We got our first win!!! We're only allowed to have one practice per week for one hour, so yesterday was the first time we got everyone on the court together. In fact, one player joined the team yesterday! I put a couple of plays into our offense - one to use against man to man and one to use against the zone defenses. Also, we worked on spotting the open man and getting him the ball quickly. Then, we made sure that each person knew for certain what positions he is supposed to play when he's on the court, depending on who else is on the court with him. But the best thing about practice was the intensity that the guys played with. It made me very confident about today's game. The last thing I said in practice was "Tomorrow, we get our first win of the season. But it's not really about winning or losing, it's about having fun... but winning is REALLY fun!!!" Well, it is.
Game day. A few players show up early and we're working on running the plays that we put in yesterday. Not too hard. It's pregame warm up, not practice. And I don't want us to over exert ourselves right before a game. Everyone seems to be feeling very confident with themselves because last week, though we lost by 15 points, we did much better in the second half than the first and we didn't have an offensive identity yet. Now, we know who we are on offense. We know what we're doing and how to do it.
When the game starts, we jump out to a very quick 10-2 score on the strength of 3 layups and a couple of offensive rebounds, as well as some very inspired defense on the other teams best player, a sweet-shooting, ball handling small forward who can only really go right, but last week scored 10 points in about a minute of game time. We were very worried about him. After the first half, we were up by 17 points. But I reminded the guys what happened last week. The suns had beaten us down in the first half and we shaved 10 points off of their lead in the first 15 minutes of the game. If the refs didn't institute a running clock, we probably could have won the game. We just ran out of time. Plus, one of their players scored 10 points in a minute, so they're capable of coming back. Everyone was happy with themselves, but intense and focused on the task at hand. We ended up winning by about 22 points and, oh yeah, our starting point guard wasn't there due to a prior engagement (Club Soccer in the valley, good luck Daniel).
Then we all went out for pizza where the boys got a chance to mingle as a team, away from a basketball setting and really start to get to know each other. Their parents came too, of course which was even more important, because now we have someone in charge of bringing water for the games and snacks for afterwards.
All in all, it was a good day :). I can't wait till next week.
As always, you'll know more as I do,
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Here we go again
As of Right now, there are currently 9 teams on pace to win 50 games in the NBA's Western Conference. And while in past years, I would use this statistic to talk about the dominance of the West over the East, I simply can't. Because, while the Lakers currently technically have the best record in the league (30-6, compared to the Cavaliers at 29-6), the East currently has three teams - one in each division - on pace to win over 60 games!!! A total of 13 teams are currently on at least a 50 win pace, making this spring's Playoffs look like it already could be better than last years, which was one of the best ever! Let's look at some of the possibilities, come this April, May and June.
As it stands right now, some of the first round match ups we could see might be. The Lakers would be slated to match up with their most constant western conference rival, Utah, while San Antonio would be hosting another wild match up with Phoenix. Portland and New Orleans would meet in a match up of two of the best Rookie-Of-The-Year award recipients this decade (no offense to Elton Brand and Kevin Durant). This would probably be the most exciting series in the West, with two very young teams that rely heavily on their well-rounded guards and adept low-post scoring Power Forwards. In fact, come to think of it, they also both have young Centers who are pretty good defensively, but not quite there offensively and coaches who - well, they both have coaches. Anyway, this would be a fun matchup to watch and every single series could go either way (even LA Vs. Utah if they get Boozer back).
But after the Lakers, the next eight teams are only separated by 2.5 games. That means that if number 2 San Antonio wins three of their next 5 games and number 9 Dallas wins all five of theirs (which wouldn't be much of a surprise seeing how each have had stretches like that this year), they could potentially switch places in the standings. The number 2 team in the west could be out of the playoff picture by the end of next week, so it's way to early to start talking about playoff match ups. But it's still fun :).
In the East, on the other hand, the balance of power isn't so... well, "Balanced." The Three top teams, Boston, Cleavland and Orlando, figure to finish in the top three in some order. I wouldn't be surprised to see Boston, Cleavland or Orlando end up with the top spot. Then there's Detroit and Atlanta, who will be fighting to have home court advantage in their series against each other, but will be playing one of those top three in the second round. After that, you've got 6 teams that are fighting to get into the playoffs with between 16 and 19 wins right now. I wouldn't be surprised to see any three-team combination of those six be wiped out in the first round by the top three. I also suspect that no more than 2 of them will wind up with a winning record. Maybe none of them will win 42 games. Only one thing is for sure. There's very little chance of them winning ANYTHING in the playoffs this year. There are some exceptions. Miami has seen Dwayne Wade go Crazy in the Playoffs before and he's healthy again, so there's no reason why it can't happen again. In particular, against Orlando, if the match up is right. Toronto always has a shooter's chance, as long as their shooters get back to full health. In particular against Cleavland, who has a difficult time guarding early three point shots. And If Indiana is matched up against Boston, they have a good chance. I don't know why. But they seem to play ridiculously well against Boston and LA.
