Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Trade of the Day

DZ brings his trade of the day. I bring the redundant comments.



POR sends Joel Przybilla ($6.3M, 6.9M, 7.4M) to LAL
LAL sends Vladimir Radmanovic ($6.0M, 6.5M, 6.9M player option) to POR


Once the Trail Blazers become comfortable with making Greg Oden the starter with extended minutes, Przybilla becomes expendable. Vladimir gives the Blazers another sharpshooter. The contract obligations are virtually a wash.

It is safe to say that the Lakers are far-and-away the most deep team in the league. While still the starter, Radmonovic averages no more than 20 minutes a game. He is expendable and frequently receives Phil Jackson's Zen rath. Przybilla gives the Lakers another big body during the playoffs, where the game slows down and becomes much more defensive-minded. Przybilla provides the Lakers with insurance if Bynum or Gasol have foul trouble when they face Duncan, Amare, or even KG in the playoffs. - DZ




Ok so I have to admit that this trade excited me about as much as a WNBA 3rd quarter 3-point buzzer beater making the Top 10 Plays of the Week... or, for those who don't suffer through my Top 10 recaps, not at all. But then, enlightened by the wisdom of trade guru DZ, I saw the light. Portland is good but they aren't making run at a title this year. Przybilla is somewhere between "solid" and "easily replaceable" and with the young talent the Blazers have (I'm thinking Outlaw, Webster, Bayless and Batum) they should be able to make the playoffs this year even without much front court depth (and they aren't making a run deep in the playoffs even with front court depth) AND they should be able to acquire some help in the middle to back up Oden next year. As DZ points out, the Lakers are so stacked that they won't miss VladRad but they might need Przybilla's fouls come playoff time. So who vetoes this trade? I really don't know but feel free to point it out in the comments.

Labels:

Monday, November 24, 2008

Plays of the Week 11/24/2008

Plays of the Week

Ok, enough messing around with daily top 10s... we are going straight for the good stuff. I present to you the plays of the week - live blogged (i.e. I blog'em as I watch'em for the first time).

10 - D-wade soars baseline for the monster one-hander. Not a bad start.

9 - Nice little double cross by Nate Robinson which he finishes with the floater. The announcers declares that this reminds him of everyone's favorite homophobe (who now "gets" gay people) Timmy Hardaway and his UTEP two-step but I don't know. It actually reminds me of a combination of Iverson vs. Daniels (with the double cross) and Jason Williams vs. Gary Paton with the split leg floater finish. But maybe I just watch too much youtube... Great play though, I'm glad it made the Top 10.

8 - Kenyon Martin blocks Kevin Love. This play was obviously only chosen so the announcer could make a "Kenyon showing no love to Love" joke. Other than that I'm still trying to figure out why it was included.

7 - Wow, sick play. Two nice passes including what looks like a switch-hands-wrap-around from LeBron. Who could tell though since apparently the powers-that-be didn't feel the need to show a replay.

6 - Huge dunk from Durant. Certainly not better than either #9 or #7 but I guess you need some dunks in there for the kids.

5 - Nice little combination of blocks from the Warriors. I guess if you are going to include blocks it might as well be a double block.

4 - Good example of what happens when you don't communicate on defense... and when you are playing against someone with the hops of Gerald Wallace. Not sure if having this play at #4 is a good sign. That said, still no buzzer beaters so that's a good thing.

3 - Kobe is obviously practicing his behind-the-back moves this year and we are all better off for it. Granted the first one had no strategic value whatsoever but I still love this play.

2 - Monster jam from LeBron. Normally I'd get on him for throwing in the meaningless fake-behind-the-back move but you can see how it freezes Solomon Jones for just long enough to give LeBron a free lane to the hoop. Actually it would have been better if LeBron hadn't thrown that in because Solomon Jones would have been the newest person to share a poster with LeBron.

