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

 
You Want the Good News First or the Bad News?

Since I assume most of you would want to leave on a good note, I'll do the good news last. So here we go.

The Bad News
I'm shutting down EotB sort of. Actually I'm shutting down the blogspot site. It's been a good three year run, but it's time to move on. The site will still be here, but this will be the last new post on here for the foreseeable future.

The Good News
EotB will live on - over at Most Valuable Network. The name will remain the same, the template is a million times better and I get a banner. Not only that, you all should be happy because they require I post at least once a week (well at least those of you who actually enjoy reading this). Anyway, I hope you guys will all follow me over to the new site.

** Note: Those of you reading this who have sites with links here, I would greatly appreciate it if you guys owuld change the links to go to http://endofthebench.mostvaluablenetwork.com. Thanks!


--posted by Tim at 6:52 PM | | Permalink

 
ESPN Insider - Yay or Nay

I received an email from reader and fellow blogger Kareem asking me my opinions on ESPN Insider. Kareem works for the "Worldwide Leader" and since I'm not a subscriber wanted to know the following:

"If you are not an Insider, why not? Do we need to do a better job of showing you what Insider offers? Or, is there not enough that has compelled you to buy? What content or tools would be worth it to become an Insider?"

It comes down to two things for me, both of which have been gone over in the comments on Kareem's site.

1) I'm hesitant to pay for something when I'm not really sure what it is I'm getting for my money. Currently, I feel that ESPN.com doesn't do a good enough job of illustrating what you are getting by subscribing to Insider.

2) Why pay for what I can get for free? I can read newspapers, magazines and fan sites from around the world for free, so why pay for it when it isn't needed? Now this ties to #1 above because maybe Insider does provide things I can't get anywhere else and I don't know it.

What do the rest of you think? Leave your opinions in the ocmments here, or at Kareem's site. You can also email me or Kareem. Any emails sent to me will be forwarded so Kareem can see him. Thanks folks.


--posted by Tim at 7:04 PM | | Permalink

 
Official Excuse Post

The fates conspired against me in my attempts to update this blog. First I had some health issues (still ongoing, but as the doctors have said, "nothing that will kill me imminently"). Then, our DSL modem died. We had a short term replacement, a one room setup, but my room wasn't the one room. So I had to wait til today when the new multi-room dsl modem/router arrived. Regardless, I'm back and I've posted about the events that I missed posting on as they occurred. Enjoy.


--posted by Tim at 6:54 PM | | Permalink

 
Official Excuse Post

The fates conspired against me in my attempts to update this blog. First I had some health issues (still ongoing, but as the doctors have said, "nothing that will kill me imminently"). Then, our DSL modem died. We had a short term replacement, a one room setup, but my room wasn't the one room. So I had to wait til today when the new multi-room dsl modem/router arrived. Regardless, I'm back and I've posted about the events that I missed posting on as they occurred. Enjoy.


--posted by Tim at 6:54 PM | | Permalink

 
Official Excuse Post

The fates conspired against me in my attempts to update this blog. First I had some health issues (still ongoing, but as the doctors have said, "nothing that will kill me imminently"). Then, our DSL modem died. We had a short term replacement, a one room setup, but my room wasn't the one room. So I had to wait til today when the new multi-room dsl modem/router arrived. Regardless, I'm back and I've posted about the events that I missed posting on as they occurred. Enjoy.


--posted by Tim at 6:54 PM | | Permalink

 
Jazz might lose Kirilenko for a month

Why the fantasy basketball gods are attacking all my teams at once I don't know. As if it weren't bad enought that my EotB fantasy league team had both Jermaine O'Neal AND Ron Artest, now comes the news that Andrei Kirilenko will miss a month. Skeletor was my first round pick in one of my leagues (Yes I took him ahead of Dirk Nowitzki and no I don't want to talk about it). Hopefully it will only be the 7-10 days initially reported, but I doubt it.

--posted by Tim at 6:43 PM | | Permalink

 
Insubordination played roll in Brown retirement (reg. reqd.)

Exactly four days after I heard his yelling from the upper deck of the The Arena in Oakland, Hubie Brown retired as coach of the Grizzlies for "health reasons." According the Memphis Commercial Appeal however, that's only true if fed up with work environment is a health reason. Well it's sort of true. The work environment was leading to the health reasons.

In the article dated 11/28/04, Ronald Tillery states that stress caused by player insubordination and lack of management support was leading to health issues for Brown, which included recurring chest pain. Tillery names Bonzi Wells and Jason Williams as the main player problems. For fun here are some quotes from the article that epitomize the larger issues:

"Sure, West hired Brown two years ago. But there were whispers that West also sat in a FedExForum suite openly second-guessing Brown's 10-man rotation -- particularly as it relates to Williams's playing time."


"A situation that angered Brown involved his growing distrust of Yusuf Boyd, the assistant trainer/equipment manager. Brown believed Boyd sat on his bench operating as the eyes and ears for management. Boyd denies he was an informant.

