8 posts tagged “nba”

I was at at bar last night watching the Cowboys/Packers game last night.  Around halftime I glanced over at the other TV to check the Knicks/Celtics score and was amazed to see the Knicks had not scored 40 points yet at the 3rd quarter was about to come to a close.  The Knicks managed to leave the Boston Garden with their third worst loss in franchise history.  No one respects Isiah Thomas, and it clearly showed on the court last night.  The players do not seem motivated to win, let alone play.  I even dropped Stephon Marbury in one of my fantasy leagues after he did not travel with the team and started to come off the bench, thanks to an argument with Isiah. 

On thanksgiving, the back page of all the New York newspapers had a picture of Isiah calling him a turkey.  With daily "Fire Isiah" chants and an $11M sexual harassment lawsuit, it is clearly time for Isiah to go.  It is time for Jim Dolan to get over his crush of Isiah and realize that is it time to panic.  i agree with Reggie Miller's comments that the K nicks are a league wide joke, and living in NY it just is not that funny.

Three former Illini were on the Jazz's 2006-07 Roster and now only one All-Star remains.  While Deron Williams is still playing for the Jazz and Team USA, his former college teammates are also playing abroad.  However,  they are no longer employees of the NBA.  Dee Brown has just signed a deal to play next season with the Turkish Club Galatasaray.  Ronnie Price from Utah Valley State is the likely player that will take his spot on the court.  However, no will be able to take Brown's spot as one of Deron Williams best friends.  In other Illini news, the football team is off to the best start in years at 3-1.  The win at Indiana is a huge indicator of the turnaround for this team.  Watch out for 6-6 record and the Illini's first bowl berth since their 2001 Big Ten Championship and Sugar Bowl Appearance.  With so much negative news about the basketball team there is finally a bright spot with the return of Jerrance Howard, this time as an assistant coach.  I think he will supply the boost to recruiting Illini fans are looking for.  This Saturday Illini Fans will get to see if our NCAA 5th ranked running attack is legit as they take on the 6th ranked rush defense of PSU.  Watch for Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week Reshard Mendenhall to have another huge game.

After Greg's Oden's microfracture knee surgery he is going to be forced to miss his entire rookie season.  The debate on who will be this season rookie of the year is over; the clear pre-season winner is Kevin Durant.  The Trail Blazers have been reminded of their earlier draft debacle, picking Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan.  However, this situation is not as bad.  If Oden can follow in Amare Staudamire's shoes he will recover from surgery without a problem and become an eventual NBA All-Star.  And while the Blazers are going to have one of the worst records in the NBA this year, after losing Oden and trading their best offense threat Zach Randolf to the Knicks, they will end the season with another Lottery pick.  I can see the Blazers drafting one of the highly talented freshman guards.  One thing that I am curious about is if Oden does not play one game in the 2007-08 season would he be considered a rookie the next season?  If so he would still have the opportunity to be rookie of the year.  Yet, all Blazer's fans are just hoping he recovers 100% and will reach his full potential.  Just think, we have yet to see a healthy Greg Oden play.

Note: This was my 100th Blog Post and I didn't even realize it.

The Knicks have been the worst franchise in the NBA as far as handling their draft picks.  David Stern gave them Patrick Ewing in 1985 and the team was still unable to put any rings on their fingers.  The Knicks are clearly in a rebuilding stage and continue to make questionable picks.  This year will not be any different.  Chad Ford of ESPN currently has the Knicks selected Wilson Chandler, a 6' 8 Forward from DePaul.  As a sophomore last year, Wilson average 14.6 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.  According to Jay Bilas, Wilson will be a better NBA player than a college player.  You can read the Newsday Article Knicks Eyeing Draft Sleeper Chandler for more on the story.

Another project would be the less publicized freshman from Ohio State Daequan Cook, who averaged nearly 10 point per game coming off the bench for the Buckeyes.  Early in the season he was posting 20 point games but fell off towards the end of the season.  He was still a dependable three point shooter and has great potential.  If he stayed in college he would be a lock

for the first round next year.  However, I do not think the Knicks really need another guard at the moment.

Other options that the Knick may have are Sean Williams, the problematic Center who was kicked of the Boston College Team, Derrick Byars, a 6' 7 SG/SF from Vanderbilt, and Morris Almond a 6' 6 SG from Rice Unviersity that the Knicks rated higher than Cook on their official website.

The Knicks only have one pick this season.  I am going to say that pick will be Daequan Cook (I said Wilson before, but I am not listening to the rumors).  If Derrick Byars is still on the board I would not mind the Knicks adding him to the roster.  But if Isiah Thomas wants to make the fans in NY even more upset he will draft someone like Josh McRoberts, Glen Davis, Aaron Gray, Aaron Afflalo, Alando Tucker, or a white kid from Marist named Jared Jordan ( I do not care that he led the nation in assits last year, let him go undrafted.)