1 - Vince Carter ends the game against Toronto with a reverse-alley-oop jam. This game (which I saw from the 0:02 mark of regulation on... I know, I'm a bad Nets fan) was incredible. VC hit a VC3 to tied it at the end of regulation and then the Nets staved off two threes by Toronto in the last 5 seconds to get the win. Vince Carter is not the most popular guy North of the Border these days.

Sunday's Top 10

The 10 Best (I hope) from Sunday's 5 games...

10 - Ben Gordon 4-point play. How is this exciting?

9 - Kendrick Perkins blocks Bargnani and Pierce hits a 3 on the other end.

8 - Anthony Randolph blocks Andre Miller... was the night really this boring?

7 - Jamario Moon throwing down the alley-oop from Calderon. More exciting than the last 3 plays combined.

6 - Will Bynum with the steal and the big dunk from the little guy. You gotta love former D-Leaguers making the top 10.

5 - Bynum with another steal and an easy oop to Jason Maxiell.

4 - Kobe to the hoop for the jam.

3 - Billups slices to the hoop and lays off a beautiful pass for Kenyon Martin who finishes strong. This play excited me more than any of the other plays combined before it.

2 - Kobe with a sweet double-clutch reverse. Slick little play that, while I'm not sure it's Top 2 material, it was at least better than most plays before it.

1 - Nice around-the-back move by Maggette but Dalembert swats it away. Was this play ultimately better than either #2 or #3? Was this play ultimately more exciting than any other play that happened that night? Man, I really hope not.

Friday, November 21, 2008

NBA Friday Night

LeBron and Bosh to Knicks!!!!!
I turn on my TV and Jalen Rose is on ESPN declaring that "credible sources" tell him LeBron and Bosh are going to the Knicks in 2010. He repeats it for emphasis but I refuse to waste my time thinking about something two years in the future. (Ok, fine, I did spend some time thinking about how to make Amare/LeBron/Bosh work under the salary cap.)

Canadians Do Not Like Vince Carter
Rose's annoying habit of saying awkward things ("He shot that one from Alpharetta", after a Joe Johnson three) in place of "analysis" forces me to switch channels to the Nets game moments before Vince Carter hits a fade-away 3-pointer at the buzzer to tie the game and cap an 18 point comeback against the Raptors in Toronto. Bosh and Anthony Parker both hit 3s in the last 5 seconds of OT to tie the game but Vince ends it with a reverse alley-oop. One of the best endings to a game I have ever seen.

Chris Paul vs. Boredem
Oklahoma City vs. New Orleans... this game should have sucked. Let's break down the pros and cons.

Cons

  • The Thunder - possibly the worst team in basketball.

  • Nancy Lieberman - even more useless than the average sideline reporter

  • Extraneous Hornets Subplots - it's bad enough every nationally televised Hornets game has a mandatory Katrina reference but I'm pretty sure someone on the telecast credited the team with revitalizing Oklahoma City 10 years after the McVeigh bombings.

  • Seattle - an interview and multiple in-game shots of Clay Bennett remind us all that the Storm are the only game in town for Seattle.

  • The Ford Center Floor - a 48 minute reminder that inanimate team names are the new "in" thing.



Pros

  • Chris Paul through-the-legs, front-to-back, right-hand-to-right-hand fake back pass, pass to Peja for a wide open jump shot.

  • Chris Paul, helping from the weak-side saves a blocked shot from going out of bounds. I watched the play 3 times just to marvel at how fast Paul anticipated the play and broke to the ball.

  • Chris Paul with the same right-to-right through-the-legs move as before only this time he takes it straight to hoop with the right hand in one motion. David West actually put his hands up expecting the drop-off pass.

  • Chris Paul crossing over on the break left-to-right and then firing a one-handed behind-the-back pass right off the dribble to someone who swung it to someone else who hit a wide open 3. (If they kept stats of players that had the most 2nd - passes that lead to assists - and 3rd assists, Paul would be near the top of this list.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Plays of the Day - 11/19

Plays of the Day from 11/19

10 - D-Wade to the Matrix for the alley-oop slam. It's great to see that Miami decided not to field a D-League team again this year.

