Steven Jackson is a clown, plain and simple. He's just not a smart player, and like you said, he thinks he needs to be the star of the show. I don't get it. he almost has that John Starks mentality of shoot till you get hot. And he has a short fuse. Wrap all that up into the fact that he was supposed to be the teams "shooter" after Reggie left and its enough to make you cry. Granger is a rookie out of New Mexico. He can play both forward positions or guard. I only saw him play once in college against Villanova in the NCAA tourney first round last year. I saw nothing that led me to believe as Donnie Walsh and Larry Bird said that even if they ahd the #5 pick they would have taken him, as he would still have been the best player available. There isn't one thing specifiaccly that sticks out about his game. he's not gonna be a 28 ppg guy, or a Rodman like rebounder, or Artest defensively. But he is very very good in all aspects of the game. Very well rounded. If he was consistently starting for this team, they'd be much better off. I'd almost rather see him start and bring Jackson off the bench, but that isn't gonna happen. As for JO, no he can't buy a break. But he really isn't a center either. the Pacers should have gone out and gotten just snybody to throw in there. JO takes too much of a beating, and really his body just isn't gonna stand up to it.
I didn't understand at the time when the Pacers were possibly gonna trade Artest to Golden State for Troy Murphy how would that have worked at all. Like you said, J.O. ain't no center at all. Troy Murphy isn't 1 either. Indiana can't have a Phoenix-like lineup cuz they don't run and aren't an offense-first type team, so that trade didn't make sense for me at all. Thankfully, it didn't happen. I don't follow the Pacers much, but I recall during their big seasons, wasn't Jeff Foster their center and he pretty much banged the other centers, while Jermaine just focused on being the main scorer. I knew he would get hurt if he had to go against centers. Tough loss for the Pacers. I had them in the Finals against Dallas. Ahhh well. Peja is gonna be interesting. I wonder if Stephen Jackson is gonna even let him have a chance to shine. Also, Danny Granger is a big-time player. He (along with Josh Howard) reminds me of a young Shawn Marion, cuz he does a little bit of everything. However, now Shawn Marion blossomed to be a tremendous player, and I can see Granger (and Josh) turning out into something like that as well as they become better accustomed the NBA style of ball. Both are bound to be future All-Stars. As for the Detroit fan, you got a good point about Rip possibly not making the All-Star team. However, remember that J. O'Neal is hurt, so he's not gonna play, so that's 1 extra spot open. So far, my possible East reserves are Pierce, Arenas, Billups, B. Wallace, Carter, Rip and Bosh. Also possible are Jefferson, Kidd. Even Dwight Howard has a chance of making it, but that's tough. Webber as well, but both Philly and Orlando aren't good teams. However, since that F spot opens up, 1 of those 2 might make it. That's another question to the folks out there...Who are your All-Star reserves for each conference? I'm wondering who are gonna be the forwards for the West. I'll post mines. West reserves: F - Dirk, Marion, Brand, Garnett C - Okur G - Parker, Allen East reserves: F - Bosh, Pierce, Carter (switched to F) C - B. Wallace G - Billups, Arenas, Rip
Great win by NJ over the Pistons -- very entertaining game although I still think Richard Jefferson is really over-rated. Fun watching the Pistons lose for a change.
And the Pistons coming back down to earth? Suddenly their lead over the Spurs is down to 2 games (I think). They lost to the giant killer Hawks tonight.
Pistons home court lead down to 1 game after Spurs with great come from behind win vs. Indiana and great Heat come from behind win at home vs. Detroit. 70 wins looking out of reach for the Pistons.
The Pistons have a real thin bench and their big five seem to be logging 40+ minutes every time I check the box scores.
That was the concern last year - but they still made it to the finals. It would be interesting to see their minutes over the last three seasons compared to everyone else. I wonder if their starting 5 blow everyone else away given how deep they've gone in the playoffs. It's amazing that none of them *knock wood* have had any real injury complaints.
