Not everything works out as planned. Sisqo planned to be a pertinent part of the rap game for more than one week, Pee Wee Herman did not plan on anyone busting in on his “party” and you thought just drafting Yao Ming would be enough to make you competitive for the league lead in Field Goal Percentile.
So right now you are sitting in the middle of the FG% war when you thought you had taken care of it on draft day. Well, the best way to work out of this situation is through trade. You have to pick someone who is resting comfortably ahead of you and try to bring them down. Some of the general concepts of inseason FG% games…
1. Trade away low FG% for high FG%. The most simple concept, remember, trading KG .479 for Lebron .481 does not do alot for your field goal percentage. It does help because Lebron takes close to 200 more shots than KG, but it won’t affect your percentile enough to outweigh having Jamal Crawford or Mike Bibby.
2. Determine the mean FG% in your league and aim to destroy that number with your new acquisitions. Here are the numbers from some leagues to give you some ideas.
First, the last league is my friend’s league. I asked him to screenshot the page and send it to me. Included in the screenshot was his winamp window… and well look at what was playing, conversely to his John Mayer, I put up what I was listening to. By the way, anyone else feel that John Mayer is just going to dump Jessica Simpson in a few months to cause drama in his life and give impetus to write a new album? I can’t blame him, I think after awhile I would do the same thing just so I could brag that I dumped Jessica Simpson, either way expect a song entitled “You Are To Dumb For My Heart” or “Your Plastic Don’t Fit My Mold.” Something awful like that.
I thought this was a joke when I first heard.
3. Aim high. Sure Carmello is having a career year at .477 and Kobe is taking “quality shots” shooting .461. But, these percentiles are not enough to make a point gaining jump in your numbers.
If you are below the league mean, then you can obviously see how adding a Kobe or a Lebron helps alot, but you recognize that if they were capable of pulling the team up to their season FG% you would still not challenge for the top 2 or 3 spots in the category.
Essentially, it is necessary to aim for players with FG%’s over .500 that have taken at least 650 shots so far this year.
4. Break the mold, trade Big for Small. The classic conception is that big players have better field goal percentage than small players. Thus, you have to move big for small to see increases… not true.
The league is a melting pot and there are guards and forwards that have high field goal percents. Inversely, there are also bigs with low FG%’s. Some anomalies you should eye.
Smalls (Relatively)
Luol Deng - .521
Tony Parker - .518
Shawn Marion - .516
Kevin Martin - .496
Bigs
Zach Randolph - .464
Jermaine O’Neal - .447
Al Harrington - .450
Mehmet Okur - .457
5. From this point on in the season you have about .008 percentile points to move at most. In some leagues .008 percentile points can gain you up to 5 points. Make the most of this change by giving discount prices on players to someone slightly above you in the FG%. Are you in fourth place? Good find someone in the top three within your point grasp and start giving them some discount rates. Sure Elton Brand or Carlos Boozer are not comparable tender for Gilbert Arenas, but they are when you can gain 5 points and bring one of your opponents down in points.
6. Finally, always remember that players that shoot more affect your percentiles more. Taking Gilbert Arenas kills your FG% because his .419% comes with a league leading 1,289 shot attempts. Here is a list to show you the top 25 players in FGA matched with their FG%. This is as good as it gets when trading for FG%.
Yea, pretty much I just told you to trade Gilbert Arenas. Hey, the Wizards are running all 12 men every night now, if you need more encouragement.
Actually, this is all under the assumption that you are not playing Viva Pinata all day. *looks at Nels*
All of the NBA is fixated on the two horse MVP race between Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash. In my opinion, this attention is misplaced. The MVP race will boil down to team success whichever team wins the number one seed in the West wins the MVP. If anything, Dirk Nowtizki has already won the race. I have a sneaking suspicion that when voters cast their ballots at the end of the year they will not vote for Steve Nash. After winning back to back MVP’s giving Nash a third MVP creates enormous historical implications that NBA journalists are not ready to deal with, think Susan Lucci. For example, can a player win three consecutive MVP awards and not be considered one of the Fifty Greatest Players of All-Time, assuming we remake the list.
