Winners and Losers of the 2015 NBA Playoffs So Far
We are still waiting for the NBA playoffs to crown a champion.
We needn't wait any longer for it to yield a sizable collection of winners and losers.
As the second round of the postseason plows on and prepares to transition into the conference finals, a discernible field of early-playoff victors and down-and-outers is swiftly emerging. These are not winners and losers in the truest sense of the words. A team that advanced into the second round isn't necessarily a winner, just as a player bounced in the first round isn't a surefire loser.
Technically, that's how these classifications are supposed to work. But not here.
Winners, be they players, coaches or teams, have gained something substantial from their latest postseason push, regardless of how long said push lasted. It could relate to winning a championship, acquiring job security or even improving or building upon preceding reputations.
Losers, by comparison, have been wronged by the playoffs in some way. Certain teams might have been eliminated way too early and face severe repercussions, coaches' futures might hang in the balance or players may have injured themselves or their reputations.
Grab those paper pitchforks and tinfoil trophies. The time to deliver mid-postseason assessments is upon us.
Loser: Rajon Rondo
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Rajon Rondo entered the postseason picture with a chance to quell all the uncertainty surrounding his play style, health and star status ahead of free agency.
He left facing even more questions.
Never mind that the Dallas Mavericks fell to the Houston Rockets without putting up much of a fight. Rondo was barely part of the 4-1 drubbing they suffered. Head coach Rick Carlisle yanked him from the action 30 seconds into the second half of Game 2, and Rondo never returned.
Though the Mavericks tried to sling his absence as a back injury, it didn't take a nuclear physicist who minored in cognitive psychology to figure out what was happening: Rondo never fit in with the Mavericks, and they were trying to help him save face ahead of free agency, according to ESPN.com's Tim MacMahon.
Mission not accomplished.
Rondo just posted a below-average player efficiency rating for the first time since his rookie season, is still incapable of playing off the ball and couldn't make it work with the Mavericks, a perceived title contender who gave him the chance to play meaningful basketball again.
Instead of scouring the open market in search of max-contract offers, Rondo must now find a team that can help him regain what he's definitively lost: a place among the league's superstars.
Winner: Chris Paul
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Suffering a hamstring injury that's kept him out of action against the Houston Rockets could make Chris Paul a loser.
Except it doesn't.
The jury is still out on the Los Angeles Clippers' current core, even after they upended the reigning champion San Antonio Spurs and advanced into the second round. But that seven-game set—specifically his series-winning shot over Tim Duncan and Danny Green in Game 7—is Paul's playoff baby.
"For all of CP3's heroics to that point—and there had been plenty, including a buzzer-beating third-quarter bomb—they appeared to have come in vain," wrote SB Nation's Tom Ziller. "That's the story of Paul's career to date: glory in vain."
But no more.
A second-round berth is not an NBA Finals appearance or a title. It doesn't even guarantee the Western Conference Finals cameo Paul has yet to make during his 10-year career. It is, however, the means to stifle detractors and those just arriving to the party.
Paul has always been successful during the playoffs on an individual level. He's averaging 20.9 points, 9.5 assists and 2.3 steals per postseason game for his career, benchmarks no other player has hit. He also owns the sixth-highest playoff PER (25) among qualified players in league history.
Never, at any point, has Paul been a postseason failure. And after his masterful performance against the Spurs, there's absolutely no reason to try arguing otherwise.
Loser: Dallas Mavericks
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Mistakenly trading for Rondo is a big part of why the Mavericks are here. But it's also just one of many reasons.
Grantland's Zach Lowe outlined everything else that's wrong in Dallas:
"They have exactly zero drafted players on their roster after years of trading down, trading picks away, and flat whiffing. They owe Boston a 2016 first-rounder via the Rondo debacle, and they just don't have any of those rookie contracts that are so key to building up continuity.
Their attempt to trade for an impending free agent who might re-sign into a long-term partnership with [Dirk] Nowitzki backfired as horribly as possible. Nowitzki is declining, Chandler Parsons just had knee surgery, and the defensive limitations of a Nowitzki-Parsons–Monta Ellis troika might be fatal to any title hopes.
