Around the League

Today I want to do something a little different.  I wanna jump around the league and go over the most recent happenings in the NBA.  A lot of interesting stuff has gone on in the last week, so let's take a look around.  You ready? Here we go.

In Boston the other night, Kris Humprhies and Rajon Rondo showed that NBA players still fight like Regina George and Lindsey Lohan in Mean Girls.  Or, two cats playing Pattycake.

Whether its Kobe Bryant and this guy randomly flailing at each other in the early 2000's...

Or the Knicks and Nuggets in this tackle/tickle fight a couple years back...

As you can see, NBA players have never been mistaken for professional boxers.  And Wednesday night's brawl between Mr. Kardashian and Rajon Rondo only reaffirmed it and showed little improvement on the part of NBA player's fighting prowess.  Rondo goes two handed shove to retaliate for a "hard foul" (that looked more like a flop on Kevin Garnett's part).  Humphries fires back with the two-handed Hockey jersey pull over. Chaos ensues.  How about a punch guys? For God's sake, you're on national TV.  Stop embarrassing yourselves.  You are going to get fined and suspended anyway.  David "The Dictator" Stern is still in charge after all.  There can be no descension under King David.  

Elsewhere, James Harden made his triumphant return to Oklahoma City, well sort of...

Besides getting tossed twice by his former buddies, Harden also had a terrible shooting night.  He went 3-16 from the field in one of his worst games as a member of the Houston Rockets.  Don't feel too bad for James.  He will be alright.  He's still top 5 in the NBA in scoring and is only 23 years old.  Oh, don't forget the brand new $60 million contract he signed in the offseason.  Like I said, he'll be alright.

In other news, Gregg Popovich decided that his 4 best players didn't need to play in a game 16 games into the season against the defending champs and current favorites to repeat, the Miami Heat.  Who did Popovich tell? No one.  Not the league, not the Heat, not the fans.  Fans showed up expecting to see Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker, and got none of them.  The spurs were promptly fined $250,000.  Popovich is a master strategist, but come on.  Essentially forfeiting a game to the best team in the league in what could have been a possible NBA finals preview.  (the Heat ended up barely winning...fucking Popovich).

In perhaps the best news of the week.  My dude, Derek "Big Balls Fish" Fisher is back in the NBA.  Even if he was picked up by the Dallas Mavericks (eww), it's good to see Fish back in the league so he can do more of this...

And you wonder why the Mavs wanted him.

In one of tonight's more interesting games, the Denver Nuggets take on the Los Angeles Lakers in the city of angels.  Both teams have been a bit disappointing to start the year after making thunderous offseason acquisitions.  Steve Nash has missed a majority of the Lakers games, but the Lakers are starting to look like a powerhouse as of late.  The Nuggets are also starting to come together.  Tonight's matchup is a potential finals preview, and could show a lot about what the playoff and Western conference finals picture will look like come May.  

Until next time my friends. 

Movember is for Mustaches

As many of you know, November is also known as Movember.  Meaning men grow their mustaches to raise money and awareness for prostate cancer. What a perfect occasion for me to talk about one of the most mustachioed men in the NBA.,  New Los Angeles Lakers head coach Mike D'Antoni.  

Mmmmm

A lot of controversy was raised when all signs pointed towards the Lakers bring back Phil Jackson for his third tour of duty on the Lakers bench.  Instead they went with D'Antoni who Lakers' ownership and general manager Mitch Kupchack have claimed was a better fit for the job.  Lakers fans cried that the Zen Master and his 11 titles spoke for themselves, but let's take a look at the numbers.   

11 chips speak for themselves?

Some Lakers fans were disappointed in the decision.  But Laker's management has a point.  D'antoni is a great fit for the current roster.  For the same reasons I thought Jerry Sloan would have been a good choice, D'antoni has a great pick and roll offense.  Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol will feast with Nash on the Pick and Roll, and Kobe, Metta, and Antwawn Jamison will have open threes a plenty.  D'antoni also brings the best out of Nash.  Steve won two MVP awards playing while playing under D'antoni in Phoenix and the Suns had the best offense in the NBA.

Jackson homers will say that Phil has eleven more titles than D'Antoni.  But, I don't necessarily think thats a great thing.  D'Antoni has never been past the conference finals.  But this could serve as motivation.  Phil has won titles, doesn't need money, and was rumored to be asking for an ownership stake in a team.  That's way too much to pay for a Lakers team that already has many large guaranteed contracts.  D'Antoni will be motivted to win a title and has already said that if the Lakers don't compete for a championship with their uber talented roster than the blame should lie squarely on him.  It seems D'Antoni understands that this roster is time sensitive, with Pau, Kobe, and Nash all 30+, and with Dwight's contract situation up in the air.  He knows that they must win and win now.  And that is exactly the coach the Lakers need right now.  

