Basketball blog with takes on basketball and anything related to basketball . . . as well as a haven for jingoists everywhere - in America.

 
EUREKA!!!!

I found it. Well actually Ben Matasar found it. The it I refer to is the infamous Doug Christie NY TImes article. The article talked about by Bill Simmons . This is a must read. It is high - HIGH - comedy. I offer you some direct quotes:

"Reporters who cover Christie's former team, the Toronto Raptors, were so intrigued by the couple's sign language that they created a betting pool when the Raptors played at Sacramento last November. By their count, Christie signaled his wife 62 times during the game."

"With few exceptions, Doug Christie does not look at other women, avoiding dialogue or even eye contact."

"During Christie's time in Toronto, Jackie was uncomfortable that women working for the Raptors went into the locker room to distribute statistics after games. So Doug began dressing in an adjacent room."

She added: 'Doug is allowed to look at females. I would prefer he didn't.'"

Nothing I could say could do this justice. You MUST read this for the comedy alone. I will say one thing about Doug's "friends" though. If he had any friends at all, they would have told him to run - and run quickly away from her. I mean Jesus man. She "would prefer he didn't" look at other women. She has a few issues friends. Friends don't let friends get with girls that are jealous, possessive and all together crazy.

--posted by Tim at 12:23 AM | | Permalink

 
Merry Christmas

--posted by Tim at 4:10 PM | | Permalink

 
How to right the good ship Laker

Charley Rosen suggests thinking about trading Kobe Bryant (who isn't the problem unless your name is Charley Rosen), but then he says a suitable trade couldn't be worked out. This is the quote:

"Ignoring any niceties of salary-cap considerations, the problem here is getting equal talent value. Tracy McGrady isn't nearly as good as Bryant. Grant Hill is too fragile. Jason Kidd is unavailable and, besides, the Lakers would have to totally revamp their team to accommodate Kidd's uptempo talents. Who else could be the other half of a fantasy trade? Allen Iverson? Even more selfish and undisciplined than Bryant. Vince Carter? Even more immature. Paul Pierce? See Iverson above. Antoine Walker? Too imprecise for the triangle. Tim Duncan is a free-agent-in-waiting. Gary Payton is too old. Getting equal value would be difficult, but perhaps it's time to trade Kobe Bryant. How about a two-for-one? Steven Nash and Michael Finley for Bryant?"

Tracy McGrady isn't nearly as good as Bryant? Two things on that. First, that is absolutely absurd. McGrady is at least as good, if not better. McGrady leads in PER this season and not by a small margin (about 5.00). McGrady shoots 2% better from the field and 7% better from the arc. He rebounds less (about 1 per game), but scores slightly more, blocks more shots and turns the ball over half as much as Kobe does. McGrady has been better in PER each of the last 2 seasons and the gap between the two has been growing.

The second thing about that paragraph is, does Charley Rosen like any player? I agree that Allen Iverson, Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker would not be good fits, but not for the reasons given by Rosen. By belittling the players like he does, Rosen just comes off as a bitter old man (which is what he may just be).

--posted by Tim at 1:29 PM | | Permalink

 
SOS on capsizing Lakers

Ahhh yes, another post about something Charley Rosen wrote. I must preface this with two things: 1) the post won't be all about what Rosen wrote and 2) this is by request from a reader named Jhaldir (thanks for the email again) who wanted my take on what is wrong with the Lakers. So now that I have said that, on with the post.

First we will start with some quotes.

"Kobe's me-first attitude in training camp (this was also the case in preseason games) destroyed the value of too many intrasquad scrimmages. Instead of concentrating on reorienting themselves to the triangle's basic geometries, the players' attention was focused on man-to-man competition, bickering over real and imagined fouls, looking to short-cut their way to victory, and ignoring the increasingly caustic scolding of the coaches."

"That's why, in the Minnesota game, Bryant took it upon himself to dramatically expose his teammates' shooting deficiencies -- which he did by attempting only four shots (and one of them a dunk) during the first half. His modus operandi was to abort the triangle offense by dribble-penetrating the lane, thereby causing the Timberwolves' defense to collapse around him, and then kicking out passes to the likes of Rick Fox, Robert Horry and Derek Fisher, who were wide open on the perimeter."

The first quote is form Rosen's article from about 6 weeks ago where he blasted Kobe for being selfish and had quotes from Tex Winters, among others, calling Kobe selfish. Winters later said he never said any of it. The second quote is from Rosen's article from today. The contradiction is obvious. Before Kobe's selfishness was destroying the Lakers and now it is his unselfishness. I don't know what Kobe Bryant did to Charley Rosen, but he sure did piss him off. This article is just another example of Rosen showing he doesn't have a clue.

The truth is that Kobe Bryant is not the problem with that team and neither is Shaquille O'Neal at less than 100%. They are 4th and 2nd in PER in the entire league so far this season. Kobe Bryant is arguably the 4th best player in the league thus far (PER dos not cover defense, so there is some wiggle room in terms of rankings using it). The problem with the Lakers began a few seasons ago when Jerry West left.

As John Hollinger has said, Kupchak has done nothing but collect paychecks since he got the GM job. He has made no good acquisitions since he got the job (Lindsay Hunter or Mark Madsen anyone?) and that is the reason the Lakers have been struggling thus far. After Shaq and Kobe there is practically nothing. There is not another player on that roster that is even above average for an NBA player and this is the thing that is killing the Lakers. Even if Shaq and Kobe go for thirty each every night, you still need another thirty points to even be competitive and the rest of the team struggles to do that often times. But the reality is you need more like 40-50 points a night out of the rest and they simply aren't good enough to get it done.

So Charley can go on blaming Kobe all he wants, but the fact is that the rest of the lineup lacks talent and that is the fault of Mitch Kupchak. It is his job to assemble the talent and judging by the talent that is there, he is failing badly.

--posted by Tim at 10:42 PM | | Permalink

 
Happy Story for Christmas

A young victim of the DC Sniper, Iran Brown, is a huge Tracy Mcgrady fan. McGrady heard this and sent him signed jerseys and shoes, along with a taped message for him in the hospital. He went even further though. The young boy was flown to Orlando by the team and some of its sponsors. He gets to attend two games, a practice where he gets to shoot with the players, and a trip to Disneyland. In a time when all the news stories are about the bad stuff, it's nice to hear about the good stuff.

--posted by Tim at 10:01 PM | | Permalink

 
So Troy Murphy is Rollo Tomasi

All of you fans of LA Confidential will recognize Rollo Tamasi as the name Edmund Exley gives his father's killer, which comes to generically mean "the guy who gets away with it." I'm sure that all of you have heard about the fracas that was the end of the Warriors-Blazers game Friday night. After hearing what happened my guess was that Bonzi Wells would probably get 2 games, Chris Mills would get 3 and possibly more for doing his best Rick Fox rendition and blocking the Blazers bus with his car, Rasheed Wallace would get 1 for going into the stands and being Rasheed Wallace and Troy Murphy would get one because he threw punches. I got Wells and Mills right, but Sheed got a $15K and Murphy as the post title suggests, got nothing.

Now I was under the impression that throwing punches was an automatic suspension, but the rules apparently don't specify it. This page on NBA.com says,

"Officials have been instructed to eject a player who throws a punch, whether or not it connects, or an elbow which makes contact above shoulder level. If elbow contact is shoulder level or below, it shall be left to the discretion of the official as to whether the player is ejected. Even if a punch or an elbow goes undetected by the officials during the game, but is detected during a review of a videotape, that player will be penalized."

But not if your name is Troy Murphy. You couldn't miss him thowing punches. Maybe the NBA defines punch differently than I do, but it says above that the player WILL be penalized. While it doens't specify the penalty, it implies that there will actually be one. Maybe someone can set me straight, but i was under the impression that the league treated throwing punches like it did leaving the bench during an altercation - which is to say that it earns you an automatic suspension. So how did Troy Murphy get off with nothing?

The other thing about this is the whole throwing things from the stands aspect. Rule of thumb: If you are at a sporting event, son't throw things at guys that could probably bench press you with one arm using only three fingers to hold the bar. It's just not a good idea. Especially don't do it at events that are televised or where everyone knows everyone else there. You will get caught. It's just stupid and there is no need for it. So to all the fools in Utah and Oakland who have felt the need to lob objects from the stands in recent weeks, don't do it. All you do is embarass yourself, your team and your city.

--posted by Tim at 11:50 PM | | Permalink

 
Posey and Thomas key components of deal

There are two aspects of this deal I want to talk about. The first is purely selfish. I had James Posey on my fantasy basketball team. My team wasn't that great to begin with and now Posey has practically no value. Does anyone really think Posey is gonna be a 15 ppg scorer with Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley and Yao Ming there? Me neither. Hell Cuttino Mobley doesn't even know how to pass. And it isn't like Posey was a monster in any other category. He was actually more like a weight in FG%. Ugghhh. This trade kicked me while I was on one knee . . . I wasn't quite down, but I wasn't in good shape either.

Second, how long before we hear Mark Bryant and/or Art Long are seriously injured? It is bad karma to get traded from the Sixers. Theo Ratliff, George Lynch, Dikembe Mutumbo . . . all ended up with serious injuries after being traded (Ratliff had the hip injury after the wrist injury). The Sixers are my team and all, but someone should be looking into this.

