Reinvented AK47
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Watching the Denver @ Utah game today, and a few thoughts pop out while still in the first quarter.
- What has gotten into Andrei Kirilenko? He is playing fantastic ball over the last five games. Could it be his new hairdo? Deron Williams is Scooby-Doo and Kyle Korver is Daphne.
- After a 39 point explosion last night against the Lakers, Billups is taking a breather tonight. Disappointing as this is a matchup between the two 'other' best teams in the West.
- Kenyon Martin finally looks healthy. It's been a lot of years since he's had that explosiveness.
Kirilenko gets caught in the rain?
All Star Gripes
Hey Gang, can we talk about the All Star selection process for a moment? Not the fan vote, which is admittedly broken with Iverson starting and McGrady nearly joining him, but I don't see a lot of options to change that. The fans should vote on the starters, it's a fans league, but sometimes there are just idiots and we have to live with that. It's then up to the coaches to yank the horrid fan vote-ins really early and not give them much time.
The larger issue, I think, that occurs around this time of year as prognosticators start to talk about their picks for the All Star game are:
- Players from bad teams can't make the All Star game
- Teams with great records deserve representation commensurate on that record.
Let me discuss those points briefly and I'll see if you agree with me.
Players from bad teams can't make the All Star game. Why? Basketball is not a sport where one player can completely turn around the fortunes of a club (Lebron James excepted), so if a GM can't manage the roster well enough to put talent around an otherwise deserving player, why shouldn't they go? Sure, sometimes players can have statistics boosted by playing on a bad team, but the coaches pick the reserves and should bloody well know better than to pick a me-first gunner who is benefiting from playing on a bad team. I'm not suggesting Brook Lopez or Andrew Bogut absolutely deserves to be in the All Star game, but no one is even talking about them and they are both having an incredible year. They deserve to be in the conversation, team record be damned.
No wonder Williams looks depressed, despite amazing numbers and keeping his team afloat in the tough Western Conference, he's likely to be snubbed again.
Then the other major issue I have with All Star weekend. Teams with great records apparently deserve representation commensurate with their dominance. We saw Detroit send four players a few years back, and only two of them really deserved to go. This year it's the Lakers Pau Gasol, who has played well when he has played, but has played all too few games to warrant inclusion over the players who will likely miss out. That's Deron Williams if you believe Marc Stein. Disappointing. Yet the Lakers 'deserve' two players in the All Star game due to being the champs and having the best record. Bah!
So in conclusion, the All Star voting system isn't really broken, even if it results in a blip like Allen Iverson starting every now and then. The major issue is with the people who are supposed to know better. The coaches and media need to pull their socks up and get real.
Player Haiting…?
If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times... I love Shaquille O'Neal. But this attitude at the moment regarding LeBron James' participation, (or lack thereof) in this year's Sprite Slam Dunk Competition is pathetic.
He's calling out the likes of Vince Carter and Kobe Bryant to participate when neither of them has been near the event participation-wise in approx 10 years. He also claims that meeting those conditions is the only way James will compete. I say get a life and stop clinging on to the limelight Shaq! Then on top of that, he has the mouth to suggest the prize money can be halved between the winner and Haiti.
Wow.
When we were all in shock regarding the tragedy that still is Hurricane Katrina, Kenny "the Ninja Jet" Smith assembled a sensational crew of stars to play the "relief game" in Houston. This took approximately 24 hours to organize and as much money as could be donated was thrown into the proverbial hat.
What's different about Haiti?
I know what you're thinking. If every player throws his wallet open for every single cause, the players will have no money left. To that, I call B.S. It's safe to say that the NBA in general, let alone the players, have plenty of cash to make a difference.
As Ryan put it, The NBA Cares... about themselves.
The 2010 All Star Game is about to be played in front of possibly the largest Basketball attendance in living history with potentially 100,000 seats available and in a stadium that cost some $1.3 billion dollars to construct.
This building cost $1.3 billion dollars...
Is anyone else seeing the issue here?
Whether it's Haiti, Katrina, Africa or your local school or community, something is definitely out of sequence.
I think the NBA is on notice to really show something here. This is not a 30 second spiel on the water and food delivery in Detroit, or the "read to achieve" day in Cleveland or even the "drop dimes not pills" kids day in Atlanta. It's about a serious fund raising attempt.
Although Shaq may struggle with this, it's also not about Kobe, Shaq, VC or anyone dunking a Basketball. It's about the juggernaut that is the NBA and the fact that while players like Larry Hughes and Eddy Curry can "earn" more than $10m for 8 months work... we have a problem.
