Throughout the entire NFL season, the major story pounded into the ground by the Media was the Patriots and Spygate. Many members of the Media, special to ESPN’s Gregg Easterbrook as TMQ among the loudest, called for Bill Belichick to explain what happened. Yes, the steepest fine in the history of the National Football League will cause quite a stir, but many people were not happy with Belichick’s quick statement that it was a “misinterpretation of the rule”, and the story continued to be told almost daily as a simple regurgitation of information with nothing new for months.
On February 18th the Boston Globe ran a story with Belichick finally answering questions about the scandal. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
“The rule states: “Any use by any club at any time, from the start to the finish of any game in which such club is a participant, of any communications or information-gathering equipment, other than Polaroid-type cameras or field telephones, shall be prohibited, including without limitation videotape machines, telephone tapping, or bugging devices, or any other form of electronic devices that might aid a team during the playing of a game”
Belichick felt the Patriots' actions were in compliance with NFL rules, saying, "My interpretation was that you can't utilize anything to assist you during that game. What our camera guys do is clearly not allowed to be used during the game and has never been used during that game that it was shot.” ”
Throughout the entire season members of the Media questioned how Belichick, not only one of the greatest minds in football but one of the game’s greatest studiers, wouldn’t know the rule. Those members of the Media were also quick to point out Belichick was a known winner, and willing to get every advantage possible.
Do I believe Bill Belichick that this was his interpretation of the rule? In so many words, yes. I believe it is much more likely that he felt that way, as opposed to blatantly cheating and then going back into the rule looking for a potential loophole, only to find a pretty nice explanation waiting for him. However, what I really think happened, is that he read the rule, and said “We can use this”. Like a clever lawyer he read, and re-read the rule, manipulating the words and determining there was a gray area, a gray area he decided to exploit. Does this make it okay? Sure. You do whatever you can within the rules of the game that gives your team the best advantage. If taking the most time to study the most film gave the Patriots an advantage during this or any other season, then congratulations Patriots.
The Boston Globe, one of the most circulated newspapers in the United States (in or near the top 10 depending on the data) ran this story, and it was barely a blip on the radar. There were no articles on ESPN about this new development in the story, no opinions to be spread this time. The story was pounded into us for the better part of 5 months, and now all the Media has asked for is there, but this time there’s no whistle blowers, no one to jump on board, simply because the public is tired of the story. The Media took a hot story, shoved it down our throats, then turned away when the first interesting development in 5 months happened.
Not surprisingly many members of the Media are still writing stories about Matt Walsh, the man who claims to have physical evidence that proves the Patriots cheated, eventhough he can't show anyone or even tell anyone what the evidence is. That’s the thing about the Media, they love a good scandal.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
The Cavs Improve at the Deadline
A major trade went through yesterday, reportedly 1 minute before the trade deadline. This really shakes things up for the Cavs. They bring in Wally Szczerbiak, a former all star who can contribute offensively, and Ben Wallace, a former all star who can contribute defensively, along with the underrated combination of Delonte West and Joe Smith. The Cavs sent away Drew Gooden, Cedric Simmons, Ira Newble, Shannon Bown, Donyell Marshall, and the disappointing Larry Hughes. They dumped a bad contract, and shipped away other expiring ones, yes they picked up 2 fairly horrible contracts, but the Cavs upgraded at every position. Truthfully, I would rather have every player the Cavs got on my team than other player in the trade. This makes the Cavs very formidable.
The amazing thing about this team now, with much thanks to LeBron’s versatility, is the different lineups they can play. They can go big, LeBron, Wally, Anderson Varejao/Joe Smith, Wallace, and Big Z, where the smallest player on the court is Wally at 6 foot 7. Or they can go with a smaller lineup, Daniel Gibson, West, LeBron, and 2 of the previous big men. They now have flexibility in who they can have on the floor, allowing them to match up favorably with a lot of elite NBA teams right now. If you were to examine a lot of other rosters player for player, the Cavs would lose 4 to 1 a good portion of the time, and yet you still like their team because LeBron is at the helm.
At the very least, come playoff time there will be a lot of exciting NBA matchups. For now we have a few weeks of interesting basketball to watch and see some new teams learn how to gel and play together.
The amazing thing about this team now, with much thanks to LeBron’s versatility, is the different lineups they can play. They can go big, LeBron, Wally, Anderson Varejao/Joe Smith, Wallace, and Big Z, where the smallest player on the court is Wally at 6 foot 7. Or they can go with a smaller lineup, Daniel Gibson, West, LeBron, and 2 of the previous big men. They now have flexibility in who they can have on the floor, allowing them to match up favorably with a lot of elite NBA teams right now. If you were to examine a lot of other rosters player for player, the Cavs would lose 4 to 1 a good portion of the time, and yet you still like their team because LeBron is at the helm.
At the very least, come playoff time there will be a lot of exciting NBA matchups. For now we have a few weeks of interesting basketball to watch and see some new teams learn how to gel and play together.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Kurt Thomas to the Spurs: Best Move of the Year.
After a week of “The West is wide open now” conversations the Spurs were tired of listening and went out and made themselves the front runners yet again for the NBA Championship. We heard the talk, “The Spurs will turn it up towards the end of the season”, but they haven’t looked quite right all year.
Yesterday the Spurs acquired Kurt Thomas from the Sonics for Brent Barry, Francisco Elson, and a 2009 first round pick. Brent Barry has been valuable in the Spurs previous championship runs but the West is bigger this year, and where Kurt Thomas used to be valuable guarding Tim Duncan, now he will be valuable saving him on defense. Kurt Thomas can be an effective offensive player (8 points, 9 rebounds), but he’s been brought in to guard Shaq, Gasol, and Boozer et al during what will be a tough playoff run for all the West teams. Fantastic management by the Spurs, this is a great move.
This Spurs management has been out done by only…the Sonics. Wow. In the past 7 months they have turned a 2009 conditional second round pick (via the Magic) into Brent Barry, Francisco Elson (for a total of $8.5 million of expiring contracts), and a first round pick in 2008, 2009, and 2010. Thus, the Sonics have been able to build a core of Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, this year’s lottery pick, and 3 upcoming picks in the 20s with emerging Chris Wilcox (age 25, 13 points, 7 rebounds), Delonte West (still only 24), and the possibility of Luke Ridnour screwing his head on straight (age 27), and they have one of the brightest futures in the NBA. And on top of all of that, they’ve done it while isolating their fan base by trying to fleece the city of Seattle and preparing a move to Oklahoma City, a city full of rabid fans just waiting for a team (as we witnessed with the Hornets). Just read that again, that’s how it’s done.