--posted by Tim at 11:13 AM | | Permalink

 
NBA's new reality TV show: Live Ping-Pong balls

This article is actually a week old, but I just found it today. You can thank the finals for that. Marc Stein says the league is considering going with the live televised ping pong ball pulling. This is good and bad. Good because it would get rid of a lot of the conspiracy theory garbage that gets spewed each year about the lottery. However, it wouldbe bad because it would remove any suspense from the event. The way it would work is that 4 digit combos would get pulled. There would be 1000 possible and they would all be assigned to the lottery teams in teh correct proportions. The loss of suspense comes from the fact that they pull them 1,2,3 and the rest of the lottery falls in behind those by order of record. So instead of going down from 13 to 1. The first pick would get decided first. I am fine with it either way. Either they keep the suspense or they get rid of most of the conspiracy theories. Win-win situation in my book.

--posted by Tim at 11:32 PM | | Permalink

 
Rebuilding Bulls talk playoffs after beating Celtics

They were doing it with straight faces too. I admit that they would be a playoff team if the playoffs started today. The only problem is that IT IS MID-DECEMBER!!!!! They are about 1/3 of the way through the season and the are playing .333 basketball (8-16 record). Maybe you guys want to try and get to say .450 or so, before you start getting all excited about the playoffs. Oh and maybe wait til at least February.

--posted by Tim at 11:22 PM | | Permalink

 
Another Ugly Incident

"Chris Webber made four free throws in the final 8.5 seconds as the Kings beat the Utah Jazz 98-96 Saturday night after a disputed foul call prompted angry Jazz fans to throw debris at the officials as they left the court . . . The players were already off the court as the debris, which included full plastic water bottles and mini basketballs, rained down. Referee Tony Brothers was hit on the forearm by a water bottle but was OK."

You know how you could tell they were in Utah? Nothing beer related was thrown onto the court.

--posted by Tim at 12:57 AM | | Permalink

 
Belated Happy Birthday

Going out to this blog. On December 8th, 2001, this blog actually started to function. Been a good year. I'd like to thank the readers for the support (still wish you would comment and email more) and especially the people who helped make this thing work on the technical side, particularly Ben Matasar and Ryan Wilkins.

In honor of the birthday, I've put together a list of what I think are the 5 best posts. Read them again for the first time and enjoy.
5) Stephon Marbury Extreme DUI and Apology
4) What Box Scores Should Look Like
3) Iverson Charges Dismissed/Ban Batterrers from Sports Response
2) Tyrone Hill traded for Mateen Cleaves
1) The Draft Post

--posted by Tim at 4:23 PM | | Permalink

 
Charley Rosen Draws My Ire . . . Again

Charley Rosen has yet again shown that he doesn't have a clue. I'm not a fan of Kobe Bryant, but Rosen did a bit of a hatchet job on him. Again, Rosen shows that he just doesn't get it. In his "scouting report" on Lebron James (in quotes because I question Rosen's abilities as a scout), Rosen essentially said James was arrogant, selfish, unintelligent, lazy, a poor shooter and couldn't play defense to save his life.

I could go into how the kid is a mere 17 and probably never really been coached in his life, but that isn't what bothers me most. WHat bothers me most is that Charley has seen exactly ONE of James' games. In many cases, Rosen uses one instance from game to generalize overall faults in Lebron's game. What scout does this? None. Most real scouts (read: not former CBA coaches who come across as bitter and uninformed) see several games of players they are truly interested in.

Now part of this is the fault of the editors at ESPN.com who thought giving this job to Charley Rosen was a good idea. However, Charley makes no reference to the fact that he has seen exactly one game (the one he is "scouting"). Many of the things he references are things he has heard second hand and probably gotten from the same articles you and I read. Yet again, Rosen shows his ineptness as a writer by reporting a biased, self-serving and generally uninformed article while presenting like it is fact. This is teh real problem with Rosen. He thinks he knows what he is talking about, but the reality would seem to be that he only knows as much as the average fan.

--posted by Tim at 4:02 PM | | Permalink

 
Magic Release Horace Grant

My guess is that this is the end of the road for Grant. The guy had a nice career. At his peak he was a 14/10 a night guy, but he was a great role player. You never heard him complain about his shots or anything like that. He simply went out and did what his team needed him to do. Not a Hall of Famer, but a very solid player. He hasn't been able to recover from off season knee surgery and he was limited physically in recent years as it was. Good luck to Horace Grant in the afterlife (the NBA afterlife that is).

--posted by Tim at 11:54 PM | | Permalink

 
Mavericks @ Warriors

I attended this game Saturday night. It was the first NBA game I had attended in person in a couple years. Now I know you are all asking, "What kind of fan are you?" My response is, "A broke one."

So anyway back to the game. I noticed that things are a lot different when you are actually at the game instead of watching it on television. For one, I wasn't nearly as aware of statistics. For instance when the game ended and the announcer ran down the scoring for each player, I had no idea that Dirk Nowitzki had dropped 35. I figure this is due to the constant statistical overlays and announcer coments about them during a telvised game. You don't have those at the arena.

A second one was that I watched the game a lot differently. On TV, most of the time I am simply following the ball. However, at the game I watched the off the ball stuff a lot more. I figure this is because my view isn't filtered through the camera. I can watch whatever aspect of the game I want, which was an aspect about it I really enjoyed.

The best part was when Earl Boykins had to jump against Adrian Griffin. That got the crowd cheering the loudest they would all night. Another thing I noticed, was that you can appreciate the relative differences in size of the players. There was a point in the game where Boykins was standing next to Shawn Bradley. Bradley had his hand on Boykins shoulder, yet to do it his arm had to be extended all the way. It is hard to really appreciate how tall Bradley is til you see something like that. The play of the game though was when Earl Boykins crossed Steve Nash over so bad that Nash's knees buckled on him. It was pretty impressive.

So basically, if you are a fan of the NBA and haven't been to a game in person you should go (or at least try to go). Even if you get tickets at the top of the arena, the view will still be good. My seats at the Coliseum Arena last night were actually above the jumbotron over the court (I actually had to look down a slight bit to see it), but I could see just fine. The tickets at the top of the arena will be cheap too. Warriors tickets for the top section were only $10. Just try to round up some friends (I went with three others) and get some tickets, it will probably end up being a fun night.

--posted by Tim at 12:46 AM | | Permalink

 
Rose still eager to play in Olympics

Well, he's gonna be eager for quite a while because he shouldn't be anywhere near the national team. Does anyone believe Rose is even a top 20 NBA player? I certainly don't. He would be low on my wishlist if I was on the selection committee. The best part of this was the following quote from Rose:

"No member of the Fab Five has ever played on the Olympic team."

It makes it sound like there is a conspiracy to keep Fab Five members of fthe Olympic team. Part of the problem is that 2 of them weren't all that fab, seeing as how they couldn't make the NBA. That leaves Rose, who has been discussed, Juwan Howard (not even close to being named to the Olympic team) and Chris Webber, the only one of them who is talented enough to be on the team - assuming it is made of the best players and not this "let's pick the best guys who haven't gone yet" crap.

--posted by Tim at 1:04 AM | | Permalink

 
Ankle forces McGrady to sit

People in Orlando are now wondering whether ankle injuries are actually contagious.

--posted by Tim at 12:57 AM | | Permalink

 
Group will boycott law enforcement night in protest

Now quite frankly, I don't care about the boycott one way or the other. They can do what they want. However, the real reason I posted this was because the guy who was quoted in the article from the police side, Robert Eddis - president of the Fraternal Order of Police, is actually someone I know. I was born in Philadelphia and lived there til I was ten. Robert Eddis' son was my best friend until I moved to California and lived right down the street from me. I just thought it was kinda cool that someone I knew was quoted in an article on ESPN.com.

--posted by Tim at 11:01 PM | | Permalink

 
Wagner's 29 propel Cavs to first win in 16 games

It only really counts as half a win since they beat the Bulls, who are just as bad as they are. How impressive has Dajuan Wagner been? He scored a "career-high" 29 points tonight (career high is in quotes because his career is exactly 6 games old now). The FG% leaves much to be desired, but that's gonna happen when you miss part of training campl and the beginning of the season with a bladder infection that required hospitalization. However, despite all that he is averaging 20 poimts a game and 4.8 assists. Not bad for a 19 year old rookie who no one really thought was a point guard. I am probably a bit over enthusiastic coonsidering the sample is only 5 games, but you gotta like what he's done so far.

--posted by Tim at 10:57 PM | | Permalink

 
Week (and a half) In Review

Since I haven't posted in a while, I'll try and cover the stuff that I missed. So without further ado, it's the week in review.

Sixers' Brown selected to coach 2004 Olympic team
Congratulations to Larry I guess. Shaq said he would be hurt and unable to play in 04 if Phil Jackson wasn't named coach, but we'll see. The real question is, does anyone care? With Tim Duncan, Tracy McGrady, Jason Kidd, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett already saying they would play, the reality is that the team doesn't really need Shaq.

Jordan leaves no doubt: He's done after season
I want to believe it, but MJ is starting to look like he missed his calling as a boxer with the rate that he retires and unretires at. I'll believe it when I see it, and even when I see it I'll still be skeptical that there isn't a comeback on the horizon.

Erick Barkley fails drug test, booted by Greek league
What do Rasheed Wallace, Damon Stoudamire, Bill Walton and Erick Barkley all have in common? Well, of course they all played for the Blazers at some point. The answer we were looking for is that they were all Blazers of a different sort (I have no confirmation for Walton, but the guy is a huge Grateful Dead fan. You do the math.). Maybe Barkley was just lightin one up in honor of his former teammates who got cited 5 days earlier? Either way, Barkley better watch his step or else even the NBDL is gonna be looking pretty good for him.

