ReadBetweenTheBaselines

The NBA is like a book, we're in the final pages of a great chapter

2011-06-13T16:54:00.000-07:00

In the past few years, some NBA greats-that's GREATS, not just all stars- have crossed off "getting a ring" off their bucket lists. It started with the Lakers in 04 when Gary Payton and Karl Malone joined Kobe and Shaq in LA for a "one last chance" but ended up falling to Detroit in the Finals. Then things worked out in Miami in 2006 when Gary Payton and Alonzo Mourning were able to contribute to a championship team. In picked up again in 2008 when Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen joined forces in the most humble of ways to try and get a ring. It worked and these NBA greats succeeded. And it has started up again with Dirk and Jason Kidd, two more of the greatest players ever, able to contribute to a championship team. If we're keeping track, here are the next in line of guys up there in age who still have it and can contribute to a championship team -

1. Steve Nash - 2x MVP will be in the last year of his contract next season, could be traded away, or sign for a contender next summer.

2. Tracy McGrady - 2x scoring champion may not have enough left in the tank, but is a free agent this summer, could possibly start or be a 6th man for a championship contender.

3. Grant Hill - Returned from constant injuries and still a solid defender. Could be a missing defensive piece to a championship caliber team. Is a free agent this summer.

4. Vince Carter - Used to be one of the greatest dunkers and scorers in the league, just didn't really try hard to stay at the top of his game. Could contribute offensively off the bench for a championship team, but doesn't have much on defense. Will be a free agent this summer after the Suns do not exercise his team option in his contract.

5. Antonio McDyess - Solid big man role player now, but used to be a 20 ppg scorer. Came 1 year too late for the Pistons' championship and a couple years too late for the current Spurs core championship, although he had a good shot this year. Has one more year under under his contract, with the right pieces and a little luck, could have a finals run next year with the Spurs.

6. Marcus Camby - A personal top 5 favorite of mine. Least decorated star player from the 1996 draft with only a defensive player of the year award and All NBA defensive teams to show (no all star games). Seems happy in Portland, who has the talent to make a championship run, but not quite the health (Brandon Roy, Greg Oden, Camby himself). Will be in the last year of his contract this season, could be traded.

The championship favorites for the next five or so years will be the Lakers, Heat, Bulls, and maybe Thunder. But every so often, you get a Mavericks type team, who makes a run and has the veteran swagger and knows what it takes to win a championship, hopefully some of these guys fall into one of those teams and can contribute their play to get a ring.

Part 5.5 of 6 Summer Plans - School's Out Fo Summa!

2011-06-12T09:26:00.000-07:00

(part 7 will be summer plans for Mavs and Heat, coming soon)

San Antonio Spurs 61-21 (Knocked in first round by a Grizzlies who lost last game of season so they would play Spurs in first round, ouch- but Manu was playing hurt)

Notable Free Agents - Tiago Splitter
Core players still on contract - Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Richard Jefferson, George Hill, DeJuan Blair

Recap: The Spurs started the season hot and never cooled off. They beat the teams they were supposed to beat and the top teams in the league. Then the playoffs came around and perhaps the age of Tim Duncan and Antonio McDyess caught up to them as Zach Randolph torched them offensively and Marc Gasol scorned them with rebounds. Throughout the season though, they got solid contributions from Tim Duncan although he is light years away from his prime. Manu Ginobili played great this season and Tony Parker, besides the playoffs also had a good year. Richard Jefferson did not.

Look for them to: 1. Stay the same. 2. Look for inside presence.

There's not too much the team can do other than try and get younger. The core is pretty set in stone but with Tim Duncan getting a lot older and becoming more and more like David Robinson circa 2002-2004, the team needs to get some inside scoring, something DeJuan Blair does not quite have in his repertoire. But hey, they had the 2nd best record in the league, just got ousted by an up and coming Grizzly 8th seed who had the inside presence the Spurs lacked. But this team will almost look exactly the same. Still waiting on Tiago Splitter...

Oklahoma City Thunder 55-27 (Kendrick Perkins to the rescue! Oh wait, Dallas already took care of the Lakers)

Notable Free Agents - Nazr Mohammed
Core players still on contract - Kevin Durant, Kendrick Perkins, Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka, James Harden, Thabo Sefolosha

Recap: Coming off gold medals in the world championships in Turkey, MVP candidate Kevin Durant got this team rolling. Then they really shook things up by trading Nenad Krstic and Jeff Green for Kendrick Perkins (and Nate Robinson), to compete with the bigs of the western conference (most notably, champion favorite Lakers and Pau Gasol). Well it didn't quite work out when Dallas took them out and Kendrick couldn't keep up with Dirk. Then again, it seems like no one can keep up with Dirk. In the playoffs, everyone was giving Russell Westbrook a lot of flack for not giving the ball to Kevin Durant enough, how he's a SG playing a PG, how he took too many shots. I guess it's somewhat true, he averaged 17 FG attempts during the season with 7.7 FT attempts. In the playoffs, those numbers jumped to 20 FG attempts and 8.3 FT attempts. Will a rough playoffs require a huge shake up?

Look for them to: 1. Re-Sign Nazr Mohammed. 2. Look for a low post scoring center. 3. Not trade Russell Westbrook.

First things first, Nazr played well and they can sign him for cheap to keep some front court depth available. But the team's big men are not low post scorers. Kendrick Perkins is a defensive center. Serge Ibaka is a defensive power forward with a nice jump shot but no post moves. Nick Collison is a hustle, offensive rebounder power forward, who can play great defense and take charges. Nazr Mohammed is old and is strictly there for, you guessed it, defense off the bench. They drafted Cole Aldrich last year and he is... YES A DEFENSIVE CENTER. Just like many other teams they will be looking for big men this summer in either trades or free agency.

As for Russell Westbrook, the Thunder had better be getting a GREAT point guard if they do decide to trade but I highly doubt they will. This core will be healthy and will start playing together for an entire season next year and the west is severely weak now, and all the good teams are old (Spurs, Mavs, Lakers). The Thunder are young and the team of the future, another year together will serve them well and they'll do just fine.

Chicago Bulls 62-20 (You have no idea how certain I was that the Bulls would beat the Heat in five games)

Notable Free Agents - No one
Core players still on contract - Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Carlos Boozer, Luol Deng

Recap: MVP, Coach of the year, best record in the league, taken out by the three heat. New coach, Tom Thibodeau took this first round fodder and made them into a defensive stopper team. Derrick Rose upped his game and came up with the MVP award. And the team just rolled through the season and got the top seed! What's not to like?

Look for them to: 1. Sign or trade for a shooting guard. 2. Make another run with this core.

They lost to the Heat because Derrick Rose is the team's engine. Without him on the floor or being involved in a play, the team flounders. He creates his own shot or gets someone else involved in the play. If he's held down, the team will lose. LeBron and Wade guarded Rose and the Bulls couldn't get anything going. If you look at the box scores, Rose would have like 25 shots and near 10 assists making him in that rare company of people who can't be blamed for not shooting enough and can't be blamed for not getting his teammates involved (LeBron, Kobe). But if he can work on his 3 point game, he'll have defenders being honest and not sagging off him on defense, always playing the drive.

As for a shooting guard, Keith Bogans could be upgraded. He's good on defense but not much of an offensive threat. If the Bulls could do anything to improve their lineup, it's the SG position and there have been talks about a possible Richard Hamilton trade with some other team who would end up buying him out, allowing him to sign with the Bulls. Rich get richer.

My Ode To Shaq

2011-06-02T03:54:00.000-07:00

Shaq retired - here's what I have to say -

I started watching NBA basketball during the 2000 playoffs when Shaq and Kobe won the championship over Reggie Miller and the Pacers. I was an instant fan, but I was definitely spoiled. I barely knew the players besides Kobe and Shaq let alone any other players in the league. I had no idea that Shaq was one of the greatest centers of all time.

The next season I watched every Laker game. I loved Kobe but I also loved Shaq. He was a true go to guy that gave you a good look every possession. They'd post him up and he'd either back his man down or do a hop step leaner toward the basket and because he was so huge, it was pretty much a layup from 6 feet out. Then the playoffs came and I was spoiled even more. The Lakers swept every opponent to get to the Finals. It was ridiculous. I almost felt it was unfair. Shaq was too big for anyone and Kobe had all the energy in the world to put away the opposition in the fourth quarter. I was so spoiled that I actually was rooting for the 76ers in the finals. Dikembe Mutombo turned out to be my favorite player of all time (still is), and I was happy that they won game 1 and upset when the Lakers won the next 4! Shaq won the Finals MVP again, and during the Laker parade and celebration, I was happy again that the Lakers won. Shaq rapped, Madsen danced, the crowd cheers 3 peat.

Mutombo was the defensive player of the year and he and Matt Geiger were simply too small for Shaq. I was spoiled. Any time we needed a bucket, post up Shaq, hook shot, drop step, two handed power dunk, 2 points. A three peat was no question. No one can stop Shaq AND we have Kobe Bryant. The Lakers will never lose, and I am 2/2 in my NBA season watching on championships.

2001-2002 Season rolls around and the Lakers get right back to work, they get to the playoffs where have the great Robert Horry win game 3 of the Portland series to sweep them, and then the fabled Sacramento series. Oh my GOD- Game 4 when the Lakers were down 1-2 with the risk of going down 1-3. Down by 2 with 10 or so seconds, Kobe drives the basket, misses, Shaq gets the rebound, misses, Divac bats the ball out to Robert Horry who drains the 3. But this post isn't about the Lakers, it's about Shaq.

We won the championship over the Nets who didn't have a center that came close to Samaki Walker let along Shaq. During the championship parade and speech - Shaq didn't care about the Nets. No Laker fan did. We still cared about and hated the Kings. Shaq was right there with us - "SACRAMENTO is not the capital of the California! LOS ANGELES IS THE CAPITAL OF CALIFORNIA!" To which everyone cheered.

Because Shaq was not just the most dominant player of all time, he was the most charismatic player of all time. He didn't just play for Los Angeles, he WAS Los Angeles. After every emphatic dunk, he looked to the crowd which was cheering, he looked at his behemoth palm that had just massacred a defender, his eyes widened, his lion like roar resounding in the ears of the opposing team, he was a rockstar.

And I was spoiled.

The next year we didn't win the championship. We lost to the Spurs. We re-upped with Gary Payton and Karl Malone, and lost in the Finals to Detroit. And then Shaq left.

And we didn't make the playoffs in 04-05.

My how the mighty have fallen when you go from Shaq as your starting center to Chris Mihm and Brian Grant. Why aren't these guys dunking? Why aren't they bull dozing their way toward the basket? Why why WHY are they taking 15 foot jumpers!? WHY ARE WE NOT IN THE PLAYOFFS!? I missed the go-to-shaq-we-need-points plays. I missed the light hearted FUN basketball. Because as much as I love love LOVE Kobe Bryant, he's just not that fun. That's not to say that's a bad thing, it's just who he is.

Take for example the 09 Orlando Magic Finals. We win the championship and have a parade and celebration. The whole team takes turns with little speeches culminated by Kobe's speech where he ends with having the team put their hands together and including the crowd on their ritual, they yell RING after counting to 3. And that was it. The celebration over, Laker fans go home. It was nice, but it was no where near as FUN as Shaq rapping and the whole team dancing.

(Fast forward to 8:30)

I'm not jumping ship either. I was on, and still am on Kobe's side of the whole Shaq v. Kobe fiasco. But I did and still do miss the amazingness and hilarity of Shaq's game in the purple and gold. Especially after Pau Gasol's sorry performance this May.

Part 5 of 6 Summer Plans - If there's a lockout then this might turn into Fall plans

2011-05-26T00:35:00.000-07:00

Atlanta Hawks 44-38, lost in 2nd round to Bulls (Kirk Hinrich could have possibly changed the outcome of the Bulls series)

Notable free agents - Jamal Crawford
Core players still on contract - Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, Al Horford, Marvin Williams, Kirk Hinrich, Zaza Pachulia, Jeff Teague

Recap: It was a solid season all around for the Hawks after re-signing Joe Johnson to max money. They especially solidified their PG position by trading Mike Bibby for great defensive point guard Kirk Hinrich. Unfortunately for them, he was injured and did not play in the 2nd round against the Chicago Bulls. You're telling me that a team that lost in 6 games couldn't have changed their fortune if a healthy Kirk Hinrich was guarding Derrick Rose?

Look for them to: 1. Re-sign Jamal Crawford... maybe. 2. Make some changes to this core. 3. Get a center.

There's something about this team that is puzzling. It's like they have all this young talent with great potential but year after year they stay at the same level and never improve. Marvin Williams got a contract extension a couple years ago and has regressed in ability it seems. Josh Smith, the first of this core to put the Hawks back on the map is an enigma. He flashes his crazy athletic ability and then has games where he takes horrible jump shots and he's already a horrible jump shot shooter.

Al Horford and Joe Johnson are the all stars of the team and Al Horford needs to play power forward, not center, to maximize his production. That means the Hawks need to upgrade their starting center position from Jason Collins to someone else. They're on tap for over $60 million next season so signing a center may be a little too expensive, especially if they decide to re-sign Jamal Crawford. So look for them to look into the trade market and possibly trade their small forwards Marvin Williams and Josh Smith for a center or a different small forward, or both.

Jamal Crawford is a pure scorer, streak shooter, with a really nice behind the back cross over that's almost automatic when he pulls up after losing his defender. He is a defensive liability, however. It will depend on how much he wants and how long of a contract and whether or not the Hawks are willing to agree to what he wants. Otherwise, it could be goodbye and off to yet another team for Jamal Crawford.

Orlando Magic 52-30 (This team was in the 09 finals and lost in the first round, the mighty may fall even more this summer)

Notable free agents - Jason Richardson
Core players still on contract - Dwight Howard, Gilbert Arenas, Hedo Turkoglu, JJ Redick, Jameer Nelson

Recap: Another team that went through a major renovation. In December they dealt Vince Carter, Marcin Gortat, and Mickael Pietrus to Phoenix and Rashard Lewis to Washington and received Gilbert Arenas, Hedo Turkoglu, Jason Richardson and Earl Clark. That's a lot of "talent!" Well it didn't quite work out as they had an impressive season winning 52 games but had didn't end on a strong note in the season and ultimately lost to the Hawks in the first round of the playoffs. Coupled with the fact that there are constant rumors about Dwight Howard changing teams because he hasn't signed the extension that is on the table for him, this team could be in for quite a shake up this season.

Look for them to: 1. Do everything they can to keep Dwight, but if they find the right deal for him, ship him out and most likely package Gilbert Arenas and/or Hedo Turkoglu with him.

And that's pretty much it. If they lose Dwight, it's rebuild mode. If they don't, everyone but Jason Richardson is still on contract and they'll make a free agent signing to replace that SG slot. What everyone is hearing is that Dwight wants to go to the Lakers for a deal that would send Andrew Bynum and Pau or Lamar or some kind of combo like that for Dwight and Arenas or Hedo, but this is all speculation- but so was Carmelo's deal to New York. So we will definitely be sitting on pins and needles this summer watching for Dwight movement because that is priority number 1 for the Orlando Magic.

Boston Celtics 56-26 (I predicted this team would make it back to the Finals last year and stand by that if Rajon Rondo hadn't broken his arm in half).

Notable Free Agents - Nenad Krstic, Glen Davis, Delonte West
Core players still on contract - Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo, Jermaine O'Neal

Recap: Big story here was the trading of Kendrick Perkins which had fans, bloggers and analysts shaking and scratching their heads and centers from other teams jumping for joy. You're telling me you don't think defensive center Perkins couldn't take Chris Bosh completely out of the game and help defend on LeBron and Dwyane Wade? (And they still coulda won if Rondo hadn't dislocated his elbow!) In return they got Jeff Green and Nenad's expiring contract. Let's face it, this is an old team and Jeff Green is a young player that could ultimately take the reigns from the big 3 and run the team with Rajon Rondo in the future.

Look for them to: 1. Find and sign scorers. 2. Keep adding pieces and stick with this core for next year including big men to replace Shaq and Nenad.

Doc Rivers signed a 5 year extension recently. He wouldn't have done that if the team was going into rebuild mode. They will stick with this big 3 plus Rondo and Jeff Green for next year. They do need some scoring though. The big 3 are turning a year older and aren't really GO TO guys anymore (except for Paul Pierce). Rondo is a creator and Jeff Green isn't the answer to this issue. They will need to look into free agency or into trades to get a player or two who are young, fast, and can keep the Celtics from going through scoring droughts. Preferably a big man because Shaq is D-O-N-E (actually, he WAS done before the season started), and Jermaine O'Neal is not the answer to this issue either. Glen Davis may leave town if another team offers him more money and after that, the Celtics have no more bigs and for their sake, I hope they don't think Nenad Krstic is the answer either.

Los Angeles Lakers 57-25 (I could write a book on these Lakers right now, but I won't)

Notable free agents - NO ONE
Core players still on contract - Do I have to list them? Kobe, Lamar, Artest, Gasol, Bynum, Fisher, Steve Blake

Recap: Isn't it crazy how Kobe in 09 went from 0 championships to 4 championships, and then in 2010 went from 4 championships to 6 championships? Anyway, these Lakers were the favorites to win the championship and they did their typical Laker season routine by winning a lot of games but losing to some bad teams such as the Cavaliers and Clippers and waiting to turn on the "switch" when the playoffs come around. They went on a 17-1 spree after the all star break (where Kobe won all star MVP) and ended the season with more bad losses. Then they struggled against the Hornets in the first round and got swept by Dallas in the 2nd round. Phil Jackson retired (a damn shame), and everyone in LA is furious with Pau Gasol, the "killer bees" (Barnes, Blake and Brown), and Fisher, but mostly Pau Gasol who had a horrible playoffs. Reactions range from blow up the team to give it another go with this team and make minor tweaks.

Look for them to: 1. Find a new coach. 2. Add pieces based on said new coach's philosophy by getting players who are faster and more athletic.

Hire a new coach-DONE. MIKE BROWN is the new coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. As a Laker fan I hate it, and would have rather had Rick Adelman or Jeff Van Gundy, but definitely not Brian Shaw but anyways it will be hard to match the respect Phil commanded from his players so we'll see how the Lakers and Kobe especially buy into his plan.

Now that they have the coach, they gotta get some talent. Speed. Quickness. Defense. They got the bigs, they need some speed now. Someone to keep up with the Chris Pauls, Jason Kidds/Terrys, Derrick Rose's, Russell Westbrooks etc. and the league isn't slowing down either. Kemba Walker and Kyrie Irving are coming in keeping the trend alive that almost every team in the NBA except the Lakers has a fast fast fast point guard. This is priority number 1 for the Lakers. They have bigs. They don't NEED Dwight. He'd be an upgrade sure. But they don't have a point guard at all. Steve Blake was supposed to take the reigns from Derek Fisher but that is not likely to happen (but maybe with a new offense he could thrive). But they will roll with this core again and try to win the championship next year.

Memphis Grizzlies 46-36 (8th seed beat 1st seed Spurs, took 4 seed Thunder to 7 games-WHO WOULDA THOUGHT)

Notable Free Agents - Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph, Shane Battier
Core players still on contract - Rudy Gay, Mike Conley, Tony Allen, OJ Mayo

Recap: In the beginning of the season they extended point guard Mike Conley's contract to $40 million over 5 years. That's a lot of money. People jumped on the hater wagon and said this was one of the worst moves of all time. And although it is pretty high priced, Mike Conley did his best to earn what he got paid and had an improved year from last season, although they were slight improvements. Rudy Gay got hurt in February and had to miss the rest of the season and playoffs. Tony Allen went from barely playing to the team's defensive MVP by season's end. And they traded their #2 draft pick from last year Hasheem Thabeet for Shane Battier (expiring contract mind you). They made OJ Mayo a sixth man mid season to give their bench some scoring punch.

Look for them to: 1. Re-sign Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph. 2. Court Shane Battier. 3. Possibly trade Rudy Gay or OJ Mayo.

One of the best two man big man tandem in the league are both free agents. They need to lock these guys up, especially Zach Randolph who has some unbelievable post moves. Think Dirk Nowitzki right now in the playoffs only instead of fadeaways, Zach's moves are back to the basket. Marc Gasol actually took a step back in production, but he plays with some toughness not seen in his all star brother, Pau. If they can fortify that frontline and get Rudy Gay back next season, this team could be SCARY.

Part 4 of 6 Summer Plans - Are we there yet are we there yet are we there yet

2011-05-16T00:05:00.000-07:00

Houston Rockets 43-39 (All star starting center didn't even play 10 games!)

Notable free agents - Yao Ming, Chuck Hayes
Core players still on contract - Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, Kyle Lowry, Hasheem Thabeet

Recap: They were gonna play Yao sparingly. Give him the nights off on the second night of back to backs. But his left foot never got right and he missed the rest of the season. Chuck Hayes and Brad Miller were serviceable but the team had to rely on Kevin Martin and Luis Scola and it simply wasn't enough. Just 3 games out of the 8th seed in the west, they finished 9th and didn't make the playoffs.

Mid season they traded Shane Battier to Memphis for Hasheem Thabeet and Rick Adelman recently resigned as coach.

Look for them to: 1. Find a new coach. 2. Re-sign Yao Ming for a discount. 3. Try and get Hasheem Thabeet to be their new center for the future.

Rick Adelman was a good coach and he left because this team is in disarray. He expected to coach Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady but ended up coaching Luis Scola and Kevin Martin. Yao and Tracy were supposed to be the new Kobe and Shaq! Now the team looks to start over with Kyle Lowry and Hasheem Thabeet as their young guns to go along with vets Kevin Martin and Luis Scola.

I do expect them to sign Yao Ming because from an owner's stand point, they get 100% of China's ratings, which leads to a lot of money. Granted they'll sign him at a discounted price given his health issues, but the price of ratings far outweighs the price of his contract. He's a guaranteed all star starter every year! But he probably won't play that much if because he might be injured or they'll try and prevent him from being injured by not playing him much...if that makes sense. So Hasheem Thabeet will be their new project to see if he can become the franchise center. He didn't get much playing time in Memphis behind Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph but he will have a chance in Houston, let's see what he does with it.

New York Knicks 42-40 (Madison Square Gahden with Cahmelo, Amahhre, and Chuuoooanncey haha)

Notable free agents - Ronny Turiaf (player option)
Core players still on contract - Amare Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Landry Fields

Recap: The Knicks are back! Playoff team from here on out for the next 5 years guaranteed and if they're smart, possible title contenders with Boston aging and Dwight possibly moving. The team got Amare over the summer and finished off the lineup by trading for Carmelo and Chauncey. They had their ups and downs but had nice wins including over the Miami Heat, but was not able to get a win (due in large part to injuries) against the Celtics in the playoffs as they were swept out and into the 2011-12 season.

Look for them to: 1. Decide whether they want to play through Mike D'Antoni or buy him out of his last year of his contract. 2. Find a big man.

A lot of noise was made about how Mike D'Antoni's offensive scheme with little attention to defense would work with this brand new lineup. He'll be in the last year of his contract next season but the Knicks, who seem to have a billion dollar credit limit, can buy him out and let him become a free agent and find a coach that can bring these stars some playoff wins.

They also need to fill out their roster. Almost everyone is a free agent besides the core players and they'll need to make some adjustments. For one, they have to find a big man because right now Ronny Turiaf is their starting center and he's just too much of an offensive liability to be in the starting lineup. Great defensively, but the Knicks want another scoring big man, a center, so that Amare can continue to thrive in his natural power forward position.

New Orleans Hornets 46-36 (Imagine if David West was playing against the Lakers)

Notable free agents - David West (player option), Carl Landry
Core players still on contract - Chris Paul, Trevor Ariza, Emeka Okafor, Jarret Jack

Recap: Chris Paul had a couple stats slip across the board, and his jumpshot wasn't as accurate as his years were before last seasons injury, but that shouldn't take away from his great season, including some incredible moments against the Lakers in the playoffs. Unfortunately, David West tore his ACL about a month before the playoffs and had to miss the rest of the season. But they were still able to push the Lakers to 6 games with solid play from newcomer Trevor Ariza who can play great with a great point guard (but not as the #1 option like Houston wanted him to be), and of course, Chris Paul played out of his mind hitting all kinds of shots and distributing the ball with ease.

Look for them to: 1. David West will not take his player option and will stay with the team. 2. Re-sign Carl Landry. 3. Find a scoring back to the basket big man.

David West will have to stay with the team and not opt out because no team would want to sign him to a big contract after he came off ACL surgery. So with that being said, they'll need to re-sign Carl Landry as insurance because he played great in West's absence. In addition to that, they'll need to sign a scoring big man because neither Landry, West, or Okafor are post move scoring big men. The Lakers were able to capitalize on the Hornets with their size and they will address this issue over the summer.

Of course all of these measures are being taken to KEEP CHRIS PAUL IN NEW ORLEANS. Everyone remembers his toast at Carmelo's wedding last summer where he said that he, Carmelo and Amare were forming their OWN big 3 in response to LeBron, Wade and Bosh teaming up. Well New York has 2 of the 3 already, CP3 could very well demand a trade ala Carmelo. But know this, if CP does leave New Orleans, the Hornets will have to rebuild from scratch. He is MVP caliber and a star-something not easily replaceable.

Portland Trailblazers 48-34 (Greg Oden is still on this team)

Notable free agents - Greg Oden (Qualifying Offer), Andre Miller (team option)
Core players still on contract - Brandon Roy, Lamarcus Aldridge, Marcus Camby, Nic Batum, Gerald Wallace, Wesley Matthews,

Recap: Over the summer they got Wesley Matthews and re-signed Marcus Camby, both of whom had great seasons especially given the fact that Brandon Roy and Greg Oden got hurt. Lamarcus Aldridge however was the MVP of the team, keeping the team from going on any kind of losing streak with the knee surgery Brandon Roy had to have, forcing him to miss time. Brandon Roy came back and came off the bench. They traded Joel Przybilla for Gerald Wallace (Man this team has a lot of talent) and got the 6 seed in the playoffs and were favored to beat the Mavericks. In a great series however, they eventually lost in 6 games.

Look for them to: 1. Offer the qualifying offer to Greg Oden. 2. Retain Andre Miller. 3. Get more big man insurance for Greg Oden and Marcus Camby.

Everyone knows about Greg Oden. This was his fourth year in the NBA and he's played in 2 of those season for a grand total of 82 games. But they still don't know what they have with him. And it'd be irresponsible for them to let another team take him at a discounted price and watch him turn into a quality center in a league where centers are rare. Andre Miller is also going to stay right where he is in the starting lineup. No reason to let him become an unrestricted free agent.

Back to the center issue though, Greg Oden might not be able to play again next season and Marcus Camby is 37 years old. They traded away Joel Przybilla (who also had injury issues)- this team needs a big man in case Greg Oden can't go and Marcus Camby's age catches up to him.

I realize the past handful of teams listed are in need of centers so let's sidebar for a second and see what centers are available in the free agent pool -

In order of relative best available (taking into account injury history, age, skill, upside, etc.)

Tyson Chandler
Yao Ming
Nene Hilario (player option)
DeAndre Jordan (restricted)
Marc Gasol (restricted)
Kris Humphries
Samuel Dalembert
Spencer Hawes (restricted)
Kwame Brown
Erick Dampier
Nazr Mohammed
Kurt Thomas
Carl Landry
Chuck Hayes
Chris Wilcox
Ronny Turiaf (player option)
DJ Mbenga
Ryan Hollins (player option)
Joel Przybila
Earl Clark
Aaron Gray (player option)
Jamaal Magloire
Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Etan Thomas
Hilton Armstrong
Hamed Haddadi (restricted)
Jeff Foster
Juwan Howard

Denver Nuggets 50-32 (Carmelo leaves and these guys vault to the 5 seed!?)

Notable free agents - Kenyon Martin, Nene Hilario (player option), JR Smith, Wilson Chandler (qualifying offer), Arron Afflalo (qualifying offer)
Core players still on contract - Raymond Felton, Al Harrington, Chris Andersen, Danilo Gallinari, Ty Lawson

Recap: Carmelo did his best to just play and not bring attention to his NY wishes, but it ultimately happened and the Nuggets got a lot of pieces for their whole Carmelo. It worked, until they got to the playoffs where a lack of a go-to-guy really showed in a couple close games against the Thunder. The Knicks who came to Colorado looked especially good, including Raymond Felton who came off the bench while Ty Lawson started, and Danilo Gallinari who showed he was more than just a three point shooter.

Look for them to: 1. Try and re-sign Nene who will most likely opt out of his contract and look for a long term deal. 2. Offer qualifying offer to both Wilson Chandler and Arron Affalo (both are cheap enough). 3. Let JR Smith and Kenyon Martin leave town IF they demand more money than their worth. 4. Try and find offers for Raymond Felton and try and package their horrible signing last summer-Al Harrington- with him.

This team is in rebuild mode with Ty Lawson the new face of the franchise... it seems. This team has no identity except for the fact that their half Nuggets/half Knicks. Kenyon Martin is coming off knee surgery and isn't the Kenyon of the Nets anymore and he'll probably take a pay cut if he comes back to the Nuggets. JR Smith is also a great shooter and scorer the Nuggets could use, it all depends on whether he could and wants more money from another team.