***Update***
With the big three team trade mentioned above in the next post, the Sonics moved Delonte West and Wally Szczerbiak for the $10+ million of expiring contracts in Adrian Griffin, Donyell Marshall, and Ira Newbell. I don't like the loss of West, he really has the opporunity to become a player, however the Sonics continue to strenghten their position in the future of the NBA with a dwindling salary and 13 draft picks in the next 3 years.
Yesterday the Spurs acquired Kurt Thomas from the Sonics for Brent Barry, Francisco Elson, and a 2009 first round pick. Brent Barry has been valuable in the Spurs previous championship runs but the West is bigger this year, and where Kurt Thomas used to be valuable guarding Tim Duncan, now he will be valuable saving him on defense. Kurt Thomas can be an effective offensive player (8 points, 9 rebounds), but he’s been brought in to guard Shaq, Gasol, and Boozer et al during what will be a tough playoff run for all the West teams. Fantastic management by the Spurs, this is a great move.
This Spurs management has been out done by only…the Sonics. Wow. In the past 7 months they have turned a 2009 conditional second round pick (via the Magic) into Brent Barry, Francisco Elson (for a total of $8.5 million of expiring contracts), and a first round pick in 2008, 2009, and 2010. Thus, the Sonics have been able to build a core of Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, this year’s lottery pick, and 3 upcoming picks in the 20s with emerging Chris Wilcox (age 25, 13 points, 7 rebounds), Delonte West (still only 24), and the possibility of Luke Ridnour screwing his head on straight (age 27), and they have one of the brightest futures in the NBA. And on top of all of that, they’ve done it while isolating their fan base by trying to fleece the city of Seattle and preparing a move to Oklahoma City, a city full of rabid fans just waiting for a team (as we witnessed with the Hornets). Just read that again, that’s how it’s done.
***Update***
With the big three team trade mentioned above in the next post, the Sonics moved Delonte West and Wally Szczerbiak for the $10+ million of expiring contracts in Adrian Griffin, Donyell Marshall, and Ira Newbell. I don't like the loss of West, he really has the opporunity to become a player, however the Sonics continue to strenghten their position in the future of the NBA with a dwindling salary and 13 draft picks in the next 3 years.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Zach Thomas and the Patriots
The Patriots have offered newly released linebacker Zack Thomas a deal. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed, and Thomas has not accepted it yet, so nothing is official. However, this was so obvious, I am actually angry I didn’t mention it earlier. It was the first thing everyone I know said when he was released.
This from a friend: “Obviously, the Pats do this all the time. Here’s to Ray Lewis in 2012!”
Of course the reality of the situation is the Pats will expect Thomas to take a pay cut to play for the perennial contender, and Thomas’ agent is Drew Rosenhaus, so you see where I’m going with this…
This from a friend: “Obviously, the Pats do this all the time. Here’s to Ray Lewis in 2012!”
Of course the reality of the situation is the Pats will expect Thomas to take a pay cut to play for the perennial contender, and Thomas’ agent is Drew Rosenhaus, so you see where I’m going with this…
Monday, February 18, 2008
Kidd to Mavs Not Dead Yet
So Dallas really wants to land Jason Kidd. To replace both Devean George and Jerry Stackhouse in the deal, the Mavs want to sign and trade Keith Van Horn. The Mavs have his rights because he never officially filed retirement papers with the league. Van Horn would still need to pass a physical in order for the trade to go through, so can someone please contact the Mavs if he fails: I’m available, my doctor has cleared me for physical activity. I’ll take the 4.3 million and call it a day just as well as Van Horn.
This new trade shows you just how much Dallas wants Kidd. I believe including Van Horn means the Mavs will pay out another 8.6 million this year, his salary plus luxury tax. But then, why still include Diop in the deal? Keep Diop and stay bigger, all the Nets want is cap space anyway. I thought perhaps the Mavs knew more about Nick Fazekas (6 foot 11, rides the bench mostly) than we did, but reports are he’ll be cut to make room on the roster for the deal. So this deal moves two 7 footers away from the Mavs in a big Western conference, and this trade is as confusing as ever.
This new trade shows you just how much Dallas wants Kidd. I believe including Van Horn means the Mavs will pay out another 8.6 million this year, his salary plus luxury tax. But then, why still include Diop in the deal? Keep Diop and stay bigger, all the Nets want is cap space anyway. I thought perhaps the Mavs knew more about Nick Fazekas (6 foot 11, rides the bench mostly) than we did, but reports are he’ll be cut to make room on the roster for the deal. So this deal moves two 7 footers away from the Mavs in a big Western conference, and this trade is as confusing as ever.
NBA All Star Game
I watched about half of the second quarter and the second half of the game. The All Star Game just isn't must see TV anymore. ESPN Classic ran some old All Star Games yesterday, I caught the '93 game and DVRed 3 others. In the '93 game both teams wanted to win, bad. They were playing real basketball, entry passes into the post, pick and rolls, and DEFENSE. On one play in particular Michael Jordan went flying through the air to tip away an alley oop John Stockton threw for Charles Barkley. That was entertaining.
A few thoughts on the game:
First and foremost, those were the ugliest uniforms I have ever seen. Why have jerseys with different colors on the front and the back? And why have the front of one jersey so closely resemble the back of the other jersey? This was actually hard for me to watch, in transition I had a lot of trouble determining who was the East and who was on the West, it was awful (check picture 6, yes, they're on different teams). Bad decisions all around.
Maybe Jason Kidd shoots 36% from the field, but he can still pass.
And Chris Paul was even more entertaining. (Can we pencil in Chris Paul for the next 12 All Star Games please?)
The East team sure is happy Ray Allen showed up, which I was advocating for the whole time. I was hoping Ray would win the MVP with his efficient scoring (14 points in the final 3:14), but LeBron was the more logical choice, he filled his stat sheet.
LeBron James is not used to playing with good teammates. Ray Allen motioned to him to play a little pick and roll game and that took about 5 seconds longer to set up than it should have, and there were several outlet passes to Kidd that LeBron grabbed just because he's used to it.
If Kevin Garnett was this excited to root for the All Star Game, it's no wonder he spends the games he misses in the trainer's room.
After seeing Yao Ming bomb two 3s, why can't we have a worst 3 point shooting contest? Get Yao, Tyson Chandler, Dwight Howard, and Shaquille O'Neal bombing threes in a contest. You're telling me you wouldn't watch this?
Chris Bosh had decent stats (14 points 7 boards), but to me he looked very out of place, like he didn't deserve to be there (holding the ball to make post moves with 2 seconds on the shot clock).
The East buckled down in the end and played defense like they wanted to win, rotating, trapping the post, and it was very entertaining. Why can’t they play that hard for the entire game? You have a full bench of stars, only the biggest stars will play 30 minutes, why can’t they push it for one game. Extend the All Star break by 2 days and let everyone run.