9 - Dribble hand-off off a solid on-ball screen by Greg "Don't Call Me Sam Bowie" Oden who then rolls and gets the beautiful feed in stride and finishes strong.

8 - Was this a "highlight" or a chance to recognize Chauncey Billups for improving the Nuggets? Isn't that what MVP ranking columns are for? Also, I'm just going to assume that camera angle is all the rage with the kids these days and stop complaining.

7 - Caron Butler to JaVale McGee for the oop. I think parents of possible future sports stars should refrain from random mid-name capitalization as it would save editors everywhere a lot of grief.

6 - Nice reverse dunk by Bosh. The Raptors are the most overrated team in the League and Jose Calderon is all hype. I don' think anyone from this team will make the All-Star team. Yes, I'm hoping that by making outrageous claims I will get more Canadian page views.

5 - LeBron blocks Devin Harris at the rim. Saw this one live and it brought me out of my seat. (note: This wasn't even the best block of the game but I'm guessing they won't show the play where LeBron got swatted.) I absolutely respect Harris trying cram on LeBron.

4 - Gerald Wallace swats Shawne Williams at the rim. I temporarily suspend my "blocks are boring" rule on this play only... sick timing and an incredible block. Freaks, Wallace is a freak in a league filled with freaks. (Yes, I was channeling my inner Rick Kamla on that last sentence.)

3 - Sweet move by LeBron. Number 3? I don't know but it was nice.

2 - Now I'm officially excited. Awesome pass by Tyrus Thomas to Ben Gordon on the break.

1 - Can't complain about this one. Kobe goes behind the back unnecessarily (which I don't mind since it looked pretty) and then he waits a second for Luol Deng to get out of position and the Mamba delivers a beautiful no-look pass to Pau Gasol for the dunk. This was definitely worthy of the top spot.

Labels:

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Plays of the Day - 11/11

Tuesday's Top 10 Plays of the Day

I'm blogging as I watch them for the first time so this is technically time-delayed live blogging.

#10 - Gerald Wallace with the steal and the dunk. Can't say I'm particularly thrilled by this one.

#9 - Ronny Turiaf flies to the hoop and finishes with the big slam. I'm almost fired up.

#8 - LeBron with a dunk... the announcer asks "where LeBron James take off from?". I think it was close to the foul line but who can tell since there was no decent angle of it and no replay.

#7 - Nice passing by the Mavs. My excitement level is wavering between "lukewarm" and "this Top 10 better get more exciting fast".

#6 - Renaldo "Thank God I Got Traded So People Don't Think I'm Rolando Blackman Anymore" Balkman with the steal and the facial. I'm excited.

#5 - Gerald Wallace with the block. Whoop-de-doo.

#4 - Mo Williams with the nice spin to get in the and finish with the floater. Would have been nice to see a replay but apparently we are working in WNBA-one-camera-in-the-arena mode.

#3 - Anthony Randolph with a beautiful block and an actual slow motion replay. Impressive block, less-than-impressive Top 10 that this makes #3.

#2 - Nice pass from Thabo Sefalosha to Luol Deng. Deng is on my fantasy team. If I ever get around to setting my lineup I'm sure he will give me mediocre production. I hate myself for even mentioning fantasy basketball.

#1 - Gerald Green with the big slam. Green has been playing well (or at least making some exciting plays since 17 points on 6-15 shooting with zero assists and 5 turnovers against the Lakers in his last game is hardly impressive.)

That's the best they got out of 8 games? I mean, it's good unless you are a fan of instant replay, nice assists, or exciting plays (which I am). Was the assist of the night really less exciting than those run-of-the-mill breakaway jams?

Man my thirst for NBA action has not been quenched. We'll have to resort to some old favorites for our daily fix.

