Finally Dubs fans have something to roar about at Roaracle!
I’ve waited my whole adult life for this moment, and the possibility of my favorite team being sold to an owner that cares about the team could truly happen has made this a great Monday! The words “great” and “Monday” aren’t in the same sentence very often, unless your watching an ESPN MNF commercial, but today is special. It was reported just hours ago that owner, Chris Cohan, has hired Galatioto Sports Partners to assist him with the SALE OF THE WARRIORS! A team that is in the fifth largest market in the NBA is hoping the bidding will go over the $400 million mark. Personally, I think that’s a little high, because the Bobcats just went for $275 million, but I’m far from qualified to tell you what a teams’ value is. I’d think it would make it more difficult to get what the price he wants since there is the pending lockout looming large over every possible future franchise owner. Apparently there are more buyers in the running than the only previously reported one, Larry Ellison. We know that Ellison will be in the mix in the bidding war, since he previously had said he was interested over the past year plus, but also had said you can’t buy what’s not for sale. Now that they are, so let’s hope he can assume ownership of the team.
Despite owning one of the worst records in the league, the Warriors draw the 13th best attendance in the NBA. This is just one more reason this is great news for the best fans in the league that pack Roaracle on a nightly basis. We now actually have something to cheer for. Their first order of business when the team gets it’s new owner should be to rehire Chris Mullin. We need him back in the front office making smart personnel decisions. He was the main catalyst to getting together that very exciting 2007 team that upset the Mavs. Yesterday, there was no hope for the future outside of Curry, today the possibilities are endless!
Due to a Sunday morning obligation, I stayed in Saturday night and channel surfed what ended up being a wave of RFPs. The star of the show was none other than NBA Ironman, A.C. Green. Green was cohosting a religious show on channel 95. I didn’t even recognize him at first. Whereas most retired athletes tend to pack on the pounds, AC looks like he’s been on a decade long fast since his playing days. The guy is so skinny he looks like he should be writing for Doin Work! Obviously Green ditched the jheri curl long ago, but he’s also left behind the flat top he rocked in later years. Green now sports the semi-fro, with a soul patch to boot. We all know about AC’s incredible consecutive games streak – he basically played every game from 1987 to 1998. Nowadays he’s an ironman on God’s court.
After I got bored of that show, which was pretty quick, I stumbled upon some NBA D-League action. The Dakota Wizards were taking on the Erie Bayhawks. One guy stood out right away. Former Georgetown standout Michael Sweetney is a member of the Erie club. Now, talk about a guy who’s packed on the pounds. I didn’t even recognize him at first. There’s a number 50 across the front of jersey, but you can’t help but notice the belly and two boobs first. He can still play, as he went for about 20 points, but based on his appearance and lack of mobility, I wouldn’t expect to see him back in the big league any time soon.
Also on the Bayhawks is former Santa Clara University star, Big John Bryant. While Bryant’s size is the main thing keeping him from the NBA, he put it to work last night. In just 17 minutes, he logged 6 points to go with 6 rebounds, but he made his presence felt on the defensive end, blocking 5 shots. The Dakota team boasted an even more unknown player that caught my eye in Corsley Edwards. Edwards was a former 2nd round pick of the Sacramento Kings in 2002. While he struggled from the field, 3-13, he saved his best play of the night for the final possession. With the clock winding down, Edwards drove and dished to a wide open guy (it’s the D-league, you expect me to remember everyone?) for a buzzer-beating, game winning layup.
Who knows the NBA Rookie of the Year candidates better than Doin Work? Name one blog with more content about the Kings and Warriors. We’ve been gushing about Tyreke Evans and Stephen Curry all season long, so now that it’s down to a two-man race for the award, who better to weigh in on the subject than us? We’re breaking down the analysis into three categories which we feel make up the criteria for the award. The first is Stats – no explanation needed. The second is Team Performance / Influence – how well has the team played and how much is a result of the player’s impact? The third is Future Outlook – meaning whose resume is going to look better 20 years from now. Most voters will probably tell you that has nothing to do with the Rookie of the Year award, but that’s not true. Sportswriters love being right. They want to vote for the guy who’s going to have a couple MVP awards in his career so they can say, “I voted for him.” You think any writers out there are watching any Wizards’ games bragging that they voted for Mike Miller for ROY? Come take a trip with us up and down I-80 to see if the trophy is going to end up in Oakland or Sacramento this year….
