Category Archives: Monday Morning or the other

March 21, 2011 · 3:38 pm

Monday Morning something or the other

After a one week hiatus, I’ve come back locked and loaded.  Ok, so maybe I’m being a bit over emphatic about my return but since the sports world waits for no man, I figured neither did you.

 

SO LONG LUIS; OLLIE NEXT?

Why the likely delay of Perez release, you ask? A team official suggests it would be callous to do morning after bad outing.

@SurfingTheMets

I think its safe to say that this day was one that most saw coming and even Luis Castillo did as well.  The most concerning part of cutting Castillo had nothing to do with performance as many saw him as the best second baseman the Mets had in camp.  It had more to do with what he was in the eyes of fans which brings me to what I feel is the most obvious storyline that the Mets face this upcoming season. What moves can this new regime make to build up enough goodwill with the fans that when they ultimately make the unpopular ones, (for example trading Jose Reyes or letting him go in free agency) that they will point to the overall changes and say “see, we listened to you and we did what we could.”

Mike Vaccaro wrote a pretty interesting piece yesterday which called the Mets on what he feels their strategy is and his own suggestions on what they could do to bridge the divide that exists between the fan base and ownership.  The Mets ownership situation being what it is, will find it ridiculously difficult to win the fan base over if Oliver Perez finds himself on the opening day roster.  It would be a death sentence on a team that already faces charges of willfully ignoring repeated warnings about the operation Bernie Madoff was running.  This would inevitably lead to the sale of the Mets franchise, something that the Wilpons stubbornly refuse to admit is an option for them.  They have only publicly announced that they are looking for investors to take on 20-25% of ownership.

This season will be very interesting to watch from a business standpoint as this may be the final season that the Wilpons can hold on to the Mets.  If the team flounders and sales of season tickets continue to lag behind, the decision of selling the team will no longer be under their control and it will HAVE to be sold.

But there are still baseball decisions to be made.  The Mets refused to answer any questions relating to the inevitable release of Oliver Perez which all but seems certain after his latest shellacking.  He allowed 2 home runs on his first 5 pitches which even for him is a remarkably difficult thing to do.  I find it funny that I was about to write a piece on the Mets allowing fans to run their team and make their decisions which seems eerily familiar to what the Minaya regime did.  I said that perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to see more of Oliver Perez and try to recoup some kind of value for a 28 year old lefty who can get other lefties out.  His numbers last year, if only used as a lefty specialist, project very well.  But now it seems that after this latest fiasco in which the fans actually cheered when he gave up the two home runs, that it no longer seems likely that he has a future with the Mets.

Perhaps the Mets are looking to purge the old regime and its mistakes.  Luis Castillo is a good player but never meshed with the team the way many thought he would.  He’s a stand up guy who always faced the music and vitriol from the fans like myself who screamed many a times for Castillo to be sent to Siberia or anywhere far from Citi Field.  As of this morning, rumor was that the Phillies had signed him to a minor league contract which lead me to two thoughts:

1. The Phillies are really concerned about Chase Utley and don’t trust that he will be back anytime soon which would be terrible for an already questionable line up.

2. He will be a good fit on that team.

Why would I say he’d be a good fit?  A fresh start would be great for him because he needs one, but also because the locker room in Philadelphia has one of the better reputations in all of baseball and they will support him and do a good job of keeping him in good spirits even when the Philly fans eventually turn on him like the Met fans did.

One final story about Luis Castillo that I must share and yes, it has to do with the dropped pop up.  I was vacationing with friends in the Dominican Republic when the Mets and Yankees played in the now infamous “Castillo Dropped Pop Up” game and the resort was filled with a mix of Yankee fans and Yankee haters, not necessarily Met fans.*  As A-Rod popped up and slammed his bat to the ground for what surely seemed like the last out and K-Rod threw his right hand in the air to point to the pop up, I got up and turned my back to the television.  Mind you, I had taken enormous amounts of heat from Yankee fans and I was going to have the last laugh on what was a very close game.  I don’t remember what I said but I do remember the cheer I saw from the Yankee fans, and I quickly turned around.  Right in time to see Luis Castillo pick himself up, and throw a weak throw to home that Mark Texieira beat.
*= There were Red Sox fans there, and a Manny Ramirez fan who didn’t like the Red Sox but rooted against the Yankees.  Go figure.  In the Dominican Republic, who would have thunk it that I would find baseball fans.

Two thoughts on that:

1. Tex is not a speedy runner so for him to beat that throw showed you how absolutely flustered Castillo was at that present time.  A normally sure handed defensive infielder, he wrote his death sentence with Met fans on that night.  Nine times out of ten, he makes that play.

2. I went back and saw the replay from the time that Castillo knew that the ball was coming to him and he NEVER looked confident.  He seemed to lose sight of the ball in mid flight and spent the next 5 seconds trying to find it in the stars.  He never looked confident and never possessed the wherewithal to recover from it after that.  Fans turned on him and never gave him a second chance to win back their affections and frankly he never did anything to win it back either.  He was losing range as a second baseman and what little power he had to begin with, he lost along with his confidence after that night.

I think this move is for the good of both the Mets AND Luis Castillo and will allow him to finish his career in a place that won’t hold one play against him.  He was never a power hitting second baseman and he lost his range as he got older with the Mets, a phrase that Met fans have grown sick and tired of hearing.

There remains one last move for the Mets to make to fully extricate themselves from the former era: cutting Oliver Perez and I’m sure however loud that cheer was for his two homeruns will pale in comparison to the collective cheer of Met fans when news spreads that they have finally separated themselves from the talented but clueless lefty.  Yes, I still consider him talented.

Jalen Rose and Uncle Tom

I’ve never been a fan of Jalen Rose’s.  He says very little on TV that make him worthy of the title “analyst”.  Nothing he says makes me sit up and take notice.  But people like him continue to find a way to stay on the air because the players who WOULD have made good analysts don’t want to be one or they just don’t get hired because they refuse to do anything beyond their jobs.  Guys like Jalen Rose know how to market themselves and create an air of importance that everyone else except the big wigs find engaging enough to listen to.

So when the Fab Five documentary was being spoken about by ESPN even before airing I sensed that its executive producer, Mr. Jalen Rose, probably had something to do with it.  Wouldn’t you know, he did.  In fact, it was his comment that created a semi controversy.  Except I saw the documentary and came away with the same feeling that Deadspin writer Jack Dickey had: what controversy?

First of all, the article does a great job exploring the timeline of events which clearly place the onus on this bit of cooked up controversy squarely at the feet of both the Worldwide Leader and Jalen Rose.  Rose is their employee.  Rose was part of the Fab Five.  ESPN’s 30 for 30 chronicled the impact of the Fab Five.  The message of the documentary was that none of these kids, especially Jalen, did not benefit financially as much as the university did and the NCAA did from their accomplishments which were two Final Fours, and zero championships.

Of course, there’s a bit of a problem with that logic.  While it may be true that the Fab Five did not immediately benefit from their popularity, their hype multiplied their status among NBA scouts who grouped all of them as one collective body of talent.  Juwan Howard was a number 5 draft pick in the 1994 NBA draft.  Jalen Rose was the 13th pick in the NBA draft.  He got his money.  And then some.  Not only from their obvious talent but also from the hype that his group of rogue super freshmen group created.

One major voice missing was Chris Webber who did not appear for reasons still yet unknown.  His involvement with a booster, Ed Martin,  caused Michigan to relinquish any accomplishments that the university had from that era.  Maybe he did not want to relive moments like the timeout heard round the world.  Maybe he just grew tired of hearing that question.  Maybe he likes Jalen Rose as much as I do and found it unappealing to help Jalen in any conquest to recoup money.

Whatever the case may be, I found the documentary to be insightful yet completely one sided.  Jalen Rose made himself and his band of brothers out to be victims when one could hardly call them that.  They were rockstars.  They got more attention for a team who’s collective record would normally draw a yawn.  They had talent yes, but failed to bring home the gold and more often than not THAT is what made them great.  You either wanted to see them fail OR you wanted them to win and give a big middle finger to the critics.  Either way, the Fab Five were a polarizing group of players who wore baggy shorts and black socks.

Michigan had two major things going for them:

The timing of their fashion sense was impeccable.  Hip Hop was emerging as a major form of urban expression and for white America they didn’t understand the opinion of young black males who looked at their well to do white friends and saw a system corrupt and unwilling to allow them access. White America at the time did not understand that position.  They believed the “everyone has equal rights” line and America once again refused to have a full fledged discourse on race.  The Fab Five were young freshmen who came in and after being covered nationally became symbols of that hip hop generation with the way they wore their basketball shorts and openly praised hip hop music.