Quick thought about the Dunk Contest: Why doesn’t LeBron want to do it? It’s only a joke because people like him don’t do it. How can you grow up idolizing Jordan and not want to win it? MJ was doing the dunk contest in his fourth year in the league. That said, the cupcake dunk was the most creative (and even caused Kenny Smith to practically drop an F-Bomb), sadly Gerald Green didn’t have anything for the final round, and Dwight Howard was prepared with 4 great dunks.
A few thoughts on the game:
First and foremost, those were the ugliest uniforms I have ever seen. Why have jerseys with different colors on the front and the back? And why have the front of one jersey so closely resemble the back of the other jersey? This was actually hard for me to watch, in transition I had a lot of trouble determining who was the East and who was on the West, it was awful (check picture 6, yes, they're on different teams). Bad decisions all around.
Maybe Jason Kidd shoots 36% from the field, but he can still pass.
And Chris Paul was even more entertaining. (Can we pencil in Chris Paul for the next 12 All Star Games please?)
The East team sure is happy Ray Allen showed up, which I was advocating for the whole time. I was hoping Ray would win the MVP with his efficient scoring (14 points in the final 3:14), but LeBron was the more logical choice, he filled his stat sheet.
LeBron James is not used to playing with good teammates. Ray Allen motioned to him to play a little pick and roll game and that took about 5 seconds longer to set up than it should have, and there were several outlet passes to Kidd that LeBron grabbed just because he's used to it.
If Kevin Garnett was this excited to root for the All Star Game, it's no wonder he spends the games he misses in the trainer's room.
After seeing Yao Ming bomb two 3s, why can't we have a worst 3 point shooting contest? Get Yao, Tyson Chandler, Dwight Howard, and Shaquille O'Neal bombing threes in a contest. You're telling me you wouldn't watch this?
Chris Bosh had decent stats (14 points 7 boards), but to me he looked very out of place, like he didn't deserve to be there (holding the ball to make post moves with 2 seconds on the shot clock).
The East buckled down in the end and played defense like they wanted to win, rotating, trapping the post, and it was very entertaining. Why can’t they play that hard for the entire game? You have a full bench of stars, only the biggest stars will play 30 minutes, why can’t they push it for one game. Extend the All Star break by 2 days and let everyone run.
Quick thought about the Dunk Contest: Why doesn’t LeBron want to do it? It’s only a joke because people like him don’t do it. How can you grow up idolizing Jordan and not want to win it? MJ was doing the dunk contest in his fourth year in the league. That said, the cupcake dunk was the most creative (and even caused Kenny Smith to practically drop an F-Bomb), sadly Gerald Green didn’t have anything for the final round, and Dwight Howard was prepared with 4 great dunks.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Celebrity All-Star Game
Well, if you didn’t know I was a Bill Simmons Fanboy already, the running diary might tip you off. Friday Night, Feb 15, Celebrity All Star Game: One of the days when I *really* wish I was a celebrity.
7:04 I wasn’t going to do this actually, but I just heard Stephen A. Smith’s voice from the other room, can’t turn that down.
7:05 You remember how great the old Rock N Jock specials on MTV were? The Celebrity All Star Game is about to show you why MTV stopped doing those.
7:06 Stuart Scott just made Chris Berman look up to date as he slipped and said “New Orleans Jazz”. Chris Paul didn’t even react, he might not know that there was a New Orleans Jazz.
7:10 Amare Stoudamire just had tarot cards read by a creepy old woman, I don’t think he’s ever been more confused in his life.
7:11 The New Orleans team is being introduced: Zach Gilford, AJ Calloway, Ne-Yo, James Lafferty.
7:12 I wish I could properly describe what Taylor Hicks just did as he was introduced. Some kind of hip-wiggling-step-dancing-moving-forward thing. If his goal was to look as unathletic as possible, then he succeeded.
7:13 Ruth Riley from the WNBA, is it mean that I secretly hope someone blocks one of her shots tonight?
7: 15 Seth Gilliam is introduced along with Master P. Looking forward to seeing P, two NBA contracts, that’s legit.
7:15 Gabrielle Union is the coach of this New Orleans team, turns out Stephen A is the GM, too bad, I thought he was playing. Looking at team 1, why can’t we get some former players involved in this?
7:16 Introducing the Hornets team, someone needs to tell Terry Crews to calm down, wow, the man is jacked and he’s fired up to play celebrity basketball. Last year’s MVP Tony Potts is back. Floyd Mayweather, James Lee, Swin Cash (the other token WNBA player), Common, Chris Tucker, and Deion Sanders round out the Hornets. (See, Deion is available, you’re telling me Shawn Kemp is too busy for this?)
7:17 How many times has Alyssa Milano, coach of the Hornets, been hit on tonight? Bill Walton introduced as GM, the one man who may make this entertaining.
7:18 Is it bad that I don’t recognize half the people involved in this, or is it bad for the Celebrity All Star Game? Also, as you read, they decided to call one team New Orleans and the other the Hornets, I’m sure this won’t become confusing later.
7:19 Ha, pretty funny joke from Alyssa Milano “Our plan is to shoot 3s in transition”. I wonder if she was fed that line.
7:20 Shaq makes an appearance. He knows he’s not playing Sunday right? Has anyone told him he wasn’t voted in? Seriously though, good for Shaq, good to see one of the NBA biggest faces make an appearance.
7:23 Shaq says “I’m going to make Amare Stoudamire even better”. And you wonder why I think it was a good trade.
7:26 Chris Tucker’s first shot looked awful…Master P’s did too.
7:28 Chris Tucker’s second shot looked great, what’s going on here.
7:29 Master P has passed twice to Ruth Riley let’s hope there isn’t anything behind this…
7:30 Lafferty has no handle, but made a good reverse layup, I was really hoping he wasn’t going to be good so I could make One Tree Hill jokes from now on.
7:31 Bill Walton just yelled “We need more shooting, run, run, shoot a 3”
7:32 Floyd Mayweather with a nice drive. What if he breaks an ankle during this game and it derails months of boxing training? You’re still telling me Shawn Kemp isn’t available? I mean, there’s no livelihood at stake for ex-players.
7:35 Does anyone think Stuart Scott is funny? “Is that Spanish paprika? Or red peppers?” “Ya’ll got any chicken biscuits?”. Some chef is cooking a dish, Stu is making comments, I don’t know why anything of this is happening.
7:36 Terry Crews is trying to take down the backboard…with his jump shots, wow.
7:37 Floyd Mayweather is fast. He’s a making a good play for MVP.
7:38 Master P has missed a lot of shots. Maybe I could have gotten an NBA contract. Wow.