I can't believe this. It's January, and I'm already talking about the Playoffs! Man, I love this game! Oh, wait, that's the old slogan. Whoops.
As it stands right now, some of the first round match ups we could see might be. The Lakers would be slated to match up with their most constant western conference rival, Utah, while San Antonio would be hosting another wild match up with Phoenix. Portland and New Orleans would meet in a match up of two of the best Rookie-Of-The-Year award recipients this decade (no offense to Elton Brand and Kevin Durant). This would probably be the most exciting series in the West, with two very young teams that rely heavily on their well-rounded guards and adept low-post scoring Power Forwards. In fact, come to think of it, they also both have young Centers who are pretty good defensively, but not quite there offensively and coaches who - well, they both have coaches. Anyway, this would be a fun matchup to watch and every single series could go either way (even LA Vs. Utah if they get Boozer back).
But after the Lakers, the next eight teams are only separated by 2.5 games. That means that if number 2 San Antonio wins three of their next 5 games and number 9 Dallas wins all five of theirs (which wouldn't be much of a surprise seeing how each have had stretches like that this year), they could potentially switch places in the standings. The number 2 team in the west could be out of the playoff picture by the end of next week, so it's way to early to start talking about playoff match ups. But it's still fun :).
In the East, on the other hand, the balance of power isn't so... well, "Balanced." The Three top teams, Boston, Cleavland and Orlando, figure to finish in the top three in some order. I wouldn't be surprised to see Boston, Cleavland or Orlando end up with the top spot. Then there's Detroit and Atlanta, who will be fighting to have home court advantage in their series against each other, but will be playing one of those top three in the second round. After that, you've got 6 teams that are fighting to get into the playoffs with between 16 and 19 wins right now. I wouldn't be surprised to see any three-team combination of those six be wiped out in the first round by the top three. I also suspect that no more than 2 of them will wind up with a winning record. Maybe none of them will win 42 games. Only one thing is for sure. There's very little chance of them winning ANYTHING in the playoffs this year. There are some exceptions. Miami has seen Dwayne Wade go Crazy in the Playoffs before and he's healthy again, so there's no reason why it can't happen again. In particular, against Orlando, if the match up is right. Toronto always has a shooter's chance, as long as their shooters get back to full health. In particular against Cleavland, who has a difficult time guarding early three point shots. And If Indiana is matched up against Boston, they have a good chance. I don't know why. But they seem to play ridiculously well against Boston and LA.
I can't believe this. It's January, and I'm already talking about the Playoffs! Man, I love this game! Oh, wait, that's the old slogan. Whoops.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Fantasy Basketball Update # 4: Oblivion.
I'm ranked 1st in one of my leagues, tied for second in another, and all of the others have just gone away completely. I don't know what's going on. Brandon Roy is out, Nate Robinson is out, Zach Randolph, Carlos Boozer... It's really not a good year to be on one of my fantasy teams. It's Just really bad. What I said before about the New York/Golden State trade seems to have been accurate so far. Especially for Al Harrington. Monta Ellis should be back in a couple of weeks, so we'll really get to see the effects of three guards who think a chest pass is a character flaw running the same floor together.
And that doesn't just apply to fantasy ball. Harrington is really doing well for New York, who recently beat Boston on the strength of a Monster game by him. His numbers: 30pts, 7 rbs, 2 asts, 11/23 FG, 5/9 3FG. Those are good numbers for a center who averaged 12 points and got more DNPCDs than Blocks in the first month of the season.
But My teams suck now. Bleh.
And that doesn't just apply to fantasy ball. Harrington is really doing well for New York, who recently beat Boston on the strength of a Monster game by him. His numbers: 30pts, 7 rbs, 2 asts, 11/23 FG, 5/9 3FG. Those are good numbers for a center who averaged 12 points and got more DNPCDs than Blocks in the first month of the season.