STATS
Tyreke Evans (MCeezy)-The numbers don’t always tell the whole story, but I think in this case they do. Evans is averaging more than 20 pts, 5 reb, and 5 ast for the season. This fact has been well documented, including here, but in case you missed it, the only other rookies to do that are Lebron James, Michael Jordan, and Oscar Robertson. He’s in the top 20 in the league in Points, Assists, Steals, Minutes, and triple doubles. Sure, he has one, but no one who’s not named Lebron James has more. In fact, Evans’ last outing he came up one rebound shy of his second triple double. Curry’s got a slight edge in 3pt and FT%, as well as steals, but Evans’ overall numbers definitely trump those of Curry.
Stephen Curry (Chappy)- I have to concede that Tyreke’s numbers are superior to Curry’s, but in Curry’s defense, his first two months under Nellie were inconsistent to say the least. There were games when he’d play 35-40 minutes, and the next night he’d play 10-15. I’m not sure if it was Ellis saying that they couldn’t play together, but either way Nellie didn’t seem to trust him that much. Since the Warriors were struck furiously by the injury bug, Curry’s minutes went up and so did his production. Since December, he’s had close to the same numbers as Reke averging 20 pts, 4 rebs, 4 assists, and nearly 2 steals. He’s easily been the most improved rookie over the season. Continue reading
With the upcoming March Madness tourney about to start, I thought I’d do a “what if” post. What if college basketball players were like their football counterparts and had to stay in college for all four years!?! Think how much different the brackets would be! Would it be a no brainer to pick the Texas Durantulas? Probably not, but I’m going to run through the teams that I think would be in mix based on guys they’d still have. I’m not completely sure who the champ would eventually be, but it’s always fun to debate, and I’d have to give it to Senior Kevin Durant!
Memphis – No they wouldn’t have Derrick Rose, because he would be deemed ineligible from that whole cheating on his SAT thing. They would still have Tyreke Evans and Shawn Taggert though. Having both of these guys back would improve their defense. They already showed they could score without them, but they’d just be that much better by being able to shut down the opponents key players. I’m 99.9% sure they would’ve added to their impressive winning streak, and pushed it over 70 games. Continue reading
I know basketball season isn’t quite wrapped up, but the Warriors have had the most injury plagued season I’ve ever seen them go through in my lifetime. Nearly all NBA teams have close to 12 guys suiting up for every game, and the Warriors have had 9 or fewer players suit up for 31 of their 63 games thus far. It looks like this trend will continue to for the remainder of the season as even the D-Leagues they’ve called up are somehow getting hurt too. Being a die hard fan of everything that is Oakland sports, it’s tough to watch my team go through these kinds of problems. Anyone that follows the A’s would know that they’ve had their fair share of injuries over the past few seasons, and it got me thinking what team had the worst injury riddled season of all time in Oaktown!?! It wasn’t hard to pick a team to match up with the Warriors this year. The Oakland A’s had a ton of injuries last year (17 times they used the DL), but not quite as many as the 2008 squad (25 times they used the DL, and a team record). So my question is, who had the worst injury plagued season the 2009-10 Warriors or the 2008 Athletics?
Both these guys were supposed to see huge minutes this year.
2009-2010 Warriors
This Warriors season has had lots of lots in just one box season. It’s worse because it’s been mostly the players we thought would be starting. I remember watching a post game interview with Stan Van Gundy, and he was saying that having 8 guys isn’t a huge deal, but which 8 you have is the most important. Truer words have never been spoken. Not that I was thinking that the Warriors were going to have a great season, but I figured we would be better than this! It was announced that Andris Biendrins will getting season ending surgery. He had a terrible year that will come to an end before most knew it even started. They have a pretty long list of guys that are out for the season including three guys that might have been starters such as; Anthony Randolph, Kelenna Azubuike, Brandon Wright, and the guys they traded for are even out for the season like Raja Bell and Vlad Radmanovic. Even the guys who were there as expiring contracts have gotten into some games like Deavan George. It’s amazing how inconsistent their lineup has been. Five games ago the Warriors had three healthy centers and no backup point guards, On Monday they had four eligible guards and only one center. A summary of this season was in a game against the Bucks in mid-January. They didn’t even have enough players to finish a game! The refs didn’t even know what to do when the healthy body, Stephen Curry, received his sixth foul. They had to confer and ended up giving the W’s a Technical foul, and let Curry keep playing so they had the five guys to finish the game.
Will Chavy ever play more than four or five games at a time?
