The NBA Fastbreak crew on ESPN is awesome. Jalen Rose always knows exaclty what the game plan is for both teams before the game and gives accurate analysis after as well as he stirs up interesting conversation. The other day Rose and his crew were speaking about the poor effort that the Orlando Magic gave in game one of the NBA Finals. Dwight Howard, the starting center and rising superstar for the Magic, said that his team will give a much better effort in game 2 of the finals series on Sunday. Rose reacted to this comment by asking the NBA Fastbreak crew why in the world wouldn’t the Magic be giving complete effort in the first game of the series in which they got hammered by the Los Angles Lakers. What a great question. What was Orlando thinking in Game 1? Why as Howard admitted are they having to put forth more effort in game 2? Shouldn’t they be matching the effort put forth in game one and hopefully the ball will bounce better for them and they make escape with a win? After all it is the NBA finals. As professional basketball players where your job is to play this game, when your teams makes it to the NBA Finals you better be going full steam after the ball all the time! How ridiculous that the captain of this team feels that his teammates weren’t giving full effort. Either way the NBA and all their fans want to see a closer game 2 on Sunday and an exciting series from here on out which means the Magic guards better hit a jump shot and Dwight Howard needs to average 20 points a game.
As June 25th, the date of the 2009 NBA draft looms closer, it is always difficult to predict which college players turning pro will actually be worth while. Those players which are talented enough to move on to the next level from college are the best of the best that the NCAA has to offer. Things tend to change when they start playing alongside the giants in the NBA. They no longer have set plays to allow them an easy three point opportunity ( J.J. Reddick and Salim Stoudamire understand how this sucks) and rarely do post players that are 6′ 10″ have a man shorter than themselves guarding them on defense.
The difference between college ball and professional is the difference when you were a kid playing at your local rec center with your buddies or playing on your high school team. The way the game is played is completely different. So how do NBA scouts know which college players will shine in the league as they did when they were living out of their dorm room in college? Well they really have no way to know and can only make an educated guess.
Here are five players off the top of my head who disappeared from the NBA after shinning bright in college.
Sheldon Williams (Duke- drafted 5th overall in 2006 before Brandon Roy and Rudy Gay)
Adam Morrison ( Gonzaga- drafted 3rd overall in 2006 before Sheldon Williams above)
Luke Jackson (Oregon- drafted 10th overall in 2004 before J.R. Smith, Jameer Nelson, Kevin Martin)
Hassan Adams (Arizona- late second round-dropped before end of his rookie season- now on Toronto)
Hey everyone, it’s Mike here. I wanted to get this introduction post out of the way before the Finals was set, but some issues made that feat a bit difficult. The point is however, that I’ll be helping out with and contributing to the blog as much as possible. I think I’m a qualified observer and articulate enough to speak intelligently about the game of basketball, however only time will tell; the ball never lies. I’ll do my best to be objective and fair but I do have allegiances.
I’m bummed out by Cleveland’s elimination. I feel for the city of Cleveland, my dad is from there. Ever since that pitifully heart wrenching collapse in the World Series against the Marlins, I have silently (and not so silently) cheered on Cleveland teams in addition to my own home teams.
Moving on. I’m disappointed with the way the Conference Championships panned out. The Nuggets’ effort in game 6 was atrocious and the Cavaliers proved they were over-matched the whole series. We’ve all read and heard enough about it by now that it’s not worth rehashing. That being said the Finals series should present some really interesting individual match-ups. In particular with the tweener fowards on both clubs: Odom, Lewis, Turkoglu, Ariza and Pietrus. The play of Pietrus, and the entire Magic bench will again be extremely important since the Lakers bench is so deep . It will also be interesting to watch the coaching in these games. I’m praying for matchup carousels. I don’t think very highly of Stan Van Gundy, although I really like his brother in the booth. Then again I tend to think coaching in the NBA is an overrated endeavor, an opinion of mine that usually earns me a bit of grief.
The 2-3-2 series in my opinion makes upsets more probable. My predictions for the finals are as follows: the Magic steal a game and play well at home, winning in 6. As that series gets underway, you’ll hear more from me. Be ready for it.
Recently I realized that the NBA in comparison with other professional sports leagues, easily has the greatest variety of player “names”. There is Dwight, where now his name is easily recognized by many people, but when you first heard it you thought of Kanye West saying “ight”. Then we have Kobe and Lebron. We have Yao Ming who knows his first name is cool, so he chooses to put it on the back of his jersey where your last name normally goes. There is Carmelo, where a noun and a verb combine. The Lakers have Pao Gasol and Sasha Vujacic which makes me wonder if I spelled those names correctly. What about the Cleveland Cavaliers’ players Mo Williams, Zydrunas Ilgaskas, and Delonte West? Zydunas Ilgaskas sounds like a curse word or better yet should become one. And if you noticed I’m really just pulling names from teams that are still involved in this year’s playoffs. Just a side note.