On top of these situations, the entire race will be boring. Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki are like Lance Armstrong and Matthew McConaughey. They hang out a lot, compliment each other, serve as mutual protectors against the media, make-out some; you know, standard stuff. This BFF relationship means that there will not be any name calling or grudge matches. Just two guys who genuinely want each other to win the award saying exactly that, over and over again.
This picture was sickeningly easy to find.
The Defensive Player of the Year crawl is moving along slowly. I say crawl because the award is rarely highly contested and if the award ended up on Ben Wallace’s doorstep again this season few people would notice. Furthermore, the phrase crawl is apt because the perennial contenders of the last six years have all hit their limits. Ben Wallace is averaging 10.4 rebounds and 2.2 blocks, both contemporary Big Ben career lows.
Ron Artest, despite his career high in rebounding 6.7rpg and his respectable 2.2spg, has lost his defensive appeal. We have to agree that DPOY is awarded as much on hype and name value as anything else. It is impossible to comparing a center and guard is as scientific as Wilt Chamberlain deciding to score his next field goal with a blond or a brunette. Ok, bad analogy, Wilt Chamberlain would have given out a co-award. Back on topic, Ron Ron has lost his X-Factor status. Hell, Artest, Dante Hall and Aaron Boone are probably all playing a round of golf right now… or recording a rap CD, I heard on the street that A-Boone brings that Natti style pretty hard. Wait, does Aaron Boone already have a rap cd? *googles*
Manu Ginobili has aged six years in the past four months, he hardly plays 30 minutes anymore. The Argentine no a human highlight of lateral movement, instead he has become more of an inconvenience for youthful guards. Make no mistake, Ginobili is still a top tier defender and the scrappiest smartest player in the league, but he relies increasingly more on team defensive sets and less on his own pure ability.
Thus, with the pantheon of great defensive players ravaged by the pillar destructing force of age, I submit to you the Defensive Player of the Year candidacy of Marcus Camby.
Ok, so the last week may have him on the down side. Double digit rebounds only twice in his last eight. If I had to make a contemporary celebrity reference I would have to say that right now, he looks more like Kevin Smith than Jason Lee. Yes, I implied Kevin Smith is slipping/has lost it. I also implied that I finally got around to watching ‘My Name Is Earl’ and it kicks as much ass as popular culture has been claiming. But hey, Camby did get back on track with seven blocks against the Rockets and had a season-high five steals against the Magic.
Is that mustache Cambyman ready?
End of story, Camby averages 11.8 Rebounds per contest or 4th in the NBA. His rebound total of 557 registers him 14th in the league, this after missing 9 games. Playing those nine games would rank him 4th in total rebounds. Double end of story, Camby leads the league in BPG at 3.08 a showing, including 12 games with more than five blocks and six games with seven blocks. First place would easily be his in total blocks without time missed, with those nine games gone he just has to share with Josh Smith for a 3rd place tie of 148 blocks. Triple end of story, well not end of story, this is the weak part. Respectable steal totals is thy name. Camby’s 1.1 spg is 3rd out of centers and 8th out of centers and power forwards.
I understand that this is a shallow statistical analysis, but this season is like the movie Grandma’s Boy. F-ing hilarious from start to finish, but some people just don’t like it because there is no major actor anchoring the flick. This year, the league’s best defense is anchored by Shane Battier. The epic defenses of the past few years have faded; Detroit and San Antonio both play rather fast compared to previous years.
Go see this movie.
Perhaps you claim Camby is not qualified enough? After all, “He didn’t even make the All-Star team!” you say. Well, that was BS to begin with, his numbers were across the board better than Amare’s, but that aside. No problem, DPOY has been won five times by players that did not make the All-Star team; Michael Cooper in 87′, Mark Eaton in 89′, Dennis Rodman in 91′, Alonzo Mourning in 99′ and Ben Wallace in 2002.