But My teams suck now. Bleh.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
MVRC Jazz: 0 - 1
Woo Hoo!!! Alright, I know that the team lost today, but we won the second half :). As you know, I am the head coach for the Mar Vista Recreation Center (Not Utah) Jazz. Yesterday, we had our first practice with five or more people in attendance. Then, today, we had our first game. As you can probably imagine, we didn't do very well. First half score: 12-37. The Kids came back to the bench deflated and dejected, looking to me for guidance and direction. I peered into their glazed-over eyes, glanced up at the scoreboard and winced a little, searching for a muse, some method of conjuring up any ounce of oratory inspiration and encouragement. As the kids panted before me, only one thing went through my mind. So, being the man that I am, I had to be honest with them: "Wow", I gasped... "That was pretty rough." What do you want from me? I'm new to this stuff.
Honestly, we were down by 25 points for two reason: Lack of practice time together, and lack of an experienced coach. So I looked to the 75% of a team we had available and I told them "It looks bad right now, I know. But we're going to do better in the second half." I told them all that this was not the time for us to shrink and hide, but to shine. When you're down by 25, you might as well experiment, right? All the pressure is gone. You know, they say that it's all about having fun, so I told them to just go out there and have fun. And can you believe that they actually bought it?
We instituted a "Don't-Look-At-The-Scoreboard" Rule in the second half, which just made people look at the scoreboard more, and the MVRC Jazz went out and played their hearts out in the second half. My substitution patterns were more succinct and meaningful and the defense was more inspired. The offense still sputtered and looked at times like we hadn't worked on any offense together as 5-man units (we still haven't, actually, but that's beside the point) but the play was inspiring. By games end, we had shaved 10 points off of the "Suns" lead and would have gotten it down further if not for a running clock.
All in all, I'd say it was a successful outing. No one got injured, everyone seemed to have fun, I finally got a really good look at how my players react to each other and in different situations. Also, I found out that I'm putting a couple of players in positions that they don't need to be in. We Still lost by double digits, but we did much better in the second half and once we finally get our full team together (Hopefully this Friday), the Jazz are going to be a force in the MVRC Majors division league.
Next week, win or lose, I'm taking all the kids out for pizza after the game (man I hope we win... I scouted next week's opponent in today's game and they have some really good players). You'll know more as I do.
Until then,
Honestly, we were down by 25 points for two reason: Lack of practice time together, and lack of an experienced coach. So I looked to the 75% of a team we had available and I told them "It looks bad right now, I know. But we're going to do better in the second half." I told them all that this was not the time for us to shrink and hide, but to shine. When you're down by 25, you might as well experiment, right? All the pressure is gone. You know, they say that it's all about having fun, so I told them to just go out there and have fun. And can you believe that they actually bought it?
We instituted a "Don't-Look-At-The-Scoreboard" Rule in the second half, which just made people look at the scoreboard more, and the MVRC Jazz went out and played their hearts out in the second half. My substitution patterns were more succinct and meaningful and the defense was more inspired. The offense still sputtered and looked at times like we hadn't worked on any offense together as 5-man units (we still haven't, actually, but that's beside the point) but the play was inspiring. By games end, we had shaved 10 points off of the "Suns" lead and would have gotten it down further if not for a running clock.
All in all, I'd say it was a successful outing. No one got injured, everyone seemed to have fun, I finally got a really good look at how my players react to each other and in different situations. Also, I found out that I'm putting a couple of players in positions that they don't need to be in. We Still lost by double digits, but we did much better in the second half and once we finally get our full team together (Hopefully this Friday), the Jazz are going to be a force in the MVRC Majors division league.
Next week, win or lose, I'm taking all the kids out for pizza after the game (man I hope we win... I scouted next week's opponent in today's game and they have some really good players). You'll know more as I do.
Until then,
Friday, December 19, 2008
My New League Makes Me Happy :)
I'm going to break with my habit of posting almost exclusively on NBA topics today. See, there's another League that has taken my interest lately. No, I'm not talking about Big West Basketball. That goes without saying. No, I'm talking about the Mar Vista Rec Center Winter League, Majors (10/11/12 years old) division. I will be taking the MVRC Jazz to the mountain top from my perch along the sideline. I'll try to list the times here so all of my many (2) readers can come and support the kids and see some good, clean, fundamentally sound basketball. After each game, I'll try and give a recap and include any significant stats, game trends or interesting/funny moments during the game.
We had our draft on Tuesday. We based the draft on rankings we determined by putting the kids through basketball drills a week earlier and rating each basketball skill on a 1 to 5 scale, then averaging those scores for a final number. Some of the kids weren't able to make it to the evaluation day, so the coaches who knew them gave us all rankings based on what they knew about their athletic abilities and basketball skills. Now, the fact that all of the other coaches in the league have sons playing created some interesting dialogue. Here's one of my favorites:
Coach 1: How would you Rank your son?
