Tag: NBA

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NBA General

Around the Rim: Welcome to Sportscolumn’s new daily NBA blog

[Editor’s Note: Around the Rim is a new daily NBA blog written by Clay Whittington.]



Average dunk

1. Mediocre Man
Jason Richardson was recently named Mr. Average by NBA.com. It’s probably not the recognition that J-Rich was looking for in order to get that next big endorsement deal, but things could be worse. The last two players to be considered run-of-the-mill by league averages have proven to be anything but. Last year’s winner was Richard Jefferson and the year before that the title was given to Shawn Marion. Average by NBA terms for this season is standing 6’6″ and weighing 225 pounds at 26 years old with five years of experience. But in Richardson’s case, average also includes being the only person besides Michael Jordan to win consecutive slam dunk titles.

2. Transplanted Rose
Jalen Rose has decided to join the Phoenix Suns for one year at $1.5 million, just slightly above the veteran’s minimum. This move adds even more offense to the Suns lineup and gives Rose a legit shot at winning a championship, but its biggest impact will be felt in Rose’s checking account. While $1.5 million might not sound like an impressive payday for an NBA player, consider that in addition to being rescued from a sinking New York franchise, Rose received a $14.5 million buyout from the Knicks. Apparently, playing on a poorly managed team known for overpaying and underachieving does have some advantages. Mainly, you get paid to play for someone else.

3. Royal-ties
LeBron “King” James gained an advantage over Dwyane Wade in their battle to become the new, young face of the Association when James was considered to be the most marketable NBA player in a survey conducted by SportsBusiness Daily. And who could argue with the decision? Endorsement should be this kid’s middle name. At 21 years old, James has already made some memorable commercials in his young career. Some of these include a series of Sprite spots with Lil’ Penny’s long lost rip-off, Thirst, and his current Nike campaign where he portrays a quartet of characters collectively known as “The LeBrons.” Since high school, James has been more popular than almost any NBA player and he beat out fellow classmate Wade, as well as, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and Yao Ming in the poll. While championship rings might get you a spot on the list, the marketing throne is reserved for the young king.

4. Celtic Girls
On Friday, the Boston Celtics became the last team in the NBA to introduce a dance team to their courtside entertainment. While the choice was applauded by the male contingent of the team’s fan base, the timing of their debut could have been a bit more appropriate. The late Red Auerbach was openly opposed to the dancers because he felt that the game itself should always remain as the center of attention. So, less than a week after Auerbach’s death, the front office brought the dance team out to shake and gyrate on the parquet floor that the legendary coach cherished so deeply. Hardly the proper tribute to a man that meant so much.

Sunday’s Player of the Day: Ray Allen vs. LA Lakers 36 min, 32 pts (FG: 10-16, 3FG: 3-4, FT: 9-9), 3 reb, 6 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk

Monday’s Game to Watch: Detroit (2-1) @ Utah (3-0) Detroit hasn’t lost on the road and Utah has yet to lose at home. Obviously, something has to give. Utah is looking to move back into the playoffs for the first time since 2002-03 and an early win over Detroit could give the team a boost in confidence. Detroit needs to win in order to keep pace with a tough central division that includes the Bucks, Bulls, Cavs and Pacers.

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NBA General

North Korea a problem? Just send in Michael Jordan



The NBA: It’s Dictator-tastic!

We don’t much get into politics here at Sportscolumn but this Union-Tribune story is too good to pass up. Apparently, Kim Jong Il is a tremendous basketball fan who loves the NBA and has a video library of almost every game MJ has ever played.


[In 1001] Jordan’s management team was approached about the athlete making a goodwill trip to Pyongyang to meet Kim. The North Korean government, according to documents obtained by The San Diego Union-Tribune, sent a letter authorizing the request, and Samsung, a South Korean electronics company interested in promoting reunification of the Koreas, had offered to underwrite the venture.

Jordan respectfully declined.

Apparently, because of the closed contact with the outside world, basketball in North Korea is a horse of a different color: “three points for a dunk, four points for a three-pointer that does not touch the rim and eight points for a basket scored in the final three seconds. Miss a free throw, and it’s minus one.” Kim Jong Il must not be much of a Shaq fan.