I personally, am very excited to see this team implement D'Antoni's patented "seven seconds or less" offense.  In Phoenix his team would try to score before seven seconds had passed in the possession.  The offense became so exciting and popular that a book was even written about it.  

7 Seconds or Less

This Lakers squad doesn;t have the knock down 3 point shooters that those Suns team has, but D'Antoni can implement his offense based on the pieces he has in LA.  Hopefully better than he did in New York, where he was fired last season. However, this team is significantly more talented than last year's New York Squad.  D'Antoni debuts tonight, and we'll know significantly more after this game, but the Lakers looked good last game running D'Antoni's offense (against who else but the Phoenix Suns), and won handily.  This Lakers team was going to win a bunch of games no matter who their coach was.  However, only time will tell if D'Antoni can do what Jackson has done so many times over and over again.  In Los Angeles, they don't hang banners for conference championships (well maybe if you're a Clippers fan).  It's title town for a reason, and D'Antoni and his mustache will have been a mistake if the championships don't follow him.  Let the games begin.

Trifecta

Hello, World

The Realest GM

"Basketball is my favorite sport, I like the way they dribble up and down the court." 
-Lil Bow Wow, Basketball

Ever since I was a young boy I have followed the sport of basketball. I love all athletics but something about basketball made me fall in love with the sport. I've been a player, coach, fan, employee, and manager of fantasy teams. I've been involved with basketball on so many different levels, and I can't imagine my life without it.

As I've grown older, and begun to think about a career, I am heavily considering pursuing one in the sport of basketball. The general manager of a National Basketball Association (NBA) team is responsible for all player and personnel management. He is the one who decides to sign free agents, trade players, hire coaching staff, and makes sure the team stays within the financial contract restrictions of the NBA so that his team can continue to build towards a successful future. The general manager (GM) is the architect of a team and deserves just as much credit for its success (or failure) as the players and coach. This is by no means an easy job, but it is one I believe I want to pursue. There are many responsibilities and professional sports is a high pressure business. Everyone is expected to win and only one team can each year. Its up to the GM to make his team the one that comes out on top.

There are a few NBA GM's who are very good at their jobs. Mitch Kupchak of the Los Angeles Lakers, Sam Presti of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Masai Ujiri of the Denver Nuggets, to name a few. That being said. It is my honest opinion that around 75 percent of general managers in the NBA are completely incompetent and some even terrible at their jobs. Why do I believe this? The NBA is different than a lot of major sports currently in one HUGE way. There are only three teams that experts consider legitimate threats to win the championship of the league at the beginning of the season. Those teams are the Los Angeles Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Miami Heat (all have great general managers). In many other professional sports leagues there is a sense of parity. Eighty percent of teams and their fan bases believe they have a real shot at a championship at the beginning of every season. This is not the case in the NBA. It is the three elite teams and everyone else. The reasons for this are many, but all of them lead back to piss poor management by mediocre teams. The league has become filled with super teams such as Miami, Los Angeles, and Oklahoma CIty. This is the result of good general managers taking advantage of mediocre ones in lopsided trades. The best management make great draft picks. The unskilled managers make the wrong draft picks and overpay bad players with bloated contracts, perpetually keeping their teams in the cellar of the league. If the bottom tier teams had better management, it would help them greatly achieve the level of success of the top franchises in the NBA. But, the mistakes continue to happen.

It is my honest opinion that if I took over the Charlotte Bobcats today (the worst team in the league for the past two seasons), I could make them into a playoff team in the next 3 seasons. Their management, which is ironically run by arguably the greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan, has not achieved anything since the franchise was created almost ten years ago. They continue to make head scratching decisions as do other teams in the league. The examples are many. The Lebron James free agency debacle a few years back, the Chris Paul trade drama last season, and most recently a lopsided Dwight Howard trade that made one of the leagues top teams, the Lakers, much better and possibly ruined the future of the Orlando Magic, a team that people believe will be in the bottom of the league for years to come.

In this blog I will vent my frustrations and the frustrations of many NBA fans with the majority of NBA management. I will review trades, free agent signings, and other NBA happenings. I love basketball and believe myself to be very knowledgeable on the topic. Feel free to comment on my posts and give your opinions of the topics I bring up. I'd love to start in-depth discussions or heated arguments.  Either is fine with me.  This should be an open forum for all people who believe themselves to be knowledgeable about basketball to give their "expert" opinions.  After all, many of us could probably do a better job than most NBA general manager's anyway.


Profile

Lost Angeles

ARROGANT NATION.  What does that mean?  Well, you're about to find out.  As most of my readers know, I've been known to rant during my blog posts.  I get frustrated with bad basketball management, and it comes out in my writing.  The same is true of one of my favorite blogs, Lost Angeles.  This blog is all about USC Football and the frustrations that came to their fan base when the NCAA handed down sanctions to them starting in 2010.  The blog is written by USC Alum Zack Jerome, who I've actually had the pleasure to meet and socialize with, and he's a die hard USC fan who knows plenty about football to boot.  As he says, he's "hell with a pen".   Zack is an amazing writer, and during his rants he picks on USC opponents with a double-edged blade of sarcasm and wit.  Here's what he had to say about USC's upcoming game:

        I humbly throw my chiseled, handsome frame on the barbecue so you may all smell the 
        aroma of greatness.  I’m hell with a pen and it’s time for you to appreciate that it’s the 
        day before the day before.