7:39 I think this cooking segment ran longer than anyone expected, Stuart Scott just talked over the last 3 minutes of hoops.
7:41 LeBron James just did a 50 million pound challenge commercial. Word for the word the same as the Chris Paul commercial we saw just before it. It sounds like a good idea, but they couldn’t have come up with 2 or 3 scripts?
7:43 Why are they calling Master P “P. Miller”? Also, didn’t know the P stood for Percy.
7:44 Stephen A. Smith just yelled something in a pretend angry voice, or basically he did what he does on TV everyday.
7:45 They just tried a Voodoo doll on Stephen A, it’ll take a lot more than that to get him to stop talking.
7:46 There’s been only 12 minutes of running time basketball, and my interest is already waning.
7:47 Bill Walton just “coached” Chris Tucker “Chris, no more passing, just shots”. I would like it if Bill Walton was my coach.
7:48 Floyd Mayweather just abused Taylor Hicks, made a steal, and dished out a nice assist. The Hornets are pulling ahead as Master P is floundering.
7:49 TO is going to play? Wow, I’m looking forward to this, guy is an athlete, obviously. I probably didn’t need to tell you Terrell Owens has exceptional athletic abilities. All the Cowboys fans are going to shriek every time he jumps, he broke that ankle once before.
7:52 ESPN just decided to run replays of Stephan A’s rants from earlier. They clearly know what their audience wants.
7:53 “One of the greatest injustices of Western Civilization” -Bill Walton complaining that the other team gets TO.
7:53 Chris Tucker just gave TO the obligatory “we’re both black” hand shake.
7:54 The ref just passed the ball to Tony Potts for a free throw, and he didn’t catch it.
7:55 Master P and TO together, this 10 point lead might vanish shortly. Floyd Mayweather answers with a layup, Hornets are up by 7 by the way.
7:56 TO just walked into the game, and hit a deep jumper. The star power of this game just went up dramatically.
7:58 There’s a cameraman on the floor, the XFL tried this, and nothing the XFL tried worked. Truthfully I liked the cameraman on the field, I thought it was one thing the NFL should have taken from them.
8:00 Halftime Hornets 28, New Orleans 23. I’ve decided to drink some beers, I should have started this about 45 minutes ago.
8:04 We’re talking to this chef, who has no personality, again. I don’t know whose idea this was. Plus, his name is Chef Brian, people with names like “Brian” don’t become famous.
8:07 I’ve decided to use halftime to Youtube Rock N Jock clips…sadly the only thing that turned up was Marky Mark performing Good Vibrations at halftime.
8:10 The commentators are trying to talk real basketball during halftime, the success of the Celtics. Yes, they mentioned Leon Powe, but, again ESPN is totally missing the mark here on their target audience. I’m sure that all the hardcore NBA fans tuning in tonight to see Tony Potts play basketball wanted up to date analysis of the season, and I’m also sure they didn’t know the Celtics had the best record in the NBA.
8:17 Chris “Chucker” Tucker is bombing 3s, it’s ugly.
8:19 A million teenage girls just screamed, hard foul on James Lafferty by Terry Crews.
8:20 Carmelo Anthony is playing bongos, *this* is why I tuned in.
8:21 The third quarter is half over (thank God) and I don’t think we’ve had a full screen of basketball this half, but we’ve seen plenty of Chef Bland. Timeout, New Orleans has cut the lead to three.
8:24 Chef Brian is cooking mushrooms, Stuart Scott said this is like “Smellovision because it smells so good.” And I thought the writer’s strike was over. Side note, how come the writer’s were allowed to blog about the strike? Doesn’t that seem counterintuitive?
8:25 Taylor Hicks hit a nice mid range jumper, the shot looked good.
8:26 After one play that looked good, 3 shots were missed and two turnovers happened, in one minute.
8:27 Chucker just banked in a 3.
8:28 After closing it to 3, New Orleans is down 6, Stephan A is immediately benching his white players.
8:29 Announcers talking and eating, this was a great idea.
8:30 Chucker banked in another 3, I think odds he meant to do that are around 2%.
8:31 End of the third, Hornets lead 40 to 33.
8:36 TO just ran for an outlet pass and had trouble locating the ball. He’s a wideout, shouldn’t he be able to run a fly and catch the ball? It wasn’t even third down. Common did a surprisingly good job of running with him.
8:38 New Orleans closes it to 2, but I guess TO doesn’t play defense in basketball either, he barely made it over half court there.
8:39 TO just threw down. That’s basically what has kept me watching this game, I figured he could dunk the ball, now we know.
8:40 Chucker might actually be trying to bank 3 pointers. New Orleans up by 1, about 3 and a half minutes to go. I might be the only person in America who will make it through this whole game.
8:44 Master P has been nothing short of disappointing, the man has a basketball court at his house.
8:45 TO just made a lot of passes to Ruth Riley, he’s moving in on Master P’s territory.
8:46 Just to give you an idea of what a train wreck this is, Stuart Scott is somewhere in the building, and he’s mic-ed up, so we hear everything he says. The announcers are trying to talk when no one else is talking, which isn’t often since Ric Bucher is also walking around with a mic. Then there are sounds from the game of course, and while all this is going on, the stadium is pumping “Sweet Child O Mine” through the speakers. It’ a mess.
8:47 Stephan A just called a timeout, why is he prolonging this? And why haven’t we seen another shot of Alyssa Milano in the past hour and a half. Ha, the Karma Gods intervene. Coaches only get 1 timeout per half and he used it already, technical foul, game tied.
8:50 Taylor Hicks with a sweet spin move to the hoop to draw a foul, then he bricks 2 free throws to do the exact opposite of redeeming himself.
8:51 The refs have gone foul crazy, why not. Master P knocks down 2 to give the New Orleans a one point lead.
8:52 Bill Walton is diagramming a play, he drew one X and one circle. Apparently NBA coaches do call timeouts to say, “You dribble around until there’s 7 seconds left and drive”.
8:53 During some general sloppiness, Ruth Riley gets a block, and Tony Potts gets hammered going up for the final shot. The refs just waved everything off, clearly hoping to not have an overtime, and for that, I thank them.
8:57 A leprechaun sounding Ronald McDonald just gave TO the MVP award. He was 8 for 10, and clearly the most athletic person on the court (I would hope so).
8:59 I’m not sure why I just put myself through that. They really couldn’t scrap this for HORSE?
7:04 I wasn’t going to do this actually, but I just heard Stephen A. Smith’s voice from the other room, can’t turn that down.
7:05 You remember how great the old Rock N Jock specials on MTV were? The Celebrity All Star Game is about to show you why MTV stopped doing those.