Links:
[SignOnSanDiego]: The Oddest Fan

Categories
Boxing

Oct 30 in Sports History: The Rumble in the Jungle



Rope-a-dope

In 1974: Muhammed Ali defeated George Foreman to regain the heavyweight-boxing title in Kinshasa, Zaire. Ali knocked out the previously unbeaten in the eighth round of the “Rumble in the Jungle.” Ali, knowing that Foreman would be tough to beat toe to toe, was able to outthink him. He threw very few punches throughout the fight, employing the “rope a dope” method where he let the big-swinging Foreman punch himself into exhaustion, until Ali caught him with a combination of punches to win back the belt. It was the first fight (for better or for worse) that was promoted by Don King, whose original slogan was (and we swear we didn’t make this up) “From the Slave Ship to the Championship.” Each fighter took home $5 million, which was unheard of at the time.

In 1997: Violet Palmer became the first woman to officiate an all-male sports league game when she was a referee for a game between the Dallas Mavericks and Vancouver Grizzlies in Vancouver, British Columbia. Palmer was joined that season by Dee Kantner as the first two female referees in the NBA.

In 2001: Michael Jordan came out of retirement for the second time, this time to suit up for the Washington Wizards in a 93-91 loss to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Jordan played two more seasons for the Wizards and showed flashes of the old MJ, but the team was unable reach the playoffs.

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NBA General

David Sterns channels Johnny Cash



Now was that 2nd or
3rd amendment?

Don’t take your guns to town son
Leave your guns at home Stephen Jackson
Don’t take your guns to town

It’s sad when you actually have to remind your players like David Stern did that you shouldn’t be carrying around a gun.


It’s a pretty, I think, widely accepted statistic that if you carry a gun, your chances of being shot by one increase dramatically. We think this is an alarming subject, that although you’ll read players saying how they feel safer with guns, in fact those guns actually make them less safe. And it’s a real issue.

The latest collective bargaining agreement prohibits players from bringing a gun to the arena, a practice facility or a team or league offsite promotional appearance. The fact that is specifically says you shouldn’t bring a gun to a promotional appearance means that perhaps in one of those NBA Cares ads, a player is packing heat while reading Dr. Seuss to a bunch of 3rd graders. Image problem? Nahhh..the NBA doesn’t have an image problem.

Links:
[FoxSports]: Stern wants players to leave guns at home

Categories
NBA General

Jim Jackson is the worst player in the NBA



How do I put this, Jim…
you stink

For everyone who loves to argue over the relative value of players, here are the 2006-2007 Hollinger Projections. Created by John Hollinger, these rankings are based on a Player Efficiency Rating (PER) which is a measure of how valuable a player is based on per minute productivity. Granted the ratings are still the work of one guy but at least it’s based on formulas, which makes it just a little more legit than, say, team power rankings.

In any case, here are your top 10 players in the NBA.

  1. LeBron James
  2. Kobe Bryant
  3. Dirk Nowitzki
  4. Amare Stoudemire
  5. Dwyane Wade (lost points on the ridiculous spelling of his name)
  6. Kevin Garnett
  7. Chris Paul
  8. Pau Gasol
  9. Gilbert Arenas
  10. Allen Iverson

Sadly, if you scroll all the way to #330, the worst player in the NBA is Jim Jackson of the Lakers. Above him are (#329) Ryan Bowen, (#328) Rafael Araujo, (#327) Darrell Armstrong and (#326) Mark Madsen. If you’re ranked behind Mark Madsen, it’s seriously time to consider retiring. Jim Jackson is so bad that there isn’t even a comment next to his name.

Can we set up a dance off between Jackson and Ethan Albright?

Categories
Washington Wizards

Someone tell Gilbert Arenas that you can turn voicemail off


Gilbert Arenas has always been somewhat of an odd duck but a feature in the latest issue of Esquire might just confirm that he is actually batshit crazy.


When I get a new cell phone, first thing I do is turn it off and call from my house phone and leave stupid little messages to myself. Like: “It’s me.” “It’s me.” “This is Gilbert.” “It’s me.” “It’s Gilbert.” I just fill it up, so no one can leave messages. If you don’t, you leave for an hour and thirteen people have called. So there are thirteen new messages you have to listen to and it’s like, Oh, man. I don’t feel like hearing people’s stories. Most people love leaving messages that they don’t want to tell you in person. So I cut that off.

Here are some other notable stories about Gilbert:

  • He has an idea for a commercial where a kid in a wheelchair clotheslines a girl who catches his shoes
  • He bought a colon cleaner off an informercial
  • Lebron said to him prior to the free throws in last year’s playoffs, “If you miss this shot, you know who’s gonna hit the game winner.”
  • He can beat people by 200 points in NBA 2K6
  • He holds a grudge: he has a list of everyone drafted before him in 2001 and crosses people out when they’re no longer in the league

Links:
[Esquire]: The Pathology of Gilbert Arenas

Categories
Orlando Magic

Orlando Magic execs got jacked by political consultant


The Orlando Magic today confirmed that they paid $200,000 to Doug Guetzloe, a radio host and leader of Ax the Tax, a grass roots group that opposes tolls and tax increases for “consulting”. And by consulting, they mean hush money so that Guetzloe’s activists didn’t speak out against a campaign for a new arena.