2.  They had a perfect opponent in Duke.  Naturally they played in the one and only national championship game that group went to against Duke who represent the elitist tradition in our culture.  Duke are more than just Blue Devils, they are Blue Blood and stand for everything that Michigan, with the Fab Five were not.  Jalen Rose harped on this subject.  He felt they were all uncle Toms.  They thought Christian Laettner was soft.  That Duke only recruited black players with the wonderful family that Grant Hill came from.  They were the perfect foil for the dream story that Michigan wanted to write.

I think, like anything, our memories provide a much more glossy look at that team than what actually happened.  We put too much weight on their affect on society and tend to remember the legend more than the actual product which didn’t really amount to much.  That group took more away from Michigan than it brought.  True, it brought a lot of attention to the Wolverine basketball program, but it also put too much pressure and warranted much more attention from the NCAA investigators who tend to shut down programs like the Wolverines for reasons that they say have nothing to do with race.

There are two ways to look at this.  One is to understand Grant Hill’s side which was placed as an op ed in the NY Times.  Or you can agree with ESPN and Jalen Rose by reading this.  Either way, my take on it is this.  The thoughts and opinions about Duke and its players were that of an 18 year old Jalen Rose and he made that very clear when he said that.  While some may feel that Grant Hill didn’t need to defend himself, I think his letter still served a purpose.

Society as a whole continues to look at race as a subject that has the cooties.  We better not touch it because it would begin a long debate that we don’t feel comfortable in.  By we, I mean everyone.  Black people and white people and yellow people and brown people.  Nobody wants to really talk about a subject that they find hard to put into words without it looking like they are racist.

Grant Hill’s upbringing was great, but it also represents a stark contrast to what Jalen Rose grew up in.  Those two worlds are whats at fight here, not Jalen Rose and Grant Hill.  While its sad that Rose grew up knowing who his father was yet never meeting him, it goes to show you that he rose from those surroundings and became a well to do person with a successful career.  My opinion of his skills in that career may not be the most flattering but I don’t begrudge his success.  He’s good at making himself feel wanted and THAT is a skill that even I find hard to master.

The ends are most important, not the means.  Jalen Rose’s story is inspirational and one that many kids can look at as something to aspire to- it shouldn’t be one that brings conflict.  The sad part of all this is that it once again brings to the forefront the problem with race discussions.  They aren’t looking for solutions, they want their voices and opinions heard.  That’s all.

I didn’t think the documentary was as awesome as people thought, and maybe it had something to do with the direction of the discussion after.  Its sad.  That group does deserve a place in history.  Maybe not where Jalen Rose thinks they belong but a spot nonetheless.

NFL’s Ridiculous Discussion

Have we mentioned that the ill will between players and owners is not going away? Sigh

@judybattista- New York Times NFL Writer Judy Battista.

The Twenty first century has come to everyone BUT the NFL apparently.  Over the weekend as discussions went absolutely nowhere, the NFL through Roger Goodell and the NFLPA exchanged letters, typed up on Microsoft Notepad probably, expressing their sides view on why a deal did not get done.  While there isn’t an internet copy of Roger Gooddell’s letter, there is one of the players response and here it is.  In it, they outline the proposal that Goodell said the players should have taken and go point by point as to why they could not.  The opening to the letter says it all:

“We start by reminding you that we were there at the negotiations and know the truth about what happened,”

Listen, I dont know what happened during the negotiations that have made this a disaster, but what I do know is that the first I heard about the owners making an offer was during the 11th hour of negotiations which made it so that the players had to rush to make a decision and the players did the right thing by reeling it back and taking their time.

Look, I’m not picking sides but if those facts are accurate, the owners tried to pull a fast one and couldn’t get away with it.  All I know is that the fans are the ones losing out here as millionaires fight billionaires and no one seems to consider that.  Neither side is willing to negotiate on good terms because there’s too much money involved.

I’m still maintaining my original premise that the NFL will have a longer hold out than the NBA does because there’s too much money in the NFL and not enough in the NBA.  Simple as that.

March Madness

“NCAA officiating boss John Adams was asked on CBS/Turner what he’d say to Pitt fans: “Don’t foul with hardly any time left on the clock.”

@sportswatch- Neil Best writer, Newsday

Ok, so my bracket is basically in the toilet and so is most of America’s.  There was a stat that said that at the beginning of the NCAA tournament 3.9 million brackets had been filled out and by the end of the first day only a few people got it all right.  That’s the FIRST DAY!

Incredibly I had the Morehead State upset over Louisville but have since seen half of my Final Four go kaput.  But I dont want this to be about that.

The dumbest argument has been one carried out by most of America’s talking heads that the Big East is overrated.  That the Big Least didn’t deserve to have as many teams as they did make the tournament.  I find it funny because it really had legs once Charles Barkley said it.

Charles Barkley.  The NBA analyst who admirably has not tried to pass himself off as an NCAA expert and has admitted to not knowing a thing about college sports but has been dispatched by the higher ups in Atlanta to help in their coverage of the tournament.

I get why he’s on, but for him to pass this opinion off as fact is misleading and downright stupidity on his part which, let’s face it, isn’t something new.  Barkley likes to say things without thinking which has created for him a pretty nice niche out there and has made him a very likeable funny person who everyone enjoys hearing and from time to time he expresses opinions we wish some of the analysts would say but are afraid to.  Barkley knows that he has untouchable status at this point and will get a slap on the wrist as opposed to being fired if he says anything remotely controversial.  He’s the breadwinner for TNT/TBS and so has the right to run his mouth.

But let’s just say for argument’s sake that we take Charles Barkley up on his argument.  IS the Big East overrated?  For me it isn’t.  The tournament is not exposing the Big East, its just proving that the hottest team wins, not necessarily the better team.  If you were to have some of these mid majors play Big East teams in a best of 7 series, how many of the would win?  I’m waiting.  Yeah.  I didn’t think so.  So let’s stop that argument right then and there.  The Big East IS a better conference than most because it produces more talent, it recruits more talent and it plays a physical style of basketball that most other conferences don’t play.  Losing one game does NOT mean that this team sucks or that team sucks.  There’s a reason why everyone talks up George Mason as this major Cinderella story or VCU or Gonzaga in years prior- because they were not EXPECTED to beat the teams they beat.  So if you are assigning favorites in a game, losing in a one game playoff means that for that one game, that team was better.  For that ONE night.  Not overall.  Let’s begin to use our heads here people.  Let’s come off the anti-Big East bandwagon.

Sir Charles is just mad that he never won a national championship because the Big East teams were kicking the SEC’s ass EVERY YEAR in the tournament.  Suck on that Sir Charles.

______________________________________

I just had to post this for those who were not there for it or didn’t hear about this.  First off, Butler’s head coach Brad Edwards is starting to resemble the second coming of Coach K.  What a brilliant coach who is leading yet another deep run into the NCAA’s.  Who knows where this will lead, perhaps a rematch of last year’s classic game that went down to the last shot?  But let’s break down this last 7.1 seconds in the Butler/Pitt game.

7.1- Butler out of the timeout calls a fantastic play that ends with Drew Smith putting in an easy lay up that left 2.2 seconds on the clock.

Now, comes the fun.

2.2- Pitt throws in the ball to Gilbert Brown who runs to get the pass but at the same time Sheldon Mack is coming with his arms raised and lands on him and gets the foul called.  Now, at this point I originally thought it was a terrible call but when you look at the replays its clear that Mack made a horrendously stupid play.  An overzealous play by a guy who had done everything in this game to help Butler win scoring 30 points.  Originally there were .009 seconds left.

At 1:01 in the video the announcer suggests that there should be more time on the clock.  While the refs sort it out, Sheldon Mack tries to work some mind games on Gilbert Brown and lines up right next to him on the free throw line.  As the refs take their time Mack is trying to talk Brown out of being the hero.  By the way, I LOVE when guys do this.  I remember when Lebron went up to Gilbert Arenas (any correlation between the Gilberts?) and whispered something and Arenas missed the free throw.  I thought, wow, what a great move by Lebron.  Here was no exception.  Mack was going to do everything in his power to make sure that Brown’s head was not clear for the two biggest free throws of his life.

Refs put 1.4 seconds on the clock.  Brown hits the first one.  No timeouts for Butler. He misses the second one, Matt Howard comes up with the ball and immediately throws up a shot as he’s being held on to by Nasir Robinson and a foul gets called.

Unbelievable.  Howard makes the first, and purposely misses the second one and the rebound goes to Pitt and even though the shot happened after the buzzer sounded his 3/4 heave almost went in.

Why did I select this particular game?  Because afterwards Seth Davis echoed a sentiment that undoubtedly many feel: refs have to swallow the whistle with 1.4 seconds unless its such an eggregious foul and in my mind I was like: WHAT?!??!?!