Take it even a step further, the award has a precedent of going to a player on a team with a losing record. Cue Alvin Robertson on the 35-47 1886 San Antonio Spurs.
So break out that trophy, Marcus Camby has some good karma coming his way. Assuming he has already received some bad karma from the whole UMass thing.
Earl: Karma! I used to think this tattoo I got was just two tadpoles doing it, but it’s Karma!
Barfly: Karma? Like this tattoo I have of two cougars doing it?
Earl: No, that is just a tattoo of two cougars doing it.
This article is a superfluous review of the All-Star Weekend and it’s proceedings. I spent an hour alone gathering the media and information to make this post, so you may want to refresh your drink. Despite it’s length I encourage you to read the whole article. Like a Kate Moss cocaine addiction, my old ridiculous writing style has returned and I aim to entertain. Also, Dwight Howard may be mentioned more than five times, I can’t help it, life is a playground and he is bigger than me… much much bigger than me.
The Intro
- Word association time! Milli Vannilli, Ashlee Simpson and Wayne Newton. The common factor is not that they all dated Raab Himself from Jackass/CKY fame, only Ashlee Simpson garners that completely ridiculous distinction. Seriously, Raab himself? He was the most unappealing of all the Jackass guys, I guess props to him (I was not lying when I said I spent an hour prepping materials). The answer is of course… lip syncing. Wayne you had me fooled for the first minute of Viva Las Vegas. Only! Only! because the vocals were pretty poor. I thought, hell Wayne Newton is a vintage act. I walked by Lyle Lovett playing at Austin City Limits two years ago, I understand that sounding like a sorority girl halfway through her fifth Smirnoff while singing “Since U Been Gone” is more likely than the vocal tones that made you famous. But, as soon as they did the first close up, it was blatantly obvious… then Wayne you played instruments. I know you can play guitar, but you looked like a dockhand air guitaring “Sweet Home Alabama” on a freshly caught Flounder. After all this you miss your last set of cues. You lip sync the final note of the song too long, thus “singing” while no vocals are audible, then miss the “YEA!” at the end of the song. Now, I can’t really condemn you for that. I know you are not of the ‘musical accompaniment exclamatory vocal usage’ caliber of say Little John. But, please leave all exclamatory phrases that accentuate songs to the professionals.
- “Agent Zero, Shooting Hero,” thank you Mason. You were the bright spot in what turned out to be a very lame introduction. It looked for a split second like the East had something planned, but the name introductions started so quickly that any plan they had was scrapped. For the record I LOVE when sports get all theatrical for the introductions. Thus, this intro sequence left me heartbroken . Also, for the record, is it Mason or Ma$on? It has to be the second one, right?
- I can not complain excessively though. After all, the East did reenact the movie Stomp the Yard at practice the day before.
Quite simply, this video explains why Shaq can miss over 30 games and waltz into the All-Star Game starting line up without anyone asking for credentials. It explains why Shaq had an action figure, why he had a video game and martial arts style named after him (well I assume it is legit), why he had two feature movies and why he is the dynamic that carried the NBA from Jordan to LeBron. Again, quite simply, Shaq is the tits.
How can someone as big as Shaq have such sweet dance moves? Not only did Shaq serve both Dwight Howard and LeBron James, but footage clearly shows that he consumed Dwight Howard’s heart. I can only presume he gave it back. Hell, I am convinced that there is a niche market Shaq can fill here… the market for males over six feet tall that need to learn how to dance. Just like how Carmen Electra has painstakingly devoted her time and effort to help beleaguered MILF’s nationwide become strippers through her patented exercise videos. Shaq could help thousands of tall dark and handsome men take advantage of the hundreds of new MILF’s turned amateur strippers; courtesy of Carmen Electra. First up… 6′9 English striker Peter Crouch…
The Dunk Contest
Dwight Howard’s dunk… amazing. I was anticipating something innovative, so I had every one of my senses on alert to full appreciate the upcoming dunk. Yea, that includes taste. It tasted like a Snickers Ice Cream bar sandwiched between two blueberry donuts, freaking delicious.