2008 Athletics
The 2008 A’s were a perplexing team. At the time I felt that they were good enough to make a run at a division title around the All-Star break being 3-5 games out of first, but those hopes were dashed around the trade deadline when we sent our proven players like Blanton and Harden off in trades. We essentially were waving the white flag for the season right there. Maybe I wasn’t looking at the overall picture enough at the time, because they had a ton of guys getting hurt, and maybe management felt that they didn’t have as good a chance as I thought they did at making the playoffs. Especially since the Angels traded for Texiera as the premier trade deadline splash. Anyways, they used the DL an amazing 25 times with those players missing a total of 877 games. Sure you have the often injured Eric Chavez type guys on there, but that’s beside the point.They obliterated every other team in the league in that category by 10. They didn’t even recovery that well in 2009 using the DL 17 times, and was second in the league in that category. Maybe it’s not The Curse of the Wash after all that is bringing them down, maybe it’s just the injuries!
All in all, Oakland fans have been getting used to hearing, so and so is having surgery. So and so, is day to day. So and so got in a moped accident. Ok, that last one was a cheap shot, but you get the point. Maybe these past couple of years will make them upgrade their training staffs. Maybe karma will kick in and give them a clean bill of health for the next three years! My pick for the most injured team, goes to the 2009-10 Warriors, they’ve been more banged up than Charlie Sheen the last couple months!
I’ve never been a fan of watching athletes hang on like reality stars do when they reach the 29th second of their 30 seconds of fame. They hold onto their glorious lifestyles as long as they can, and it’s not my call to make, but based mostly on the bad taste it leaves in everyone’s mouth. I’d much rather see some guys out of the league at this point, but there’s always some owners that will pay. It’s sad to watch the best of the best fall into mediocrity. Yeah, they can still play, but they aren’t helping their teams like they think they are. Unless you are a freak like Dikembe Mutumbo there’s a big chance you won’t be playing into your 40’s. Every team has at least one guy that the fans, the media, and the players know that it’s time to call it a career. In the wake of the AI gambling and seeing his production drop off the map over the last two years, I guess it’s as good a time as any to scan through the league rosters, and pick out some guys that may as well apply for the AARP. I’m sure it was a nice ride no matter how long or short it was! I don’t really blame any of them for holding on as long as possible, but at some point enough is enough. Adam Morrison almost made the list after the convincing argument MCeezy made on his future RFP of the day eligibility. Alas, I’m going to keep this list to guys that have had their shot, and either aren’t cutting it or aren’t good anymore.
Lindsey Hunter – Chicago
What!?! He’s still in the NBA!?! I was kind of shocked to see that he was on the Bulls roster. At 39, it will be hard to find an older guard in the league. He makes Jason Kidd look like a baby. He’s only started a total of 13 games over the last 7 seasons, and has blistering ppg averages of 3.5, 3.8, 2.9, 4.9, 2.4, 2.6, 1.0. Clearly it’s about that time to move on Lindsey. Be an assistant coach or something. Continue reading
While Reggie Miller’s back to back three pointers in the waning seconds of a game at Madison Square Garden will be forever remembered, there was another triad of triples that often goes forgotten. Not in my mind, though. I feel like I was watching the game when it happened, but I can’t imagine a Nuggets-Jazz game on national television around that time, so there’s a good chance I just saw the highlights and later came to believe I was watching it live. Regardless of the circumstance, Rogers’ 9 seconds of amazing is one of my greatest memories from the NBA glory days. I was a huge Nuggets fan back then, largely on the heels of their huge first round playoff upset of the Seattle SuperSonics the previous year. I loved guys like Dikembe Mutombo, Chris Jackson aka Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, LaPhonso Ellis, and of course Robert Pack. I also liked Rodney Rogers coming out of Wake Forest, but I could never really make up my mind. I liked his game, but he became more and more of a spot up shooter outside the arc, despite having one of the most impressive frames of anyone on the court. Perhaps this game is what convinced him that he should be a strictly three point shooter, I don’t know. What I love best about this clip is the third basket. He gets the ball and then seeks out the three point line. I also love his teammate, presumably Reggie Williams, grabbing him out of excitement, even though Rogers had to get back on D.
Consider this an RFP of sorts. Rogers hasn’t been away for very long, but some might not know that a little over a year ago, he was severely injured in a dirt bike crash. I don’t know what a 6’7″, 260 lb man was doing on a dirt bike, but that’s not for me to judge. He is now paralyzed from the shoulders down. Add to that, I also learned that his father left him when he was little, his mother suffered a near-fatal car crash when he was 17, that put her in a coma for two weeks and hospitalized her for three months, and his step father passed away two years later. So, despite my mixed feelings about Rodney Rogers the basketball player, the man has paid his dues, and the fact that he can’t, and probably never will be able to walk, just makes this 9 seconds all that much more sweet.