2007 Knicks NBA Draft Central

This post is in response to today's Bill Simmons article.  First, Tony Soprano is not dead.  Second, Scarlett Johansson is better looking than the girl from 7th Heaven, Jessica Biel.  Lastly, if you are an NBA GM if you need to take Greg Oden over Kevin Durant. Durant has not been impressing scouts as much as he should at NBA workouts.  Both players have immense potential, but it is hard to find other players that can match Oden's size and defensive abilities.  His injury earlier in the season forced him to become a more dynamic player who can use both hands to score.  It upsets me that both players will be playing in the North Pacific and we will never get to see them.  Oden recently has found work in Oregon by signing a deal with Nike and will soon find a more permanent home once he signs with the Portland Trailblazers.  With it would be a little bit of a shock if the Blazers took Durant, I do not think the fans should be unhappy as they will be adding the college player and freshman of the year (Note Oden was a 2nd Team All-American).  Here is Bill Simmon's favorite Kevin Durant YouTube Clip.

The NBA Lottery was more than exciting last night.  Bill Simmons has been praying to the Basketball Gods all year for Boston to get the number 1 or 2 pick to rejuvenate the franchise.  However, the ping pong balls did not show Boston's number last night and the Portland Trailblazers and Seattle Supersonics ended up with the number one and two picks.  Another big winner was Atlanta in the three spot, who would have had to give that pick to the Phoenix Suns if they fell out of the top three positions.  This draft has so much potential and talent in it, but the first two picks almost guarantee a franchise player. 

Here is my first NBA mock draft for the lottery teams.

1) Portland - Greg Oden

2) Seattle - Kevin Durant
3) Atlanta - Mike Conley Jr.
4) Memphis - Brandon Wright
5) Boston - Yi Jianlin
6) Milwakee - Corey Brewer
7) Minnesota -  Jeff Green
8) Charlotte - Al Horford
9) Chicago - Julian Wright
10) Sacramento - Spencer Hawes
11) Atlanta - Joakim Noah
12) Philadelphia -  Al Thorton
13) Charollote - Thaddeus Young
14) LA Clippers - Javaris Crittenton

Immediately after the lottery I began to process the draft and told my roommate that Atlanta would take Conley.  I thought I was being original until I read this morning that Chad Ford and others agree with me.  However, it is possible that they will trade down and can still get Mike Conley Jr. with the 11 pick or at another spot if they make a trade.  NBA fans in the Pacific Northwest should enjoy watching the two best young men this league has seen in awhile.  Yet all the fans in Boston are crying that they did not get one of the top two picks and ended with the 5 pick.  The draft is stacked this year and teams should be happy with most players they draft.  Fans in New England should stick the the NFL, because Boston is not going to be a championship team for quite some time.

Above I have the 1985 lottery where the Knicks received the first pick after the lottery was fixed.  You can clearly see that the Knicks envelope was folded and Commissioner David Stern had some fancy hand word picking out the "lucky" winner.  Now I am happy that the individuals at KPMG did not do their job and watch this process like they should have because the Knicks ended up with Patrick Ewing.  Then again, cheaters never win and the Knicks were not able to reap the benefits, and Patrick Ewing remains one of the best players to never win a championship.

I do not follow the NBA as much as I would like, but that is partially because players do not give 100% until the post season and the college game is better.  However, I do follow all the Illini in the league and other players of interest.  One of my best friends idolizes Steve Nash and may even pray to him at night.  I am sure he was emotional when Nash started to bleed during Sunday's game against the Spurs.  Nash started to look like Nicholas Cage in Face/Offf, and there was no maple syrup or hockey tap to bring the nose back to form right away.  The Suns lost game won, but with a vivacious Nash in game two they handed the Spurs a 20 point loss to tie the series at 2.  It hard to watch all of these west coast games that start at 11 O'Clock EST, but I was still able to witness greatness on the court watching Nash drive, dish, and slash to the hole.  He ended last nights game with 20 points and 16 assists and zero stitches, compared to the 6 from the night before.  The part I was most happy when seeing Nash was that he did not have a face guard.  He 'manned' up and did not let the injury get to him.  Just like his countrymen up North who get hit on the ice, he stitched up and hit the court as soon as he could, unlike Tyler Hansboro who looked like was going to cry after his nose started to bleed while playing Duke.  Anyway, these are characteristics of an MVP, and even though the title has not been handed out for this season Greg Anthony, now a columnist for ESPN voted Nash the best in the Pacific division.  He also listed Deron Williams as the best in the Northwest.

If both the Suns and the Jazz win their current series they will face each other in the Western Conference Finals for a chance to win the NBA title.  During the 2006-07 season the Jazz won 3 out of 4 contests with the suns, with one of the Jazz's wins coming in overtime where Deron scored 25 points and had 14 assist, while Steve Nash did not play.  Williams finished right behind Nash this season in assists and got shafted for a spot on the Western Conference All-Star team.   The rest of his number are right behind Nash.  However, if you compare they at the same point in their careers Williams is way far ahead of Nash.  Deron is coming out of his sophomore season a stud.  It possible that Deron will end his career with better numbers than Nash.  And while the Suns have not been able to get over their playoff hump the Jazz appear to have built a team for the future.  I guess now we will just have to wait for the story to unfold.