7:06 Stuart Scott just made Chris Berman look up to date as he slipped and said “New Orleans Jazz”. Chris Paul didn’t even react, he might not know that there was a New Orleans Jazz.
7:10 Amare Stoudamire just had tarot cards read by a creepy old woman, I don’t think he’s ever been more confused in his life.
7:11 The New Orleans team is being introduced: Zach Gilford, AJ Calloway, Ne-Yo, James Lafferty.
7:12 I wish I could properly describe what Taylor Hicks just did as he was introduced. Some kind of hip-wiggling-step-dancing-moving-forward thing. If his goal was to look as unathletic as possible, then he succeeded.
7:13 Ruth Riley from the WNBA, is it mean that I secretly hope someone blocks one of her shots tonight?
7: 15 Seth Gilliam is introduced along with Master P. Looking forward to seeing P, two NBA contracts, that’s legit.
7:15 Gabrielle Union is the coach of this New Orleans team, turns out Stephen A is the GM, too bad, I thought he was playing. Looking at team 1, why can’t we get some former players involved in this?
7:16 Introducing the Hornets team, someone needs to tell Terry Crews to calm down, wow, the man is jacked and he’s fired up to play celebrity basketball. Last year’s MVP Tony Potts is back. Floyd Mayweather, James Lee, Swin Cash (the other token WNBA player), Common, Chris Tucker, and Deion Sanders round out the Hornets. (See, Deion is available, you’re telling me Shawn Kemp is too busy for this?)
7:17 How many times has Alyssa Milano, coach of the Hornets, been hit on tonight? Bill Walton introduced as GM, the one man who may make this entertaining.
7:18 Is it bad that I don’t recognize half the people involved in this, or is it bad for the Celebrity All Star Game? Also, as you read, they decided to call one team New Orleans and the other the Hornets, I’m sure this won’t become confusing later.
7:19 Ha, pretty funny joke from Alyssa Milano “Our plan is to shoot 3s in transition”. I wonder if she was fed that line.
7:20 Shaq makes an appearance. He knows he’s not playing Sunday right? Has anyone told him he wasn’t voted in? Seriously though, good for Shaq, good to see one of the NBA biggest faces make an appearance.
7:23 Shaq says “I’m going to make Amare Stoudamire even better”. And you wonder why I think it was a good trade.
7:26 Chris Tucker’s first shot looked awful…Master P’s did too.
7:28 Chris Tucker’s second shot looked great, what’s going on here.
7:29 Master P has passed twice to Ruth Riley let’s hope there isn’t anything behind this…
7:30 Lafferty has no handle, but made a good reverse layup, I was really hoping he wasn’t going to be good so I could make One Tree Hill jokes from now on.
7:31 Bill Walton just yelled “We need more shooting, run, run, shoot a 3”
7:32 Floyd Mayweather with a nice drive. What if he breaks an ankle during this game and it derails months of boxing training? You’re still telling me Shawn Kemp isn’t available? I mean, there’s no livelihood at stake for ex-players.
7:35 Does anyone think Stuart Scott is funny? “Is that Spanish paprika? Or red peppers?” “Ya’ll got any chicken biscuits?”. Some chef is cooking a dish, Stu is making comments, I don’t know why anything of this is happening.
7:36 Terry Crews is trying to take down the backboard…with his jump shots, wow.
7:37 Floyd Mayweather is fast. He’s a making a good play for MVP.
7:38 Master P has missed a lot of shots. Maybe I could have gotten an NBA contract. Wow.
7:39 I think this cooking segment ran longer than anyone expected, Stuart Scott just talked over the last 3 minutes of hoops.
7:41 LeBron James just did a 50 million pound challenge commercial. Word for the word the same as the Chris Paul commercial we saw just before it. It sounds like a good idea, but they couldn’t have come up with 2 or 3 scripts?
7:43 Why are they calling Master P “P. Miller”? Also, didn’t know the P stood for Percy.
7:44 Stephen A. Smith just yelled something in a pretend angry voice, or basically he did what he does on TV everyday.
7:45 They just tried a Voodoo doll on Stephen A, it’ll take a lot more than that to get him to stop talking.
7:46 There’s been only 12 minutes of running time basketball, and my interest is already waning.
7:47 Bill Walton just “coached” Chris Tucker “Chris, no more passing, just shots”. I would like it if Bill Walton was my coach.
7:48 Floyd Mayweather just abused Taylor Hicks, made a steal, and dished out a nice assist. The Hornets are pulling ahead as Master P is floundering.
7:49 TO is going to play? Wow, I’m looking forward to this, guy is an athlete, obviously. I probably didn’t need to tell you Terrell Owens has exceptional athletic abilities. All the Cowboys fans are going to shriek every time he jumps, he broke that ankle once before.
7:52 ESPN just decided to run replays of Stephan A’s rants from earlier. They clearly know what their audience wants.
7:53 “One of the greatest injustices of Western Civilization” -Bill Walton complaining that the other team gets TO.
7:53 Chris Tucker just gave TO the obligatory “we’re both black” hand shake.
7:54 The ref just passed the ball to Tony Potts for a free throw, and he didn’t catch it.
7:55 Master P and TO together, this 10 point lead might vanish shortly. Floyd Mayweather answers with a layup, Hornets are up by 7 by the way.
7:56 TO just walked into the game, and hit a deep jumper. The star power of this game just went up dramatically.
7:58 There’s a cameraman on the floor, the XFL tried this, and nothing the XFL tried worked. Truthfully I liked the cameraman on the field, I thought it was one thing the NFL should have taken from them.
8:00 Halftime Hornets 28, New Orleans 23. I’ve decided to drink some beers, I should have started this about 45 minutes ago.
8:04 We’re talking to this chef, who has no personality, again. I don’t know whose idea this was. Plus, his name is Chef Brian, people with names like “Brian” don’t become famous.
8:07 I’ve decided to use halftime to Youtube Rock N Jock clips…sadly the only thing that turned up was Marky Mark performing Good Vibrations at halftime.
8:10 The commentators are trying to talk real basketball during halftime, the success of the Celtics. Yes, they mentioned Leon Powe, but, again ESPN is totally missing the mark here on their target audience. I’m sure that all the hardcore NBA fans tuning in tonight to see Tony Potts play basketball wanted up to date analysis of the season, and I’m also sure they didn’t know the Celtics had the best record in the NBA.
8:17 Chris “Chucker” Tucker is bombing 3s, it’s ugly.
8:19 A million teenage girls just screamed, hard foul on James Lafferty by Terry Crews.
8:20 Carmelo Anthony is playing bongos, *this* is why I tuned in.
8:21 The third quarter is half over (thank God) and I don’t think we’ve had a full screen of basketball this half, but we’ve seen plenty of Chef Bland. Timeout, New Orleans has cut the lead to three.