This dunk deserves a perfect fifty not because he actually made the dunk or because of the 12′6″ sticker placement, but because of the planning that went into it…
If the judges knew the work that went behind Dwight Howard’s clever sticker slam, they might have appreciated his creativity. Teammates gave him the idea, but Rusty Morris and Melissa Miller from the Magic’s Creative Services Department made it, uh, stick.
On Tuesday, they snapped photos of Howard for an all-star logo and found the materials for the sticker. Then they had to help Dwight figure out a way to slap the sticker on the glass backboard. “We had to find a material that wouldn’t get stuck to the backboard like a label after he dunked,” said Morris, who turned to Oscar Gonzalez of C & S Press.
Gonzalez came up with a compound and special laminate for the sticker, which had “double-sided sticky tape,” Morris said.
They then had Dwight wrap the sticker around the ring finger on his left hand. With the sticker concealed in his huge hand, Howard practiced the dunk with 30 stickers.
Essentially, there is a hoop somewhere in Orlando, that is graffiti’d with over 30 of these Dwight Howard stickers. How long until that is on EBay? On top of Dwight’s specially assembled “Omega Delta Operation Sticker Dunk Task Force,” the presentation of the dunk was a spectacle in itself. If you need to see the presentation, feel free to watch it again. The presentation was so flawless that this dunk has to have been stuck in research groups and consumer surveys for over a year. Which sticker do you like better? What theatrical presentation makes you aware of the dunk quickest? Speaking of the theatrical presentation, Jameer Nelson had a tape measure hidden on him during the dunk! I expect that when he got home from Vegas there was a message on his answering machine from the National Carpenters Union asking him not to respond to situations so quickly as it makes the customers expect quicker response times. On top of that, there was the sign!
How late do you think Jameer and Dwight were up making that sign in Powerpoint? Even if they did not pull an all-nighter, I would bet money that this page got a hit from the duo.
Lastly, Gerald Green was the best dunker in the stadium last night. Props to him… Houston! Everyone knows that he is missing part of a finger right?
Agent Zero
If you happened to turn the game off early then you missed one of the highlights from a rather boring game.
Can I just say that I love this guy. Apparently, Shaq dared him to do this, Gilbert balked at the request. Then Shaq bet him $50K that he would not do it. Gilbert won the bet. Shaq and Gilbert agreed to donate the money to charity.
I found some keen videos on youtube of the All-Star game festivities so I felt obliged to share them with you.
This is a theatrical video with the festivities, some funny backstages scenes and interviews…
I recommend watching this video. Who does your favorite Elivs impersonation?
Hands down it is Steve Nash. Gilbert and D-Wade did not seem to into it. Also, try to tell me Wayne Newton was not lip syncing, just watch the opening few seconds. Why has there not been more talk of Chuck kissing Dick? Kenny Smith should be all over this.
The NBA’s weekend of debauchery began today. Las Vegas seems primed to put it’s firmest… errr finest on display this weekend. The entire weekend seems to be a referendum on the ability for Las Vegas to host a pro-sports franchise. Anyone else find this amusing? How many citizens/potential fans of a Las Vegas professional franchise do you expect to be at this game? Also, how does the NBA determine that the weekend is a success and thus bestow the city with the ever sought after title of ‘NBA Ready City’ aka the on par with Charlotte and Memphis award. Is this determined by the amount of concession sales? How about whether or not seemingly asexual former deputy commissioner Russ Granik gets laid? Do you need Eddie Griffin to avoid getting arrested for driving into a parked car while watching porn on his dashboard and playing man defense? Or do you want Eddie Griffin to do that to prove your city can handle the day to day mistrials of NBA players without a problem?
Getting this guy laid. The final frontier.
So many questions! But there are a few solid answers…
First: You Are Watching the Dunk Contest
Dwight Howard can sign the top of the backboard in a single leap. The Orlando Sentinel reported late last year that…
There is a spot on the very top of a backboard at the RDV Sportplex — almost 3 feet above the rim — where Dwight Howard signed his autograph during a single jump. Although the penmanship is shaky, the feat speaks volumes.