The addition of Chauncey Billups to the Denver Nuggets has been the best off-season acquisition for the 2008-2009 NBA season. No team has gained more from the addition of a single player. The Denver Nuggets have never made it to an NBA final but this year could be different. This year they have their home town hero running the point and what a perfect story it would be to have him hoisting that championship trophy for the city for the first time!
It’s always fun to know how much money professional athletes pull in every year. After all they have their dream job as well as mine and earn a ton of money for it. It’s interesting to note that by comparison of their peers, not all professional athletes make what they should. For example some players earn more or less money than their teammates that are better or worse than them. Let me further explain by using the salaries of the Denver Nugget players. Chris Anderson A.K.A the Birdman, earns exactly the same amount as Anthony Carter A.K.A. the “oldest player in the league.” They both have a 2008-2009 season salary of $797,581 and they both are crucial to the team’s success. Then there’s Steven Hunter who to most fans might as well be an imaginary friend of mine, who earned $3,862,600 for the season. Now how can or more importantly why would the Nuggets pay Hunter that kind of money when they should be paying the fan-favorite of Denver, the Birdman, those millions? Another great example: Kenyon Martin earns more than Carmelo Anthony. It seems team owners need to consider long term contracts more carefully in the future…
As the final buzzer sounded and a last second attemp by Mo Williams to win the game for Cleveland bounced astray, the announcers commented, “and Orlando Steals home court advantage from Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers with a game one victory in Cleveland.” Now it may be true that the Magic did steal the first game in the Eastern Conference Semi-finals against “King James” and a Cavaliers team who was winning by 16 at half, but I beg the question: Did Orlando really steal home court advantage? It seems so, after all now if the Magic win their three home games in this series they will beat Cleveland no matter what. However it is interesting to consider that if the series does go to seven games it will be in the King’s court in Cleveland. How curious? “The Magic steal game one”… yet if it goes seven its where Lebron wants it to be. What are your thoughts?
It was just brought to my attention a few moments ago, props of Basketball Fiend a fellow blogger, that Stephen Curry and his college buddies at Davidson University re-mixed the song “I love College” by Asher Roth. There version: I love Commons, has to be one of the greatest student-films ever made. They must have spent a ton of time on this and it is hilarious. Make sure to scope this out!
It’s hard to say which game winning play was more awkward, Carmelo Anthony’s game winning three pointer last night against the Dallas Mavericks or Glen Davis’ game winning jump shot tonight against the Orlando Magic? No matter which play you found more exciting or enjoyable, you have to admit, they were both strange.
Last night towards the end of the game between the Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks, Carmelo Anthony had the ball close to the top of the key with his team down two points. As the clock showed under 5 seconds remaining, Antoine Wright of the Dallas Mavericks intentionally bumped Anthony multiple times in order to draw a foul and stop the clock. Wright obviously fouled Anthony but no whistle from the officials ensued. What happened next was hilarious. Wright having thought he fouled Anthony stopped defending him but Anthony never stopped playing and instead turned a corner and hit a game winning three-pointer. In the replay during live action the announcer even comments that Anthony was fouled and then fumbles over a few words to explain that the play had continued and that Anthony had just hit a game winning three pointer.
Then tonight Boston faced Orlando in a crucial game 4 of their series. With the Celtics down a point and with possession of the ball, Paul Pierce received an in-bounds pass in the remaining seconds of the game. Pierce’s teammate Glen Davis, who must be the most overweight player in the league, came towards Pierce to set him an on the ball screen. As Pierce came around the screen, Glen Davis A.K.A “Big Baby” slipped outward toward the baseline un-guarded. Pierce passed “Big Baby” the ball and as time expired, “Big Baby” hit the game winning jump shot. Now if this is the first time hearing about this play then you may wonder how it is strange. You must keep in mind however that Glen Davis is huge and looks more like a sumo-wrestler on the court than a forward. Watching him jump in the air and hit a game winning shot is the equivalent of watching a 350 pound linebacker run 50 yards for a touch down in the NFL. It just looks ugly and it seems like it shouldn’t count.
Has anybody else noticed how amazing the NBA playoffs have been this year? Really though, just sit back and realize that the NBA hasn’t been this exciting in a little while. It started with the first round battle between Boston and Chicago which featured an array of ridiculous overtime Basketball and has continued with the shocking upset of the Lakers in the opening game of round two last evening against the Rockets. Jay-Z and P-Diddy who attended the game were even impressed with all the action and we all know they have seen a few things. Well maybe not P-Diddy, he does acne commercials for Pro-active but Jigga man for sure. Anyways, inevitably this match up between Houston and Los Angeles will be fantastic. Kobe will bring his team ready to play next time and will probably score more than in last nights game with half as many shots. Better yet I think in Game 2 we can expect play away from the ball to become even more physical than in game 1! That being said, it is recommended that the camera men and celebrities who will be sitting the first few rows Wednesday night for game two practice their “duck and cover” routines before the game so that in the event Derek Fisher gets thrown into the crowd again, nobody is injured.
