Top storylines from the 2010 NBA season. In no particular order.
1. Headline: The Unholy Experiment
The Miami Heat need no explanation on why they were the biggest storyline. How many teams are so hated and reviled that people sell out arenas just for the chance to boo them? How often are 3 of the top 15 players in the league on the same team? How often do first year experiments end in a Finals berth. This experiment gave the players more power over the fate of a league than had ever really happened before. They are a historically important team not because of their success, but because they were able to make noise immediately despite immense pressure.
Subplot A:The Melo Drama
Not an original headline by any means. Were it not for Lebron, Melo might be the most hated man in the NBA. Then again, were it not for Lebron, Melo wouldn't have rushed his way out of Denver. In 2003 I said Melo would be better than Lebron because of his versatility and college experience. That argument is over as of right now. Whats more imporant is whether Melo can make the Knicks better. And how long will it take Iman Shumpert to get traded since Melo clearly doesn't care that he exists.
Sublot B: Will DH12 and CP3 shift the balance of power further
Dwight Howard, the league's best center, and Chris Paul, arguably the best pure point guard are up to for free agency after the hypothetical 2011-2012 season. Where will they go and how long will it take for them to get there. Will they play out their contract like Bosh and Lebron, or will they force a trade like Melo. Or will they do as Wade and Nowitski did and sign with their team again.
2. Headline: 6 for 24
I like this headline because on one hand it describes Kobe (number 24's) quest for his sixth all important ring. Will having one more ring make him better than Jordan? No. Will it elevate him to the point where a serious discussion must be had? Yes. It also was his horrid statline in the all important last game of last years finals. Jordan never did that either.
Subplot A: The biggest collapse of the NBA playoffs
No, not the Heat. They at least won 2 games in the finals. How about the defending champions. How did they manage to play so badly against the Mavs. Yes, Dallas is good but what happened with the Lake show that they couldn't manage to beat the Mavericks at all.
Subplot B: Where did the old Guard go?
In what was supposed to be the last stand before the young bucks took over the league, the Celtics, Spurs and Lakers didn't make it past the conference semi-finals. Even the Dallas Cowboys made it to their conference... Wait they didn't.... Not even the playoffs... Never mind.
3. The Emergence of the Young Guns
Headline. 2010 was Rose's coming out party. He carried the Bulls despite injuries and ineffective play by Boozer, Korver and many other players. I worry about rose having to carry the team, because point guards who do all the work rarely win in this league. Think of the top 10 point guards since 1995. How many of them won championships as the best player on their team? Exactly.
Subplot A: "The Posterchild" Blake Griffin
Mozgov became a household name because of what Blake did to him. He's responsibile for 60 percent of the NBA's top dunks last year. He made the Clippers fun to watch. First time that's happened since...
Subplot B: Robin's Revenge
The Oklahoma City Thunder overachieved in making the Western Conference Finals. Russell Westbrook was unfairly criticized for doing what he always has done, shoot and shoot often. The Thunder are an offensively challenged team who needs Westbrook's scoring output to compensate for not having much else. Without westbrook, the Thunder are essentially the Bucks of the West. Hearing complaints, you'd swear that Durant got frozen out of the playoffs. He wasn't getting 28.6 ppg from offensive rebounds. Westbrook got him the ball enough. However, the pressure builds every time Westbrook shoots the ball. Hopefully Harden continues to improve and fill the offensive void left by Jeff Green. If he does, these complaints will become distant memories.
Link: http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/mavericks/post/_/id/4672777/nba-scoring-leader-hasnt-been-vs-mavs
Written in December 2010, it pointed out that the only western conference team that Durant didn't average more than 20 points against was Dallas.
4. Headline: The Front Office failure
The league has somehow managed to fudge up the best season in the last decade and manage to lose money. They needed to come to a solution for this problem before locking out their players which they have been for 17 hours now. I'm going to be mad if the only basktball related activity I get to do in Colorado is play NBA 2k12
Subplot A: Technically speaking
The fouls that were called this year were absolutely ridiculous. They need to increase the tech limit if this many technical fouls are going to be thrown around.