The Sentinel clearly needs to retake Sensationalized Journalism 101 again. They write a perfectly good article about Dwight Howard’s rebounding potential and skill, yet they use the above excerpt as the one line intro. If this story got to US Weekly, which I have a weekly battle with while using the restroom, the cover would be “CAN HE DO IT WHILE DUNKING?” Ladies and Gentlemen we can only pray that Dwight Howard attempts to go Terrell Owens on the backboard while dunking.
We actually have to hope that Howard tries to autograph the backboard, because the NBA outrageously shot down his request to have the rim raised to 12 feet. Marc Stein reports through some Orlando sources that…
Orlando sources report that Howard has been practicing a couple wicked maneuvers that might inject this dying competition with the ingenuity/originality it desperately needs. One is a 360 throwdown with the rim hiked to 12 feet, two feet higher than regulation. The other sets the rim at 11 1/2 feet and has Howard purportedly going between his legs with the ball in mid-air before flushing.
As a huge fan of the NBA, I am forced to openly ask… Why can’t I watch this? Would doing this sully the integrity of the fallen from grace dunk contest? David Stern, incase you did not notice, you are hosting a footrace between a 67 year old ref and a beastly overweight Sir Charles. It will be part of the festivities, yet you refuse to raise the rim for some dunks that would make the human highlight reel cringe? Additionally, Stein claims that Nate Robinson also asked the league to raise the rim! If the shortest guy in the competition, who is giving up a foot and 2 inches to Howard, asks you to raise the rim… YOU RAISE THE DAMN RIM!
This year raising the bar 11 inches and jumping Isaiah Rider?
Isaiah Rider’s body of work.
If you have three minutes to waste watch this highlight video of the whole contest, then read my comments.
-Robert Pack was in this contest. First, those old Nuggets kits were so ugly vomit would not of shown on them. But second, Robert Pack almost invalidates everything he touches. In his 13 NBA seasons he made the playoffs four times. Once on the Blazers team that lost to the Bulls in 92, he played 53 total playoff minutes. This video was from the 8 - 1 Nuggets upset of 1994 and Pack’s jersey does not lie. He was on that team and exited in the second round of the playoffs. His other two performances saw quick exits. Hardly a treatise of NBA play.
- To further invalidate Robert Pack, second dunker James Robinson made the playoffs five times. Who the hell is James Robinson?
- So we realize quickly that the only people that can dunk are Isaiah Rider, Antonio Davis… did I just say that? and Shawn Kemp. Kemp lost to Rider in the finals after it was discovered that his dunk impregnated two women.
- How lame was Allan Houston’s off the head dunk… he caught it on the ground.
- The best moment of the video is at the 2 minute mark when Barkley reacts to Rider’s dunk.
So, like me you feel cheated because you won’t witness Howard going 360 tomahawk on a 12 foot rim? Well it does not stop there. On top of the rim raising fiasco, Howard’s assist man Jameer Nelson may have bailed on him. Who knows what they were practicing, but there have been no Hedo Turkoglu sightings in Las Vegas yet.
Lastly, do not forget that Gulf Shores alum Gerald Green has had ‘Highflyer’ status since his inception as a rookie last season. Gerald is the favorite going into the contest, this passage should give you a hint as to why…
…something honoring the late Red Auerbach. Could Green, who has a 48-inch vertical leap, possibly dunk the ball, retrieve a cigar from atop the backboard, and light it up on the way down?
Just the thought makes me sick with anticipation. Also, expect Paul Pierce to show up for All-Star Saturday and give some service to the Celtics future SG/SF. Odd considering that Paul Pierce hates playing for the future. He has even advocated trading the upcoming Celtics pick for veteran help.
and Second - Dwight Howard MVP
The only scenario in which Dwight Howard does not win MVP is as follows. Gilbert Arenas does some sleuthing and finds out who made up the USA basketball selection committee. He then convinces Mike D’Antoni to add all of them to his coaching staff. Cue 50 point explosion. Seriously though, Dwight Howard is this games MVP for a simple reason… He does not drink alcohol, claims to have never had a drop of it. Additionally, Dwight will get some serious play time, at least by All-Star standards. No surprise here, this announcement is just further added credibility to Shaq’s esteemed reputation.