That makes absolutely zero sense.  I dont get how you could make the case that its ok for referees to not make certain calls because of the amount of time left on the clock.  If anything there’s more impetus for them to make the right call at that time than anything.  Mind you, Davis made this opinion AFTER admitting that he thought those two calls WERE fouls.  Referees have one job: to call the game fair.  We’ve seen plenty of games in which the refs have made terrible calls late in games and been hammered for it, and fairly I might add.  So how can someone make the case that its ok for referees to swallow their whistle with that kind of time left in such an important game?  That non call on the Howard foul may have helped Pittsburgh and Butler would’ve cried foul at the NCAA for abusing their Mid Major brethren.

I realize its a never ending battle but let’s end the hypocrisy and keep it real.

The Links and things you sing about bring em out.

– The anti-bully PSA for those who haven’t seen it.

– Probably one of the best posse shows I’ve seen.  GOOD MUSIC afterparty with Nas, Mos Def, De La Soul, Will I Am, and others in the background.  Love it.

What’s coming down the pike:

Carmelo Anthony said yesterday that the Knicks may take some time to gel before they make any noise.  That is an honest assessment from a guy who naturally fears the backlash that inevitably will come from a fan base that suddenly has a lot more expectations from its talented yet inexperienced with each other bunch.  I’m not saying that Melo is at fault.  As a matter of fact, I think Melo has plenty of reason to believe what he believes, I just think that the nature of this team has changed now with two superstars and other players may not feel as much a part of what the Knicks are trying to do.  I will explore more in depth about that chism that clearly exists.

– A podcast soon?  Me thinks its a possibility.

– Have a great week.

As usual we leave you with another inspiring thought from the very wise Ron Artest:

 

ronartest Ron Artest

“My basketball players who take charges r soft n half female”

 

 

 

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February 28, 2011 · 1:33 pm

Monday Morning something or the other…

Happy Monday morning.  Ok forget it, I tried you lazy bums.  Here’s the racket this morning:  Huge win for the Knicks last night over the Heatles.  I will talk about the trade deadline.  No links this week but I will come back strong next week.  The Melo trade was indeed a victory but Prokho scored a major coup but I will tell you why it won’t all be vodka and salad dressing for the Russian.

Also some on Kevin Costner, Keannu Reeves, Adam Sandler and Spring Training.  Let’s warm up shall we?

FUSSING OVER TRADE DEADLINE

I weighed in on Carmelo already so no need to rehash that.

But anyone who thinks this Carmelo deal was exclusive to itself is beyond nuts.  This deal had 60% to do with Carmelo and 40% to do with the free agent class of 2012.

By now you know that Dwight Howard, Chris Paul and Deron Williams* all have the option to be free agents during the summer of 2012.  They will all go to where they feel give them the best chance to win.
*= D-Will has a player option for next year which could make him a 2011 free agent.

Melo’s deal wasn’t just supposed to make the Knicks a better team in the short term but also as a call to those guys that the Knicks need an extra playmaker who can come in and make them a whole helluva lot better.

The talked about lament of small market teams was firmly waved aside by Bill Simmons and other like minded people who agree that a hierarchy of teams in the league make for “must see television” which the NBA can properly plug in to prime time slots as they see fit.  It will also elevate the product come playoff time when the best teams are supposed to be playing against each other.

The NBA for far too long has tried to tell everyone that the league needs balance.  That led to the crappy decade we are only coming out of.  Look at the last decade of winners and tell me one team other than the ’04 Pistons who won without two or three guys that were top 5 at their particular position.  The NBA has and always will be a star led league.  Stars dictate where this league is going and like it or not, guys like Lebron, and Carmelo will always have the power.

At its core the NBA comes down to one on one matchups.  Those stats that seem too hard to calculate like clutch ability in other sports is a much simpler debate to have in the NBA.  Every team has one or two guys we label as finishers.  How can the league or its fans deny the power the players have?

This may be big market thinking but here’s one other point some people so easily forget.  Lebron played in Cleveland for 7 years and won 0 NBA titles.  Carmelo played in Denver for 7 and a half seasons and won 0 NBA titles.  KG played in Minnesota for 12 years and won 0 NBA titles.  Ray Allen played the same time and won 0 NBA titles.  Its not like these guys played out their rookie contracts and left the first chance they got.  They signed one and even two extensions before forcing their way to better situations.  Meanwhile Tim Duncan has been in San Antonio for 13 seasons and won 4 NBA titles.  Your team either does everything they can to surround you with complementary pieces or they don’t.  Name me one player that Lebron played with that you thought when they acquired him the Cavs would win a title.  I bet you had that convo when he, Wade and Bosh came together in Miami.  Those same conversations were had in New York this week.

This is a league of few stars and many complementary pieces.  When I was researching this whole NBA labor issue and saw the reason for a soft cap it made my mind up.  Soft caps allow teams to go over the set salary limit in order to add pieces and surround good talent.  Its meant to keep stars that were drafted by teams in their original uniforms.

The owners arguments have been faulty at best.  To ask players to give back almost $800 million in salaries because the NBA tried to be balanced is ridiculous.  Made more ridiculous by the fact that these owners signed off on these crippling deals.  Hey dumbass owner: if you didn’t wanna pay, say for arguments sake, a lazy, fat, unenthused center with a heart condition a huge contract then guess what?  DON’T.  To blame Eddy Curry for cashing those checks is ridiculous because we all would have done the same.*
*= I realize with that logic that all of us would be Eddy Curry’s but its the truth.  In some bizarro universe, we are Eddy Curry.

I think the league is about to go into a great upswing where its popularity is about to explode.  The stars aligning and allying with another isn’t a bad thing for the sport but the best thing for this sport.  Figuring out a way to share revenues seems to be the only problem that needs mediation.  The players are setting the trend.  To restrict movement and keep players in situations that are not conducive to their own happiness isn’t just unproductive, but also very stupid.

At the end of the day if teams surrounded their talent with equal talent then perhaps Lebron would still be in Cleveland getting set to win another championship.  Melo would be in Denver realistically challenging Kobe in LA.  Mark Cuban has held on to Dirk Nowitzki.  Tim Duncan has won titles in San Antonio and remains there and won’t leave.

Want a sad tale?  Steve Nash, the great white hope, won’t be traded by Robert Sarver because he refuses to let go of the one guy that keeps paying customers coming back.  Nash’s best years are gone, undoubtedly, and as long as he remains in Phoenix, he will never sniff an NBA title.  They have continuously shed draft picks and superstars like they were going out of style and they did so to reduce their salary demands.

You think if Steve Nash were younger he wouldn’t want to leave?  That he wouldnt grow tired of the same old crap?

The NBA is becoming a hierarchical society and the owners had better figure out how to deal with it.  That’s their best bet.  That’s their only play here.  Anything else would be evidence of the truth that owners of unsuccessful franchises have long tried to hide from its fans: they don’t care.

REAL LIFE RIVALRY

Nationally, the story of the real budding rivalry has gotten minuscule attention and rightfully so.  Its a non-story at this point.  The Knicks are the main event and the Nets are the hopeful under card.  Of course, that doesn’t mean that the upstart doesn’t have to give in to that logic.

Right as the Knicks were paving the streets with roses and carnations in anticipation of Carmelo Anthony’s debut at MSG, the Nets went out and hijacked Deron Williams from the Nets for a smaller version of the Carmelo offer.  Two first round draft picks, Devin Harris, and Derrick Favors.   The consensus around the league was that of shock and awe that the Russian Mad Scientist could pull off such a deal without the wherewithal of the NBA scribes who were sniffing around every corner.

The story was that this deal was consummated in 24 hours, shortly after Denver signed off on the Knicks package.  Prokho wanted a replacement superstar pronto and that he got.  Many instantly assessed Deron as the better player with the better upside.  Though there are several flaws in that logic.

Not to say that Deron Williams isn’t as good a player as Melo, or even better, I think that opinion came from the mouths of those that were still reeling from the shock of the Jazz, a very smart and steady organization, going through major renovations of its product after 20 something years with the same old script.  First Jerry Sloan and now Deron Williams?  With nary a hint that something like this was in the works?

But such is the trend and the two sided nature of the debate that small market execs are going to have to have in the coming months.  Keep our budding superstar or try to get as many building block assets before he jumps ship to more lucrative waters.  Melo’s reasoning was sound.  He’s a Brooklyn boy and wanted to come to play on the team that his childhood idol played on: Bernard King.  Deron Williams, as far as we know, did no such clamoring to get out.  Some would say that he got what he wanted when Sloan threw in his towel after twenty plus years on the bench with the scowl.