I know that a football blog isn't necessarily related to a basketball management blog, but I would hope that most of my readers are sports fans, and I wanted to share this awesome blog with all of you.

Zack posts every week, twice a week.  Once before the USC game, his Arrogant Game Preview, or AGP, and once a few days after the game, his Arrogant Game Recap.  His blog is pretty popular for a small blog not run by a larger company (such as ESPN).  He is ranked 84,162 in America (according to www.alexa.com).

I know this blog doesn't really relate to basketball, but I love all sports, and I love this blog.  It doesn't try to be what its not.  Zack often mentions how he's not ESPN and his score predictions for games often don't even include real numbers.  For example, his prediction for the USC vs. Arizona game was 237 to 174.  It's a fun, casual blog about a sport and team that he loves, and that's what makes it great.

One of the most interesting posts on the blog came the week before the first games of the college football season.  Zack calls it his "Arrogant Nation Mission Statement".  The post was about his and the USC football team's goals for the year, and it got so many views it crashed the site.  You can find the post here.  Zack likes to be what he calls "Arrogant".  A lifestyle he thinks USC students and alumni embody in the best way (they make up Arrogant Nation).  He often goes into detail in his posts about specific players, both Trojans and opposing team's.  He also talks about the coaches and programs in general.  He likes to pick on and make fun of the other teams, and often does it in very witty ways.  His typical banter is on full display in his most recent post about the recent USC vs. Colorado game.  On Colorado: 

        Look, you named your team the Buffaloes, an animal famous for being easily hunted     
        and almost dying out.

Zack's audience is mainly USC current students and alumni, but fans of opposing teams often frequent the blog leaving less than intelligent trash talk in their wake.  Zack often responds to the Trojans' opponents, putting them to shame with his superior college football intellect every time.  

I love reading Zack's posts because I can see his passion come through in his writing.  This is the same thing I try to achieve in my blog.  I want to be passionate about the mistakes and successes of basketball management, while having the facts to back it up.  My site obviously differs in the fact that it is more generally about professional basketball as a whole, but at their core, both of our blogs are the ranting of passionate fans of their sport.  I hope that this comes through in my posts, and my audience enjoys reading my blog as much as I enjoy reading Lost Angeles.  

Voice Critique

The Basketball Jones

"Basketball Jones, I got a Basketball Jones, Got a Basketball Jones, oh baby, oo-oo-ooo"

The famous song from the movie Space Jam, Basketball Jones, is a tune that I'll never forget.  It has a sound all its own, and it just so happens to also be the name of one of my favorite basketball related blogs. The Basketball Jones is written as a collaborative project between a few people, but my favorite writer of the bunch is definitlely the man who also serves as editor of the blog, Trey Kirby.  

Trey takes a mainly sarcastic tone in his blog.  The Basketball Jones focuses on obscure stories in the world of basketball.  For example, in one of his most recent posts entitled "Jose Calderon just wants to sell some hams, geez," Trey talks about Toronto Raptors point guard Jose Calderon, and his stake of ownership in a pig farm.  Trey starts the post:

        Hey guys, lay off Jose Calderon about the pig farm he is part owner of, OK? Just relax 
        about it, so he can sell hams in peace.

From this opening sentence and the title of the article, you can clearly see the sarcastic nature of his blog.  No one is really giving Jose Calderon a hard time that he owns part of a pig farming enterprise.  But the fact that he is from Spain, famous for their cured pig meats, and he plays in the NBA (he isn't poor), makes for a funny premise. Through his written sarcasm, Trey points out the ironies of specific situations in the NBA.  He finishes the post:

        Enough with the Hams, moving on, sheesh.

By ending sentences with words like "geez" and "sheesh", Trey uses the slang to show that these sentences are overly sarcastic, as these words are normally meant to dismiss a topic.  He also uses more slang language such as "duh" when pointing out the absurdity of a ridiculous play that happened so easily, but no one expected.  From the post, "Things of Note for November 14, 2012":

        Of course the San Antonio Spurs ran a quick-hitter for Danny Green on their last     
        offensive possession, and of course he hit the game-winning three.  They're the 
        Spurs.  Duh.

This sarcastic and pithy voice stays pretty consistent throughout Trey's writing on the blog, and he continues to use it to show the ridiculousness behind happenings, stories, and plays from the NBA.  It is a perfect complement to the topics he blogs on, as they are not really basketball news, but more fun and unnecessary side stories that a reader might otherwise never know, and could definitely be a great fan without ever knowing.  The stories are short but sweet, and his posts are almost his train of thought put to paper.  