Brown would insist that he had nothing to hide, but he perceived disloyalty and deceitful behavior in a setting that coaches and players consider sacred. Brown confronted Boyd and then demanded that West terminate Boyd.

When West refused to even remove Boyd from the bench, Brown seethed and his wonderment about the organization's oneness grew."


"When Williams blew up at assistant coach Brendan Brown, the team's offensive play-caller, Hubie Brown demonstratively reminded Williams that the same system won 50 games. The Griz took a day off following that Nov. 6 episode at Dallas.

When they returned to practice Nov. 8 and before any basketballs kissed the court, Brown gathered his troops and vehemently reminded them who was in charge.

At least one player described the situation as a little mutiny in which Williams didn't act alone. While Williams and Wells both played well following the incident, Brown never believed he regained their full commitment.

Just last Monday, an interesting scene played out on the bench. Williams normally re-enters games at around the seven-minute mark in the fourth quarter. With the clock winding down below six minutes and Earl Watson on the floor against San Antonio, Williams politely got Brendan Brown's attention.

Williams wanted the younger Brown to remind the elder Brown that it was his time. The request fell on deaf ears because Watson was defending Tony Parker better, and Brown wanted more of what he thought would win the game.

Williams got back in the game two minutes later than usual."


Now don't get me wrong, I think we all saw this coming. However, I think Hubie was right. The 10 man rotation was the way to get the mos tout of that team. There's a fair amount of talent there, but it is spread over many players. Pau Gasol is the closest thing to a star, but he isn't gonna carry a team and lord knows Jason Williams can't. It's hard to carry a team when you routinely throw 2-3 passes a game into the stands. Hubie helped Williams game a ton, but Williams obviously either a) didn't realize it or b) didn't appreciate it.

There is talk that the guy I've been toting now for three years, Mike Fratello, is pretty much the entire list of replacements. He fits the Hubie mold, but if the team is bristling at the discipline of Brown they probably won't like Fratello much. Although from the sound of the story, it may only take a rotation change to appease most of them. Those 1-2 guys who now grow roots on the bench may be pissed, but I doubt Fratello will care. And of course if they win, no one will rock the boat.

--posted by Tim at 6:40 PM | | Permalink

 
Indy's Artest suspended for season after brawl

I know I'm incredibly late to the party on this one, but the fate's conspired to keep me from accessing Blogger. Now that the suspensions have come down, it is blatantly obvious to me that the person who got off the easiest was Stephen Jackson. Now I know Ron Artest went into the stands and proceeded to attack the wrong guy and that having a beer thrown at you shouldn't be enough to get you to launch into the stands hell bent for a fight (especially after Ben Wallace went pseudo Latrell Sprewell on you and you simply laid down on the scorer's table), but Artest also got the entire season.

Stephen Jackson on the other hand wasn't provoked at all, yet went into the stands and started throwing haymakers and managed only to get 30 games. This seem odd to anyone but me?

As for it's effects on the Pacers season, I first thought it would be crippling. I mean, come on, they lost their three top scorers. However, they have played very well since the incident. Personally I question how long this will hold up. Can they really last 25 games starting Scott Pollard and Austin Croshere? I think no, but I've been wrong before.

On a semi-related note, I thought ESPN's coverage on Sportscenter afterwards was pretty good. They did a good job of pointing out and highlighting key points in the melee. Normally I avoid ESPN except for live events, but this was an instance that made me glad I watched.

--posted by Tim at 6:10 PM | | Permalink

 
Them is crazy numbers

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been dealing with some medical issues as of late and haven't really had the time to watch nor post. As the ER doc told me Saturday, I don't know what it is, but it isn't something imminently dangerous. Anyways, saw this Eric Neel article today and thought some of you would also enjoy it. He points out some absolutely ridiculous numbers that certain guys are putting up. Now grantedm we aren't even a month into the season, but a lot of these numbers are ridiculous despite the limited number of games they represent. Give it a read.

--posted by Tim at 5:51 PM | | Permalink

 
Artest asked Carlisle for time off

Wow. I don't even know where to start with this. So Ron Artest asked to take as much as a month off because he's physically and mentally tired and of course, his rap album is coming out and he has to promote it. What exactly is he physically and mentally tired from. Lord knows it isn't basketball since he didn't do anything this summer and we're only about 5 games into the season.

My favorite quote in the article is this one:

"I've been doing a little bit too much music, just needed the rest," Artest said. "I've still got my album coming out Nov. 23. After the album comes out I'm going to make sure all of my time is focused on winning a championship."

So let me get this straight. The Pacers are paying you millions upon millions to play basketball and win championships. So of course, you put that on the backburner in order to promote a rap album that is probably gonna be an utter failure given the track record of past athlete's musical endeavors. I can't even begin to understand this.

Apparently Chad Ford thinks the Pacers and Kings should do a trade with Peja Stojakovic and Ron Artest. That's great Chad. And the Kings would want to do this because . . . they like headcases? Chad! Quit stealing Sam Smith's trade rumors!

--posted by Tim at 1:15 PM | | Permalink