The Deron Williams trade and Melo trade have one very unique attribute in common.  Its not just done to make the team immediately better, but more so to attract potential superstars to Jersey/Brooklyn.  Williams’ value is much higher for Prokho than Melo’s is to James Dolan who is still trying to craft the next memo, in unison with Isiah Thomas, that he is in no way shape or form still associated with the Hall of Fame Point Guard.  Williams’ name represents star value and a billboard that Prokho can put up across the street from 34th and 8th in full view of Mr. Dolan who must look at the Nets as that fly that he just can’t seem to swat.

That fly of course is growing bigger and by 2012 will be gigantic when they move to Brooklyn and open up the Barclay Center.  The question now becomes will Deron Williams be there?  Unreported are two clauses in both contracts that Deron Williams and Carmelo signed.  Melo has an out clause after 2013 which means that he will give this homecoming a joyride before deciding if he really wants to commit which means there’s still another big pay day coming.  Deron Williams has a player option for next season.  Not a team option a player option.  Which means he decides that over the next 23 games that Brook Lopez is the real deal and if the Nets aren’t just a perennial contender for the 8th seed.  Like I said previously (scroll up slackers), this generation of players are much more in tune with what they want.  They are not willing to go along with organizational philosophy unless its in tune with that of their own.  They have dreams and aspirations that go far beyond the basketball court and the best and brightest of the bunch have a brand to protect.

The good thing about them is that they understand that a championship exponentially increases the value of that brand.  With no title gets no pub.  No pub means no love.  And no love on the streets means credibility is shot and if the credibility is shot amongst the basketball watching community, then its shot among execs who see them as cash cows.  Williams never committed to the Nets during his press conference only issuing the usual credo of “let’s wait and see.”

Which means that Prokho hasn’t done anything but upstage the Knicks in the back pages which is precisely what his intent is.  There’s no doubt in my mind that Prokho will be content in winning that war because that’s what counts in this city.  Perception is often a much more willing participant than reality.  It knows only the truth which you enter.

George Steinbrenner knows this and so does Mikhail Prokhorov.  The Big Russian must be looking and laughing at James Dolan as he pulled off this heist thinking that all the basketball community could talk about, on the day of Melo’s much ballyhooed debut, was the deal that brought Deron Williams to Jersey.  Prokho’s people have not made any overtures to sign him to an extension although I’m sure they will try as heck.  They will offer him a boat load of money and his chance at being the man in Brook-Land.  The major play was the back page victory.  Whatever comes next for Jersey will be gravy or gory.  If Prokho doesn’t get Deron to commit to his vision of the Nets it may be the biggest chance he ever took but he knew that it was his only play.  For that I will give the big Russian credit.  He played his hand and played it very well.  He won in every aspect of what he wanted to do.

He brought an equally talented superstar to his digs without surrendering his entire starting 5 which really wouldn’t have said a lot.  The newest trick for Prokho will be to ink Deron and ink Dwight Howard who will also become a free agent in 2012.  If he does that then he won’t have to pull any stunts to get everyone’s attention the basketball team will do all the talking for him.

 

THE BIG COUP

Finally, those of you clamoring for the reunion of the real big 3 of Melo, Stat and CP3 allow me to add some perspective.  The Knicks don’t require a point guard of the highest degree like many would like them to get.  What they require is precisely what they were missing against Cleveland.  A big man.  A gigantic big man.  The kind of big man who would make people think twice and thrice of coming into the paint.  The kind of big man that comes along as often as Haley’s Comet.  Dwight Howard should be the Knicks big signing in 2012 not CP3 or D-Will.  Sorry guys.

If the Knicks are serious about winning defensively the Knicks must up the ante and must do what they can.  I would say that in two years they can try and re-sign Felton and carry on but that bridge may have been burned.  The Knicks major deficiency is on the defensive end (last night’s final 3 minutes of the game not withstanding) and God-Willing the Knicks can convince Superman to join the Avengers and bring a title to Broadway.  Rumor has it that its between them and the Lakers meaning Dwight sees himself as a superstar (Which he should) and wants more than what Orlando can offer him and will take his time thinking things through.  The next two seasons can be exceptional auditioning tape.  What Dwight can see is a team and a system that provides numbers offensively and also a team that has two superstars in place at the prime of their careers and ready to take the next step.  On the left coast, Kobe’s aging and the team is dedicated to the development of Andrew Bynum.

Of course things can change next season.  If Kupchak gets word that the Magic want to deal away their superstar center before him wanting to leave becomes a big deal then yes, I’d say that the Lakers would ship Bynum and whomever to Orlando and export the big kahuna to help Kobe win ring number 6 (if he hasn’t already claimed it by the end of the season) or seven.  Kobe cares about his legacy and about winning more than anything and knows he’s entering that territory where it will atleast become a debate as to who is the greatest player ever: he or Jordan.

For people of my generation it will always be Jordan.  End of discussion but like I said perception is always a far greater tool than reality.  Kobe’s comeuppance has been greatly chronicled beyond words.  He won 3 titles with Shaq then exiled him to travel the great plains searching for titles and revenge.  He’s won two with a new big man who’s content to rebound, take charges and score the minimum amount of points to count as a superstar.  He’s got the complementary pieces to win with and he’s taking all the credit along with Phil who once again is along for the ride.

But even Kobe understands how many years Howard’s arrival would add, not only to his legs but also to his championship counter.  Dwight’s recent offensive output means that he’s finally harnessing his massive potential and teams are now beginning to finally see a finished product.  At age 25 he’s playing ball like even most of his biggest fans couldn’t have seen coming and that’s with Gilbert Arenas and Jason Richardson who love to call their own numbers as often as they can.  To be sure his offensive game is improving but his defense is still his major calling card.  Size, rebounding and defensive girth is what he provides and since its in limited supply in this league (see uproar of Kendrick Perkins to OKC) his move would create a seismic shift more so than the ones that CP3 or D-Will will create.

Whatever his decision is, I’m sure whomever Knick management will be at the time will be wise to remind Dwight that he can enjoy the summer of his playing days as a card carrying member of a superstar trio of 20 year olds to battle that knucklehead crew in Miami.  That team of Stat, Melo and Dwight would instantly be the best team in the NBA.  Hands down.  That would be the most dominant front court and with Landry Fields playing the 2, it really doesn’t matter who they get to play the one.

Although getting Dwight Hardy from St Johns couldn’t hurt.  Right?

Spring Training update

Far be it from me to ignore the masses clamoring for a spring training update from both teams.  First we’ll start off with the Yankees who debuted their new cast of characters and there are actual jobs to be won in Tampa this year.  The biggest question mark for the Yankees this spring is their pitching which will be a “we’ll play it by ear” kind of strategy.  Unless the idea of Bartolo Colon as a starter impresses you.  Of course this isn’t 2005 or 2003, so I’m sure any sane, rational Yankee fan (I’ve met a few though I can’t say there are that many in the wild) knows that whatever Colon gives them will be gravy.  But the one major player not really mentioned is Ivan Nova who’s up and down campaign last season had more positives than negatives.  Internally the Yankees are praying that they can put Colon back into the storage compartment and ship him to the Dairy Farm factory for restocking as soon as possible.  Nova’s performance yesterday did much to calm the nerves of Brian Cashman and company who would love to see Nova wrestle the job away from Colon so they can tell Colon “no mas.”

Meanwhile, remember those kids I mentioned who would be instrumental this year in how the Yankees play the C.C. Sabathia card this year?  Well Dellin Betances came in and struck out the side against the Phillies which included Dominic Brown, Wilson Alvarez and Ben Francisco which isn’t murderer’s row I know, but still good for a first crack at impressing the bosses.  Cashman’s stubbornness has kept him from offering these two gems in any trade, as he should.  The scouting scribes are all hot and bothered with the “Killer B’s” Betances and Manny Banuelos.  If they continue to impress during Spring Training those threats of new contracts may go on deaf ears so that Cashman can fall back on his “we don’t discuss extensions until the contract runs out” philosophy.

Curtis Granderson hit a 2 run home run which propelled the Yankees to a victory over the Phillies everyone’s favorite.  Granderson must have a big year for the Bombers and if the final month of the season is any indication, he may be on the rise.  Remember how everyone in the fantasy camps assured you that Grandy would be handily hitting 30+ homeruns with that inviting right field porch?  Well consider that prognostication fit for 2011 as he’s showing signs that he has worked through his hiccups and found a steady stroke that will propel him to that season we had hoped for last year.  You know, as fantasy campers.

As for the Mets, listen, if you’re going to make smart ass comments about the $25 million loan, then sorry you won’t get a chuckle out of me.  Not because it isn’t funny, but its sad.  The Wilpons’ house of cards are slowly crumbling and even they are too dumb to issue the requisite statement of “we have a problem.”  The Mets are worth around a Billion dollars roughly with the stadium and SNY.  No way someone comes in from the wood works and pumps $150 million into the revenue stream so they can help pay the Madoff money they’re accused of making off with.  Unless they build in an exclusive window to buy out the team should it ever go on sale.  Other than those assurances I can’t see any businessman with any gravitas ponying up the pesos to do that exchange.