Coach 2: Umm... I would say he's about a ... uhh... four or so.
Coach 3: No! There's no way your Kid's a four. I'd Say a two. 2.5 at BEST.
Coach 2: ...Um ... Oh.
That's great! You're basically telling the guy that his kid sucks. Yes, I'd say a good time was had by all. I ended up with what looks like a pretty good team. Now, I can't wait to get all the kids in the gym and start practicing. As I was drafting, I kept in mind the different ways that we could use the players' skill sets to our team's advantage. Originally, I thought that we might do a 40 minute full court press a la Rick Pitino, but that was shut down quickly when I found out that I don't control substitution patterns. I'm not trying to tire out all of my kids. I'm going to love this! I know that it's not much, but for someone who loves basketball as much as I do, this is going to be GREAT!!! I'll keep you all (both) updated.
In other news, one of my friends from college, Ross Schraeder, was caught up in a great YouTube Moment in Spain recently. Yeah, that's him with the double-low-fist celebration. Good Job on the Buzzer-Beater, Ross. Keep up the good work! It was kind of an illegal pick, but with .9 seconds left, it's not called "illegal", it's just "Savvy".
We had our draft on Tuesday. We based the draft on rankings we determined by putting the kids through basketball drills a week earlier and rating each basketball skill on a 1 to 5 scale, then averaging those scores for a final number. Some of the kids weren't able to make it to the evaluation day, so the coaches who knew them gave us all rankings based on what they knew about their athletic abilities and basketball skills. Now, the fact that all of the other coaches in the league have sons playing created some interesting dialogue. Here's one of my favorites:
Coach 1: How would you Rank your son?
Coach 2: Umm... I would say he's about a ... uhh... four or so.
Coach 3: No! There's no way your Kid's a four. I'd Say a two. 2.5 at BEST.
Coach 2: ...Um ... Oh.
That's great! You're basically telling the guy that his kid sucks. Yes, I'd say a good time was had by all. I ended up with what looks like a pretty good team. Now, I can't wait to get all the kids in the gym and start practicing. As I was drafting, I kept in mind the different ways that we could use the players' skill sets to our team's advantage. Originally, I thought that we might do a 40 minute full court press a la Rick Pitino, but that was shut down quickly when I found out that I don't control substitution patterns. I'm not trying to tire out all of my kids. I'm going to love this! I know that it's not much, but for someone who loves basketball as much as I do, this is going to be GREAT!!! I'll keep you all (both) updated.
In other news, one of my friends from college, Ross Schraeder, was caught up in a great YouTube Moment in Spain recently. Yeah, that's him with the double-low-fist celebration. Good Job on the Buzzer-Beater, Ross. Keep up the good work! It was kind of an illegal pick, but with .9 seconds left, it's not called "illegal", it's just "Savvy".
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Fantasy Basketball Update #3 (Trades: The Alpha Factor!!!)
OK, so we discussed draft strategies and the folly of overreacting to Two DNPCDs to start the season in our last update. Now let's discuss another aspect of your 30 week odyssey into Basketball Geekdom; namely, Trades. I'm not talking about the fantasy trades that only affect how well your opposition is doing relative to your own team. I'm talking about real-world, NBA-League trades. Sometimes, those trades can give a player you have a sudden, unexpected fantasy boost, sometimes, your player ends up losing out. For instance, let's say you have Allen Iverson and he plays for... I don't know, let's say the Nuggets. But then, he gets traded to... just for the sake of argument, let's say he gets traded to the Detroit F'ing PISTONS! Well, then you might see his stats take a hit from a trade like that. Don't worry though, it shouldn't be anything drastic. He shouldn't go from top 5 in scoring with 7+ assists to 17 points and 3 assists. Right? I'm going to cry.
OK, so I'm back. Let's talk about the other side of these NBA Trades. Sometimes, you look at the NBA and there are trades that seem so obvious at the time that they're made that you just ask yourself "Why didn't the Commish (AKA the accomplice) just mandate this one at the beginning of the season?" Al Harrington got traded to New York for Jamaal Crawford. How perfect is that!?!?! This trade takes one valuable fantasy player and creates 3 high-quality fantasy players with a single swipe of the pen. Crawford is a good player. But he's no All Star. He doesn't have the personality or the game to Rule a city like New York. But in Golden State, where they sell out 50 loss teams and stand up rooting like it's the final four? He will be treated like a king. The fact that he shoots too often and doesn't really give your team a chance to win won't matter, which means that Don Nelson will be free to play him at the 3 alongside Stephen Jackson with both of them jacking up half-court fallaway threes with two guys on them. Throw Monta Ellis in the mix, driving into two seven footers and just throwing it off the back-board a la Dwayne Wade, but without the accuracy or the foul calls... a la Flip Murray... Well, Let's just call this team the "7 passes or less" era for Golden State. If the guards make more than 20 passes in a game, everyone in attendance gets a free Chalupa from Taco Bell!!!
