Shaq It was a pleasure to watch Shaq during the Lakers' title runs around the turn of the century. The dunks are a blast to watch but he also had a very effective 8-10 foot kinda "toss" shot (there were a few in the highlight clip posted above.) I think that he had a wrist injury as a kid that limited his ability to shoot in the conventional way, hence his slightly odd form. The fans never got too annoyed that he sucked so bad at free throws because he worked hard at improving, but he just could not get much better (Wilt had the same problem). He may have been the single most difficult player to officiate. When he was down low on offense he was fouled on almost every play. At the same time, almost any move he made to the basket would dislodge the defender and look like an offensive foul. We see that now with LeBron. He is so damm strong and physical that he seems to get fouled on every play. Even I had forgotten how slim Shaq was when he came into the NBA. I now recall stories that his body fat was like 8%.
It's damn near frightening to imagine what Shaq could have been. He half-assed it some nights (hell, some months? Some years?) and displayed a genuine disregard for fitness....and still was amongst the greatest players of all time. And imagine what his career totals would look like if he had played 75 games a season instead of 65. The low games played might have prolonged his career in terms of years, (Maybe. probably not since they were injury related) but it definitely cost him games played in his prime. Healthy, fit, motivated Shaq would have pretty much been a shoe-in for 30 and 12 every night for about 10 years, at almost a 60% clip. Throw in 3 blocks a game, 3 assists. And I think that is a conservative estimate, since it's almost what fat, injured Shaq did. Also....it really is bizarre to see clips of Shaq going coast to coast. It's easy to forget that he did that sort of thing.
I did Tae-Bo back in the late 90s when Shaq first came to LA at Billy Blanks' studio. Magic would be there, Sinbad would be there. Shaq would come from time to time. Let me tell you all something: Most people that size move like Shrek or Andre the Giant or something. Seeing him in person doing class, watching him effortlessly spinning around, doing the kicks, punches, jumps and shit, it was amazing. He moved better than pretty much anyone else in the class.
Minny's front office has gone on record saying they'd like to acquire a veteran PG to mentor Rubio, and Nash is the closest comparison to Rubio in the entire NBA. So I *sort of* get what he's trying to do. I strongly wonder how much Nash has left in the tank, in spite of how great he played last year. Besides, it's David Kahn. What, were you expecting him to make good trades? Silly rabbit.
Of course I don't expect him to make good trades, but for my sanity I need him to not top (bottom?) the bad trades & decisions he's made in the past by making even worse ones now. I really don't want him to play a game of "How much can I fuck up this franchise before I'm fired and/or the fans riot?"
I don't really understand the trade from the Kings perspective. They moved back three spots, took on Salmons, and shipped off Udrih for what? To justify picking Jimmer?
The Kings' theory is that they can run and gun with Fredette. I'm kind of disappointed that he didn't end up in Utah. If I were a member of the Kings frontcourt, I would be pissed. Between Jimmer and Tyreke Evans, the forwards and centers will never see the basketball. Jan Vessely wins the NBA Draft. First we all see him make out with some smoking hot Amazonian Blake Lively lookalike....and then, when asked about his nickname as the "Blake Griffin of Europe," he responds with "Well I don't know about that...I think Blake Griffin is the Jan Vessely of the NBA." SWAG.
Great trade for the Bucks. Stephen Jackson has already been quoted as saying he is not pleased about coming to Milwaukee, but if they can somehow settle him down, this could turn out great. Getting rid of Maggette and Salmons is huge and Udrih gives some guard depth. Not super pumped about Tobias Harris and Jon Leuer, oh boy, draft him for the home state fans. I don't care what his combine stats were, he is too slow to guard the 3 and not physical enough to play inside, so he's another one dimensional 6'10 white shooter. Oh well. As a casual Bulls fan since I live in Chicago, I am ecstatic they got Jimmy Butler. Watching him the last 3 years at Marquette has been a pleasure and his story, which honestly nobody outside seemingly the inner sanctum of the program knew about until just recently, is really something special. I can speak first hand about what a quality dude he is and he works damn hard and is incredibly coachable. I think he will fit well into Coach Thib's system and provide good minutes backing up Deng. He can guard the 2,3, and some 4s and does all the little things. Good to see things turn out this well for the kid.