"
To top it all off, the Mavericks have some expensive decisions to make this summer.
Although Rondo is already a goner, Tyson Chandler and Ellis will be entering free agency as well. Al-Farouq Aminu is also due for a raise after having the five-game stretch of his life against the Rockets.
Bringing everyone back will be costly in more ways than one, forcing the Mavericks to financially double down on a core that, even with a healthy Chandler Parsons, figures to peak in the first round.
Hitting reset isn't especially safe either. While the Mavericks have the means to create max cap space ahead of free agency, landing a superstar such as LaMarcus Aldridge, DeAndre Jordan or Marc Gasol isn't a given.
Top-tier free agents have spurned the Mavericks in the past, from Deron Williams to Dwight Howard to Carmelo Anthony. The Mavs have shown they can remain relevant amid this constant shuffling and, again, boast more flexibility than most. But Dirk Nowitzki will be 37 once next season begins and isn't getting any younger.
Following an underwhelming end to a campaign once teeming with promise, the Mavericks are left to try wedging his title window back open.
Again.
For real this time.
Winner: Randy Wittman
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Randy Wittman has more job security than you.
There exists a strong possibility the Washington Wizards don't make it out of the second round. Though the Atlanta Hawks have stumbled through the first part of the postseason, their most prominent warts are curable—like the whole missing-wide-open-shots thing.
In the event Washington loses, it will have failed to improve upon last year's playoff performance, suggesting Wittman has the team on a treadmill. But that would ignore everything else he's done.
The Wizards are finally showing flashes of a squad that's capable of standing alongside elite contenders. Wittman has seen the light and started embracing small-ball lineups and is making effective mid-game adjustments to his rotation and offensive approach. He also has Otto Porter looking like an actual NBA player.
All of which leaves Washington in the top three of offensive and defensive efficiency for the postseason and hanging tight with the Hawks, giving them a real shot at making the Eastern Conference Finals.
Warm up to the idea of Wittman maintaining control of the sidelines. He isn't going anywhere.
Loser: Toronto Raptors
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Losing in the first round is one thing.
Getting swept in the first round by a team you beat three times during the regular season is another.
At no point did the Toronto Raptors look like an actual playoff team against the Wizards. The defense continued its run of incompetence, while the offense was warped beyond recognition, leaving us all to wonder how in the heck Toronto fielded a top-three offense during the regular season.
Fortunately for the Raptors, they will enjoy cap space this summer and have the means to create even more if the mood strikes. General manager Masai Ujiri is a deal-brokering genius and has a bevy of digestible contracts he can dangle.
Unfortunately for the Raptors, there's no easy fix to what ails them. They appear to have hit their ceiling after winning a second division title and lack the two-way building blocks to become more than a one-way team.
Worse still, in the aftermath of their offensive implosion against the Wizards, there are no assurances that the Raptors remain elite point-pilers. They're light on shooters and depend on the self-sufficiency of Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan and free-agent-to-be Lou Williams to carry them—a strategy fated to yield only more first-round exits.
Translation: Ujiri better get to grinding his ax. He has some serious work to do over the offseason.
Winner: Dwight Howard
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Glorified role player Dwight Howard looks a lot like superstar Dwight Howard.
Yes, the days of Howard averaging 25 points and 15 rebounds during the playoffs are gone. But that's only because he isn't putting an entire Orlando Magic team on his back anymore.
Make no mistake—Howard is carrying the Rockets to a degree. He is limiting opponents to sub-45 percent shooting at the rim and blocking shots in obnoxious volume, keeping the Rockets afloat. They have been a defensive disaster without him, allowing allowing significantly more points per 100 possessions when he's off the floor.
The quickness with which Howard is rotating from one player to another and getting off the ground to contest shots invokes memories from five years ago—as does his pick-and-roll destruction. He ranks third in points scored per possession as the roll man and is burying more than 70 percent of his shots in such situations.
Fresh off a regular season where he missed more games (41) than his previous 10 combined (36), playing at such a high level is huge for Howard. He does need to stop straying from his offensive strengths so much (pick-and-rolls), and there's no point in trying to post up Jordan every chance gets.