Look at New York's end of the Deal, though. Not only do you get a shooting "big-man" to go alongside David Lee, but you free up time on the floor (and thus, shot attempts) for Nate Robinson. Harrington was not happy in Golden State for whatever reason. Now he's going to the only other Coach in the league that will absolutely correctly utilize his exact offensive skill set while gleefully ignoring his glaring defensive deficiencies (read: Steve Nash, 2-time MVP, 438th out of 367 in Defensive Player of the year voting).
Interesting side note here: The two best offensive head coaches, who play nearly the exact same style of basketball made a trade involving players who were built and trained to only play in that type of system. This is like the Rockets trading Shane Battier for Bruce Bowen. It's a once-every-ten-seasons trade that makes perfect sense for every single person involved. From the parties traded, to the other members of the teams they were traded to/from, the coaches and even for the franchises and the fans. And speaking of those coaches, everyone knows that Nelson practically invented NBA Small Ball. I mean, we call it "Nellie-Ball" for defense' sake. But I think D'Antoni has perfected it. Nelson said that he could win without defense, as long as his players could rebound, run fast and shoot. And he was right. But D'Antoni had this crazy idea that his players should also be able to pass to the open man so that guy could take the shot. Simple, obvious, should have been done from the start. Just like this trade.
The NBA: Where "Why didn't I think of that?" Happens
OK, so I'm back. Let's talk about the other side of these NBA Trades. Sometimes, you look at the NBA and there are trades that seem so obvious at the time that they're made that you just ask yourself "Why didn't the Commish (AKA the accomplice) just mandate this one at the beginning of the season?" Al Harrington got traded to New York for Jamaal Crawford. How perfect is that!?!?! This trade takes one valuable fantasy player and creates 3 high-quality fantasy players with a single swipe of the pen. Crawford is a good player. But he's no All Star. He doesn't have the personality or the game to Rule a city like New York. But in Golden State, where they sell out 50 loss teams and stand up rooting like it's the final four? He will be treated like a king. The fact that he shoots too often and doesn't really give your team a chance to win won't matter, which means that Don Nelson will be free to play him at the 3 alongside Stephen Jackson with both of them jacking up half-court fallaway threes with two guys on them. Throw Monta Ellis in the mix, driving into two seven footers and just throwing it off the back-board a la Dwayne Wade, but without the accuracy or the foul calls... a la Flip Murray... Well, Let's just call this team the "7 passes or less" era for Golden State. If the guards make more than 20 passes in a game, everyone in attendance gets a free Chalupa from Taco Bell!!!
Look at New York's end of the Deal, though. Not only do you get a shooting "big-man" to go alongside David Lee, but you free up time on the floor (and thus, shot attempts) for Nate Robinson. Harrington was not happy in Golden State for whatever reason. Now he's going to the only other Coach in the league that will absolutely correctly utilize his exact offensive skill set while gleefully ignoring his glaring defensive deficiencies (read: Steve Nash, 2-time MVP, 438th out of 367 in Defensive Player of the year voting).
Interesting side note here: The two best offensive head coaches, who play nearly the exact same style of basketball made a trade involving players who were built and trained to only play in that type of system. This is like the Rockets trading Shane Battier for Bruce Bowen. It's a once-every-ten-seasons trade that makes perfect sense for every single person involved. From the parties traded, to the other members of the teams they were traded to/from, the coaches and even for the franchises and the fans. And speaking of those coaches, everyone knows that Nelson practically invented NBA Small Ball. I mean, we call it "Nellie-Ball" for defense' sake. But I think D'Antoni has perfected it. Nelson said that he could win without defense, as long as his players could rebound, run fast and shoot. And he was right. But D'Antoni had this crazy idea that his players should also be able to pass to the open man so that guy could take the shot. Simple, obvious, should have been done from the start. Just like this trade.
The NBA: Where "Why didn't I think of that?" Happens
Monday, November 17, 2008
RIP Pete Newell
Pete Newell passed away today. For anyone who has enjoyed the game of basketball over the last 50 years, and especially if you, like I, have enjoyed watching the great post-players of the last half-century, then you understand why I couldn't sleep tonight without mentioning coach Newell first in this space. He has influenced nearly every post-player in the world and EVERY coach who teaches Low Post/High Post offense or defense on the West Coast.