The Mavs Finally Lost . . .
To the Pacers on Thansgiving. It was bound to happen. At least they got their streak snapped by a team that is playing just as good as they are at this point. The Pacers are a good team anyway, but they are hot as well. Also, when did Ron Artest learn to shoot? Last year he shoots roughly 42%. This year he is at about 49%. The craziest part about it is the three point shooting though. Last year Artest was Jeckyll and Hyde from behind the arc shooting .396 before he got traded, but a dismal .215 after. This year he is at .342. Would the real Ron Artest please stand up? The three point shooting may keep up, but there is no way in hell he finishes the year at 49% from the field.

Harpring, Piatkowski take shot at elite honor
The elite honor in question is the so called 170 club. to gain entry you must shoot at least 50% from the field, 40% from behind the arc, and 80% from the line. So if you look at the list of who has done it already you see great shooters like Drazen Petrovic, Jeff Hornacek, Steve Kerr, Chris Mullin . . . Brent Barry may raise an eyebrow, but he is way under-rated in my opinion. Does anyone see Harpring or Piatkowski fitting in with those guys? Me niether. Harpring won't make it. I don't think he can keep up the three point shooting. The guy was a career 31% coming into this year and all of a sudden he is shooting 50%? I feel a little regression to the mean coming on. As for Piatkowski, he shouldn't be in there just because he isn't a good player and shouldn't even be starting on his own team. The reality is, I'm just hatin on him for having the naked pictures of Alvin Gentry and using them to keep himself in, and Quentin Richardson out of, the starting lineup.

Wagner Turning Heads (requires sunscription)
Dejuan Wagner has come off IL and contributed immediately. The best part was the quote from John Lucas:
"All I say is, today is the first time since I've been in Cleveland that I had to hold the bus up for somebody doing interviews," Lucas said. "I like that. I like the idea that I went to the N.B.A. Store and Cleveland Wagner jerseys were in the store. That's what it's going to take for us to get out of this significant hole."
I got news for you John, you need more than Dejuan Wagner jerseys in the NBA store. It's gonna take a new GM and about 10 new players for you guys to get out of this hole.

The Revolution is Beginning and it Won't Be Televised . . .
Well at least not the beginning. Ric Bucher cited PSA when talking about Yao Ming. How long before things like PER start working their way into mainstream media?

Don't (Lo)go West, young man
Eric Neel's article is pretty good, but you gotta see the example given for the Allen Iverson logo.

Get Your Kicks
NBA.com has some pictures of shoes over the years. The pictures of the Jordan's were pretty cool, but the must see is the Signature Shoes. Included are the shoes Paul Pierce and Chris Webber wore at All-Star Weekend last year, which were truly hideous (down near the bottom of the post).

--posted by Tim at 11:46 PM | | Permalink

 
I'm Back

Sorry for the disappearing act. Thanksgiving plus the end of the semester makes for little free time. Things may get spotty in two weeks when I have 4 finals in a 3 day span, but i will do my best to keep posting regularly until then.

--posted by Tim at 10:58 PM | | Permalink

 
What Were They Thinking?

That's the name of a little thing they run over at Page 2. One of the ones for this week was "What were Sheed and Stoudamire thinking?" My favorite choice was "Of course Damon has glaucoma. Have you seen him shoot the ball lately?". Despite my wishes though, the choice with the most votes was "We were just practicing the pick and roll. 'Sheed picked it, and I rolled it." Either way, it's pretty funny stuff.

--posted by Tim at 2:31 PM | | Permalink

 
It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times

But mostly, the 4th quarter of the Nuggets-Clippers game was just the worst. The Clippers scored a mere 8 points in the quarter - no that wasn't a typo, 8. The Clippers went into the 4th quarter up 62-49. The Nuggets had yet to break 20 in a quarter in the game. The Clippers had 4 FG in the 4th quarter. They went 5:58 between the 2nd and 3rd FG. For the game, the Clips shot .413 and lost. That's not that surprising by itself. However, the team they lost to shot .365 - .365!!!!!

I must admit though, that despite the fact that the 4th quarter of this game was more reminiscent of the 1st quarter of the NBDL game I watched (between the Fayetville Patriots and Asheville Altitude) as I ate my lunch, it was exciting simply because you could feel the comeback coming. Once the Nuggets got within 8 (by going on an 8-0 run no less), you knew it was gonna be fun. The lead changed three times in the final two minutes (trust me, that was an avalanche of scoring for this game) and when they inbounded to James Posey with about a second left on the clock you just kinda knew he was gonna hit it. I must admit that once the Nuggets went on the 8-0 run, I was rooting for them. I figured a) the Nuggets aren't gonna win many this year and b) the way the Clippers were playing, they didn't deserve to win. But the excitement despite it being such a bad game is what I like most about basketball, and really sports in general. But enough. I gotta stop before start to get really sappy

--posted by Tim at 10:39 PM | | Permalink

 
Yao-wza!

Yao Ming got his first start tonight and showed why he was the #1 overall pick. Yao went for 18 points, 8 boards, 3 blocks and a steal while going 7-11 from the field and 4-4 from the charity stripe. However, this was a down shooting night for Yao. You see, Yao missed 4 shots tonight. Considering he had only missed 4 FGA total in the two weeks before tonight's game you can understand. My friends, Yao-mania has arrived. The guy can play.

There were lots of people hating on him before the season, but no one expected him to start doing this so quickly. The guy is averaging 8.9 ppg, 5.2 rpg, and .7 bpg, which doesn't sound that impressive til you hear that he is averaging a mere 17.3 minutes per game. However, the guy is shooting 72% - 72%!!!!!! He down right dominated Dallas to the tune of 30 and 16 last night. About a week ago John Hollinger said, "I still think one game in January things will click and he'll (Yao) get 25 and 17 out of the blue, but check back in two months." And by January he meant one game a week from now. So basically I'd like to give a shout out to all the Yao haters out there: Yao better recognize!!!!!

--posted by Tim at 8:32 PM | | Permalink

 
Fun Stat of the Day

If you go by NBA record, Texas (25-7) is trouncing California (18-29) in the race for "best NBA record by a state with at least 3 teams in it."

--posted by Tim at 8:23 PM | | Permalink

 
Great ESPN Graphic Caption

I was watching NBA Fastbreak Tuesday and they had a graphic showing Yao Ming's first 6 games compared to his last 2 (counting tonight). The caption? "Yao Better Recognize"

--posted by Tim at 7:20 PM | | Permalink

 
What Box Scores Should Look Like

I was having a conversation with my friend Ben Matasar about what box scores should look like and we came up with the following example using the Celtics game from Friday (11/15/02). This is what the Celtics box score should have said:

BOSTON CELTICS

PLAYER        POS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OFF REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS 

A. Walker      F  43  11-22  0-4   0-0   1   6   3   2   0  2   2  22 

E. Williams    F  27   3-4   0-0   3-6   2   8   1   0   0  0   1   9 

T. Battie      C  23   2-4   0-0   0-0   2   7   0   0   1  1   3   4 

T. Delk        G  38   7-20  5-11  0-0   3   5   7   1   0  3   2  19 

P. Pierce      G  39   4-20  1-8   0-0   1   7   3   3   0  1   2   9  

W. McCarty        14   0-3   0-2   1-2   0   2   0   1   0  1   2   1 

S. Williams       32   7-13  3-9   2-2   0   2   6   1   0  2   3  19 

V. Baker          23   1-4   0-0   1-2   3   5   0   0   3  1   1   3 

J. Bremer          1   0-0   0-0   0-0   0   0   0   0   0  0   0   0 

B. Sundov           DNP - TBWG@EOTB 

K. Brown            DNP - PROJECT/LOST CAUSE

R. Wolkowyski       DNP - NAME MIS-SPELLED ON JERSEY 

Totals                 35-90 9-34  7-12  1  42   20  8   4 11  16  86 

                       .389  .265  .583 Team Reb: 9  Total To: 12(15 PTS)

TBWG@EOTB of course stands for "Token big White Guy at the End of the Bench"

Here is another example for you. This one is courtesy of the Utah Jazz and Toronto Raptors from tonight's game

UTAH JAZZ 

PLAYER        POS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OFF REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS 

M. Harpring    F  40  10-17   0-1  3-5   4   13  1   1   1   3  3  23 

K. Malone      F  37   6-20   0-0  3-5   1    7  5   4   0   3  1  15 

J. Collins     C  12    0-3   0-0  1-2   0    0  0   0   1   0  3  1 

C. Cheaney     G  40    3-9   0-0  0-0   3    9  3   0   0   2  2  6 

J. Stockton    G  30   7-11   0-0  1-2   1    4  7   1   0   1  2  15 

M. Jackson        21    1-3   0-0  0-0   1    5  8   0   0   3  1  2 

G. Ostertag       36    5-8   0-0  2-4   5    7  0   0   1   4  3  12 

C. Arroyo         11    4-6   0-0  0-0   0    0  3   0   0   0  1  8 

S. Padgett        13    0-5   0-2  0-0   1    4  0   0   0   1  3  0 

J. Amaechi    DNP - EMFTSU

D. Stevenson  DNP - LACKS BASKETBALL TALENT 

A. Kirilenko  DNP - LOWER BACK STRAIN 

Totals                 36-82  0-3 10-18 16   49 27   6   3  17 19  82 

                       .439  .000  .556 Team Reb: 5 Total To: 17(17 PTS)

TORONTO RAPTORS

PLAYER        POS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OFF REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS 

M. Peterson    F  32   5-12  1-4   1-2   2   4   1   0   0   2  4  12 

A. Davis       F  38   4-14  0-0  10-10  3   8   1   1   1   2  3  18 

J. McCoy       C  23    1-3  0-0   0-0   3   8   0   0   1   2  3   2 

V. Lenard      G  38   2-11  1-6   2-2   1   4   1   1   1   4  1   7 

A. Williams    G  43   8-17  0-3   4-5   0   5   6   3   1   1  3  20 

J. Williams       30    4-9  0-0   3-4   2   7   2   4   0   1  5  11 

L. Hunter         10    0-3  0-0   0-0   1   1   1   0   0   0  0   0 

G. Foster         10    2-4  0-0   0-0   0   2   0   0   0   2  2   4 

C. Jefferies       6    0-3  0-2   0-0   0   1   0   0   0   0  0   0 

M. Bradley        10    2-3  0-1   0-0   0   2   0   0   1   1  2   4 

V. Carter   DNP - LOW PAIN THRESHOLD

M. N'diaye  DNP - SCORER COULD NOT PRONOUNCE NAME

N. Huffman  DNP - WRONG ARENA, MEANT TO GO TO CBA GAME

Totals                 28-79 2-16 20-23 12  42  12   9   5  15  23  78 

                       .354 .125  .870 Team Reb: 12 Total To: 19(20 PTS)

For the Jazz, Deshawn Stevenson's DNP speaks for itself and John Amaechi's stands for "Equipment Manager Forced to Suit Up." For thr Raptors, they all seem pretty self-explanatory. Now wouldn't this be more fun to read when you are combing the box scores? Personally, I think so.