Smoking hot and Blake Lively lookalike are both extreme, but that interview was brilliant. Especially cause his only discernible talent is dunking.
Well, the lockout has started. Thoughts? Here are some articles about it: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/commentary/news/story?page=wilbon-110630 http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/NBA-lockout-owners-seeking-utopian-system-063011 http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...30/lockout/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_t11_a2
I think the lockout in both football and the NBA are fucking stupid. Here's why: When I was 18, I went to buy a used car (this was in 1991 for those playing at home). They wanted $7000. I offered $6500. They wouldn't budge on the price. I said, "You work on commission, right?" The salesman said yes. I said, "What's the difference in commission from $7000 to $6500?" "About $50." "What's the difference in commission from $6500 to no sale at all? Want to sell me a car? That's what I'm willing to pay." After another half hour of them trying to convince me to "just pay the extra five hundred bucks", I walked. So now these guys want to split up a pie that is measured in billions of dollars. Whatever they will haggle over will probably still be less then they'll get when they piss off the fans and people don't want to buy tickets and merchandise. I remember the last NBA lockout, when the season was only 50 games. It took the league years to recover, and honestly never really did. It was the early post-Jordan era, and while the game is popular now, it's nothing like it was in the mid 90s. Why these fucking guys can't remember that history is beyond me.
Neither lockout is going to solve anything over the long term. From what I can see the fundamental problem is this: Franchises are perpetually overvalued. They're overvalued because rich idiots are willing to pay a premium for the prestige of owning a professional sports team. Thing is, the novelty of that wears off so they then want to turn around and act as though it's just like any other invesment and want to profit accordingly - except if they had that motivation for the start they would've never paid the amounts they do to buy the team in the first place. So it doesn't really matter how the lockout ends and in whose favor it's in. Presumably when this ends the owners will get something that's financially paletable, franchise values will rise again making them look like geniuses, and new, prospective owners will be drooling to join the club - leading these new idiots to overpay just like the current ones did. And it will be fine until there's an inevitable bump in the road at which point 15 or so years down the road we'll be right back to where we are now.
Hell, the NBA is juuuust getting back to that level. This year is the first year I noticed people watching in large numbers again, especially the Finals. Go back 4-5 years and none of my friends really followed the NBA, whereas this year they at least watched the Finals.
It's funny how reading all the articles the attitudes are completely different with the NFL and the NBA lockouts. NFL Lockout: "OMG the OWNERS ARE NAZI'S! NOTHING IS WRONG WITH FOOTBALL! WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY DOING? WE CANNOT MISS ANY GAMES!!!!1!" NBA Lockout: "Oh this is going to suck. Yeah, they kinda need the lockout. How much is Rashard Lewis making? Yeah...something has to change. Eddie Curry's contract was what? Yeah...something needs to change. Holy fuck, Mike Conley is making how much? Holy shit. Yep, we're definitely going to miss some basketball."
I think a large part of the difference (other than football's status on top of the American sports heap) is the fact that everyone knows the NFL makes a shitload of money, whereas every is aware that some NBA franchises are running the the red (how many or how much in the red depends on who you ask, of course).
It probably has something to do with the fact that the NFLPA would probably kill to get the sort of deal the NBA gets. Guaranteed contracts and a soft salary cap, the only sport with a better deal is Baseball, and it's hard to hate on the guys that put in their time in the minors.
I will hate on them. Just because you spend time in the minors doesn't mean you deserve an inflated salary. Carlos Pena and his .196 average didn't need $10mm from the Cubs. Non descript middle relievers don't need/deserve $6-7mm a year for pitching an inning or two every few days. Baseball is way out of whack, but I don't see it changing anytime soon.