I first learned about Pete Newell through his Big Man Camps because my favorite team, The Lakers, employs one of the longest tenured coaches for the Camp (Stu Lantz) as a color-commentator. Through his tutelage, and his philosophies on Post play and "Big-Man" play, some of the most famous and successful players have increased their skill level and overall knowledge of the game. Coaches the world over teach his techniques to their players because he his nuanced, results-oriented training approach has produced a list of basketball legends who quickly credit Pete Newell with helping them to improve their game as long as any coach you can name: Bobby Knight, Coach K, John Wooden... Pete Newell.
Here's a few of the names on that list that I can think of right now:
Kareem Abdul Jabaar
Jack Sikma
Bill Walton
Shaquille O'Neal
Alonzo Mourning
Hakeem Olajuwon
Moses Malone
Karl Malone
Patrick Ewing
David Robinson
Stu Lantz
Tim Duncan
Andrew Bogut
Shareef Abdur-Raheem
Derick Coleman
and plenty of others
A moment of silnce for Pete Newell:
...
...
...
...
I first learned about Pete Newell through his Big Man Camps because my favorite team, The Lakers, employs one of the longest tenured coaches for the Camp (Stu Lantz) as a color-commentator. Through his tutelage, and his philosophies on Post play and "Big-Man" play, some of the most famous and successful players have increased their skill level and overall knowledge of the game. Coaches the world over teach his techniques to their players because he his nuanced, results-oriented training approach has produced a list of basketball legends who quickly credit Pete Newell with helping them to improve their game as long as any coach you can name: Bobby Knight, Coach K, John Wooden... Pete Newell.
Here's a few of the names on that list that I can think of right now:
Kareem Abdul Jabaar
Jack Sikma
Bill Walton
Shaquille O'Neal
Alonzo Mourning
Hakeem Olajuwon
Moses Malone
Karl Malone
Patrick Ewing
David Robinson
Stu Lantz
Tim Duncan
Andrew Bogut
Shareef Abdur-Raheem
Derick Coleman
and plenty of others
A moment of silnce for Pete Newell:
...
...
...
...
Friday, November 14, 2008
Fantasy Basketball Update #2 (Damn You Scott Skiles!!!)
OK, so a month ago, I went on and on about how much energy we put into something with the word "Fantasy" in its title. For me, at least, it has paid off. In the opening week, I won in all 5 of my Fantasy leagues. in 3 head to head match ups, I cam out on top and in two Rotisserie Leagues I was number 1. This, depite starting Ramon Sessions in Week 1 and Scott Skiles Vowing to forget that he exists and leave him on the end of the bench, as well as starting Deron Williams on the Same Fantasy team in a format that counts totals, not averages.
Well, this brings me to my real point here. If you are so damn stuck on Defense that you are willing to allow Offense to go by the wayside for FOUR SEASONS in Chicago; if you refuse to play players who don't earn their minutes defensively; if you claim to be a "True student of the game" who has his team playing a certain way and doesn't want to change because of popular opinion; and if these oh-so-strong core values of your are so important that you would basically flip off a guy who's being paid millions of dollars by your employer to do a job that you're not letting him do, just because he doesn't do it exactly like you think he should; then stick to your F'ing guns!!!!
Ramon Sessions got two DNP-CDs in his first two games this year, despite being the best Point guard on the team presumeably because he doesn't play defense. Now I could understand this if Joe Dumars was your other Point Guard. Or even Derek Fisher. But he sat Ramon Sessions for the "Defensive Juggernaut" known as Luke Ridnour. Just to put that in perspective, imagine parking your Lamborghini for your Pinto because the Lambo doesn't have any cup-holders built into it... Only, your Pinto's cup holders are too small to hold your cups. So your coffee keeps spilling into your lap and burning your right leg. Now imagine that the guy who sold you the Pinto told you before you bought it "Oh, don't try to use the cup holders. I know it says that it has cup holders, but they don't work. Trust me. I've tried it. It just won't work", and you still do it anyway.
That's what Scott Skiles did for the first few games causing me to say "You know what? Even though I spent more hours than Ramon Sessions' stalkers did keeping up with his movements, workouts and medical reports this summer. I knew that Skiles was more of a defensive-minded coach, but I didn't think he was insane. Clearly, he is insane and he's not going to play his best lineup because of a tiny little issue that he has. One that's not even resolved by playing the alternative. It's a lost cause, I shouldn't have drafted him in the Sixth Round. I'm going to drop him and pick up Wilson Chandler (who I'm not mad I picked up at all).