 In another post entitled "Tim Duncan will Pimp Your Ride", Trey starts off by saying:

        Yo dawg, we heard you like basketball players, so we put a basketball player in your      
        car customization shop.

For anyone who has seen the once hit tv show, Pimp My Ride, it is easy to see that through slang and great use of punctuation, Trey is imitating the voice of rapper Xzibit in this opening, the host of the show.  He is doing this to show the hilarity behind one of the best basketball players of all time's favorite hobbies.  He continues his sarcasm by saying:

        If we know anything about Tim Duncan, it’s that his custom creations will be very 
        efficient, probably black and silver, definitely Punisher themed, and people will 
        complain that they’re boring even while agreeing that they’re some of the best cars 
        available.

This is a reference to the fact that Tim Duncan as a basketball player, while definitely not the most fun to watch, is one of the best players of all time.  He even earned the nickname the Big Fundamental for his plodding and meticulous style of play.  

From these posts (of many, many more), Trey's voice is very evident and distinct.  He uses sarcasm to expound on funny side stories from the world of professional basketball, and he is a great read for anyone who might be interested.  This blog is great for all basketball fans and sports fans in general.  If you enjoy my blog, then go get a basketball jones!

Fear the Beard

Well, we're 4 games into the NBA season and its looking like the Thunder made the right call trading James Harden.  NOT!  You can say that in a Borat voice if you like.  It makes the fact that the Thunder broke up their young and immensely talented Big 3 even more absurd.  With these dudes, the Thunder would have been a championship contender and/or favorite for the next decade. 

Durant (age 24), Westbrook (23), and Harden (23) made up one of the youngest and definitely the most feared core of any team in the league.  They would all be entering their primes as Lebron James passed the age of 30, with Miami's and the Lakers'  other studs also well past the 30 year mark.  Their window would have been wide open!  Instead Harden has taken his beard out west to Houston, after the Thunder offered him  almost ten million dollars below the max deal.  

So why, oh why, would the Thunder break up the league's most promising young core? Simply put, GREED.  I don't want to hear the argument about how they got three draft picks, and how Kevin Martin is a top ten NBA scorer.  Sure these things are true.  But the Thunder aren't going to be a lottery team.  They went to the first round, then conference finals, then NBA finals in the last three years.  This trade keeps them as a potential contender, so they wil be picking near the end of the first round every year.  They aren't going to be getting studs with their own draft picks, and the Rockets, now with Harden (and don't forget Linsanity) won't be bad enough to have a pick in the top ten either.  Martin will be an effective scorer off the bench, but he doesn't bring the same playmaking ability that Harden brought which allowed Westbrook to be a scorer when they played together.  He also doesn't have Harden's clutch factor.  Jam Hard was essentially a second option at the end of the game if a team double teamed Durant.  

It's all good to get potential for the future, but the thunder already had that.  There is no way to know how high those draft picks will be.  And a player of Jam Hard's caliber comes about once every five drafts.  The Thunder got greedy.  They claimed they were a small market team and couldn't afford to sign Harden to a max contract.  Are you KIDDING?  You're telling me that championships don't pay for themselves?  That's a joke.   

Say Bye-bye.

Give Harden ten million more dollars.  Pay the luxury tax for the next four years, win at least two of the next four championships, and Harden's contract will pay for itself. After that, you can decide who to pay and who wasn't worth the money.  In 2016 the Thunder could have 4 NBA titles under their belt, but instead, they blew their opportunity.  The Thunder are 2-2 and look beatable most nights.  The Rockets have an identical record.  And Harden is leading the league in scoring, the only player above 30 points per game (30.3 ppg).  In the short run it looks like the Thunder have made a huge mistake.  At best they break even from this trade.  You could say only time will tell, but it looks to me like the Thunder may have significantly lowered their ceiling for the rest of the 2010's.  The Beard will be sorely missed in Oklahoma City.  

0-2. Panic TIME!

Well, the Lakers are 0-2.  Yes, not 2-0.  0 wins and 2 losses.  Steve Nash is banged up and probably missing tonight's game. tonights matchup with the clippers.  Things are not looking great, and the media is doing their best to freak out every fair weather fan.  But I, however, am not worried.  People quickly forget, these things take time.

Jordan and Pippen didn't immediately start winning titles.  There is something to be said about a lot of talent, but you can't teach chemistry.  No matter how good players are (and Dwight Howard, Kobe, Nash,  Pau, and event the artist formerly know as Ron Artest, are some of the best) it takes time to learn to play together.  To know each other's tendencies.  To know where a player wants the ball on offense, or how to help him defensively. There are many things that pure talent can bring to the table, but all teams need time to come together.