Subplot B: My Crew better work next year
Ok, I cheated a bit. I know that it isn't technically an NBA problem as much as it is a 2k sports problem. However, even though it is a better experience in most ways that 2k10 was, 2k11 felt like a series of failed opportunities. My Player was good this year when it worked, but the fact that My Crew rarely works is annoying. If the only experience I get it 2k12, then I'd better not see 8'5 players, disappearing players and basketballs, uncapped players (unless the cap is removed entirely), and pink shoes with green mohawks. Ok, maybe the pink shoes are fine but come on 2k.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Just an excuse to post lyrics really.
"Yung'uns ice-grilling me, oh - you're not feeling me?
Fine; it cost you nothing - pay me no mind
Look, I'm on my grind cousin, ain't got time for fronting
Sensitive thugs, you all need hugs
Damn though mans I'm just trying do me
If the record's two mill I'm just trying move three" - Jay-Z (Heart of the City
I'm 2 months away from leaving for Colorado. That's all
Monday, June 27, 2011
BET setting people up to fail.
This post is all about the BET awards last night. Oh boy. First, lets talk about the good things that happened last night.
Kevin Hart- Had a memorable performance as the host of the event. Kept it clean with no need for BET's censors during the live portions of his performance.
Nick Cannon- Openly admitted he couldn't rap as well as eminem as self deprecating humor. Hillarious.
Wiz Khalifa's speech after winning best new artist- I don't win these things often. It just came across as humble, and the awards shows don't have enough of that.
Now that the good is out of the way lets talk about the bad.
The general problem with BET is that there are 2 completely seperate audiences and it appears that the person who runs BET has an audience that they don't want. BET is a station for gospel R&B and other family friendly fare. It is also a station that has rap music, The game, and other decidedly unfamily friendly fare. BET over the last few years comes across as a station that doesn't really want to embrace the rap music with all of the qualities that come with it but has to because much of its audience is the rap generation.
This problem is generally fine in that its sunday audience is purely gospel and that other times like the Hip Hop Awards are solely dedicated to rap. It's where those two generations diverge that it becomes a problem. This is the BET awards where other than blackness there really is no common ground between Lil Wayne and Patti Labelle. Some jokes fall flat like the botched Anthony Weiner joke early in the performance and the Justin beiber joke where he said it was his first time at the BET awards both with not so subtle racial jokes, but that's normal. However there are further issues.
Problem: Every live performance with a rapper who curses- Every single rapper on stage cursed last night. Fine. But pick one or the other. The censoring was awful. It seems like BET allows its performers to rap the songs in their original versions but the censors try to bleep out all the bad words.
Solution: I've got a few.
Option 1) Tape delay. I understand the problem that BET has. Artistic integrity with songs that have bad words. For the sake of preventing the FCC fines, they have to censor these words. If you're going to allow songs like "Look at me now" to be performed, then do it on tape delay so that the censors don't have the impossible job of trying to decide which one of Busta Rhymes' words is bleepable. You can't do that live. Big Sean kept it clean in his perfomance and got censored because there were bad words in the original version in the song and they expected him to curse, which is usually hillarious.
Option 2) Tell the rappers to clean it up. Simple. Tell them they have to perform the clean version. That way the censors have less work to do.
Option 3) Have the show play later. Kids shouldn't be up at 11 PM anyway so if chris brown is talking "about his dick" it won't offend the audience.
Problem: Chris Brown, I mean Rihanna, I mean are you serious right now?
I laughed at Tiffany Amber Green or whatever her name is just like everyone else did. In reading the winner of the Viewers Choice award, she looks at the tablet and exclaims "Chris Brown!". Then she squints at the screen (apparently at a teleprompter) and says Rihanna. Then she looks on stage and Drake is coming up. I immediately thought she was at fault for obvious reasons. In my case, I thought she forgot her contacts/glasses, and in trying to be cute, couldn't see the writing at all. What later came out was stranger than fiction. Kevin Hart comes out on the stage at the end and clears up the confusion by saying Chris did indeed win the award. What happened was that the teleprompter gave the wrong name. Clearly, Drake got the wrong information as well, as the song had Rihanna featuring Drake. Also, a BET head admitted that he screwed up the situation and that it was his fault. Tiffany was set up to fail on that one. So was Chris Brown, imagine if he had also been walking up to the stage. Luckily there was no Good Morning America situation, and Breezy showed some maturity and didn't have an anger management moment. Of course, it may have helped that Chris Brown didn't do any further talking that night.
Solution: Tape delay. Would have solved everything, they could have done a lot of things to prevent that screw up. Live is overrated anyway.
