We are nearly halfway through another NBA regular season, and it has been relatively lackluster compared to previous seasons. This lack of excitement in the NBA is likely the result of the litany of injuries the NBA is going through this year. Kobe Bryant, Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, Rajon Rondo, & Chris Paul have all experienced significant injuries. Though the NBA as a whole is not as exciting as years' past, we are seeing the maturation of the NBA's current and future superstars.  Here are some of the big names in the NBA who are finally living up to their potential:

1. Kevin Durant

It seems that every year someone in the NBA goes on a scoring frenzy around the months of January and February. This year it is Kevin Durant's turn.  Fresh off of scoring 30+ points in 12 straight games, finally, Kevin Durant is turning into the no holds barred ball player we've all been waiting for him to become.

                                  Durant's Month-by-Month Point and Assist Averages

	G	PPG	ASG
November	13	26.9	5.4
December	17	29.4	4.5
January	16	35.9	6.1

In a previous post, I asked if Kevin Durant would have blocked Lebron James's jump shot in the All Star Game; Now we know the answer.  Durant went at Lebron in a statement game this past January, where in one particular instance Durant drained back to back 3s in LeBron's face. With Westbrook out for a while, Durant has formally informed the world that the MVP trophy would be his this season.

2. Blake Griffin

The impact Doc Rivers is having on Blake Griffin is clear;Griffin is having a career year.  Gone are the days of Griffin being a small forward in a power forward's body.  He is no longer soft.  While Griffin still takes an occasional jump shot here and there, Griffin's game has probably shown the most growth this year.  His post game has improved immensely, and Griffin takes it hard to the basket at every opportunity he gets. 

Good Foot Work

Even Charles Barkley has taken note of Griffin's improvement; "One of the best things that has happened to him is Chris [Paul] being out because he has been more aggressive. And that's been [my] only criticism of him is he's not aggressive enough," Barkley said. "To me, he's got to start to impose his will more. With Chris being out, he's doing that more." With his improved post moves, Griffin is no longer just a dunker in the NBA.  Look for Griffin to cement his spot as a top 5 NBA player in the years to come.

3. Dwight Howard

Like Blake Griffin, Dwight Howard's game has improved by leaps and bounds since taking his talents to Houston following his injury plagued season with the Lakers.  While Howard is NOT putting up the "28 & 15" Shaq says he should be putting up every night (Not even Shaq did that), Howard is now a viable post player.

He's still too reliant on dunks though

Oddly enough, he has a better left-handed post move then a right-handed post move.  With the NBA's big men near extinction, Howard is likely to be the best Center in the league for the foreseeable future.

A Young Kobe?

4. Paul George

Following his breakout series against the Miami Heat in last year's playoffs, Paul George has emerged as a star in the NBA.  But where did George come from?  Having only been in the league since 2010, George is a relative newcomer. He was a mid-tier player until his series with the Miami Heat last year.  Who knew George would be this good?  George is averaging a career high 22.4 points per game this year, to go along with 6.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game.  George has also drastically increased his free throw percentage from 80% over the past few years, to 85% this season.

Here are two comments from TNT's Steve Kerr & Charles Barkley during George's breakout series against the Miami Heat;

Kerr: "Paul George has gotten the better of LeBron James in the last part of the fourth quarter and overtime. If there is any doubt at all that Paul George has elevated to superstar status, he's dispelled that doubt tonight."

Barkley: "I was impressed with Paul George. To guard LeBron James and play well, that's impressive."

This upcoming NBA Playoffs will be the true test of George's growth, as he will likely have to face off with a Lebron James in the Eastern Conference Finals this year. With George's recent emergence as a star in the NBA, this list looks like it will encompass the league's top 5 players(with LeBron included) for the next 10 years or so.

The lack of talent in the Eastern Conference, coupled with the loaded draft class has found most NBA teams fighting not for first place, but for last. The same can be said for my favorite team, the Boston Celtics. I find myself torn between wanting them to play well, and wanting them to be awful so they can get a top draft pick come summer.

With the top prizes of the draft Jabari Parker of Duke, and Joel Embiid of Kansas considering potentially staying in school for another year; and no guarantee of the worst record giving them the top pick, it makes me hesitant.