People who are freaking out need to remember the Miami Heat example as recently as two years ago.  The heat were BAD.  They had Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh, and they were bad. They couldn't buy a win. They lost about 8 of their first ten games.  People were freaking out.  Everyone was saying the Lebron experiment in Miami was already over, and people were writing the Heat off.  But you know what happened? Time, happened.  The amassing of the huge talents of the three Miami superstars began to mesh.  Their players began to learn their roles.  They became comfortable on the floor with one another. They began to pay as a team instead of individuals, and now the world will never hear a ringless Lebron joke again (unfortunately).  Do people mention now, how the Heat lost those first few games?  No.  Most people don't even know it happened.

Sports fans have short memories.  A decade of loss can be eliminated be winning now.  You know what Lakers fans.  I say lose.  Lose now.  Because at the end of the day, its not going to matter what happens in the first few games of the season.  Your starters have only played together for three games (if that).

"We gon' be aight."

So rest easy (or don't sleep at all if you're not a Lakers fan.)The lakers will be fine.  And come May, they will be right in the thick of the championship race.  Talent + time = chemistry.  Chemistry makes champions.  See you in the finals Lakers fans.

The Basketball Jones

"Basketball Jones, I got a Basketball Jones, Got a Basketball Jones, oh baby, oo-oo-ooo"

The famous song from Space Jam, Basketball Jones, is a tune that I'll never forget.  It has a sound all its own, and it just so happens to also be the name of one of my favorite basketball related blogs. The Basketball Jones is written as a collaborative project between a few writers, but my favorite writer of the bunch is definitlely the man who also serves as editor of the blog, Trey Kirby.  

Trey takes a mainly sarcastic tone in his blog.  The Basketball Jones focuses on obscure stories in the world of basketball.  For example, in one of his most recent posts entitled Jose Calderon just wants to sell some hams, geez, Trey talks about Toronto Raptors point guard Jose Calderon, and his stake of ownership in a pig farm.  Trey starts the post, 

"Hey guys, lay off Jose Calderon about the pig farm he is part owner of, OK? Just relax about it, so he can sell hams in peace."  

From this opening sentence and the title of the article, you can clearly see the sarcastic nature of his blog.  No one is really giving Jose Calderon a hard time that he owns part of a pig farming enterprise.  But the fact that he is from Spain, famous for their cured pig meats, and he plays in the NBA (he isn't poor), makes for a funny premise. Through his written sarcasm, Trey points out the ironies of specific situations in the NBA.  He finishes the post, 

"Enough with the Hams, moving on, sheesh."

By ending sentences with words like "geez" and "sheesh", Trey uses the slang to show that these sentences are overly sarcastic, as these words are normally meant to dismiss a topic.  

This sarcastic voice stays pretty consistent throughout most of Trey's writing on the blog, and he continues to use it to show the absurdity behind some stories from the NBA.  It is a perfect complement to the topics he blogs on, as they are not really basketball news, but more fun and unnecessary  side stories that a reader might otherwise never know about certain players or teams, and could definitely be a great fan without ever knowing.  The stories are short but sweet, and his posts are almost his train of thought put onto paper.  

 In another post entitled "Tim Duncan will Pimp Your Ride", Trey starts off by saying,

"Yo dawg, we heard you like basketball players, so we put a basketball player in your car customization shop."

For anyone who has seen the once hit tv show, Pimp My Ride, it is easy to see that through slang and great use of punctuation, Trey is imitating the voice of rapper Xzibit in this opening, the host of the show.  He is doing this to show the hilarity behind one of the best basketball players of all time's favorite hobbies.  He continues his sarcasm by saying, 

"If we know anything about Tim Duncan, it’s that his custom creations will be very efficient, probably black and silver, definitely Punisher themed, and people will complain that they’re boring even while agreeing that they’re some of the best cars available."

This is a reference to the fact that Tim Duncan as a basketball player, while definitely not the most fun to watch, is one of the best players of all time.  He even earned the nickname the Big Fundamental for his plodding and meticulous style of play.  

From these two posts (of many, many more), Trey's voice is very evident and distinct.  He uses sarcasm to expound on funny side stories from the world of professional basketball, and he is a great read for anyone who might be interested.  This blog is great for all basketball fans and sports fans in general.  Go ahead, give it a whirl!

Lost Angeles

As most of my readers know, I've been known to rant during my blog posts.  I get frustrated with bad basketball management, and it comes out in my writing.  The same is true of one of my favorite blogs, Lost Angeles.  This blog is all about USC Football and the frustrations that came to their fan base when the NCAA handed down sanctions to them.  The blog is written by USC Alum Zack Jerome, who I've actually had the pleasure to meet and socialize with, and he's a die hard USC fan who knows plenty about football to boot (find the blog here).  As he says, he's "hell with a pen".   Zack is an amazing writer, and during his rants he picks on USC opponents with sarcasm and wit.  Here's what he had to say about USC's upcoming game, "I humbly throw my chiseled, handsome frame on the barbecue so you may all smell the aroma of greatness.  I’m hell with a pen and it’s time for you to appreciate that it’s the day before the day before."   I know that a football blog isn't necessarily related to a basketball management blog, but I would hope that most of my readers are sports fans, and I wanted to share this awesome blog with all of you.