Kevin Hart- Had a memorable performance as the host of the event. Kept it clean with no need for BET's censors during the live portions of his performance.
Nick Cannon- Openly admitted he couldn't rap as well as eminem as self deprecating humor. Hillarious.
Wiz Khalifa's speech after winning best new artist- I don't win these things often. It just came across as humble, and the awards shows don't have enough of that.
Now that the good is out of the way lets talk about the bad.
The general problem with BET is that there are 2 completely seperate audiences and it appears that the person who runs BET has an audience that they don't want. BET is a station for gospel R&B and other family friendly fare. It is also a station that has rap music, The game, and other decidedly unfamily friendly fare. BET over the last few years comes across as a station that doesn't really want to embrace the rap music with all of the qualities that come with it but has to because much of its audience is the rap generation.
This problem is generally fine in that its sunday audience is purely gospel and that other times like the Hip Hop Awards are solely dedicated to rap. It's where those two generations diverge that it becomes a problem. This is the BET awards where other than blackness there really is no common ground between Lil Wayne and Patti Labelle. Some jokes fall flat like the botched Anthony Weiner joke early in the performance and the Justin beiber joke where he said it was his first time at the BET awards both with not so subtle racial jokes, but that's normal. However there are further issues.
Problem: Every live performance with a rapper who curses- Every single rapper on stage cursed last night. Fine. But pick one or the other. The censoring was awful. It seems like BET allows its performers to rap the songs in their original versions but the censors try to bleep out all the bad words.
Solution: I've got a few.
Option 1) Tape delay. I understand the problem that BET has. Artistic integrity with songs that have bad words. For the sake of preventing the FCC fines, they have to censor these words. If you're going to allow songs like "Look at me now" to be performed, then do it on tape delay so that the censors don't have the impossible job of trying to decide which one of Busta Rhymes' words is bleepable. You can't do that live. Big Sean kept it clean in his perfomance and got censored because there were bad words in the original version in the song and they expected him to curse, which is usually hillarious.
Option 2) Tell the rappers to clean it up. Simple. Tell them they have to perform the clean version. That way the censors have less work to do.
Option 3) Have the show play later. Kids shouldn't be up at 11 PM anyway so if chris brown is talking "about his dick" it won't offend the audience.
Problem: Chris Brown, I mean Rihanna, I mean are you serious right now?
I laughed at Tiffany Amber Green or whatever her name is just like everyone else did. In reading the winner of the Viewers Choice award, she looks at the tablet and exclaims "Chris Brown!". Then she squints at the screen (apparently at a teleprompter) and says Rihanna. Then she looks on stage and Drake is coming up. I immediately thought she was at fault for obvious reasons. In my case, I thought she forgot her contacts/glasses, and in trying to be cute, couldn't see the writing at all. What later came out was stranger than fiction. Kevin Hart comes out on the stage at the end and clears up the confusion by saying Chris did indeed win the award. What happened was that the teleprompter gave the wrong name. Clearly, Drake got the wrong information as well, as the song had Rihanna featuring Drake. Also, a BET head admitted that he screwed up the situation and that it was his fault. Tiffany was set up to fail on that one. So was Chris Brown, imagine if he had also been walking up to the stage. Luckily there was no Good Morning America situation, and Breezy showed some maturity and didn't have an anger management moment. Of course, it may have helped that Chris Brown didn't do any further talking that night.
Solution: Tape delay. Would have solved everything, they could have done a lot of things to prevent that screw up. Live is overrated anyway.
Selfish post (happy birthday to me)
22 years ago today, the Yankees took a day off, so that I could be born without any distractions. 22 years later I finally watched my first full game in Yankee Stadium. The stars aligned in all the right ways. My mom was able to get tickets. My brother was able to come with me. It is Old timers day. They were playing against the Colorado Rockies aka my future hometown team.
So I met up with my brother and we watched the Old timers day game play out. Tino Martinez hit a beautiful homer to right field. Nothing else important other than seeing Wells, Cone and my other Yankee heroes.
The game was rocky (excuse the pun). Colorado got ahead early. Nunez, Jeters replacement was having all types of issues at the plate and in the field. Luckily Nova held his ground, the bullpen kept the lead from growin and 3 home runs by Swisher and Posada which my brother called and one by the Texecutioner in the 8th that he hit right after I said " well I'm not that worried, he does lead the league in home runs right".