In actual baseball news Luis Castillo played and well, he played.  1 for 2 with a single and a defensive play.  He was still hitting like he’s helping the other team do fielding drills but its a step up for the guy who’s been blasted and called every name under the sun by Met fans.  He’s lost weight and has impressed his owners.  Maybe long enough to get some trade value built up.  Meanwhile in other not so surprising news Ollie Perez couldn’t quite get a handle on the strike zone and issued 3 walks and let 4 runs cross the plate.  Of course the guy couldn’t hit the strike zone with consistency from 6 feet so forget 60 feet and 6 inches.  There is no sad news to report there.  All in all positive news.  Both players will likely get dumped.  One in the garbage and the other on another team.  Only time will tell which will be.

Meanwhile Chris Capuano and Chris Young pitched impressively enough to earn wins in their Met debuts.  Young pitched two perfect innings while Capuano struck out 4 in two innings of work and allowing one run.  Young’s job is assured but Capuano’s isn’t which means his starts will be much more noticed if he flops.  Young and Cap aren’t going to make your ears pop hearing their fastball but both are effective in the upper 80’s which many Met fans can attest are good enough sometimes.

Loving R.A. Dickey’s emergence in the clubhouse as both sage and leader.  His innings will be dictate how well the Mets do this season.  The more he pitches the better chance the Mets have at winning.

THE NEW OWNER OF THE METS IS….

 

Source: Bobby V interested in buying piece of #Metshttp://es.pn/ibggsm #espnst
-@AdamRubinESPN Adam Rubin
Here I was ready to write an entertaining piece about my second hopeful owner of the Mets and Adam Rubin is reporting that Bobby Valentine is perhaps interested in owning a piece of the Mets.  Listen, I dont get cheesy over many things but this brought a great big piece of provolone to my grill this morning.
Valentine’s place in Met lore is well talked about.  He’s an icon to scores of Met fans and the name they were hollering from roof tops when the job of manager was initially up for grabs.  The problem with that was his salary demands may have been something that they couldn’t afford though now that all this information is coming out, not too much could be afforded.  This is just the initial phase but yes, there is plenty to be smiling about.  But like I said earlier, if the Mets dont write assurances that the group who purchases the minority stake won’t have exclusive bidding rights to buy out the rest of the team then there won’t be too many.
I love Bobby V’s flair to come in on a white horse and save the day for the Mets.  Even if he doesn’t, the fact that he is actively trying to get back into Flushing tells you what he means to this fan base and how much he adores us back.  Thanks Bobby V.
Okay the fan-dling of Bobby V can stop.  On to more sarcastic news.

Closing Thoughts:

Thought I’d close with these last few gems.

– Chauncy Billups, is no throw in to any deal.  What a performance by Big Shot with that three pointer late in the game that made me go from “no, why would you take that shot you…GREAT DECISION!” valleys to peaks so quick.  I’m afraid my heart won’t be able to take too many of these Knick performances.

– Melo’s defense is in his body.  Lebron’s build is one of a kind and for many an impossibility to guard but Melo brings his own unique build to defend Lebron and he did a fine job.  I love the fact that he demanded to guard Lebron late in the game.  Sounds like the guy can handle the big time.

– Big win for the Knicks  but they need size. I wonder what Troy Murphy was thinking.  Murphy is reportedly deciding on whether to join the Knicks or Heat and this game may have swayed him to Broadway.

– Alex Rodriguez dropped ten pounds entering camp.  He must have been one of those guys building mansions that Hank Steinbrenner was referring to.  So worry not Jeter.

– Speaking of which, maybe it was his popcorn diet courtesy of Cameron Diaz?  Who knows what diets these celebs are on these days?

– Big win for the Storm of St Johns.  Dwight Hardy continues to play beyond his years.  That kid’s draft stock has to be going up, no?

– Had a conversation this weekend about Adam Sandler’s career and more importantly how underrated he is.  Yes, underrated.  I’ve never been a huge fan of his work but needless to say his post SNL career has been ten times better than most and that’s saying something.  Or maybe its not saying much at all but Sandler’s work deserves much applause.  He does serious work as well.  His acting in Spanglish was pretty damn good for a guy who many peg as a slapstick artist.

– Kevin Costner meanwhile is last generation’s Keaunu Reeves.  I realize that won’t make much sense but work with me here.  Has any two men been given more lucrative roles than those two aforementioned?  Luck of the draw?  More like horsehoe up the butthole.  Or maybe their agents are just smarter than the average bear.  Whatever the source of their good fortune is, re-watch their movies and tell me one role where you could see no one other than those two in those roles and I promise you i’ll get you a roll.  With butter on it too.  I promise.

– Speaking of crazy.  No.  Actually he isn’t even crazy.  He’s beyond that and there’s a reason I’m putting him before the Ron Artest tweet of the week.  Charlie Sheen’s rant on the “Alex Jones show” was one for the ages.  This guy is beyond crazy, he’s in another planet.  Bill Simmons labeled that the Tyson zone.  But even that’s unfair to describe the mind numbing all over the place-ness of this doozy of a rant which will go down as one of the most puzzling, frightening, terrifyingly funny rants ever.  If you’re Jewish, or Catholic you may not appreciate the following but its all in good fun.  Right?  Ok fine.  Its not but take a gander at this:

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/25/charlie-sheen-rant-listen-here/

– Finally the Ron Artest tweet to make all of you happy:

 

LA vs LA tonight… I think LA gonna win
@RONARTESTCOM RON ARTEST
I will have more on Melo and Amare during the week.  More on Spring Training.  More stuff coming.  Enjoy the week folks

 

 

 

 

 

 

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February 21, 2011 · 6:29 pm

Monday Morning Something or the Other

Happy Monday beautiful people (and the rest of you).  I meant to have the article up by this time  (8:30 as I’m writing this) but unfortunately my computer crapped out therefore I have reverted to my Mac to re-write the entire thing and put in the finishing touches.

Today we’re going to take a look at All Star Game festivities.  Since everyone else is doing it, we’re going to hand out half time grades.   The Naismith Hall of Fame released their list of finalists for induction and with any Hall of Fame selection, there’s some debate as to the process and also the people who didn’t get in and we’ll talk about that.

Albert Pujols’ situation bears watching but I will tell you why he’s coming to neither New York team when his contract is up and who I think he’ll eventually end up on.  We will also also debut a new weekly column which I hope will pique one’s interest and of course your host of links and other goodies.

Sit back, and ignore the pleas from your parents to shovel snow or go outside and let’s begin shall we?

MELO-DRAMA is almost nearing a close

“Again, Isiah doesn’t need a title to be involved. He’s Dolan’s friend, adviser & he’s running the Knicks while soaking up the sun in Miami”

“And through it all, Donnie Walsh continues to do his work, conduct himself with class, act like a gentlemen and bring class to the Knicks”

@FisolaNYDN Frank Isola

 

I put in two quotes from Daily News beat man Frank Isola who’s been on top of this ever-changing script of Carmelo this whole entire weekend.  But the main story is what role Isiah has been playing in all of this.  He’s been a shadowy presence behind the scenes that Donnie Walsh has had to unfairly watch for as he did his job in trying to surrender as little as he could to bring Carmelo to the Knicks.

I wrote a column on Saturday basically voicing my displeasure at all the back and forth involved within the media.  This is like Lebron-athon with how media members have tried to be first over trying to be right and basically reported everything that their sources have told them.  Its that type of reporting that gave Lebron a big enough ego to even think that his “Decision” program on ESPN was even a decent idea.

Right now as it stands this is what we know.  The Knicks offer according to the most people quoting sources is as follows:

DEN gets:
PG Raymond Felton
F Wilson Chandler
F Danilo Gallinari OR F Landry Fields
and #1 draft pick via Minnesota*

NYK gets:
F Carmelo Anthony
PG Chauncey Billups
F Ronnie Brewer (from Minnesota

*= the Timberwolves would give up Ronnie Brewer, a number one pick to the Knicks for F Anthony Randolph and Eddy Curry’s expiring contract which they would buy out and then send his fat ass to Siberia and locked away in a storage container to never be heard from again.**
**= that’s according to sources.

Yesterday news came out that the Knicks had drawn a line in the sand and it was up to the Nuggets to accept and that they would no longer up their offer.  The Nuggets then insisted that Timofey Mozgov be involved in any trade which was then shot down by other reports saying that Denver made no such ultimatum.

The Nets and Knicks had their reported meetings with Anthony over the weekend and most insiders suggested that Melo remained non-comittal to the Nets and that the Knicks were still the apple of Melo’s eye which has been the same since day one.  So what are we to believe?