Thank you Fanhouse! You’ve given me the inspiration to do some power rankings. I couldn’t believe what their power rankings looked like, I mean really!?! I’m as big of a Laker hater there is out there, but putting the Mavs at numero uno over the Cavs and the Lake show is a little bold!! I’m not sure what Brett over at Fanhouse is smoking, but I need to get some! Anyways, here’s how I see the top 16 teams in the league at this point in the season.
#1 Los Angeles Lakers – They don’t have the best record in the league, but having Kobe sit out for a little will help them. Not missing a beat in the win column keeps them atop these rankings. They will most likely cruise to the Western Conference finals before they are truly tested. John Canzano at the Oregonian might have convinced me that they could be tested by the Blazers in the first round, but I won’t get my hopes up at this point of an early Lake Show exit.
#2 Cleveland Cavaliers – Best record in the league, and a very close 2nd to the champs. Is it a big deal that Shaq is out? No, but in case anyone forgot, they have Lebron. You could put him on the Bucks right now, and get through the first couple playoff rounds, so I’m not buying that the loss of the Diesel is that big of a deal at this point. If he ends up missing more time than expected, that might be another story. Lebron is playing in a different league than everyone else, he doesn’t need Shaq.
#3 Orlando Magic – Vince looks like he finally is fitting in, and the Magic are playing their best basketball of the year. If they keep playing like they have, they could be just as scary as Cleveland in the Eastern Conference. Stan Van Gundy reminds me of Rex Ryan in the NFL. He’s a little unpredictable and unstable, but if you were caught in a fight you would gladly take them on your side.
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Last night I was watching the Warriots play on TNT. A mini part of going to a Warriors games at Oracle is the crowd reactions to Andris Biedrins shooting his free throws. He has has the worst free throw form of anybody in the NBA. He’s worse than most guys playing in an AAU game. I mean, don’t you think he should try something different!?! I’ve heard things from sitting in an inflatable chair, to throwing it up there Rick Barry underhanded style. It sounds like he doesn’t want to change his form, so you can be the judge for yourself what he should do.
On to our next contestant of the worst form known to man, is Charles Barkley, and his golf swing. We’ve seen him get a little better through the Haney project, but Charles is far from fluid with a golf club in his hands. I have to admit the first time I saw him swing a golf club I thought it was a joke!
Personally, I think Chuck’s form is waaay uglier, but since he isn’t a professional golfer, I’m giving Biedrins the nod for the worst form. I’ve seen tons of terrible golf swings, but can’t recall a more awkward jerky one than Charles’s. Biens looks less comfortable than Shaq at the line. It looks like he is throwing a medicine ball on all of his free throw attempts…
I have to admit the only time Durant has failed me was during the NCAA tourney as a Longhorn. He made me a believer that he could single-handedly win a title during the year hitting a few buzzer beaters. Unfortunately, he had a god awful performance in the 2nd round of March Madness, and was out of college basketball forever. Needless to say it destroyed my brackets that year. When he went to Seattle I was pretty happy, and grew a mini-mancrush on him through his rookie season. After Presti hi-jacked the team, I’ve found it very hard to watch them. I feel like I should be boycotting anything that is the Thunder. Another reason why every picture I put up of Durant on posts is him in a Seattle uniform. Alas, it’s impossible not to watch this amazing young team hitting full stride, and Westbrook has grown a TON since he came into the league. The main reason for their success has been Kevin Durant, and how he has put them into contender status at the vetran age of 21 years old.
He's a PC with Windows 7 at least!
The Sonics (still resisting calling them the Thunder) are like that up and coming boxer that is knocking out everyone that they face, skyrocketing up the rankings. Most likely they will fall to the champ in a fight for the belt, but it’s always fun to see the potential of the young guns. Rattling off 9 straight wins has made them relevant in the west, and I don’t see losing the last two being overly devastating. It hasn’t been a small story that KD had 29 straight 25+ point performances, until he scored a measly 21 tonight. He’s turned into the full package, and if he ever learns how to start dishing it, watch out. Then again, why would he pass, when he’s going to score no matter how he’s being defended. I’m already more impressed with his offensive game more so than I am with Melo’s. It doesn’t matter who the other team puts on him or what kind of double team he is facing, he figures it out and finds a way to score! If Melo is a PC, then KD has to be Mac. There’s one thing I’ve always liked about Durant, and that is the fact that he only cares about basketball. I mean, could you ever see him shooting up a night club or even having a gun for that matter? Making a rap video? Sending naked texts of himself? That’s what I thought. He’s a pretty clean cut guy, and only seems to care about getting better at basketball. I wonder if he’ll get arrogant like Kobe and Jordan are. You see something different with him, he’s just one of those competitors that won’t allow himself to waste away his talent.