I started this article a few weeks ago. I am posting what I finished just to get it up here, I felt like editing it, but it would have created more confusion.
Last year’s Eastern All Stars set a new precedent in introductions. Can this year challenge it?
So here are my picks for the Eastern Conference Dance Squad…….errrrrr All Star/Dance team.
Instead of listing everything great about Dwyane, let’s list the things that would of prevented this All Star appearance; life threatening injury, the apocalypse, reinstatement of the draft and subsequent drafting, new episode of Grey’s Anatomy on game night or the game being in a party laden location such as Las Vegas. The major question surrounding Wade and the All Star Game is if he will do the ever so graceful backwards plummet to the ground and slide across the floor after every shot a la the finals. By the way, most of the mixtapes from the finals on youtube are pretty bad, I could not sit through them to find a clip for you.
Leads the league in Points, Three Pointers and Dream Destroying Shots, also known as game winners. If this is not enough Gilbert adds to his All Star resume with the leagues best . In the blog he has called his huge games, remember the date Feb. 11th, called out Mike D’Antoni and Nate McMillian, told us how he was to busy to enjoy his party and claimed he could drop 70-80 points on Duke and would take a year off the NBA if the NCAA would grant him eligibility to do this. I can not wait to see what dance moves Gilbert adds to this year’s intro. Not to mention the arena will explode when he is introduced.
The people have spoken! And they love .694 free throw percentiles! The King is still doing his thing. I sense a bit of apathy, perhaps the regular season is not as exciting as winning a playoff series. I do not expect LeBron to repeat his MVP performance at this game. Think about it, you are LeBron James, one of the most popular people in America. You are in Las Vegas for a weekend where hundreds of parties will be hosted and you could be the guest of honor at any one of them. Yea… you are going to be sober for the big game… I expect LeBron to look a little like this…
Does Jermaine qualify for the General Manager All Star team also? Everytime the Pacers make any move the media talks more about Jermaine’s wishes than the teams future. That aside, O’Neal is just going to work every day and making life difficult for everyone on the opposing team. Chris Bosh is having a great season also, but I have always felt that Jermaine O’Neal is the most underrated defensive player in the league. Ben Wallace’s parade has shut out O’Neal’s abilities, but in this case, I give Jermaine the starting spot for his defensive skill, that will not be on display at the game.
Why can high school products not enter the big league anymore? Dwight has been almost surreal this season. This is an obvious consensus pick. He provides everything you want out of a center and even made a three pointer, look out Mehmet Okur. Sorry Shaq, you did not sell enough Nestle Crunch bars to make the All Star team this year.
The Southpaw from North of the border, well deserving of a trip to the desert. Everyone would like to see Bosh use his size to harness some more rebounds and blocks… but then we remember that is he already one of the most dominant big men in the Conference. In fact, my desires to see Chris Bosh up his stats is sparking me to look inward at the soulless demanding stat whore I am. Perhaps I should never have a kid and if I do we should stay away from anything that allows me to judge him against other kids… let’s face it, he/she/wildebeest is screwed.
Also, in the event you thought I would put Eddy Curry on this team the same way I vouched for Marcus Camby, then here is the Curry news… Eddy Curry Cries… Starbury and Crawford cry…
If the 2006-7 season is the “Takeover” for Gilbert Arenas, then this year is the “Emancipation” for Caron Butler. This season is no makeover. Butler has been trapped for years on bad teams that underutilized him and wrote him off as an infertile piece to the championship puzzle. He has been trapped as the best player on the 2003 Heat team, then trapped as the best player on the 2004 Heat team, then trapped as the best player not named Black Mamba on the 2005 Lakers. With the Wizards Butler has finally found a scheme that let’s him unleash all of his potential. So as a quick announcement, Phil Jackson and Pat Riley since you never got to see Caron Butler play his brand of basketball, it will be on display at the All-Star game later this month.