And, of course, as soon as offered to wash the Pinto, the Lamborghini comes out of the garage. And someone else swoops in to take him. Damnit! Damnit, Damnit, DAMNIT, Scott Skiles!!! A Pox on your house for further ruining a fantasy basketball team that already included injured superstars Deron Williams and Josh Smith. A Pox, I say!
Well, this brings me to my real point here. If you are so damn stuck on Defense that you are willing to allow Offense to go by the wayside for FOUR SEASONS in Chicago; if you refuse to play players who don't earn their minutes defensively; if you claim to be a "True student of the game" who has his team playing a certain way and doesn't want to change because of popular opinion; and if these oh-so-strong core values of your are so important that you would basically flip off a guy who's being paid millions of dollars by your employer to do a job that you're not letting him do, just because he doesn't do it exactly like you think he should; then stick to your F'ing guns!!!!
Ramon Sessions got two DNP-CDs in his first two games this year, despite being the best Point guard on the team presumeably because he doesn't play defense. Now I could understand this if Joe Dumars was your other Point Guard. Or even Derek Fisher. But he sat Ramon Sessions for the "Defensive Juggernaut" known as Luke Ridnour. Just to put that in perspective, imagine parking your Lamborghini for your Pinto because the Lambo doesn't have any cup-holders built into it... Only, your Pinto's cup holders are too small to hold your cups. So your coffee keeps spilling into your lap and burning your right leg. Now imagine that the guy who sold you the Pinto told you before you bought it "Oh, don't try to use the cup holders. I know it says that it has cup holders, but they don't work. Trust me. I've tried it. It just won't work", and you still do it anyway.
That's what Scott Skiles did for the first few games causing me to say "You know what? Even though I spent more hours than Ramon Sessions' stalkers did keeping up with his movements, workouts and medical reports this summer. I knew that Skiles was more of a defensive-minded coach, but I didn't think he was insane. Clearly, he is insane and he's not going to play his best lineup because of a tiny little issue that he has. One that's not even resolved by playing the alternative. It's a lost cause, I shouldn't have drafted him in the Sixth Round. I'm going to drop him and pick up Wilson Chandler (who I'm not mad I picked up at all).
And, of course, as soon as offered to wash the Pinto, the Lamborghini comes out of the garage. And someone else swoops in to take him. Damnit! Damnit, Damnit, DAMNIT, Scott Skiles!!! A Pox on your house for further ruining a fantasy basketball team that already included injured superstars Deron Williams and Josh Smith. A Pox, I say!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Really? Mike D'Antoni Isn't The Early Favorite For Coach Of The Year?
OK, so someone said to me a few months ago "Why do you even need a coach in professional sports? If they're being paid that much money, shouldn't they just be able to play?" Well, here is the difference that a coach can make. The Knicks come back with essentially the same team they had last year, and not only do they have a winning record (Anyone can have a winning record 8 games into the season) but they actually look good doing it. They have an offensive system that they all seem to believe in and D'Antoni is clearly a master at casting the right actors as the right characters in his plays (or lack-thereof). It's amazing what they're doing so far and I, for one, hope it continues. It's always nice to see the Knicks in the Playoffs because there is NO better atmosphere for a sporting event than MSG in May... except maybe MSG in June. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
The NBA: Where "Injuries" Happens
Greg Oden was the Number one pick in the draft. A year removed from high school, he was given the hopes of a franchise, along with a multi-million dollar contract and a plenty of endorsements. He then had micro-fracture surgery on his knee and it was declared that he would not play for at least a year.
So we waited. We waited for an entire year for him to make his debut. And on the eve of his return, the newspapers were littered with stories pitting him against Andrew Bynum - who had taken 8 months to come back from his own knee injury, four years after being drafted at 17 years old. The Matchup of 7'0", 285 pound, young centers could not be ignored. It was billed as everything from Olajuwon Vs. Robinson to Bush Vs. Ahmadinejad... And then, he got injured in the second play of the game. And then, yesterday, Andrew Bynum was hurt IN PRACTICE(!!!)
Deron Williams, Micheal Redd, Monta Ellis, Baron Davis, Gilbert Arenas, Manu Ginobili, and of course Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, when they get injured around 45-60 games from now. The List of Big-Name Starters (and Manu Ginobili) getting hurt to start this NBA Season is enough to drive a guy away. I'm almost afraid to ask who's going down next. It just goes to show you exactly why people involved with teams always throw that little caveat in there when talking about their hopes for the season ("We could go all the way, barring any serious injury").