--posted by Tim at 11:07 PM | | Permalink

 
Kobe Bryant and Measuring Greatness

Yesterday, a reader left a comment on one of my recent Kobe Bryant posts. It read as follows: "The full extent of Kobe's greatness will never be known until he has to carry a team by himself. This is the Bill Simmons theory and I agree with it." I started to respond in the comment box, but then realized that it would probably be a little lengthy for a comment (and why waste something I could use for a post:) ). So I will adress it here.

I think this is true to a certain extent. I think if you surround Kobe with a bunch of scrubs (sort of like what is happening now with Shaq out), then you get to see how dominant that player can be when the odds are stacked against him. With the Lakers right now, Bryant is getting a large majority of the defense's attention mainly because the other guys on the team don't exactly strike fear in the other team's hearts. Because of this, you get to see how Kobe the individual can dominate and if he can still do it against a whole other team. However, that is not a great measure of greatness by itself. Many players who are great are not gonna be able to succeed in that situation.

There are so many factors to greatness that saying we won't know someone's greatness til they are on their own doesn't cover it. In fact if anything, being the only great player on a bad team can lead to a player getting less respect. People simply say it was because no one else on the team could score/rebound/etc. so of course player A's numbers are gonna look a lot better.

One of the big problems with greatness is that no one can agree on what it is. While most people can tell you what player's they think were great, they all will probably a) give different lists of players and b) define greatness differently. It is like the MVP. The reason the MVP is constantly a controversy is because no one defines it the same. You got people that say a player can't be valuable on a losing team and you have people that say the greatest player is the one with the greatest stats.

So I guess in the end, I don't really agree with Simmons' statement. When it comes right down to it, greatness is what you show. If Kobe retired today, we would know the extent of Kobe's greatness - it would be what we have seen so far. Perhaps he would have had potential to be greater, but potential doesn't exist in the real world. Potential is an idea, but ideas and potential don't score 20 points a game or win games. Potential is simply people's guess at a players ceiling of ability, but greatness is something that you see. It's real. It shows up on TV and it shows up in the box score. Maybe we won't know if we had seen all of the greatness Kobe Bryant could have possibly exhibited, but when he calls it a career we wilknow exactly how great Kobe Bryant was. We just won't be able to agree on it.

--posted by Tim at 5:59 PM | | Permalink

 
Roundup

Sorry about the disappearance there. Midterms tend to do that to me. Anyways, onto the basketball.

Webber wants charges dropped
I think Joey Knish (John Turturro), from the movie Rounders summed up my feelings on this best when he said, "I want a blowjob from Christy Turlington. So what?"

Sam Smith: Contraction should be on Stern's agenda
With the first paragraph of his article, Smith made the most hated list with David Aldridge and Bill Walton. When you start the article doggin on Brad Miller and saying that if the league weren't so bad he wouldn't be an All-Star, you are going to incur my wrath. Has Smith ever seen Miller play? Has he looked at the stats? I have. Last year, his PER of 20.13 was 3rd among centers. So far this year, Miller's PER of 27.29 is good for 4th - in the entire league!!!!(see From the Baseline for 11/14/02) But as always it gets worse before it gets better.

He then goes onto complain about how shooting percentages are down to record lows, guys are too young and don't have the fundamentals . . . blah blah blah blah blah. We are through10% of the season. Step back off the ledge Sam and get back to me about the poor shooting when we are a quarter of the way through. He then goes onto say that he loves the game. If you love the game the way it is, why don't you quit your complaining?

However, the most absurd part is when he turns on the fans in Charlotte for revolting against George Shinn. "But then they got embarrassed and angry. Owner George Shinn went through an embarrassing sexual assault trial. This was the Bible Belt, after all. Top players were allowed to leave, although management did a good job of keeping the team competitive. Shinn wanted a new arena. Well, they'd show him." The trial and players leaving had nothing to do with the fans ignoring the team. Shinn tried to bully the city and its citizens into paying for a new arena and they called him on it. Good for them. Shinn deserved everything the fans gave him. I realize there are always other opinions, but quite frankly I don't know how you could see this one any other way.

The part that really took the cake though was the last paragraph. Here it is in all its glory: "I'm glad for Brad Miller. He's a wonderful guy. He's a guy you root for. I'm just a little sad that he has become something of the standard for centers. I think he'd be a great sixth man. I think that would be a wonderful team to watch. But Brad Miller is too good to ever be a bench player in this NBA. Look, "The Producers" doesn't play everywhere. It's OK. Bigger is not necessarily better. More is sometimes too much." I don't know what Smith is talking about and it is probably obvious to everyone that he doesn't know what he is talking about either. A great sixth man? This is absolutely absurd. Even if you don't look at PER, the nirmal stats are on my side. See the table below for the comparison from last year.

  Name            PPG   RPG   BPG    FG%    FT%   TO    MPG

Brad Miller      15.1   7.8   1.0   .507   .836   1.7   29.7

M. Olowokandi    11.1   6.8   2.9   .546   .600   3.4   32.1

Vlade Divac      11.1   8.4   1.2   .472   .744   2.0   30.3

David Robinson   12.2   8.2   1.8   .507   .681   1.3   29.5   

A. Mourning      15.7   8.4   2.5   .516   .657   2.4   32.7

D. Mutumbo       11.5   10.8  2.4   .501   .764   2.0   36.3

You'll notice a few things in that table. First you'll notice some of the names not there. I left Shaq off because we all know he is the best center in the game and one of the best ever most likely. I also left off guys who play centers on TV (I'm talking to you Raef LaFrentz and Dirk Nowitzki). Those are guys who aren't really centers, but do sometimes log minutes there because of there teams lack of interior players.

The next thing you'll notice is that of the guys listed, Miller holds his own or is better than most (or all) in almost all those categories. The other thing you should notice though, is the minutes per game column. With the exception of David Robinson and Vlade Divac, everyone else played a fair amount more minutes than Miller. The lesson here is that Miller did the same or more in less time than the rest of the guys on that list (except for Robinson, who had the 2nd highest PER among centers last year). To say that Miller would be a good sixth man and basically calling him a decent bench player is absolutely ludicrous. Hey Sam, you better come with something stronger than your opinion and nostalgia before you start throwing statements like "Miller would be a good 6th man" out there. Next time a little research would help too.

--posted by Tim at 5:21 PM | | Permalink

 
Coming soon to cable: LeBron James

"This season, his team's routinely sold-out games will be offered on pay-per-view in 14 counties in northeast Ohio. Most of his home games will be played at the 6,000-seat University of Akron arena."

If you read the article you'll notice there is no mention of James getting a cut. This is part of my problem with college sports and in this case high school sports. James is the reason that the school and Time Warner are making the money, yet he won't see a damn dime of it. The same thing happens in college sports like football and basketball, where the schools make millions off the players and yet the players don't see their fair share of it.

--posted by Tim at 5:59 PM | | Permalink

 
46 in the clip and 1 in the hole, Kobe Bryant is about to make some offenses turn cold

So I defend Kobe and go after Charley Rosen and what does Kobe do? 17-47. Just to put that in perspective, the Laker with the second most field goal attempts was Devean George with 11 and no one else even had double figure shot attempts. Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce combined for only 42 shots. Despite this I stick with what I said about Rosen's article. It's still early and the rest of that team isn't very good, so I don't know that it is such a crime that Kobe took so many shots. My probelm is in his shot selection. I understand throwing up threes from behind screens when you are hot, but when you've missed 4 long jumpers in a row and you keep doing it instead of trying to get to the hoop it becomes a problem. When you have someone open in the corner, yet you still try to dunk on two guys and get stuffed - that's a problem. I don't see this as a huge problem yet, but it could get there. I'm not kissing Rosen's ass til then though.

--posted by Tim at 3:41 PM | | Permalink

 
Rosen on Kobe Parts 1 and 2

Brace yourselves for a rant. Charley Rosen wrote two articles on why Kobe Bryant has been all selfish and blah blah blah. May I point out that he was selfish for two games and he already triggered this garbage from Rosen. Anyways, on with the analysis of the article(s). Rosen explains Kobe's selfishness with the following quote:

"Without Shaq roaming the lane and attracting double-teaming tactics, defenses can now afford to body-up on Kobe. That means Kobe's every spin, dribble and shot must be executed under maximum duress. The situation piques Kobe's fiercely competitive nature, and he views it as a personal challenge, so much so that he mostly disdains the rare open shot, determined to drive the ball into the teeth of the defense and thereby prove his dominance."