Best parts of the game. Huge helping of Chicken Tenders and fries. Clutch. And of course, the moment I waited forever for. Metallica's "Enter Sandman" blaring over the loudspeaker. Mariano Rivera comes out like the 30th guy in the Royal Rumble. The stadium is electric. 3 quick outs. Game over.
And of course people wishing me happy birthday at all times of the day. Gotta love it.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Against being anti-lebron, supports jokes about Lebron
"But it seems a rather odd paradigm. I mean, when guys like James or Wade, or a sizeable portion of the NBA for that matter, were adolescents leaping over tall buildings in the blighted streets of despair, we didn't really care, did we? We were too busy with our own lives. But once they make out of the 'hood, it's like they owe us something. Neither Akron nor Cleveland gave LeBron James his talent. God provided that. Akron and Cleveland just got a front row seat." - Alan smith (The post game)
http://www.thepostgame.com/commentary/201106/hypocrisy-lebron-hatred
I'm not pro-Lebron by any means, I'm indifferent to him as a player. He doesn't play center, and he isn't a Ron Artest/ Shane Battier/ Bruce Bowen level defender. Regular readers and followers know that I'm highly annoyed by the level of hate that Lebron recieved for leaving Cleveland and going to Miami in the way he did. I've always been pro-decision for the following reasons.
1) He clearly wanted to win. Not get the most money possible and scrape team owners for everything they had, he wanted to win. Sure having Dwayne Wade is an easier route, but how else do you beat teams like the Celtics big 3, by waiting for them to get too old.
2) He gave Cleveland a great amount of effort for the entirety of his tenure there and unlike the Eddy Curry types in the world, he played continuoutsly even when the chips were down.
3) He didn't force his way out like Melo. He played out his contract, did his best to succceed and made the decision that was best for him.
4) Who cares if he left Cleveland high and dry. He clearly didn't like management there, why should he be loyal to them. Sure they were the team that drafted him, but in 2003 every team would have drafted him in a heart beat. He's not even from Cleveland. Proximity doesn't breed loyalty. If I went to Brooklyn Law School and transferred to Stanford people wouldn't expect me to be loyal because I'm from Queens.
5) It's your fault for comparing him to Jordan. He doesn't have any Jordan in his DNA. He, like Dirk, and Nate Robinson to an extent is his own prototype, there hasn't been a player like him before. This was known coming into the league he's a 6'8, hyperathletic, drive to the basket player, built like a Mack truck. Yes he wore the number 23, but so did Ron Artest, Marcus Camby. Shelden Williams and Byron Mullens still wear it.
Now everything he did wasn't exactly gold to say the least. While I believe that Lebron had a right to make "The Decision" during primetime and during the awful period for non-baseball sports fans like myself, I found it to pretty much be a waste of time. During the summer law program, many people were in the lobby of the dorm transfixed in front of the television waiting for him to say what team he was going to. He could have made it a 30 minute production though. Lebron could have told Cleveland: hey, it was a tough decision and you guys are great fans, but I've got to do what's best for me, and Dan Gilbert sucks as a boss and as a human being. I've got friends in Miami and I'm taking my talents there.
My gripe with Lebron, he needs a post game and/or a consistent midrange jumpshot. You're built like a tight end. Just try it. Players who don't get one or the other become forgotten after they turn 30.
http://www.thepostgame.com/commentary/201106/hypocrisy-lebron-hatred
I'm not pro-Lebron by any means, I'm indifferent to him as a player. He doesn't play center, and he isn't a Ron Artest/ Shane Battier/ Bruce Bowen level defender. Regular readers and followers know that I'm highly annoyed by the level of hate that Lebron recieved for leaving Cleveland and going to Miami in the way he did. I've always been pro-decision for the following reasons.
1) He clearly wanted to win. Not get the most money possible and scrape team owners for everything they had, he wanted to win. Sure having Dwayne Wade is an easier route, but how else do you beat teams like the Celtics big 3, by waiting for them to get too old.
2) He gave Cleveland a great amount of effort for the entirety of his tenure there and unlike the Eddy Curry types in the world, he played continuoutsly even when the chips were down.
3) He didn't force his way out like Melo. He played out his contract, did his best to succceed and made the decision that was best for him.