So lets assume that both of these guys do leave school after just one year and head to the draft, what do the Celtics have to do to place themselves in a position to grab one of these young studs to build around? Currently, at 18-34, the Celtics find themselves with the 6th worst record and a 6.3% chance of winning the top pick in the lottery. However there are a handful of teams within a game or two of the Celtics which could see them sway anywhere from ninth to third worst. But with still half a season to go and All Star point guard Rajon Rondo beginning to find his rhythm after missing a year following surgery on his torn ACL the Celtics might be too good for their own good. 

Nothing is worse then finding yourself in the middle of the pack in the top heavy NBA. Being consistently average in a bad conference can be the kiss of death to a franchise. The same bad teams always seem to find their way to the bottom of the standings despite getting top picks year in and year out, so being only slightly better then them leaves you little chance of getting the building blocks needed to turn an OK team into a contender. That is why I agree with Danny Ainge's tactics of shipping out the house and starting from scratch with a few key pieces.

One of those pieces he has been keen on keeping up until recently has been 6'9" forward Jeff Green. Green is a physical freak who is capable of stuffing the stat sheet on a good night. His issue is that those good nights are few and far between. For instance, on January 22, he had a monster game carrying the shorthanded C's to victory against a talented Wizards team with 39 points in a 113-111 overtime thriller. However the next 4 games saw his performance consistently dip with a low of 6 points just days after almost scoring 40. And this isn't the first time it has happened to him either. For someone so gifted, he seems to become disinterested and lacks the killer instinct necessary to be the main scoring option that he is required to be on this Celtics team. 

He could be really good as a third or fourth option on a good team, and following a miserable 8 point night on 2-13 shooting a week ago against a terrible Orlando Magic team, he has had 3 very good games including a 36 point effort against the 76ers. Maybe now is the time for Ainge to sell high on Green with the trade deadline looming. Get the most out of him and his ridiculous contract while they still can, because he makes them too good to be bad enough to win in the draft lottery.

I have two sets of numbers for you.  The first is 1 and 1  in the playoffs over 8 years, and the second is $153 million with $54 million guaranteed. Those are Jay Cutler's career playoff record, and the terms of his brand new contract. Cutler has a career record of 56 and 48, a measly 8 games over .500. He has 137 combined turnovers and over 200 sacks compared to his 155 career touchdown passes.

Many experts consider him a top 10 quarterback in the NFL; but when compared to arguably the best quarterback in the game, Tom Brady, his numbers are disgustingly awful. And the worst part is that for his last 6 years he's had one of the top 5 defenses in the NFL. He wins a respectable amount of games but he can never manage to get over the hump and really cement his name as a top flight NFL quarterback. In any other line of work, he would be lucky just to keep his job; so since when has mediocrity and substandard performance warranted outlandish pay raises?

The top 5 contracts in the NFL belong to 4 of the top 5 quarterbacks in the league, and Joe Flacco. But the one thing all 5 of those guys have in common is a Lombardi Trophy. The next two largest contracts belong to Tony Romo and one Jay Cutler. One guy spends all his time trying to be a scratch golfer, the other spends his time making cameo appearances on the hit show The League on FXX. And both have a knack for wasting seasons in the waining moments of the final game.

Maybe I went into the wrong profession, if I knew I could make $100 million being average at football I would have tried playing it in my youth. Yes, Cutler has one of the strongest arms in the league, but he doesn't have that killer instinct, he can't flip that switch when the game is on the line to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. If you can get paid solely on potential I should have been a millionaire years ago, but who am I to knock his hustle, more power to you Mr. Cutler you just committed highway robbery.

Two High Powered Offenses Face off

Another year, another exciting and unpredictable NFL Playoffs are upon us. This wild card weekend will be particularly exciting as my Philadelphia Eagles face off against the New Orleans Saints this Saturday night in Philadelphia.  Get your popcorn ready.

After beating a Romo-less Dallas Cowboys to clinch the NFC East and the #3 seed in the Conference, the Philadelphia Eagles were rewarded with a first-round match-up with one of the top 5 quarterbacks in the league. And did I mention that the Eagles' defense is terrible? They're ranked dead last in the NFL against the pass, while the New Orleans Saints' passing offense is ranked 2nd. The combination of having to match up against one of the most potent offenses in the NFL and having a poorest defense nearly lead me to picking the Saints; until I was reminded of one thing.

The game will be played in PHILADELPHIA. We're in the middle of winter and nearly half of America is covered in snow at the moment! Weather will be a game-changer for Philadelphia. The forecast for Saturday's Eagles-Saints game at Lincoln Financial Field is for temperatures in the low 30s with a 60 percent chance of rain and snow showers.  This will allow the Eagles to stay competitive. Having the NFL's top-rated passer AND rusher will not hurt either.(Remember McCoy's 200+ rushing yard game in the snow earlier this year?)