And Rosen knows this how? Did Kobe tell him this? Maybe it's because for the most part the rest of the team is below average to incompetent? If you were Kobe would you want to dish to Mark Madsen down low? Me either. Rosen is talking like this is the reason for Kobe's play, but in reality it is simply conjecture.

Later in part 1, Rosen uses the phrase, "Derek Fisher, a dead-eye 3-point shooter." Now don't get me wrong, Fisher can stroke it from deep, but I don't know about dead-eye. Fisher is a .374 3 point shooter for his career. Good, but not dead-eye. Steve Kerr and his .458 career mark is dead-eye.

Anyway, back to Charley Rosen on why Kobe is selfish. In part 2, the selfishness becomes dad's fault. Rosen says it is because Joe Bryant set a selfish example for Kobe on the court. He talks about how Joe felt while he was in the NBA, yet offers no quotes or other evidence to show that Joe actually did feel this way. This leaves the audience with the only possible conclusion that it is really only Rosen's guess as to how Joe felt.

Later Rosen goes on to discuss what Phil Jackson will do about it. Again I would like to point out that this is all based on two games of selfish play. It's two games! Kobe dropped a triple double between Rosen's writing of part 1 and 2. Two games is exactly 2.4% of the season.

Just like Charley speculated on what Jackson should do, I'm gonan tell Rosen what to do. First, either present some evidence that what you are saying is based in reality or else say that it is conjecture. Don't act like what you are saying is how it is when you can't really back it up. Second, step back off the ledge Charley. It's been two games! (Did I mention how little two games is relative to a season already?). And finally, you don't have to use big words just to use them. Think of your audience. Some of the readers aren't gonna understand words like "ineffable." Many of the rest don't want to read stuff like that when they come to ESPN. Personally, I'm looking for info and analysis that is clear and concise. The word flourishes and metaphors and other stuff just get in the way. If I want that stuff I'll read Shakespeare, not Charley Rosen former CBA coach.

--posted by Tim at 10:00 PM | | Permalink

 
Extensions, Extensions Everywhere

In case you oculdn't tell, the subject of the day here at EotB is contract extensions - three guys who got them and one who didn't. We'll start with those who got a little extra job security.

Wally Sczerbiak - Wally got $65M over 6 years. That is absolutely absurd!!!! While he did improve last year (PER rose by about 2), there is no way this guy is worth 10.5M per. He can shoot for sure, but the rest of his numbers are not worth that kind of money. He only had tthe 15th best PER last year - at his position. The move from small forward to shooting guard helped him defensively a little, he still is just this side of being a sieve.

Ron Artest - Artest reportedly gets $42M over 6 years. I think this was probably a bit much to pay for Artest, but it is not as bad as Wally World's deal. Artest raised his shooting percentage by .022 last year. I think the real Ron Artest is probably closer to the 40% mark he put up his first two years. When it comes right down to it, Artest is just not a good offensive player (he would disagree, but that's because he's a) a bit crazy and b) wrong). His value is on the defensive end anyway. The guy can just lock people down. Is that worth 7M a year? I guess so. Devean George got 5M, so I guess Artest is worth 7.

Jonathan Bender - No terms disclosed on this one. I hope it wasn't too much though. This guy needs to join Juan Dixon, Jared Jefferies, etc. and start mixing in some steaks at dinner. How can you be 7 feet tall, play small forward and only grab 8.4% of the missed shots while you are on the court?

DerMarr Johnson - The Hawks refused Johnon's option. When I first read it I thought that was kind of messed up. But when it comes down to it, basketball is a business. They had no way to know if Johnson was gonna be able to play or not and they couldn't afford the payroll hit if he doesn't. Just a bad situation to have to be in. I wouldn't have wanted to make that decision. Now way to win in that one.

--posted by Tim at 4:24 PM | | Permalink

 
Sixers at Magic

It's halftime as I write this and I've watched the whole first half. Some quick observations now with more to come at the end of the game.

-- You can tell it's early in the season Part I: The refs have blown to goaltending calls already against the Magic. Granted they were both close, but I was pretty sure they got them wrong even before seeing the replay.

-- You can tell it's early in the season Part II: 16 seconds left in the half and Allen Iverson brings the ball down. He runs the clock down to 4 and then passes to Keith Van Horn At this point I yell, "Why did you do that?" Little did I know that Van Horn would dribble to the wing to the foul line and then throw to Eric Snow in the corner. I was absolutely baffled by this, since Snow has practically no chance of a) creating his own shot and b) making a jumper. So with about 1.5 seconds left Snow driblles to the wing, stops, pump fakes and then throws up a fadeaway after the buzzer, which made no difference because even a computer science major had a better chance of scoring than that shot did.

-- 14 minutes and counting: 14 minutes into comeback number 672 (maybe it just seems that way), Grant Hill is looking pretty good. 10/2/4 (points/rebounds/assists on 2-4 from the field and 6-7 from the foul line. He is getting to the basket pretty good. Although Keith Van Horn will do that for your offensive game.

-- Stat Oddity: Todd MacCullouch - 9 points in 7 minutes and 2 fouls. Brian Skinner however, has played 15 minutes. Can anyone explain this to me. MacCullouch was firmly planted on the bench when the Magic had Tracy McGrady, Hill, Shawn Kemp, Horace Grant and Pat Garrity on the bench. Instead of putting MacCullouch in and letting him eat that cupcake squad the Magic had out there, Larry Brown leaves Skinner in and puts in the the second unit. MacCullouch was eating the first unit alive. Why not let him munch on the cupcakes?

Scariest moment of the first half (for me at least): Grant Hill is bringing the ball down and he is being pressured. That's fine, but when I realized it was Keith Van Horn pressuring Hill up the court I was frantic. This just beat out the point when the Magic gave the ball to McGrady in the lower left block and cleared out. McGrady turns and faces the defender - again Van Horn - and it was over at that point. I swear I saw him smile when he saw it was Van Horn.

Second Half

Best exchange of the game:
Mike Fratello - Allen Iverson with the inadvertant turnover.
Brent Musberger - Aren't all turnovers inadvertant?
Fratello - Yeah . . . I guess so.

Cold Front Coming In - Allen Iverson went the last 16 minutes without making a field goal (0-8) and finished 7-25 from the field.

In the end, the Sixers had no answer for the Magic's small lineup. That same small lineup kept the unstoppable Todd MacCulloch on the bench nad no one could score at the end. Magic win 95-88.

--posted by Tim at 6:03 PM | | Permalink

 
The Weekend of Malcontent Point Guards

Some of our favorite disgruntled, trouble maker point guards were in the news this weekend. Rod Strickland officially signed with the T-Wolves Sunday. Yes that is the same Rod Strickland who has been arrested 6 times during the course of his NBA career. This includes serving 10 days last April for a DUI conviction. He stayed out of trouble last year, but does anyone actually believe that Strickland can make it through two consecutive years without causing a problem? I sure don't. A trouble-free season from Strickland is the equivalent of an injury free year from Marcus Camby. It is the unicorn, which Pat Riley magically corralled for a brief stint last season.

But the news wasn't all good for the malcontent point guards. While Strickland was practicing with the T-Wolves, Kenny Anderson was spouting off about he didn't want to be a backup. Some of my favorite quotes from Kenny include the following:

"Gary Payton is here, a great player who has been here his whole career. Whatever is going to benefit me in the long run, I'm all for it.'' Way to be a team player there Kenny.

"I don't think I'm giving up money,'' Anderson said. "I'm not doing that.'' Well Kenny, you're probably wrong. Anderson is due to get payed $9.185M in the last year of his current contract. However, Kenny wants the Sonics to buy out his deal. That would give Kenny $6M and the ability to sign somewhere else. Does anyone think that a team is gonna pay $3M for a 32 year old point guard that barely passes as a starter (PER around 13.5 - league average is about 15) and has no three point range? I wouldn't and I doubt any team would. Unless Kenny is willing to take the league minimum, he better think about retiring after the buyout (if it happens of course) because no one is gonna sign his ass for more than that.

--posted by Tim at 10:31 PM | | Permalink

 
You know it's a rivalry when . . .

Doug Christie is swinging at guys. Let's be honest. Christie is a bit submissive when it comes right down to it (To see the basis of this conclusion see this Bill Simmons article). You know the rivalry is getting ugly when Christie is throwing haymakers. But it gets better. Apparently Rick Fox chased Christie down in the visitors tunnel and they continued the fracas there. But wait, there's more. Then the rest of the Kings and some of the Lakers got into it and Shaquille O'Neal in his Hee Haw Halloween costume got into a shoving match with 3 time Oscar winner Vlade Divac. By the way, THIS WAS A PRESEASON GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They better get metal detectors in the locker rooms for the regular season.

--posted by Tim at 11:05 PM | | Permalink

 
Nailon waived

Lee Nailon got waived. This one caught me by surprise. While Nailon is just short of being invisible on defense, he is a good offensive player. More free throw attempts would help, but he can score. The real reason this is surpriseing is that there are nothing but "defensive specialists" on the Hornet bench. Not only that, everyone knows Jamal Mashburn is gonna get hurt at some point. This is fact. So why waive the only guy on your bench that score at a position where you know you will need some depth? I just don't get it.

--posted by Tim at 2:30 PM | | Permalink

 
End of the Bench Fantasy League

I'm sure you've all been waiting for it and now it's finally here! The league is on Yahoo! and is a rotisserie league. I hope to get the dratf done before the season starts, but if I can't I won't be doing retroactive stats. So sign up here and the league ID is 97835 and the passsword is "EotB". So come join and we'll have some fun.