4) Who cares if he left Cleveland high and dry. He clearly didn't like management there, why should he be loyal to them. Sure they were the team that drafted him, but in 2003 every team would have drafted him in a heart beat. He's not even from Cleveland. Proximity doesn't breed loyalty. If I went to Brooklyn Law School and transferred to Stanford people wouldn't expect me to be loyal because I'm from Queens.
5) It's your fault for comparing him to Jordan. He doesn't have any Jordan in his DNA. He, like Dirk, and Nate Robinson to an extent is his own prototype, there hasn't been a player like him before. This was known coming into the league he's a 6'8, hyperathletic, drive to the basket player, built like a Mack truck. Yes he wore the number 23, but so did Ron Artest, Marcus Camby. Shelden Williams and Byron Mullens still wear it.
Now everything he did wasn't exactly gold to say the least. While I believe that Lebron had a right to make "The Decision" during primetime and during the awful period for non-baseball sports fans like myself, I found it to pretty much be a waste of time. During the summer law program, many people were in the lobby of the dorm transfixed in front of the television waiting for him to say what team he was going to. He could have made it a 30 minute production though. Lebron could have told Cleveland: hey, it was a tough decision and you guys are great fans, but I've got to do what's best for me, and Dan Gilbert sucks as a boss and as a human being. I've got friends in Miami and I'm taking my talents there.
My gripe with Lebron, he needs a post game and/or a consistent midrange jumpshot. You're built like a tight end. Just try it. Players who don't get one or the other become forgotten after they turn 30.
Smack!
I care tonight. Tonight is the NBA draft and I'm all in on these players.
1. Jan vesely
Why do I care about a player no one has heard of. One he dunks like crazy. Two, he's czech. I'm always susceptible to following dunkers and seeing how they do. Joe alexander: not a great player. Blake Griffin: a monster. Vesely: somewhere in the middle. Likely closer to Alexander though.
2. Chris singleton (florida state)
Another description that always will get me interested is defensive sf. If you get comparisons to ron artest, I'm interested. The best case scenario: he goes to a defensive team like the spurs or bucks where his 3 point liability is better hidden. Worse case: the golden state warriors or the phoenix suns where he'll be firing off 3 pointers like a madman.
3. The God
Bismack Biyombo has me the most excited. When the scouting report for a player is "blocks and dunks" as my friend kyle put it, that's all I need. In a flawed draft this sounds like a great player to have. He comes off the bench, puts in work, gets the crowd into a frenzy. The comparison that comes to mind is Birdman in Denver. I reccomend that everyone in the arena should just yell "Smack" everytime he gets a block. I'm so excited about seeing this guy in a uniform.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
The perils of drinking and driving
"I was drinking earlier, now I'm driving" - Kanye West (Power)
"Friends don't let jackasses drink and drive. - @ebertchicago
This week Ryan Dunn died. Apparently he, like so many people, was drinking and drove afterward. He was had a BAC of .196 which, to compare, is double the legal limit in New York where I'm from. People are quick to blame Roger Ebert for tweeting that he was a jackass. Ebert was quick to call him one. I'm somewhere in the middle. Ebert was right in what he said, but "too soon" doesn't begin to describe that statement. Ryan Dunn shouldn't have done it, but he's dead and so is the passenger in the car with him, so running it to the ground has no purpose.
On one hand, DUIs are treated so liberally by society anyway. Football players get them seemingly every week. One of my favorite podcastsm ESPN: Football Today, has a sound drop that says "Attention NFL players : Don't drink and drive" with a police siren in the background. In Florida, Donte Stallworth killed a man while drinking and driving. People are always in court for DUIs in Queens Criminal Court, because as many forget, it is a serios offense that carries a fine and or jailtime depending on the seriousness of it.
Now certainly some of these incidents are more serious than others. Some drive after a beer, some drive completely hammered, and clearly a distinction should be drawn. But why do it at all. Why put yourself in a risky situation especially when its not difficult to get out of it.
Wanna drink? Don't drive. Wanna drive? Don't drink.
By the way, I might put that on a t-shirt. I don't blame Dunn as much. Clearly it was a bad idea with fatal consequences but more importantly where were his friends. Did no one tell him that this was a bad idea? No one called a cab for this guy? Offered a ride? No sober designated drivers? I'm often too quick to blame society for stuff that happens but there are many ryan dunns who will die and have died because people just don't take drinking and driving seriously.
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