NBA
Archived posts from this Category
The Game of Intros
Posted by DaLoot on 25 Mar 2009 | Tagged as: NBA
For some strange reason I like the game LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal have going with their pregame introductions.
Watch LeBron’s here:
And here is Shaq’s, which I think is hilarious. Mostly because you know these guys don’t dare say “no” to Shaq:
I love that guys like Shaq, who is 37 years old, can still laugh and have fun getting paid to play a game.
If Wednesdays were Fridays
Posted by DaLoot on 12 Nov 2008 | Tagged as: NBA
There were some big nights this evening and the games for the night aren’t done.
Chris Paul had 30-7-13-2-0 for 52. Dwayne Wade had 36-6-8-2-3 for 55. Chris Bosh had 30-12-2-1-1 for 46. And then there was Dwight Howard with 19-10-3-0 for 32….oh yeah, and 30 points for a total of 62 fantasy points. 30 points, 19 rebounds, 3 assists, 0 steals and 10 blocks. Yes, 10 blocks. A triple double for Dwight Howard tonight! Big night. Good player.
No nonsense
Posted by DaLoot on 02 Oct 2008 | Tagged as: NBA
It is pretty well known that I’m a huge KG fan. I have probably watched 90% of his games and interviews since he came into the league in 1995. Why do I like him so much? One obvious reason is because of how hard he plays at both ends of the court every game of every season. He played as hard in the NBA Finals last year as he did in a January game vs. Atlanta in 2001 with the Timberwolves.
The other reason I am a big KG fan can be seen in this video. Pay attention to how KG describes the situation in Las Vegas over the summer. It’s as if he is saying, “yeah, that makes sense…what the heck.” “No nonsense.”
NBA Draft
Posted by DaLoot on 16 Jun 2008 | Tagged as: NBA
I am starting to get very nervous that Kevin McFale is going to screw up the Timberwolves draft…again. I’m hoping (realistically) that the draft will go:
1. Chicago – Rose
2. Miami – Beasley
3. Minnesota – Mayo
….
11. Indiana – Brook Lopez
If, for some reason Miami takes Mayo, I could handle taking a guy who averaged 26-12 in the Big 12 (Beasley). There have been rumors of the Wolves trading down. Unless they are receiving an All-Star in return, DON’T TRADE THE PICK. I don’t mean a one time All-Star like Wally Szczerbiak. I mean a perennial All-Star. That likely will not be available, so keep the pick and take OJ Mayo.
With the third pick in the 2008 NBA Draft…
Posted by DaLoot on 01 Jun 2008 | Tagged as: NBA
There are a bunch of sites claiming the Wolves will select Brook Lopez with the third overall pick. Please tell me McFale won’t do it. Please tell me this is all just speculation. Please tell me the decision makers remember Felton Spencer, Luc Longley and Paul Grant. Nothing can make it more clear than these two videos. You will notice in the first one, they do not show the ball going through the hoop once. Not once. The second one is a video of OJ Mayo, who I believe should be the #3 pick at this point.
Brook Lopez (likes comic books and basketball isn’t his life):
OJ Mayo (his life is basketball):
Finishing Third in a Two Horse Race
Posted by DaLoot on 21 May 2008 | Tagged as: NBA
“The third pick goes to….the Minnesota Timberwolves.” [David Stern smiles smugly]. “The second pick goes to [big market] the Miami Heat. That means the number one pick goes to [big market] the Chicago Bulls. Congratulations.”
I’m just shocked Memphis or Minnesota didn’t get the #1 and #2 overall picks. Chicago had something like a 1.7% chance of getting a top two pick. Honestly, when it was known they moved up, they couldn’t have moved to third?
My heart was racing when it came down to three teams. For a minute or two I actually believed basketball could be relevant in Minnesota again.
What was I thinking? Good things just don’t happen to the Wolves. They will pick third. Right now, I’d pick OJ Mayo. I’m not sure picking third or sixth is a big difference this year. I guess we’ll hear more in the next 30+ days.
Kevin McFale, PLEASE do not take a 7’0″ center from Stanford that you can “groom” in this guard oriented league. Please do not make the few Timberwolves fans remaining hear the name “Lopez” in the same sentence as “Minnesota.” We have had a long enough list of centers that have not worked out here.
Reminder: Spencer, Longley, Nesterovic, Grant
Hibachi vs. DeShawn Stevenson
Posted by DaLoot on 16 May 2008 | Tagged as: NBA
This is an older clip of a shooting contest between Gilbert Arenas (Hibachi) vs. DeShawn Stevenson. If you have 10 minutes, watch this. Gilbert Arenas shoots one handed and makes 76 / 100 three pointers. DeShawn Stevenson goes second while Arenas tries to distract him. DeShawn Stevenson needs to go 10 for his last 10 to win. He makes the first five, then misses. He just walks off the court. He made 71 / 96. This is “office safe” to watch.