Here’s what I know.  Carmelo Anthony could have shelved all these Nets talks but he’s holding the Knicks hostage by continuing to take these meetings with Nets officials.  Its a ploy to get New York to surrender whatever they need to in order for the Nuggets to ok a trade.  The Nuggets and Melo are not working for each other but in some weird way they are.  Its clear that the Knicks original plan was to wait Melo out till free agency and sign him then but Melo has made it abundantly clear that he wants that extension no matter what.

That isn’t even the most distressing part of all this.  Adrian Wojnarowski, basketball writer for Yahoo sports and probably the best basketball writer in the game today, wrote a doomsday piece on the state of the New York Knicks and who actually is running things.  If you’re a Knick fan like myself its pretty depressing stuff.

Like Frank Isola wrote, Dolan has always respected Thomas’ opinion and tried on many occasions to bring in Thomas through back doors which the NBA and even Walsh tried to block.*  Woj believes that a power struggle is coming between Worldwide Wes and Thomas, both of whom offer the same thing: their ability to lure major stars to the Knicks.  That’s what Dolan has wanted and what Thomas has somehow convinced Dolan he can do and Walsh can’t.  Worldwide Wes is an agent for CAA and reps both Anthony and Chris Paul, one of the trio of superstars who will become a free agent after 2012.

*= Last time Isiah was being brought back in as a consultant to the Knicks Walsh reportedly threatened to resign and Dolan was talked out of it by other Knick officials.

According to Woj:

“It’s against NBA rules to rep players and coaches, but commissioner David Stern picks and chooses the rules he enforces. He lets Worldwide Wes travel with his Olympic teams, gain access to stars, steal them away and broker them to the commissioner’s market franchises.”

But Isiah Thomas’ pull on Dolan is very strong and like Isola said, Thomas doesn’t need a title.  He will be happy to put in a puppet regime in place once Donnie Walsh is out.  Many of Isiah’s people remain firmly entrenched within the Knick organization.  Isiah Thomas in fact may not even be interested in coming back in some official capacity and may be happy in having Dolan hire his hand picked guys who will do his bidding.

This is straight out of the “you’ve got to be fucking kidding me” files.  It makes me so unbelievably mad that this kind of amateur bullshit could be going on in a professional organization.  Knick fans have been treated to brutal basketball for the better part of a decade while still filling in the seats at a respectable rate while ownership and co ran the product into the ground.  Its now becoming clear that the man who restored credibility and basketball pride in the city is being pushed aside after cleaning up the mess left by previous regimes to bring those old regimes back.

Its sad and pathetic that Walsh, a New York kid who saw this as his dream job, has had to go through this.  From day one I’ve insisted that the Knicks call Anthony’s bluff.  If he wants to come to the Knicks so bad then let him come.  The lesson learned from the Lebron fiasco was this: these guys are making informed decisions.  They will make their own minds up and are much smarter business men who have a much greater sense of their brand and net worth than previous generations.  They aren’t stupid and are as interested in maximizing their revenue earning potential.  They know they are good.  They know that superstars are what this league is built around and so they know they have the cache to ask for and receive what they want.  They have advisors but what I’ve noticed is that these guys are making their own decisions.

Case in point: Lebron was told by his friends to come to New York.  He took his talents to South Beach.

So neither Isiah OR Worldwide Wes can deliver on their promises.  They hold no weight in what they can promise.  They can’t make Chris Paul sign anywhere as much as you or I can.  They have the ears of their circles thanks to their connections but in the end the decisions come from the players themselves.  Melo is running this negotiations.  Will he sign with NJ if the Knicks don’t make a deal prior to the deadline?  If he does then let him go to Newark.  Let him toil there beside Brook Lopez.  They aren’t making the playoffs this year and they will be a fringe team next year.  Even in the East which isn’t saying much.

I don’t think Melo will go to Jersey.  He knows what he will give up.  Even if he loses $30 million in possible contractual earnings the New York market will, over the life of the contract, open up more possibilities for him.  I believe in that despite what most reporters will say that it doesn’t matter.  It doesn’t matter if you’re Lebron but for Melo it WILL.  Something that not even Brooklyn can bring him.  I say call Melo out on his bluff.  I think the Knicks should take out Felton.  Give up Gallo and Chandler (i’m fine with that) and a number one pick and get back Melo and Brewer in the deal.  If the Nuggets say no then let them figure out how to convince Melo to sign with New Jersey or risk letting Melo go into free agency.  And if Melo doesn’t sign with the Knicks in free agency due to some spite then so be it.  It won’t be the end of the world.

Why is anyone convinced that once we get Melo that he’s the missing link and will push the Knicks into title contention?  He wont.  We still need size.  We need a deeper bench and we need to convince D’Antoni that a defensive strategy is kind of necessary.

Most important, we need to convince Dolan that Isiah Thomas can’t bring in Paul or Deron Williams or Dwight Howard.  He has the respect of these young guys thanks to his contributions on the court but nothing more.

ALL STAR GAME

“Blake Griffin Fever: NBA All-Star Saturday Night averaged 8.1M viewers on TNT, most in event’s 26-year history. Way up from 5.4M last year.”

@sportswatch Neil Best


 

The NBA’s annual beauty pageant occured over the weekend in downtown Los Angeles at the Staples center.  For the first time in a long time there was actual clamor and build up for such an event.  The weekend did bring the goods.  I do have two gripes to point out about the weekend.

We all know that we were walking into the official Blake Griffin “if ya wanna crown him then crown his ass weekend”.  Even prior to the slam dunk competition it was curtains for the competition and they would just provide a back drop and filler entertainment before we gave Blake his first half slam dunk championship trophy.

Somebody forgot to tell JaVale McGee, and DeMarr Derozan.  Both of those guys came with fantastic dunks that went unnoticed and under appreciated and trust me when all is said done and we look back on this dunk contest someone, somewhere will cry foul.  Let me be the first one to say that JaVale Mcgee got robbed.  He was clearly the best dunker of the night.  He used his 7 foot frame in ways that big men should not be able to and provided us with creativity and flair all while giving us reason to refocus our lens on someone other than Blake.  I would argue that his two basketballs in two hoops dunk was better than all but one of Blake Superior’s dunks.  That wasn’t even the best dunk.  I think DeMarr Derozan’s dunk titled “the showstopper” was the “you got your money’s worth” dunk of the night.  Creativity, degree of difficulty, and how easy he made it look were all factors in my decision to give Mr. DeRozan my dunker of the night award which I’m sure means something.

Unfortunately this slam dunk contest has outperformed the All Star Game’s festivities over the years and even this year they held serve in that department with these mix of dunks.

Needless to say Blake had to do something so over the top to make it seem reasonable for him to get the award and he did it. But even Sir Charles admitted what I thought: that wasn’t the best dunk of the night.  That was the most dressed up dunk of the night with the car, Blake’s presence and the choir but not the best dunk.  I felt bad for McGee and DeRozan who did their level best to try and make it somewhat of a race and in any other dunk contest, not held in L.A. those guys would have had more of a shot but not this night.  I’m glad the dunk contest is back but not really.

As for the rest of the weekend, the rookies and sophmores game was good albeit it was another chance for the crowd to see Blake Griffin.  I think the NBA is trying to make up for not putting the Clippers on primetime this season.  But John Wall easily made it his night and provided glimpses of his talent that will most certainly elevate him into the point guard discussion soon.  He’s not there yet folks, but he will be there soon.

The three point contest had easily the best headline after the action when one was quoted as saying “the Heat finally beat the Celtics- in the 3 point contest” after James Jones beat both Paul Pierce* and Ray Allen.

*= Pierce’s booing in his home town brought me back to the All Star Game held in Philly where Sixer fans booed Kobe like he had something to do with being drafted by the Lakers.  But Pierce’s booing was justified in the fact that he’s a Celtic now and an over the top douche.

The All Star Game was pretty entertaining.  It had its usual flash of dunks and “look at me” play (attention Kobe) but the final few minutes was pretty good stuff.  For those of you who follow me on twitter or Facebook this may be torturously repetitive but I really don’t care.  Here are some of the best moments from last night’s game:

– In a pre-game interview Craig Sager, who’s awful interview night we will get into, chatted with Kobe Bryant and let something slip.  He told Kobe that if he were to win the All Star Game MVP that he would tie a record with Bob Petit for All Star Game MVP’s with 4.  You didn’t need to give Kobe any more reason to go out there and put on a show but that was the final straw.  Guys like him don’t let young’ns like Blake Griffin steal the spotlight.  L.A. is still his town and he isn’t giving up his corner for anybody.

Later in a tweet @RicBucher said this:

Told Blake Kobe nearing Wilt. Blake: Should I tell him? Me: You think he doesn’t know? B: Probably right. He checked record book on way in.

Need we say more?