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The NBA Fastbreak crew on ESPN is awesome. Jalen Rose always knows exaclty what the game plan is for both teams before the game and gives accurate analysis after as well as he stirs up interesting conversation. The other day Rose and his crew were speaking about the poor effort that the Orlando Magic gave in game one of the NBA Finals. Dwight Howard, the starting center and rising superstar for the Magic, said that his team will give a much better effort in game 2 of the finals series on Sunday. Rose reacted to this comment by asking the NBA Fastbreak crew why in the world wouldn’t the Magic be giving complete effort in the first game of the series in which they got hammered by the Los Angles Lakers. What a great question. What was Orlando thinking in Game 1? Why as Howard admitted are they having to put forth more effort in game 2? Shouldn’t they be matching the effort put forth in game one and hopefully the ball will bounce better for them and they make escape with a win? After all it is the NBA finals. As professional basketball players where your job is to play this game, when your teams makes it to the NBA Finals you better be going full steam after the ball all the time! How ridiculous that the captain of this team feels that his teammates weren’t giving full effort. Either way the NBA and all their fans want to see a closer game 2 on Sunday and an exciting series from here on out which means the Magic guards better hit a jump shot and Dwight Howard needs to average 20 points a game.
Recently I realized that the NBA in comparison with other professional sports leagues, easily has the greatest variety of player “names”. There is Dwight, where now his name is easily recognized by many people, but when you first heard it you thought of Kanye West saying “ight”. Then we have Kobe and Lebron. We have Yao Ming who knows his first name is cool, so he chooses to put it on the back of his jersey where your last name normally goes. There is Carmelo, where a noun and a verb combine. The Lakers have Pao Gasol and Sasha Vujacic which makes me wonder if I spelled those names correctly. What about the Cleveland Cavaliers’ players Mo Williams, Zydrunas Ilgaskas, and Delonte West? Zydunas Ilgaskas sounds like a curse word or better yet should become one. And if you noticed I’m really just pulling names from teams that are still involved in this year’s playoffs. Just a side note.
It’s always fun to know how much money professional athletes pull in every year. After all they have their dream job as well as mine and earn a ton of money for it. It’s interesting to note that by comparison of their peers, not all professional athletes make what they should. For example some players earn more or less money than their teammates that are better or worse than them. Let me further explain by using the salaries of the Denver Nugget players. Chris Anderson A.K.A the Birdman, earns exactly the same amount as Anthony Carter A.K.A. the “oldest player in the league.” They both have a 2008-2009 season salary of $797,581 and they both are crucial to the team’s success. Then there’s Steven Hunter who to most fans might as well be an imaginary friend of mine, who earned $3,862,600 for the season. Now how can or more importantly why would the Nuggets pay Hunter that kind of money when they should be paying the fan-favorite of Denver, the Birdman, those millions? Another great example: Kenyon Martin earns more than Carmelo Anthony. It seems team owners need to consider long term contracts more carefully in the future…
that the Magic did steal the first game in the Eastern Conference Semi-finals against “King James” and a Cavaliers team who was winning by 16 at half, but I beg the question: Did Orlando really steal home court advantage? It seems so, after all now if the Magic win their three home games in this series they will beat Cleveland no matter what. However it is interesting to consider that if the series does go to seven games it will be in the King’s court in Cleveland. How curious? “The Magic steal game one”… yet if it goes seven its where Lebron wants it to be. What are your thoughts?
No matter which play you found more exciting or enjoyable, you have to admit, they were both strange.
It started with the first round battle between Boston and Chicago which featured an array of ridiculous overtime Basketball and has continued with the shocking upset of the Lakers in the opening game of round two last evening against the Rockets. Jay-Z and P-Diddy who attended the game were even impressed with all the action and we all know they have seen a few things. Well maybe not P-Diddy, he does acne commercials for Pro-active but Jigga man for sure. Anyways, inevitably this match up between Houston and Los Angeles will be fantastic. Kobe will bring his team ready to play next time and will probably score more than in last nights game with half as many shots. Better yet I think in Game 2 we can expect play away from the ball to become even more physical than in game 1! That being said, it is recommended that the camera men and celebrities who will be sitting the first few rows Wednesday night for game two practice their “duck and cover” routines before the game so that in the event Derek Fisher gets thrown into the crowd again, nobody is injured.![View Dino Gomez [LION]'s profile on LinkedIn](https://i0.wp.com/www.linkedin.com/img/webpromo/btn_myprofile_160x33.gif){kind=small}
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