Zack posts every week, twice a week.  Once before the USC game, his arrogant game preview or AGP, and once a few days after the game, his game recap.  His blog is pretty popular for a small blog not run by a larger company (such as ESPN).  He is ranked 84,162 in America (according to www.alexa.com).

I know this blog doesn't really relate to basketball, but I love all sports, and I love this blog.  It doesn't try to be what its not.  Zack often mentions how he's not ESPN and his score predictions for games often don't even include real numbers.  It's a fun, casual blog about a sport and team that he loves, and that's what makes it great.

One of the most interesting posts on the blog came the week before the first games of the college football season.  Zack calls it his Arrogant Nation Mission Statement.  The post was about his and the USC football team's goals for the year, and it got so many views it crashed the site.  You can find the post here.  Zack likes to be what he calls "Arrogant".  A lifestyle he thinks USC students and alums embody in the best way.  He often goes into detail in his posts about specific players, both Trojans and opposing team players.  He also talks about the coaches and programs in general.  He likes to pick on and make fun of the other teams, and often does it in very witty ways.  His typical banter is on full display in his most recent post about the recent USC vs. Colorado game. (On Colorado: "Look, you named your team the Buffaloes, an animal famous for being easily hunted and almost dying out.") You can see it here.

Zack's audience is mainly USC current students and alumni, but fans of opposing teams often frequent the blog leaving less than intelligent trash talk in their wake.  Zack often responds to the trojans opponents, putting them to shame every time.  

I love reading Zack's posts because I can see his passion come through in his writing.  This is the same thing I try to achieve in my blog.  Being passionate about the mistakes and successes of basketball management, while having the facts to back it up.  My site obviously differs in the fact that it is more generally about professional basketball as a whole, but at their core, both of our blogs are the ranting of passionate fans of their sport.  I hope that this comes through in my posts, and my audience enjoys reading them as much as I enjoy writing them.  

Basketball Bookmarking

Recently I have begun tagging websites on the internet.  What I mean by this is that I have been using social bookmarking on sites such as Diigo and Delicious to tag articles about basketball and see who else has viewed the same articles.  By doing this, I am able to find people who also love to read about hoops online, and may have tagged other websites that I have either not visited in a long time, or I have never seen before.  It has been very helpful to me in my ongoing basketball research as well as for my personal enjoyment.  While I was searching around the web, I happened on another web surfer who seemed to share many of my interests.  My social bookmarking soulmate if you will.  User kieranrae08 is someone who seems very interested in basketball.

I first noticed this person because of the way he/she tags her pages.  Her bookmarking topics varied from "basketball", to "basketball coaching", to "drills, to "training", to"nba".  It would appear that not only is kieranrae08 an avid basketball fan but he/she is also a coach or an aspiring one at least.  Many of her websites are devoted to basketball news and information (the kind of sites I look for online), while the other half are all devoted to improving as a basketball coach, with specific drills, tips, and guides for basketball coaches of all levels.  He/she is also very organized in the way he/she tags the articles.  First any article is tagged with "basketball".  Then the sub-categories are listed.  If it is a coaching page then it will probably be tagged "basketball coaching" along with "drills", "tips", or "plays".  If its a basketball news site it is tagged with "nba" and other specific markers like "espn" or "nba finals coverage".

In terms of his/her bookmarking practices, kieranrae08 has bookmarked around sixteen different pages about basketball on the varying topics I discussed in the above paragraph.  He/she was doing a lot of bookmarking in the month of June, but has not done much since.  This is sad as the websites he/she was tagging were all very useful for all shapes and sizes of basketball fans.  Kieranrae08 isn't necessarily the most thorough book-marker (he/she doesn't highlight and comment on the websites she bookmarks), but he/she makes up for it with her wide variety of tagged sites she has visited.  Maybe when he/she comes back from her bookmarking hiatus, he/she will be more thorough when bookmarking websites and will leave his/her own insights on the new and old pages that he/she visits.

There are definitely a few hidden gems that kieranrae08 has discovered.  Basketball websites that even I have never stumbled upon.  There are two in particular that stand out to me.  Sheridan Hoops is a well organized and beautifully laid out, all-purpose basketball blog.  With its multitude of topics on everything from free agency, to fantasy hoops, to the European leagues, it seems like a very useful basketball information gathering tool.  I was surprised at myself for never having heard of it before (you can find it here).  The second site that stood out to me was Breakthrough Basketball.  This is an essential resource for people coaching on any level of the sport.  As a former coach of youth basketball myself, I know I will use this page if I ever start coaching again.  There are thousands of plays, drills, and pieces of advice for coaches (find it here).

