Sunday, November 19, 2006

I'm Here

Yeah, it's been a while. I apologize. I've been too busy for my liking these past couple of weeks, that and I'm pretty lazy, but with Thanksgiving this week and the end of my fall semester upcoming, expect more posts. And just in case you were wondering (and I know you weren't), I am no longer writing for ProBasketballNews.com. The site was sold and my and others' services were no longer needed. But that's the business and you gotta roll with the punches or whatever other generic sports cliche you can find to fit in there.

The NBA season is in effect. We're starting to see who the better teams are going to be and who the disappointments are going to be. We'll talk more about that later in the week.

Monday, October 30, 2006

Moment Of Silence

Red Auerbach died at the age of 89 on Saturday night. To be completely honest with you, I'm sad. There are very few people who when they die, you feel like the entire sport is worse, but he's one of them. He's one of those people that though he's only been associated with one team for his entire life, he changed the game. I look at Red Auerbach as the Godfather of the Boston Celtics, much the way I think of David Stern as the Godfather of the entire NBA (can't you tell I love mafia movies?).

After reading Bill Simmons' column today about remembering Red, I thought to myself, "As a Spurs fan, who would I look at as my Red Auerbach?" My first thought was David Robinson because he's spent his entire career with the Spurs and has been, and will continue to be, a huge influence in the San Antonio community. But I decided that it wasn't him, but Gregg Popovich.

Pop has influenced the Spurs in the exact same way that Red did the Celtics. Pop is a great coach, and has coached the Spurs to numerous titles, much like Red coached the Celtics to a record nine NBA titles. Pop is also one of the best front office executives, building contenders not by spending the most money, but by making smart moves and excellent scouting.

It's unfair to try to compare the two people, because Auerbach has had the type of influence that has reached throughout the game, not just the Boston Celtics, whereas Pop is limited to mostly just the Spurs. But nonetheless, I look at Pop much the way any Celtic fan would view Red Auerbach. Rest in peace.

Switching gears a little bit, THE NBA SEASON STARTS TONIGHT! That also means fantasy basketball starts too. Which means I begin my domination of friends and/or family members today.

Here are my quick picks for this season's awards:

Coach of the Year: Jerry Sloan (UTAH)

Sixth Man of the Year: Bobby Jackson (NOK)

Most Improved Player: Darko Milicic (ORL)

Rookie of the Year: Brandon Roy (POR)

Defensive Player of the Year: Bruce Bowen (SA)

Most Valuable Player: LeBron James (CLE)


Enjoy the games everybody.

Friday, October 20, 2006

Southern Hospitality

I was in the house last night for the Spurs preseason game against the Chi-Town Bulls at the AT&T Center. Because of various reasons (some of them funny), we didn't get to our seats until 10:28 left in the second quarter. By then the Spurs core players were done for the night. So I was treated to a heavy dose of Jacque Vaughn and Matt Bonner. High fives all around.

The Bulls on the other hand continued to play their starters throughout the game, which is why the 99-67 score was so lopsided. Some thoughts from the game:

• The Bulls guards, namely Kirk Hinrich and Ben Gordon, looked sharp.
Ben Wallace is going to be a big help for the Bulls, especially come playoff time. I stand by my prediction that they will be in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Tyrus Thomas might be better than I am expecting. I have been under the impression that Thomas will be the next Stromile Swift, but watching him last night, he could be something special. It’ll be interesting to watch him grow.

A pretty uneventful game all around, but how are you going to argue with watching NBA basketball in person? Exactly.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Last Call

It's almost here. Finally. Preseason is nearing the end and the regular season is right around the corner. I'm giddy (Yes, I really did use the word giddy to describe myself). The only time I'm more excited than this is either Christmas eve (because we open our presents on Christmas eve, that's how I roll) and whenever I get one of those chocolate malt crunch shakes from Jack In The Box. There's less than two weeks to go.

My first article covering the Spurs is up at ProBasketballNews.com. So make sure you check that out.

Rajon Rondo doesn't look too bad this preseason. I'll be honest with you, I don't know what to make of this. On the one hand, he can't shoot. On the other hand, he's been producing. I'm going to have to take the wait-and-see approach on him this season. ESPN.com's Bill Simmons likes him, but I'd imagine that has a lot to do with his Boston roots and all. But one thing is for sure, Boston has put together a lot of young talent around Paul Pierce. I wonder how long it's going to take for them to put it together and make a playoff push. Or how long it's going to take for Danny Ainge to destroy any hopes they have at all.

The Mavericks are 0-4 this preseason and the Raptors are 3-0. This is one of those if a tree falls in a forest scenarios. Does anybody really think that Dallas is going to suck and the Raptors are going to be elite? I know I sure don't. It merely reinforces my belief that the preseason doesn't mean a thing to anybody but the guys just trying to make the team.