8:24 Chef Brian is cooking mushrooms, Stuart Scott said this is like “Smellovision because it smells so good.” And I thought the writer’s strike was over. Side note, how come the writer’s were allowed to blog about the strike? Doesn’t that seem counterintuitive?
8:25 Taylor Hicks hit a nice mid range jumper, the shot looked good.
8:26 After one play that looked good, 3 shots were missed and two turnovers happened, in one minute.
8:27 Chucker just banked in a 3.
8:28 After closing it to 3, New Orleans is down 6, Stephan A is immediately benching his white players.
8:29 Announcers talking and eating, this was a great idea.
8:30 Chucker banked in another 3, I think odds he meant to do that are around 2%.
8:31 End of the third, Hornets lead 40 to 33.
8:36 TO just ran for an outlet pass and had trouble locating the ball. He’s a wideout, shouldn’t he be able to run a fly and catch the ball? It wasn’t even third down. Common did a surprisingly good job of running with him.
8:38 New Orleans closes it to 2, but I guess TO doesn’t play defense in basketball either, he barely made it over half court there.
8:39 TO just threw down. That’s basically what has kept me watching this game, I figured he could dunk the ball, now we know.
8:40 Chucker might actually be trying to bank 3 pointers. New Orleans up by 1, about 3 and a half minutes to go. I might be the only person in America who will make it through this whole game.
8:44 Master P has been nothing short of disappointing, the man has a basketball court at his house.
8:45 TO just made a lot of passes to Ruth Riley, he’s moving in on Master P’s territory.
8:46 Just to give you an idea of what a train wreck this is, Stuart Scott is somewhere in the building, and he’s mic-ed up, so we hear everything he says. The announcers are trying to talk when no one else is talking, which isn’t often since Ric Bucher is also walking around with a mic. Then there are sounds from the game of course, and while all this is going on, the stadium is pumping “Sweet Child O Mine” through the speakers. It’ a mess.
8:47 Stephan A just called a timeout, why is he prolonging this? And why haven’t we seen another shot of Alyssa Milano in the past hour and a half. Ha, the Karma Gods intervene. Coaches only get 1 timeout per half and he used it already, technical foul, game tied.
8:50 Taylor Hicks with a sweet spin move to the hoop to draw a foul, then he bricks 2 free throws to do the exact opposite of redeeming himself.
8:51 The refs have gone foul crazy, why not. Master P knocks down 2 to give the New Orleans a one point lead.
8:52 Bill Walton is diagramming a play, he drew one X and one circle. Apparently NBA coaches do call timeouts to say, “You dribble around until there’s 7 seconds left and drive”.
8:53 During some general sloppiness, Ruth Riley gets a block, and Tony Potts gets hammered going up for the final shot. The refs just waved everything off, clearly hoping to not have an overtime, and for that, I thank them.
8:57 A leprechaun sounding Ronald McDonald just gave TO the MVP award. He was 8 for 10, and clearly the most athletic person on the court (I would hope so).
8:59 I’m not sure why I just put myself through that. They really couldn’t scrap this for HORSE?
Not So Fast says Stackhouse
Loose Lips sink ships. The NBA might not allow the Jason Kidd trade to happen because of Jerry Stackhouse’s recent comments (“I ain’t going nowhere”), or possibly, not allow Stack to resign with the Mavs this season.
Word is Jerry Stackhouse would be bought out by the New Jersey Nets if the Kidd trade goes through. Stack still has some game left in him, to the tune of 10 points, a few rebounds, and a few assists per game, so he’d sit out his 30 days (by league rules) and then sign with someone else. He still wants to play, and he would get signed, this much is certain.
NBA rules prohibit teams from making side deals in these kinds of situations. Other teams must be allowed to talk with bought out players if they are inclined to do so.
But as it turns out the team who is employing him now would be interested in employing him then, and I don’t see what the big deal is. Perhaps other teams would be interested, and you think he wouldn’t listen? But where Stack wants to play is totally up to him. If he doesn’t want to move his family to another team, and he wants to stay and play for a contender at a price cut, that’s his decision. The league shouldn’t intervene here, I don’t think anything wrong has been done.
I would be upset if it came out that Dallas and he had already worked out the numbers for the deal, which wouldn’t be in either party’s favor anyway not knowing his open market value. But as long as no side deal has been officially reached, what’s the harm in conversation? If another NBA team called up Stack’s agent today and said “Hey, if thing goes through we’re interested” would that be against the rules, maybe it is, but if so, it’s a waste of everyone’s time.
The biggest travesty here would be if the NBA actually blocked the trade, blocking Kidd from a possible rejuvenation and one of the most entertaining offenses in basketball this season. Let’s at least make it interesting.
Word is Jerry Stackhouse would be bought out by the New Jersey Nets if the Kidd trade goes through. Stack still has some game left in him, to the tune of 10 points, a few rebounds, and a few assists per game, so he’d sit out his 30 days (by league rules) and then sign with someone else. He still wants to play, and he would get signed, this much is certain.
NBA rules prohibit teams from making side deals in these kinds of situations. Other teams must be allowed to talk with bought out players if they are inclined to do so.
But as it turns out the team who is employing him now would be interested in employing him then, and I don’t see what the big deal is. Perhaps other teams would be interested, and you think he wouldn’t listen? But where Stack wants to play is totally up to him. If he doesn’t want to move his family to another team, and he wants to stay and play for a contender at a price cut, that’s his decision. The league shouldn’t intervene here, I don’t think anything wrong has been done.
I would be upset if it came out that Dallas and he had already worked out the numbers for the deal, which wouldn’t be in either party’s favor anyway not knowing his open market value. But as long as no side deal has been officially reached, what’s the harm in conversation? If another NBA team called up Stack’s agent today and said “Hey, if thing goes through we’re interested” would that be against the rules, maybe it is, but if so, it’s a waste of everyone’s time.
The biggest travesty here would be if the NBA actually blocked the trade, blocking Kidd from a possible rejuvenation and one of the most entertaining offenses in basketball this season. Let’s at least make it interesting.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Not So Fast says Devean George
Devean George, one of the aforementioned pu pu platter pieces has blocked the trade sending him to New Jersey by exercising his no-trade clause.
This raises some interesting questions, one in particularly, who gave Devean George a no-trade clause? What GM thought this was a good idea? What agent thought this was a good idea? Does Devean George really not want to be traded, or did he just want to be able to say, “I exercise my no-trade clause” and confuse the hell out of everyone?
I wasn’t a fan of this trade, so this is probably better for Dallas, unless they foolishly give up even more for Kidd. There’s still several days left until the trade deadline, so we’ll see what happens. I like Dallas better without Kidd, but I won’t go as far to say “Devean George saves Mavs Season”…yet.