Wolves / Grizzlies Coin Flip
Posted by tommcinerney on 14 May 2008 | Tagged as: NBA
In the history of the Minnesota Timberwolves, they have never moved up in the draft lottery. They have always picked in the spot determined by their record or moved down because of the lottery. The worst scenario was when the Wolves had the worst record in the league and instead of drafting first (Shaq) or second (Mourning), the Wolves drafted third (Laettner).
In 2008, the Wolves and Grizzlies tied with 22-60 records. A couple of weeks ago the Wolves won the coin flip and will get the third best chances in the lottery. The Grizzlies will get the fourth best chances. At first, you may think this doesn’t really matter. There are two reasons it could matter.
1. If the lottery goes as planned, the Wolves will have the third pick and the Grizzlies will have the fourth pick (definitely not as nice as having the #1 or #2 pick this year).
2. Last year the Timberwolves and Trailblazers tied with the sixth worst records in the league at 32-50. Portland won the coin flip and then proceded to win the lottery getting the #1 overall pick in the draft.
Since good things just don’t happen to the Wolves, I fully expect the Grizzlies, with the fourth best chances of winning the lottery, to move into the #1 or #2 slots. We’ll find out May 20th when the NBA Draft Lottery is held.
Break up the Suns & Mavs
Posted by tommcinerney on 30 Apr 2008 | Tagged as: Fantasy Hoops, NBA
Something has to be done, right? Obviously for the Suns the Shaq trade didn’t work. They traded for him specifically to have an inside presence against the Spurs. That obviously failed miserably. Tim Duncan is clearly on the downside of his career. However, he averaged 24.8ppg, 13.8rpg, 2.6apg and 2.8bpg the five playoff games vs. Phoenix. For the season, his averages were 19.3ppg, 11.3rpg, 2.8apg and 1.95bpg. I don’t think Shaq helped. Steve Nash just can’t stop Tony Parker either. I like Steve Nash and really like how he plays. I just don’t think he has the physical ability to stay in front of Tony Parker. Parker averaged 11 more points per game in the playoffs than he did in the regular season.
Is it time to break up the Suns? I think so. Good luck finding a taker for Shaq. He has two years left at $20 million per year. Nash has one year left at $12.2 million and a team option for a second year. Boris Diaw, the guy who averaged less than nine points, five rebounds, and four assists per game during the season, is still owed three more years at $9 million per year with a player option for the fourth. If they could find a way to unload Shaq this summer they have a “chip and a chair” to turn things around.
Phoenix is the team who traded Joe Johnson for Diaw and pieces and also traded Luol Deng for a box of Wheaties (what turned out to be Nate Robinson and Jackson Vroman).
The Mavs basically traded Devin Harris for Jason Kidd (yes, Keith Van Horn somehow made millions of dollars in this trade too). In the Mavs first round series, Jason Kidd was able to hold Chris Paul to 24.6ppg, 12apg, 5.6rpg and 2spg. In other words, if New Orleans could play Dallas every game Chris Paul would be a first ballot Hall-of-Famer by the All-Star Break, 2009. But Jason Kidd scored too. 8.6ppg, 7.5rpg and 6.8apg. AND “ason” (which is Jason with no “J”) shot 42% from the field. What do you do when you aren’t shooting well? You get to the free-throw line. Jason Kidd got to the line eight times per game? No. Eight times in FIVE games. With Dallas, Kidd averaged 9.9ppg, 9.5apg and 6.4rpg. Kidd will make $21 million next season. With the Nets, Devin Harris averaged 15.4ppg, 6.5apg and 3.2rpg. Harris made $3.9 million this season.
Kidd has one more season at $21 million. Nowitzki is owed $38 million the next two years with a player option for a third year. Josh Howard has two more years at $10+ million per year with a team option for a third year. Jason Terry is owed $41 million for the next four years. Erick Dampier has three years and $30+ million left on his contract. On a positive note, Dampier is only slight below his career average of 8.1 ppg (he averaged 6ppg this year).
On second thought, maybe the Mavs don’t need to break it up. Michael Finley ($18.5 million), Shawn Bradley ($5.2 million) and Juwan Howard ($1.2 million) come off the books this summer. The Mavs have $68.1 million tied up next year for Kidd, Nowitzki, Howard, Dampier and Terry.
As a Timberwolves fan who had to suffer through poor management and decisions for so many years. I will enjoy watching these two franchises struggle for the next few years.