I'll be completely honest with you. I don't see a clear cut favorite to win the title this year. Usually there's one team that makes some moves in the offseason to set itself apart from the rest of the NBA (whether they actually win or not is another story). Last year, it was the Spurs with their signings of Nick Van Exel and Michael Finley. But this season, I'm stumped. There is a small elite class of teams consisting of Dallas, San Antonio, Miami, and possibly Phoenix (Detroit, Chicago, and the Clippers are all a step behind). But out of those teams, I don't see one that separates itself from the others. I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see either of those teams win in June. Maybe I'd be surprised if Phoenix won, because I don't see their running style winning it all, but still. I believe it's a toss up this year, which makes me very excited.

Less than two weeks left before it all begins.

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Offseason Review

So finally it's here. My Offseason Review. Basically, I sat and looked through all the moves made by every team in the league this offseason and gave them my amateur opinion. Sound Good? Good. So here we go.

Winners


Charlotte

Added: Adam Morrison, Walter Herrmann, Othella Harrington, health(?)

My Opinion: The Bobcats continue to build their franchise by getting players from winning programs, whether it be in college or international. It's not a bad philosophy as it's obviously paid off for the Bulls, who have done that the past few years. I doubt they'll make the playoffs like Raymond Felton said, but if they can stay healthy for a full season, I see no reason why they couldn't at least compete for a playoff spot, especially in the East.


Chicago

Added: Tyrus Thomas, Viktor Khryapa, Thabo Sefolosha, Ben Wallace, P.J. Brown, Howard Eisley

Lost: Tyson Chandler, Darius Songaila, Othella Harrington

My Opinion: The league best defense from last season just got better. It's not just my opinion, it's probably most people's. They've got plenty of scorers, they just don't have a go-to scorer. Despite that, I will be in shock if the Bulls aren't in the Eastern Conference Finals this season.


New Orleans

Added: Hilton Armstrong, Cedric Simmons, Peja Stojakovic, Tyson Chandler, Bobby Jackson, Rasaul Butler

Lost: Moochie Norris, Speedy Claxton, P.J. Brown, J.R. Smith

My Opinion: Adding Peja was the most slept on move of the offseason for any team. He's going to love playing with a guy like Chris Paul. Losing P.J. Brown is never good, but they made up for it by getting depth inside. The Hornets will lock up one of the last playoff spots this year.


Portland

Added: LeMarcus Aldridge, Dan Dickau, Raef LaFrentz, Brandon Roy, Jamal Magloire

Re-Signed: Joel Pryzbilla, JailBlazers Image

Lost: Sebastian Telfair, Theo Ratliff, Steve Blake, Brian Skinner, Ha Seung-Jin

My Opinion: This team took a big blow when they lost Ha Seung-Jin, but they countered it by picking up LaFrentz. Okay, so that last sentence was a huge lie all around. But this team did some pretty good things this summer when it came to basketball decisions, not so much on the extracurriculars. Rookies Aldridge and Roy will be solid players for them in the future.


Toronto

Added: Kris Humphries, Robert Whaley, Rasho Nesterovic, T.J. Ford, Andrea Bargnani, Fred Jones, P.J. Tucker

Re-Signed: Chris Bosh

Lost: Rafael Araujo, Matt Bonner, Eric Williams, Charlie Villanueva, Alvin Williams

My Opinion: Trading away Villanueva was tough. But don't sleep on T.J. Ford. He's a great choice at point guard if you want to turn into a running team like the Raptors do. Getting rid of Araujo was smart. Bringing in Rasho? Not so much. He won't fit into the running style of play at all. But their best move of all had to be re-signing Bosh. Good move.


Losers


New York

Added: Renaldo Balkman(seriously?!?!?!), Mardy Collins, Jared Jeffries

Lost: Larry Brown, Jackie Brown, Maurice Taylor

My Opinion: Do I really need to say why I think they sucked this offseason? I didn't think so.


Philadelphia

Added: Rodney Carney

Lost: John Salmons

My Opinion: They didn't move Allen Iverson. Okay, that's fine if you do something to put some better pieces around him. They didn't do that either. Instead, they added Carney, who plays the same position and does pretty much the same things as Andre Iguodala. Expect yet another season of mediocrity from the 76ers.


Seattle

Added: Saer Sene

Re-Signed: Chris Wilcox

My Opinion: Seattle went nowhere last season. Expect the same this year. In fact, the farthest I see this team going any time soon? Oklahoma City, perhaps.


Teams I Wish I Had League Pass For


Atlanta

Added: Speedy Claxton, Sheldon Williams

Lost: Al Harrington, John Edwards

My Opinion: The Hawks finally have a solid point guard in Speedy Claxton, except he broke his had and will be out for a while. But with Josh Smith and a most likely much improved Marvin Williams, this team will be fun to watch all season. I honestly wouldn't be surpised to find the Hawks in the hunt for a playoff spot late in the season.


Orlando

Added: J.J. Redick, Keith Bogans

Re-signed: Trevor Ariza

Lost: DeShawn Stevenson

My Opinion: Throwing J.J. Redick into a young core group that includes Dwight Howard, Jameer Nelson, and Darko Milicic was brilliant. 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. This team will improve as the season goes on, but I think they're still one season away from the playoffs. Nonetheless, this team will be fun to watch.