Still not convinced? Let's look at the stats:

The New Orleans Saints are an indoor football team.  The record speaks for itself. As a team, the New Orleans Saints are 8-0 at home and only 3-5 on the road.  Now let's look at Brees' performance on the road this season.  Of Drew Brees' 39 touchdowns, 27 of them were thrown at HOME. Of Drew Brees' 12 interceptions on the season, 9 of them were thrown on the road. Brees just is not himself when he's away from the comforts of home; he has NEVER won a playoff game on the road. 

Look for the Philadelphia Eagles to sneak by the New Orleans Saints this weekend; TSR predicts a 31-27 victory for the Eagles.

Johnny Manziel continues to dazzle on Saturdays for the Texas A&M Aggies. In his two seasons as the starting quarterback he has set records for offensive production, all while joining the toughest conference in all of college football, the SEC. As a first year starter, after red shirting his freshman year behind current Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill, Manziel took the nation by storm with his highlight reel playmaking ability. He handely broke the SEC total yards record set by Cam Newton three years earlier during his own Heisman winning season, becoming the first freshman to win a Heisman, and turned around a mediocre football team into a team that was capable of challenging for a national championship. And he did all of this without the help of a defense, which forced him into shootouts against some of the best defenses in the country. But the question still remains, will it translate to the pros?

Playing for a team that consistently allowed the opposition to score with moderate ease naturally bloated most of Manziel's stats. Finding themselves down often he was forced to make a lot of big plays rather then being able to rely on a balanced attack that would hold onto secured leads. And with the ability to pick a handful of subpar teams for the early games in the season, he was able to destroy bad teams and pad his stats.

The concern came, both seasons, against LSU. The Tigers are a team with a plethora of NFL caliber talent on the defensive side of the ball, more so then any other team that Manziel's Aggies faced in his two years in school. Both games against LSU were his worst game of his career. This season Texas A&M was average over 500 ypg and close to 50 ppg heading into the LSU matchup, they left Death Valley with a 34 to 10 loss that looked a lot uglier then the final score shows. Johnny Football was a dismal 16 for 41 passing with 2 interceptions while taking 2 sacks.

He relies on his speed and ability to escape pressure in order to make big plays out of blown coverages by the defense. However, when faced with a defense faster then any he has seen prior, he shrunk to the challenge and his numbers reflect it. While LSU may be the toughest and fastest defense he has played, they are nothing compared to the fast paced hard hitting NFL defenses he will be pitted against in the future. And at, generously, 6'1 and 205 pounds, with his playing style of holding onto the ball until the very last second, he could have a very short career.

And that is my other concern, while you can stumble into great plays against talented but undisciplined kids in college, he won't be able to make those same plays at the next level. He will take too many hits and throw too many ill-advised passes because in his mind he is a super star and nothing can stop him.

Statistically, and in terms of playing style he compares very favorably to Doug Flutie who managed to have a long 12 year career as a 5'10 mobile quarterback. Both won a Heisman, both made some of the most iconic plays in the history of the sport. Flutie wasn't drafted until the 11th round of the 1985 draft a year after winning the award for best college player in the country, Manziel is being talked about as a potential #1 overall pick.

Manziel received his fame to early, and let it get to his head, constantly being in the news for drunken antics and fights at parties, all while underage. He thinks he is untouchable, and is constantly given second chances and having the rules altered for him or seeing his coaches turn a blind eye. It may have worked for him in college, but when he tries to take the corner on his first scrambling pass attempt in the NFL and gets lit up by a 340 pound behemoth, the question will be how many more of those hits can he take before it kills him.

The Bears just shellacked the Cowboys tonight on Monday Night Football, Some might say it was their playing up for the retirement of legendary bear Mike Ditka's jersey #89, but I say the Cowboys just plain stink.

Tony Romo historically has been awful in the month of December, blowing games and squandering chances at playoff runs every single season. His record in December and January is now an embarrassing 12 and 17. However there is some tiny glimmer of hope he can take from this most recent debacle, it wasn't his fault they lost this game. 

Usually he is making some bonehead mistake turning the ball over in a critical situation with the game on the line, but that wasn't the case tonight in Chicago. Yes he had a very eyebrowing raising stat line of just over 100 yards and 3 touchdowns, but the key is he had 0 turnovers. The Cowboys ran the ball up and down the field on Chicago with no issue in the first half, but Chicago had too many quick strikes and the lead ballooned forcing the game plan to change for Dallas. 

Being down by 21 for most of the game forced their hand and Demarco Murray who had 100 yards rushing in the first half ended up with only 45 in the 2nd half as they had to abandon the rushing attack that was their only sustainable form of offense. The Offensive line was horrendous in pass blocking situations finding Romo rushed multiple times and sacked twice. 

The other main factor for why this wasn't Tony's fault was the embarrassing play of the Dallas defense. They have been one of, if not thee worst pass defense in the NFL this season getting ripped apart by Josh McCown for 348 yards and 4 touchdowns. When your defense can't stop anyone and continuously finds you playing catch up, you're not likely to win many games.

And the Bears have been just as bad this season which makes this convincing defeat that much worse. I put 100% of this defeat, and this entire season, on Jerry Jones. He spends more time talking to the media and trying to play God in his super stadium, then he does surrounding his unit of very good star players with a supporting cast worthy of their talent level. When you care more about your image then you do about your team, you are going nowhere fast. But cheer up Tony, this one isn't on you.

Jacoby Ellsbury has done the unthinkable. The flashy 2 time World Champion center fielder who has spent his entire professional career with the Boston Red Sox has joined the Evil Empire. Most Sox fans are at arms over this, comparing this treacherous act to that of Johnny Damon. The big difference being Damon was only a Red Sox for a handful of years and wasn't a product of the system but just a nice free agent addition after spending his time in Oakland. Ellsbury on the other hand has been groomed into the player he has become by the hands of the oft overlooked minor league staff of the Pawtucket Red Sox and Portland Sea Dogs.

Sure talent is involved in becoming who he is today, but you can't overlook the track record of the Red Sox farm system, producing countless stars and stalwarts to the big league club like Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Jon Lester and so many others. This is why the big news of yet another big time Red Sox switching sides in the most hated rivalry in the history of the sport was such a stinging blow, at least until I thought about it.

Ellsbury is set to turn 31 in September, meaning he is under contract until the age of 37, with an option for an 8th year. Maybe in hockey this type of deal would work, or as a multi dimensional threat the likes of a Derek Jeter, but Jacoby's game is predicated on speed. He wants to get on base and he wants to run. That will work now, but when he's 36? He isnt going to be stealing 50+ bags a season in his mid to late 30s. And he is one of the streakiest hitters I've ever seen, going cold for weeks at a time. Now when hes on, hes on, and he can change the outcome of a game as witnessed in the post season run made last season in Boston.

Yet here in lies the problem, only 3 times in his 7 year career has he played more then 140 games in a season, the last being his MVP runner up season in 2011. That was also the only season he has been named an All Star. Is a 1 time All Star who is constantly plagued by injuries and known to run himself through walls, or Adrian Beltre, worth 153 million dollars for 7 years? Sure if he can stay healthy and productive for even 6 of those 7 years its absolutely worth it, but that's a very big IF.

Not only is his over under for games missed this season in the 80 range, but the Yankees are throwing too much money at hit or miss injury prone guys in their 30s, without having a starting rotation. They must not have watched the playoffs because it was evident that pitching wins games and yet they continue to hand money away while ignoring the most pressing issue on their team. 

CC Sabathia. Ivan Nova. David Phelps. Michael Pineda, and Adam Warren. This is the Yankees projected starting rotation next year. They also lost their best set up man in the bullpen as he has moved into the closer role to replace the future hall of famer Mariano Rivera. But instead the Yankees have given 3 players (Ellsbury, Brian Mccann, and Derek Jeter) a combined 250 Million Dollars in contracts, and are reportedly still interested in signing Robinson Cano for around 180 Million. And who knows how much they'll have to pay the suspended A-Roid. That's 5 guys, only 4 of which can actually play, taking up nearly half a billion dollars on their books. 

Hopefully it works out for them because it's not as much fun beating on the Yankees when they are terrible, but on the other hand they never seem to learn that you can't buy championships anymore. Baseball is a long season, just buying the best players doesn't guarantee you anything, especially when the players you keep paying are injured more then they play, to each his own right now we are World Series Champs, and when Ellsbury returns to Fenway he will hear a cacophony of boos unrivaled by Wes Welker and Ray Allen combined