I’ll give you a second to put your head back together after the explosion. Yea, Antawn Jamison, I said it. How many players in the league have 90 threes and 300 rebounds? One, Jamison, the next closest is Okur with 83 threes then Jason Kidd with 73. Admittedly, that is an odd standard to judge All Star status with. How about rebounds and points then, say 800PT’s and 300RB’s. Howard, KG, Boozer, Timmy, Randolf, Marion, Jermaine, Dirk, Amare, Brand, Butler, Okur, Curry, Deng, LeBron. Fifteen players, some elite company made up of All-Stars, Randolf, Okur and Brand are all All-Stars in the East anyway.
Additionally, let’s not forget we normally reward the best team in the conference with an extra All-Star, *waves at Josh Howard’s imminent addition and last years all Pistons line.* If you don’t think the Wizards were the best team in the first half of the Eastern Conference, then watch one of their games. Don’t forget, they the provide the conference’s most flourishing offense where dunks, three pointers and game winners are seemingly scheduled for appointments. /off soap box
Third in the league in assists; first in his conference. Top 25 in the league in rebounds, 8th in steals. This is why he is making the entirely reasonable sum of $18million this year. Cheers to your first All Star game sans crazy wife.
Part of me wants to just write ‘Best off the ball movement in the league.’ Rip has held this title for four years now, time he finally gets rewarded for it… well a reward aside from his point totals.
Joe Johnson - Guard
Coaches can lie to themselves all they want, “Joe Johnson is the best player on a bad team. That does not make him All-Star worthy.” Well 16 different teams/coaches have lost to the Hawks, so how did they not get this message?
Chauncey Billups - Guard
This spot is being gifted to Detroit. Chauncey is removed from his MVP caliber season last year, his production is nothing epic, but he still deserves to run.
My sources in the dunk community say Hollins can dunk from the free-throw line off a two-footed jump, which ain’t something you see every day. Bobcats teammate Emeka Okafor, meanwhile, reports that Hollins has “make-believe” vertical ability.
Two-Footed from the free throw line!?!?!?! Either Ryan Hollins is out of this world or everyone that has ever witnessed this dunk was high on PCP. This guy has to be in the dunk contest… HAS TO BE. The dunk contest has gotten increasingly stale over the years. Nate Robinson’s win last year proves it, his inferior dunks won out due to the innovative/nostalgic dunk over Spud Webb. As opposed to the more impressive dunks from Iggy. If Ryan Hollins can come anywhere near doing this, he has to be in the show. The funny thing is, if he does it, half of the people watching will not know what they just witnessed.
Hollins is 7 foot and was a collegiate high jumper at UCLA where he cleared 6′10 at the PAC-10 championships. This season he has played 46 minutes and has an impressive 13 fouls in that time. Also, he has gotten to the line 13 times. I am now at the peak of my interest and must see him play, time to goto a bar and ask to put the Bobcats game on.
Carlos Boozer is out for 3 - 5 weeks with a hairline fracture in his knee. Pick up Paul Millsap immediately if you need rebounds and FG%.
SALT LAKE CITY (January 31, 2007) – The Utah Jazz announced today that a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and additional x-rays revealed a hairline fracture in Carlos Boozer’s left fibula head. Jazz physician Dr. Lyle Mason treated Boozer and identified the hairline fracture, which was then confirmed by a second opinion. Injuries of this nature typically take four to five weeks to fully heal.
I said preseason that Boozer just seems to fall on bad luck every year. This is the latest in a very promising career that is consistently being hampered by bad luck.
If you are an adventurous owner you may want to throw some buy low trades at AK-47. As I posted Yesterday Boozer has been going Tom Brady on Bledsoe-47. Without Carlos Boozer in the lineup I expect AK-47 to see a jump in rebounds and blocks. I do not foresee his points jumping to much because the offense has found other weapons, but you never know.