Shawn Kemp... and a lot more Shawn Kemp

And because grainy assists are better than crystal clear blocked shots any day of the week... I offer you this

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

08-09 Season Early Thoughts: 75 Games to go!

Guest entry by Drew.

LBJ!
Barring injury or freak mono diagnosis, Lebron’s on his way to claiming his first MVP. After averaging a 30-8-8 last season and taking his team to the finals single-handedly two years ago, you’re probably wondering what took him so long. Maybe it was because we knew he could be this good so we didn’t want to spoil him without making him earn it, maybe it was getting a taste of Olympic gold or maybe he finally realized that you have to win first to become a Global Icon. Either way, he’s putting up freakish numbers right now and doesn’t even seem like he’s begun to hit his stride, not to mention the fact that Mo Williams is a godsend for him and this team, if they can make a quality move mid-season and LBJ doesn’t hit the brakes, they’ll be hard to knock off in the playoffs. Of course, if wisdom holds true, the player that should’ve won it the year before gets it this time, which means Chris Paul owns it and I’m not complaining about that considering my mancrush and also that he just broke a Big O record for consecutive season opening double-doubles (points, assists). In the end, whoever’s leading the best team gets it.

The Win-Win Trade
Dealing Marcus Camby for some cap space was financially prudent but not pleasing to your fan base or helping your porous defense. Bringing in Billups, a true point that plays D, is a leader with the ring to prove it and will accentuate of all your young lackadaisical superstar’s positives, great move. Antonio McDyess ain’t no slouch either, even if he is about to file for retirement. Meanwhile, AI just breathed new life into a Detroit franchise that wasn’t necessarily on the respirator (1 championship, 6 eastern conference playoff appearances in a row, 6 50+ win teams) but certainly needed a revitalization to stay relevant in an improved East. Now after making the flashy trade, Detroit is the new Boston. There will be some stumbling points as the team gets used to AI but once they settle on a solid core of Stuckey-AI-Hamilton-Prince-Wallace-Johnson-Maxiel, they’ll be able to play with the best of them. They may not win the Central division but no one will want to see them in the first round. Everyone wins with this trade, AI’s in a better situation to get a ring, without competing for shots against ‘Melo and Chauncey becomes the hometown hero of a team in need of a leader. Most of all, the fan bases and lovers of basketball win with this move, Detroit was headed for another penultimate season and Denver was lucky if they got an 8th seed, first-round exit. For now, they’re both back in the picture. Oh yeah, and the rumors about this being a part of Dumars’ secret plan to land Lebron in 2010, please can it. Global Icon’s not going there unless it’s a road game with the Knicks, Nets or Lakers (and maybe Miami) in 2010. If he plays for Detroit, I will start wearing hats regularly, eat one and then wear mutton chops and a mohawk for a year.

Is Atlanta for real?
I haven’t had a chance to watch anything specific other than highlights but you notice something important with a box score like ATL 87 NO 79. Atlanta plays defense?! We shouldn’t be shocked. On paper they’re a decent team, Al Horford’s one of those second year guys who’s going to look a seasoned vet by the end of the season (e.g. Kevin Durant, Jose Calderon), Joe Johnson’s finally playing like he should’ve been since leaving Phoenix, Mike Bibby’s still got some life left in him and Josh Smith is a freak of nature. Not to mention Billy Knight is out of the picture so everything’s better for everyone. Keep an eye out for ATL on your league pass.

The Team-Building Injury
Right before Tony Parker got injured, he pretty much said, “F it, I’m that good and I’ll carry this team if I have to”, when he went off for 55 pts., 10 assts.. Why? Because before that, his team could barely score enough points to play against the Blazers. Now that he’s down, it’s time for Coach Pop to take all his bench guys that haven’t been more than casual role players and mold them into beasts. Their record won’t show it but by the time Tony and Manu return, the Spurs will be another whole new team. They’ll get by hovering around .500 with Duncan and their character guys like Dirty Kurt Thomas and Sweep-The-Leg Bowen but then Matt Bonner, Desmon Farmar, Roger Mason, Ime Udoka and George Hill are going to have to play. You could see it during that Blazers game, Pop pretty much gave his bench the ball and said step up or step off. If you think the Spurs are done then you don’t know how good Pop is or why the Spurs are a dynasty and why I hate them so much for it. They’ll be the 7-8 seed no one wants to face.

