NBA All-Star 09 starts with Rookies
Friday, February 13th, 2009
The NBA All-Star Weekend is here.
Since we have arguably, one of the best batches of rookies ever to hit the NBA this season, it is only fitting to have the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge to kick off the 2009 NBA All-Star Weekend.
This is when this year’s rookies face-off with the sophomores in their version of the All-Star game to culminate the midseason festivities. Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose, the first overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft and Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant, the reigning T-Mobile Rookie of the Year, banner this year’s 2009 NBA T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam.
Forward Jeff Green joins Kevin Durant on the Sophomore team, which also includes Atlanta Hawks forward Al Horford, Los Angeles Clippers forward Al Thornton, Philadelphia 76ers forward Thaddeus Young, New York Knicks forward Wilson Chandler, Detroit Pistons guard Rodney Stuckey and a pair of teammates from the Houston Rockets, guard Aaron Brooks and forward Luis Scola.
Joining Derrick Rose on the Rookie team are two sets of teammates, guard O.J. Mayo and center Marc Gasol from the Memphis Grizzlies and center Greg Oden and guard Rudy Fernandez from the Portland Trail Blazers. Oklahoma Thunder guard Russell Westbrook, Los Angeles Clippers guard Eric Gordon, Miami Heat forward Michael Beasley and New Jersey Nets center Brook Lopez round out the Rookie team.
In last year’s T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam, Cleveland Cavaliers guard Daniel Gibson earned Most Valuable Player honors, making 11 three-pointers en route to a game-high 33 points, as the Sophomores cruised to a 136-109 victory.
Memphis Grizzlies forward Rudy Gay added 22 points and Los Angeles Lakers guard Jordan Farmar tallied 17 points and…
Adam Morrison traded to Lakers
Monday, February 9th, 2009
Unfortunately, Michael Jordan once again mistook a bum for NBA talent.
Years after being widely criticized for drafting Kwame Brown as his overall No.1 pick back when he was running things with the Washington Wizards, the Charlotte Bobcats finally realized that MJ had another failure on their roster this 2009 NBA basketball season, leading to their decision of finally letting the guy go.
This time, MJ has former Gonzaga Bulldogs star Adam Morrison. After an inspiring college basketball career back in Gonzaga, Morrison failed to live up to the hype he generated after Jordan drafted him in 2006 in one of his first moves as part-owner of the Bobcats over the likes of Brandon Roy and Rudy Gay, just to name a few.
Known for his shaggy hair and mustache back in Gonzaga, Morrison failed to impress the Charlotte Bobcats organization and had fallen out of favor with first year head coach Larry Brown.
After the Bobcats traded Morrison, with reserve guard Shannon Brown, to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Vladimir Radmanovic, it was clear that MJ’s hometown was finally sick of his latest failure. (Of course, they’d still regard him as the best player ever to come out of North Carolina.)
‘’We definitely wish him well,’’ Bobcats general manager Rod Higgins said of Morrison. ‘’He’s a good kid and hopefully he gets an opportunity to play. You never know, he might get a chance to win a (championship) ring.’’
Of course, with Vladimir Radmanovic coming over, the Bobcats are hoping that the move will also improve their chances of possibly making the playoffs this season, even winning a championship ring themselves. The move for Radmanovic is the third trade the Bobcats made this year in what is turning into a major makeover under the Larry Brown era.
These guys have also let their leading scorer…
Can the Knicks sign LeBron James?
Tuesday, December 16th, 2008
Fixing the Knicks has been a tall order.
But if the Knicks can complete this master plan they started this 2008-09 NBA basketball season, then maybe, just maybe, the Knicks can finally fix their situation and finally get back to prominence.
What’s this plan you ask? Well, it is obvious that the New York Knicks, after trading away their top two scorers, are joining in on the LeBron James lottery.
With the departure 
of the Knicks’ top two scorers, that being Jamal Crawford and Zach Randolph, via separate trades, the Knicks will now have to work doubly hard to manufacture points and other intangibles that the two players left.
Zach Randolph was sent to the Los Angeles Clippers for Tim Thomas and Cuttino Mobley. Randoplh, who is averaging 20.6 points this season, gives the Clippers an accomplished low-post scorer to work with guard Baron Davis.
Jamal Crawford, on the other hand, was sent to the Golden State Warriors for Al Harrington. He is currently averaging almost 20 points per game.
By trading their two leading scorers, the Knicks will clear approximately $27 million in salary-cap space for the summer of 2010 when the biggest prize in NBA free agency history, Cleveland’s LeBron James, can become available.
Randolph will be making $17.3 million and Crawford $10.1 million in 2010. For the Knicks, this will create significant flexibility as that historic free-agent class of James, Dwyane Wade and…
Pistons + Allen Iverson = NBA Title?
Thursday, November 6th, 2008
In case you didn’t know it yet, Iverson was traded to the Pistons last Monday.
We’re only in the first two weeks and yet we already have the first big trade of the 2008-09 NBA basketball season. Allen Iverson, one of the game’s most prolific scorers, is now a Piston after the Denver Nuggets traded him to Detroit for Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess.
Was this a deal that just might give the Detroit Pistons the NBA title come June? Sure, having a guy like Iverson on your team is a huge advantage but was giving up on Billups and McDyess the right way to go?
Billups was the 2004 NBA Finals MVP and was one of the key factors why the Pistons have been in the Eastern Conference Finals for six straight years. It would be hard to fill in those shoes considering that the guy has made a career of making big shots in Detroit. But if there’s anyone who can fill the void Billups leaves, Allen Iverson can.
Iverson has been known as a guy who never gives up on the court easily. And while the Pistons continue to promote the blue collar style of basketball the last few years, Iverson has always been a blue collar guy even way back when he was still playing with the 76ers.
Next, we have Antonio McDyess, the third guy of this three-man deal between the Pistons and the Nuggets. The trade will bring McDyess back to the Nuggets, the very franchise that made him one of the most talented big men in the game a few years ago. But for some reason, McDyess doesn’t want to play for any team other than Detroit, and I won’t be surprised to see him back in the Pistons lineup this season or the next.
STILL, the Denver Nuggets are looking for better things with the trade. They are hoping to finally get some leadership from their point guard now that Denver native Chauncey Billups has…
Shaquille O’Neal still hates the Spurs
Monday, October 20th, 2008
Apparently, Shaq has this grudge with the Spurs.
The 2008-09 NBA basketball season is almost here and Shaquille O’Neal is still irritated of the San Antonio Spurs for forcing him make his free throws.
Yes, the former Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat and now, Phoenix Suns center of attraction, Shaquille O’Neal, is not a fan of being forced to the foul line to shoot 15 feet away from the hoop with the infamous Hack-a-Shaq strategy teams have started to use against him.
Specifically speaking, Shaq wasn’t a fan of the strategy the San Antonio Spurs used against him in last season’s playoffs where he had the Phoenix Suns leading handily only to hand the lead back to San Antonio after the Spurs intentionally fouled him each time they get.
That was more than a few months ago and apparently, the Phoenix Suns center is still fuming about it.
‘’The only thing I call cowardly is when you’re up by 10 and do it,’’ Shaquille O’Neal said. ‘’That’s a coward move and [Spurs coach Gregg Popovich] knows that and I’ll make them pay for it.’’
‘’I just have to go to the line and hit them and make them pay, and I will, I’m not worried.’’
Shaq has been a notoriously poor free-throw shooter throughout his career, and the Hack-a-Shaq strategy exposes his weaknesses best. Shaq thinks the strategy makes the game less appealing to fans although I find it quite amusing really.
O’Neal shot 50 percent from the charity stripe last season. That number goes…
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