– Craig Sager was 0 for 2 in interviews last night.  His interview with Carmelo in which he went all Jim Gray on us and pressed Carmelo on where he would end up when all was said and done was interrupted by Kobe, who was apparently his spokesperson.  But his interview with Justin Bieber was really bad.  Here’s on painful exchange:

Craig Sager:”last week performing at the grammys, this week at NBA All Star game, dont you have school?
Justin Bieber: well, its the weekend.

The silence following that was painful because you knew how uncomfortable it was.  Bieber basically gave Sager the “whats your name again?” treatment, looking uninterested in anything Sager had to ask.

– Lebron messed around and got a triple double in the All Star Game and if the East would’ve pulled off the win he most certainly would’ve won the MVP.  But his best play was his ability to raise his teammates level of intensity as the game wore on.  He clearly took ownership of that squad and almost brought the team all the way back but the West had built up too much of a lead.

– Interesting and subtle message was sent by Doc Rivers as he came through on his promise to send out all 4 of his Celtics into the game at the same time and he did so with his very first set of substitutions.

– The Eastern Conference playoffs promises to be a bloodbath.  Amazing amount of tension there with the Heatles and Big 4 of the C’s not liking each other.  Dwight Howard’s disdain for the Big 4.  The Hawks representatives not Amare’s biggest fan.  Amar’e spending a better portion of the game guarding who could be his teammate in a week.  Then there’s the undoubted first half MVP, Derrick Rose who is hated by all because well, he’s the MVP and at the core basketball is still a game that appeals at the pride and ego of every player.

– Which brings us to my final point on the All Star Game.  The NBA has the best All Star Game because, you don’t have to forcibly convince players that the game means anything.  Basketball is still a very individualistic sport driven by sports stars who know fans look at each match up as a measure of each player’s ability.  So if Kobe drives by Lebron, fans wont say that the Lakers are better than the Heat, they will chalk that up to Kobe being better than Lebron which you can’t say about any other sport.  Pride and ego carry this sport more than anything and even in meaningless All Star Games, those things can be huge motivational tools.

So you would be correct in assuming that Kobe wants to win the MVP to show up Blake Griffin.  That Lebron wants to get the MVP in Kobe’s backyard as they battle for the crown of best player in the league.  That Kevin Durant wanted to show off his wares in front of his peers.  Every guy had a chip on his shoulder last night.  Believe it.  That’s why you can’t top the NBA All Star Game.

Another portion of All Star Weekend that I didn’t agree with was the announcement of finalists for the Naismith Hall of Fame.  Cheryl Miller’s little brother Reggie* did not make the cut in his first year of eligibility for induction in the Hall of Fame.  Many people would argue that its not that big of a deal but this is coming purely from a romanticized opinion and nothing stat related, in my mind he is a first ballot hall of famer.

I grew up watching the Knicks during the 90’s.  It was the NBA on NBC era where everything the NBA did was golden.  One thing forgotten amidst the number of parades the Yankees had in the late 90’s and the explosion of football during the last 15 years, New York is still a basketball town.  The inner cities are filled with kids who dream big of making it in the NBA and ballers from New York City carry an extra weight of expectations unfairly put there by the history of those who came before.  During the 90’s New York was firmly fixated on the Knicks.

The Knicks were perennial contenders and seemingly had one nemesis after another.  Early 90’s were filled battling and losing to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.  Just when I thought the Knicks had rid themselves of that challenge with MJ’s retirement, along came Reggie Miller who did things to the Knicks and its fans I thought God had ONLY put Michael Jordan on earth to do.  We had more success against the Pacers but it was never easy and Miller showed up every time.

He had some memorable moments like when he scored 8 points in less than 10 seconds and when he and Spike Lee waged their war on the courts of MSG.  The era was filled with bloodbaths and real life “I hate you” tension that you just don’t see anymore.*  I always believe that only the great ones play great on grand stages like the Garden and Miller always raised his game.  Miller’s teams were never the most talented but they always managed to get him the ball and he always managed to hit the big shot which made him the league’s record holder for 3 point field goals made.

*= Until now.  I hope.

I dont have any big statistical chart to show you.  Its just one man’s disagreement filled with bias based on what he saw growing up.  It may not mean much to you but I remember how much I respected Reggie Miller and in my mind, players like him were meant for big moments.  He made his team a contender and always put the fear of God in me as a Knick fan like only Michael could do.  For me, that’s enough to warrant his first ballot induction.

But that’s just me.

MID POINT AWARDS

“If I had to vote, [Rose is] the MVP of the league,” Rivers said.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/21/2077246/celtics-doc-rivers-derrick-rose.html#ixzz1EbyovKd7

Continuing the trend set by peers within the industry I thought I’d try something new and give out my mid season awards.

MVP: I would have to agree with head coach Doc Rivers who gave his vote to Derrick Rose.  No need to go into stats mode but he’s top 10 in Scoring, Assists, and minutes played.  The only reason he’s playing so many minutes is because of all the injuries his team has suffered.  He’s the clear number one option on his team and he’s become more of a leader in just his third season and carried them to a three seed.  Need we say more?  Okay fine.  Stories are out there about how unwilling he was to try and recruit Lebron James when he was making his tours to NBA cities in his solo “look at me” campaign.  He failed to kiss the King’s ring and everybody loves a good rebel.

Most Important Player: This award goes to the one guy most responsible for his team’s record.  That guy would be none other than Amar’e Stoudemire.  Amar’e’s impact isn’t just felt on the court.  Take a trip to NYC.  The city is buzzing again.  MSG is rocking and not because of the visitors.  He’s singlehandedly restored Knick pride and his emergence has made it a necessity for Knicks executives to surround him with other superstars like Carmelo Anthony.  His play alone has made that possible.  Did I make this award up just to give recognition to my team’s best player?  Sure I did.  Screw you if you think he doesn’t deserve some props.

BEST TEAM: Records don’t mean anything here.  San Antonio may have 46 wins but nobody is afraid of them come May and June.  The best team by far are the Celtics who learned last year that if you don’t have enough big bodies banging in the post area and getting rebounds you will lose.  They addressed it by literally signing every single big man over 6’11 to their roster.  Rondo’s only getting better, KG’s legs have about two more decent seasons before he falls off a cliff skills wise and they have two of the best clutch shooters in the league in Paul Pierce and Ray “He got Game” Allen.

What bears watching is how teams react once the Melo-drama ends.  Sources insist that deals are being held up thanks to the Nuggets and they themselves may not be done dealing away parts.  Nene will be another player the Nuggets will want to deal as well.  The Rockets and Blazers are seen as suitors.  Let’s see what the playoff teams do to acquire complementary pieces.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Here’s another opportunity for me to give an award to a Knick but those tricky dicks at the NBA offices have this rule that makes Blake Griffin, in officially his second season, eligible for the Rookie of the Year despite missing his entire red shirt season after breaking his knee.  Landry Fields has been the best first year player.  I dont want to hear about John Wall who’s emerging and who by the end of the season may have a better case,  but Fields being a second round pick vaults himself into this discussion.  He leads all guards with 7.1 rebounds.  He’s a starter on a Knicks squad who surprised every prognosticator with their current record.
That being said, Blake Griffin is second in double doubles and is a freak of nature.  His in game dunks are the kind of stuff that make you stop and watch.  He’s singlehandedly made the Clippers a watchable product despite a less than stellar record.  Of course being owned by Donald Sterling doesn’t bode well for his future endeavors but let’s just soak in his rookie* season.
*= FTW.

BEST PLAYERS AT EACH POSITION:

C- Dwight Howard- By far the easiest position to fill.  Rumors are already beginning about where he will end up after 2012 and word is spreading that he will join the long list of dominating centers who end up on the Lakers for the prime of their careers.  That would absolutely be insane but let’s see how everything shakes out.  Right now, there isn’t a better post presence or intimidating big man in the game.
Honorable Mention: Al Horford, Hawks-  Check the stats.  He isn’t that far behind even if he doesn’t wanna see Amar’e Stoudemire.

Power Forward- Amar’e Stoudemire No bias here folks.  The stats bear it all for STAT.  He leads all PF’s in points, blocks, and is top 10 in steals, rebounds and assists at the position.  Add in his overall impact to the team and city and he is most certainly deserving of the title.
Honorable Mention- Kevin Love- the guy is a double double machine in the make of a Moses Malone.  That’s big.

Small Forward- Lebron James- I hate to do this, trust me, but he’s undeniably the best player in the game today.  His stats bear it out and his ability to take ownership on a team full of All Stars and play through all of the negativity that he brought on himself, has been incredible.  I wont let my own biases get in the way of this guy’s obvious greatness.
Honorable Mention: Kevin Durant- This is just a matter of preference and trust me you won’t get a fierce argument from me if you put him over Lebron on this list.  But Durant is stuck in that “he’s just a scorer” phase of his career that haunted MJ during the 80’s as he waited for Magic and Bird to get old and stale before he made his move.