The Oden Injury
This isn’t exactly a team-building injury but it does allow the team that was pretty good last year to keep up their chemistry without making room for one more. I’m not saying it’s great in the long run but for the start of the season, everyone needs to find a groove. If the Blazers have a fault it’s too much depth and parity. You almost need Oden and Martell Webster out for a bit so that everyone else get some playing time. Hopefully Oden plays the rest of the season and well because Joe Pryzbilla isn’t exactly a franchise center to build on but I will say this, at this point the Knicks totally fleeced the Blazers for Zach Randolph. Not really, Channing Frye has become a great 6th man, but since they got rid of Z-Bo in regards to Oden, then yes, they did. He may have C cups and skip out on a game or two to hit up the strip club but at least he’s not one more injury away from earning the nickname Mr. Glass. Gotta love Z-Bo!

Non-NBA Rant:

I’ll keep this short. NFL Network, you suck and no one’s willing to pay for you. Go ahead and take a few games a year, just do it with these clear rules in mind:

  1. No more Thursday games, it doesn’t work for an NFL team trying to prepare and stay healthy. Unless it’s the season opener, leave Thursdays to college. Saturdays are cool.

  2. Non-conference games only. It happened last year with Cowboys-Packers and it’s even more critical this time with Jets-Pats battling for first. I know their actual fan bases can watch it locally but still, as I said, no one wants your network. Now you’re forcing some Patriot or Jet fan who lives outside of the Northeast to go to a bar with a satellite dish and an HDTV to drink beer, eat food and socialize while watching football on a Thursday night. How dare you!

Monday, November 10, 2008

If Barack Couldn't Do it, How Could I?

A guest post by Brad. If Ryan "Archie" Miller didn't immediately come to mind for you either, don't sweat it.

You often hear coaches talk about players with heady games. They may not have the raw talent, but they see the floor, read the defense, are a step ahead of everybody else, and make great decisions. Smallish guards like Steve Wojoadflkadsfakfh or Ryan "Archie" Miller come to mind.

You would imagine that Barack Obama, clearly one of the more intelligent human beings out there, would be able to excel as one of these types of players. He had a passion for basketball and the brightest of minds. Seems like a recipe for the ultimate cerebral PG. Even Duhon gives him his props. Yet he didn't graduate past the high school basketball level.

Did he not commit himself to the game enough? I don't know, but if Barack Obama could not make it as a heady player, it seems that the average joe, without physical gifts, is up against enormous obstacles.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Return

As co-founder of this blog, I must say I have not been a very good caretaker. The maintenance, upkeep, and fact that people actually respond to postings now is all thanks to my buddy John and frequent guess poster Drew, whose collective dedication and wit has kept this puppy in existence. Not so from my end. I promised John I would blog a sentence tonight not to assure that I still exist, but more to prove that I actually care. I do. Even moreso now that we have a President who plans to put a basketball court in the White House. So you will see more of me soon. For now I hope that no one is reading this and that all are watching Nuggets-Mavericks instead.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