--posted by Tim at 10:48 AM | | Permalink

 
Alarming Stat of the Day

So my Pro Basketball Prospectus came last Friday and I'm about halfway through the Eastern Conference. According to Rebound Rate, which measures the percentage of missed shots a player grabs while he is on the floor, Uncle Cliffy (Clifford Robinson) is a worse rebounder than - prepare yourselves for this - Pat Garrity, Penny Hardaway, George McCloud, Walt Williams, Dan Majerle, Rodney Buford, Calbert Cheaney and Chris Mills (Chris Mills!!!!!!). And that was even after a pretty drastic jump in his rebound rate from the year before! How can you be 6'10" and be a worse rebounder than Dan Majerle?

--posted by Tim at 1:01 PM | | Permalink

 
So, I've kinda been an absentee blogger lately. I've had at least one midterm per week for the last 4 weeks, so you'll have to excuse me if my energy level has been a bit down. Now that I've explained myself, on to the basketball.

Ouch!!!! (Injury News)
Mike Bibby - Bibby fractured his right foot and after surgery will be out 6-8 weeks. This probably won't be that big a hit to the Kings. John Hollinger agrees in todays edition of From the Baseline.

Antonio McDyess - McDyess is out "indefinitely" after he fractured his knee cap. The Knicks were gonna miss the playoffs with him and they can certainly do it without him. Welcome to the starting lineup Michael "I couldn't even start in Cleveland last year" Doleac.

Wally Sczerbiak - Injured his toe and should be out about two weeks. I need a better voodoo doll. I thought I poked his ankle with the pin.

Make Sure to Read the Fine Print (Read: Signings)
Michael Redd - The Bucks matched the offer that the Mavericks had made to Redd. Good basketball decision for sure. I don't know enough about the Bucks financial situation to really say anything, but the fact that it took them almost the full two weeks to decide says something.

Charles Oakley - The Wizards signed Oak to sit the bench, be a mentor and joke around with Patrick Ewing during games (does Oakley even have a sense of humor?). You know when I think of who I want mentoring my young big men, the first guy I think of is Oak. So what if he punched a guy at a shoot around once - what? That happened twice?

Olden Polynice - In what is becoming a yearly ritual, Larry Brown has brought on a suspect attitude in order to bother me. Last year it was Derrick Coleman and this year's acquisition is Officer Polynice. Was Dennis Rodman unavailable? Couldn't swing a trade for Anthony Mason? I can't really find any good reason why this happened. Maybe OP is going under cover? Maybe OP is gonna arrest Raja Bell for trespassing in the NBA, since we all know he should be in the CBA? These jokes would amuse me much more if they weren't all about my favorite team.

And the Utterly and Completely Random
Magic Johnson is trying to become a minority owner of the Sonics. Why can't Magic just fade away into the sunset? Why he feels the need to be in the news every few weeks is beyond me.

Hakeem Olajuwon is reportedly gonna retire. That means 2/3 of my retirement trifecta is done. Come on Zo, I'm counting on you.


--posted by Tim at 10:37 PM | | Permalink

 
Nuggets' Camby out at least one month

Surprise, surprise. At least last year he had the decency to get 29 games in before going down.

--posted by Tim at 3:10 PM | | Permalink

 
Sprewell fined $250K

Hi, my name is Scott Layden. I obviously don't have a clue. I fined my star guard $250K for breaking his hand and not telling me about it. Everyone says there is no basis for fining him this much. They're wrong. He should have told us. So what if it will make absolutely no difference in how long he is out. So what if I wasn't gonna sign anyone else anyway. It's the principle of the matter. Maybe I would have gone and made another ill advised signing or trade to help ease the loss (Howard Eisley and Shandon Anderson anyone?). This is an outrage and Latrell Sprewell deserved to get the heftiest fine ever levied on a single player by a team. I know it seems like I'm fining Spree for getting hurt, but you all know that I wouldn't do that. I never fined Marcus Camby did I? And he was always hurt. Everyone should just get off my back and let me go back to running the Knicks into the ground.

--posted by Tim at 8:09 PM | | Permalink

 
Utah 89, Seattle 82

And it begins. This was the exhibition opener. Only thing to note is that Rashard Lewis, the "60 million dollar man," sprained his left shoulder and left the game.

--posted by Tim at 10:42 PM | | Permalink

 
Knicks Hire Psychologist

Maybe the Blazers should follow the Knicks example . . .

--posted by Tim at 1:36 PM | | Permalink

 
It's That Time Again!!!!!!!!!!

Training Camps Open Today

--posted by Tim at 5:32 PM | | Permalink

 
Keep an eye on these 10 in preseason

In honor of Dr. Jack's column, I figured I should do one of my own. It is entitled:
"Five Points I Will Probably Repeat Many, Many Times Over the Course of the Season, So Just Get Used To It."
5) How over-rated Wally Sczerbiak is and my general dislike of him (as if you didn't hear enough of this last year).
4) Cheap shots at Bill Walton
3) Posts about Bill Simmons' NBA columns
2) References to John Hollinger's PERs (once my copy of Pro Basketball Prospectus arrives)
1) My joke about Mateen Cleaves and Mark Madsen

--posted by Tim at 5:31 PM | | Permalink

 
Looking for a laugh?

Go here. There are some great quotes from NBA guys on there. Some of my favorites include:

Sgt. Kirk Hartwell, who arrested Kwame Brown (Was) for going 120 mph in a
60 mph construction zone: 'He just kept saying "Michael Jordan is going to
kill me."

At the news conference introducing Alvin Gentry as new coach of the LA
Clippers
Question: Didn't you have any friends warning you not to take the job with
the Clippers?
Gentry: They all encouraged me to take the job.
Question: You don't have any friends, do you?

Malik Sealy, who played the past 3 seasons with the Clippers, on signing
with Detroit: "I'm happy to be here. It's great to be back in the NBA."

Charles Barkley on teammate Cuttino Mobley: "He's instant offense, on
both ends of the floor, I might add."

--posted by Tim at 5:21 PM | | Permalink

 
Enough of the Silence!!!!!

I realize that this site hasn't been updated in a week. The main reason for this is that there has been no news that I thought was worth my time to write about. But because I left you guys hanging for so long, I will give you a long, multi-topic. Don't worry, it would be as bad as it sounds.

Murray may be headed to Toronto
I realize no one cares about this trade, but it isn't the trade that caught my eye. This part here is the reason for this post: "The Cavs might have acquired point guard Milt Palacio for nothing in return. Officially, Cleveland sent a second-round draft pick in 2008 to Phoenix for the journeyman guard. However, there might not be a second round in 2008. The current collective-bargaining agreement ends after the 2003-04 season (if owners pick up the option on the final year of the pact). Many owners are in favor of eliminating the second round and it was discussed during contract negotiations in 1998." No second round? I take this with a grain of salt. Who are "many owners?" Also note that there was no other reference to this in the rest of the article and no other paper or site that I know of has this story. Still something to keep an eye on though.

Pistons Depth Chart
What is worng with this depth chart? Uncle Cliffy (Cliff Robinson) is a center? My ass he's a center. He's 6' 10", but he plays like he's 6' 6" If he's a center, all 5' 8" of me is a power forward.

Cleaves has surgery to head off stress fracture
Mateen Cleaves will have to wait 8 weeks to practice according to the article. I understand why he can't practice jumping out of his bench seat after this, but is towel waving practice out too?

Jordan will play again By John N. Mitchell THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Duh. Never saw that one coming. Next.

Inside Dish: Hill's ankle is better -- really
"Word out of Orlando is very positive regarding SF Grant Hill's healing ankle. Hill has played in just 18 games since joining the Magic as a free agent two years ago. But there is much "this-time-will-be-different" sentiment in Central Florida." No kidding. They need him if they want to get out of the 2nd round of the playoffs and to actually get some return on that big contract they gave him two years ago. What else is the "word out of Orlando" gonna be? It's not like they're gonna say "He sucks and we're gonna miss the playoffs." It's like the beginning of every baseball season. If you ask people close to the team, they are all "contenders." Same concept.

--posted by Tim at 9:12 PM | | Permalink

 
Hey brother, spare a roster spot?

The article is about why some older players can't get deals now. However, the most disturbing part was this:

"The 35-year-old Gatling averaged 6.4 points and 3.8 rebounds in just 15 minutes per game as a reserve last season for the Miami Heat. But after playing for eight teams during 15 unstable seasons in the NBA, the 1997 all-star signed a two-year deal on Sept. 15 with CSKA Moscow."

No Chris Gatling in the NBA? Who is everyone gonna joke about come the trade deadline? Can you get traded from Russia to the NBA? This is even more catastrophic than Mateen Cleaves almost getting traded. The jokes just aren't as funny with Jim Jackson or Chucky Brown in them. What are these GMs trying to do to me here? At least I can still watch Mark Madsen dance and yell in spanish at the end of the season.

--posted by Tim at 11:04 PM | | Permalink

 
Cavs return Cleaves to Kings after he fails physical

WooHoo!!!!!!! The rivalry is back. But seriously, this saves both teams from making a huge mistake. As I mentioned before, the Kings would have been left without a "First Guy Off the Bench Yelling When a Time Out is Called." The Cavs got saved because they were actually foolish enough to think that Mateen Cleaves could serve any purpose other than the aforementioned one. You know what the only thing worse than having to play Bimbo Coles at the point is? Having his backup be Mateen Cleaves. This is what is best for the fans too. I know all of you, like me, were devastated to hear that there would be no more Mark Madsen v. Mateen Cleaves cheerleading rivalry. Now we can all rest easy.

--posted by Tim at 8:16 PM | | Permalink

 
Ewing expected to announce retirement

He should call Hakeem Olajuwon and Alonzo Mourning and they can all save some time and hold a joint retirement press conference.