And I can tell you one person who’s happy, LeBron.
This raises some interesting questions, one in particularly, who gave Devean George a no-trade clause? What GM thought this was a good idea? What agent thought this was a good idea? Does Devean George really not want to be traded, or did he just want to be able to say, “I exercise my no-trade clause” and confuse the hell out of everyone?
I wasn’t a fan of this trade, so this is probably better for Dallas, unless they foolishly give up even more for Kidd. There’s still several days left until the trade deadline, so we’ll see what happens. I like Dallas better without Kidd, but I won’t go as far to say “Devean George saves Mavs Season”…yet.
And I can tell you one person who’s happy, LeBron.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Jason Kidd to the Mavs
Jason Kidd has been traded to the Dallas Mavericks along with two players, to make roster restrictions, for Devin Harris and a pu pu platter including Jerry Stackhouse, expiring contracts, draft picks and money. For a league a year ago Bill Simmons dubbed the “No Balls Association” two prominent GMs are certainly taking chances this year, and this, like the Shaq deal to Phoenix, is a panic move. The Lakers performed highway robbery for Pau Gasol, and everyone else is freaking out.
In Kidd the Mavs add a playoff tested veteran who’s been to the Finals twice. He’s a triple double threat every night and immediately brings that offense to another level. Kidd sees all the angles and can make all the passes. You’d be hard pressed to find a team in the league that wouldn’t want him.
The interesting thing about this move, however, is that as everyone in the West is getting bigger, the Mavs get smaller. The inside presence of Gasol and Andrew Bynum, or Tim Duncan, or Shaq and Amare Stoudamire, or Yao Ming, or Carlos Boozer, is something the Mavs will have to deal with this postseason. If they want to advance, it’s inevitable. This is an issue because one of those expiring contracts they sent away is DeSagana Diop.
Diop is not an elite player by any means, but he is the team’s only listed center behind Erick Dampier. Diop has been averaging 18 minutes per game, which is 18 minutes during which he plays defense on the other team’s center. Also to consider is the aging Kidd is not an elite defender, and so it seems the Mavs will just be hoping to win shootouts this summer, which is not a strategy we’ve seen work repeatedly in the past. On top of all of this, Kidd is only averaging 36% on his field goals this season.
The Shaq move I have already argued in favor of, aging stars are making their final few runs at the title amongst some other reasons. But these Mavs aren’t nearly as old, Dirk is 29, Josh Howard is 27, and Jason Terry is 30. The Mavs gain 11 years in the 35 year old Kidd over Devin Harris, and I don’t see any long term advantages in the contracts. The size and the ages moving in this deal just don’t add up
In Kidd the Mavs add a playoff tested veteran who’s been to the Finals twice. He’s a triple double threat every night and immediately brings that offense to another level. Kidd sees all the angles and can make all the passes. You’d be hard pressed to find a team in the league that wouldn’t want him.
The interesting thing about this move, however, is that as everyone in the West is getting bigger, the Mavs get smaller. The inside presence of Gasol and Andrew Bynum, or Tim Duncan, or Shaq and Amare Stoudamire, or Yao Ming, or Carlos Boozer, is something the Mavs will have to deal with this postseason. If they want to advance, it’s inevitable. This is an issue because one of those expiring contracts they sent away is DeSagana Diop.
Diop is not an elite player by any means, but he is the team’s only listed center behind Erick Dampier. Diop has been averaging 18 minutes per game, which is 18 minutes during which he plays defense on the other team’s center. Also to consider is the aging Kidd is not an elite defender, and so it seems the Mavs will just be hoping to win shootouts this summer, which is not a strategy we’ve seen work repeatedly in the past. On top of all of this, Kidd is only averaging 36% on his field goals this season.
The Shaq move I have already argued in favor of, aging stars are making their final few runs at the title amongst some other reasons. But these Mavs aren’t nearly as old, Dirk is 29, Josh Howard is 27, and Jason Terry is 30. The Mavs gain 11 years in the 35 year old Kidd over Devin Harris, and I don’t see any long term advantages in the contracts. The size and the ages moving in this deal just don’t add up
Roger Clemens: Comedian
Too much has been said already about the Roger Clemens/Brian McNamee hearing today, but I'll say this: who knew this was going to be so funny.
I had no idea so many things could be "misremembered" or "misheard". For one of "baseball's titans" it seems that it's everyone against him, and everyone else is wrong, and it's hilarious.
I had no idea so many things could be "misremembered" or "misheard". For one of "baseball's titans" it seems that it's everyone against him, and everyone else is wrong, and it's hilarious.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Minnesota Fans Did It Right
Friday night was Kevin Garnett’s only trip to his “’Sota” all season. The fans who loved him for 12 seasons wanted to be there, and they were willing to buy tickets for up to 9 other games just to do so. Sadly, he was unable to play, but for the Celtics it is obviously much more important for KG to rest up and get healthy than it is for the Timberwolves fans to see him in a green jersey. (It came out today KG will not play in the All Star game)
The important thing here is how Minnesota handled the situation. Give the team credit, they did just enough, announcing him as he walked out onto the floor. And I’m guessing the announcer said the same thing he always said before every game, “Out of Farragut Career Academy…”. But what really impressed me was the fans, they didn’t even need the announcement. As soon as KG appeared from the tunnel the place erupted. Nearly all the seats in the arena were filled, just for that moment, to let KG know how much he meant to them. KG stood at midcourt, acknowledged the crowd, touched by the gesture, and took in the moment. It was perfect.
The important thing here is how Minnesota handled the situation. Give the team credit, they did just enough, announcing him as he walked out onto the floor. And I’m guessing the announcer said the same thing he always said before every game, “Out of Farragut Career Academy…”. But what really impressed me was the fans, they didn’t even need the announcement. As soon as KG appeared from the tunnel the place erupted. Nearly all the seats in the arena were filled, just for that moment, to let KG know how much he meant to them. KG stood at midcourt, acknowledged the crowd, touched by the gesture, and took in the moment. It was perfect.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Kevin Hart - Lier
This story is blowing up, but an excerpt in case you missed it:
"A week ago, in front of television cameras and a packed high school gymnasium, the 6-5, 290-pound offensive guard placed two baseball caps on a table -- a Cal Bears cap on his right, an Oregon Ducks cap on his left -- and then, after a dramatic pause, put the blue-and-gold Cal hat on his head.
"They really won me over," Hart told reporters. "Coach [Jeff] Tedford and I talked a lot, and the fact that the head coach did most of the recruiting of me kind of gave me the real personal experience."