If the Magic didn’t hire him as a consultant this year, [Magic COO Alex] Martins said, they feared someone else would pay him to attack the projects.

“We were told there was an offer by those in the small minority that opposed the venues to hire him if we did not. And we felt pressured to hire him because of that fact. In hindsight . . . it was an error in judgment on our part.

Orlando Magic fans must be thrilled to find out that their ticket dollars are being used to pay a guy to shut up so the Magic can get more tax dollars out of their pockets to build an arena and jack up ticket prices. We haven’t seen anything like this since Stringer Bell paid Clay Davis $250,000 to open the faucet. (Semi-obscure allusion that should be a lot less obscure.)

Links:
[Field of Schemes]: Magic paid hush money to activist
[Orland Sentinel]: Magic: We paid Guetzloe, too

Categories
Oakland Raiders

Odds and Ends: Jerry Porter is the worst teammate in the world



Class act

On a day when a backup punter stabs a starting punter in the leg, Jerry Porter still manages to get the worst teammate award. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Porter was pumping his fists and laughing while Aaron Brooks got sacked for the 7th time in the loss to the Chargers.


I haven’t heard anybody in our organization say anything about that, any teammate or anything,” Shell said. “If that did happen that’s a big disappointment from my standpoint. That would be disappointing, and that’s something, if he did that, something he has to deal with, with his teammates as well as other people.

Porter was deactivated for Monday’s game because he’s clashed with Art Shell all preseason. Porter just signed a five year deal last season that gave have $10M in guaranteed money. Nice way to pay the Raiders back, Jerry.

[AP]: Royals pitcher, catcher fight in dugout

[ESPN]: Keep Branch on your fantasy bench folks, he’s not expected to play this weekend

[Fox Sports]: Since the World Cup, US Soccer has dropped from #5 to #29

[TSN]: Bob Clarke doesn’t give a shit if nobody likes him

[Jeff Little]: People stealing paychecks in the NBA

Categories
NBA General

Team USA Basketball loses to Greece



Chokers

We’re not exactly sure what happened. Even after reading the article a few times, it’s hard to figure out how team USA Basketball lost to Greece in the semifinals. It wouldn’t even have been acceptable to lose in the finals but this team managed to choke again. Say what you want about other countries developing players that play as a team, the USA still has more basketball talent than any other country can put together. A team with Carmello Anthony, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James should not be beaten by a team from Greece. It just shouldn’t happen. And wasn’t this supposed to be a real “team” that we put out there on the court?

According to the AP article, team USA was done in by poor 3 point shooting and only shooting 59% from the free throw line. Carmello had 27 points, Wade had 19, and LeBron had 17 in the losing effort.

This sounds familiar doesn’t it? Not just that we haven’t won gold in international play since 2000 but Coach Krzyzewski having the most talent and not being able to bring home the championship.

Links:
[The search for RELLevance]: Live Blogging: Team USA vs Greece 3:30 a.m.
[Houston Roundball Review]: US loss to Greece Disappointing, not Surprising
[MSNBC]: Our Big Fat Greek embarrassment
[MSNBC]: Greece stuns Team USA in semifinals

Categories
MLB General

August 3 in Sports History: Satchel Paige makes his MLB debut


In 1948: After years of pitching in the Negro Leagues, Leroy “Satchel” Paige makes his first Major League start for the Cleveland Indians at the age of 42 (nobody was ever sure of his exact age, however). Paige pitched seven innings in a 5-3 victory over the St. Louis Browns. It seemed that the legend of Paige was just as great as the pitcher himself, as Joe DiMaggio once called him “the fastest and best pitcher I‘ve ever seen,” (according to Paige’s official website). Although there were very few official records in the Negro Leagues, it was believed that Paige once threw 64 straight shutout innings (Orel Hershiser holds the ML record with 59), won 21 consecutive games (Carl Hubbell had 24) and once had a 31-4 season. Paige pitched in the majors until he was 59 years old. He helped the Indians win the World Series in 1948 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1971.

In 1949: The NBA as it is known today is formed in a merger between the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and the National Basketball League (NBL). The league then had 17 teams, including the Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, Fort Wayne (now Detroit) Pistons, Minneapolis (Los Angeles) Lakers and Syracuse Nationals (who became the Philadelphia 76ers). The Lakers won the first championship in the new league.