Shooting Guard- Kobe Bryant- Even Laker fans have to admit that his drop in minutes is due to the wear and tear that 3 consecutive NBA Finals trips mixed in with basically no down time with Olympic responsibilities but let’s not argue this point after what we saw last night.  When the lights are on and the best are on the court Kobe can bring it.  Case made.
Honorable Mention: Dwayne Wade- They still can’t beat the Celtics even with having Bron and Bosh, but he can still bring it.  You can see how not having to carry his team during a full NBA season has been good to Wade’s body and may give him a few extra years of elite service time.

Point Guard- Derrick Rose- My first half MVP and unquestionable leader among the pack of elite point guards who’s rank you can certainly debate and you wouldn’t be wrong.  Right now the battle for the crown goes 4 deep with Rose.  If you subbed in Rondo, Westbrook, or Paul I wouldn’t be mad atcha.  But for me, right now, Rose does everything you want from a PG and gives you that added element of scoring that is a bonus.  If i had to do a ranking it would go Rose, Westbrook, Rondo and Paul and the only reason Paul isn’t ahead is because of that injury to his leg that has him wearing that God-awfully-big brace which scares the crap out of me.  Of course it didn’t stop me from tweeting this.
Honorable Mention-  Thought I’d take this space to talk about why I left of Deron Williams off this list.  That Jerry Sloan episode left a bad taste in my mouth.  You don’t just remove the longest tenured head coach in basketball and think you will walk away from this thing with your name still in tact.  Imagine the hell that will be raised when D-Will walks out of Utah.  Plus, last night CP3’s performance was a reminder to those who made the similar mistake I made when I put D-Will ahead of him.

As I step away from NBA Talk for a moment to bring you this public service announcement:

ALBERT (don’t ) PUJOLS your breath.

 

“Sources: Pujols contract talks are over. Deadline will pass without a deal. Have not been proposals swapped in last 100 hours or so.  There remains an enormous between cards and pujols not on years, but on per-year salary.”
@Buster_ESPN Buster Olney
Despite the Pujols designated deadline of February 16th coming and going, there remains a very slim possibility that the Cardinals don’t bestow upon Pujols a contract he will sign to.  Pujols reported to camp with the statement that he would like to be a Cardinal forever.  While all that’s good and well to hear for Cards fans, it was a definitive message sent to Cardinals ownership.
I want to be here, but if you dont give me a contract offer I like, trust me I will leave.  The Cards will still have an exclusive negotiating window to hammer out a deal with Pujols but if rumors of what the Cards were initially offering are true, then they have a long ways to go.  Maybe Pujols goes off and has another historic season and the Cardinals have no choice BUT to make a deal that blows the A-Rod deal out the water which is precisely what the Pujols camp is looking to do, however the Cardinals tactics speak to one very major truth: they financially wont be able to offer Pujols the length of deal he desires and are currently unwilling to go dollars either.  We’re talking a $30 million a year contract and most sportswriters are Pujols friendly when writing that he deserves such a contract especially after the club friendly deal he signed in 2004.  No more home-town discounts for Pujols and if there’s one player who deserves a ludicrous amount of money its him.
This isn’t about money for Pujols as most people are writing and I tend to believe people who’ve been around him more than you or I.  It isn’t greed.  Frankly If you or I were as good as Pujols was at what we do, I’m sure we wouldn’t below market deals when the reality that everything is a business remains.  The Cardinals will have to get creative but if they don’t there’s two teams who stick out as possible landing spots for Pujols.
1. The Cubs- Michael Wilbon, who now writes for ESPN Chicago wrote a piece illustrating why its important for the Cubs to sign Pujols.  You don’t need to waste time reading it to know that Pujols would be a fit anywhere but especially here.  If Pujols were hurt in anyway shape or form by the Cards offer it would make sense for him to take the money and go to Chicago where he would be openly embraced by a Cub faithful who have longed for a superstar of Pujols’ ilk to come along.
2. The Angels- This past winter the Angels had to make do with just signing Hisanori Takahashi and trading for Vernon Wells God-awful contract.  But one more bad season and  Arte Moreno, the owner of the Angels, may have to open the checkbook and finally cash the check he’s been writing about…well…opening the checkbook and writing checks.
For you local yuks wondering about the Yankees and Mets I won’t say never but remember that A-Rod is locked in for another 7 years and Mark Texieira who could possibly be traded to St Louis in a blockbuster deal nixed all that kind of speculation by saying he would exercise his no-trade clause.  Forget about plugging him in at DH since A-Rod will be occupying that space in a few years and you have lack of flexibility.  Add on to the fact that the Red Sox just signed their own young 1b to a long term deal and there’s very little pressure on the Yankees to make such a move but never say never with those pinstripe-rs.  There may be a few hundred million lying somewhere should they allow CC Sabathia to walk after this year but again it all depends on how quickly their young pitching develops.
Meanwhile the Mets have no money so we can end that discussion right there.
Pujols said he would operate his no-trade clause and nix any potential deal the Cards draw up if they are convinced they can’t sign him but if he were open to be traded throw the Detroit Tigers as a possible landing spot.  They have a young 1b who is in a very manageable contract for them and the Tigers may be evaluating whether to keep him or not with his recent arrest on drunken driving where he even took a swig of whiskey in front of a patrolmen.  Cabrera’s drinking problem may cause him to miss games and perhaps the Cards may look to get him and convince themselves they have the proper environment to nurture him and keep him from falling off the wagon.
Speaking of baseball related news.  With the Mets recent financial problems I thought it would be fun and necessary to begin looking at alternative solutions for Mets ownership.  Yup you guessed it, we finally have our very first weekly column and here it is:

YOUR NEW MET OWNER IS…..

With our initial offering I had to pull a name out of the hat that would reinvigorate the fan base and show that I meant business with this and so with my very first inaugural pick, my very first candidate to be the new Mets owner is:

VINCENT KENNEDY MCMAHON

The owner of the World Wrestling Entertainment franchise, he’s worth a reported $1.2 billion which would require Mr. McMahon to get some other investors involved but he would be the face of ownership and really would you have it any other way?  The Mets need a person who has that Steinbrenner-ian attitude of “I’ll do whatever it takes to win” that’s necessary in New York.  He’s always been a fan of New York city and he’s based out of Stamford Connecticut where a certain former manager trolls around.

Its literally too good to be true but hey, there’s always hope.  Imagine the cross-promotional opportunities that he could pull off?  WWE wrestlers escorting players off the field who’ve been thrown out.  Who would brawl with the Mets if they knew that they’d have to answer to huge wrestling guys?

Why can’t this work?  I’m throwing it out there Met fans.  Ya gotta believe.

 

THE LINKS AND THINGS YOU SING ABOUT BRING EM OUT…

Buzz Bissinger in an op-ed details why the NBA has a race problem that makes it a problem for white America to fully accept.  This is right down Jason Whitlock’s alley but Bissinger makes a good point while writing about a problem that most are unwilling to sit and write thoughtfully bout without the constant threat of being labeled a racist.

Ken Berger of CBSSports remains one of my favorite NBA writers and his article on the class of 96’s impact is a must read for any NBA loyalist who stood by the league even through its rather dull years from 2001-2005.  It talks about the 10 year anniversary of Allen Iverson and revisiting a former warrior’s shining moment on a big stage and what it meant for that class, Kobe included, to be the transition away from the MJ era.  The most misguided notion was that Jordan could be replaced and we spend the next 10 years looking for his replacement.  Even when he came back to the Wizards in 2001, the league was looking for someone to come along and replace him.  Iverson was never a celebrated athlete and historically he may be looked at as mercurial but for those of us who watched the NBA passionately remember a little guy who played the game fearlessly.  He may not have played the right way all the time but his style of play was something worth the price of admission.

Remember that NFL labor negotiations that we were all stressing?  Well there seemingly is no end in sight but news was made last week when a very impatient owner talked back to the prince of all QB’s Peyton Manning and made him the face of villainry in these proceedings.  Michael Silver of Yahoo Sports writes that maybe its time to bench this guy for good if the league wants to make it work.

Finally, we end with yet another column regular Ive decided in the last 10 minutes to introduce:

THE RON ARTEST TWEET OF THE WEEK

@RONARTESTCOM RON ARTEST

 

“two weeks ago i was driving on rodeo drive and farted in a restaurant i was stunned and told the whole restaurant sorry . i gave em all hugs”

 

 

PREVIEW FOR WEEK:

– Report coming from Port St Lucie and Tampa on Mets and Yankees camps as Spring training gets underway.

– Trade deadline column perhaps if something unexpected happens.

– Perhaps the inaugural podcast.

Have a great week folks.

 

 

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