The Top 10 Plays of the Week

The Top 10

#10 – Boston does some title celebration stuff. I feel cheated out of great NBA basketball action. I debated naming this post "The Top 9 Plays of the Week".
#9 – Ronnie Price behind the back pass to AK-47 for the flush. It would have been nice to see the actual pass in the replay but I’m just being negative.
#8 – Nice drive to the hoop and slam by Pau Gasol over Chris Andersen.
#7 – Vince Carter pulls some aerial acrobatics on Etan Thomas. Not surprisingly the first play that really excites me comes from Vince. Say what you want about Vince but he’s still one of the most exciting players in the League. So unless you’re a Nets fan (or just a fan of motion offense in general) tortured by VC’s love of fading 20 footers, or a Raptors fan (seriously though, if he plays through this Nets rebuilding without complaining you crazy Canadians should think about cutting him some slack), you should appreciate the guy I consider to be the most complete dunker of all time.
#6 – Great presence of mind by Outlaw (coupled with Amare falling asleep on defense) leads to a nice highlight. Not a big fan of highlights that are simply a player recovering from his own incompetence in the first place but this is different. Even I can’t complain about this clips inclusion in the Top 10.
#5 – If this is really the fifth best highlight of the week then I am really psyched for the next four. Let’s marvel for a moment at the overall beauty and completeness of this snippet of action. Right off the bat it involves an elite (if not “the” elite) superstar in LeBron showing his unselfish side with a great behind-the-back feed from the high post to Anderson “Sideshow Bob” Varejao (showcasing the League’s ever-growing international diversity) who finishes in spite of the foul. Not to be outdone by Varejao’s flowing locks, note Melvin Ely without his usual braids.

Of course it’s always great if a highlight can illustrate some fundamentals of the game and this clip does just that.


The Cavs have spread the floor with their shooters in the corners and LeBron in the high post. With Varejao messing around at the other high post and Wally Szczerbiak in the corner, the paint is looking pretty spacious should LeBron spin to the hoop.

Point guard Delonte West feeds LeBron and moves to the right while Varejao shuffles over and sets a “flare screen” on West’s man. LeBron has the option to throw the ball over the screen to West for the three. But Varejao only sets a half-hearted pick and makes as if he’s going to screen on the ball for LeBron.

Varejao “slips” the screen (cuts after/instead of screening) and cuts behind his man (Ely) to the basket. Especially in youth and pickup hoops there is a tendency to always cut in front of your defender but if Varejao does that here he will give LeBron a difficult passing angle and Ely will be between Varejao and the basket.

Ely isn’t expecting Varejao to cut he’s hopelessly behind in their footrace to the basket. LeBron doesn’t immediately have a good passing angle so he waits and delivers a beautiful pass that meets Varejao at the hoop. The Hornets’ weak-side help is late and Varejao finishes nicely with his off-hand. Great execution by the Cavs. Of course I can't help but notice that at the conclusion of the play, while the three other Cavaliers head toward the fallen Varejao, LeBron is doing some fist pumping nonsense at half court.

#4 – Gerald Wallace spikes Chris Quinn’s layup attempt out of bounds. I don’t even know what Quinn was thinking.
#3 – Vince makes a bad pass but he redeems himself by catching Chris Douglas-Roberts’ lob and tomahawking it home. I was fortunate enough to see this play live and you knew as soon as you saw it that it was ending up on the nightly, if not weekly, highlight reel.
#2 – Nice circus shot by Yao not only was this play pure luck but it didn’t even count (you can clearly see the ref waving it off… rumor is he was digitally removed by the Chinese government prior to public consumption). Not as egregious as just not doing a play at all (see #10) but still kind of weak.
#1 – Rudy Gay beats the buzzer and the Magic. I’m sure Gay had at least one other play as impressive as this one during the other 47:58:20 of game but given the context I will grant that this play was exciting. That said, the “Magic-Grizzlies thrilling ending” context might have cut it in Memphis on game night but it isn’t doing it for me in the weekly Top 10.

All in all, this was not a bad job by the Top 10 selection committee for the first week of the season. So long as pregame festivities and shots that don’t count become the norm then everything should be fine but they really should have a “Top 10 Plays You Should See that Aren’t the Top 10 Most Impressive Moments of the Week”… and throw all the buzzer beaters and off-the-court theatrics on that list.

Labels: