I'm going to try something new today. Since I'm here in my recliner in my living room watching the latest news on the trade deadline, I thought I'd live blog everything going on. So here we go:
12:09 - Stephen A. Smith is on Cold Pizza right now talking about the latest news. To sum up what he's saying, not much is going on.
12:11 - ESPN.com already has the news that the Hawks picked up Anthony Johnson from the Mavs for this summer's second round pick. Also, Portland has agreed to send Juan Dixon to the Raptors for Freddie Jones.
12:15 - Just read this from Chad Ford's live chat: Just talked to Kidd's agent, Jeff Schwartz, on my Daily Dish podcast. You can listen to the link from the ESPN.com NBA front page. He's saying that Kidd will be wearing a Nets uniform tomorrow. Sorry Laker fans.
12:26 - Because ESPN won't give me any special coverage of the trade deadline, I'm forced to scour the Internet for news. Not that that's a bad thing, I just don't like watching Cold Pizza. Thanks ESPN!
12:40 - No new news, and no television coverage, so I'm popping in Gangs of New York.
12:52 - It looks like Mike James is really close to going to Houston. Apparently for Bob Sura. I hope there's a draft pick involved in there somewhere.
1:00 - An hour until the deadline, and other than the two deals mentioned earlier, nothing else is official. Apparently the Cavs are still going hard after Mike Bibby and the Lakers are still trying to find a way to get Kidd without giving up Andrew Bynum.
1:16 - Nothing. I wish I had phone lines to work, but I don't.
1:36 - Still nothing. This has the potential to be one of the worst trade deadlines ever. Which is a shame because so many big names have been mentioned in the days leading up to today.
1:48 - About 10 minutes to go and Yahoo! says Bibby won't be traded, nor Pau Gasol.
2:01 - Trade deadline has passed. We'll find out in the next ten minutes if any deals went down right at the wire.
2:19 - Nothing. I would imagine that if any deals went down at the deadline, they would've been announced by now. I think I can call it a day. Hopefully next year there will be more activity.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
A Couple More Things
Before I forget, there are a couple more things I want to talk about.
First, why is ESPN, on the day of the trade deadline in the NBA, having no special coverage about it? Don't they do that during baseball's trade deadline? Football's trade deadline is of no importance, but basketball's is.
Why are they showing NFL Live at three in the afternoon tomorrow, the exact time of the trade deadline? At a time when the NFL season is over and there is nothing going on, they're going to devote a half hour to talking about NFL news!
Instead they could be having some sort of half hour to hour long NBA special featuring any number for their talking heads discussing the trade deadline. Give me something! This is why the NBA is horrible at NBA coverage and should never be allowed to broadcast another game. Ever. David Stern should be ripping up that contract the NBA signed with ESPN and giving NBC their coverage back.
Second, I read somewhere that Pat "Nagaina" Riley admitted that he wouldn't have taken a leave of absence from the team if they had been playing better. What?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Are you serious? I'm not sure if this is true, but I'm going to look into it.
If it is, I will no longer have any respect for him. Ever. I don't care how many NBA championships you have, you don't quit on your team only to come back and try and steal the glory for yourself. Trust me, there's more to come on this.
First, why is ESPN, on the day of the trade deadline in the NBA, having no special coverage about it? Don't they do that during baseball's trade deadline? Football's trade deadline is of no importance, but basketball's is.
Why are they showing NFL Live at three in the afternoon tomorrow, the exact time of the trade deadline? At a time when the NFL season is over and there is nothing going on, they're going to devote a half hour to talking about NFL news!
Instead they could be having some sort of half hour to hour long NBA special featuring any number for their talking heads discussing the trade deadline. Give me something! This is why the NBA is horrible at NBA coverage and should never be allowed to broadcast another game. Ever. David Stern should be ripping up that contract the NBA signed with ESPN and giving NBC their coverage back.
Second, I read somewhere that Pat "Nagaina" Riley admitted that he wouldn't have taken a leave of absence from the team if they had been playing better. What?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Are you serious? I'm not sure if this is true, but I'm going to look into it.
If it is, I will no longer have any respect for him. Ever. I don't care how many NBA championships you have, you don't quit on your team only to come back and try and steal the glory for yourself. Trust me, there's more to come on this.
Christmas in February
That's what the trade deadline is like. For someone who has more fun simulating seasons and doing all the offseason stuff in the Franchise mode of the Madden games, the trade deadline gets me all hot and bothered. Just kidding. Sort of.
I'm seriously considering skipping my 12:30 political science class tomorrow in order to keep track on all the goings on in the NBA, even though I have a five page paper due.
Do I know who's going to be moved and to where? Nope, I don't. I still the think the Beno Udrih to the Cavs for Anderson Varejao trade should happen. But I've also been hearing for quite a while from a friend who works for the Spurs a trade involving Udrih and Brent Barry to the Clippers for Corey Maggette.
Odds are neither of them happen, but it's still fun to discuss and think about what your team would be like if one of these moves happen. It's part of being a fan. Let's hope something interesting happens.
Now about that political science paper....
I'm seriously considering skipping my 12:30 political science class tomorrow in order to keep track on all the goings on in the NBA, even though I have a five page paper due.
Do I know who's going to be moved and to where? Nope, I don't. I still the think the Beno Udrih to the Cavs for Anderson Varejao trade should happen. But I've also been hearing for quite a while from a friend who works for the Spurs a trade involving Udrih and Brent Barry to the Clippers for Corey Maggette.
Odds are neither of them happen, but it's still fun to discuss and think about what your team would be like if one of these moves happen. It's part of being a fan. Let's hope something interesting happens.
Now about that political science paper....
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Fixing The Spurs
With the Spurs sitting in fourth place in the Western Conference right now and the Mavericks continuing to distance themselves in the Southwest Division, the Spurs need to do something by Thursday's trade deadline if they are going to challenge the Mavs and the Suns.
The Spurs obviously want to trade Beno Udrih. He's a very talented player, but Gregg Popovich is not happy with his toughness. I read a rumor this morning that the Cleveland Cavaliers are interested in Udrih.
It would make sense for the Cavs because of their lack of consistency at the point guard position. Eric Snow is aging rapidly and can't shoot and Daniel Gibson is still just an inexperienced rookie. Trading for Udrih would give them a solid point guard going into the playoffs.
Who would the Spurs get in return? If the Spurs are going to trade Udrih to the Cavs, they'd better get Anderson Varejao in return. Varejao is just 24 years old and provides a nice spark off the bench much like Manu Ginobili is currently doing.
His youth and energy would provide the perfect change of pace for when Tim Duncan comes out of the game. Robert Horry just doesn't have the legs that he used to and would be better suited to playing more limited minutes until playoff time.
The only problem with Varejao coming to the Spurs would be how he would fit in when Matt Bonner comes back from injury. But his athleticism and energy would be perfect coming off the bench for the Spurs and he would be the best defender they could throw at Dirk Nowitzki outside of Bruce Bowen in the playoffs.
For the sake of all Spurs fans out there R.C. Buford, make it happen. ESPN's Trade Machine says it would work.
The Spurs obviously want to trade Beno Udrih. He's a very talented player, but Gregg Popovich is not happy with his toughness. I read a rumor this morning that the Cleveland Cavaliers are interested in Udrih.
It would make sense for the Cavs because of their lack of consistency at the point guard position. Eric Snow is aging rapidly and can't shoot and Daniel Gibson is still just an inexperienced rookie. Trading for Udrih would give them a solid point guard going into the playoffs.
Who would the Spurs get in return? If the Spurs are going to trade Udrih to the Cavs, they'd better get Anderson Varejao in return. Varejao is just 24 years old and provides a nice spark off the bench much like Manu Ginobili is currently doing.
His youth and energy would provide the perfect change of pace for when Tim Duncan comes out of the game. Robert Horry just doesn't have the legs that he used to and would be better suited to playing more limited minutes until playoff time.
The only problem with Varejao coming to the Spurs would be how he would fit in when Matt Bonner comes back from injury. But his athleticism and energy would be perfect coming off the bench for the Spurs and he would be the best defender they could throw at Dirk Nowitzki outside of Bruce Bowen in the playoffs.
For the sake of all Spurs fans out there R.C. Buford, make it happen. ESPN's Trade Machine says it would work.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Tired, So Tired
Yeah, I'm exhausted, and I didn't even go to Vegas. Unfortunately. The worst part about not going to Vegas for the All-Star game is reading everybody's stories on what they did in Vegas. It almost hurts inside. Basically, I really wish I went to Vegas this weekend. I really, really wish I went to Vegas this weekend.
It's probably a good thing though. Because I didn't have a wild weekend and I'm still dragging. I'm really not sure why I'm posting anything tonight, because the truth of the matter is there is not much going on today. ESPN and SLAM and everyone else has their recaps of All-Star weekend and their previews of the final third of the regular season. Me? I don't know what I have. Maybe I should just do a combination of the both.
I'll just say that the actual game was pretty lame. The Slam Dunk Contest was decent but could've been better. I missed Chuck vs. Dick but caught it on YouTube tonight. That, along with the East practice featuring the dance-off between Shaq, LeBron and Dwight(He deserves to go by just one name by now right?), and pretty much anything Gilbert Arenas did this weekend were definitely the highlights.
So where do we go from here? Eventually, the playoffs. First we've got the trade deadline coming up on Thursday, which is intriguing considering there are some big names being thrown around like Pau Gasol, Jason Kidd and to a lesser extent, Kevin Garnett.
But I would really be surprised to see any of those guys moved especially considering some of what is being offered in return for some of them. To put it this way, I could give the Nets more for Kidd than what I've heard is being offered for him.
Plus with his personal baggage that's being thrown around in the media right now and the fact that the Nets will get a (potentially) healthy Richard Jefferson in a few weeks, I'd be surprised to see him moved.
But then again, I have absolutely no sources whatsoever. I'm just thinking out loud, er, online. Anyway, I expect the trade deadline to be like the All-Star game, a lot of hype but in the end nothing special. I hope I'm wrong.
We'll start to see which teams turn it on to close out the season and which teams start to fade away. I'm wondering if the Mavericks are going to start to get burnt out. I haven't been keeping track of how Avery Johnson has been taking care of his main guys' minutes, but it's something to definitely keep an eye on.
What I'm coming to is that the rest of the way out is where things get really interesting. I expect to be up late many nights the rest of the season trying to say up and catch the west coast games. Especially since now TNT will be showing Tuesday games along with their usual Thursday lineup. The games start up again tomorrow.
It's probably a good thing though. Because I didn't have a wild weekend and I'm still dragging. I'm really not sure why I'm posting anything tonight, because the truth of the matter is there is not much going on today. ESPN and SLAM and everyone else has their recaps of All-Star weekend and their previews of the final third of the regular season. Me? I don't know what I have. Maybe I should just do a combination of the both.
I'll just say that the actual game was pretty lame. The Slam Dunk Contest was decent but could've been better. I missed Chuck vs. Dick but caught it on YouTube tonight. That, along with the East practice featuring the dance-off between Shaq, LeBron and Dwight(He deserves to go by just one name by now right?), and pretty much anything Gilbert Arenas did this weekend were definitely the highlights.
So where do we go from here? Eventually, the playoffs. First we've got the trade deadline coming up on Thursday, which is intriguing considering there are some big names being thrown around like Pau Gasol, Jason Kidd and to a lesser extent, Kevin Garnett.
But I would really be surprised to see any of those guys moved especially considering some of what is being offered in return for some of them. To put it this way, I could give the Nets more for Kidd than what I've heard is being offered for him.
Plus with his personal baggage that's being thrown around in the media right now and the fact that the Nets will get a (potentially) healthy Richard Jefferson in a few weeks, I'd be surprised to see him moved.
But then again, I have absolutely no sources whatsoever. I'm just thinking out loud, er, online. Anyway, I expect the trade deadline to be like the All-Star game, a lot of hype but in the end nothing special. I hope I'm wrong.
We'll start to see which teams turn it on to close out the season and which teams start to fade away. I'm wondering if the Mavericks are going to start to get burnt out. I haven't been keeping track of how Avery Johnson has been taking care of his main guys' minutes, but it's something to definitely keep an eye on.
What I'm coming to is that the rest of the way out is where things get really interesting. I expect to be up late many nights the rest of the season trying to say up and catch the west coast games. Especially since now TNT will be showing Tuesday games along with their usual Thursday lineup. The games start up again tomorrow.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
All-Star Game Notes, 2nd Half
Here's the second half notes:
Halftime show: What's with having people all around the stage on the floor. They do that for the Super Bowl halftime show too. We should just ban halftime shows. Or I could just turn the channel. Too lazy.
Second half starts up. Finally.
Amare Stoudemire with a backwards layup. Don't wanna say reverse because it wasn't, he was just backwards.
TNT shows a graphic saying Eddie Jordan is a native Washingtonian. Don't know how to respond to that one.
Craig Sager is doing some sort of Jeep Wrangler commercial/promo thing. Why is the Jeep black? Why can't it match his suit? That's just laziness on the part of Jeep.
Gabrielle Union, SMOKING. Had to be in caps.
Pick and roll with KOBE! and Amare, nice lob for the layup.
Steve Kerr just said "fivesome." Hehe.
Carmelo backing down Richard Hamilton. Hamilton keeps putting his hand on Melo's back and Melo keeps swatting it away. Reminds me of the beginning of Above The Rim where Shep is playing on the rooftop against Nutso. Can't wait for Rip to jump off the Thomas & Mack Center.
Great pass from Chauncey Billups to Caron Butler, but Butler can't finish.
Shawn Marion with a nice windmill dunk all alone. Full extension and he nailed the landing. 10's all around, even the Russian judge.
These Sprite LeBron James subliminal message commercials are trippy. I think I need to bum some of those shrooms from the Gonzaga players to understand them.
Milk carton: Defense.
Eddie Jordan is upset with the East's defense? This is the same guy who coaches the Wizards right?
While being interviewed by David Aldridge on the bench, Gilbert Arenas wonders aloud if Caron Butler can make a layup. As long as I wasn't the only one.
119-88 West after three. I'm starting to lose interest.
Tony Parker on his wedding, "Eva's doing all the work, I'm just going to show up and say yes." Classic.
Dwyane Wade spin, fade-away, off the glass. Sick.
KOBE! still gunning for the MVP and I think he's got it.
4 minutes left and it's 140-117 West. This game's over. I can only hope for some nice highlights the rest of the way.
That Nike Second Coming commercial still hasn't gotten old yet.
- KOBE! with an emphatic dunk to finish it off and put the MVP on lock. 152-132 West. Anticlimactic is an understatement.
- I think David Stern uses the phrase "One star that was brighter than them all" every year when he hands out the MVP.
All-Star Game Notes, 1st Half
Here's some notes on the first half of the NBA All-Star Game:
Wes Unseld Jr. looks a bit like Chris Tucker.
Starting lineups: Tim Duncan looks excited to be there
KOBE! starts off the scoring
Dwyane Wade answers back
KOBE! with a nice dunk and Wade answers right back, finishing off an oop
I hope Jason Kidd throws a cookie at someone during tonight's game.
6 minutes in and Dwight Howard throws down a big dunk, I'm kind of expecting him to have a David Lee like night with all his points coming on dunks.
Next time down Howard misses a short jumper, whatever.
Carmelo with the jumper, still my MVP pick. Everyone knows he should have been voted in as a starter and definitely should have been picked as a reserve, but it took the commish to get him on the roster. I think all the players on the west are going to make an effort to get him the ball so he can make a push for MVP.
Lebron, air-ball, sit down.
Memo Okur's goatee looks like a chinstrap.
Vince Carter spins and dunks in the lane, nice, he should do that more often. Just one man's opinion though.
Tony Parker with the short jumper over Dwight Howard, I'm surprised that didn't get swatted into the fourth or fifth row.
39-31 West after 1.
That Dwyane wade Gatorade commercial with the heads over each of his shoulders is great. Just letting you know.
Ray Allen, wet.
Rip Hamilton streaking down the court gets a good pass from teammate Chauncey Billups for a dunk.
Ray Allen, wet again.
Shaq misses a dunk, gets it back, dunks it, then kisses Tracy McGrady on the side of the head. Literally. Seriously. Gotta love Shaq.
The west is on fire from behind the arc in the second quarter
Tony Parker brought his jumpshot with him to Vegas.
Gotta love Marv Albert and Steve Kerr doing the game. Is there a better announcing team in all of sports?
Nice give and go in transition between Carmelo and Tony Parker.
Joe Johnson with a 3 with a minute left in the first half. Good to see him finally find his way on to the team, he deserves it. And I'm not just saying that because he's on my fantasy team. Or am I?
79-59 West at the half. KOBE! early front runner for MVP with 18 in the first half. Melo has 12.
Why The Dunk Contest Should Have More Than 4 Guys In It
Seriously, why are there only four guys participating in it? I know it would take longer, but is that really a bad thing? I guess only when it takes someone 10+ tries to finish a dunk.
I wish I could say that I watched all of All-Star Saturday Night, last night, but I didn't. Hadn't seen my sister and her boyfriend in about a month so family responsibilities took precedent. But I did catch the main events of the night though, thanks to Las Vegas traffic apparently.
From what I heard, the Detroit team won the Shooting Stars contest. Wouldn't know, didn't watch it. Unfortunately I missed Dwyane Wade winning the skills challenge. My pick Chris Paul didn't get it done for me.
I did get to catch the Three-Point Shootout and Slam Dunk Contest though. My selecting, Mike Miller, didn't make it out of the first round thanks to Dirk Nowitzki. Agent 0 Gilbert Arenas finished second to Jason Kapono. You'd think that I would pick the guy leading the NBA in three point field goal percentage to win the contest, but no, I over thought it and picked someone else.
The Slam Dunk Contest was where it was at last night though. Tyrus Thomas? Here's your $18,000 check and please go home.
I wholeheartedly believe Dwight Howard got the shaft. Jumping as high as he can and putting that specially made sticker on the backboard was genius. The actual dunk, I'll admit, wasn't that great, but the show he made out of it was great. That is why I love the dunk contest.
One of the things that I also liked about the contest was the judging. Even though Kobe Bryant and Vince Carter should be in the contest as dunkers, not judges, Having some hall of fame dunkers on the panel was great.
I especially liked how stingy the G.O.A.T. was with his scores. It seemed like every time he said, "I can do that, so you only get an 8." But I think he should've given Howard a better score for his second dunk.
Oh yeah, and I picked Gerald Green to win it. The only pick I've gotten right so far this weekend. Watch out for Carmelo tonight though. He's still my pick for MVP. I did hear and interesting theory on Tony Parker for MVP because of the lack of point guards for the West tonight.
Once again, TNT did a great job with the coverage the entire night. I'm near depression right now because I missed Charles Barkley's race with Dick Bavetta, but I'll get over it. Eventually.
Quote of the Night: "That was just like Grandma's Kool-Aid, cuz it was sweeeeeeeeet!" - Kenny Smith
My goal is to take notes on tonight's All-Star game and have them posted tonight or early tomorrow.
I wish I could say that I watched all of All-Star Saturday Night, last night, but I didn't. Hadn't seen my sister and her boyfriend in about a month so family responsibilities took precedent. But I did catch the main events of the night though, thanks to Las Vegas traffic apparently.
From what I heard, the Detroit team won the Shooting Stars contest. Wouldn't know, didn't watch it. Unfortunately I missed Dwyane Wade winning the skills challenge. My pick Chris Paul didn't get it done for me.
I did get to catch the Three-Point Shootout and Slam Dunk Contest though. My selecting, Mike Miller, didn't make it out of the first round thanks to Dirk Nowitzki. Agent 0 Gilbert Arenas finished second to Jason Kapono. You'd think that I would pick the guy leading the NBA in three point field goal percentage to win the contest, but no, I over thought it and picked someone else.
The Slam Dunk Contest was where it was at last night though. Tyrus Thomas? Here's your $18,000 check and please go home.
I wholeheartedly believe Dwight Howard got the shaft. Jumping as high as he can and putting that specially made sticker on the backboard was genius. The actual dunk, I'll admit, wasn't that great, but the show he made out of it was great. That is why I love the dunk contest.