Kieranrae08 is an excellent basketball book-marker and an excellent source for all of you, my readers.  Whether you are trying to find basketball stats, news, and information, or are looking to brush up on your coaching chops, he/she definitely has exactly what you need.  Check him/her out if you don't believe me!

Moneyball

Now I know this is usually a basketball blog but I just had to post about this.  What a year for Billy Beane! I mean first you've got this guy playing you in a movie.

The Brad

If I ever have Bradley Pitt playing me in a movie call my life complete.  On top of this, the Athletic's are on fire, just locked up the American League East, and are a dark horse world series candidate.  Beane is the absolute man, and no one can touch him.  Moneyball is in full swing like it was 2003.  

The NBA has a rare problem these days.  All of the superstar players are teaming up rather than competing against each other.  In the 80's and 90's Bird, Magic, and Jordan had famous rivalries.  Nowadays, the Lakers, Thunder, and Heat are the only teams with a shot at the title.  Many general managers are wondering how they can possibly compete in smaller markets.  Players are bolting as soon as they become free agents to go play in the bigger markets of Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, and Boston.  

Hard to compete with...

The answer is moneyball.  Billy Beane's system in baseball is to sign players that are undervalued by other teams but perform well in certain statistical categories.  By doing this, Beane is able to build efficient teams that compete with the likes of the New York Yankees who have unlimited spending power.  

I believe this system is also possible in basketball.  Teams in smaller markets must try to sign undervalued players that can help them compete.  Teams should focus on certain statistical categories and sign players that mesh well together and have good +/- differentials.  But what categories would work for basketball?  The first few that come to mind are shooting percentage, usage rate, free throw percentage, and rebound rate.  By meshing efficient players together who hit a high percentage of their shots and love to share the ball, I believe a small market team could build  a championship contending roster.  

There are some potential drawbacks to moneyball in basketball.  Baseball is very much a one-on-one sport.  A player comes to the plate, and then its him versus the defense until he either gets on base or gets out.  Basketball is a team sport with five players working together on the court at the same time.  The pieces must mesh while also being efficient as individual players.  Each player brings different skill sets to the table.  This would have to be accounted for in a formula for moneyball in basketball.  

This system of moneyball in basketball could make for a much more competitive NBA, and therefore a more exciting product for the fans.  Research has been done on how certain statistics affect winning percentage, and how players affect each other while they are on the court together.  Much more research in these categories could lead to a refined system of moneyball in basketball.  More small market teams should use this system to be able to compete with the big market teams that can outspend them and have the endorsement appeal that the bigger markets bring for players.  Moneyball is the answer, teams in smaller markets just need to start using it.  

SHEEEDDD!

Today I received some great news.  I saw a headline on a basketball news website that said that Rasheed Wallace was thinking about coming out of retirement to sign with the New York Knicks.  This can mean only one thing...  SHEEEDDDD! Arenas used to sound off when his name was called during spotlight introductions.

Sheedddddd!

In his prime, Rasheed Wallace was an excellent NBA player.  He was a top two power forward in the league.  He was a great on and off-ball defender, an athletic freak, and one of the best shooting big men of all time.  If he wasn't dunking on your head, he was reigning a trey in your eye.

Sheed for three

Growing up a Lakers fan, I should have hated Sheed.  He was doing his thing for the Portland Trailblazers, the thorn in the Lakers side in the early 2000's.  But there was something about Sheed that made you love him and hate him at the same time.  He had that swag that you just couldn't deny.  On top of this, he must have talked more trash than anyone else in the history of basketball.  It wasn't enough that Sheed was dominating you physically.  He had to be in your ear the whole game too.  

I love this from a sentimental standpoint.  Sheed is the man, and the NBA is more entertaining with him playing rather than sitting on a couch at home.   Now, let's look at this from a management standpoint.  This is a very interesting move by the Knicks assuming that they go through with it.  Tyson Chandler, the Knicks starting Center, who Sheed would back-up, has already talked positively about the move (Chandler's Quote).  Rasheed Wallace wasn't exactly "Sheed" in his last tour of NBA duty with the Boston Celtics.  He was often disinterested at times, and mainly ran three-point line to three-point line.  He was what we call a Jacker, putting up any open shot, good or bad, and not playing much of any defense.  

Despite all this, the Celtics were able to squeeze enough out of him to get back to the NBA finals that year with Rasheed as one of their first two big men off the bench.  

The Knicks already signed another aging big man this offseason in Marcus Camby, who should still be a defensive force off the bench.  With Wallace they are probably looking to add some offense and efficient 1-on-1 post defense and veteran leadership.  Both Camby and Wallace should be able to provide a lot of useful advice (the two have 35 combined seasons in the league!) for a team trying to get over the hump.  If the Knicks get wallace at the bargain price of the veteran's minimum around ($1.2 million/year), as I assume they will, I can't disagree with the signing.  If the Knicks get off to a hot start and Sheed buys in, he still has a lot he can bring to the table.  