--posted by Tim at 8:38 PM | | Permalink

 
Fixing the Dream Team nightmare

I mentioned before where to go to get a serious analysis of the World Championships Debacle, but now I present you with the humurous and semi-serious analysis by Bill Simmons. My two favorite parts were the following:

"As one of my readers once wrote, he's the Nate Dogg of the NBA." That referring to Robert Horry. I've mentioned this before, but I don't think I've ever put it on this site. There is no better comparison for Robert Horry.

My second favorite part was at the end when he talks about how if you're gonna screw up, do it whole heartedly. Those two paragraphs are hilarious. You gotta read them in context to get the full effect though, so I will leave that to you.

--posted by Tim at 11:30 PM | | Permalink

 
All-Star Stackhouse traded to Wizards

"The Pistons traded (Jerry) Stackhouse to the Wizards for Richard Hamilton in a six-player deal Wednesday. Washington also gets forward Brian Cardinal and center Ratko Varda, while Detroit lands forward Bobby Simmons and guard Hubert Davis."

The last four guys there were obviously included for salary cap purposes. I guess this makes the Wizards a playoff team. I mean now they have Michael Jordan, Stack and . . . ummm . . . ummm . . . a bunch of young guys with potential and a bunch of other guys who simply aren't very good. Larry Hughes is a nice player if you like 30% shooters. Bryon Russell is best known for Jordan shoving him out of the way in the last game of the last Bulls' Finals victory. I guess they want to win now. They traded what looked to be a big part of their future for right now. The Pistons on the other hand seemingly extended their window of opportunity. Hamilton is by no means as good as Stack right now, but who knows in a year or two? I understand what Washington is doing, I just think its stupid.



--posted by Tim at 2:46 PM | | Permalink

 
Last charges being dropped vs. Iverson

I would rehash my whole tirade about all this from before, but it's my birthday and I'm feeling a little lazy. So you can just click here and read the old one again.

--posted by Tim at 2:39 PM | | Permalink

 
Cavs trade F Jumaine Jones to Kings for G Mateen Cleaves

"Who cares?" That is what most of you are thinking right now after reading that headline. However, you people are just short-sighted. When we look back a year from now on this trade, it will be obvious to everyone that this is the trade that assured the Lakers of representing the Western Conference in the 2003 NBA Finals.

"Tim, this is crazy talk" you say. What you need to realize is that the Kings now don't match up at three key positions. We all know about Shaquille O'Neal (Keon Clark . . . he's just 6 more fouls to give) and Kobe Bryant (Doug Christie . . . please . . . ). But you all forget about the match up that really determined last year's series: Mark Madsen v. Mateen Cleaves. Both are seasoned "First Guys Off the Bench Yelling When a Time Out is Called." Last year Madsen showed that the crown for 12th Man was gonna be his for a long time, but Mateen made a good run at it. Now the Kings don't have a go to 12th man. This folks, is the moment that next year's finals were determined. Just remember I said that . . . unless of course I'm wrong. Then forget you ever read this post.

--posted by Tim at 11:20 PM | | Permalink

 
Ummm . . . When it Pours and It's a Cold Day in Hell It Snows?

I realize I am a few days late on this one, but the US team lost at the Worlds for a third (consecutive) time. This one was to Spain. I don't know what else I could really add to this. If you want some answers as to why, I suggest checking out this week's From the Baseline 9/9/02 over at Alleyoop.com.


--posted by Tim at 4:05 PM | | Permalink

 
When It Rains, It Pours

The US lost . . . again. This time they fell to Yugoslavia. See Wednesday's post for my thoughts on this because they are basically the same.

--posted by Tim at 11:00 PM | | Permalink

 
58-and-Oh, No!

It was bound to happen eventually, but to Argentina? I understand they have some good players, but dude . . . it's Argentina. What makes it worse is that the US got owned: "The United States never led, was tied only once, trailed by as many as 20 and couldn't mount an adequate comeback down the stretch." That's what happens when the best players either won't play (Kobe Bryant), can't play (Shaquille O'Neal) or don't get invited (Allen Iverson).


--posted by Tim at 10:34 PM | | Permalink

 
Did Ya Miss Me?

Sorry I disappeared on you guys. I moved again and my internet connection is a work in progress at this point. So the posts can only be done in the library or at my parents house. Anyways, here are some quick hits to tide you over til I can get my connection going.

Marbury suspended a game, to serve 10 days
I know I joked about this when it happened, but dude is actually gonna have to do time. I'm not sure which is worse; Stephon Marbury's crime or the fact that I am surprised he is actually gonna serve any time at all.

Rockets reach deal with Francis
A no duh move for the Rockets.

Coleman's will miss season opener for Sixers
I can't even make it through the off-season without having Derrick Coleman get hurt. Why did the Sixers bring him back again?

Ewing, Olajuwon should bow out together By Mitch Lawrence
Amen. They should've done it last year.




--posted by Tim at 1:16 AM | | Permalink

 
Report: Blazers and Kemp to part ways

"Kemp has agreed to forfeit more than $25 million of the $46.5 million left on his contract, The Oregonian said in its Tuesday editions."

Give back 25M?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?! I know everyone likes to complain about how greedy players are, how they're overpaid, etc., but there is no way in hell I would give up 25M. No one knows why Kemp did this at this point, but the Blazers and their fans are happy about it for sure:

"The move has important financial implications for the Blazers, with the team likely to save at least $40 million in NBA luxury taxes."

This takes a tremendous hit off the Blazers payroll, not that Paul Allen was particularly concerned about being in the luxury tax bracket. Now if only someone would take a package of Scottie Pippen and Damon Stoudamire . . .

--posted by Tim at 10:27 PM | | Permalink

 
Signings

Bibby agrees to seven-year, $80M deal
I think we all saw this coming. Not the max, but Bibby still probably got more than it's worth. I found this post on the realgm.com boards, courtesy of shadowsenigmadotnet:

"this is just a thought but. . .

we all know the Lakers can beat any team, anytime they want to. the lakers knew they could beat the kings "queens" in the western finals, but i think the Lakers were worried about the 2002-2003 season. hear me out. the Lakers know that Shaq will take his time with his toe, and be out 1/4-1/2 of the season. the knew this in december. the lakers knew the this upcoming season would be the biggest fight yet, the kings are getting better, and the lakers main force is getting fat. so what do the lakers do????? this is what they did, in the western finals. the lakers let bibby school them, aware that he is a FA. and that his agent is david faulk. the lakers let bibby school them, so faulk would rip the money out of the maloofs wallets. $77mil for 7 seasons, not enough. for a guy who AVG 13.0ppg and 5.0 AST" now looks like the kings are trying to trade christe, so they dont get raped in the lux-tax. Also, why do you think the lakers now only have one PG? "fisher" they cant be very worried, about bibby if they trade the guy who covered him the best."hunter" bibby surpised the lakers just a little bit,and made it closer than they would have liked, also if kobe wasnt poisoned by the "kings" hotel. thios series would have ended in 5 or 6."

Now I don't normally dog on other people like this, but that may be the most absurdly stupid thing I have ever heard. The Lakers let Bibby go nuts so the series could go to 7 and they could almost lose? MORON!!!! Uggghhhh . . . dumbass Lakers fans.

Free agent Harpring jumps to Jazz on four-year deal AND Bulls sign Marshall to three-year deal
Yet again, it's fun with connections!!! The Utah signing of Matt Harpring, screwed both the Bulls and Donyell Marshall. Once the jazz got Harpring, Marshall was out of a job in Utah. The Bulls were also pushing hard to get Harpring, but missed out and needed someone. Therefore, the two needed each other and you get Marshall signing with the Bulls. But don't worry, I'm sure he didn't go there for the money. He probably just wanted to go to a young team that was "on the rise" and a franchise with such an illustrious history, blah, blah, blah.

--posted by Tim at 5:13 PM | | Permalink

 
Rapid Fire

Here's some of the headlines from the past two or three days with some short analysis by me.

Shaq reportedly to schedule surgery on arthritic toe
I understand it was a last resort, but why didn't he have it earlier? Not that it really matters. As long as Shaq is there for the playoffs, it won't make a difference.

Big man, big signing: Kings add Clark to mix
I like this signing. Keon Clark is a good player and can make an impact off the bench rebounding and blocking shots. He also gives the Kings more big men to foul Shaq come playoff time.

McInnis hoping to earn time on crowded Portland court and Stoudamire reportedly asks Blazers to trade him
Those two go together for obvious reasons. The Blazers trade for Antonio Daniels, sign Jeff McInnis and then Damon Stoudamire wants to be traded. Hey Damon, I think you were probably being shopped already.

Bzdelik to be promoted from scout to head coach
I wish I could attend the press conference. I think it would go something like this:

Reporter: "Mr. Bzdelik, how does it feel to know you were the organization's 24th choice?"
Kiki Vandeweghe: (jumps in before coach can answer) "Jeff wasn't our 24th option. He was option 1q the whole time."

--posted by Tim at 3:37 PM | | Permalink

 
Harris drops out of running for Nuggets' coaching job

Del Harris drops out of the race to be the next Nuggets coach. He is the fourth to drop out. Donn Nelson, Eddie Jordan and Phil Johnson chose staying as assistant coaches rather than be the next Denver scapegoat . . . errr . . . head coach.

Does anyone actually want this job? Hey Kiki - gimme a call if you can't find anyone else. I'll do it.

--posted by Tim at 12:27 AM | | Permalink

 
Utah's Stockton: 40 and still going strong

John Stockton is coming back for another season. Hooray for the Pasty Gangsta!