It's a bigger problem than this little white blogger can solve in one column... but just think about it.
Meanwhile, regarding the Slam Dunk Competition... hell, I suggest you give KryptoNate the ball for 15 minutes and get people to phone and text to pledge money on every missed dunk. We'll have raised enough for another new Cowboys' Stadium by the time it's finished.
KryptoNate! The potential savior of Haiti... and quite frankly any other cause depending on how much people pledge...
Predictions Of Tonights Games (Analysis To Follow)
I was rather tardy on tonights games so I've missed a great many (they've started... oops), but still on the slate for tonight is Bulls @ Warriors, Suns @ Grizz, Mavs @ Celts and Magic @ Lakers. Let's take a look.
Bulls @ Warriors
Derrick Rose is back to his old self and has picked up his passing game a bit, and to be quite honest, with Anthony Randolph out for Bay City, there isn't anyone on their roster I really like anymore. My heart and head both say Bulls by 10.
Suns @ Grizz
Well here are two teams no one expected to be playing even .500 ball at the start of the season but Memphis are 21-18 and the Suns currently are the third seed in the West at 24-17! This really is a game of offensive firepower and I'd usually pick the Suns in any shootout but I think Memphis will get up tonight by 8 points with Steve Nash having a monster game shooting the ball, but no so much passing. Zach Randolph will be the high scorer for the Grizz with a total in the thirties.
Mavs @ Celtics
The Celtics at home makes this a pretty easy pick for mine, even with Garnett still out. Sheed should be back for this game and he is a pretty good Dirk antidote. The real issue will be who will stop Rondo for the Mavs? Kidd might trip him with his walking frame a time or two down the court, but that's hardly a defensive game plan. Celtics by 20 as Ray Allen busts loose with 5 triples.
Magic @ Lakers
Orlando will be plenty motivated for this game and the Lakers are pretty banged up. The key man for this is J.J. Redick (just kidding, but I hope he does well for my upcoming Doubting Thomas piece on nbamate.com). Dwight Howard needs to establish himself inside and keep Andrew Bynum quiet and someone needs to keep a resurgent Lamar Odom off the boards. I think Kobe will throw up way too many shots and shoot a horrid percentage (although how impressive has all his left handed shooting been? Wow!) and really hurt his team in tonights match-up.
Orlando win this one by 15 (and talk afterwards about how important it was to "send a message"... haha... fools... there are no messages in January.)
Blake Griffin to appear in South Park
Okay, he probably isn't and we just made that up, but after the Clippers announced he would be missing the entire year due to his kneecap injury we are pretty sure he'd look something like this if he did.
Blake "Jimmy" Griffin will probably not be appearing on South Park
Laker Blues…
As a quasi-Laker fan I'm happy to celebrate the dominance that LA has enjoyed over the past couple of seasons. I enjoy watching Kobe Bryant reaching even higher than we thought the top of his game reached. I enjoy watching Phil Jackson play the NBA the same way a cat plays with a mouse before she eats it. Always seemingly in control and never panicked.
Whether you follow the Lakers the way I do, you're a die-hard fan or anything in between, you have to be more than a little concerned with the current Laker funk. I know it's only two games but this current Laker stew that's being cooked stinks of failure and complacency. The only player excelling since Gasol's hamstring injury is Lamar Odom. This is great for Lamar but seemingly horrendous for the Lakers as no one else seems willing to step up from the bench crew.
Jordan Farmar had a nice scoring night against an average Dallas squad but apart from that there's no spark from the bench at all. Sasha Vujacic, Derek Fisher and Josh Powell are just horrible to watch. (With the exception of Fisher's defense... I can handle that!)
They make me cringe when they shoot the ball these days and they make it look like they've been sitting out of Basketball for a year.
Sasha and Derek putting their heads together is like watching two hippos try to walk a tight rope. It's going to end badly...
There's no underestimating the value of Pau Gasol in this equation. Now I'm not saying he's the "hardest" guy in the League but I certainly think the inside-outside game that he is a catalyst of, certainly holds the Lakers in better stead.
As for Kobe, well it's easy to consider the finger injury, the knee injury, the elbow injury etc. The only trouble is, Kobe still continues to shoot tough fall-away jump shots during the 4th quarter of close games. Surely his brain isn't injured too?