One of the things that I also liked about the contest was the judging. Even though Kobe Bryant and Vince Carter should be in the contest as dunkers, not judges, Having some hall of fame dunkers on the panel was great.
I especially liked how stingy the G.O.A.T. was with his scores. It seemed like every time he said, "I can do that, so you only get an 8." But I think he should've given Howard a better score for his second dunk.
Oh yeah, and I picked Gerald Green to win it. The only pick I've gotten right so far this weekend. Watch out for Carmelo tonight though. He's still my pick for MVP. I did hear and interesting theory on Tony Parker for MVP because of the lack of point guards for the West tonight.
Once again, TNT did a great job with the coverage the entire night. I'm near depression right now because I missed Charles Barkley's race with Dick Bavetta, but I'll get over it. Eventually.
Quote of the Night: "That was just like Grandma's Kool-Aid, cuz it was sweeeeeeeeet!" - Kenny Smith
My goal is to take notes on tonight's All-Star game and have them posted tonight or early tomorrow.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
I Can Admit When I'm Wrong
While I was sitting here today thinking how awesome it would be if the NBA actually did raise the rim to 12 feet for tonight's Slam Dunk Contest for Dwight Howard, I was remembering back to something I said at the beginning of the season about Darko Milicic. It was a post I wrote as sort of a offseason recap/season preview. Anyway, here's a excerpt:
Darko will surprise many people with his play alongside Howard this season, and might even muster up some All-Star votes. That's right, you heard it here first, Darko Milicic will compete for an All-Star spot.
Oops, maybe I was wrong. Or maybe I was right. About the first part at least, or the middle part. I mean, he had to get at least a couple of votes right? His parents had to have voted for him right? His teammates? Perhaps a significant other? Either way, I was way off.
On The First Night
I was all ready to have a post done after the Rookie-Sophomore game finished last night. Then I got distracted for a moment and all of a sudden I was on my shift on-air at the radio station and I forgot all about doing the post. So I'm going to go ahead and do it first thing in the morning instead.
The sophomores beat the rookies in the Rookie-Sophomore game (just like I predicted!). David Lee won the MVP (not like I predicted!). Lee was 14 of 14 from the field in the game for 30 points, with all of them dunks or layups, and he had 11 rebounds and four assists.
As you could probably tell, defense was not at a premium in this game. I think it went on vacation for the weekend with all the players who didn't make it to All-Star.
As for my MVP pick Danny Granger? 17 points and four rebounds. A pretty good line, but when you consider the sophomores scored 155 points, it kind of diminishes it a bit.
The Rookie-Sophomore game is never really the highlight of All-Star weekend, but it's a good way to kick it off. Saturday is really the meat and potatoes of the weekend, with the Slam Dunk, Three Point, and Skills contests.
One last thing, it made me very happy that the only thing from All-Star weekend that ESPN got the rights to cover was the celebrity game. If you really think about it, it's pretty fitting that that's what ESPN gets to show.
Anyway, good stuff on tonight. I'll try to have another post late tonight or early tomorrow. Peace.
The sophomores beat the rookies in the Rookie-Sophomore game (just like I predicted!). David Lee won the MVP (not like I predicted!). Lee was 14 of 14 from the field in the game for 30 points, with all of them dunks or layups, and he had 11 rebounds and four assists.
As you could probably tell, defense was not at a premium in this game. I think it went on vacation for the weekend with all the players who didn't make it to All-Star.
As for my MVP pick Danny Granger? 17 points and four rebounds. A pretty good line, but when you consider the sophomores scored 155 points, it kind of diminishes it a bit.
The Rookie-Sophomore game is never really the highlight of All-Star weekend, but it's a good way to kick it off. Saturday is really the meat and potatoes of the weekend, with the Slam Dunk, Three Point, and Skills contests.
One last thing, it made me very happy that the only thing from All-Star weekend that ESPN got the rights to cover was the celebrity game. If you really think about it, it's pretty fitting that that's what ESPN gets to show.
Anyway, good stuff on tonight. I'll try to have another post late tonight or early tomorrow. Peace.
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