Actually, the Cal head coach barely knew he existed. That's because there was no scholarship offer. Not from Cal. Not from Oregon. Not from anywhere. Hart made it up. He made everything up.
What began six months ago as a small, ego-driven lie, somehow gained weight and strength and grew into an uncontrollable hoax. It enveloped a school, a town, a family and maybe a future." ~Gene Wojciechowski ESPN
So basically this kid wasn't being recruited by anyone, but pretended he was. This story hit both ends of the spectrum because when it first came out he claimed to be duped by a middle man. I've never heard of hiring someone to help with the recruiting process, but then again I wasn't recruited by any DI schools, so I went with it, and we all felt bad for him. Now it turns out he's just a lier and the whole thing snowballed out of control. Not as many people feel sorry for him now.
I have a series of questions that pertain to this, but the biggest thing is where are this kid's parents? Were they fooled? If so, wow, but if not, WOW. If his parents knew he was lying, but let him go out there and do a press conference, that's shameful.
This should send a message to parents everywhere whose kids might be recruited next year, you're going to need to be involved. I would make sure I hear from these coaches who are talking to my kids, in fact, they would have to talk me first. No more of this garbage.
"A week ago, in front of television cameras and a packed high school gymnasium, the 6-5, 290-pound offensive guard placed two baseball caps on a table -- a Cal Bears cap on his right, an Oregon Ducks cap on his left -- and then, after a dramatic pause, put the blue-and-gold Cal hat on his head.
"They really won me over," Hart told reporters. "Coach [Jeff] Tedford and I talked a lot, and the fact that the head coach did most of the recruiting of me kind of gave me the real personal experience."
Actually, the Cal head coach barely knew he existed. That's because there was no scholarship offer. Not from Cal. Not from Oregon. Not from anywhere. Hart made it up. He made everything up.
What began six months ago as a small, ego-driven lie, somehow gained weight and strength and grew into an uncontrollable hoax. It enveloped a school, a town, a family and maybe a future." ~Gene Wojciechowski ESPN
So basically this kid wasn't being recruited by anyone, but pretended he was. This story hit both ends of the spectrum because when it first came out he claimed to be duped by a middle man. I've never heard of hiring someone to help with the recruiting process, but then again I wasn't recruited by any DI schools, so I went with it, and we all felt bad for him. Now it turns out he's just a lier and the whole thing snowballed out of control. Not as many people feel sorry for him now.
I have a series of questions that pertain to this, but the biggest thing is where are this kid's parents? Were they fooled? If so, wow, but if not, WOW. If his parents knew he was lying, but let him go out there and do a press conference, that's shameful.
This should send a message to parents everywhere whose kids might be recruited next year, you're going to need to be involved. I would make sure I hear from these coaches who are talking to my kids, in fact, they would have to talk me first. No more of this garbage.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Shaq to the Suns
My first reaction was no different than anyone else’s, “what?”
We knew from the offseason that things in Phoenix were rocky, and Marion wanted out. Different packages were shopped, in deals that included Shawn Marion or Amare Stoudamire, but nothing came out of it. The timing of the deal seems the most strange because other players, with more left in the tank, were available, see Kevin Garnett, Pau Gasol (who’s 27).
But in actuality timing may be one of the biggest factors of the deal. With Gasol going to the Lakers, who already found an emerging star in Andrew Bynum this year, they are suddenly poised to make a run at the West. Shaq gives the Suns an inside presence Marion doesn’t, and puts Stoudamire at the power forward position, where he should be dominant.
A lot of people have already pointed out that Steve Nash is 34, and Grant Hill is no spring chicken either, so the Suns need to push for a championship now. Marion being young, especially when he can opt out anyway, does not make him more desirable for a team that needs to win in the postseason now. (Another reason why they probably didn’t push as hard for Gasol, KG on the other hand…)
The Suns have the best record in the West and they can coast into the playoffs with Shaq getting used to his team, getting back into shape, and getting healthy. All they have to do is say, “Hey Shaq, rest up, we’ll use you 15 minutes a game for awhile if you can go 25 in the playoffs, just get in shape” With a lot of people suggesting this was a bad move for Phoenix, I don’t think Shaq will have any lack of motivation.
Here’s the biggest thing, and it’s something no one is mentioning: Nash has 2 more years on his contract remaining after this one, same as Shaq. So in 3 seasons 31 million dollars comes off the books. Does 31 million sound like enough money to make a move for LeBron? LeBron has already stated he wants help, he’s not 100% happy in Cleveland. LeBron set up his contract for just a move like that, taking only a three year extension with a player option for the fourth. The Suns are showing him right now, they’re willing to help, and LeBron and Stoudamire would make a good pretty good 1-2 punch.
We knew from the offseason that things in Phoenix were rocky, and Marion wanted out. Different packages were shopped, in deals that included Shawn Marion or Amare Stoudamire, but nothing came out of it. The timing of the deal seems the most strange because other players, with more left in the tank, were available, see Kevin Garnett, Pau Gasol (who’s 27).
But in actuality timing may be one of the biggest factors of the deal. With Gasol going to the Lakers, who already found an emerging star in Andrew Bynum this year, they are suddenly poised to make a run at the West. Shaq gives the Suns an inside presence Marion doesn’t, and puts Stoudamire at the power forward position, where he should be dominant.
A lot of people have already pointed out that Steve Nash is 34, and Grant Hill is no spring chicken either, so the Suns need to push for a championship now. Marion being young, especially when he can opt out anyway, does not make him more desirable for a team that needs to win in the postseason now. (Another reason why they probably didn’t push as hard for Gasol, KG on the other hand…)
The Suns have the best record in the West and they can coast into the playoffs with Shaq getting used to his team, getting back into shape, and getting healthy. All they have to do is say, “Hey Shaq, rest up, we’ll use you 15 minutes a game for awhile if you can go 25 in the playoffs, just get in shape” With a lot of people suggesting this was a bad move for Phoenix, I don’t think Shaq will have any lack of motivation.
Here’s the biggest thing, and it’s something no one is mentioning: Nash has 2 more years on his contract remaining after this one, same as Shaq. So in 3 seasons 31 million dollars comes off the books. Does 31 million sound like enough money to make a move for LeBron? LeBron has already stated he wants help, he’s not 100% happy in Cleveland. LeBron set up his contract for just a move like that, taking only a three year extension with a player option for the fourth. The Suns are showing him right now, they’re willing to help, and LeBron and Stoudamire would make a good pretty good 1-2 punch.
Tom Rosborough Loves Sports
I spend a good portion of my day thinking about sports, fantasy sports, games, and everything else sports related - so I figured, why not write them down somewhere? This has been done to death, and that's okay, I'll just enjoy posting my thoughts. And if only my friends read it, that's okay too.
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