Nene is the real focus here. One of the few really good centers in the league. He's likely to opt out of his contract and look to extend for more years and more money. That would be priority number 1 for the Nuggets. As for Raymond Felton, he's too talented to come off the bench, and Al Harrington sucks too much to be paid so much money. Look for the Nuggets to explore trade options for that package and try to find a go-to-guy that they lost in the Carmelo Anthony trade.

Part 3 of 6 Summer Plans - Because GMs don't like going to baseball games

2011-05-10T02:00:00.000-07:00

Golden State Warriors 36-46 (I just feel this team should rename themselves the Golden State Small Forwards/Shooting Guards)

Notable Free Agents - Vladamir Radmanovic's $6 mil contract
Core players still on contract - Monta Ellis, David Lee, Stephen Curry, Andris Biedrins, Dorrel Wright, Ekpe Udoh

Recap: Don Nelson was fired by the Warriors before the season started and was replaced by assistant coach Keith Smart. They signed Acie Law in the first part of the season to a small 1 year deal. They traded for Troy Murphy and quickly bought him out in a money saving move. And they worked with new guy David Lee who didn't really play up to his "hey he's a max deal player!" hype he received in New York-but a solid year nonetheless.

Dorrel Wright had a break out season and became a go to guy with his lethal 3 point shot. A small bright spot in the Warriors' season.

Expect them to: 1. Find a new coach. 2. Play in free agency. 3. Try and trade either Stephen Curry or Monta Ellis.

Hopefully they get Rick Adelman or someone who can command a lot of respect and gives a crap about defense because for the past, oh I don't know, 10 years or so, this Warriors team has been a run-n-gun offense that was highlighted when Baron Davis and company took out number 1 seed Mavericks a few years ago.

They shed a lot a lot a lot of money, about 20 million worth and can sign a few good guys to fill out the roster. Unfortunately, this summer's free agent class isn't as great as last year's, but if they try and work a trade into the mix as well with either Stephen Curry or Monta Ellis, they can really shake up this roster and move away from the run-n-gun that has never worked in the history of the NBA as far as championships are concerned. It's fun. It sells tickets. It doesn't win championships.

Indiana Pacers 37-45 (Oh yeahhh they made the playoffs with that atrocious record (AW YEAAA!!!!)

Notable free agents - Mike Dunleavy, TJ Ford, Jeff Foster
Core players still on contract - Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert, Tyler Hansbrough, Darren Collison, James Posey, Paul George, Brandon Rush

Recap: They traded for Darren Collison after he had a great rookie campaign filling in for the injured Chris Paul on the Hornets last year. They continue to push Granger as their franchise player. Tyler Hansbrough continued to prove naysayers wrong and had a productive sophomore season and Roy Hibbert, had his ups and downs but looks like a legitimate center. It may not be the best looking roster but apparently 37 wins gets you an 8th seed in the east. And they won a game against the Bulls! ALL UNDER AN INTERIM COACH FRANK VOGEL!

Look for them to: 1. Make a decision as to whether or not to keep Frank Vogel. 2. Play in free agency as over $25 million dollars is coming off the books. 3. Try and trade James Posey's $6 million expiring contract. 4. Continue to build with a pretty young and talented nucleus.

Frank Vogel has recently was interviewed by the Houston Rockets this week, so he might be on the way out. It's a toss up as to whether or not it's a good idea to re-sign him, although the players have come out and said they want him back.

Aside from the coach though, a LOT of money is coming off the books and the young core is under contract for more than two years. I see a big signing in the form of a small forward to fill out the roster. Maybe a shooting guard and put Paul George on the bench or a power forward and put Hansbrough on the bench. Who knows, but this team has the money to either sign a big name or a couple solid role players.

As for James Posey, he just straight up doesn't play for them anymore. Lot of inactive games and wasn't even a part of the playoff roster. He'll be in the last year of his contract and could be a trade piece for a team trying to shed salary. He isn't a part of the Pacers' future at all. The future will look to build around Granger, Hibbert and Collison. It may not be anything special now, but it is building blocks they can work with. Could be an exciting season next year depending on who they sign.

Utah Jazz 39-43 (Oh how the somewhat mighty have fallen)

Notable free agents - ANDREI KIRILENKO, Kyrylo Fesenko
Core players still on contract - Al Jefferson, Mehmet Okur, Devin Harris, Paul Millsap, Derrick Favors, CJ Miles, Raja Bell, Gordon Hayward

Recap: In the beginning, they traded for Al Jefferson for future draft picks, based on Deron Williams request of the list of big men they could get and DWill said "I'm gonna make you an allstar." Then some ish went down and the team stopped responding to the coach which lead to THE GREAT JERRY SLOAN QUITTING. THEN Deron Williams was TRADED for Devin Harris and Derrick Favors! WHAT?! Wasn't Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer supposed to be the second coming of John Stockton and Karl Malone? Whatever. The team floundered during and after that trade and didn't make the playoffs and now could have an entire new look by next season.

Look for them to: 1. Find a new coach. 2. Re-sign Andrei Kirilenko. 3. Get their players healthy again. 4. Build around their new core.

It'll be tough, but the Jazz do need to find a new coach that can get this team back to the playoffs. I haven't really heard much about who they'd want to replace him with, which could mean they'll roll with Tyrone Corbin who replaced Sloan when he left. As for Kirilenko, both sides have expressed their desire to re-sign, and at a discounted rate! AK said he doesn't want to chase a championship by being a "bit" player (Like Iverson). Although he has said he would listen to the Nets' Russian owner about playing there.

This team just needs to get healthy though. Andrei, Mehmet Okur, Fesenko, Ronnie Price and CJ Miles all had injuries and missed time. Next season will be a fresh start and hopefully everyone will be healthy again. Mehmet Okur can really add some dynamics to this team as another big who can shoot the 3 pointer. They can cause matchup problems with him and Al Jefferson subbing for each other.

For a team that lost it's two best players in Boozer and DWill, they got some great pieces to move forward with, including one of the fastest point guards in the league Devin Harris, and the #3 pick in last years draft Derrick Favors, along with their own draft pick Gordon Hayward and two great bigs- Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap. If they can get Andrei Kirilenko back and Mehmet Okur back from injury, they'd have all the pieces to make a run at the playoffs again.

Phoenix Suns 40-42 (So I guess that Amare Stoudemire wasn't just a great player cuz of Steve Nash then eh?)

Notable free agents - Vince Carter (team option that they better not pick up-$18 mil), Grant Hill, Mikael Pietrus (player option ($5 mil)
Core players still on contract - Steve Nash, Marcin Gortat, Channing Frye, Josh Childress, Hakim Warrick, Jared Dudley (fun names!)

Recap: This team went through a lot of changes this season - At one point they had Jason Richardson, Goran Dragic and Hedo Turkoglu and that changed to Vince Carter and Marcin Gortat and Aaron Brooks. Everyone knows it-put anyone on the same team as Steve Nash and they'll have a great statistical year. But the talent this team used to have got them to the playoffs. This year, they didn't even win half their games. And Steve Nash being the best teammate never demands a trade and just keeps playing, passing and shooting 3 points with crazy accuracy.

Ultimately, Vince Carter became a bench player and played about 20-25 minutes for the last two weeks of the season in a downward spiral to his career.

Look for them to: 1. Not re-sign Vince Carter. 2. Look to replace his spot in the starting lineup by signing a shooting guard, Michael Redd? 3. Re-sign Grant Hill. 4. Re-sign Aaron Brooks. 5. Do everything in their power to please Steve Nash.

Vince Carter is self explanatory. He's not good. Nowhere near worth 18 million. Bye bye Carter. There are rumors that the Suns would be able to get Michael Redd for cheap given his injurious past. I wouldn't do it BECAUSE of his injurious past but they do risk signing a long term deal with someone else and then watching Steve Nash peace out next summer.

Regarding Grant Hill, he is playing great given his age at 38. He finished 7th in defensive player of the year voting! He's a great leader and veteran and if it weren't for the sorry role players the Suns have (Hakim Warrick was supposed to replace Stoudemire, and then Childress and Robin Lopez just didn't play well).

As for Aaron Brooks, they will probably give him his qualifying option of about 2.5 million in case something drastic does happen with Steve Nash. Aaron Brooks fell off a little bit after winning the most improved player award (an award I have major beef with), but he is still one of the fastest dudes in the league and can start and score.

Philadelphia 41-41 (Our first 500 team! And it's our 15th team! Right on track)

Notable free agents - Jason Kapono's $6.6 million contract, Darius Songalia's $4 million contract
Core players still on contract - Andre Iguodala, Elton Brand, Louis Williams, Evan Turner, Jrue Holiday

Recap: 500 team makes the playoffs and wins 1 game against the Heat after a season where Elton Brand came alive again and Jrue Holiday took a big step forward in his young career. They barely got to see what #2 draft pick Evan Turner could do. But in the end, they lost in the playoffs and Andre Iguodala, the face of the franchise, skipped his exit interviews, which leads us to what you should

Look for them to: TRADE ANDRE IGUODALA. Yes. I said it. And from what I've been reading around the internet is that it could be for another SF or for a big man. I'm not going to speculate who but they need to open some playing time for young Evan Turner so that he and Jrue Holiday can start getting this already playoff team (yet only 500 team) in the right direction. Other than that, they need to fill out their bench. It's not that impressive and they won't have a good draft pick to do so, but they can dabble in free agency and sign some bench guys. But that will all depend on who they can get for Andre Iguodala.

Part 2 of 6 Summer Plans - What will YOU take to south beach?

2011-05-06T23:07:00.000-07:00

New Jersey 24-58 (I heard once they had a Russian owner or something?)

Notable free agents - Dan Gadzuric's &7.2 million dollar contract, Sasha Vujacic, Kris Humphries
Core players still on contract - Deron Williams, Brook Lopez, Anthony Morrow, Travis Outlaw, Jordan Farmar

Recap: Well they improved from their historic 13 win season last year, but did make some questionable signings. After they missed out on LeBron, Bosh, Wade, and Stoudemire, they felt the next best thing was getting Travis Outlaw, Jordan Farmar and Anthony Morrow. All three's contracts are about the same as a max contract that they would have signed those big names for. So they have that core which isn't very nice.

But in the middle of the season, after they lost out on Carmelo, they traded for Deron Williams who's on contract for one more year, and then has a player option NEXT summer. So they have one season to convince Deron Williams to stay.

Another trade was a 3-team deal that got them Houston's first round pick (lotto protected), and LA Lakers' first round pick. They also got Sasha Vujacic's expiring contract.

Expect them to: 1. Re-sign Kris Humphries. 2. Not Re-sign Sasha Vujacic. 3. Build depth with the draft. 4. Make a play for Dwight Howard.

Yes. There are rumors that the Nets want Dwight Howard (who doesn't?) and a trade they'd have to do would be their big men of Kris Humphries and Brook Lopez. So that's two reasons they'd re-sign Kris Humphries, he's a great rebounder who had a break out year, and he's a trade asset for Dwight.

Sasha will not be re-signed. He was the catch in the trade that netted them 2 first rounders with the Lakers and Rockets. It should be noted that the Jazz have the Nets' first round pick.

Check out the article regarding the Nets going for Dwight Howard here.

Detroit Pistons 30-52 (I remember when everyone was jumping all up on the Detroit bandwagon when they signed Charlie V and Ben Gordon a couple summers ago...)

Notable free agents - TAYSHAUN PRINCE, Tracy McGrady, Chris Wilcox
Core players still on contract - Rodney Stuckey, Greg Monroe, Richard Hamilton, Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva, Jason Maxiell, Ben Wallace,

Recap: The Pistons had high hopes after Greg Monroe fell to them in the 2010 draft, but this team went nowhere fast. Included in this season was the benching of Richard Hamilton, a player revolt where T-Mac, Chris Wilcox, Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince didn't show up for a shootaround because they were unhappy with coach Kuester. Needless to say, the team only won 30 games.

Expect them to: 1. Not re-sign Tracy McGrady. 2. Try and fail to re-sign Tayshaun Prince (leading them to put . 3. Trade Richard Hamilton. 4. Sign Rodney Stuckey to an extension. 5. Draft high and build around Rodney Stuckey and Greg Monroe.

They gave Tracy a chance and it didn't quite work out. It was only a one year contract so they'll move their separate ways. Tayshaun Prince has no reason to stay. He's a veteran now and a great defender/all around player that a championship contending team could offer some good money to (Heat comes to mind-speculation). I fully expect Tayshaun to skip town. And with that I expect them to trade Richard Hamilton (2 more years on contract for about 12.5 mil) for expiring contracts so they can re-sign Rodney Stuckey.

I also expect them to shop Charlie V. and/or Ben Gordon but will have a lot of trouble doing so because they are not that good and they are being paid way too much (both for 3 more years - BG for 11.5, 12 and 13 million, CV for 7.5, 8, 8.5 million - WOW!) But other teams would watch Richard Hamilton, he's still a good defender with a great shot.

This team is all about Greg Monroe and Rodney Stuckey now and they will build around them through said trades and draft. These aren't the best players but it's all they have to work with.

Los Angeles Clippers 32-50 (I thought this team would make the playoffs this year- LOL)

Notable free agents - DeAndre Jordan
Core players still on contract - Blake Griffin, Eric Gordon, Mo Williams, Chris Kaman, Al-Farouq Aminu, Eric Bledsoe

Recap: New Coach Vinny Del Negro had a team that wasn't ready in the beginning of the season but started coming together near the end. Blake Griffin finally had a rookie season and won himself Rookie Of The Year. Eric Gordon improved his stats but did little to improve his ball handling skills after helping Team USA win gold in Turkey. Baron Davis started the year hurt, and ended the year a Cavalier. In return the Clippers got less a play maker, but a better shooter in Mo Williams and athletic dude Jamario Moon. Chris Kaman also started the year hurt, which gave DeAndre Jordan playing time and he shine shine shined his way into an upcoming big pay day this summer.

Expect them to: (Check out my previous post where I got to hear Donald Sterling divulge some goods about what the Clippers plans are) 1. Re-Sign DeAndre Jordan. 2. Trade Chris Kaman. 3. Decide whether or not they want to sign Jamario Moon his team option (if they can trade Kaman for a SF, then no). 4. NOT draft (Cleveland has their pick through Baron trade).

No huge changes here, unless Chris Kaman can get the Clippers a nice player. The Clippers are the first lottery team I've talked about that has a not only a really good player, but a really good core (Wizards have John Wall and Rashard Lewis, not much to really build around). A starting lineup of Mo Williams, Eric Gordon, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan and some SF that Chris Kaman could yield (if not, Jamario Moon or Ryan Gomes) is a potentially lethal starting lineup. Could THIS be the year that the Clippers finally put it together? They better because I just got another season's worth of tickets.

It will be very interesting to see what they can get for Chris Kaman though.

Charlotte Bobcats 34-48 (Team blown up, let's see where the bits fall)

Notable free agents - Joel Przybilla's 7.5 mil contract, Morris Peterson's 6.5 mil contract, Kwame Brown
Core players still on contract - Boris Diaw, Stephen Jackson, DJ Augustin, Tyrus Thomas

Recap: They. Traded. Gerald. Wallace. They also traded Nazr Mohammed. For expiring contracts of course. Michael Jordan the owner decided this team wasn't gonna get it done with Gerald Wallace as the best player so to Portland he went. And the team played out the season. And that's pretty much it.

Expect them to: 1. Draft twice (their pick and New Orleans'). 2. Potentially trade Boris Diaw's expiring 9 mil contract. 3. Play with free agency and try and sign a top talent.

And that's pretty much it. They don't have a lot of pieces except for DJ Augustin to build around so they're gonna have to see where they end up in the draft and then go from there. This team will lose a lot of games next season if they don't sign a top talent and go strictly with young draftees.

Milwaukee Bucks 35-47 (The Michael Redd era is ova)

Notable free agents - Michael Redd, Luc Mbah a Moute
Core players still on contract - Andrew Bogut, Brandon Jennings, Corey Maggette, John Salmons, Drew Gooden

Recap: If the Milwaukee Bucks plays a game but no one is around to hear it, do they make a noise? The crazy thing is that they were only 2 games behind in the east to make the playoffs! The thing is, this core group of guys is on contract for a lot of years and they're just not that good. I mean Corey Maggette? He's a bench player these days. John Salmons is good and Drew Gooden is solid but as for starting lineup quality in the East? Which all of a sudden is the dominant conference almost over night? Not gonna get much done.

As all star quality as Andrew Bogut can be and as flashy as Brandon Jennings is, this team is still a couple pieces away from being a borderline 8th seed to a solid 7th seed.

Expect them to: 1. Not re-sign Michael Redd. 2. Use that $18 mil from Michael Redd's contract to sign a big name or two tier 2 or 3 guys. 3. Draft near the middle of the draft for some OK talent at best.

Like I said, they can use that $18 mil to really bolster this lineup with some solid offensive punch. Unfortunately, Milwaukee isn't a big name city, but this is an attractive lineup for the right player. Great center who can play defense and a scoring point guard with John Salmons on the wing? See who they can sign...

Summer Plans- No Vacay for the Weary

2011-05-02T14:37:00.000-07:00

All but 8 teams are no longer playing basketball and it is up to their GMs and owners to make some decisions about their future. This will be a multi part post, starting with the bottom teams that didn't make the playoffs -

Minnesota Timberwolves - 17-65 (ouch)

Notable free agents - Eddy Curry's $11 million dollar contract.
Core players still on contract - Kevin Love, Michael Beasley, Wesley Johnson

Recap: Well, we've heard it time and time before, "This was a rebuilding year." The light at the end of the tunnel is workhorse Kevin Love and is historic season of rebounding, and Michael Beasley staying out of trouble and having a solid season. Both are on contract for the next two seasons.

Caught in the middle of the Carmelo Anthony trade, Eddy Curry's expiring contract somehow landed in Minnesota. That's $11 million the Wolves can use this summer to sign their high draft pick and a free agent or two. They have a very low payroll, but then again, they are not that rich of a team that can push the salary cap to the limits like the Lakers or Knicks.

Look for them to: 1. Try and get Ricky Rubio over here from Europe! Again!
2. Draft high, build with young players.

The problem is that they have their core starting lineup all on contract for the next few years, but they're simply not good. Besides Love and Beasley, they have Milicic and Ridnour at center and point guard. And rookie Wesley Johnson started to start near the end of the season. They have these young players who will probably need... yes... ANOTHER rebuilding year to get good. By the time Love is a free agent, will he want to stay?

Cleveland Cavaliers 19-63 (including a 26 game losing streak, yet still not worst record in history)

Notable free agents - Ryan Hollins with player option (can opt out of 2.4 million)
Core players still on contract - Antawn Jamison (last year), Baron Davis, Anderson Varejao, JJ Hickson

Recap: They beat the Boston Celtics in their home opener. Things were looking up in the post LeBron era with new coach Byron Scott leading a... kinda weird lineup of veterans and young guys. Then a couple losses, couple wins here and there, and then injuries, trades, the 26 game losing streak. It was to be expected though, this team is rebuilding.

Look for them to: 1. Draft high and twice. 2. See if JJ Hickson is their guy. Possibly trade Antawn Jamison's expiring contract.

They have their own draft pick and the Clippers' in the Mo Williams/Baron Davis trade. Giving them a little more chances for the number 1 pick but 2 lottery picks guaranteed. Along with those young draftees, they're gonna continue to work with Hickson who's a great athlete with little basketball IQ. They have to decide whether to build aroudn him or to start somewhere else, which would depend on who they get in the draft. Along with those new draftees, they could find a team trying to shed some salary and trade Jamison's contract which is valued at $13.3 million and get a solid player in return-hopefully, for them. We will in fact see if Dan Gilbert's guarantee that they would win a championship before LeBron James holds true.

Toronto Raptors 22- 60 (thought they'd have worst record in league this season-off by 5 wins)

Notable free agents - Leandro Barbosa (player option for 7.6 million), Reggie Evans
Core players still on contract - Jose Calderon, Andrea Bargnani, Amir Johnson, Demar Derozan

Recap: Nothing too notable happened with the Raptors this season. They lost Chris Bosh and worked with what they had- Demar Derozan took a step in the right direction and looks like he could possibly be an all star someday. Andrea Bargnani is their franchise guy as he's on contract for over $10 mil a year until 2014-2015. Like the Wolves, they have the guys set in place as far as starting rotation goes, it's just they're not that good. Bargnani is the center, Jose Calderon the PG, DeRozan probably the only solid player at SG, but Amir Johnson at PF on contract until 2014-2015? They'll probably have to adjust that and possibly make him a bench player.

Look for them to: 1. Also draft high. 2. hit the free agency market and possibly look for a small forward upgrade to replace James Johnson and Sonny Weems if they don't do so in the draft.

This team is also in rebuilding mode as most of these last place teams should be and are in. Jose Calderon is a great distributor but not a great point guard. He's not good defensively and a lot of his assists come in transition. Andrea Bargnani has been improving year after year but just not a back to the basket kind of center. He's a 3 point shooter. I'd rather him play SF or PF and for the Raptors to get a low post presence- but hey, that's me.

Washington Wizards 23-59 (Gilbert Arenas era is ova)

Notable free agents - Josh Howard (remember him?)
Core players still on contract - John Wall, Rashard Lewis, Andray Blatche, Nick Young, Javale Mcgee

Recap: The Wizards were the worst road team this year winning 3 out of 41. But this is the first worst team of the league that is already on the upswing with #1 pick John Wall having a fantastic rookie season and Javale McGee coming into his own as a huge, defensive, freak of nature-still raw though, but looks to be improving (and got robbed at dunk contest).

In the beginning of the season, they had three starter quality point guards in John Wall, Arenas and Kirk Hinrich and ended with John Wall and Rashard Lewis, hey- Rashard may be overpaid, but at least they're overpaying for a power forward and not a back up PG or undersized SG.

Look for them to: 1. Surprise surprise-draft high. 2. Re-sign Nick Young to a bigger contract, hopefully not a max contract.

They got a good core and a GREAT point guard in John Wall (fast as Westbrook and Rose). They gotta build around him and have the pieces and draft possibility to do so. Finally out of Caron Butler-Antawn Jamison-Gilbert Arenas mode.

Sacramento Kings 24-58 (Staying in Sacramento)

Notable Free Agents - Samuel Dalembert, Marquis Daniels, Marcus Thornton
Core players still on contract - Tyreke Evans, DeMarcus Cousins

Recap: Tyreke teamed up with another high profile rookie in DeMarcus Cousins, both of whom had good seasons. Samuel Dalembert had a good season as well and it's up to the Kings to decide whether or not to re-sign him. A lot of the Kings season had been over shadowed by the possible move to southern California, but this team has some good pieces in Evans and Cousins.

Look for them to: 1. RE-SIGN MARCUS THORNTON. When they traded for Marcus Thornton, they got a great scorer who will go along great with Evans who can create for him. 2. They will also draft high and address needs such as a big man if Samuel Dalembert leaves town. But first things first, they gotta re-sign Marcus Thornton.

I'm going 5 teams at a time so next post will be in a couple days and I'll cover New Jersey, Detroit, LA Clippers, Charlotte, and Milwaukee.

A Mini Chat With Clipper Owner Donald Sterling March 5, 2011

2011-03-06T00:58:00.000-08:00

Photo taken with Blackberry - No he is not smoking a cigarette, he is trying to answer someone from far away.

A quick intro: I am a season ticket holder for the Los Angeles Clippers. The month of March is considered "MVP month," which means season ticket holders get some cool prizes and access that non season ticket holders cannot get or attend. These include: Autograph night, Voucher giveaways, Team photo giveaways, Dessert Night (Yum!), a coach's chalk talk (talk with the coaches and team president) and photo night, which was tonight.

So after tonight's game against the Denver Nuggets (a win), season ticket holders lined up outside one of the doors and were ushered towards the seats a couple rows behind courtside seats where we would wait to take pictures with a random Clipper. We were split into three groups and luckily, my group was very close to where Donald Sterling was talking with some Clipper employees. He walked by and said "did you enjoy the game!?" To which we responded with cheers and applause because they won. He then came around the courtside seats and chatted with us. There were about 50 of us, I was in the third row so I got to hear a lot of it.

THIS IS WHAT HE SAID: (DISCLAIMER: I'm going to paraphrase as I did not have a tape recorder handy so these are paraphrases and not actual quotes)

"Now do you want to talk with me, or read what the newspapers have to say?"
Regarding Heckling Baron Davis - "I noticed he was taking three pointers and missing so I said, 'Why don't you drive it to the basket instead?'"
Regarding Baron Davis trade - "We had to give up a #1 draft pick with Baron! I was told that Mo Williams REALLY wants to come to LA. I was told that Mo Williams' WIFE really wants to come to LA. I was told Jamario Moon is a great player and defender and he'll work hard for us."
Regarding Blake Griffin - After explaining what a restricted contract is, where the Clippers can match any offer any other team gives him - "Blake is a $20 million dollar player, and we're not going to give up the best player in (he either said America or the world, but yes, he did say Blake was the best in either America or the world). Now some of these journey men are trying to get paid $20 million dollars too, which is something we're not going to do, but Blake is worth it."
Regarding Elgin Baylor - "Elgin Baylor was our GM for 22 years and I respect him a lot, but every time we'd talk he'd let it be known that who we had on the Clippers was the best talent we could get." Followed by a shrug.
Regarding fan jeers of Chris Kaman - "Look I can't tell you who but we are playing some guys to pad their stats in an effort to trade them. I can't tell you who, but you can figure it out. We're trying to land a superstar player to give Blake some help." *Crowd responds in a resounding cheer*

He then left to go talk with some other Clipper employees.

THAT IS IT. Those are the paraphrases of what Donald Sterling said- Let me break it down for you, and give you one way to analyze what he's saying. This is no longer Donald Sterling talking. This is MY take on what is going on with the Clippers based on what Sterling said.

Regarding heckling Baron Davis - Not really much to look into here. I didn't hear him say anything, my seats aren't close to his. But my personal opinion, owners should never disrespect their players. I don't even think owners should be that CLOSE to the players. Exception Mark Cuban.
Regarding Baron Davis trade - Baron Davis is on contract for A LOT of money: $13 mil this year, $14 mil next year, $15 mil the year after that. Cleveland needs to rebuild so they want draft picks. The only way they'd take on that expensive Baron contract is if they got a draft pick as well. So Clippers, already neck deep in young talent decide they don't need draft picks and send it over to Cleveland to take on Jamario Moon ($3 million this year, team option of $3 million next year AKA Clips can let him go if they want next summer) and Mo Williams ($9 mil this year, and 2 years of player options at $8.5 mil, which even if he takes, is still millions less than they'd be paying Baron Davis). OK That's a lot of writing. What does it mean? They're cutting payroll so they can pay DeAndre Jordan a lot more money than the $850 thousand he's making this year, because he's a free agent this summer.
Regarding Blake Griffin - I totally agree with Sterling, I think they should re sign Blake to some max money no matter what and Donald Sterling better keep his word or he'll have to rebuild a team AGAIN, after getting so lucky at getting that #1 pick in the draft and got a once in a decade type player. If he doesn't, he'll continue to be LA's other team, and Sacramento Kings might come to Anaheim and they might push the Clippers to be LA's THIRD team.
Regarding Elgin Baylor - Again, I have no idea what really went on in the Clippers front office. All I know is Elgin tried to make a team but got a lot of bad luck with Shaun Livingston's freak injury and Elton Brand skipping town AFTER Baron signed with LA, not getting Kobe in 04 and settling for Sam Cassell and Cuttino Mobley (which did get them to the playoffs). But that's not the point. Sterling said that Baylor said that who the Clippers had was the best they could do. Of course they're a lot better now because they made the no brainer decision to draft Blake Griffin. But I also know that Elgin Baylor hasn't been hired as a GM anywhere else so... no more comment.
Regarding Chris Kaman possibly being traded - Again Sterling NEVER called out Kaman by name saying the Clippers were padding his stats to make him look good for a possible trade. But he did say these comments after someone yelled out something about Chris Kaman. Chris Kaman is on contract for this year and next year so it is very likely the Clippers are padding his stats to trade him this summer as an expiring contract with talent to either shed more payroll to pay their youngsters or to get a high quality superstar which Sterling DID say. Personally, I think Sterling is cheap and won't want to pay 2 superstar salaries. I think he's happy with the Clippers selling out games JUST to see Blake Griffin. They don't need 2 superstars to sell out games, but that's just me. And if the Clips do get a 2nd superstar, GREAT!

That's all folks, hope you enjoyed reading. Sorry for the lack of posts :(

Breakdown of Magic/Suns/Wizards Trade

2010-12-18T14:37:00.000-08:00

What happened?

Magic traded away Rashard Lewis to the Wizards and received Gilbert Arenas.
Magic traded away Vince Carter, Mikael Pietrus, Marcin Gortat, 2011 first round pick, $3 million to the Suns and received Hedo Turkoglu, Jason Richardson, Earl Clark.

Magic just had a fire sale and completely reshaped their lineup. Traded away two starters in Lewis and Carter, and an overpaid backup center, Gortat for three probable starters in Arenas, Turk and Richardson, and another back up center in Earl Clark.

First things first, I feel really happy for Marcin Gortat. He was stuck in bench purgatory behind Dwight Howard and may actually get some meaningful minutes in Phoenix behind or maybe starting in place of Robin Lopez.

Let's deal with what the Suns were trying to do with this trade:

Hedo Turkoglu for the most part this season was the Suns' starting power forward. Turk is a natural SF/SG and going against the top PFs in the league wasn't getting it done. He also has a horrible horrible contract, paying him $10-12 million per year for the next four years (He'll be turning 32 in March). Jason Richardson is currently in the last year of his deal that pays about $15 million. He was having a solid career in Phoenix. Why didn't the Suns want to re-sign him? Because the Suns are officially in rebuild mode after Amare Stoudemire left this summer for New York. With no scoring all star quality big man, and a replacement of Hedo Turkoglu, the Suns said forget this, let's start over.

So they unloaded Hedo's horrible contract and Vince Carter's expiring contract ($17 million this year and a TEAM option of $18 million next year, which more than likely they will not use, making Vince a free agent). They also got Mikael Pietrus who is getting paid $5 million and has a player option of $5 million next year, which if he takes up, is still better than paying Hedo $11 million. And Marcin Gortat who is getting paid $6 to $7 million for the next four years.

Numbers aside and in plain English, they saved themselves millions of dollars for the next 4 years. They can now start rebuilding a team that may or may not include Steve Nash who is on contract for this season and next season before he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

What were the Wizards trying to do in their trade with the Magic:

Well this summer, they drafted John Wall with the number 1 pick AND traded for PG/SG Kirk Hinrich when they already had gun slinger PG Gilbert Arenas. Their current forward situation wasn't anything to brag about either. They were starting Al Thornton and Andray Blatche. So simply enough, they got rid of a Gilbert who had worn out his welcome and had a horrible contract that he never even close to lived up to for a power forward who can shoot the three, but also has a horrible over paid contract. Now John Wall can fully take over this Wizards team and have a power forward who can stretch the floor on offense.

And just FYI, Rashard Lewis is getting paid $20, $22, $23 million for this and the next two seasons. Gilbert Arenas is getting paid $17, $20, player option $20, $22 million for this and the next three seasons. This is a good trade for the Wizards. And here's to a safer locker room, cheers!

Finally, the Magic:

I've written a lot about the Magic and their bad decisions, and this is no different. They got rid of Rashard Lewis who had a bad contract, yes, but in exchange they get Gilbert Arenas who has an even worse contract for longer years. when they already have an all star (granted it was an injury fill in all star) quality point guard in Jameer Nelson!? If Gil comes off the bench, that's gotta be a record of highest paid bench player in the history of sports. And if he starts over Jameer Nelson, well that's gonna be one disgruntled bench player. So I guess they'll start them both, since Vince Carter was playing the shooting guard position.

But will Jason Richardson then come off the bench? Jason Richardson can play the small forward spot. But what about Brandon Bass and Hedo Turkoglu? Who is this team's power forward? If they play Hedo at the 4 spot, Dwight Howard is gonna have a lot of help defense on his shoulders. Hedo got torched in Phoenix by PFs, let's see if the trend continues in Orlando.

Possible lineup?

PG - Jameer Nelson / Chris Duhon
SG - Gilbert Arenas / JJ Reddick
SF - Jason Richardson / Hedo Turkoglu
PF - Brandon Bass / Ryan Anderson
C - Dwight Howard / Earl Clark

Don't get me wrong, that's a lot of offensive power right there. But it's undersized defensively and quite frankly, NOT GOOD defensively, outside of Dwight Howard. We'll definitely see if this is enough to keep Dwight Howard happy. I will say this though. I think the addition of Hedo Turkoglu will help. He's another option who can run the point position on some plays to maybe take advantage of some other small forwards around the league. That is my bold position. He's played in this system before, he can pick it up where he left off.

2010-11-13T15:03:00.000-08:00

(Photo from Clippers Top Buzz)

It takes a big man to admit he was wrong. And I am that big man. 10 games ago when every team was undefeated, I predicted that the Clippers would contend-nay BE the 8th seed in the playoffs by season's end. I was naive. I thought Baron was gonna turn his life around. I thought Chris Kaman was gonna be a back up all star quality player again. I thought Eric Gordon was going to work on his dribbling. And I thought Blake Griffin was going to have energy for 48 minutes a game.

I WAS WRONG.

It took Baron 3 games to get hurt. THREE GAMES. At least it gave the team PG responsibilities to rookie Eric Bledsoe who is good, but still a rookie who has hesitation issues.

Chris Kaman is shooting 36% from the field this season and after 8 games, he is also injured.

Eric Gordon is good. He can shoot and drive to the basket and run a fast break. But he is no point guard. He does what makes every high school basketball coach tear his hair out; jump in the air and not know whether he's shooting or passing, which leads to turnovers, or horrible horrible shots. He has no left hand. I have no idea why opposing coaches don't tell their players to force him left. He will lose the ball. He didn't go left at the end of regulation last night against the fourth but at a tie game with 9 seconds left, he dribbled it off his foot and Richard Hamilton scooped it up and almost hit a game winning shot, but instead went to overtime.

Blake Griffin. I love Blake Griffin. I love his hard work and his willingness to go after rebounds. But this hustle simply stops in the middle of the game when he gasses himself out. All the energy he had in the first quarter dwindles quickly in the 3rd and 4th. Last night's game, he slovenly took 10 seconds to run up the court after inbounding the ball to Bledsoe, then got lazy on the offense end and did what we all do at the park when we're lazy. Not call for the ball and set screens for the point guard to get him an open look. Perhaps that's what the coach told them to do because every possession was a pick and roll situation with Blake and Gordon.

HE DOESN'T GO THIS HARD AT THE END OF GAMES AND IT ANNOYS.

This Clipper team is not ready. Baron Davis is on contract for a few more years and trading him will take a lot of work. It's no secret that he's fat and takes bad shots. It's no secret he has a huge contract. And also, no team really NEEDS a point guard right now. This will be another long year for the Clippers. I admit it. I was WRONG in my pre season bold prediction post.

Here's to another season of fail.

Baselines demographics!

2010-10-25T22:54:00.000-07:00

Cool feature I just found out on blogger is you can see where in the world people are viewing your blog. So here's mine!

So cool! Thanks for reading!

Baseline Bold Predictions!

2010-10-22T20:01:00.001-07:00

Well after a long summer of a whole lot of player movement (see my off season cheat sheet), the season is finally upon us. Embrace it. Cherish it. For it may be the last season before a possible lockout! But that's not what this post is about. These are my predictions on widely discussed topics as well as some other random predictions for specific teams.

Let's get the boring predictions out of the way.

MVP: Kevin Durant of the Thunder. LeBron coming 2nd in voting. Dwight Howard and Dwyane Wade coming in 4th and 5th or vice versa. Kobe 5th at best. I doubt he'll play the whole season, Pau Gasol, Ron Artest, Lamar Odom, Andrew Bynum... "too much" help and voters will go for the feel good story of the Oklahoma City Thunder and the more-quiet-than-a-mouse-after-a-thunderous-dunk-humble Kevin Durant.

Defensive player of the year: Dwight Howard of the Magic. He'll lead the league in blocks and defensive rebounds. And then who? Are there any more impact making defensive players? Shane Battier? Anderson Varejao? Howard will run away with this award.

Rookie of the year: Blake Griffin of the Clippers. I'm biased. I have Clipper season tickets and have seen more Blake Griffin games live from this and last year before he got hurt but he's just simply put: beastly. Powerful on the LeBron scale without the ball handling skills, but has more post moves than his unfair NBA comparison Carlos Boozer. Griffin will be better than Carlos Boozer when it's all said and done in 10 years. 2nd place John Wall. Clippers will have a far better record than the Wizards who have 3 point guards, one of whom is so out of touch with reality he seems to be in a 24/7 daze (Gilbert Arenas). Griffin's 18 points and 12 rebounds for a 45 win team will impress more than Wall's 15 points/7 assists on a 25 win team.

6th Man - Jamal Crawford of the Hawks. He'll have the same role this year as he did last year and if the Hawks owner keeps not re-signing him to an extension, he'll be playing for a contract this summer (unless he demands a trade). Jason Terry on the Mavericks is always a contender and could swoop in and take the award.

Most Improved Player - Any good bench player who becomes a starter or any starter who gets a lot more minutes. I have mad beef with this award, but I would have to go with Kevin Love. On a horrible, horrible team and they just got rid of Al Jefferson. He's the only big guy who can grab rebounds (unless Darko Milicic proves his 20 mil contract) and will be counted on for a lot more scoring than he had gotten last year. I'm telling you. He always had the ability. I watched him at UCLA, it's just now he'll get the minutes which means he'll get the stats... which means he'll get the award!

Executive of the year - PAT RILEY! LeBron, Wade, and Bosh and yeah, a completely new team.

Playoff teams

WEST:

1. Lakers

2. Mavericks

3. Thunder

4. Jazz

5. Nuggets (if Carmelo stays, if not, 8th or lottery)

6. Blazers

7. Spurs

8. Clippers (Rockets as well if Denver falls out)

East

1. Heat

2. Magic

3. Bulls

4. Celtics

5. Hawks

6. Knicks

7. Bucks

8. Bobcats

Finals Matchup - Lakers vs. Celtics

Finals winner - Lakers

Finals MVP - Pau Gasol

Now some predictions you may not have thought about:

Steve Blake will be starting for the Lakers in place of Derek Fisher within 25 games of the season.
Toronto will have the worst record in the league and will be praying for the first pick in the draft (or Minnesota, or Detroit).
Marcus Camby will average double digit rebounds for the Trailblazers, AGAIN, whether or not Oden plays the whole season.
Kobe will hit the league limit in technical fouls and will be have to be suspended for at least 1 game. So will at least two Boston Celtics, Matt Barnes, Vince Carter and Amar'e Stoudemire.
Carmelo Anthony's desires to be out of Denver will show in his game, kind of the way LeBron's Game 5 and Game 6 against Boston in the playoffs played out (until he's traded, if he's traded).
Gilbert Arenas won't suit up for at least 10 games and NOT because of an injury.
Tiago Splitter for the Spurs will play magnificently for his draft position and for coming out of nowhere (well not NOwhere but from Europe).
Jermaine O'Neal will be instrumental in the Miami Boston series should they meet in the playoffs. Oh, and Rondo will average about 13+ assists in that series.
Houston's playoff chances will all depend on the health of Yao Ming's foot. No Yao, no playoffs.
Cleveland will set the noise-o-meter record when LeBron is announced for the starting lineups in the Miami @ Cleveland game.

That's all I got so far but I'm sure I'll be posting more predictions on here and on my twitter account @betweenbaseline

Is Joakim Noah Worth That Spicy Meatball?

2010-10-05T00:14:00.000-07:00

Joakim Noah, while being speculated and rumored to almost be traded in a package for Carmelo Anthony, has just had his contract extended. This season he will be paid $3 million. Then the following season he will be paid: $10, $11, $12, $13 and $14 million for a grand total of around $60 million dollars! Is he worth it? Let me work it...

Starting with the 2011-12 season and the following years (in other words, not including this 2010 season, as Noah's extension kicks in in the 2011 season) the following players will be paid around the average of those five extended players.

Atlanta's Josh Smith: $12.4, $13.2 million
Boston's Rajon Rondo: $10, $11, $12, $13 million
Detroit's Richard Hamilton: $12.6, $12.6 million
Detroit's Ben Gordon: $11.6, $12.4, $13.2 million
Golden State's Monta Ellis: $11, $11, $11 million
Golden State's David Lee: $11.6, $12.7, $13.8, $15, $15.4 million
Houston's Kevin Martin: $12, $12.9 million
Indiana's Danny Granger: $12, $13, $14 million
LA Clippers' Baron Davis: $13.9, $14.8 million
LA Clippers' Chris Kaman: $12.2 million
Milwaukee's Andrew Bogut: $12, $13, $14 million
Philadelphia's Andre Iguodala: $13.5, $14.7, $15.9 million
Phoenix's Hedo Turkoglu: $10.6, $11.4, $12. 2 million
Portland's Lamarcus Aldridge: $11.8, $13, $14.1, $15.2 million
San Antonio's Manu Ginobili: $13, $14 million

Well I honestly didn't know what I'd find 10 minutes ago, but I've come to two conclusions. First, some teams overpaid some players based on prior accolades from previous teams: Ben Gordon, Baron Davis, Hedo Turkoglu come to mind. Other teams got lucky and have some really good players for a decent price: Lamarcus Aldridge, Andrew Bogut, and Rajon Rondo.

So what can we make of Joakim Noah's new deal? It's definitely debatable. But overall, it's a good deal. Good centers are hard to come by and Joakim Noah, all 6'11 and 225 lbs of him, is a good center. The other big men who make around what he makes from the list above: Lamarcus Aldridge, Andrew Bogut, Chris Kaman, David Lee. Ok so over half of those players are better than Joakim Noah but Noah is a part of that Chicago core and they didn't want to risk losing him next summer. Especially since they just got Carlos Boozer and are looking to make a playoff push to try and compete with the Miami, Boston and Orlando heavyweights.

Plus he's got mad comedy:

"I have my friends, I don't care."

He's got heart and cares a lot about winning. Although we'll see if that hustle and hard work continues after this huge extension. I say it does continue. He is a key piece to this Chicago team and will continue to be a key piece for the next half decade. Here is to you, Joakim Noah! Although I'll never forgive you for taking out the Bruins your two years in college, I got respect for your work ethic!

In case you've been under a rock, here's the NBA off season cheat sheet

2010-09-28T23:00:00.000-07:00

So you haven't been watching sports central 24/7. You've been catching up with baseball and the start of football. That's cool. Here's a guide to what every NBA team has been up to this off-season and what to look for (bolded) for each team. Starting with the obvious:

Miami Heat - Just signed an entire new team headed by reigning MVP LeBron James, former Finals MVP Dwyane Wade, and a super sidekick Chris Bosh. Miami went all in and expect to win a championship. Lots of things to look for, but look to see how their post defense performs as their centers are Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Jamaal Magloire, and a rarely used Joel Anthony.

Boston Celtics - Starting center, Kendrick Perkins hurt his knee in last year's finals against the Lakers and will miss a good portion of the start of the season, so the Celtics signed Shaq and Jermaine O'neal to overload their post play in the meantime, and to compete with the probable western conference champion Lakers' size in the finals. Also trying to win a championship, could be the last or second to last year they'll be able to compete for one with their big 4 core of Garnett, Allen and Pierce, and Rondo. Look to see the further strides Rondo has taken and how Jermaine O'neal performs better as a 4th option rather than a 2nd as he was in Miami.

Los Angeles Lakers - They pretty much filled every hole in their team, AFTER winning a championship. Coaching situation? Check - Phil Jackson signed up for one more year. Old point guard situation? Check - Signed Steve Blake, who I'm in love with. Bench player/Depth? Check - Signed Matt Barnes who can play behind Kobe (upgrade from Sasha Vujacic) and Ron Artest, which gives the Lakers flexibility at where to play Lamar off the bench (at small forward or power forward). Shot in the dark but despite all the praise of new rookies Derrick Caracter and Devin Ebanks, I predict they will barely get off the bench. Phil Jackson gives rookies big minutes. See Andrew Bynum's, Sasha Vujacic's, and Jordan Farmar's rookie minutes (7:24 in 46 games, 11:30 in 35 games, and 15:05 in 72 games respectively), and those were in rebuilding years. But enough about the Lakers. Look to see how the Lakers use Matt Barnes and if/(more like when is my prediction) Steve Blake takes over the starting point guard position.

So those are your high profile teams that you were probably beat to death with this whole summer. Here are some other teams that made the news you may have missed

New York Knicks - Almost an entire new team here: huge signing for them was Amare Stoudemire, formerly of the Suns. Paired with his old Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni and new point guard, Raymond Felton - not an all star but a point guard upgrade from their old PG Chris Duhon. After that, there isn't too much to talk about. This team is a playoff team at best but in the beginning phases of rebuilding mode. Look to see how Amare plays without his MVP playmaker Steve Nash.

Atlanta Hawks - They re-signed their best player Joe Johnson to a max deal so he'll be around for awhile. Coupled with their athletic freak of nature Josh Smith and solid center Al Horford this team is pretty much guaranteed a top 5 seed in the playoffs. But that's probably as far as they'll go... Probably the biggest question mark is around Jamal Crawford and his contract extension. Simply put: he wants an extension, the Hawks don't want to give it to him. Look to see how Mike Bibby performs at point guard as he failed to show up in the playoffs last year against the Magic.

Chicago Bulls - They signed free agent power forward Carlos Boozer, veteran center Kurt Thomas and Guard Ronnie brewer, traded away Kirk Hinrich (for nothing), and traded for guard CJ Watson. This team made some solid moves. Kirk Hinrich was a salary dump to get Boozer. For some reason, this team wanted to package some of their core for Carmelo Anthony. This is a solid team with pretty much no holes. Look for JJ Redick to make a huge contribution despite not having the star power Boozer has.

Alright so those are the huge news getters this summer, now let's delve a little for those who weren't following ESPN, NBA news, and listening to sports radio everyday to see what the other teams have been up to. In somewhat order of relevance:

Denver Nuggets - Main thing here is the future of their franchise small forward, Carmelo Anthony. While he hasn't outright come out and say it, sources after sources have reported that he wants to play for an entertainment industry city due to his new wife, Lala Vasquez's entertainment industry career. Talks are officially DEAD as of September 28, 2010 6:00PM. Who knows if/when Melo will be outta Denver. Look for Chauncey Billups to be stuck on a team of young guys not competing for a championship like HE wants to, if Melo gets traded.

New Orleans Hornets - their franchise player, Chris Paul was disgruntled and their were talks about trading him because they had rookie Darren Collison to take his place. Instead, they did a four team deal that sent Collison away and brought in Trevor Ariza. Chris Paul seems happy. They also got a new coach, 8th pick in the 2006 draft Joe Alexander, and still have Peja Stojakovic and Emeka Okafor. But look for 2nd year player Marcus Thornton to ball HARD this season! (and for some nice fast break dunks from Chris Paul to Ariza on sportscenter highlights).

Charlotte Bobcats - New owner Michael Jordan in. Signed former 1st round overall pick/bust Kwame Brown, lost their starting point guard Raymond Felton, paving the way for DJ Augustin and new signee Shaun Livingston. Main core that got this team to the playoffs last year is still here with Gerald Wallace, Boris Diaw, and Stephen Jackson. Look for coach Larry Brown to put a lot of pressure and responsibility on these young point guards (Augustin and Livingston) and how they both perform.

Cleveland Cavaliers - They lost LeBron James, Shaq and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. We know that, but what did they do after? NOT MUCH: They drafted Christian Eyenga, traded away Delonte West and Sebastian Telfair and received Ryan Hollins and Ramon Sessions, and signed Joey Graham. They almost got Matt Barnes but he chose the Lakers instead, but he wouldn't have made them that much better, honestly. The reigns of this team are now in the hands of Mo Williams and Antawn Jamison. Anderson Varejao will now start at center. What the Cavs fans have to realize is that this team is better than the year before they got LeBron James. Look for Antawn Jamison and Mo Williams to give it their all this season. They're not primadonnas and will continue to work hard.

San Antonio Spurs - Not too much has changed since last season. Richard Jefferson opted out and then opted back in again (for less money, not his choice). But this is the last year of Tony Parker's contract. The team has youngster George Hill waiting in the wings but this may be the last effort of the Spurs "Big 3" of Ginobili, Parker and Duncan. Look for Brazilian Center Tiago Splitter to turn heads as a starter for the Spurs (and for every ABC broadcast of the Spurs to mention the foreign talent the Spurs always seem to get).

Detroit Pistons - Such a fall from grace, this team won the 2004 championship and was in a game 7 of the 2005 finals. Last summer, everyone went crazy because they did the first major free agent signings of Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva. Things have quieted down as they signed Tracy McGrady this summer who is going to try and reinvent himself. Other than that, not much too look for other than how Tracy McGrady plays. Also look for possible trade situations for Tayshaun Prince's expiring 11 million dollar contract.

Memphis Grizzlies - Big news was giving Rudy Gay max deal money. Zach Randolph will be in the last year of his contract, unless he signs an extension. They signed back up SG Tony Allen from the Celtics which should provide some depth. Other than that, look for some possible growth and an expanded role for second year center, Hasheem Thabeet.

Los Angeles Clippers - Probably the biggest news was the hiring of new head coach, Vinny Del Negro. Blake Griffin will be ready to play this season coming back from knee surgery, and new draft picks Eric Bledsoe and Al Farouq Aminu should help get this team headed in the right direction finally. Look to see how Baron Davis has conditioned himself this off season and if THIS coach actually runs some plays for better-than-his-stats-show Eric Gordon (and how Blake Griffin performs).

Toronto Raptors - Complete Makover - NBA edition. This team lost its franchise player, Chris Bosh, and underachieving recent signee Hedo Turkoglu. They traded for yet-to-do-something-amazing Julian Wright and the Brazilian Blur, Leandro Barbosa. That is it. The team still has Andrea Bargnani and secocond year player DeMar DeRozan, but this team looks headed to the lottery and will rebuild around Andrea Bargnani. Look for Bargnani to break out as probably the only offensive threat on this team.

Oklahoma Thunder - Not too much has changed since the 6 game series with the Lakers. Kevin Durant won the MVP of the FIBA World Champion USA Team (Russell Westbrook also on the team). Durant also signed an extension as Oklahoma avoids a LeBron one hour special spectacle somewhere along the line. They drafted a center, Cole Aldrich, and the core remains intact: Durant, Westbrook, Green, and Harden. Look for Durant to win the MVP this season.

Dallas Mavericks - Biggest stories here were Dirk re-signing for four more years, the re-signing of Brendan Haywood and the trade for Tyson Chandler. Relatively quiet summer move-wise but they'll start the season with a pretty stacked team - Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, Caron Butler, Shawn Marion, Dirk, Chandler. Look for Rodrigue Beaubois to have a solid season and for Caron Butler to really make an impact, scoring-wise and defensively.

New Jersey Nets - This team won 13 games last season. They got a new billionaire owner who did his best to get LeBron James, but failed. Now they are trying to trade for Carmelo Anthony, but talks have died down. What do the Nets have FOR SURE? A great young center in Brook Lopez, a solid former all start point guard, Devin Harris, #3 draft pick Derrick Favors, and new signees: Anthony Morrow, Travis Outlaw and Troy Murphy (traded for). Besides looking for news regarding major trades, look for Brook Lopez to perform at an all star level and Terrence Williams to make strides in his game at small forward. And look at Jordan Farmar on a new team!

Golden State Warriors - O. M. G. The Warriors finally got rid of Don Nelson. This is huge and I'm very excited for the Warriors. I could do a whole post on this but to make a long story short: run and gun offense with little regard for defense will sell tickets but it won't win basketball games. Baron Davis and solid defense against Dirk is the main reason the 8th seed Warriors beat the top seed Mavericks in 2007. Out with that offense and hopefully the start of a half court offense implementation will begin. Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis are the stars on this team but watch out for newly acquired David Lee to make his presence felt. I'm excited to see how they use him in this new offense.

Houston Rockets - Yao Ming will be back from his injury that took him out for the entire season. Trevor Ariza is gone, but they have Kevin Martin, Aaron Brooks, Luis Scola and Brad Miller. This team can make the playoffs if Yao Ming stays healthy. This team has a lot to work with though and it might take awhile for the chemistry to set in. That would be the main thing to look for, but also look for back up PG Kyle Lowry to play well. People are really high on him and he's a great defender.

Indiana Pacers - There were a lot of things wrong with this team the last couple seasons. This summer they traded for young point guard Darren Collison, who blossomed in the absence of Chris Paul in New Orleans. There are still a lot of holes in this team, however. Their franchise player is Danny Granger at small forward. Then they have Roy Hibbert, Tyler Hansbrough and Brandon Rush to go around them. Next summer though, they'll have a lot of money to throw at free agents as a lot of their big contracts come off the books. But also, look for possible trades as other teams may want those expiring contracts. Also look to see if Tyler Hansbrough and Roy Hibbert worked on any offensive post moves.

Orlando Magic - Not much noise outta Orlando, but they did sign Quentin Richardson and Chris Duhon. But yeah, not too much to talk about here. Look for Rashard Lewis to change back to his natural position, small forward instead of power forward.

Phoenix Suns - Lost Amare Stoudemire to the Knicks, gained Hedo Turkoglu from the Raptors, Josh Childress from Greece and Hakim Warrick to fill in for the loss of Amare. Steve Nash, Jason Richardson and Grant Hill still head this team but look for Robin Lopez to play at a high level and a career year from Turkoglu as he benefits from playing alongside Nash.

Milwaukee Bucks - This team low key did some pretty solid moves this summer. Building around Mr.-I-scored-55-points-in-a-game-and-then-leveled-off Brandon Jennings, they re-signed John Salmons, traded for Corey Maggette and Chris Douglas-Roberts, and signed PF Drew Gooden. Is this Michael Redd's last year in Milwaukee? He won't be able to play until JANUARY and they might not even need him at this point. Andrew Bogut will return from his horrific elbow injury last season. Look for this team to make the playoffs but also look for Redd to be mentioned in many trade rumors, and for Bogut to play at all star level (health permitting).

Minnesota Timberwolves - They signed Darko Milicic and Luke Ridnour! They traded for Michael Beasley! They traded away Al Jefferson (the guy they got in the Kevin Garnett trade)! Looks like they're building around Kevin Love and point guard Johnny Flynn. Oh, and Ricky Rubio is still playing in Spain. Not much going for this team. Lots of question marks but uhhh I guess look for Kevin Love and Johnny Flynn try and learn this triangle offense Kurt Rambis has been implementing.

Philadelphia 76ers - #2 draft pick netted them shooting guard Evan Turner and they traded Sam Dalembert to the Kings for Spencer Hawes. They still have Elton Brand and Andre Iguodala, but look for Jrue Holiday to take control of this team as the starting point guard.

Washington Wizards - #1 draft pick hooked em John Wall. They still have gun slinger Gilbert Arenas who has played 13, 2, and 32 games in his last three seasons respectively. They also got Kirk Hinrich from the Bulls. So yes, they are well endowed at the guard position. They re-signed Josh Howard to a 1 year deal and have JaVale McGee at center. They have talent and could possibly make the playoffs but the main thing you wanna look for is how Gilbert Arenas comes back and reinvents himself after his gun incident last year that got him suspended for the entire season.

Utah Jazz - They lost Carlos Booozer and gained Al Jefferson. They also got Raja Bell as they outbid the Lakers for him. Other than that, the main core is still intact. Deron Williams, Kirilenko, Mehmet Okur, and Paul Millsap. Speaking of which... Look for Paul Millsap to put up big numbers in the absence of Carlos Boozer. This team got pretty big this offseason, could turn some heads in the playoffs.

Sacramento Kings - They got big man DeMarcus Cousins and traded for Sam Dalembert. Reigning rookie of the year, Tyreke Evans will continue to put this team on his back and the Kings have a nice young core to build around going forward. Look for DeMarcus Cousins to compete for the rookie of the year award and for Sam Dalembert to contribute offensively moreso than he did in Philadelphia.

Portland Trailblazers - Remember Greg Oden? Well just in case he goes down again, the team signed Marcus Camby. They also signed Wesley Matthews who came outta nowhere in Utah last season. Other than that, Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge will continue to shoulder the team but they'll have help with Andre Miller and Nic Batum. Look for Greg Oden to hopefully finally put a full season together.

And there you have it. Your cheat sheet to this off-season and a study guide for the season ahead for all the teams. Here's to another season!

Possible 3-on-3 basketball added to Olympic games?

2010-09-11T01:13:00.000-07:00

Interesting article from ESPN regarding possible international basketball rule changes. Here are the cliff notes:

As of right now, if the ball is above the rim, a player can touch the ball to try and swat it away before it rolls in the basket in FIBA games. Not allowed in NBA games. Secretary general of FIBA, Patrick Baumann, wants FIBA goaltending rule to be the same as NBA goaltending rule.
FIBA will abandon the trapezoid lane in favor of an NBA-sized rectangular lane.
FIBA will move the 3-point line back by a half-meter (19½ inches) from its current distance of 20 feet, 6.1 inches.
FIBA wants to expand the width of the court by 50 centimeters on each side to give space to players trying to hit a 3 pointer in the corners.
Patrick Baumann wants the amount of teams in OLYMPIC play from 12 to 16 for the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro.
Baumann is also making a push for adding 3-on-3 basketball as a separate competition.

This last point is what I want to talk about.

The rule changes, simply put, are making international basketball more similar to the NBA, which for Americans/human beings rooting for Americans in international play, would enjoy. The lane change from trapezoid to rectangle favors centers posting up closer to the basket. The further the 3 point line is, the harder it is to make the shot, but NBA players who hit 3 pointers shouldn't have a problem adjusting to that. And the widening of the court is simply needed because if you haven't seen any of the games, these players are simply too big for the court they're playing on!

But a push for 3-on3 basketball as a separate competition!? My goodness, that would have some interesting consequences. Let's delve:

As of right now, the 12 man team for each country is the only game basketball gets in the Olympics. Once it's over, it's over. If your country doesn't make the knock out stages, you'd be more inclined to go to ESPN5 to see if your country's Archery team is gonna have a chance to medal. Think of Michael Phelps and Olympic swimming. Think of Apolo Ohno and Olympic Ice Skating. Think of Usain Bolt and Olympic Track and Field. These athletes swim, skate and run at least 3 events each. Phelps got 8 gold medals in 2008 for butterfly events, freestyle, relays and individual medleys. Ohno and olympic ice skating also has relays and long distance and short distance races to medal in. And track and field? Forget about it: 1 mile, 2 mile, relays, 100m, 200m, hurdles etc.

Basketball could gain a lot more exposure and air time on TV if they simply add another event to the games. But let's delve a little deeper:

Apolo Ohno isn't the only American that skates for America. Neither is Usain Bolt the only Jamaican who runs for Jamaica. As of right now, the 12 guys who America sends to the Olympics are the 12 Americans representing USA's ONE team. Would the 3-on-3 competition be limited to 1 team per country, or would a country be able to send multiple teams out to qualifying games and then from there, see who advances to knock out rounds?

If this is the case, I don't see how any trio in the world could topple a LeBron-Wade-Bosh trio, or a Dwight Howard-Chris Paul-Carmelo trio, or a Kobe-Durant-Amare trio, or maybe even a Deron Williams-Tim Duncan-Joe Johnson trio... Well... Maybe Pau Gasol, Ricky Rubio and Rudy Fernandez of Spain could take that last one down... but that's it I think. It'd be very possible for USA to get Gold, Silver and Bronze with the Knock out rounds being 75% American trios.

But let's not just think the US would automatically win like we did in 2004 in Athens... Let's face it, NBA players do NOT play 3-on-3 regularly. It's not like the Americans can do what they're doing now in Turkey: expending all of their energy on running fast breaks and scoring in transition. What would the rules be? It would obviously be a half court game and I'd assume there would be a 3 point line. After you score, do you get the ball back or do you switch off possessions? It's not like Chris Paul or Steve Nash can just run, run, and run some more in the open court.

What would teams look like? You'd obviously need tall people for rebounding purposes. You'd most likely need at least one 3 point threat as to punish defenders for double teaming a large center. And you'd need a go to scorer who can score at will whenever a point is desperately needed.

And for that matter how would score be kept? Assuming there would be a 3 point line, would scoring be 2 pointers and 3 pointers or 1 pointers and 2 pointers? What would you play up to? First to 21 points? First to 11? Teams have to win by 2 points? Would there be a shot clock? Lots of questions for this possible new game.

But either way... I'm intrigued, and depending on the organization of how teams are put together, how many teams are chosen to compete and what the in game rules are, I'd like to see it come to fruition.

Personal Basketball Blog

2010-09-03T14:10:00.000-07:00

Just an FYI, I've started a personal basketball blog called Heaven Is A Halfcourt which chronicles all of my basketball games and work out sessions around Southern California, it will have nothing to do with the NBA but will make subtle references. Check it out and if you don't like it, that's cool too!

Thank you

James

Team USA at FIBA World Championships 4 games in update

2010-09-01T15:11:00.000-07:00

Smelling his hair as he passes by

(Photo from Yahoo)

USA is 4-0 beating Croatia, Slovenia, Brazil and Iran. They'll play their fifth game against winless Tunisia before the knock out rounds start. They have already clinched a top seed.

The only close game was against Brazil when with 3.5 seconds left, Brazil missed the first of two free throws, then missed the second on purpose, shooter got his own rebound, passed it inside to the post, where they missed a shot that would have sent the game to overtime.

The starters are: Derrick Rose, Chauncey Billups, Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala, and Lamar Odom

Leaders for each game:

8/28 Croatia:
Points: Eric Gordon (16), Kevin Durant (14)
Rebounds: Kevin Love (10), Kevin Durant (8)
Assists: Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, Chauncey Billups (4 each)
Steals: Andre Iguodala (3)
Blocks: Tyson Chandler (2)

8/29 Slovenia:
Points: Kevin Durant (22), Rudy Gay (16)
Rebounds: Kevin Love (11), Lamar Odom (9)
Assists: Chauncey Billups and Derrick Rose (5 each), Kevin Durant (4)
Steals: Kevin Durant (4)
Blocks: Odom, Derrick Rose, Westbrook, Gay, Chandler (1 each)

8/30 Brazil:
Points: Kevin Durant (27), Chauncey Billups (15)
Rebounds: Kevin Durant (10), Lamar Odom (9)
Assists: Chauncey Billups (3), Derrick Rose (2)
Steals: Andre Iguodala (5), Rose (4)
Blocks: Rudy Gay (2), Durant (1)

9/1 Iran:
Points: Kevin Love (13), Kevin Durant (12)
Rebounds: Tyson Chandler (7), Love (6)
Assists: Stephen Curry (5), Danny Granger (3)
Steals: Westbrook, Rose, Durant, Billups (2 each)
Blocks: Rudy Gay (2)

Carmelo Anthony wants out of Denver = Denver screwed for the next 3 years

2010-08-30T10:55:00.000-07:00

(photo from NBC)
You've heard it already, but

Carmelo can be a free agent next summer by opting out of the last year of his contract.
He wants to sign an extension NOW, because there is a possibility of an NBA player lock out if things don't go well at the next NBA collective bargaining agreement and he might not be able to get that money after that all of that settles.
He doesn't want to sign that extension with Denver.
He has given Denver a list of teams he would like to be traded to.
Denver is now taking fielding offers for one of the best players in the NBA right now.

(Photo from Zimbio)
In Chauncey Billups' corner (Denver starting point guard)

Simply put, this guy is an old guy (about to turn 34 in September).
He's still a top PG but his days are limited and he has recently said he wants to play four more years:

“I have hopefully four years left of playing,” Billups said, “and I’m not the kind of person to just ride it out. I want to win. I want to go out on top; I want to go out winning. …I want to get out there, get after it and play. And I want to win as a Nugget the rest of my years. In a perfect world that’s what I would want, that’s what I would hope for.”

Read between these lines - He's not the kind of person to just ride it out on a bad team with no superstar (such as Carmelo Anthony), an aging Kenyon Martin, a shot blocker that jumps at any pump fake Chris Andersen, etc. Even if the Nuggets got some good young players and draft picks in exchange for Carmelo Anthony (which they've come out publicly saying they want), they're not going to compete at a high level to start out.

As of right now, the top two teams who have a chance at Carmelo are the New Jersey Nets and the Los Angeles Clippers. Even if the Nets offer some package including Devin Harris and/or Rookie Derrick Favors, it would take a couple years to still build a team around these players (plus Devin Harris is a starting point guard just like Billups so that wouldn't work/would be a waste of talent). Same goes for the Clippers: if they offer a package including one of Blake Griffin or Eric Gordon, as good as these players are potentially going to be, it's not enough for Billups to stick around. Even if it's not these two teams that finalizes the deal, the Nuggets have said they want young players and draft picks. They are officially in REBUILD mode.

So when Carmelo is dealt, it is inevitable that Chauncey Billups will also request a trade to a contender where he won't have to "ride out" the rest of his career. These are Denver's two BEST players. After that there's an aging/injured Kenyon Martin, a solid center in Nene Hilario, a young point guard Ty Lawson and recently signed scoring forward Al Harrington. This was a GOOD team that had the talent to do big things. They made the Western Conference Finals in 08-09 and lost to the eventual champions the LA Lakers! It's frustrating when franchise players want to switch teams because they like certain cities better than others, but it's not illegal and they can do whatever they want.

The point is, the Nuggets are in rebuild mode. The team is also trying to trade JR "I shoot the effing lights out some games" Smith. And you can't quite build a team around Kenyon Martin, Al Harrington and Nene Hilario...

My BOLD BASELINE PREDICTION is a three team deal that sends Carmelo Anthony to either the Nets or the Clippers in exchange for either Devin Harris or Baron Davis respectively, with Chauncey Billups going to a third team and other players included so salaries match. I'm also predicting that Kenyon Martin gets traded for some young players or draft picks to a team that is trying to shed salary as Martin will be in his last year of his contract that pays him $16.5 million.

Chris Andersen doing his thing...

(Photo from westword)

Still bored with this year's NBA dunk contest?

2010-08-24T23:55:00.000-07:00

Team flight brothers to the rescue!

Why the Lakers are stuck with Sasha Vujacic for next year

2010-08-16T01:13:00.001-07:00

(Photo from NBCSports)
Before Shannon Brown was re signed to a two year deal, there were talks about how the Lakers and Brown were close to a deal but that it was dependent on whether or not Sasha Vujacic could be traded so they could use that $5.4 million and give it to Brown. Well, fast forward to a couple days ago and the Lakers went ahead and signed Brown anyway to the tune of $2.2 million this year and a player option for next year at $2.4 million (Brown has the choice to become an unrestricted free agent next summer and re enter the market).

Now the Lakers are supposedly trying to trade Sasha and his horrible horrible contract because they are well over the luxury tax threshold and Jerry Buss, while he loves winning championships, would like to do so at a "reasonable" price.

Well too bad. You are stuck with Sasha Vujacic. Here's why

Like I said, the Lakers are well over the Luxury tax limit. They're on tap for around $94 million and they just signed their two 2nd round draft picks which will probably be around another $1 million. Now they need to shed money and the likely candidates are Sasha Vujacic and Luke Walton. These two players have already become the Adam Morrison and Sun Yue of the 2010-2011 season and the season hasn't even started.

But contract-ually speaking, Sasha is more moveable than Luke. Sasha is in the last year of his contract (due $5.4 million) while Luke has three more seasons at $5.2 mil, $5.6 mil, and $6.1 mil respectively. Add to that Luke's bad back problems he had last season, he's just not a sought after player as of right now. I mean, who would want a player who costs a lot who's going to be injured.

So Sasha Vujacic is on the trading block.

(Photo from Hoopedia)
Let me bring you back to the summer of 2008. The Denver Nuggets had two high priced players in Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony, along with a high priced Kenyon Martin and a $10 million dollar Marcus Camby. Nuggets didn't want to pay all of that and they needed to do a salary dump. So the Clippers came along and sent a 2nd round draft pick for the former defensive player of the year, always up there in the league leaders in defensive rebounds and blocked shots. A rip off trade, no? Well of course it is, but it was a salary dump. The Clippers had money to spend, and the Nuggets were spending too much.

Had the Clippers traded another $10 million dollar player for Marcus Camby, well there wouldn't be a point to that, would there? The Nuggets would still be spending a lot of money, and the Clippers would still have money to spend and another lost roster spot. OK back to Sasha. THIS MARCUS CAMBY DEAL IS WHAT THE LAKERS ARE TRYING TO DO RIGHT NOW. They want a future 2nd round draft pick (because 2nd round picks are not guaranteed contracts. They do not want a player of equal contract value because they are trying to get RID OF CONTRACTS. So for a team to take on Sasha, they would need to send a 2nd round draft pick, and a 2nd round draft pick ONLY.

OK, so why are the Lakers stuck with Sasha? Because Sasha, unlike Marcus Camby, isn't a defensive player of the year, doesn't put up great defensive rebound numbers or blocked shots... quite simply put, no one wants him. There isn't a team out there saying to themselves, "Man, we are so close to being a championship contender, all we need is... SASHA VUJACIC!" and no team is saying, "Man, we need to rebuild this roster, first things first, GET ME SASHA VUJACIC!"

But he's an expiring contract! Everyone wants an expiring contract! True. Expiring contracts are a great way to rebuild a team for the future and/or clear cap space for a big free agent during that year's summer. But here's the thing with expiring contracts: a team wants to get rid of a guy making the same amount of money during this year, but who also happens to be making more money in later years.

So let's take a random player from a random team making around the same $5.5 million Sasha's making, but is NOT in the last year of his contract: Mike Bibby from the Atlanta Hawks. Mike Bibby is scheduled to make $5.5 million this year and $6.2 million next year. If the Hawks wanted to clear cap space because they don't want to pay the $6.2 million to Bibby next year, they would do this trade. They'd get Sasha and the Lakers would get Bibby. The Hawks would pay Sasha's $5.5 million this year, and then he'd be a free agent. The Lakers would pay Bibby the $5.5 million this year, AND the $6.2 million next year that the Hawks didn't want to pay.

But don't you see... that's exactly what the Lakers don't want. They don't want to take on more contracts regardless of who it is because they are already over the luxury tax threshold.

In plain English: they want someone to take Sasha Vujacic for free, but no one wants Sasha Vujacic.

Therefore, the Lakers are stuck with Sasha Vujacic.

Ariza, Collison, Murphy, Lee, Posey Trade Simplified

2010-08-11T12:17:00.001-07:00

I've decided to do a graphic like this for all multi team deals to help me figure out what teams are giving up and what they're getting in return, and WHY teams would do what at first looks like a ludicrous trade.

Let's start with the New Orleans Hornets

The Hornets give up Darren Collison, James Posey, and Julian Wright and receive Trevor Ariza and Marco Belinelli (separate trade with the Raptors).

If you were paying attention last season, you'd notice that one of the lone bright spots in New Orleans was rookie Darren Collison putting up great numbers for an injured Chris Paul. In 37 games as a starter he averaged 19 pts, 9 ast, and 3.5 rebounds (40 minutes per). Those are some stellar numbers but they only won 14 games with him starting. Granted there wasn't much talent. They had already gotten rid of alley oop star Tyson Chandler for no great offense Emeka Okafor. They did have David West but after him and Chris Paul, the talent dwindled to Peja Stojakovic and Marcus Thornton.

There have been so many rumors regarding Chris Paul's future, unhappiness, and trade demands and a possible, not-as-great, big 3 in New York with CP3, Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony next summer.

So why did the Hornets make this move? To keep their franchise player happy. Out goes their back up point guard and in comes a new, slashing, defense minded, 3 point hitting, but can't quite create his own shot, small forward in Trevor Ariza, relegating Peja Stojakovic to the bench for a starting line up that looks something like:

PG- Chris Paul
SG- Marcus Thornton or Devin Brown
SF- Trevor Ariza
PF- David West
C- Emeka Okafor

Ariza can run and finish with Chris Paul on fast breaks and can hit the 3 pointer like Peja could, only he can also cut to the basket unlike Peja. Defensively, Ariza is leaps and bounds better than Peja who can guard some of the league's top swingmen. And by the way, this is Peja's last year of his contract which will give the Hornets $15ish million to spend next summer.

But what about the side trade with the Raptors (Belinelli for Julian Wright)? The contracts are almost identical. Both for two years, both for about $2 mil this season and $3 mil next season. As you can see the SG spot is a little weak with 2nd year Thornton and Devin Brown, Belinelli could offer some depth and options at that spot. James Posey was also playing that SG/SF spot but was being paid far more than he was worth (around $6 mil this season and $7 mil next season!).

Indiana Pacers

So both Posey and Collison are headed over to the Indiana Pacers, who traded away Troy Murphy.

If you've played fantasy basketball, you know that Troy Murphy is an automatic 10 rebounds a night guy. He can shoot the ball and has range that stretches to the 3 point line. Defensively, there's room for improvement but he's at the age where what you see is what you get (30). Out he goes and in comes a point guard to one of the few teams in the league that needed a point guard. James Posey and his contract was the "you can have Collison if you also take this guy off our hands" guy in order to get him Collison.

The Pacers had been playing TJ Ford and Earl Watson at point guard last season. With Earl Watson currently a free agent looking for a team and the Pacers wanting to go in a different direction away from TJ Ford (currently discussing a buy out), the team needed to get a PG and felt up and coming young Darren Collison was the way to go.

Don't get it twisted. There are a lot of things wrong with the Pacers. The PG situation was just one piece of the puzzle, and it might not even work out. They have Brandon Rush at SG (could be James Posey at the start of the season), Danny Granger at SF, their franchise player who isn't quite a franchise player, Tyler Hansbrough and Jeff Foster at PF, rebounders with little offensive talent, and Roy Hibbert and Foster at Center, again, little offensive talent although Hibbert is improving.

But here's some silver lining for the Pacers, next summer they will be busy. A lot of their guys are in the last year of their contract this year (Dunleavy, $10 mil, Ford, $8.5 mil [if they can't get a buyout], Jeff Foster, $6.6mil, Jamaal Tinsley, $5.5 mil). That's a lot of money and they can start building up a team again around Granger and Collison. Things haven't been quite the same since Stephen Jackson, Jermaine O'Neal and Ron Artest were in town...

New Jersey Nets

The New Jersey Nets took on Troy Murphy and his rebounding skills. They also took on his expiring contract of $12 million dollars. But the Nets did need some size. All they really had last year was Brook Lopez, but they just drafted power forward Derrick Favors. They also have Johan Petro who isn't much of an offensive threat and after that, they have a lot of small guys including recent free agent signees: Jordan Farmar, Anthony Morrow, and Travis Outlaw to go along with Devin Harris and Terrence Williams (wow this team couldn't have won more than 15 games last season!)

Houston Rockets

So they didn't really have space or playing time for Courtney Lee. So they sent him to the Houston Rockets. who gave up Trevor Ariza. What kind of deal is that?! Keep in mind The Rockets just signed Ariza last year to a full mid level exception deal to be THE GUY to replace Ron Artest and Tracy McGrady. Well they didn't make the playoffs but that was due in large part to Yao Ming being injured and being sidelined for the entire season.

Since then they acquired Kevin Martin who's getting paid a lot ($11 mil, $12 mil, and $13 mil for the next three seasons). Couple that with Brad Miller's new contract (Around $14 million for three seasons), Luis Scola's long term contract that pays him $11 million in 2014/2015 season, and Kyle Lowry's big deal for the next 4 years at about $23 million. THAT'S QUITE THE PAYROLL especially if they want to re sign Yao Ming next summer. Quite simply put, the Rockets needed to shed salary. That's why all they took on was Courtney Lee's $1.3 million dollar contract with a team option next year. Salary dump at its finest. Add to the fact that Shane Battier can start at SF and play as hard as he ever has and you have a starting lineup that looks something like:

PG- Aaron Brooks
SG- Kevin Martin
SF- Shane Battier
PF- Luis Scola
C- Yao Ming with Brad Miller backing up.

That's a nice starting lineup, one I predict to return to the playoffs.

Overall, I really like this trade for the New Orleans Hornets. Darren Collison was a nice back up but they had a starting PG in Chris Paul. Add to that a great defender and finisher in Trevor Ariza, while shedding the salary of James Posey and this team is definitely better off than they were yesterday.

Yeah, the Celtics are the team to beat in the East

2010-08-11T00:04:00.000-07:00

(Photo from Boston Herald)
Sorry Heat, you have the star power but the Celtics are having a strong off season gearing up for another trip to the finals. Probably one of my favorite quotes of the summer so far is Rajon Rondo's comments on the Heat's off season moves:

"What is there to be nervous for?" he said. "I'm worried about L.A. That's the team we need to beat. Miami looks really good on paper, and I'm sure they're going to be really good. But they still have to come together as a team. I'm not saying they won't, but who knows if those guys can jell?

"Our biggest opponent each night is ourselves - that's how I look at it. Not to be cocky or anything, but that's how we honestly feel. We are the defending [Eastern] champs. Once the first game of the regular season starts, that's irrelevant. But we are going to go into training camp looking to get back to the Finals and win it."

Rondo's not worried about the Heat, he's worried about the only team that beat his Celtics in the playoffs last year. And honestly, doesn't that just make 100% perfect sense? Celtic management seemed to agree as the Celtics... well, they pretty much got huge. Having to replace an injured Kendrick Perkins, they signed Jermaine O'neal and Shaquille O'neal. They brought in Von Wafer to a one year deal, and they drafted Avery Bradley, a really good pick at pick #22. Along with re-signing Pierce, Ray Allen and Nate Robinson (plus Doc Rivers), this team is built to make a run.

Size and rebounding played a major role in the Finals a few months ago and now with a front line of Jermaine, Shaq, KG, Perkins and Glen Davis, I mean my goodness... that's low key HUGE. You're telling me in a 7 game series, with 2 or 3 of these behemoths clogging the lane, Chris Bosh will take advantage by taking free throw line extended jump shots, Joel Anthony will take advantage by crashing boards (all 6'9" of him) and Zydrunas Ilgauskas will take advantage by taking baseline jump shots?

"But Dwyane Wade and LeBron will carry this team!" Well I don't know if you've seen LeBron James' jump shot you'd second guess your self and Dwyane Wade will be knocked on his ass like he's been his whole career, especially with the Celtics' physical style of play of NO EASY BUCKETS. I also have this strange premonition that LeBron will once again wilt under pressure and take a back seat against the Celtics, hoping Wade will carry the team. But we'll see.

Sidenote: My predicted 1-8 in the East is 1. Heat 2. Magic 3. Bulls 4. Celtics 5. Atlanta 6. Milwaukee 7. Knicks 8. Charlotte (but really it's a toss up for that 7 and 8 spot).

The Celtics, like the Lakers, addressed needs this summer. While they had to retain their core, they also needed length/replacement for Perkins. Jermaine O'Neal signing is huge and here's why:

No, Jermaine is not an all star. Especially in his years at Miami. But let me throw this out there. Jermaine was probably the 2nd best player on Miami behind Wade. Okay, maybe tied for 2nd with Michael Beasley, but he was their #1 post option. On a team with Paul Pierce, KG, Ray Allen and an actual point guard running things in Rondo, I'm predicting a more than average year from Jermaine O'Neal with his super annoying ugly jumpshot that somehow finds its way through the net. Here's a highlight video of him going against Zydrunas in a Heat/Cavs game from the 08-09 season. Again, 2nd best player on that team...

And for a substitution? Bring in Shaq who might not have the explosiveness of 10 years ago, but he is a huge person and can still change shots and like I said, will put people on their asses if they come to the lane. Like he did a few months ago against his new teammate!

Yikes!

Look, the Heat have the star power. They will beat good teams and pummel bad teams. But when it comes to the playoffs where strategy comes into play, where rebounding plays a large role, where other playoff teams are preparing by resting their star players for the REAL season, where injuries come into play and good bench players and depth play a huge part in a team's success, that is where the Celtics will shine. They made the finals, were a few points from winning the championship, they addressed their needs. They can cruise for stretches and rest their core and make a run in the playoffs like they did last year. Laker fans needn't be worried about this super Heat team, they need to worry about the Celtics. Again.

Miami - Public Enemy Number 1?

2010-07-10T13:41:00.000-07:00

Could this be possible? Can this three do it? Can Bosh never stop looking like a velociraptor? Could the Miami Heat now be the most hated team in the NBA? More than the Lakers or Celtics?!?!

Think about this: 5 teams were pretending that airplanes in the night skies were shooting stars, and wishing upon them that LeBron would come to their team: Chicago, New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles Clippers, and of course, Cleveland. LeBron chose Miami and fans are upset. Know this--that if LeBron chose Cleveland, no one would resent him and he'd go on to continue his career as one of the best players in the history of the game. The five potential cities for LeBron would be disappointed, but they wouldn't be angry. Every Miami away game at these five cities, he will be booed. The Miami Heat will be booed. Chants will arise including "O-VER-RAT-ED!! CLAP* CLAP* CLAPCLAPCLAP*," COP OUT! CLAP* CLAP* COP OUT! CLAP* CLAP*" and "MVP" chants for their teams' best players at the free throw line and the usual booing and distractions for the big 3 in Miami.

But who else will hate them. Well for sure Toronto will as their franchise player left and it was well known with his twitter updates that he simply couldn't wait for July 1, 2010. The Los Angeles Lakers fans will transfer their Kobe>LeBron hatred toward Cleveland, especially if Derek Fisher (WHAT!?) signs with them.

Sidenote: If Fisher signs and starts for the Miami Heat, Rajon Rondo, John Wall, Raymond Felton, Derrick Rose, and Brandon Jennings are gonna run circles around him in the East (that's about 20 games). Don't get me started on the point guard situation in the West (Nash, CP3, Westbrook, DWill, Tyreke, Baron, Kidd, Brooks, Parker, STEVE BLAKE...) plus relentless booing from Laker and Jazz fans. And if they pay Fisher the reported 10 mil for 2 years, then Miami are the true losers in all of this.

I'd have to feel that the Celtics would hate them as well. The defending eastern conference champions who always seem to be playing with a chip on their shoulder will again be not expected to make it to the finals. The Heat become the automatic favorites. But I can't help feeling that whatever lame point guard situation they have at the start of the season, Rondo will be able to easily pick him apart and continue to take his game to another level.

Along with the addition of Jermaine O'neal, the rebounding swings in the Celtics' favor as well. As old as O'neal is, he's still more of a physical presence than Bosh, and if Bosh finally gets his wish and plays power forward, whatever lame center situation the Heat have, Jermaine can surely overmatch him, especially if it's Joel Anthony.

The Orlando Magic must feel some kind of angst toward their cross state rivals. Again, the Heat will be the favorite to win the East. Magic fans will proclaim that their star didn't need superstar help to make it to the finals and that Dwight was the unquestioned leader of that team. Magic GM Otis Smith has already come out and put LeBron on blast saying he thought James was "more competitive than that."

And pretty much any fan who feels sorry for Cleveland must feel some anger toward the Miami Heat. LeBron disrespected his hometown and is probably never welcome there again. He knew it. He hired security to protect his home when he went on his ESPN LeBronathon. Fans burned their Cavs jerseys and are back to being at the bottom of the eastern standings. I know I feel bad for them. The already watered down league just got a little more watered down. Cleveland and Toronto will both be vying for that #1 draft pick next summer.

A couple notes I've taken away from this:

First of all I'm absolutely shocked.

As a basketball fan, I'm disappointed. I like to see superstars lead their own teams to see epic battles in the playoffs. Instead of seeing LeBron take on Wade and Bosh, we'll probably see those three take on... Brandon Jennings and Drew Gooden? Joe Johnson and Josh Smith? Gerald Wallace and Tyson Chandler? Not quite must see TV.
As a Laker fan, I'm honestly not worried. I don't thing this big three will make it to the finals (at least this upcoming season) and I think the Celtics are still a better, deeper team with more cutthroat players than LeBron is. Lebron, by joining Wade, proves that he needs a Jordan-esque type player while he plays second fiddle. Absolutely shocked.
As a Kobe fan, I'm ecstatic. Pretty much half of the Kobe haters were wiped out. No longer can people say, Kobe needed Pau and Kobe needed Shaq, LeBron did it all by himself. I'm relishing in all of the comments that writers and bloggers are posting saying Jordan and Kobe would have never joined another superstar.
As an sympathizer, I feel sorry for LeBron. If he wins, everyone will say "He couldn't do it without Wade, and Wade already did it without LeBron." If he loses, everyone will say, he couldn't even do it with Wade and Bosh."
Also as a Laker and Clipper fan, I like how the west just got a lot easier. Western Conference finalists Suns got weaker by losing Amare. Semi Finalists Jazz got weaker by losing Boozer and Korver. Miami Heat are interested in Portland back up forward/center Juwan Howard.
I like this quote from Bill Simmons' article 12 hours before the hour long ESPN special:
In May, after the Cavs were ousted in the conference semifinals, I wrote that LeBron was facing one of the greatest sports decisions ever: "winning (Chicago), loyalty (Cleveland) or a chance at immortality (New York)."
I never thought he would pick "HELP!"
Also from that article, Simmons pointed out that these three will have to play upwards of 40 minutes a night for 100 or so games. If one gets injured for an extended period of time, this team will not make it to the finals.

Best LeBron jokes I've heard so far via forwarded texts, facebook statuses and twitter:

Dear Lebron, You can run to the south.. But your mom is still riding west!
LeBron James apparently furious about Dan Gilbert's rant. His camp already pitching one-hour special called The Response
Last time LeBron/Wade/Bosh/Miller paired up they won the Bronze medal in the '04 Olympics... just saying.
Apple just announced that they're coming out with a Lebron James iphone, but it only vibrates, because it has no ring at all
Lebron woke up this morning as a young Jordan n is going to sleep tonight as Scottie Pippen

Don't give up on Allen Iverson

2010-07-05T16:36:00.000-07:00

20 minutes ago, Allen Iverson used five tweets to get this off his chest:

I will be in my hometown of VA for Camp Crossover 2010 (July 6-9). I am going there to work with kids and to give back to my community. I want to return to the NBA this season, and help any team that wants me, in any capacity that they feel that I can help. I'm disappointed, and I owe my fans more than what they have seen of me the last couple seasons. However, now that my family is healthy and rock solid, I can concentrate fully on doing what I do best! At the camp, I will help teach kids some of what it takes to be successful in life. On and off the basketball court.

Around this time last year, AI was a free agent wanting to sign with a team that he could help win a championship. However, he didn't want to just piggy back on a team and play as a backup. He wanted to start and got his wish for the Memphis Grizzlies. He didn't start though and threw a fit and was released and signed with the 76ers. He started but then family troubles got in the way and he kinda vanished after that.

Well, here he is. Making it public that he still wants to play and wants to help any team that wants him. I'm sure there are a few teams that could use him, but it remains to be seen if he'd be willing to be a bench player or if he'll hold out to be a starting PG again.

Steve Blake will be a good back up to D-Fish? WHAT!? START THIS GUY!

2010-07-03T14:30:00.000-07:00

Ever since I saw Steve Blake play for the Clippers live, I've been so high on him. I argued that he ran a better offense than Baron Davis. Twice. I wanted the Clippers to trade Baron Davis for a good post player and hand over the reigns to Steve Blake. He's a great personality. Works hard even for the lottery bound Clippers, even as a back up PG. Yes it was a contract year, but Steve Blake has always been known as a good character guy and good professional.
Gut reactions to the signing:

He's a pass first guy and that will work well in the Laker offense:

Fact. He is a pass first, almost to a fault. He barely looks at the basket and is always looking around to find open men. But he's so much more than that. He's a GOOD passer. If it wasn't for Kobe and Shannon Brown's hectic ability to grab errant lobs, a lot of those high low passes from Pau at the free throw line and Luke Walton from the 3 point line would have sailed out of bounds. Steve Blake throws a GREAT lob pass, in transition and in half court sets. Granted Shannon will probably leave for more money, Andrew Bynum is a good target to pass to on the lob.
Steve Blake is a great pick and roll passer. And with his ability to knock down a jump shot, if teams cheat and go under the screen set most likely from Pau Gasol or Andrew Bynum, he'll make you pay for it. Granted most all pick and roll situations come from Kobe Bryant, this will probably rarely happen. But if Blake plays with the 2nd string players, depending on who else they sign, it adds more to the Laker offense arsenal.
To sum it up, he makes the right pass, but in addition, that right pass is a GOOD pass in the receiver's comfort zone, making him able to finish the play correctly.

He's a good shooter.

Fact. Albeit he's more of a spot up shooter. He can create his own shot but mainly off of screens but he's a good catch and shoot shooter, from 3 point line and midrange.

He's a good defender.

Depends who you ask. He's a pesky defender but if an oversized point guard posts him up, he'll need help. He's got a small frame at 6'3 172 lbs (compared to Fisher 6'1 210 lbs). But he does have the ability to keep his man in front of him.
However, he is a smart defender. He knows how to rotate on defense and isn't afraid (on the Clippers at least) to tell people quickly where they need to be on defense while the ball is in play. If he plays with Lamar, I have a feeling the other 3 guys on the floor at the time will always know where they're supposed to be as Lamar takes a lot of pride in team defense as well.

He's got a high basketball IQ.

Fact. Refer to what I said about his passing.
But also, he knows basketball situations. He knows how to use his fouls, knows how to foul to stop a fast break. Knows where his teammates are going to be and knows how to play basketball the right way.
The way I see it, he's a poor man's Chauncey Billups playing for Larry Brown on the Pistons. Except he's playing for the rich Lakers and still took a pay cut due to their payroll to the Laker core.

Final argument. Look, Fisher did great this playoffs. He was the MVP of game 3 in the Finals. But you cannot, YOU ABSOLUTELY CANNOT, ignore the 82 game season. Fisher was a liability on defense and shot poorly compared to his last couple of years (38% FG, 34% 3pt). The argument for Fisher is that he's clutch. Ok, yeah, he's clutch. But do you need a clutch player who hits big shots for 82 games of the season when you have so many other weapons and are probably going to/should be winning games with a comfortable lead with the players the Lakers have? No.

However, during the playoffs, you will need clutch performers and Fisher is exactly that, which is why the Lakers should still keep him. He needs to be relegated to the bench so that he can save his legs for the playoffs. He needs to do what is best for the team as Lamar did in 2008 and was benched for yes, Vladamir Radmanovic. Later that season, Lamar was still benched in favor of yes, Luke Walton. Luke Walton later told Jackson he should be starting Trevor Ariza. Lamar did what his team asked him to do and it ended up in a championship. Fisher needs to do what Ron Artest did for the Lakers this season, took a pay cut to chase a ring and took a lesser role as not the number 1 option on offense but still performed. He did what his team asked him to do and it ended up in a championship.

As a Laker fan, and a Steve Blake fan, I'm so happy right now. I just feel that if they do sign Fisher and he starts, somewhere in the middle of the season, there will be talks of who should be starting at point guard. Why can't we just sidestep all of that and start Steve Blake at the end and have Fisher be the hero during the playoffs?

Regardless of what happens, here's to you, Steve Blake. I hope you get a championship ring and thank you taking less money.

World Cup Soccer Gude For NBA Fans (PART 1 of 2)

2010-07-01T20:09:00.000-07:00

I'll admit it, I got the World Cup Fever, too bad my team lost already (USA) but I'm still watching. I've been asking my co worker who's a soccer fanatic questions about the game, rules, notable players, notable teams etc. and came up with the idea of comparing the best world cup players to NBA players so I could get a sense of who I was watching.

So basically, we'll be saying: (SOCCER PLAYER X) is the (NBA PLAYER Y) of the World Cup.

We'll start off slow:

Diego Maradona and Pele (constant argument to the extent of the "Michael Jordan or Kobe" argument) are the Michael Jordan(s) of Soccer. Back in the day they ruled the game and were leaps and bounds ahead of their peers.

David Beckham is the Reggie Miller of Soccer. A sweet shot that no one can quite explain. Not that great of an all around player but will go down as one of Soccer's best players.

Ok you get the point. Using ESPN's 50 best players of the World Cup (written in March before the World Cup started, by the way), my co worker and I discussed who was the NBA comparison so that an average sports fan just getting into soccer could better comprehend the players he or she was watching at ungodly hours of the morning due to the time difference.

Disclaimers:

As I said, this list was prepared in March, way before the World Cup had started.
Soccer is quite different from basketball. Great soccer players know how to dribble and shoot and pass. So it'd be easy to just compare them all to the point guards of the league. I tried not to do that.
I'll be comparing styles of play and/or popularity and/or personal characteristics and/or career similarities, NOT ALL FOUR. This is just for the NBA fan to get a better grasp of what kind of Soccer player so and so is. I'll explain the choice in a few sentences, plus the scouting report from the ESPN website of the Soccer player.
If you disagree, let me know about it! I'm still a rookie soccer fan.

Without further ado:

1. Lionel Messi, Argentina Forward - LeBron James, TEAM UNKNOWN
This is if you're from the LeBron James is the greatest basketball player. Lionel Messi is simply the best soccer player in the world right now. He isn't scoring out of his mind because his coach (Maradona/"Jordan") has him playing out of position. "Can break down any defense off the dribble and conjure something out of nothing."

2. Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal Midfielder - Kobe Bryant, Lakers
One of the best in the world, plus he is considered selfish, arrogant and cocky. The team is all about him etc. I'll admit I'm biased but Kobe Bryant will always have that tag and for the most part it was true a couple years ago (and flashes here and there including game 7 of the finals!). "Prolific goal scorer, specializes in long-range free kicks and can shoot from anywhere."

3. Wayne Rooney, England Forward - Brandon Roy, Blazers/Ron Artest, Lakers
Powerful build and a great scorer with good intelligence. He also is temperamental so that's where the Ron Artest comparison comes from. "Complete striker who can play anywhere across the front three."

4. Kaka, Brazil Midfielder - Kevin Durant, Thunder
Another great scorer, just not at the level of Ronaldo or Messi. He's older than Durant so he doesn't have the upside but right now, he's the Kevin Durant of the World Cup, on a team that's predicted by most to win the World Cup. "Artistic playmaker who can break down defenses via dribble (or pass)."

5. Xavi, Spain Midfielder - Chris Paul, Hornets
Great field vision and great passer. Can pass from long range or up close. "The pulse of the Spanish team" as is Chris Paul is for the Hornets. Can also control the ball and isn't turnover prone.

6. Didier Drogba, Ivory Coast Forward - Lamar Odom, Lakers
Remember my disclaimer? Am I saying Lamar is the 6th best player in the NBA as Drogba is the 6th best Soccer player? No. Similarities, great player, just doesn't always bring it. He can score any kind of goal as Lamar can post up, hit a 3 or drive the lane... when he puts his mind to it. Also think of Baron Davis from around 2006. "Practically unplayable when he puts his mind to it."

7. Andres Iniesta, Spain Midfielder - Rajon Rondo, Celtics
Straight up playmaker. Even has a cool nickname: "El Illusionista" (The Illusionist). He's not that tall but has great ball control and vision of the field. Can take players off the dribble and always looks to pass, sometimes to a fault. "Very difficult to dispossess and can also run at defenders and take them off the dribble."

8. Fernando Torres, Spain Forward - Pau Gasol, Lakers
Good all around player with good technique. But regarded as soft and tries to avoid contact. "Can sometimes be thrown off his game if defenders dish out the rough treatment and the refs are lax in calling fouls." Pau may have shaken that "soft" tag these past couple years but he can still fall prey to overzealous defense if the foul isn't called.

9. Steven Gerrard, England Midfielder - Kevin Garnett, Timberwolves (early 2000s)
Aggressive tackler with good offense. Dynamic player who can play all over the field. "Struggles at times to shed man markers." Can't take a player off the dribble like KG couldn't. Don't get me wrong, KG could go on one but he would use his post moves, no cross overs.

10. Michael Essien, Ghana Midfielder - Allen Iverson, 76ers (2000-2003)
Great offense but also great defense. "Covers an incredible amount of territory with boundless energy." Essien was injured before the world cup even started so that's why you haven't heard much about him. Ghana is still in the tournament though.

11. David Villa, Spain Forward - Dwyane Wade, Heat
Great player who can flat out score. Finds openings and has the speed to get into the holes in the defense. Great finisher, won't miss too many shots from up close. "Predatory goal scorer who constantly finds openings in the defense and penalty box."

12. Frank Ribery, France Midfielder - Steve Nash, Suns
Known for making plays for his teammates who simply works hard. Takes over as France's franchise player after Zidane as Nash took over from uhh, Stephon Marbury? "Clever playmaker... loves to run at defenders and get to the byline."

13. Samuel Eto'o, Cameroon Forward - Manu Ginobili, Spurs
One of the older players and has maybe lost a step or two, but can still bring it every game. "Often glides into the box and finishes calmly. Presses defenders high all across the field." Fourth world cup at 28 years old because he played his first one when he was 14! Ginobili can still take over games this late in his career and moves swiftly through defenders.

14. Luis Fabiano, Brazil Forward - Jason Richardson, Suns
He's a streaky "explosive" player who "can score in bunches" but he's inconsistent. This reminds me of Jason Richardson who on any night can light a team up for 30 points but is usually going to average around half that.

15. Iker Casillas, Spain Goalie - Dwight Howard, Magic
Didn't see that one coming, did you? Our first defensive player goes to the top defensive player in the NBA. Maybe not quite as physical as Dwight but "possesses superior reflexes and positioning. Composed and deals solidly with aerial crosses" so perhaps there's a little Tim Duncan and Emeka Okafor in there, but regardless, best goalie therefore, Dwight (Defensive player of the year 2 years in a row).

16. Cesc Fabregas, Spain Midfielder - Carmelo Anthony, Nuggets
He's a great player and he demands the ball. Good all around game but "can be a little careless with turnovers at times." Carmelo has averaged 3+ turnovers a game for 6 of his 7 year career (2.7 TOs per in 05/06) but still one of the game's best players.

17. Gianluigi Buffon, Italy Goalie - Tim Duncan, Spurs
Ok so the next defensive player goes to one of the best defenders, but here's why. He's 32 and still playing at a high level. "Veteran with sound positional sense. Solid shot stopper, rarely makes a mistake." That sounds very Tim Duncan to me.

18. Dani Alves, Brazil Defender - Rashard Lewis, Magic / Amare Stoudemire, Suns
A defender compared to Rashard and Amare? Hear me out, like my disclaimer said, these aren't fool proof. He's a defender, but he's a scoring defender. "Superior set-piece delivery" and "defensively vulnerable at times and can be caught out of position or muscled off the ball." Great player with those defensive asterisks, sounds like Amare with a Rashard jumpshot to me.

19. Nemanja Vidic, Serbia Defender - Andrei Kirilenko, Jazz (2004-2006)
Takes pride in keeping his man in front of him as Andrei did when he was the best player on the post Stockton/Malone Jazz. But he was also well rounded enough to be a force on offense and could pretty much fill a box score up. "Owns the box with his aerial ability, both defensively and on offensive set pieces. Can be vulnerable to pacy forwards with strong dribbling skills."

20. Wesley Sneijder, Netherlands Midfielder - Deron Williams, Jazz
Short player with good vision and can shoot from distance, prefers to be a playmaker. "World-class passing game does provide the glue that will hold together the 10 players surrounding him."

21. Maicon, Brazil Defender - Trevor Ariza, Rockets
Well rounded player. Defender who can play offense as well, but primarily a defender (Ariza on the Lakers, I suppose). "Strong defensive play with powerful surging runs down the right flank. No real weaknesses."

22. Frank Lampard, England Midfielder - Tony Parker, Spurs
Can score and pass off to teammates for assists. Impressive finisher for a midfielder as is Parker with his teardrop runner over bigs. "doesn't do any one thing exceptionally well but is above average in all areas."

23. Andrea Pirlo, Italy Midfielder - Chauncey Billups, Nuggets
Playmaking midfielder who can "control the tempo of a game and generally delivers superb set pieces." Not so much a scorer like Chauncey, Pirlo looks to set up other teammates but can hit from long range as Billups can.

24. Carlos Tevez, Aregentina Forward - Russell Westbrook, Thunder
Big ball of energy. I debated putting Leandro Barbosa here but he has fallen off a little bit from prior years. Tevez can score some spectacular goals as Westbrook can throw down some game changing dunks. Both are scorers and both have speed and hustle.

25. Robin Van Persie, Netherlands Forward - Danny Granger, Pacers
A good scorer with some well rounded abilities but needs work "on his heading ability but possesses every other tool in pace, finishing and long-range shooting." Reminds me of Granger because although he's the face of the Pacers right now, he's got some work to do to become a franchise guy.

26-50 in the works!

Corey Maggette Trade has MAJOR IMPLICATIONS ON WARRIORS FUTURE

2010-06-23T01:18:00.000-07:00

The Trade:

Milwaukee trades Dan Gadzuric and Charlie Bell to the Golden State Warriors for Corey Maggette and the 44th pick in the draft.

The Contracts:

Dan Gadzuric - 1 more year (2010-2011 season) for $7.2 million
Charlie Bell - 2 more years for $3.8 million, then $4.0 million

Corey Maggette - 3 more years for $9.6, $10.2, $10.9 million

What Milwaukee is receiving

This is a good trade for Milwaukee. Why? Corey Maggette can score. His career with the Clippers was as a player who was a first or second option behind Elton Brand. These Clipper teams sucked and he was not re-signed and left to Golden State. Golden State simply is not a good team. They have had a lot of internal problems that start from the coach and management who feel that even if they lose 70% of their games, if the team scores a lot and it's fun, we'll still make money. This team saw Corey Maggette as just another SG/SF who if he's open, will shoot just like anyone else on the team (Monta, Curry, Stephen Jackson, Jamal Crawford, etc.) These past two years, he averaged 18 and 20 points but the team had no success.

As a Milwaukee Buck, he'll be a third option behind Andrew Bogut and Brandon Jennings. With John Salmons likely opting out of the last year of his contract to get a healthy contract elsewhere, Maggette will fill that role of a scoring swingman to run alongside Jennings. Another 8th seed or above is not so inconceivable depending on how the rest of free agency shapes out.

All it cost them was PF/C Gadzuric who barely played and an aging Charlie Bell who can still hit a 3 pointer.

What Golden State is receiving

Trash. Like I said, Gadzuric barely plays and Charlie Bell is a third stringer maybe 2nd stringer on the Warriors. What the Warriors are REALLY receiving is a flexible future.

With this trade, they'll still pay the $10 million that was owed to Maggette with the combined salaries of Gadzuric and Bell. But next summer, and the summer after that when Gadzuric and Bell's contracts come off the books respectively, they can use that money to sign some depth players or a bigger name FA.

What else does this trade say about the Warriors future? It says they're looking to build the team around Stephen Curry and/or Monta Ellis. Ellis is signed until the 2014 season and Curry until the 2013 season. Having two small starting guards is a predicament all itself and I'm still not sure if they can win with not just two small starting guards but THESE two small starting guards who are almost exactly the same player. But the known future is without Corey Maggette and if you're keeping count, that's the fourth SG/SF they've gotten rid of in recent memory (Stephen Jackson, Jamal Crawford, Jason Richardson, and now Corey Maggette).

The trade offers some flexibility in the near future: Gadzuric is a $7 million dollar expiring contract and if recent history has taught us anything (Kwame Brown for Pau Gasol), it's that expiring contracts, regardless of who the player is, are valuable. Some team out there will be looking for a new home for a disgruntled/not-working-out-so-well Mid Level Exception player with a couple years left on contract that might tickle the fancy of the Warriors front office. Flexibility. Options.

Flexibility for next summer: The Warriors have the same payroll as they did before the trade (matching contract dollar amounts) for this upcoming year. They still have enough money to spend on a not so max contract kind of player (not LeBron, Wade or Bosh, but maybe Boozer, David Lee or Brad Miller).

With the Maggette trade, they can sign one of those latter three names (or a player to their level of talent) and then sign ANOTHER such player, or even better than said players, next year as well as Gadzuric's $7 million will come off the books. As I said before, they can also use this money to sign some bench players for depth and maybe use it on a Mid Level Exception type player. Flexible future!

To make that easier to understand:

GS Payroll this summer before AND after the trade: $55 million.
GS Payroll next summer before trade: Around $34 million. After trade: Around $28 million.

With the Salary cap likely to be around the mid $70 million range, the Golden State Warriors have more money to play with/more options to look at.

If you're a Warriors fan: you are hoping to the basketball gods above that the Warriors aren't done making moves. You're hoping they sign a top FA this summer and continue to make cap space either for depth or another top name FA next summer. They've got the money, let's hope they don't eff it all up like they did with the Maggette signing two summers ago!

Some other things they have to deal with:

Andris Biedrins' $9 million a year contract until the 2014 season. Ughh. This guy is not a good Center and is crippling the Warriors roster. A Center with no post moves, no free throw shooting, no killer instinct, no decent hair cut who barely plays and is only suited for the run-n-gun style the Warriors play, which is a terrible way to play as proven by the last 3-4 years of no basketball success besides the taking out the fraud Mavericks number 1 seed.
Brandan Wright and Anthony Randolph: both signed at least for the next couple of years yet they barely play. Wright is a PF and Randolph an SF. With Corey leaving, they'll be looking for a PF/C player so perhaps Randolph will finally get some decent playing time. The Warriors will have to make a decision on what to do with Wright. Either ship him for a draft pick or some kind of package deal or let him play!

Overall, I'm very proud of the Warriors making this move as they strive for a better future and take out the trash they seem to have subtly admitted overpaid for. Again, this better be the first of at least two or three they do this summer.

Contract info from HoopsHype

NBA Finals game by game MVPS

2010-06-20T23:44:00.000-07:00

What a difference a game makes. Last I posted was after game 2 of the Finals where I chastised the refereeing. I thought there were way too many missed calls, make up calls, bad calls and flops that both teams were guilty of. Here are my quick notes:

Game 1 - Kobe turned into F YOU mode and went off and controlled the game. The Celtics didn't look ready and everyone wrote them off after they lost. Everyone threw the fact that after a game 1 win, Phil Jackson has never lost (such a logical flaw btw, just because something happens over and over again does not GUARANTEE that it will happen the next time). The whole Laker team played well but Game 1 MVP goes to Kobe.

Game 2 - "If we play how we're supposed to play, we'll win." - Doc Rivers. And what do you know, they played their game and won. Thanks in part to a Finals record eight 3 pointers by Ray Allen. He goes off screen after screen and has Fish chasing and chasing him and Andre Bynum and Pau Gasol NEVER step out to help on those screens. And then they look at each other like, ugghh why didn't you step out on him!? Ray Allen was the offense that night and the game 2 MVP goes to him, Ray Allen.

Game 3 - I know why Derek Fisher cried after the game in his post game interview: Derek Fisher is known for hitting big shots. He hit the .4 shot against San Antonio, he hit those 3 pointers against Orlando last year in the Finals. He has a knack for hitting clutch shots in clutch situations. However, he's never, NEVER, been asked to carry a team, let alone in the Finals. The Lakers hadn't done anything and were about to go down 1-2 in the series. Fisher then drives the lane and scores a layup with Rasheed contesting, he hits running jumpers, and then I saw something I though I'd never see: Kobe Bryant setting a screen for Derek Fisher. And he did that screen where if he rolled to the basket, he would have had an easy bucket, but he didn't roll. It's like when you're in a pick up basketball game and everyone's tired but you still want to win so you set on ball screens for the hot shooter/best player at the moment and stand and watch to see if he scores. And Fisher scored. Topped off with a dagger and 1 with KG, Big Baby and Ray Ray fouling him as he made the layup and Pau screaming in his face as he helped him up. Game 3 MVP goes to Fisher, something he'd never deserved more than that day. Emotions got the best of him and he let it out with a couple tears.

Game 4 - Fast forward to the end of the third quarter with the Lakers up by 2 - 62 to 60. Glen Davis and Nate Robinson come in to rest the starters and with pure hustle, hard work and determination, they took over the game. To the point where Rondo told Doc Rivers to keep them in. Capped off with an and 1 put back by Glen Davis to where he screamed his heart out and Nate Robinson jumped on his back in joy. It's like when you're playing a pick up game and you're obviously over matched in talent, except your team wins by simply putting forth more effort and you just get emotional and just have to scream after a foul. Only it's not a pick up game, and it's a must win with thousands of fans screaming with you. Game 4 MVP goes to Glen Davis, emotions got the best of him and he let it out with a yell that I could hear from Los Angeles.

Game 5 - Both teams view this as a must win. Celtics don't want to go down 3-2 and have to win two games in Los Angeles. Lakers don't want to go down 3-2 which would allow the Celtics to win just one of two in Los Angeles, something they've proven they can do (game 2). Fast forward to the third quarter where Kobe goes into Beast Mode. He has to take over this game to give the Lakers a chance because quite simply, no one else showed up. Paul Pierce is torching Ron Artest, the defensive stopper and forcing LA to play 4 on 5 on offense. A liability on BOTH sides of the ball. Bryant scores 23 straight points in the 3rd quarter, constantly yells and pleads his team: "LET'S GET A STOP!!" Unfortunately for him, those stops never came and Paul Pierce hit shot after shot to match Kobe's onslaught.

Fast forward to the fourth quarter when Derek Fisher and KG have a jump ball. Fisher wins the tip inexplicably and Kobe gets the ball, passes it up to Ron Artest who Paul Pierce smartly fouls and doesn't give him a chance to make the shot. Ron Artest misses both free throws, Kobe tries to grab the rebound and Pierce rips it away. You could read Kobe's lips in the replay, he yells, "MAN FUCK!!!" I'm not trying to be Kobe Homer (and when I rip him a new one in game 7 review, you'll believe that) but Kobe gave his all and his teammates didn't show up and he still tried to make the right play by passing the ball up to a streaking Ron Artest. He gave so much of himself in the third that there quite simply wasn't enough in him for the fourth quarter. Pierce was too much for Ron and the Lakers to handle. Game 5 MVP goes to Paul Pierce, emotions didn't get the best of him and he just let his game speak for himself.

Game 6 - Big news of the night, Kendrick Perkins goes down and hurts his knee early and will not return. Add that to the fact that the Lakers have their backs against the wall and are playing for their basketball lives and the Los Angeles takes game 6 with ease. Bench players play well at home and suck on the road holds true here as Sasha scores 9, Farmar and Shannon score 4 each. For Boston, Rasheed scores 0, Tony Allen scores 2, Glen Davis scores 0, Nate Robinson scores 6 on 2 for 8 shooting. Marquis Daniels adds 5 but that was when the game was already decided late in the fourth. Lamar and Pau took advantage of no Kendrick Perkins and get 10 and 13 rebounds respectively. Pau gets a near triple double as they make him the focal point of the offense as they should always do when a team has no post defense (even with Perkins) and ends with a stat line of 17/13/9 with a steal and 3 blocks. Game 6 MVP goes to Pau Gasol, emotions didn't get the best of him because you can't get too cocky when you just tied the series and 3-3 and going to a game 7.

Game 7 - Dog fight. Perkins out and Sheed starts. No ticky tack fouls called. Oh, and Kobe will never me Michael Jordan. He had a chance to get his name closer to that level, but instead he brought himself down. Forced way too many shots, didn't pass out of double teams, tried to make game 7 his, and almost shot the team out of a championship. If it wasn't for Ron Artest's defense, which lead to offense, offensive rebounds and put backs, and his run in the second quarter to bring keep the Lakers competitive, Kobe would be hounded this entire summer for being the biggest choke artist in the history of sports.

I honestly can't say enough about Ron Artest. He hit his shots, he hustled and he worked hard which is pretty much all you can ask for from a Basketball player. Capped off with his huge 3 pointer in the 4th to put the Lakers ahead by 6 after Rasheed's 3 pointer, which cut the lead to 3. That was so huge, even if Ray Allen hit a 3 pointer to answer because it bought the Lakers about a minute of game time near the end. Add that to the and 1 he got in the fourth and this game was Ron's. Game 7 MVP goes to Ron Artest, emotions got the best of him and he let it out with the most unfiltered post game interviews in the recent history of the NBA. My fav part was when he called out his brother, Daniel Artest saying "This is my brother, Daniel Artest, he got in a fight with Trevor Ariza on twitter!" Whatever you want to say, Ron, you just earned your ring. [Sidenote: LA brought Lakers for his defense, seems like they brought him for his charisma and personality, he provided both along with game 7 offense.]

I do have one beef with Ron's answers in his post game interviews. He goes off about how Kobe passed him the ball and how Kobe never passes him the ball! Kobe doesn't pass as much as he should but when he does, he almost always passes to Ron! He's the only one during the playoffs that teams left open and Kobe always did that jump pass to Ron for either a swished 3 pointer or a 3 pointer that was no where close to the rim. He followed suit in game 7 crunch time and Ron delivered.

By the way, Game 1 MVP went to Kobe and Game 2 MVP went to Ray Allen.

SOOO, if you're keeping count, that's one game MVP to the following: Kobe, Ray, Fisher, Glen Davis, Paul Pierce, Pau, Ron Artest.

So why did Kobe get the Finals MVP? First because the Lakers won. Second, He consistently got the stats and while Fisher in game 2 was the MVP, he didn't do anything too much of note in the other Laker wins, and in game 6, he also put up good numbers but Pau outdid him for that game, and the same case for game 7. Although it could be argued that Pau should have won the Finals MVP and he would have had the Lakers consistently made him the focal point of the offense, which they probably should have. But life goes on...

And one more thing. Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson discussed how if in game 6, the Celtics won, Kobe would have won the Finals MVP. This is so ludicrous. If the Celtics won, the Finals MVP would have gone to Rajon Rondo hands down. Rondo was the glue that held everything together for the Celtics. Without him, they don't win, simple as that. Always in control of the game, always hustling, always putting up great numbers. The only reason Jerry West is the only player to win the Finals MVP and be on a losing team is because that was the first year they started awarding a Finals MVP (1969) and they didn't realize how stupid it was until the next season.

I'll be posting a season in review post in the near future but this was my Finals Post.

These Finals are less epic than the Lost Finale

2010-06-07T19:29:00.000-07:00

These. Refs. Suck.

(Photo from Zimbio)
We haven't even seen the Lakers vs. Celtics yet. What is up with that?

In Game 1, Lamar Odom and Ray Allen got called for some BS fouls. The Celtics were more hurt than this, losing their best shooter who can spread the floor. The Lakers didn't really lose Lamar but they definitely lost some free throws. Ray Allen played 27 minutes but that's really about 20 minutes of REAL time. That extra 7 minutes was played when the game was pretty much decided with the Lakers up by about 13-15 points. Allen could not get into a rhythm (12 points on 3-8 shooting, no 3 pointers), like he was able to do so in game 2 (32 points on 11-20 shooting, 8-11 3 pointers).

But just because Ray Allen wasn't saddled with foul problems in game 2 didn't make it any better. Sure the Celtics shot a lot of 3 pointers (not driving to the lane to get fouls and free throw attempts), but anytime they did, they weren't getting the bump fouls the Lakers were getting. Forget the free throw disparity, just watch the 4th quarter.

But hey, the Celtics still won, thanks to those Ray Allen 3 pointers... but also thanks to two phantom fouls (ala Ray Allen in game 1) on Kobe Bryant. The first was when Kobe drives the lane, being guarded by Ray Allen. Kobe does a spin move to avoid contact, but Ray Allen does an outstanding flop job to get the ref to call an offensive foul on Kobe. The second was when Rajon Rondo cleanly steals the ball from Kobe near the right sideline around the free throw line extended. Kobe jumps back to avoid contact, but Rondo still falls out of bounds, and Kobe gets called for the foul.

Kobe is forced to sit during stretches where he'd usually play. Final stat line: 34 minutes, 5 fouls, 21 points.

Hey, I'll flat out say it, I'm a Laker fan and want the Lakers to win. But I also want to see some effing good basketball, not Sasha Vujacic guarding Ray Allen instead of foul plagued Kobe (game 2) or Tony Allen go 1-4 in place of a foul plagued Ray Allen (game 1). This series is annoying. This series is bad. This series is quite literally, less epic than the Lost Finale. Greatest rivalry of all time? They haven't even played a game against each other, yet.

Other things of note:

Lakers wasted a 39 minute game by Andrew Bynum (21 points and 7 blocks), I doubt we'll see that again.
Ray Allen goes through screen after screen and no one steps out on him and little Derek Fisher has to be hit by KG and Perkins before getting a hand up when the ball is already well on it's way to the bottom of the basket. That's all defensive communication (or a lack thereof). Pau points out to Bynum at least twice a game so far to step out on him as he runs the baseline to go through that last screen by Perkins. Young player syndrome. And by the way, this happened in the first round. Kevin Durant going through screen after screen and having Ron Artest get to him too late, while Lamar and Bynum stand by watching instead of stepping out on him. So annoying.
Nate Robinson is doing a great job filling in for Rondo off the bench. Knows his role. Hindsight: good trade for the Celtics.
I don't know who takes worse shots: Ron Artest or Shannon Brown. Just keep an eye out for that tomorrow. Watch Shannon dribble dribble dribble and pull up for a fade away long two pointers. Regardless of it going in or not, it's still a bad shot.
Boston Sucks chants need to stop. It's not that creative. Not that Beat LA is any better.

Kobe Disses Chris Rock

2010-06-03T21:39:00.000-07:00

Best editing ever.

Tweets of the Playoffs

2010-06-02T23:31:00.000-07:00

Phil came home from STAPLES Center kissed me on the forehead and watched the 4th quarter again. I am an NBA widow. - Jeanie Buss
Jeanie is funny.

I got a question!! Why do people wanna see Kobe and lebron do so bad? Why just those 2 players more than anyone else? - Kevin Durant
Because they are the top two players in the league right now and it would add a major factor to the debate of not necessarily who is better, but who can pull their team to win in the most important games of the year. In 3 or 4 years, if they meet, Kobe will be further away from his prime and if LeBron's team wins, there would be that asterisk of Kobe wasn't in his prime.

#wheniwasafreshman I almost pee'd my pants when I ran out the tunnell for our first game..i was uber nervous - Kevin Durant
BTW, his stat line for that first game: 20 points on 8-13 shooting, 3-6 from 3pt, 1-2 FT, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers in 22 minutes, they beat Alcorn State (who?) 103-44.

Best Picture ever.. http://tweetphoto.com/24367892 - Stephon Marbury
Congrats to Stephon Marbury's son (I'm assuming) for graduating kindergarten! (?)

whats going on out there everybody... its Wednesday whats going on? - Baron Davis
ladies and gentlemen, Baron Davis is bored.

NBA Finals, more epic than the Lost Finale

2010-05-30T20:50:00.000-07:00

(Photo from bleacherreport)

We've made it my friends. The last four to seven games of the NBA season. The Lakers hope to repeat as Champions, the Celtics try to win their 2nd in 3 years. It's a rematch, a grudge match, whatever you want to call it, it's going to be good.

Here's what we won't be seeing:

LeBron vs Kobe to ultimately decide NOT who is the better player (LeBron is), but who can make the shots in crunch time in the NBA's most important stage. What everyone predicted last summer, what almost everyone wanted to see. The two best players in the NBA as close to their primes to make the clash that more epic. Maybe some other time.
Finals rematch of 2009 between the Lakers and Magic. Still don't know why they let Hedo go. Still don't know why they used that money to overpay Gortat, but whatever.
The Mavericks star power of Kidd, Nowitzki, Terry, Shawn Marion and Caron Butler (woulda been a bit more special 4 years ago maybe) in the finals. Cuban will beat anyone's advertised price this summer to get a championship!
The Denver Nuggets in the finals. They were so sure they could beat the Lakers, and who knows if they could have? The Utah Jazz took them out in the first round. I think they really missed George Karl on the sideline. Hopefully he fully recovers from his cancer.
Everyone else pretty much wasn't thought to make it to the Finals, so what we have is what we have. Another Boston Los Angeles series. I'm excited.

Just like any series, it all comes down to the matchups.

Lakers defense:

Kobe will guard Rondo as he has for the past three years, unlike the past three years however, he won't be able to sag off of him giving him an open jumpshot. Rondo has learned that if they give you space, attack that open space in front of you and get fouled or continue on to the layup. Should have been considered for Most Improved Player.
Artest will guard Paul Pierce.

Should be fun. I'd expect what we saw him do on Durant. Be in his face at all times, smother him, swipe at the ball, at times lose sight of team defense.

Pau Gasol will guard Kevin Garnett. Is it me or is KG taking a lot more jumpshots this year than the last couple years instead of attacking the basket?
Andrew Bynum will guard Kendrick Perkins. Although, since he's only going to play 20 minutes a game, and Lamar plays starter minutes, I'm predicting most of the defense assignment for KG will go to Lamar, and Pau will guard Perkins.
This leaves Derek Fisher to guard Ray Allen. Derek did a decent job on Nash, but still got burned plenty of times. He fought through Amare screens to try and disrupt the pick and roll. He'll have to fight through a lot of off ball screens where Ray Allen likes to move without the ball and curl to the basket for open jumpshots. Will Fisher be able to keep up with him?
Key (only) bench players besides Lamar: Jordan Farmar, Shannon Brown, and what I'm predicting, DJ Mbenga. Boston has a bench Sheed and Glen Davis to go along with Kendrick Perkins. None of the Lakers' opponents so far have had this many bigs (Oklahoma with only Ibaka and Collison, Utah with Boozer and Millsap, Phoenix with Amare and Robin Lopez). Maybe Josh Powell will be called upon for more than 1-2 minutes as well.

(Photo from KaibutsuConsumer)

Boston defense:

Kendrick Perkins will guard Andrew Bynum. As I said before, Bynum only plays 20 minutes a game with that torn meniscus, giving Lamar Odom the starter minutes. I'm predicting when Bynum goes out and Pau is the center, they put Perkins on Pau and KG on Lamar. Until that happens though,
KG will guard Pau.
Ray Allen will guard Kobe. Pierce will also have his opportunities against Kobe, but for the most part in recent history Allen takes on the challenge of guarding Kobe.
Paul Pierce will guard Artest. What I'm predicting is that the Celtics will do what the Thunder, Jazz and Suns did and leave Artest wide open at the 3 point line to double Kobe or Pau. Unlike those three teams, it is second nature to rotate defensively when either player passes out of that double team. So if Artest gets hot like he did in game 6 of the Phoenix series, Boston will adjust.
Rondo will guard Derek Fisher. Derek Fisher's been hitting shots and playing a lot better than he has in the regular season. But so is Rondo. And he's first team all defense. I'm expecting to see Fisher relegate ball handling duties to Lamar and Kobe for most of the possessions.

What's missing from the last time these teams won the championship, what's new?

Boston (compared to 2008 against Los Angeles): Take away Eddie House's 3 point shooting and James Posey's 3 point shooting and defense, Leon Powe's spark off the bench. PJ Brown's interior defense. Add Rasheed Wallace's 3 point shooting and interior presence, Nate Robinson's quickness, Rondo's growth into a franchise player. (Photo from nba.com)

Los Angeles (compared to last year against Orlando): Take away Trevor Ariza's defense and 3 point shooting, Bynum's health. Add Ron Artest's defense.

My prediction: I've been so off with my predictions this playoffs. I thought Miami was going to beat Boston, then I said Cleveland would knock em out, then I said the Magic would finally do them in (by a hair, mind you). The only thing I've gotten right is my predictions with the Lakers. So. With a gun to my head, I say the Lakers in 6 by winning games 1 and 2, losing game 3 and 4, winning games 5 and 6.

What Boston needs to do to win is continue to play how they've been playing. They play great defense and get great bench production from Tony Allen and Glen Davis, and most recently Rasheed Wallace. Rondo needs to continue to play hyper basketball, simply outworking opponents coupled with talent and amazing court vision, he'll run away with the Finals MVP should the Celtics win.

What Los Angeles needs to do to win is focus on their defensive rotations and Ron Artest needs to hit his open 3 pointers. Kobe and Pau will be double teamed. I guaransheed it. Ron Artest will be left wide open at the 3 point line, it's up to him to make the shot or at least drive it in. Kobe needs to continue to play his game. He's spreading the ball, constantly looking for Pau, and when it's needed (such as in game 6), taking over offensively. Kobe will win the Finals MVP should the Lakers win, but if Pau plays great, he could take it as well.

(Photo from InsideSocal)

Whoever wins, this is going to be a great series and you all need to watch all the games, tivo them, and watch them again and again all summer until next season comes. LeBron's tagline is "We are all witnesses." Yes we are all witnesses but right now, we are witnessing one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports. We are witnessing one of the greatest ever, Kobe Bryant put on amazing performances with incredible shot after incredible shot. We are witnessing Rajon Rondo on the cusp of being one of the top players in the league. The Finals is where legends are made and Rondo is close, if not already there. June 3rd: 9PM eastern, 6PM pacific on ABC. I CAN'T WAIT.

This is why Phil Jackson is one of the greatest coaches ever

2010-05-27T23:18:00.000-07:00

(Photo from Yahoo)
This is why Jackson needs more than one coach of the year award. Phil Jackson knows what he is doing. Let's take it back to the last minute of the game:

Play By Play

Nash scores with 1:21 bring the Suns to within 3. Lakers lead 101-98.

Derek Fisher passes to Ron Artest with 8 seconds left on the shot clock where he misses a top of the key jumper (wide open) with 1:02 left.

Pau Gasol offensive rebound, passes to Artest at the left wing 3 pointer, shoots a 3 with 22 seconds on the shot clock with 57 seconds left, Channing Frye rebounds.

Steve Nash crosses half court, calls time out.

Out of the time out, Frye misses a 3 pointer, Odom rebounds, 40 seconds left.

Kobe Pau Pick and roll but Pau misses the dunk, Jason Richardson rebounds, 21 seconds left.

Steve Nash comes up and takes a pull up 3 pointer (he'd been hitting shots off the dribble all night) Odom challenges but doesn't box Nash out, Nash gets his own rebound, passes to Jason Richardson, misses a 3 pointer from left wing, Channing Frye rebounds, passes to Richardson again at the top of the key for 3, banks it home. Tie Game 101-101, 3.5 seconds left. Time out LA

Inbound to Kobe, airballs a highly contested double teamed 3 pointer but Ron gets the rebound and lays it in as he falls away, game winner. Lakers up 3-2.

What Phil Jackson did (and does) so great:

After that 3 pointer off of Pau's offensive rebound with 22 seconds left on the shot clock, and Frye rebounds and calls a time out, a dejected Ron Artest goes to the bench. Phil Jackson instead of getting up from his high chair to talk with the assistant coaches as he always does every timeout, he waits for Ron to get there. Ron sits next to him, doesn't make eye contact with Jackson, but Jackson talks to him. I didn't hear what was said, but it didn't look like Jackson was chastising him. He didn't get in his face, he didn't yell, he let him not look him in the eye.
He keeps Ron Artest in the game.

On the floor at the time was Fisher, Kobe, Ron, Lamar, and Pau (starters minus Bynun plus Odom). Phil could have easily replaced Artest and no one would question it. You take a bad shot with that much time on the clock that could cost your team the game, that could cost your team the series... you're a detriment while on the floor. Instead, Phil trusted Ron. Kept him on the floor. He Could have inserted Luke Walton who has a high basketball IQ (just no athletic ability to showcase it). Could have inserted Jordan Farmar who makes his 3 pointers and free throws and also has a high basketball IQ. Could have inserted Bynum who could get offensive board and knows automatically to throw it to Kobe or Lamar or anyone except dribbling.

Ron knew it was a bad shot. But his coach believed in him. His teammates got behind him and didn't freeze him out. They huddled as the timeout was ending, slapped him on the ass and got back out there.

Kobe gets the ball with 3.5 seconds left. Airball, Jason Richardson is bodied out of the way by Artest who catches the ball and puts in the game winning layup and runs into Kobe's arms who embraces him back. Lakers win 3-2.

Why'd he keep him in? Jackson's Post game interview: "He just has a knack for being around crucial plays." Jackson also mentioned Artest's steal on Nash that helped spurt their lead runaway during the game that ballooned to 17 (only for the Lakers to give it up later). No X's and O's, just game situation management. He also said that after the congratulating, their was a discussion with Ron Artest. He didn't put him on blast. Didn't even offer any details. He didn't need to. We know what he said: something along the lines of, be aware of the clock, understand the situation etc. End of story, congrats on winning the game for us.

Phil knows these players better than any sports writer, fan, twitterer, etc. That's why he's worth $12 million a year. That's why he has 10 championship rings, could be getting his 11th. That's why he doesn't bench Derek Fisher in place of Farmar or Shannon Brown (Fisher: 11 ppg at 46% in the playoffs compared to 7.5 ppg at 40% during the season).

Coach of the Year Award

Instead the Coach of the year award goes to guys who end up getting fired 2 years later when they don't win a championship. Seriously: Hubie Brown-Memphis, Avery Johnson-Dallas, Sam Mitchell-Toronto, Byron Scott-New Orleans, Mike Brown-Cleveland. We'll see where Scottie Brooks-Oklahoma is in two years. Only in that span of COY's, Larry Brown's Pistons, Gregg Popovich's Spurs, and Phil Jackson's Lakers were winning the championships. But hey, what do I know? A lot less than Phil Jackson for sure.

So if you're a Laker fan and you're upset that the Lakers are on the wrong side of a 12-2 run and Phil Jackson doesn't call a timeout, remember that you're yelling at one of the greatest coaches of all time.

I don't get the hype that Sasha Vujacic gets, I just don't

2010-05-20T22:18:00.000-07:00

Do you really need to stretch to play a minute and 23 seconds?

(Photo from Yahoo)
I forked over a pretty penny to get some section 300 seats for Game 1 of the Phoenix Suns-LA Lakers series. Besides the usual hype everyone heard regarding the 2006 and 2007 series where Phoenix took out the Lakers and how this is "payback" even though the Lakers have since won a championship (gotta get hype somehow), there was a little more than "regular news" that Sasha Vujacic would return from an ankle sprain to play in his first playoff game of the year.

Now, I've chastised Sasha before on this blog. I've been chastising him since his rookie year, stopped for a season in 07-08, then went back to it after he signed a big contract and fell off. My question, AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO SEES THIS!?

When Sasha checked in for the first time with 6:30 left in the 2nd quarter, he received a huge ovation. Not as big as the Shannon almost dunk ovation, or the skip pass from Lamar to a Kobe dunk ovation, but it's safe to say the entire crowd was clapping and/or screaming praise. I looked over to my friend and genuinely asked, "Why are people cheering?" The Lakers scored on a Lamar layup from Farmar. At the 5:58 mark, Lamar fouled, stopping play, and Sasha was replaced by Ron Artest (about 30 seconds of playing time).

I guess Phil saw a matchup he didn't like, I believe he was guarding Grant Hill at the time. But he gave him another chance: with 46 seconds left in the 2nd quarter, Sasha replaces DJ Mbenga to finish the half. Amare makes a shot with 24 seconds left, just barely giving them a 2 for 1 opportunity. Kobe breaks Grant Hill's ankle (OK, he slipped), misses the shot, and Josh Powell gets the offensive rebound and dunks it:

Now at the end of that play, you see the Suns are off to a fast break with 4 seconds left. What you DON'T see is Grant Hill raise up for a 3 pointer with .6 seconds left and Sasha fouls him!!!!! He does his routine "grab-my-hair-in-despair-and-close-my-eyes" move as Hill makes 2 of 3 free throws.

I'm guessing Phil Jackson wasn't too happy about that: With 3.6 seconds left in the 14 point lead 3rd quarter, Sasha enters for Fisher (presumably to take a foul, because the Lakers had a foul to give, which Farmar eventually took). And that's the last we've seen of Vujacic! When the Lakers were up 21 points with about 3 minutes left in the game, the garbage time went to DJ Mbenga, Walton, Powell, Farmar, and Shannon. Farmar and Shannon who get quality minutes for Fisher and Kobe! Sasha, I believe you are in the dog house.

Yesterday's game 2 featured absolutely no Sasha even though radio announcers Mychal Thompson and Spero Dedes (Local Laker broadcasters) were mentioning before the game that Sasha was available, which could prove useful! HONESTLY, am I the only one not buying into the Sasha bandwagon!?

I predict less than 5 minutes for Sasha in game 3 at Phoenix on Sunday. Let's see what happens.

Wizards Win Draft Lotto in Shameful Fashion (Tanking) - Draft Notes

2010-05-18T21:47:00.001-07:00

(Photo from AtTheBox)
Bleh. I hate this. Washington had Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and Antawn Jamison and traded them all away to make cap space and tank the rest of the season for a high draft pick. One down, one to go. They get the #1 pick even though the New Jersey Nets, genuinely terrible, were trying to win games til the very end of the season... and they get the third pick. But I won't rant this entire post. Here's the official draft order for the 2010 NBA draft starting with the first pick:

1. Washington Wizards
2. Philadelphia 76ers
3. New Jersey Nets
4. Minnesota
5. Sacramento
6. Golden State
7. Detroit
8. Los Angeles Clippers
9. Utah Jazz (from NY Knicks)
10. Indiana
11. New Orleans
12. Memphis
13. Toronto
14. Houston

Then the playoff teams:

15. Milwaukee (from Chicago)
16. Minnesota (from Charlotte)
17. Chicago (from Milwaukee)
18. Miami
19. Boston
20. San Antonio
21. Oklahoma
22. Portland
23. Minnesota (from Utah)
24. Atlanta
25. Memphis (from Denver)
26. Oklahoma (from Phoenix)
27. New Jersey (from Dallas)
28. Memphis (From LA Lakers)
29. Orlando
30. Washington (from Cleveland)

So if you're keeping count, Minnesota has 3 first rounders (and 2 in the second round), Memphis has 3 first rounders, and Oklahoma, Washington and New Jersey have 2 first rounders. Maybe Minnesota will draft 3 more PGs and one will stay abroad cuz he doesn't want to play in crappy Minnesota.

Obvious question: What does Washington do with the first pick and Gilbert Arenas. Pick John Wall and have him play alongside Arenas, pick Wall and trade Arenas, or pass on Wall and get SG Evan Turner? According to Wizards president: “Gilbert is still with us. He’s been down at our gym, working out and getting ready. The more good players you have, the better.” Also, does this somehow get Washington in the Lebron sweepstakes? They've got the money, and now they could have the next Derrick Rose/Russell Westbrook type PG in John Wall (provided they don't make a Kwame Brown pick).

Other questions/comments:

This looks like a pretty decent draft where the top 8-10 picks can get some quality players, unlike last year. This is based on my little knowledge of the NCAA and watching March Madness, but it looks like struggling teams can improve their rosters.

But if the Warriors draft another G/F I will laugh.

I feel for Toronto, they're about to lose Bosh and with the 14th pick, that can't be enough to lure a quality free agent looking to win. What's so appetizing about Andrea Bargnani, Hedo Turkoglu, and Jose Calderon, and... DeMar DeRozan... yeahhhhh no.

Utah will get a nice pick thanks to New York trading it to them 6 years ago and never improving their record. They are thanking their unlucky stars they didn't get a top 3 pick though.

Oklahoma can add more youth to their youthful roster with the 21st and 26th pick.

Playoffs baby, playoffs (part 2)

2010-05-15T10:51:00.000-07:00

(Photo from Yahoo)
The second round of the playoffs is over as THE CAVALIERS (as a team) were beaten by the Boston Celtics in 6 games. LeBron James didn't lose the series, the Cavaliers did. Boston was the better team. You know what's crazy though? Somewhere in Boston, some hardcore Celtic fan who was probably screaming "NEW YORK KNICKS!" as LeBron was shooting free throws has possibly the last headband LeBron will ever wear as a Cavalier when he flinged it into the crowd as he was leaving the Boston Garden. EBAY!?!?! How much would that go for? I say thousands.

By the way, doesn't this series kind of prove that the NBA isn't fixed?
Playoff Performance of the Ages: Rondo in game 4. 29 points, 18 rebounds, 13 assists. Game changing plays. Twice he was on a fast break for a layup with LeBron trailing him to do one of his patented volleyball spike blocks against the backboard. Rondo goes up for the layup, LeBron follows, Rondo passes behind his back to a trailing Tony Allen for a dunk.

I'm pretty sure this happened twice but this was the only clip I could find. Either way, it was amazing. He was also hitting his open jump shots for the most part.

But hey, at least LeBron clapped hands with the Celtics. All I know is LeBron is going to enter the world of Kobe. Not the championship world, but the summer of constant questions, media and drama that Kobe faced when he was taken out of the playoffs by the Suns in 2007. Not a happy time for Laker fans, will not be a happy time for Cleveland fans... unless he re-signs.
But here's the thing. LeBron, if he re-signs with the Cavs, will the Cavs be that much better? Look at this: LeBron was $15 million this year. He's going to command 28-30$ million dollars with his new contract he will sign. Shaq's $20 million comes off the books this summer. Everyone else except some third stringers barely making any money at all is on contract for next year. Therefore, if he signs with the Cavs, they'll use Shaq's money to get LeBron that gigantic 30$ million dollar contract.... AND THE TEAM WILL REMAIN THE SAME (except for possibilities of a trade) (no picks in the draft this summer).

So the Cavs will be what we saw this year minus Shaq. They'll have Antawn Jamison for two more years (who should be getting a lot more grief than LeBron right now- DIDN'T SHOW UP), Mo Williams two, maybe 3 more years (player option 3rd year), Anderson Varejao until 2014, Daniel Gibson for 3 more years, Delonte West for another year... you get the picture.

But hey, I'm not going to speculate where he goes. Your guess is as good as mine. But I do know that the places with the most cap space to sign him to that 30ish$ million dollar contract are: New York Knicks, New Jersey Nets, Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Clippers, Washington Wizards, Sacaramento Kings, and the Chicago Bulls. Any other team he wants to go to would have to be done through a sign-and-trade so teams wouldn't kill their profits with luxury taxes. So I'm not going to speculate, your guess is as good as mine, and as good as ESPN's... think about that.

In other series that have been over for awhile -

(Photo from Yahoo)
Lakers vs Utah - Well I expected a little more out of Kirilenko's return in game 3, but he played 17 minutes, and then 12 minutes in game 4.

Carlos Boozer put up some decent numbers but he also had some critical turnovers right underneath the basket in crunch time of both games 3 and 4. Either way, he'll get a nice pay day from a team desperate for a change. My guess is the Golden State Warriors.

Ego alert - I was correct in my prediction for the series:

The Lakers will now take on Utah who will be a much easier opponent than the Thunder for the simple question of, who's going to guard Kobe? Rookie, Wesley Matthews? Ronnie Price? Andrei Kirilenko says he hopes to be back by game 3, and he can play defense on Kobe but we'll see what kind of defensive stopper shows up after that calf injury.

And Kobe did have a much better shooting performance than in the first series. Wesley Matthews had some nice plays on Kobe, but ultimately couldn't stop him. In the 6 games against the Thunder, Kobe shot respectively: 31%, 43%, 34%, 50%, 44%, 48%. In four games against the Suns, he shot respectively: 63%, 45%, 54%, 48% all while topping 30 points every game.

Oh and they had no post offensive or defensive game. Pau Gasol dominated as he should have. What's funny is that he won't face a decent post defender for the third straight series against the Suns-- I'm looking for him to put up great numbers again. The Jazz will get Okur back next season, and hopefully they start Millsap in place of Boozer. Oh, they could also win the NBA draft lottery as they have the Knicks' pick, no matter where that pick falls. That would be interesting. By the way, the lottery is on May 18th. Good luck to your team.

Ron Artest's twitter account got into it with Phil Jackson. Phil Jackson, picking his fights wisely brushed it off and didn't start any drama. Ron Artest shot 4-7 from 3 point range the next night. Moving on...

Game 3 Funny Moment, Derek Fisher steals the ball and is on his way to a fast break layup, only CJ Miles swats it out of bounds to make the crowd go crazy. That's not the funny part, listen to Marv Albert:

"OH MILES, WITH THE TAYSHAUN BLOCK!"

Of course he's referring to Tayshaun Prince's block on...

Reggie Miller! Marv Albert's commentating partner! Oh way to remind Reggie Miller of a game saving block in the second round of the 2004 playoffs! Quick history: the Pistons were up by 2 points and with 15 seconds left, Reggie could have tied it, but Tayshaun blocked it away, taking a 2-0 lead to Detroit. Ahhh, Marv.

Regarding Fisher being a traitor to the Utah Jazz - Uhh Jazz fans, do you really think Fisher coming off the bench is going to make you a championship team? At the time, the Jazz were better than the Lakers. This is the summer when the Jazz made the Western Conference Finals, and the Lakers were beat in 5 games to the Suns. Bynum sucked. Kwame Brown was the 3rd option behind Lamar Odom, Fisher was but a light upgrade from Smush Parker. He didn't do it to be on a better team. Fisher cut $8 million dollars to sign with the Lakers. He didn't do it for money. If Fisher was on the Jazz. Jazz fans would complain about Fisher the way LA fans complain about Fisher. The Jazz fans just needed someone to boo.

(Photo from Yahoo)
Phoenix Suns vs San Antonio Spurs - I expected MUCH more from the Spurs. I even expected them to beat the Suns! Instead the complete opposite happened and they were swept. Game 4 featured a one eyed Nash still dismantling the Spurs defense... I'm pretty sure the better team won.

Here's something to take note of, the scores for each of the four games: All Suns wins- 111-102, 110-102, 110-96, 107-101. The Suns were consistent. They say they've worked on their defense, but the Spurs averaged 101 points this entire season.

Some questions the Spurs have, what to do with Tony Parker and George Hill? What to do with Richard Jefferson? Both Parker and Jefferson have one more season on contract at $15 and $13.5 million respectively. Those are expiring contracts they could trade away to a team looking for cap space for... 2011? Oh yeah, it was this summer that was the big off season sweepstakes. George Hill was starting quality in the first round against the Mavs. But so is Tony Parker, if he didn't get injured.

One issue they don't have to worry about anymore is Manu Ginobili- he was extended through the 2013 season. But the Spurs know how to draft so I'm sure they'll get some talent next month with the 20th and 49th pick (Tony Parker 28th pick, George Hill 26th pick, Manu 2nd round 28th pick, DeJuan Blair 2nd round 7th pick).

How will the Suns-Lakers series go? I predict a Lakers victory in 6 games. I see the Suns as a better version of the Thunder but with still no post presence. Amare and Nash do pick and rolls for days but I think Gasol, Kobe, Ron and Lamar can move and rotate well enough to at least slow it down a little bit. And again, who will guard Kobe? Jason Richardson and Grant Hill? They'll be better than Wesley Matthews but not better than Durant. I predict another efficient scoring games by both Kobe and Pau Gasol. Let's see if Ron Artest worked on his 3 point shooting during his week off.

(Photo from Yahoo)
Orlando Magic vs Atlanta Hawks
Atlanta was coming off a 7 game series with the Bucks and the Magic had swept the Bobcats a week earlier. Bibby couldn't hang with Jameer Nelson. The Hawks fans booed their team. Atlanta was swept out of the playoffs.

So what's next for the Hawks? Big FA name alert: Joe Johnson. Straight up Free Agent. Not a player option or anything. He decides where he wants to go and for how much. The Hawks have the money to sign him to a max deal and the core group of guys that can get him to the playoffs again, but is it a championship contending team? I think this is a bunch of freakishly athletic guys like Josh Smith, Marvin Williams, and Al Horford who can put up good numbers and play good defense. But in the playoffs, Horford was a bit undersized to handle Dwight Howard. Mike Bibby made 7 field goals for the entire series. The team has no bench besides Jamal Crawford and his behind the back cross over. And they fired their coach!

Atlanta has gone a long way from their terrible years in the early part of 2000s. They have some decisions to make this off season. Unfortunately, their core group of guys aren't as talented as championship contending teams' cores.

Which brings me to the Orlando Magic. 8-0 in the playoffs so far getting a lot of rest. Yes they played playoff teams, but they swept who they were supposed to sweep. Their test is here. The Boston Celtics, who they beat last year (Celtics were without KG). We'll see if Jameer Nelson can keep up with Rondo. I know for sure Rondo can keep up with Jameer. This Orlando team is weird though. They shoot a lot of 3 pointers. Vince Carter, Jameer Nelson, Rashard Lewis, Matt Barnes, Mikael Pietrus, JJ Redick can all hit from deep and they can all get hot. But I predict that the Celtics will be able to defend. I also think Perkins, Rasheed and Glen Davis can body up Dwight Howard a little better than Al Horford and Zaza Pachulia.

I honestly don't know who'll win this series but if I had to, I'd go with Orlando, by a hair. They get hot from 3 point line and just put take teams out. Dwight Howard protects the paint and limits any 2nd chance points with his rebounding. Vince Carter seems to be playing high quality basketball right now. But like I said, Boston could just as easily return to the Finals with Rondo playing out of his mind, Ray and Pierce hitting from outside and KG hitting those crazy fade aways. It will be a good series. That's all my thoughts on the second round and predictions for the third round, thanks for reading.

My beef with the NBA's Most Improved Player Award

2010-05-06T21:10:00.000-07:00

(Photo from Yahoo)
Key: MIP=Most Improved Player Award

It's old news, but Aaron Brooks won the MIP this year after boosting his numbers from

11.2 points on 40% shooting, 3 assists, and 1.4 3pt made
to
19.6 points on 43% shooting, 5 assists, and 2.6 3pt made

Here's his recent career courtesy of his Yahoo Profile Page:

Recent Career				FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
Year	Team	G	Min	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
2008-09	HOU	80	25:00	4.0	9.8	40.4	1.4	3.9	36.6	1.9	2.2	86.6	0.4	1.6	2.0	3.0	1.6	0.6	0.1	1.9	11.2
2009-10	HOU	82	35:36	7.0	16.2	43.2	2.6	6.4	39.8	3.0	3.6	82.2	0.7	2.0	2.6	5.3	2.8	0.8	0.2	2.4	19.6

True, these are improved statistics. But my beef with the award (along with a lot of other NBA arguments) is that statistics don't tell the whole story. Although... I will be using statistics to prove my point. But anyways, look at the minutes played. Aaron Brooks went from 25 minutes per in 08-09 to 35:30 minutes per this season. My argument is that Aaron Brooks' numbers are inflated due to an increase in minutes and that he was fully capable of averaging these numbers if given the chance, which he was this year. NBA sportswriters across the nation take a look at the RAW stats (simple player profile page with per game averages) and see who made the biggest jump statistically, and vote him as the MIP.

So the first thing we need to look at is the boost in minutes from 25 to 35:30. More minutes = more stats.

Read a little further and note that this Houston team is absolutely nothing compared to last years. Missing is Ron Artest, Tracy McGrady (played half the season when Brooks was on the bench), and the face of the franchise, Yao Ming. Added is Trevor Ariza who had his ups and downs this season.

Read a little further into this and note that although he played in 80 games last season, he only started 35, coming off the bench for Rafer Alston. When Alston was traded to the Magic for Brian Cook and Kyle Lowry, Brooks went into the starting lineup for only 35 games, meaning that a majority of his per game stats are BENCH stats. Here are the splits:

As a bench player in the 08/09 season, he averaged
20 minutes, 10 pts on 40% FG, 2.4 ast, 1.1 3pt made
As a starter in the 08/09 season, he averaged
31 minutes, 13 pts on 40% FG, 3.7 ast, 1.7 3pt made.

Even when he started, he's still averaging more minutes this year as a starter. So let's look at one of my all time favorite stats, the PER 36 MINUTES STAT.
If you're not familiar with the per 36 minute stat, it's a way to gauge how a player would perform based on the minutes he does play, if he played a 36 minute game (average playing time for an NBA player). Example: Two players both average 20 points per game, player A plays 10 minutes per game , player B averages 48 minutes per game. If you just looked at their per game stats, you'd say, "they're both averaging 20 points, whats the big deal?" The big deal is that it's taking player A 10 minutes to score 20 points, imagine if he played 36 minutes!

Here are Aaron Brooks per 36 minutes stat from last season (08-09) note: percentages stay the same as regular per game stats -

16 points, 4.3 assists, 2 3pt made

and his per 36 minutes stat from this season (09-10)

19.8 pts, 5.4 ast, 2.6 3pt made

(Stats from BasketBallReference.com)

Is this worthy of the MOST IMPROVED player award? Slight upticks in a new offense where he's the second best scorer for most of the season with Artest and Yao gone (but 24 games with Kevin Martin at the end of the season made him probably the third best scorer behind Martin and Ariza. See Tracy McGrady 3 team deal)? Well that's the debate. I don't feel that Aaron Brooks was the most improved player. He had the skill all along, he just needed the minutes to showcase it and the right team around him to get those stats. Oh, and by the way, the Rockets missed the playoffs this season, going 42-40. Again, no Yao and trying to integrate Ariza as the go to guy after a season being a role player on a championship team-- you're gonna have struggles.

What I wish is that the sports writers who vote for these awards actually look for improvement in game play and in defense. Not just defensive numbers but keeping your opponent from scoring. I personally think Zach Randolph could have been voted as MIP this year with his more efficient, all star caliber play this season for a Memphis team who looked like it was going to be terrible. In recent memory, I think Trevor Ariza last season should have gotten some consideration due to his improved 3 point shooting, a KNOCK on his game before the season (people saying he wouldn't be able to space the floor), but he IMPROVED it, started for the Lakers, hit his 3 pointers and helped win a championship (and then cashed in with the Rockets).
Aaron Brooks is still the same fast PG who can hit a 3 pointer that the Rockets drafted in 07. Not much improvement, only in statistical terms.

Playoffs baby, playoffs

2010-05-01T22:38:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, the first round of the playoffs will finally be over as the Bucks play in Atlanta in an unprecedented game 7 that nobody could have predicted. And you know what, the Bucks will finally be on national TV for the first time, probably since Ray Allen was on the Bucks with Cassell in the 2001 playoffs.

What else is crazy besides a Bogut-less Bucks taking Atlanta to game 7? How about the Lakers' top two competitors for the Western Conference being ousted in the first round? Dallas and Denver simply didn't get it done. The Spurs woke up from outta nowhere and a Kirilenko and Okur-less Utah Jazz took out the George Karl and later on, Nene-less Nuggets. I think they missed George Karl as the team chemistry was thrown outta wack when Melo didn't point any fingers (but pretty much pointed fingers) but said he needed help out there and couldn't do it alone. Then a couple hours later, JR Smith tweeted: You play selfish you lose selfish that's all I'm saying about the game!

(Hey didn't JR Smith delete his Twitter for being a Crip?)

Couple that with four technical fouls in game 6 and I think the Nuggets didn't have a leader coach who could calm them down and get them all on the same page. See I disagree with Bill Simmons when he says that NBA coaches don't matter except for Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich, an NBA coach gets everyone on the same page and tells everyone what to do. You can't have a player coach anymore with egos and contract years. How do you think Bynum would react to Kobe telling Lamar to sub in for him. Or even Shaq reacting to Lebron telling Varejao to sub in for him? It wouldn't work. Players don't even have to like them, but they will follow orders from their head coaches. But anyways...

Game 6 of Lakers vs. Oklahoma - Lakers down by 1 with13 seconds left, Russell Westbrook just missed an open jumper from the baseline and the ball somehow gets to Kobe. He looks at the clock and does not call a time out because Westbrook was guarding him and he can shoot over Westbrook, he cannot shoot over Durant, who if they called a timeout, would guard Kobe, I'm sure. The sound of ugghhh-OOAAWWWWWWWWW!!! was a reaction to Kobe's miss and Pau's tip in with .5 seconds. Remember how in every game the announcers constantly talked about how great Serge Ibaka is going to be because he's pure raw athletic talent right now, he just needs to learn the game of basketball. I already know what his first lesson is, boxing out. Look at the video.

He stands and watches and doesn't box out Pau who goes untouched to the side of the rim to tip in the game winner. They could be playing again tomorrow if he just kept his back on Pau, but whatevs. The Lakers will now take on Utah who will be a much easier opponent than the Thunder for the simple question of, who's going to guard Kobe? Rookie, Wesley Matthews? Ronnie Price? Andrei Kirilenko says he hopes to be back by game 3, and he can play defense on Kobe but we'll see what kind of defensive stopper shows up after that calf injury. Utah has better bigs than Oklahoma in Boozer and Millsap, but they're starting Kyrylo Fesenko in the place of injured Okur. I still think the Laker bigs of Pau, Bynum (small torn meniscus, will try to play), Lamar and Ron Artest will be more than enough to play defense on these guys and score easily. I'd sayyy... Lakers in 5, losing game 3.

Portland-Phoenix series: Portland simply didn't have enough. I honestly can't believe they got 2 wins without/with injured Brandon Roy. All I know is that of the 1996 draft, Kobe, Nash and Camby are studs. You know how Camby got a 2 year extension with Portland, did you know those two years are for MORE than what he's making this year? From $7.6 mil this year to $8.4 mil next year and $9.2 mil the following year. Go ahead Camby. It's not Kobe's $30 mil in 2014 (DAMN!) but it's also not Antoine Walker's debt or Stephon Marbury playing in China. Go ahead, Camby.

Now Phoenix will take on the Spurs in a little grudge match, only Robert Horry won't have the chance to level Nash this time around. If something like that does happen again, someone tell Amare to stay in his seat, if he's on the bench, which he probably won't be cuz the Suns will need him on the floor as their only big man who scores in the paint. Someone teach Channing Frye some post moves! If I had to predict a series outcome, I'd say Suns in 6, but honestly, it could go either way.

For the record, my 1st round predictions were Lakers in 6 (right), Dallas in 5 (wrong), Suns in 4 (wrong), Utah in 5 (right but wrong amount of games), Cleveland in 4 (right but wrong game count), Magic in 4 (right), Hawks in 4 (waiting), Heat in 5 (way wrong).

Funniest moment for me so far in this playoffs: Local commentator Stu Lantz during game 4 during a Oklahoma run: "I can't understand... why the Lakers aren't making the Thunder use their athleticism... against themselves." ...uhhh WHAT?! Yeah Kobe, make Serge Ibaka jump out of the arena into the parking lot so you get a 5 on 4! Come on Fisher! Make Westbrook run so fast he keeps going and hits the announcer table at 100 mph! I seriously can't think of what he could have possibly meant by that.

And where are the Lebron/Kobe puppet commercials?

Tweets of the Playoffs

2010-04-25T22:33:00.000-07:00

How come the commish wasnt in milwaukee to hand over the exec of year award? - Andrew Bogut
I can see his gripe, that's kind of messed up. Maybe he and Josh Smith share the same sentiment regarding Milwaukee.

Thanks fans for all the positive feedback i've came back from 3 to 1 so like I said it's not over to the fat lady sings - Shawn Marion
It's true. Phoenix vs Lakers. I still have nightmares about it.

Congrats to Aaron Brooks for winning the Most Improved Player Award. You deserved it. Thanks for your effort this season. - Yao Ming
Well... more minutes, less TMAC, less Yao, points needed to come from somewhere, I think Brooks had it all along, but got stat boosted with his situation, but deserved nonetheless.

i guess BRoy said "i cant watch this anymore.. im suiting up!" lol - Stephen Curry
I'm pretty sure that's exactly what he said.

I wear no pants... I wearrrrrrrr no pants - Andrew Bogut
Referring to the Dockers commercial... I hope

Bonus: Craig S... Suit is terrible as usual... Needs some serious style advice... I need to take him under my wing and get him sum GQ help - Baron Davis
Craig's suits are simply a part of the NBA.

Man grant hill just keeps on going... Big play by the big homie marcus... Great way to finish the period... - Baron Davis
Cheering on his ex teammate.

Weekend wrap- First set of playoff games!

2010-04-18T12:46:00.001-07:00

I was watching the two ABC games this weekend as well as did most of you and here are some quick thoughts:

Saturday - Cavaliers vs. Bulls

Straight up, the Bulls are not big or athletic enough to hang with the Cavaliers. Joakim Noah simply could not handle Shaq and bounced off him in the post, got spun moved on, had to hold Shaq down to prevent a dunk, and couldn't stop fouling after that. Luol Deng was also bounced around trying to guard LeBron. This game was literally like watching a college basketball team run all over a YMCA team. Just watch the highlights and you'll see what I mean - notice the bulldozing of LeBron.

Sunday - Lakers vs. Thunder

I have a couple things to say about this game, first being, one of the commentators said that Russell Westbrook's favorite player growing up was Magic Johnson. Fun Facts: Westbrook was born in 1988. Magic Johnson retired in 1991, played the olympics in 1992, COACHED the Lakers as a replacement coach in the 1993-94 season (not a successful season), and staged a failed comeback as power forward in the 95-96 season. So unless Westbrook has some crazy childhood memories from when he was 4 years old and younger, I do believe this is impossible.

Actual game notes - Ron Artest guarded Kevin Durant. Durant had a horrible game shooting 7-24 and 1-8 from 3 point land. But what I was looking at was how Artest was constantly plowing through screens by Nick Collison. If he goes under those screens, Durant gets open shots, if he doesn't plow through, Collison keeps setting them and gets hit by a big Artest trying to lock down Durant. Near the end of the game, there were far less screens by Collison on Artest. I love it.

I love when Mark Jackson exclaims, "You know the rule! Hand down, man down!"

Can't really call the refs biased in this series so far. Lakers had 27 fouls to Thunder's 21 including 5 on Kobe, 6 on Lamar, and 5 on Artest. And Nick Collison kept doing his thing by taking two charges. Durant got to the line 11 times... a legitimate 11 times.

And finally (and Jeff Van Gundy shared this sentiment sometime in the 4th), Durant takes some bad shots. He reminds me of Kobe Bryant circa 2004-2005 season, trying to go 1 on 3 forcing shot after shot after shot while Jeff Green, Thabo and Harden stand around the 3 point line, wide open after their man left to double team Durant, with their hands ready for a pass... only the pass never comes. And Durant goes 7-24. We'll see how he responds on Tuesday.

Kobe constantly passed out of double teams to Derek Fisher and Ron Artest for open three pointers. Problem is Ron hit only 1 of 8 from 3 point land. One more thing, Kobe did my favorite play in all of basketball: Kobe passes to Pau only it skips through his hands into the Durant's possession for a turnover, races downcourt (along with 4 other Lakers) to swat Durant's shot away and Pau grabs the rebound (1:30 mark of highlights video).

Stern will discuss issue of players sitting out games at the end of the year

2010-04-14T18:51:00.000-07:00

Stern taking away the MVP trophy from LeBron for not playing all 82 games! For shame!!

(Photo from Zimbio)
With the playoffs DAYS away, the league's top teams are sitting their stars to rest them up for the playoffs. In all the headlines, people are discussing how LeBron James is sitting the last few games as they've already clinched the best record in the NBA. Here's the link for the story regarding Stern "discussing" this "problem."

To which I have a couple replies:

1. What are you gonna do about it?

Hate it or love it, there's no reason for LeBron to risk any kind of injury when there's nothing left to play for until the playoffs start. If you force a fully healthy player to play, he, his coach, the GM, and the owner will tell him to fake some kind of injury forcing him not to play. You know what players come up with to not play in games? Ever see these box score DNPs: Flu-Like Symptoms, Strained hamstring/ankle/shoulder, PERSONAL REASONS. A guy just has to sniffle, call it a flu like symptom, and take the game off when all he's really doing is resting for the playoffs. Unless the NBA gets lie detectors at every arena, there is no way to regulate and enforce forcing players to play if they're able.

2. Why all the huff-n-puff now?

Players have been doing this since as far back as I can remember. Dirk Nowitzki did it in the 06/07 season when they ended 6 games ahead of 2nd place Phoenix. I remember it vividly: the game after the Clippers when Dallas clinched the top seed, Avery Johnson said he was resting his starters. Just did a quick find and found the recap of that game:

Avery Johnson announced right away that they wouldn’t be joining the club on a road trip to Minnesota. “I told them if I see them on the plane, I’ll fine them,” Johnson said.

Well there you go. So why is the NBA taking things so serious NOW? Because as MVP as Dirk was that season, he's no super duper star like LeBron or Kobe. With LeBron taking the last 4 games off including an Eastern Conference Finals rematch against Orlando... ON NATIONAL TV -ABC, people don't care, people don't watch, league doesn't get that much more money. I don't know if you watched that game but Jeff Van Gundy went on rant about how stars should play if they're able and it's not fair to the fans. He came up with an anecdote about a kid coming to his first NBA game and doesn't see Kobe or LeBron, which brings me to my next question...

3. Not fair to the fans? Give me a break.

Look. LeBron played 76 games to get the best record. The Cavs proceeded to play @Chicago, home vs Indiana, home vs Orlando, @Atlanta. In this season, the Cavs played at Chicago twice, play half their games at home, and have played at Atlanta twice. You get your chances to see LeBron, and you know what? LeBron isn't the only NBA player you should go out and see in person. If you can afford tickets to a Cavs game, chances are you're gonna go to a few, maybe next year you won't wait until the very end of the season and you take advantage of the 76 other games he played in full in the previous 5 months. "But he might not be back next season!" Well you've had him for 7 seasons, you had your chance.

4. Why not have a conversation about players taking games off when they're team ISN'T in the playoffs.

Yes, I'm talking about tanking. Many teams are doing it right now. Clippers are starting Steve Blake, DeAndre Jordan, and Travis Outlaw over their usual "stars"/starters Baron Davis, Drew Gooden, and Eric Gordon. Excuses? Baron - sprained wrist, Gordon - viral infection, Gooden - unknown, but he's not playing these last few games for some reason. Sidenote: Congrats to Steve Blake for FIRST CAREER TRIPLE DOUBLE!

Other teams? How about New York not playing Wilson Chandler (groin), TMac (?), Al Harrington (shoulder)? New Orleans - CP3 (finger), Peja (Abdominal strain), Detroit - Ben Gordon, Rip Hamilton, Rodney Stuckey (???), Warriors - Corey Maggette (hand).

If these guys are in the playoff hunt, no doubt at least some of them would overcome whatever was "ailing" them and give 100% in a game. But no, they're headed to the lottery and more losses = more chances to get a top 3 pick. It's as simple as that. Of course the catch is that the team with worst record only has a 25% chance of getting the top pick (75% chance of not getting it) but hey, it can't hurt to have more ping pong balls in the ping pong ball machine. Maybe if there was a lottery for the top four teams in the NBA for whoever gets homecourt advantage... nahhh.

And finally

5. Why do you care how teams manage themselves?

Resting their top guys does not always work. With rest comes rust. Going back to the Dirk Nowitzki resting in the 06/07 season. THEY LOST IN THE FIRST ROUND TO 8TH SEED GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS. Dirk averaged 20 points on 38% (21% 3pt). Compare that to that season's stats: 24.6 points on 50% (41.6% 3pt). Hey, take it for what it's worth.

Just read between those baselines and make up your own mind. All in all, I feel teams can do whatever they want.

Revenge Games - Marcus Camby vs Clippers, Steve Blake vs Blazers

2010-04-07T22:40:00.000-07:00

(Photo from Yahoo)
First off, I love revenge games. There are a couple different kinds of revenge games - There's the Championship Finals Rematch the following season (Lakers vs Boston- Christmas Day 2008), A team that knocked off another team out of the playoffs (Washington vs Cleveland 06-07 first round of the playoffs, 07-08 first round of the playoffs after the 05-06 first round of the playoffs - this of course lost its steam when it was concluded that the Cavs had the Wizards' number, and forever would). But my personal favorite is the "Take a look at what you traded away" revenge game, one game of which I saw personally at tonight's Clipper game when Marcus Camby took on his old team, the Clippers and Steve Blake went up against his old team, the Blazers.

As far as revenge games go however, this wasn't as noteworthy as others, given the fact that (1) the Clippers are playing for nothing, (2) the Blazers are obviously the superior team, (3) Steve Blake and Marcus Camby don't dominate the ball/ball hog to really exact revenge on their former teams, and (4) Blake can Camby aren't killer instinct players. But let's go through a brief rundown of the game:

Marcus Camby: Pre game introductions, when Marcus Camby is announced, the crowd gave him a well deserved applause and cheer. Before tipoff, Camby exchanged high fives with the starting lineup of players he'd played with on the Clippers (Butler, Davis, Kaman, Gordon). During the opening minutes, he fouls Kaman who falls to the floor and Camby lends a hand to help him up. Later on during the game, coming out of a timeout, he shares a laugh with DeAndre Jordan. And that's pretty much it! He got 2 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and 2 blocks in 26 minutes, which is pretty much, give or take, his Portland averages.

(Photo from Yahoo)
Steve Blake: I have a totally rational fascination and admiration of Blake's play with the Clippers, and he was looking for his shot a little more than usual tonight while bodying up Andre Miller's fat ass on defense when he tried to post up (I counted 3 post ups by Miller, one resulted in a Blake foul, one in a 3 second violation on Miller, and one missed jump shot by Miller. Steve Blake is going to make whatever team he signs with very happy this summer). Blake ended with 14 points on 6-10 shooting, 2 three pointers, 1 rebound, 6 assists, a steal and a block in 28 minutes. His Clipper season averages are: 6 points, 6 assists, 2 rebounds, less than a steal, less than a block in 24 minutes.

Fun Fact - Andre Miller, Steve Blake and Marcus Camby have all played for the Clippers, Blazers and Nuggets!

And the Clippers made a little run at the end to make things interesting but the Blazers pulled away. It's been a long season for Clipper fans. But it was nice to see Baron Davis hustle back on defense not once but TWICE: one time he forced a missed layup, and later on in the game, he drew a charge on Andre Miller! I was stunned!

Here's a bonus video of more reason why I love Steve Blake:

Homie don't play dat!

Chris Bosh - Right in the kisser

2010-04-07T00:10:00.001-07:00

Antawn Jamison hits Bosh in the face with an elbow. Speculated he'll miss the rest of the season leaving the 8th seed in the East open for the Chicago Bulls to take.

Weekend Wrap

2010-04-04T22:16:00.000-07:00

Some interesting things happened this weekend, here are the highlights:

Friday

(Photo from Yahoo)

History was made, my friends. And of course it comes against the Warriors. David Lee (free agent this summer) had a 30/20/10 night when he filled the box score with 37 points, 20 rebounds, and 10 assists in 46 minutes. According to the AP: "He became the first player to have at least 30 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists in a game since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had 35, 20 and 12 against the Warriors on March 5, 1976" (hehe). What's crazy: Lee hit 14 shots out of 24, 9 free throws of 10, and still somehow dished out 10 assists (with only 3 turnovers). Talk about an offense running through someone. Sidenote - the Warriors also gave up a record game earlier in the season when Brandon Jennings scored 55 in a win over the Warriors (3rd most by a rookie in NBA history behind Wilt-58 and Earl Monroe-56).
The Lakers ended a two game losing streak to a formidable opponent, the Utah Jazz. Kobe was off hitting 5 shots of 23, but got to the line a lot: 15-18, good for 25 total points. Lamar Odom though, scored 26 points on 14 shots and grabbed 10 boards. The Lakers bench is struggling to say the least, but if and when Andrew Bynum returns, Lamar will return to the bench and Josh Powell's terribleness, one dimensional-ness will go back to getting 3 minutes a game if the Lakers are up/down by 20, instead of the 18 minutes he's capable of getting being one of the two bigs on the bench when Bynum is out, the other being DJ Mbenga.

Saturday

(Photo from Yahoo)

~~The Raptors~~ Chris Bosh & Associates squeaked out an OT win against Philadelphia. The Raptors are clinging onto that 8th seed in the East. Chicago is one game out. If the Raptors don't make the playoffs, or get swept by the Cavs... Chris Bosh may peace out and the Raptors will be left with Bargnani, Turkoglu, and Calderon. Oh how the free agents will be lured.
New Jersey wins their 11th! 115-87 against the lottery bound Hornets. Thank GOD. I don't think I could deal with a whole off season of the Nets constantly being referred to as the worst team in the history of the NBA (although I'll have to settle for "one of the worst teams in NBA history).
Andrew Bogut mangled his arm. This sucks. The Bucks are going to the playoffs this year and Bogut was huge part of that. Playing in his 69th game this season compared to 36 all of last season, and scoring 16 points compared to 12 last season while averaging over 10 boards. Now his season is done and the Bucks, who will probably play the Hawks in the first round had a not so inconceivable chance of upsetting, now won't have a chance. Sad face, :(, sad face, indeed.

Sunday

(Photo from Yahoo)

During the Cavs game I saw that LeBron, Mo Williams and Jamario Moon were wearing green headbands... AT the Boston Celtics. Thinking this was a sign of disrespect, I did a little google research and found out that it is in fact NBA GREEN WEEK and the headbands were worn to raise awareness. Should LeBron have called a timeout when he grabbed that rebound?
The Warriors beat the Raptors-Don Nelson ties the Franchise record for coaching wins held by Lenny Wilkens, 1 more to pass. Warriors remaining sched: @Washington, @Minnesota, @Clippers, home vs Thunder, home vs Jazz, @Portland. Those first 3 games will be the time to do it, but if the Jazz and Portland are set on their playoff position and can't advance or fall down the standings, they could rest their starters giving Don Nelson the chance to pass Lenny... and then get fired this summer.
Sasha Vujacic is apparently out of the dog house. He got into the game against the Spurs, and not when they were down 20! In total he was given 6:30 and shot 0-3. Luke Walton also returned to game action after missing about a month and half due to a pinched nerve in the back: 2 assists, 2 fouls. Their bench leader, Lamar Odom, is starting due to Andrew Bynum's injured ankle. When Bynum comes back, Lamar will return to the bench, and the bench production will spike. I'm sure of it.

Andrew Bogut... just watch

2010-04-03T22:06:00.001-07:00

Sorry to ruin the rest of your weekend.

Sasha Vujacic: OOHHHHHHH!!! Now I get it!

2010-04-01T21:30:00.000-07:00

Hey remember when the Lakers were about to play the Boston Celtics in the 2008 Celtics? Of course you do. Laker haters always bring it up, and Laker fans always say that Andrew Bynum and Ariza were hurt. Well... whatever. Would you believe that Sasha had a vital role in getting the Lakers to the Finals that year? He did. Take a look -

He averaged 9 pts on 45% shooting (44% from 3 hitting 1.6 3s a game) all in 18 minutes a game in the 07-08 season. During the playoffs, he did about the same averaging 8 points in 21 minutes on about 40% shooting (He even earned himself an above average nickname: The Machine). Highlighted by his 20 point game in LA's first win against Boston in game 3 where he was the only Laker not named Kobe to score in double figures. Lowlighted by his horrid, atrocious defense against Ray Allen in game 4 (Lakers down 3, after giving up a crazy lead... ugh, just watch).

Side note - do not place the blame on Pau Gasol at all. Anyone who plays high school, college, semi pro, pro, YMCA, and/or playground basketball can tell that Sasha gave up on the play, let Ray go to his right, tried to take a wimpy swipe at the ball and got the best seat in the house for the game clinching layup. Even Paul Pierce looks like "Whoa! Yeah, Alright! That was easy!" at the :34 second mark.

Despite this terrible defensive stance, Vujacic cashed in on his numbers (a great indication of skill, right?) and signed a 3 year/$15 million deal that summer.

Still haven't worked on those defensive slides, eh?!

(Photo from Yahoo)

Fast forward to now:

"All season I haven't been getting much playing time," Vujacic said. "It's OK. Coach has his rotation. At least now I know what my role is. He said the reason we had the talk, he told me what my role is and now I understand what my role is. I was trying to find out all season long. But now I know."
What is that role?
"Well, I'm out of the rotation," Vujacic said. "If they are winning, I'm not playing. If they are losing and the team is down by 20 points, then I get few minutes."

Translation: Oooohhh!!! Now I get it! If I (1) keep playing hyperactive defense where it looks like I'm working hard to try and make up for my Finals embarrassment act in 08 (but instead I pick up cheap fouls and put my hands over my mouth so it looks like it's a missed call by the ref - 4.7 fouls per 36 minutes this season, wow!), (2) keep taking terrible shots that don't come within the offense when I'm trying to shoot my way back into playing time (41% FG, 33% 3PT, you have to watch the games though to see his bad decision shots), and (3) keep talking back to coaches who are trying to help me and the Lakers beat teams like the Thunder (when the incident occurred) and not atoning for it (hasn't played the last 3 games!), then I'll never get into the rotation and only play when we're down 20 points!

Sasha has turned into a disgruntled employee, except it's not like you and me where his boss can just fire him. He's getting $5 million this year and a little more than $5 million next year! Sasha needs to ask himself if he should swallow his pride and apologize to get his... 8 minutes a game back? That's up to him.

But maybe, Sasha's career has peaked. Started off hitting some rookie and sophomore walls, had his breakout season during a contract year, cashed in, leveled off and is on the tail end of his career? Maybe... All I know is that his defense has always been suspect. Too hyperactive, too swipe-y, too easily beaten by average and above average players (but if he's guarding Steve Novak, forget about it!). I find it ironic and amusing that his biggest flaw was on full display during game 4 of the finals in crunch time, and he still cashed in.

Slowly but surely, Sasha is turning into Smush Parker circa Summer of 2007 when the Lakers said to Smush, you are not in our future plans. I predict the same thing will happen in the summer of 2011, if the Lakers don't try to unload his expiring contract before the trade deadline during the 2010-11 season. As for this year, it's pretty evident the Laker bench is non existent and Sasha's not helping himself, or the team. He needs to hit up Smush on Twitter or something before it's too late!

(Stats from BasketballReference)

The List of All NBA Teams' Punchline Names

2010-03-29T22:15:00.000-07:00

This is a just for fun post

But maybe you remember a time when you got into a flame war on a message board or a youtube video and couldn't come up with a punchline name for a team you hated on. Well here's a list of every team and their current (and just now made up by me- if you have a better one, let me hear it!) nick names to make fun of said team. Have fun and stay safe out there.

Los Angeles Lakers - Los Angeles Fakers
Boston Celtics - Boston ticks or Celdicks
Milwaukee Bucks - Milwaukee Sucks
New JerseyNets - New Jersey Nyets - as of 2009 and new Russian owner
Toronto Raptors - Toronto Craptors
Chicago Bulls - Chicago Bullshits
Indiana Pacers - Indiana Pacemakers
Orlando Magic - Orlando Tragic
Washington Wizards - Washington Whizzers, Washington Generals
Sacramento Kings - Sacramento Queens (I believe Shaq came up with this)
New York Knicks - New York Bricks, the Knickerfockers
Philadelphia 76ers - Philadelphia Seventy Sucksers
Cleveland Cavaliers - Cleveland Crabaliers/Traveliers (Lebron's crab walk)
Detroit Pistons - Detroit Pissed-ons
Atlanta Hawks - Atlanta Chicken Pox
Miami Heat - Miami Shit (stretch that I to and E)
Houston Rockets - Houston Rockshits
Memphis Grizzlies - Memphis Sissies
San Antonio Spurs - San Antonio Turds
Denver Nuggets - Denver Thuggets (via Mark Cuban)
Oklahoma Thunder - Oklahoma Blunder, Super Stolens (Via KneeJerkNba)
Portland TrailBlazers - Portland JailBlazers, Treeblazers
Utah Jazz - Utah Spazz
Los Angeles Clippers - Los Angeles Paperclips
Dallas Mavericks - Dallas Mavpricks, Mavwrecks (Via DDC much more clever)
Phoenix Suns - Phoenix Run n Guns
Charlotte Bobcats - Charlotte BobCraps
New Orleans Hornets - New Orleans Whorenets
Minnesota Timberwolves - Minnesota Timberblows
Golden State Warriors - Golden State Whore-eors

P.S. Regarding the Lakers nickname of the Fakers, what does that even mean? Did they win fake championships 2000-2002 and 2009. Did they make it to 30 fake finals? Or is it just me?