I used to be a huge Knick fan. Lived and died with that team. The trio of Ewing/Oakley/Starks, Charles Smith and his 40 layups that never went in against the Bulls in the '93 Eastern Finals, watching OJ instead of game 2 of the '94 NBA Finals, the great Spike Lee/Reggie Miller feud, the MSG crowd throwing venom at Pat Riley's return to the Garden after resigning, PJ Brown bodyslamming Charlie Ward, the hatred that became the Heat/Knicks rivalry, the Camby and Sprewell deals, and the improbably run to the '99 NBA Finals. I lived it all without any regret. At the end of the day, they were still my Knicks, no matter how many times they couldn't get past MJ and the Bulls and the rest of the playoff chokes. Then Scott Layden traded the face of the Knicks for Glen Rice and some other scrubs. Patrick Ewing for Glen Rice, when the team already had Allan Houston and Spree. It just made no sense. Then I vowed I'd never be a Knicks fan until they fired Layden. Then they did. Then they hired Isiah. Now look. He's Layden redux. Only, he's worse. I never thought you could do worse than the Scott Layden era, but Isiah Thomas proved me wrong. In many ways I'm glad that I'm watching all this from afar. I don't have to live and die with a team that I know is just gonna die. I don't have to deal with the frustration of having to watch two shoot-first PG's with huge egos and huge contracts make up the Knicks backcourt, because quite simply, I'm just not gonna watch. Yet at the same time, I feel a bit of sadness to know that this once proud franchise is on the brink of demise. That is, unless they're already there and I just haven't realized it yet. I remember how the regular season was almost meaningless to me because the playoffs were always a lock. It was just a matter of trying to win the Atlantic and getting home court for the first round. I remember thinking how it would take an act of God for me to get Knicks tickets to a regular season game even against a team like the Clippers. Luckily, when I think about all of this, I won't lose any sleep. I'll just smirk and thank god that I got out in time. There isn't a GM in any sport that can be worse at his job than Isiah Thomas. Now watch Glen Sather sign Johnny Weir to be the first line center of the Rangers while giving him Messier's #11.
speaking Isiaih - funny sportsguy article: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060224
I love this quote: It's true. Way to bring in another "superstar" PG. Way to limit Nate Robinson to 3 minutes a night. Marbury's salary + Francis' salary = more than the Charlotte Bobcats' combined salaries. And the Bobcats are just 1 GB of NYK overall. Fret not Knicks fans, I had to endure the Hornets 18-win season last year. Things will get better...somehow?
C'mon, you and I both know that's not true. What's even sadder than all this is that James Dolan can sit back and support Isiah through all this. Does he just have a great amount of patience? He did support Glen Sather through his first couple of years that led to the Rangers missing the playoffs, and now they're in first in the division. Could we see a turnaround like this? Does Dolan know something we don't? Or is he in fact just as dumb as Isiah for sticking with him for so long? God I hate Dolan.
Speaking of dumb - some Cavs fans booed Lebron James last night when he was struggling. I'm not sure you can get much dumber than that.
If you're a Cavs fan, the only way you boo Lebron is if he dunks on the opponent's basket and moons the crowd.
Lil Jimmy is the Fredo of the Dolan group. THe only reason why he is running the franchise is because daddy Chucky gave it to him to keep Jimmy out of his hair in the running of the Cablevision business, which is more important to Charles. As long as Dolan owns the team, they go nowhere. Unless a strict salary cap is put in place and the Knicks have no choice but to be responsible, like what finally happened to the Rangers.
Great article on the relative differences between Thomas and Dumars, and what they've built since the Bad Boys days... http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/5358968?CMP=OTC-K9B140813162&ATT=73
And yet another Isiah article, sounding many of the same notes as otterulz, and containing this gem about the Francis trade... http://www.slate.com/id/2137214/?nav=tap3
Out here in Sactown... dare I say it? Cautious optimism after the Kings go 4-1 on a road trip vs. several Eastern Conference playoff teams (except for Atlanta). What's somewhat significant about that is that the Kings only had nine road wins all season prior to the road trip. Those of you waiting for Ron Artest to implode and rip the guts out of the Kings will have wait a little longer. Because right now he's seen as the leader of the Kings and the catalyst for the sea change in the way Sacramento plays - focusing on shutting down the other team. He's not putting up huge numbers, but the rest of the team has followed his direction to a decent record since he's joined our ballclub. I don't doubt that what might have happened in Indy could eventually happen here, and Kings fans could sour on Artest as they did with Chris Webber. But for now, I would say we did pretty well in gambling by giving up Peja Stojakovic for him. Sac is still 1 1/2 games behind L.A. and New Orleans who have the same record and would be in the 7th and 8th spots. There is a chance we might not make it into the playoffs, but the Lakers, Hornets and the Grizzlies are within striking distance. Few if anyone here in Kings Nation thinks Sac has a chance to win an NBA title, but just to make the playoffs with this team would be a solid step in the right direction after the crap this team has gone through in the last 1 1/2 seasons.
Well... Kings over .500 for the first time this season, tonight beating the #1 team in the Western Conference in the Dallas Mavericks, jumping into the 8th spot in the conference and a big showdown with the Lakers (a half-game ahead) coming up Tuesday night. The excitement has finally come back to our little farm town.
This season has been pretty good, one of the best in recent memory. I think San Antonio is going to beat out Dallas for the #1 seed in the west, because Dallas has to play at Detroit next week, and San Antonio seems to have a slightly easier schedule the rest of the way. I hope Duncan can rest up a little so he heals and we see the old Duncan come playoff time.