It's been a minute since I actually posted ANYTHING. I wanted to wait until the election was over (it's over for me, I voted this morning after waiting in line for over two hours) before I posted anything. Politics are important in this country, people. More important that sports (even basketball?). If you haven't voted yet tonight, and still can (HI, CA, OR, WA, AZ, AK, etc), I Urge you to hurry out to your polling place and do it. It's one of the most powerful decisions you'll make all year, and it only takes the stroke of a pen or the push of a button... or the touch of a screen or the depression of chad... Look, just vote, OK!!! And make your vote Count.
UPDATE [Friday, November 7th, 2008]: We didn't even get out of the week before another star player went down. Josh Smith will likely be out for about a month, thus ruining my fantasy league in which I picked up Deron Williams and Josh Smith 12th and 13th (Yeah, I picked last in my draft).
UPDATE [Friday, November 7th, 2008]: As if to prove my point, today shortly after Josh Smith's ankle fell off, Kirk Hinrich suffered a torn Ulnar Collateral Ligament because every team is trying to have at least one injured player before the week is out. Thankfully, for the Lakers, that one player is Sun Yue, who got Mono a couple of weeks ago.
UPDATE [Sunday, November 16th, 2008]: OK, so get this. For the last four years, T.J. Ford has been regarded as a good player who can change a game wiht his speed, passing and ballhandling ability, but one who just can't stay healthy. Last year, when he inevitably missed half of the season, his backup played better than he did and the team was better too. so this summer the Raptors traded Ford away to clear room for Jose Calderon to take over the starting position because you can't ever guess whether or not Ford will be in the lineup from one game to the next. Well, of course, Jose Calderon was held out of today's game and it's unsure how many games he will miss because of this injury. Meanwhile, TJ? Healthy as an ox. Ah, the NBA. "Where Irony Happens"
So we waited. We waited for an entire year for him to make his debut. And on the eve of his return, the newspapers were littered with stories pitting him against Andrew Bynum - who had taken 8 months to come back from his own knee injury, four years after being drafted at 17 years old. The Matchup of 7'0", 285 pound, young centers could not be ignored. It was billed as everything from Olajuwon Vs. Robinson to Bush Vs. Ahmadinejad... And then, he got injured in the second play of the game. And then, yesterday, Andrew Bynum was hurt IN PRACTICE(!!!)
Deron Williams, Micheal Redd, Monta Ellis, Baron Davis, Gilbert Arenas, Manu Ginobili, and of course Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, when they get injured around 45-60 games from now. The List of Big-Name Starters (and Manu Ginobili) getting hurt to start this NBA Season is enough to drive a guy away. I'm almost afraid to ask who's going down next. It just goes to show you exactly why people involved with teams always throw that little caveat in there when talking about their hopes for the season ("We could go all the way, barring any serious injury").
It's been a minute since I actually posted ANYTHING. I wanted to wait until the election was over (it's over for me, I voted this morning after waiting in line for over two hours) before I posted anything. Politics are important in this country, people. More important that sports (even basketball?). If you haven't voted yet tonight, and still can (HI, CA, OR, WA, AZ, AK, etc), I Urge you to hurry out to your polling place and do it. It's one of the most powerful decisions you'll make all year, and it only takes the stroke of a pen or the push of a button... or the touch of a screen or the depression of chad... Look, just vote, OK!!! And make your vote Count.
UPDATE [Friday, November 7th, 2008]: We didn't even get out of the week before another star player went down. Josh Smith will likely be out for about a month, thus ruining my fantasy league in which I picked up Deron Williams and Josh Smith 12th and 13th (Yeah, I picked last in my draft).
UPDATE [Friday, November 7th, 2008]: As if to prove my point, today shortly after Josh Smith's ankle fell off, Kirk Hinrich suffered a torn Ulnar Collateral Ligament because every team is trying to have at least one injured player before the week is out. Thankfully, for the Lakers, that one player is Sun Yue, who got Mono a couple of weeks ago.
UPDATE [Sunday, November 16th, 2008]: OK, so get this. For the last four years, T.J. Ford has been regarded as a good player who can change a game wiht his speed, passing and ballhandling ability, but one who just can't stay healthy. Last year, when he inevitably missed half of the season, his backup played better than he did and the team was better too. so this summer the Raptors traded Ford away to clear room for Jose Calderon to take over the starting position because you can't ever guess whether or not Ford will be in the lineup from one game to the next. Well, of course, Jose Calderon was held out of today's game and it's unsure how many games he will miss because of this injury. Meanwhile, TJ? Healthy as an ox. Ah, the NBA. "Where Irony Happens"
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