--posted by Tim at 1:47 AM | | Permalink

 
MacCulloch also part of Nets' trade with Sixers

I go away for 3 days and all hell breaks loose in the Sixers front office. I understand that Dikembe Mutumbo wasn't getting any younger and I have no illusions about his scoring abilities (or lack there off in most cases), but to trade him for Todd MacCulloch and Keith "Dough Boy" Van Horn borders on lunacy. Mutumbo is a presence in the middle. MacCulloch is big and stands in the middle. Van Horn can best be compared to a loaf of good bread . . . you know, soft in the middle. He's not even that good from outside. When Kenyon Martin calls you out for not showing up and Jason Kidd backs him up, you should be concerned. And if you are another team, you should not trade for him. Van Horn is just one more extended injury from me lumping him in with Marcus Camby. I don't mind the team bringing back MacCulloch, but get someone, anyone, other than Van Horn. Uggghhhhh.


--posted by Tim at 12:51 PM | | Permalink

 
Fans mourn death of Hall of Fame broadcaster

This isn't the kind of news I wanted to have to give you all when I came back, but Chick Hearn died at the age of 85.


--posted by Tim at 12:43 PM | | Permalink

 
Vacation . . . Again

I'll be gone for a couple of days so obviously there will in all likelihood be no posts until Thursday at the earliest. So just re-read some of the old ones to tide you over.

--posted by Tim at 11:40 PM | | Permalink

 
Hearn's prognosis not good after second surgery

Sadly, it appears that the only announcer the Los Angeles Lakers have ever had has probably announced his last game. Chick Hearn underwent 2 brain surgeries after falling at his home Friday, which will probably leave him with speech difficulties. This is just sad news. Any Lakers fan will tell you that it isn't really a Laker game unless Chick calls it. My thoughts and prayers go out to Chick and his family.

--posted by Tim at 11:38 PM | | Permalink

 
Robinson shipped to Hawks

Glenn "Big Dog" Robinson gets shipped to Atlanta for a sack of beans (namely Toni Kukoc and Leon Smith). Actually that isn't really accurate. The Bucks get cap space 3 years from now and one less guy that needs the ball. Tim Thomas will probably become the Bucks new starting small forward with Michael Redd (assuming the Bucks can get him signed) taking Thomas' role as energetic scorer off the bench. If Redd doesn't sign, then George Karl may have to rely on rookie Marcus Haislip to play that role. As this article from SportingNews.com put it, it is addition by subtraction for the Bucks. By removing Robinson, the rest of the Bucks are happier . . . or so they say. We'll have to wait and see about that. The Hawks can now run out a lineup that sports Theo Ratliff, Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Robinson. While that sounds impressive on paper, Ratliff has topped 60 games in less than half his seasons in the NBA (3 of 7) and played a whopping 2 games last year. Robinson dropped off fairly significantly in rebounds and assists and slightly in points after 2001. What Robinson may bring with him from Milwaukee is the problem of not enough balls on the court. Jason Terry will need his shots, as will Shareef and Robinson. It remains to be seen whether this will be a problem.

When looking at the talent, the Hawks ripped off the Bucks. But when the peripheral things are taken into account, who won and lost in this trade is not very clear at this point. Talk to me in 6 months . . . and then again in 3 years.

--posted by Tim at 1:22 AM | | Permalink

 
Brace Yourselves

This will show up as one post, but it's really more like 3. We'll hit some more trade rumors, the NBA board of governors meetings and the latest on the saga that is Allen Iverson. So without further ado . . .

Source: Cavs on verge of trading Andre Miller to Clippers
I saw the headline and thought, "Duh. This should have happened back on draft day." Then I read what the proposed deal actually was. Instead of a deal that would pretty much be Lamar Odomor the two Clipper first round picks (Chris Wilcox and Marvin Ely) for Andre Miller, the new deal is Darius Miles and Harold Jamison (who?) for Miller and Bryant Stiff . . errr . . .Stith. I like D. Miles and all (that Nike commercial with Quentin Richardson was kinda cool), but it is absurd to think that this deal is even in the same zip code as fair. If this deal goes down like this, the Cavs will be that much closer to being the Warriors. Ricky Davis (if the Cavs can get a deal done - he is a restricted free agent) and Miles would be fun to watch, but they won't win many games.
Update: FoxSports.com is reporting that the deal is actually done already. God help you all, Cavs fans.

NBA Board of Governors approve instant replay
After the debacles in last year's playoffs, this was a foregone conclusion. The replay will be used to see if shots actually beat the buzzer at the end of games. "Officials also can use the replay to determine if a foul they called came before time expired or if a player had his foot on the 3-point line." Referees will go through training before the pre-season starts.

Judge dismisses all but one charge against Iverson
Ban batterers from sports By STEVE WILSTEIN
Those two links go together for the purposes of what I have to say. Wilstein basically goes on a rant about how so many players (in all sports) have been getting arrested lately "on charges they beat up their wives or girlfriends." The article can be summed up with the following six paragraphs from the actual article:

Every week, on average, two athletes are arrested on charges they beat up their wives or girlfriends. Two or three more are arrested on other offenses.

This month alone: Allen Iverson of the Philadelphia 76ers; race car driver Al Unser Jr.; Glenn Robinson of the Milwaukee Bucks; Scott Erickson of the Baltimore Orioles; Chris Terry of the Carolina Panthers.

Iverson was cleared of all but a misdemeanor Monday at a hearing into charges he stormed into his cousin's apartment with a gun and threatened two men while looking for his wife. Two counts of making terroristic threats were left standing. Iverson also had been accused of throwing his wife out of their home.

Criminal charges against Unser, accused of hitting his girlfriend, were dismissed. None of the others has been convicted of any crimes.

``It's really essential that batterers be banned from sports,'' sports sociologist Richard Lapchick says. ``Not because there's a disproportionate number of athletes who are involved, but because they're such role models for kids. If kids see athletes get away with hurting a woman, then they might feel that it's OK for them, that they're going to get away with the same thing.''

Lapchick would like to see a year's ban for a first offense and a permanent ban for a second. It's an idea whose time has come.

So now it's time for the Tim point of view. Am I the only one that thinks that the both Steve Wilstein and Richard Lapchick never even bothered to think that maybe the players were actually innocent and that's why they didn't get convicted. Do I think that those players did nothing? Not necesarily. Do I think whatever they did do was criminal? The court says no and I tend to agree with them (except for O.J., but that's a different post). It is absurd to think that players should get a one year ban for getting arrested for domestic battery. Arrested doesn't mean you did anything. Does anyone think that Iverson deserves a one year ban because he got arrested? The Philadelphia DA had no case and when it really came down to it, shouldn't have even arrested him. Wilstein's point was that it is bad for kids to see their role models getting arrested for domestic abuse. I have two responses to that: 1) Kids shouldn't have athletes as role models. They should be looking up to their parents, police officers, firemen, etc. That's how I view it, but I'm not so naive that I don't realize that kids do look up to athletes. 2) Why don't all you reporters quit reporting everytime an athlete gets arrested and report when they get convicted if you think it's that bad for the kids. There have been numerous stories about Allen Iverson and how he kicked in a door waving a gun, but the reality is probably closer to he probably knocked on the door, was let in and asked if they had seen his wife. Who's fault is it that kids see that story? Is it AI's? Hell no, it's not. Is it the Philadelphia DA's Office's fault? To a small extent it is. When it really comes down to it, it is the media's fault for reporting it like it is fact when it is really no more than speculation. It's also the media's fault for continually doing that for so long that we automatically assume the athlete did it. Anyway, I'm gonna get off my soapbox now and go bail Derrick Coleman's stupid ass out of jail. Just take the damn breathalizer D.



--posted by Tim at 5:47 PM | | Permalink

 
Celtics acquire F Baker from Sonics in five-player deal

I'm a little late with this one, but it's been a busy week. So the Celtics did this deal because . . . Now I'm not naive. I realize this trade really probably came down to Shammond Williams for Kenny Anderson. It's seems like kind of a big risk. Trading for the enigma that is Vin Baker and his vulture contract and trading away your rejuvenated point guard (granted he could turn back into a pumpkin any second) for a guy who is a bit of an unknown quantity because he hasn't really had a chance. I'm not really sure what I think of this. It all really depends on what Shammond Williams does. He's gonna have to put on quite a show though to make up for having to eat that Vin Baker contract though. Personally, I would have just stuck with Anderson, the oft-injured Vitaly Potapenko, and Joe Forte.

--posted by Tim at 11:05 AM | | Permalink

 
ABC, ESPN set NBA broadcasting teams; Barkley stays at TNT

I knew Bill Walton would end up getting a job at one of the networks, but I was still hoping he wouldn't. Walton and Tom Tolbert will be departing NBC for ABC/ESPN. The new ABC studio team will be Mike Tirico and Tolbert. I wonder how that pair will work out. Tirico is kinda known as a serious guy (does a lot of ABC and ESPN's golf coverage) and Tolbert is not so serious. They will probably be fine, but I don't have a lot to talk about that won't set me off on a tirade (That means you Jerome James, Pat Garrity, etc.).

--posted by Tim at 10:47 AM | | Permalink

 
Knicks eyeing Szczerbiak in three-team deal involving Sprewell

This is a nice thought, but I wonder whether it will really happen. There would have to be a lot of cap fodder going to New York and they already have plenty of it anyway. Although if anyone would be dumb enough to give Wally the max (even though he doesn't deserve it, let alone be named to the All-Star team last year . . . but I digress), it would be New York. I can only imagine the garbage that the Knicks would have to take to make this work. They can't be that dumb though . . . can they?

--posted by Tim at 11:17 PM | | Permalink