible pursuit of Deron Williams, Dwight Howard and Steve Nash in the future.

The Mavericks are a good team, but Tyson Chandler was the reason why they won the championship last year. He's one of the smartest defenders in the NBA, knows how to defend without fouling and is excellent at timing blocked shots and rebounds. He played a key role in deterring Dwyane Wade and LeBron James from the basket in last year's finals.

It wasn't a coincidence that the Mavericks won a title the year he just happened to stop on by. He did what Erick Dampier and Brendan Haywood couldn't do by playing great defense and bringing home a title. He had the Mavericks believe in a strict defensive philosophy, and it paid off because they were winning games that they hadn't won before.

Without him, the Mavericks are back to where they were when they had Dampier starting for them. They've been satisfied with decent play out of Ian Mahinmi and Brandan Wright at center, but haven't gotten nearly the same defensive intensity that they formerly got out of Chandler.

With so little to choose from, perhaps the team should just start Haywood. He's not much, but you're paying him a lot of money, so why not allow him to earn his paycheck. He's a large body that can clog the paint and block some shots, and is the closest this team has to Tyson Chandler.

Philadelphia 76ers

The Gamble: Should the Philadelphia 76ers make adjustments in their starting lineup?

Quick, name the last championship team that had a bench player lead the team in scoring.

• If you answered nobody, then you're right. You just answered one of the simplest questions you've ever been asked, and is the equivalent of one of those $100 questions on Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

That is what's currently happening with the Philadelphia 76ers. The leading scorer on the team is sharpshooter Louis Williams, who is coming off the bench to average 15 points per. He's averaging only 25 minutes per, while starters in Jrue Holiday and Andre Iguodala play 10 minutes longer and are posting up less in the scoring department.

Not exactly the recipe for success, but it's enough for the Sixers to get into the playoffs.

Wait, about that. The Sixers have gone from holding a significant lead in the Atlantic Division to now being only three games ahead of the ninth-place Milwaukee Bucks. This team is another bad run away from possibly being on the outside looking in.

A reason for the struggles can easily be attributed to the ineffectiveness of the starting lineup. If you're sending that lineup out there in the first quarter and they're not scoring, you're already at a disadvantage, and that's what's happening.

They're not getting much out of Holiday, Iguodala, Elton Brand and Spencer Hawes. Evan Turner has played well, but even he can play erratically.

Understood that coach Doug Collins likes his sparks off the bench, but he also to consider ways for this team to get out of the slump they've been in since the second half because the starting lineup is getting outscored by the bench nearly every game.

Louis Williams and Thaddeus Young would both be upgrades for the Sixers. They need scoring from the starting lineup, and those two could easily outperform any player currently in the Sixers' starting five in terms of providing some points.

Denver Nuggets

The Gamble: Should the Denver Nuggets establish Ty Lawson as the true primary scorer?

Who needs Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups when you have Ty Lawson and Danilo Gallinari leading the way?

Huh? When did that happen? Strange, but true, the Denver Nuggets are actually just as good as they were when they had Anthony and either Billups or Allen Iverson.

Thanks in part to a huge season by Lawson, unexpected play out of Al Harrington, rookie Kenneth Faried providing a huge boost and a plethora of role players constantly providing positive results, the Nuggets are going to find themselves in the playoffs without Melo for a second consecutive season.

The Nuggets have two starting lineups on their roster. They roll out initially with Lawson, Arron Afflalo, Gallinari (when healthy), Faried and JaVale McGee. Yet they could just as easily break out Andre Miller, Wilson Chandler, Rudy Fernandez, Al Harrington and Kostas Koufos and play just as well. That's an absurd amount of role players and an equal amount of talent and balance.

However, at some point you have to distinguish who is the true primary scorer on this team. Even though Lawson is leading the team in scoring with 16 points per game, it could just as easily be Gallinari, Miller or even Afflalo making the big decisions in the end.

In order to advance far into the postseason, you need to have that established primary scorer who can come through whenever.

Balance is huge, but it's not everything. No team has ever won a title with strict balance and not one player dominating on either offense and/or defense. There always need to be that one scorer who can come alive and just score in volume at any time. The Nuggets don't have that, but they could if they allow Lawson to lead the way.

Ty has played excellent ball this year. He's stepped up well and lived up to expectations. He's the best scorer on this team and is one of the best shooters, hitting 48 percent from the field and 34 percent from deep. He's small and that means he can weave his way in and out of the taller defenders near the rim, which explains why he's able to score around the rim with ease.

The Nuggets should give Lawson a try as the primary scorer and see what it's like to have someone averaging 20 points per again. I know it didn't work out before, but at least this time you have a scorer who can also pass.

New York Knicks

The Gamble: Should the New York Knicks ride with this Carmelo Anthony-centered team into the playoffs?

Carmelo Anthony is a better player when he doesn't have to pass the ball and play the role of facilitator? Stop the presses, everybody!

This should have been common knowledge but it's absolutely true that Anthony is a much better player when he's at the focal point of the offense and the ball is being run through him. This was something we knew when he played with Denver, it was something we knew when he joined New York and it was something we knew when he was struggling in New York.

It's not a coincidence that Anthony and the Knicks are playing better without Amar'e Stoudemire.

Instead of having to make adjustments and attempting to be a team player, Anthony is back in the element he's been used to his entire life—as a scorer who doesn't have to give the ball up. He was able to run well with Allen Iverson, yes, but that's also because he was playing with a guy who also liked to distribute.

Anthony was basically playing with a smaller version of himself at the time. There was no need to pass because he the two could just swap possessions where they wanted to score.

The Knicks are probably going to make the playoffs and it's all without Stoudemire and Jeremy Lin. The team is obviously better when either Anthony or Stoudemire isn't playing. With so little time remaining until the playoffs, it might be for the best that the Knicks continue running with just Anthony instead of forcing the issue with the two in the same lineup.

When Stoudemire comes back, the Knicks are going to revert to struggling because you have two star players who don't like passing and don't know how to feed off of each other.

It's not something that's going to change in two weeks. This problem needs to be solved over time and they can't continue to force the issue in the postseason.

Houston Rockets

The Gamble: Should the Houston Rockets give Goran Dragic extended time at the point?

The Houston Rockets can't seem to stop stumbling upon surprises from their point guards.

A few years ago, they encountered Aaron Brooks. Once his time ran up, the Rockets then decided to drop him and allow Kyle Lowry to do the heavy lifting. He's responded well and is currently averaging 15 points, seven assists and five boards, while also hitting on 38 percent of his three-pointers. He's provided a huge boost to this Rockets team, adding to the dynamic of the vaunted offense.

However, the Rockets have stumbled upon another diamond in the rough in former Phoenix Suns point guard Goran Dragic. It seems that the tutelage of Steve Nash paid off for Dragic. He's averaging 11 boards, hitting 36 percent of his three-pointers, dishing out five assists and grabbing two boards per. He's even pulling off passes that we've only seen from Nash.

Lowry deserves to be the starter; nobody is questioning that. He's earned his way into the starting lineup and has lived up to the lofty expectations that the Rockets provided.

All I'm proposing is that the Rockets also experiment with Dragic running the point for an extended period. He's shown since his days as a backup in Phoenix that he is capable of running an offense and does share a number of similarities with Steve Nash's game. He could even speed up the pace of the offense even more.

Dragic would make a fine starter on many NBA teams. It's best for the Rockets to continue riding him as a terrific spark off the bench, but it would also be interesting to see how well he can run the offense with extended minutes.