It's the Milwaukee Bucks that visit the Lakers tonight in LA and after only emerging victorious by one point in overtime last meeting, the Lakers are vulnerable at best. It kicks off an interesting week for the Lake Show with a visit to San Antonio, Dallas and then back home to attempt to avenge their latest loss to the Clippers.
Milwaukee present a definitive challenge to LA. The Bucks have a good presence inside and the Bogut vs Bynum match-up will be great to watch. I'm most excited to see if Phil will give Shannon Brown significant minutes guarding Brandon Jennings. I think Brown's mixture of speed and strength will provide the perfect counter. Either way it will be entertaining! I'm predicting a triple double for Lamar Odom also... I see 14p, 16r and 10a for the lanky number 7.
Jennings could destroy the Lakers... or provide the perfect opportunity for Shannon Brown to arrive.
Buckle up no matter who you are, as when the Lakers experience the Blues, it seems everyone has a lot more to talk about.
Agent (IQ) Zero…
Gilbert Arenas was suspended "indefinitely" yesterday by NBA Commissioner David Stern. It seems the logical choice after Arenas certainly didn't seem to take any of the backlash seriously regarding his John Wayne impersonation in the Wizards' locker room.
Like nearly all stories, there's sure to be a lot more to this one and we will see as it all develops. Ryan touched on Gilbert's behavior (or lack thereof) back in September...
As far as his behavior since this incident, Gilbert gets this image as a gift from me.
Enough said really...
Have a nice holiday Gilbert. We may see you some time this year...
Patrick Mills… in HD..
It's finally happening for the young kid from Australia. Patrick "Patty" Mills has been called up to the Portland Trailblazers tonight against the LA Clippers. With injuries, illness and just plain bad luck, the Blazers' once promising season is slowly turning into a train wreck!
This is a good news story though as Mills has battled his way back from a broken foot to finally try to honor his selection in last June's NBA Draft. We've been keeping an eye on him since the '08 Olympics and wish him all the best.
Mills will wear the number 8 jersey for Portland.
Keep a lookout for that Blazers @ Clippers box score tonight as anyone who can score 38pts on 7-10 3pt shooting while dropping 11 assists is worth a look in ANY game of Basketball. Good luck Patty, it's been a long road... now go out and enjoy it.
Shooting blanks… saving the Wizards!
We all know the story of Gilbert Arenas by now and his fetish for leaving guns near teammate's lockers. But this also brings up another topic of discussion when it come to the Washington Wizards as a whole.
There has been talk circulating lately that Washington fans want to bring back the old "Bullets" name and colors to their team. Personally, although I love the idea, I think it's a little early to be trampling on poor ol' Abe Pollin's wishes. But hey, nothing moves as fast as change in this world.
It will be a while before the NBA sees any form of Washington Bullet name change...
The late Abe Pollin wouldn't have condoned having guns on-site at the Verizon Center, but I think there is a small bit of justice served in the fact that due to this scandal, the "Wizards" will remain just that for a few years yet. I don't see how any kind of PR spin can create the appropriate social window for Washington to make the change to "Bullets" now.
In a weird way Gilbert, you've just saved the Washington Wizards name, whilst also tarnishing it at the same time.
The cream has risen
It's coming to pass. It being the realization of the fear first felt during the offseason when all of the top teams spent to upgrade while most shed players and salary. Sure, there are some feel good stories around the league like the Kings, Suns and Bucks all out-performing their expected outputs, but the real story is that the Lakers, Celtics, Cavs and Magic are leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else. The Nuggets and Hawks also look strong, but both lack the significant depth of the aforementioned top four, meaning that any injuries will derail them significantly, making them impotent in the post-season.
This isn't the huge issue that many are saying it is (and that my previous paragraph might imply) however. Sure, four teams basically have the 09/10 championship locked up parity may be on its way, helped but the vaunted free-agent class of 2010 and a surprising amount of shrewd talent evaluation around the league has the opportunity to add several new teams to that group, and if you're anything like me, that's what's really exciting.
Several story lines are worth watching. These may not play out until the off season but teams movements and behaviour will go a long way to indicating what their moves will be come August:
- Can the Thunder get the veteran big they need to push them closer to contention?
- What road will the statistically driven Rockets take back to the top of the pile?
- Can the Bobcats add a solid shooting guard and finally compete for the WNBA championship?
P.S. Our three regular readers will be well aware that I hate the Lakers with all of my soul. Well, I really think I may have pushed Ron Artest down on Christmas with the power of my mind. Be warned Kobe. You're next.