Overall, though, Howard is doing work, proving yet again that, no matter how Houston's season ends, talk of his demise remains grossly exaggerated.
Loser: Kevin Love
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Talk about your bad luck.
Kevin Love spent his first six NBA seasons cycling in and out of the lottery with the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Cleveland Cavaliers provided him with not only an avenue to the playoffs but a path toward title contention.
Not four full games into Love's first playoff journey, his postseason honeymoon ended, painfully and abruptly, after he suffered a dislocated left shoulder that required surgery. Love will now watch the Cavaliers compete for a championship without him, all while rumors pertaining to his impending free agency swirl about with renewed purpose.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports delivered the latest batch of intel while making an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show (h/t SB Nation). According to him, there's a "legitimate fear" within the Cavaliers organization that Love will bolt in free agency.
No matter how well or poorly the Cavaliers fare without Love, this chatter isn't going to stop. That was true even when he was playing, and it's true now.
At least while Love was playing, though, his performance could do the talking. His on-court demeanor could mitigate the controversial scuttlebutt.
He's merely a bystander now, injured and on the sidelines, with no way of erasing the lines between which the outside world is trying to read.
Winner: Anthony Davis
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Anthony Davis left the playoffs in style.
First-round sweeps aren't ideal, even when they come at the altar of an indomitable Golden State Warriors team. But the New Orleans Pelicans were playing with house money. They weren't supposed to snag the Western Conference's No. 8 seed, let alone contend with a 67-win juggernaut.
Somehow, they managed to make things interesting. They lost by more than 10 points just once and were in position to win three games late in the fourth quarter.
In other words, the city of New Orleans owes Davis a "thank you." A "please don't ever leave!" wouldn't hurt either.
Should-have-been Defensive Player of the Year Draymond Green did a number on Davis at times, goading him into contested looks and obstructing his vision when he tried to pass out of the post. The Pelicans also designed their defense to overwork him. They chased Golden State's shooters off the three-point line, funneling them into a waiting Davis, who was left to protect the rim on his own.
Such workloads can overtax even the youngest megastar. In a true testament to his greatness, though, Davis excelled anyway, holding the Warriors to 33.3 percent shooting at the iron and averaging 31.5 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks per game.
Only one other NBA player has reached those same per-game touchstones through at least four postseason tilts: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
If you have to exit the postseason early without winning a single game, validating your status as the NBA's future is the way to do it.
Loser: Tom Thibodeau
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Tom Thibodeau isn't your average loser. Some might even argue he's a winner.
Derrick Rose is semi-healthy for the first time since 2012, and the Bulls look like a genuine contender at times. Even after being pummeled by the Cavaliers in Game 2 of their best-of-seven series, Chicago has stolen home-court advantage, and Cleveland is still without Kevin Love.
There's a real chance the Bulls respond to their current situation by making the Eastern Conference Finals, perhaps even making a beeline for the NBA Finals.
None of which suggests Thibodeau is a loser. Then again, the Bulls' postseason push doesn't need to imply anything. The rumor mill is insinuating everything.
"As Rose makes an inspired return to a playoff stage that desperately missed him, Thibodeau is pushing closer to the end of his run here. This wasn't on his mind on Monday after a 99-92 Game 1 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers; only winning. Only the opportunity now. Rose is becoming Rose again, slowly, surely, but the progression's unmistakable. It changes everything for Chicago, except this: Amid the twisted culture of Chicago's regime – where winning is losing, where success is failure – management can't wait to rid itself of one Tom Thibodeau.
"
Joining the unemployment ranks isn't a concern of Chicago's head coach. Thibodeau will find work elsewhere if he's sent packing.
Enduring such uncertainty while in the thick of a championship hunt is just the worst. It doesn't matter if it's warranted or unwarranted, or if Thibodeau continues to put on a brave face, or if the Bulls keep winning to the point that their coach's job is safe.
Thibodeau still has to work under this public pretense, beneath a dark cloud, without any definitive knowledge as to whether he'll be back in Chicago next season.