So there you have it, my offseason review. If your favorite team wasn't mentioned, it was because I felt like the moves they made didn't hurt them or help them enough to make much of an impact this season. If you've got beef with my report, great. Feel free to email me any comments you got.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Sports and Such

So once again it's been a while since I posted. But good news, NBA training camps open this week. With that, comes more posting from me. I am still working on my offseason wrap-up, so that will be up soon. I will be covering my beloved San Antonio Spurs for ProBasketballNews.com this season. And my first article should be up here either this afternoon or tomorrow morning, so look out for that.

Isn't October the greatest month of the year for sports? You've got baseball moving into the playoffs, the NFL is starting to get good, and the NBA is starting. I'm very excited. The only thing that would make me happier is if my Astros had made the playoffs and if my Texans didn't suck. Oh well, at least I've got the Spurs.

Monday, September 11, 2006

All Is Quiet

It's Monday morning, and it's a muggy one here in central Texas. It looks like it's going to start raining here in about the next five minutes or so. The NFL kicked off this weekend, and though this is a strictly basketball blog, there's just not much going on right now. My Texans lost, which really isn't that surprising. But David Carr had a pretty good day, at least in the first half. Hopefully they can bounce back next weekend.

The only real news in the NBA is that Pau Gasol is out about four months with a broken foot that he suffered in the semifinals of the World Championships. That's bad news for the Grizzlies, and bad for basketball, because now people are going to be up in arms about NBA players playing in tournaments during the summer and getting hurt. My thoughts? Stuff happens, get over it. I'd much rather have my players getting hurt playing basketball than doing something else. Yeah, it's a tough break for the Grizzlies, but he's only going to miss the first 2-3 months of the season. They should be good enough to stay competitive until he gets back, and if not, than it shouldn't make a difference whether he's there or not, because they're obviously not that good.

Lastly today, I want to send a huge thanks out to Sam Amico at ProBasketballNews.com for providing a link to this site on their main page. You can never get anywhere without help from others, so I appreciate him doing this. I'll be back in a day or two with my opinions on who did good and bad this offseason. Adios.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Void In My Life

The World Championships are over. Free Agency is for all practical purposes over. What am I going to do with the time from now until training camps open? Probably watch football and baseball. That doesn't offer much consolation though seeing as my favorite baseball team is the Houston Astros, who probably won't make the playoffs as a wild card. And my favorite football team is the Houston Texans. I just read today that Bill Simmons compared the Texans pick of Mario Williams over Reggie Bush to the Portland Trailblazers taking Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan. A haunting comparison in every aspect, and unfortunately, a just one. So all I can do now is hope that ESPN Classic airs more Shaq Days like they did this past weekend to tie me over until October. I'll update when updates become available. I guess it would be productive for me to make preseason picks and offseason grades. We'll look into doing that. Until next time, adios.

Friday, September 01, 2006

It's The End of The Worlds As We Know It

All my optimism was for nothing apparently. I was really hoping that Team USA would win these World Championships. It seems like everyone was against them. They were either supposed to lose, because they can't shoot or don't have this or don't have that, or they were supposed to win because we have the best players in the world. But it seems like nobody WANTED them to win. Nobody was cheering for them to win. I was. I know there were people out there who were. But all we heard was the criticism, the scrutiny. Too much celebrations from Justin Doom. Hater. They were doomed to fail from the beginning by Chris Mannix. Pessimist. When can we just cheer for our country's team and point out the good things that are happening? Carmelo Anthony is playing the best basketball of his career. Dwight Howard is turning into the second coming of Shaquille O'Neal. Joe Johnson has quietly one of the most complete games in the league. Why can't we talk about those things, instead of all the negatives. I don't know about you, but I'm excited for the season to start now. I'm looking forward to the Olympics in 2008. I'm saying it right now. The Team USA bandwagon is completely empty right now, but I'm riding shotgun. Who's rolling with me?

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Must See NBA TV and The Warriors

Alright, back for the second time today. Only two things going on in basketball right now. First is the World Championships in Japan. The U.S. beat Germany by 20 on Wednesday morning. I wish I could say that I woke up/stayed up for an unprecedented 7th consecutive time to watch the live game, but I didn't. I was in dire need of making up for my lack of sleep over the weekend. But I did catch the replay last night. What are my thoughts? Well, in all honesty, the same as everyone else's. They couldn't shoot, but played enough defense to win. It's as simple as that. But these next games are must see basketball TV in my opinion. Argentina vs. Spain? USA vs. Greece? If you are a fan of basketball, whether it be international or NBA, you have to love those matchups. And then the final? I can't wait.

In the NBA, the only news lately has been the hiring of Don Nelson as the coach for the Golden State Warriors. I personally love the idea of Nellie coaching the Warriors again. I think he'll implement the style his old Warriors and Mavs teams used, back when the Mavs were continually knocked out of the playoffs in the second round by the Spurs (burn!). But as long as he can get the Warriors to have fun and make the playoffs at least once during his time there, I think you can consider it a success. We'll see how it goes.

I think that's all for today. I'll be back on tomorrow sometime to post my thoughts on Team USA's semifinal game vs. Greece. Have a good one.