The best ones are the Sacramento Queens, Cleveland Crabaliers, and the Portland Treeblazers

Who says the Lakers can't play in this summer's free agency!?

2010-03-25T19:49:00.000-07:00

(Photo from LA Times)
The Lakers have 3 point guards: Derek Fisher, Jordan Farmar, and Shannon Brown. Derek fisher is a free agent this summer. Jordan Farmar will be a restricted free agent, and Shannon Brown can opt out of his contract and look for work elsewhere, or sign a bigger contract. The rest of the team is pretty much set in stone barring any trade, injury, or Kobe not singing an extension (and playing in Italy!? No). But the Lakers have some questions about their PG future.

Question 1 Do they bring Fisher back at a fraction of his current $5 million a year for a couple more years?
Pros: He's a Laker veteran who knows what to do in Phil Jackson's triangle offense. He can hit clutch 3 pointers.
Cons: He's a liability on defense and his offense isn't that great this season either.
If I'm the Lakers: I don't think so. At least not as a starter. Fisher's been exposed his whole career on the defensive end but this season in particular, he's been getting beat very easily by other PGs. Plus, his offensive number have taken a hit as well.

Question 2: If he doesn't opt out of his contract (which he probably will, can't really bank on $2 million for one year and that's it... for an NBA player), Do the Lakers give the reigns to Shannon Brown?
Pros: He's a high flying dunk act but has been working on his jump shot and can hit a 3 pointer if given enough space. He's a good defender and is big (6'4" 210 lbs) and won't get posted up easily.
Cons: He still seems like a raw talent guy even though he's been in the league since 2006 (drafted 1 pick before Farmar, in fact).
If I'm the Lakers: Not the reigns. I'd keep him on the bench if I can't find a better starting PG. He's a scorer, not a distributor and in the triangle offense, he makes some bad decisions by taking off balance shots without first passing to Pau or Bynum in the post. First thing that comes to mind in comparisons is JR Smith-ish in that he's gonna shoot the ball.

Question 3: Do they give the reigns to the team to 2006 draft pick Jordan Farmar?
Pros: he's a push the ball up the court kinda guard, can create his own shot, and makes nice passes. He's been with the team for 4 years and knows the offense. He can keep up with the league's better PGs (compared to Fisher).
Cons: He's only started 2 games his entire career, both at the end of his rookie season. He's pretty small (6'2" 180 lbs).
If I'm the Lakers: This might be the best scenario. Jordan's got a good combination of speed and basketball IQ and looks to pass first as opposed to Shannon Brown who's more of a scorer/slasher. He's got a good shot including the 3 pointer.

Things to keep in mind:

The Lakers pay roll drops from $91 million to around $77 million next year, which is still over the salary cap.
The Lakers don't need an amazing PG who can drive and kick. This is a triangle offense team that needs their PGs to run a motion after the ball goes into the post. This is why Kobe and Lamar sometimes initiate the offense and the Lakers usually get the same result on their possession.
Fisher would still be a viable option if his defense wasn't getting worse each season. What they need is a PG who can keep up with Chris Paul, Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, and Rajon Rondo.
When the Lakers DO do a drive and kick kind of play, they have Kobe and Lamar (and Farmar) who can do that. Also, they run a mean pick n roll with Kobe and Pau as seen in last year's finals against the magic. You know, when they won the championship?
Somewhat related: The Lakers have to make a not so dire decision on DJ Mbenga and Josh Powell (both getting less than $1 million this year).
If those two don't return, they'll need to sign some bench players as Adam Morrison is for sure not coming back. Los Angeles may have to replace DJ, Powell, Morrison, the 3 PGs discussed above. But anyway...

Ideally, the Lakers would've gotten Kirk Hinrich in a another rip off type trade before the all star break (a deal was out there where the Lakers could have gotten him for Sasha and Morrison, wow.) So free agency moves aside, if the Lakers had to make a decision, there best move would be to start Farmar and have Shannon come off the bench.

The Warriors are getting a new owner, what they really need is a new identity

2010-03-23T19:28:00.001-07:00

(Photo from nba.com)
Long story short, the Warriors are for sale. There is speculation that head coach, Don Nelson may be coaching his last few games this season and may not return next year. Unfortunately, I will not be purchasing the team just because of time constraints and the long commute.

But if I was the billionaire buying this team, number 1 on my to-do list is get rid of Don Nelson. Number 2 is hire some kind of psychic mind bending therapist to erase the run-n-gun, no defense, 3 pt shoot till you cant shoot no mo mindset instilled in the players' heads. Let's take a closer look.

Don Nelson started this gig at the start of the 06-07 season. The Warriors had just come off back to back 34-48 seasons under head coach Mike Montgomery. The Baron Davis trade was not getting the Warriors any closer to the playoffs, or so it seemed. Then Don Nelson played Monta Ellis, played to the teams strength which was shooting 3's and running fast breaks any chance they got, which got the Warriors to a 42-40 records and the 8th seed of the playoffs and knocked out the MVP Dirk Nowitzki lead number 1 seed Mavericks. Then they lost to the Jazz in the next round, but there was hope in the bay area.

Montgomery's 05-06 Warriors scored 98.5 points on 43.3% shooting and gave up 99.8 to opponents on 45.7. 625/1832 3pointers.
Nelson's 06-07 Warriors scored 106.5 points on 46.3% shooting and gave up 106.9 to opponents on 46.2%. 700/1966 3pointers.

He got more points on the board at a better percentage, but didn't do much on the defensive end. More possessions for both sides of the ball when you run fast breaks so that explains the boost in points on the board, but the FG% bump shows they didn't do much focusing on defense.

But hey, they go to the 2nd round of the playoffs! So let's try again in 07-08... Success! Only not so. Nelson kept the run n gun style and the Warriors record was a nice 48-34, only that year, you needed 50 wins to make the playoffs in the West as the Warriors were 2 games behind the 50 win Denver Nuggets for the 8th seed. :(

Nelson's 07-08 Warriors scored 111 points on 45.9% shooting and gave up 108.8 to opponents on 46.8%. 761/2185 3pointers.

Better luck next year - 08-09 season. They lost Baron Davis and Al Harrington and gained Jamal Crawford and Corey Maggette. They went 29-53 and did not make the playoffs.
Nelson's 08-09 Warriors scored 108.6 points on 45.8% shooting and gave up 112.3 to opponents on 46.8%. 550/1475 3pointers.

Which brings us to this season. With rookie Stephen Curry, one of their few non bust draft pick in awhile (along with Anthony Randolph-jury still out, and Monta Ellis-2nd round pot of gold, compared to Ike Diogu, Marco Belinelli, and Patrick O'Bryant), paired up with Monta Ellis in the backcourt, Corey Maggette and Stephen Jackson with ol reliable Andris Biedrins at Center. Except Stephen Jackson pouted and got a trade to the Bobcats for Raja Bell and Vladamir Radmanovic (both injured). The Warriors stand at 19-51.

Now they're looking for a new owner. I only hope the new owner sees this as a grand opportunity to make some changes. For the past few years they've signed and drafted guards and SG/SFs just to fit into their style of play. This has not worked. It's time for a change. Get rid of Nelson and get some half court offensive plays and focus on defensive stances and rotations. This team is not a championship contender. Gosh, it's barely a playoff contender or even a regular season contender!

Centers torch this team and it doesn't seem like Biedrins or Turiaf are going to be the big men to stop the league's top centers and power forwards. That's not to say they should draft or sign another Adonal Foyle type player. More like a Carlos Boozer type.
Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis are both 6-3 having to guard SGs who have 3-4 inches on both of them. I hate to say it but they might have to get rid of one of these guys via trade and get a true SG or a big man.
They need to draft another talented player like they did with Curry and not pull another Patrick O'Bryant type. This year they're gonna be guaranteed picks 1-6 (so far) and this year's lotto, based on what I've seen in March Madness, is gonna be pretty good and have some decent big men (Favors, Cousins, Monroe, Patterson). I'll laugh though if they get the #1 pick, draft John Wall and somehow start him with Curry and Monta-- No! new owner, new coach, let's not repeat this small ball lineup.

Honestly, they need to take a page out of the Clippers' playbook and fire their coach, start fresh next season, cuz it just ain't working the way it is now. #1 on the to do list, get rid of Nelson.

I feel sorry for these NBA players

2010-03-17T22:10:00.001-07:00

Going through my old Slam Magazines just to see how far off their predictions are (any article they ever write are about how great a player is going to be and how they are always working to improve their game etc. They went as far to call Qyntel Woods the 2003 rookie of the year before the 2002 draft, I know... WHO?!) and came across a couple players whom I just can't help but feel sorry for (salaries aside) now that I know how their careers have ended up/are playing out right now. I once heard Ray Lewis say in a radio interview, "If hindsight were truly 20/20, we'd all be millionaires." Doesn't make 100% sense but you get what he's trying to say.

So I bring to you these four players who I just can't help but feel sorry for from the era of 2000 to the present.

Mike Miller

(Photo from prodigy.net)
Drafted 5th overall by the Orlando Magic in 2000. The year before, the Magic were 41-41 and didn't make the playoffs. This is the year the Magic brought TMac and Grant Hill in to redefine the franchise. But you already know that Grant Hill gets hurt and is never the same. But that doesn't stop Mike Miller from playing all 82 games his first year and winning rookie of the year averaging 12/4/2 shooting almost two 3 pointers a game at 40%. Here's a sweet vid of Miller hitting his three's.

And that's what he's best known for; his 3 point shooting. Career average of 1.8 3's a game at 40.4%, was a candidate for the redeem team in the 2008 Olympics to help spread the floor (they went with Michael Redd), made 202 three pointers in the 2006-07 season (rank 3rd)... But he's so much more than a 3 point shooter. He can run point guard, he can run the floor, he can start, he can come off the bench (2006 sixth man of the year). But the teams he was on, simply put, sucked. In Orlando for his first three years and they made the playoffs all three years but didn't get out of the first round. Just couldn't get over the loss of Grant Hill.

In the middle of the 02-03 season, he was traded to Memphis. Another up and coming team with a young Pau Gasol, Shane Battier, Lorenzen Wright, and Jason Williams. Don't give Miller ALL the credit, but after he came, they made the playoffs the next three years... only they never got out of the first round. In FACT, they got swept all three years. To this day the Grizzlies have never won a playoff game since their inception in 1995.

After a dismal 2007-08 season with the Grizz (the year Pau went to the Lakers), he was traded to another bad team, the Minnesota Timberwolves. This team had Al Jefferson in his 2nd year as a Wolf and a rookie Kevin Love along with Rashad McCants, Randy Foye, and Craig Smith. This team won 24 games.

During the summer of 2009 (last summer), he was traded with Randy Foye to the Washington Wizards who were finally going to get Gilbert Arenas for a whole season, along with Antawn Jamison, and Caron Butler. Everyone thought this was the dark horse team in the East. You know the rest: they still sucked, Gilbert brought the guns out, the Wizards decided to tank and Caron got traded for Josh Howard (now injured), Jamison got traded for nothing, and again, Mike Miller is left alone on a team of scrubs.

Where is the justice?! Well, there is some beauty in this breakdown. He's a Free Agent this summer. Hopefully a team picks him up and utilizes his abilities to better the team because this guy can PLAY.

Shaun Livingston

(Photo from ESPN)

Drafted 4th overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in 2004, straight outta high school. One of the few to briefly hold the title of Clippers Savior. This guy is one of the tallest point guards out there at 6'7" (to put that in perspective, Kobe Bryant, the SG is 6'6"). But he is pretty darn skinny too at 185 lbs (again, in perspective, Kobe is 205 lbs and 2 inches shorter, and I'm 5'11" and 175 lbs, all muscle I swear!).

He didn't play much his rookie year. He had Marco Jaric playing in front of him. To make a short Clipper career short, he started 15 games out of 30 played his rookie year, 14 of 61 his second year, and 31 of 54 his third. Livingston was a good point guard who had a chance to be something special. He always looked to pass first, saw the court well (at 6'7" he could see over any other PG guarding him) and delivered crisp passes. But that third year was the year of the horrific knee injury (warning: horrific content). Right when he was being given the reigns to the Clipper offense, his career was possibly over as his ACL tore clear off and was out for the rest of the season after surgery. And he didn't quite recover fully and lost his explosiveness.
He missed the rest of the 06-07 season and all of the 07-08 season after the Clippers waived him. Miami gave him a chance but traded him after 4 games to the Thunder, where he got 8 games in 08/09 and 10 games this year. He was waived and signed later on by the Wizards where he's started the last 2 games. His best game since the injury was 3 games ago, a loss vs. Orlando where he scored 18 points and dished 8 assists in 30 minutes.

He's got a chance, but if it weren't for that knee injury, he'd probably be starting for a team that was going somewhere (not necessarily the Clippers) having a nice stat line on a nightly basis. Instead, I'm watching his box scores, hoping he's getting playing time and puts up decent numbers. He's on a 2nd 10 day contract so if things don't work out, he'll just have to try again for another team.

Tim Duncan

(Photo from YouGotDunkedOn)
I know, how can you feel sorry for a 4 time champion, 3 time finals MVP (and stats aside, he was MVP of the 2007 Finals, not Tony Parker), 2 times regular season MVP, and perennial all star? Because even with those accomplishments, people outside of San Antonio just don't care. Those accomplishments are better than Shaq's and Kobe's. But the gripe against Duncan is that he's boring. Mr. Fundamental is too fundamental and doesn't have the personality that hits headlines outside of the Sports Page. I'll admit, I was snoozing during the Detroit-Spurs finals in 2005.

Going back to my Slam Magazines, Adidas had an ad on the back cover of each magazine for about a year featuring their Adidas team of TMac, Kevin Garnett, and Tim Duncan. The website was 21121.com (21 for KG, 1 for TMac, 21 for Duncan). And of course no one ever bought the Duncans. But TMac was always selling shoes despite never making it out of the first round of the playoffs, no MVPs, but hey, he did flashy dunks and could cross people over, and that's what sells.

So in short, Tim Duncan, one of the greatest players of all time and best power forward of all time doesn't quite get the recognition that a "of all time" player should.

Kevin Garnett

(Photo from Derok)
Again, how can I feel sorry for one of the highest paid players ever, who won a championship two years ago? Well I don't really, mainly because Kevin Garnett is one of the players I hate the most, even before he helped beat the crap out of the Lakers two years ago, but I do feel sorry for him. Why? Because it could have been so much more for Garnett, except his years in Minnesota had gone to waste. His management screwed him over.

Most recently? Trading Brandon Roy for Randy Foye, but before that, around the year 2000, they were involved in a salary cap scandal, promising Joe Smith a multi million dollar deal in the future if he signed for less at that moment. Well the league found out and punished the Wolves by taking away their next FIVE FIRST ROUND DRAFT PICKS (2001, 2002, 2004) (2 picks were later returned). Granted, they made the playoffs before each of those drafts so they wouldn't have been lottery picks, but you build your team with a draft and can trade for players with draft picks, and yet KG still played his heart out and even won MVP in 2004. But it could have been more.

But hey, he still won a championship with the Celtics as a main ingredient in their big three, but it's something more special when you turn a whole franchise around to a championship, something that could have happened had management not tried to be so sketch.

Coming soon: My "I don't feel sorry for these NBA players" post.

I Understand Allen Iverson's Choices

2010-03-13T23:26:00.000-08:00

Iverson's family life

[Photo from Dead Spin]
Over the past couple of weeks (not so much recently, though), there's been a lot of talk about Allen Iverson, his daughter being sick, his divorce, his gambling debts, etc. His latest twitter tweets from March 8th:

To my fans: You all know that my life isn't perfect. I am going through some very tough times right now, like I am sure that we all do
from time to time. However, I will stand tall like always with "rhino" thick skin. Even though I have become used to hearing people say
things about me that aren't true, it still hurts. I encourage you to continue your ongoing support and I want you to trust that this is
another obstacle in my life that, with God's help I will overcome. God Bless You All.
(http://twitter.com/ALLENiVERSON)

Writers and fans have predicted that this could be the end of Iverson's basketball career since he
took a leave of absence a little before the All Star break from the 76ers to be with his sick daughter. Ish hit the fan with all his other problems coming to light. He's been in the news more than he's been in the box scores for games these past few weeks. But bringing this back to basketball, people talk about how he'll be a guy who never won a ring and should have come off the bench for a championship contending team. Not just people; sports analysts, general managers, owners, commentators, coaches, fans; everyone.

Put yourself in Iverson's position. Put yourself in his kind of position with something you can relate to. Let's say you're in college and you're working part time at an office job. You're going through your classes and you're struggling with your major. Your coworkers start discussing amongst themselves what YOU should be doing in school. What classes you should be taking, whether or not you should switch your major, how you should be reworking your hours at work. How annoyed would you be? Your coworkers don't know what's best for you. They don't know your what's going on in your life, what's going on in school, circumstances beyond your and their control. And whether or not they're right or wrong, you don't want to have someone else making decisions for you.

Back to Iverson. Sports writers, bloggers, fans... they don't know Iverson's whole story. Sports writers write what they think about Iverson. But Iverson knows Iverson and whether or not the sports writers are correct, do you really think Iverson would concede and say, "You know what, you're right. I'll come off the bench for a championship contending team and win a ring before my career is over. Thanks Sports Illustrated, LA Times, NY Times, and every blogger and twitterer, you've guided me to the right path"? Yeah, me neither.

So while everyone hates on Iverson's decisions and pride and think that they know what's best for him, I understand Iverson's stance. He was the #1 draft pick and has been considered a top player during the earlier part of the decade. He doesn't wanna go out like other 1996 draft class dropouts. Stephon Marbury tried to go along for the ride for a ring in Boston. Antoine Walker went along for a ride for a ring in Miami. Iverson is a lot better than those guys, plain and simple. Even with Walker's ring, Iverson's career is more impressive. [Side note: 1996 draft is my favorite draft class of all time and I wish Marcus Camby had been an all star at least once in his career but alas...]

So while Iverson deals with his personal problems and family issues and maybe later on, his basketball future, no one's opinion is going to matter except his own. While people may think they know better, right or wrong, Iverson's going to do what Iverson wants to do. And that's something I can understand and respect.

Tweets From The Past Two Weeks

2010-03-10T11:55:00.000-08:00

Just in case you're interested in what our NBA players are up to but don't want to be a twitterer. Here you go!

Dnt y'all hate when people close to u lie? I knw I do #wordaapp but it's life so forgive them #wordaapp (Nate Robinson) [Nate's fortune cookie tweet]

Night people!!! Watching the old school Family Matters...I love Steve's pants! i may do that one day to the game!? (DeAndre Jordan) [I hope I'm at that game]

SHUTTER ISLAND. Womp womp enough said... (Dwyane Wade) [I don't care, I'm still going to see it]

Im off this twitter thing for a while..some of yall say sum of the most ignorant, hateful things...so ill holla (Kevin Durant) [cyber bullying?]

going into surgery today on my thumb, will be out for a min but when I return it is on, win da ring for da king! Luv my team, Cavs baby! (Shaq) [let's hope he's right]

This aint the same Jerry Springer show I used to watch with my Grandpa! Smh its crazy now (Rudy Gay) [Ah family memories]

Man we had that game! We played well tho. Despite the loss it was a gr8 way to start the roadtrip. On the way to Orlando now. Back to back! (Stephen Curry) [well I guess that's how the Golden State Warriors measure success]

My baby pic Goodnight folks Ps My son asked my wife was that him:) http://twitpic.com/15t5t6 (Ron Artest) - [Really funny young pic of Ron]

Man I'm soo bored tha mall was weak I'm chillin in my room watch celeb rehab sheeesh I feel bad for these people (Austin Daye) - [hahahhaha]

Just saw like 50 cop cars!!! On the 405, what's going on?! (DeAndre Jordan) [DEANDRE! GET OFF TWITTER WHEN YOU'RE DRIVING]

EXCLUSIVE: Inside the convo between Clippers season ticket holders and head coach Kim Hughes and Team President Andy Roeser

2010-03-05T23:29:00.000-08:00

Crap, I gotta talk to the season ticket holders after this loss?

(Photo from LA Times)
As you may or may not know, I am lucky enough to have season tickets to the Clippers this season and March is known as MVP month where season ticket holders get all kinds of cool offers such as autograph sessions with the team, free jerseys, and what I went to on Friday night after a loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Coach's Chalk Talk, a Q n A with head coach Kim Hughes and team president Andy Roeser. TV color analyst Ralph Lawler was asking both of them PRE SELECTED questions from me and my fellow season ticket holders.

Now I know what you're thinking.

Pre selected questions?! I thought the same thing. I was expecting questions such as: who is your favorite Clipper? What was it like becoming a head coach? What do you work on in practice? And all the other BS you hear TV interviewers ask. But alas, this wasn't TV. The cameras were gone. President and head coach were faced with nothing but pissed off Clipper fans who have little to no reason to renew their season tickets. Here's a rundown of what happened.

A spokesman welcomes us with, "Hey, how's everyone doing?!" which was followed with moans and groans and sputtered applause. Spokesman responds to that by saying, "Yes, I know, it was a tough loss but better times are ahead, I promise." He proceeds to thank all of us for our support and introduces Ralph Lawler who also thanks us for all of our continued support but also shared with us in our frustration. He said something along the lines of, [paraphrase quote] "We have to wait for results and if you're not sick of hearing that, well then you're probably not a Clipper fan" [end paraphrase quote].

He proceeds to ask Kim Hughes those pre selected questions, here are those highlights:

Question: People see you as a defensive coach, what exactly does that mean?
Answer paraphrased: Yes I'm a defensive coach. I believe that defensive rebounds are key to winning games. The offense will come. These guys know how to score. But defense is key. [My thoughts - well get at least some offensive game! Current offense = if we don't score a fast break, feed Kaman in the post and everyone stand at the 3 point line in case they double team him.]

Question: What are three goals for this summer?
Answer paraphrased: To find a leader. Kaman is a good player but he's not a leader, he's too quiet. [My thoughts - excellent point. Plus no one seems to respond to Davis, and Eric Gordon is a little too young to be a leader.] He also said he wants Eric Gordon to work on his dribbling, specifically dribbling with his left hand.

Question: How do you motivate your players?
Answer paraphrased: You can't. You can only control playing time. [My thoughts - another excellent point. He elaborated more on this answer in a very well thought out response, but the main point of it was that these guys get paid millions of dollars, you can't really motivate them beyond that. All you can do is control their playing time. If they don't do what he (Hughes) asks (get defensive boards), they get benched].

Question: Is the team opposed to trading Baron Davis? (Followed by a surprising amount of clapping and cheer in favor of trading Baron)
Answer paraphrased: We're building this team around Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon. Anyone can be traded, this is a business. [Read between those baselines].

These next questions were for team president, Andy Roeser.

Question: What are your plans with Travis Outlaw?
Answer: The team's left for the plane right? Look, we made moves before the deadline and it all depends on what we do over the summer. If we get a big name, we'll have less money to spend on role players. If we don't get a big name, we'll have more money to retain some of our FAs that we want to keep. [My thoughts - hey, he's keepin it real. I hope they do get a big name and don't go out of their way to overpay guys like Outlaw and Craig Smith].

Question: Why should we renew our season tickets?
Answer paraphrased: Building memories are important and that a lot of memories will come from Staples Center. This team is going to turn it around. We're in a good position with regards to cap space and draft position. This team will be good etc. [My thoughts - I think I might get a portion season tickets next season].

Question: What's more important, operating income or winning?
Answer: Winning. [My thoughts, as well as many people around me - HA!]

Why Send Thabeet to the D-League? So we don't have a blog called FreeHasheem

2010-03-04T20:51:00.000-08:00

(Photo from Yahoo)
Here's an update about Hasheem in the D-League by Marc J. Spears. From the article:

People in the NBA are “definitely looking at it negatively,” Thabeet said. “ ‘He’s the No. 2 pick. He’s not supposed to be there. I can’t believe that guy is over there and he’s the second pick.’ But you got to go and work your way up there. I’m working my way up here, working on my confidence. “When the time comes, I’ll be able to answer the call.”

Take that however you want it, but I believe it. He's not getting playing time in Memphis and the Grizzlies are fighting for a playoff spot, so putting Hasheem in game action in the NBA to learn on the fly isn't quite an option at this point in the season.

I'll repeat that.

Putting Hasheem in game action in the NBA to learn on the fly isn't quite an option... at this point in the season.

People seem to think this automatically means that Hasheem Thabeet is a BUST and that the Memphis Grizzlies are dummies who should have picked Tyreke Evans or James Harden or ANYONE ELSE not named Blake Griffin. But for reasons already stated, hey it's just not happening AT THIS POINT IN THE SEASON. I keep saying that. Because people think that going to the D-League means you are in the D-League forever. False. Your team can call you up whenever they want you back, which for the Grizzlies is if they fall out of contention for the playoffs!

Let's look at some other players who after being drafted, were assigned to the D-League:

Jose Barea, January 17, 2007 (Wiki) - After appearing in only 12 games getting less than 5 minutes, the Dallas Mavericks sent their undrafted rookie to the D-League, called him back two weeks later. He still didn't get a lot of playing time, but he did get more, appearing in 21 games for the second half of the season. He now averages 20 minutes a game for a playoff bound Mavericks team. Again, undrafted. D-League success.

Aaron Brooks, December 6, 2007 (NBA.com) - After appearing in 2 games, getting 3 minutes in one and 30 seconds in the other, the Houston Rockets sent their 1st round 26th draft pick to the D-League, called him back a week later, and proceeded to play in every game for the next two and a half months. He had a bell curve going from 5 minutes to 10 to 20 at the top in the middle of January, and then back to around 5 minutes at the start of March. He now averages 36 minutes and 20 points as a starting PG for the Rockets. D-League success.

Jordan Farmar, March 31st, 2007 (NBA.com) - After getting sporadic play behind... Smush Parker, the Lakers sent Farmar to the D-League to get some game action. After his first D-League game, the Lakers called him back to the team, that day to play against the Kings. His second season, he played in all 82 games and averaged 9 points and 3 assists playing behind Derek Fisher. Now he's struggling on the bench not getting the bulk of back up PG minutes with Shannon Brown but he's still averaging 18 minutes. He also won a championship! I'd call this a D-League success. He's probably going to be the next starting PG for the Lakers.

Marcin Gortat, November 20, 2007 (NBA.com) - The 2nd round draft pick hadn't played in a single game. The Magic sent him to the D-League and didn't call him back until March. He still hardly played. The next season, he doubled his minutes to 12 per and was made famous in the playoffs and Finals against the Lakers. So much so that Dallas offered him the mid level exception to play significant minutes for the Mavericks who needed a big man behind (or even to start in place of) Erick Dampier! The Magic matched which was so idiotic (but I won't go into that again, see my previous posts: Orlando Offseason, Gortat Update). He can play, it's just the Magic only play him 12 minutes. I label this a D-League success.

I could delve into more draftees/rookies being sent from their team to the D-League and getting better (Brandon Bass, Ramon Sessions, Martell Webster). I could delve into D-League success stories where players started out in the D-League and got signed to NBA teams (Rafer ALston, Chris Andersen, Matt Barnes, Jamario Moon, Mikki Moore, Von Wafer). But my main point is that the D in D-League stand for development, not dog house, not dunce, not dumbass draft choice, but development. Of course we'd like to see Memphis play Thabeet but they have a chance at making the playoffs and he's not there yet. Sending him to the D-League gets him solid game action and playing time. He will NOT be another infamous #2 draft pick, such as Darko Milicic.

My tangent - Darko Milicic

(Photo from NY Times)
Why didn't Detroit send Darko to the D-League? Granted there were no D-League teams near Michigan at the time (Wiki), he seriously could have used the playing time. His rookie season he averaged 1.4/1.3/.2, 4:40 minutes in 34 games for the playoff bound (eventual champions) Detroit Pistons. Doesn't this sound familiar? Why would Larry Brown give him decent minutes to a young PF/C for a team trying to get into the playoffs and win a championship? Why would ~~Marc Lavaroni~~ Lionel Hollins give decent minutes to young C Thabeet, for a team trying to make the playoffs. Compare the numbers: Thabeet this season - 2.5/2.9/.1, 10 minutes in 50 games. Better than what Darko was putting up.

The D-League would have kept Darko in game shape and he would have gained valuable in game experience, which is exactly what Hasheem will get. Hasheem shouldn't be ashamed of going to the D-League. He should be thanking the Grizzlies for a chance at some real playing time. If he didn't go to the D-League, he'd still be laughing stock of sports writers and in 3 years, he'd be the next Darko. There is no blog called FreeHasheem and if Hasheem takes the D-League seriously, which it sounds like he is, there won't be need for one. He said “When the time comes, I’ll be able to answer the call." I believe him.

Read Between the Baselines, come on now.