Winner: Blake Griffin
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The legend of Blake Griffin continues to grow.
Once considered a byproduct of Paul's playmaking chops, Griffin has morphed into a different player entirely. It's not just that he's a more well-rounded superstar; it's that he's a well-rounded superstar who is capable of carrying the Clippers on his own.
Paul is being forced to watch Round 2 unfold from the sidelines as his hamstring heals, yet the Rockets haven't run the Clippers ragged. To the contrary, it's the Clippers who gained control of the series by bilking Houston of home-court advantage in Game 1. And it's Griffin who spearheaded that initial cause with a triple-double, tallying 26 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists.
It's also Griffin who averaged 24.4 points, 13.3 rebounds, 8.1 assists and 1.3 blocks through his first eight playoff contests. The last player to maintain those statistical benchmarks during postseason play? No one.
Absolutely freaking no one.
Everything about Griffin's postseason performance thus far is unprecedented, for both himself and the league.
More importantly, everything about his effort is forcing even the most stubborn folks to realize what many began understanding long ago: Griffin is the byproduct of no one.
Losers: Portland Trail Blazers
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Sometimes, first-round exits have serious implications. This is one of those times.
With players galore approaching free agency, Damian Lillard eligible for a contract extension this summer and Wesley Matthews' future up in the air after a devastating Achilles tear, the Portland Trail Blazers needed a sign, any sign, that the team is worth keeping intact. They didn't get it.
Fate gifted them with a first-round departure instead. Now they enter the offseason facing a slew of questions.
Arron Afflalo, Robin Lopez, Aldridge and Matthews will all hit unrestricted free agency this summer. Nicolas Batum is slated to reach the open market in 2016. Throw in Lillard's inevitable extension and the salary-cap eruption in 2016, and the Blazers will need to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into this exact core if they want to stay the course.
That's fine if you know said core is enough. The Blazers don't. They only know this team is capable of contending for a top-five playoff seed.
Which isn't enough.
Not when players such as Batum, Matthews, Lopez and Aldridge are approaching the back end of their careers. Not when the Warriors, Rockets, Clippers and even Spurs are set to wage title-level battles for at least the next few years.
It's more tempting for the Blazers to blow this convocation to smithereens when it's put that way. They have the option of selling off Batum, bidding farewell to Matthews and Aldridge—perhaps via sign-and-trades—and reconfiguring the roster around C.J. McCollum, Meyers Leonard and Lillard.
Nevertheless, starting over is a gruesome alternative for a team that owned the West's second-best record through the first half of the regular season. That Portland is now in this state of flux—in large part because of an unconvincing playoff run—is undeniably unnerving.
Winner: LaMarcus Aldridge Suitors
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One team's first-round exodus is another's foot in the door.
Sources told Grantland's Zach Lowe that the possibility of Aldridge leaving Portland as a free agent this summer is "100 percent in play." Similar sentiments are gaining momentum following the Blazers' disappointing finish. Aldridge is almost a year removed from declaring his unwavering loyalty, and the team he headlines has, again, peaked.
This comes as good news to any franchise with both cap space and a need for basketball players who don't stink.
Marc Stein of ESPN.com cites the Mavericks and Spurs as two teams with tons of interest in Aldridge, and the New York Knicks are expected to be in play as well, according to ESPN.com's Ian Begley. And because Aldridge is an All-Star, this will end up being just a taste of the market for his services.
Bowing out of the playoffs early doesn't negate Aldridge's past intentions, to be clear. He still waxed allegiance on the heels of Portland's elimination.
"Of course I love being here, and I'm thankful for everything this city has given me, thankful for my time here," Aldridge said, per The Oregonian's Jason Quick. "It's been an amazing nine years and of course I'm not trying to make that end."
That's doesn't mean it won't end.
Another lost season paves the way for doubt; doubt breeds a desire for change, and a desire for change is a feeling that could feasibly drive Aldridge out of Portland.
Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com, Sports-Reference.com and NBA.com unless otherwise cited. Salary-cap information via Basketball Insiders.
Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @danfavale.
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