One thing he has going against him is that he’s playing in the Lebron era, because in any other year, he’d get my MVP vote. It’s wild that if you took Durant or Lebron off either these teams, both would probably be counting how many ping pong balls they had for the John Wall lottery. That is why, I’m picking both of them above Kobe. Their importance to their teams is invaluable. I can still see the Lake Show making the playoffs with the supporting cast they have in place. Lebron looks like he’s hitting his Michael Jordan type stride, where it’s going to be nearly impossible for anyone to get an MVP but him for a few years. I guess Jordan wasn’t given the award a couple times in what many felt was the league getting tired of giving the award to him, and just wanted a change of pace. It seems like as long as Lebron is healthy, and has a good enough cast to get the top seed, it will be his award to lose. I’m praying that I’ll get to see his Big-O impersonation one year, and average a triple double for a entire season. My question is, when are we going to see the third puppet come out in the MVPuppet commercials? KD is already sponsored by Nike, why wouldn’t they throw him in there! He’d be my favorite character of the three.
The trade deadline has come and gone, and there was some activity over the past week leading up to the salary dump or be a contender deadline. I can’t say I was surprised that Amare or Boozer didn’t go anywhere since both teams are still in the playoff hunt, and the Jazz look to be a threat in the west. There were some big moves by teams in contention, so I’ll go through and give you my thoughts on if these teams actually made themselves better to contend for a title…
Great pickup for a team that desperately needed someone to help out Aldridge down low. Aldridge has been playing out of position since Oden and Pryzbilla went down, so moving back to his natural PF spot should increase his productivity. I don’t see Portland as a contender, but this move could get them into the playoffs, and give them a little more experience come next year when they have a better chance at competing for a title. That is, if Brandon Roy starts looking like his old self, and gets that hammy healthy. Trade grade B.
Yeah, I know. I already wrote about this one. I’ll rehash what I wrote before, this does make them better defensively, which should improve their soft image. Caron hasn’t had a great start in Dallas, but I’m sure it will take a little while to assimilate to the new team. I really like Haywood down low. I caught some of the game against the Suns last night and he was swatting all that weak sh** out of the paint. I thought they had a chance before the trade to do something in the west, but this only increases their chances. The trade grade B+
This feels like a terrible trade for the Bulls. They are finally gelling and out of nowhere they ship out a big man that is finally playing well out of town. I like the move for Charlotte, who needed to make a move to be better, and getting rid of Acie Law and Flip Murray won’t effect them at all from an on court standpoint. They’ve easily leapfrogged the Bulls in the east to get destroyed by one of the top three seeds. I still like that they made an improvement, so I’ll give them a B.
Great deal for the Rockets, although I don’t see why they traded away Landry who has a shot at 6th man of the year. I’m just glad he landed in Sac who now has ten PF’s. I think having K-Mart will help the Rockets in the clutch, and since they are in a lot of close games, they will need him at the end of games. I feel like he will give some relief to Ariza and Brooks on the scoring load, and also make their offense tougher to zero in. He’s being reunited with his old coach Adelman so at least there’s a familiarity there. Martin also has that high basketball IQ which never hurts on a team that looks to overachieve. Trade grade B+. I don’t like them giving up their best bench guy in Landry could hurt their chemistry, but overall it’s a good move…
I really like Jamison (partially for his Warriors ties, and partially because it’s my favorite Irish Whiskey). There’s no doubt that Amare would’ve been a bigger acquisition, but Jamison is no slouch. He’s a team guy and his averages are nearly identical to Amare’s 20ppg and 8 rpg. I’m not sure why people don’t view this as a great move. I mean look how well Jamal Crawford is doing for Atlanta after being stuck on crappy teams for years and years. The Cavs didn’t need to add someone that needs to dominate the ball to be effective, and Jamison is a guy that can get his without holding the ball too much! I thought they were the best team to knock off the Lakers, and this only improves them. Trade grade A-. It’s only a minus because they could’ve gone for Amare.
This gem must’ve been caught by the Staples Center kissing cam caught a few years back! I couldn’t resist putting it on the blog… I’ll let the picture speak for itself… Happy V-Day!
I can’t say I was ever all that into the Dos Equis commercials. I get it, the guy is interesting, but seriously how do you earn the title the most interesting man in the world ! It’s like giving your dad a coffee cup with #1 dad written on it. It’s all subject to opinion! I’m much more into Nash being the most ridiculous man in the world! I guess he might not be the most ridiculous person in the world but he could be the most ridiculous man in the NBA!
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cali4dre
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dyslecix
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Doin Work 