The Sound Of Basketballs On Playgrounds And All...

Finally! A night where I was able to sit down and watch some basketball games. I was able to flip back and forth between the Nets-Cavs game on ESPN and the Spurs-Grizzlies game on Fox Sports Southwest. After that I was able to watch the tail-end of the Texas Longhorns and Arkansas Razorbacks game on ESPN 2, followed by the Mavs-Sonics game in the late slot on ESPN. It was a good night. And if you didn't know, the Nets, Spurs, Longhorns, and Mavs won. Isn't that simple? Anyway, I took some random notes throughout the night. Here they are:

• Mikki Moore looks like Spanish from Old School. If I ever meet Moore, I won't be able to live with myself unless I ask him if he trusts that I've provided him with enough rope so that his block will land safely on the lawn.
• The Grizzlies play a lot better than their record indicates. Although I'm going to attribute that to the fact that they now have Pau Gasol back in their lineup.
• The Spurs are quietly doing their thing this season. They are flying completely under the radar, they have the best record in the NBA and the best point differential and nobody is talking about them. They are right where they want to be.
• Jason Kidd probably has the best combination of reaction time and awareness in the league. It's amazing to watch.
• It's 70's night in Seattle? Where are the throwback jerseys? Where are the coaches in bell-bottoms? I remember when the NBA had "Turn Back the Clock Nights" about 10 years ago and the Sonics wore their old jerseys and George Karl dressed like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. Now those were the good, old days.
• Bob Hill's hair is in mid-season form.
• Speaking of hair, Mickael Gelabale from the Sonics has the same hair as MTV's Sway.
• I'm not totally sold on Kevin Durant yet. The potential is there (hate that word), he's got the size and athleticism, but I need to see more. He looks like a taller Josh Howard, which is a scary thought.
• In the first half, Luke Ridnour gets called for a foul because Jerry Stackhouse stepped on the back of his foot when driving to the basket. Didn't know that was a foul, I guess I'll have to study up on my rulebook this weekend.
• If the Sonics get the #1 pick in the draft this summer and take Greg Oden (which they should), they will have taken four straight centers with their first round picks over the last four years. Hopefully one of them will start to be of some use.
• With 8 minutes left in the third quarter, Johan Petro gets REJECTED (required to use capital letters for that block) by Devean George at the rim. Looked a whole lot better at game-speed than it did in slo-mo.
• Chris Wilcox would have a lot more points and rebounds in this game if he would just come down with a rebound and then go back up with it instead of trying to one-hand-tomahawk every ball that comes of the rim. As I write that last sentence, he finally converts one. Whatever.

So I finally got a good night of basketball watching in. And you finally got some game notes to read. We're all happy now aren't we? I thought so.

Playing A Little Catch-Up

Yeah, it's been a month. What can I say? I suck at this whole posting consistently thing. Worse things have happened in the world. I'm going to try, try, try to get on a schedule here when it comes to posting. But I apologize in advance for what will happen when I inevitably stop posting for weeks at a time.

On to the NBA, which is why we're here anyway.

A small scuffle broke out between the Nuggets and Knicks on Saturday night. Okay, so I'm under-exaggerating a little bit. It was the biggest fight we've seen in the NBA since Detroit in 2004 (I refuse to give the incident a corny nickname). But as bad as it was, I believe people are blowing it out of proportion. Stuff like this happens a lot in the NHL and Major League Baseball. But whenever the national media covers it, they treat it like something normal. But when it happens in the NBA, the league and all of the "thugs" who play in it are made to look ridiculous. I'm not saying it's a race issue one bit, but I am saying it's an image issue. One David Stern has tried to change, but nonetheless is still there. Speaking of the commish, David Stern and his "Family" (he is the Don after all), did a fair job handing down suspensions. Carmelo Anthony deserved about 15 games for the hit he landed on Mardy Collins. Collins deserved at least 6 games, I wouldn't have been surprised to see him get 10, just like J.R. Smith (who was originally fouled), and Nate Robinson. Jared Jeffries got four and Nene and Jerome James each got one game for leaving their benches. All in all, pretty fair penalties for the fight. And I think that even if Carmelo gets his suspension lessened to 12 games, it will still be fair. But you can never backpedal to your own bench after having punched someone across the face, not a smart move.

Allen Iverson is on the trading block (again) and it appears this will be for good. This excites me for several reasons. 1) I love Allen Iverson and I would die to see him on a championship caliber team again. 2) I love seeing big stars get traded and move to new teams rather than see them move via free agency. 3) I believe he'll have a bit of a rejuvenation when he gets to his new team. Although it's hard to imagine what a rejuvenated Allen Iverson will look like considering the current Iverson is second in the league in points per game, second in steals per game, and tenth in assists per game. Some in the national media have said that a trade for Iverson won't work not because of his contract or his attitude, but because of his style of play. A.I. does dominate the ball on offense, it's the way he plays. He also takes a lot of shots. Because of this many believe that he will be unable to coexist with another all-star caliber player if/when he gets traded. If he is forced to play along with another player who is used to controlling the ball on the offensive end, then yes, it probably won't work. As much as I'd love to see them play together, I don't think Iverson playing alongside Kevin Garnett would work. But trade him to a team with a player who doesn't need the ball in his hands to score, an unselfish player who rebounds well on the offensive end, a player like Dwight Howard. And as I write that last sentence, I find out that an agreement has been made to trade A.I. to Denver for Andre Miller, Joe Smith, and two 2007 first round draft picks, all of this according to ESPN.com. There's a reason why I'm not a GM apparently. Ugh, I'm done today.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.