The Knicks are already set up front, and Sheed will only add to their versatility.  Tyson Chandler is fresh off his first Defensive Player of the Year Award.  Amar'e Stoudemire, when healthy is a versatile and explosive scorer.  As I already said, Marcus Camby is a savvy veteran and former Defensive Player of the Year.  Andddd, I just looked up the Knicks roster and it turns out they also have the ageless Kurt Thomas on their roster.  Add his 19 seasons to MC and Sheed's 35 and that's a whopping 54 years of NBA experience coming off the bench.    This is a great combination of experience and skill in the front court. With the addition of Sheed, the Knicks improve their chances of competing with the likes of the Miami Heat in the East.  

All in all, I approve this move by the Knicks.  In fact, its one of the first smart things they've done in a long time now.  After many bad signings and horrible trades, the Knicks have gotten themselves back to a point where they are close to contending for  a championship.  The signing of SHEED will only help them get closer to achieving that goal.  

Thrown into the Fire

As I've mentioned in previous blog posts, it is my true belief that the majority of NBA general managers are not good at their jobs.  This is a huge reason why the NBA has become a collection of super teams with no parity.  If all GMs were as good at what they do as a Mitch Kupchak or Sam Presti, then lopsided trades and horrible free agent signings that keep teams in the NBA cellar for years on end would never happen.  But unfortunately this isn't the way it is.

Today I'd like to take a look at Rob Hennigan.  At the age of 30, he became the youngest GM in the history of the league when the Magic hired him this past summer.  Immediately after hiring, the rookie GM was asked to undertake the easy task of running the team's draft, hiring a new head coach, and then trading Dwight Howard, the best player in franchise history, who had become disgruntled with the organization.

"This shouldn't be too hard..."

Orlando had the 19th and 49th picks in this years draft.  Middle round picks are a place where a team should hope to draft solid role players and that is exactly what the magic did.  Great start rookie!  In Andrew Nicholson and Kyle O'Quinn, the Magic got two young and versatile forwards, two nice pieces to rebuild their team into the future.  After that, all hell broke loose.

Hennigan's next task was to select a new head coach for the franchise.  After much deliberation, he picked former Magic point guard Jacque Vaughn. I can understand the perceived benefits that come with selecting a rookie coach.  In fact Avery Johnson exploded onto the scene with the Dallas Mavericks a few years ago guiding his team to the best record in the NBA and an NBA finals berth (today Johnson coaches the Brooklyn Nets).  The similarities between Avery and Vaughn are easy to see.  Both were savvy, undersized point guards in their playing days.  Great floor generals who could potentially be excellent head coaches.  But the Magic's situation is different from many other teams.  They are about to start from scratch, and a rookie head coach, combined with a rookie general manager, may not be the best option for a team in need of strong guidance for the next few years.  

From Player to Coach

Next up was the toughest job Hennigan will likely ever have to face.  Trade the organization's franchise player and arguably the second best player in the NBA, Dwight Howard, and try to get equal value in return.  This is a nearly impossible task.  Whenever a team gives away the best player in a trade, it is tough to get comparable talent back, especially when the player being moved is a transcendent one like Howard.  

Over the summer, the Magic had three main trade partners; the Nets, Rockets, and Lakers.  On paper, all three deals seemed good.  The Nets offered draft picks, a young budding wing player in Marshon Brooks, a scrappy forward in Kris Humphries, and arguably the NBA's 3rd best center in Brook Lopez.  This deal eventually fell through because the Magic refused to pull the trigger, but in retrospect would have been the best deal for the Magic.  They would get young and proven talent as well as good draft picks because the Nets would not have been a dominant team right away.  The Rockets deal was not as sweet as originally thought, only including a couple picks and not as much young talent from the Rockets as the Magic wanted.  The eventual trade that ended up happening was with the Lakers.  In this trade, the Magic decided that they did not want to receive the second best center in the trade, Andrew Bynum, because of the fact that he only had one year left on his contract.  They also didn't get the third best player in the trade, Andre Iguodala.  What they did get, was two decent, young prospects in Maurice Harkless and Nicola Vucevic and shooting guard Aaron Afflalo.  A serviceable NBA started but by no means the best player a team should receive when giving away the likes of a Dwight Howard.  The Magic also got a bunch of draft picks, but none that will be anywhere near the top 10.  The trade the Magic made will keep them locked as a lottery team for many years, and the prospects for immediate improvement look bleak.  

You lose win some, You lose some

If Rob had made the Nets trade happen, he would have had young prospects, high draft picks, and wouldn't have helped the Lakers build yet another super team in Los Angeles.  The Magic's future would look much brighter than it does today.  It's hard to blame a rookie GM for his efforts on this.  It was a no win situation.  But, had Rob made the right move, his franchise would have been ready to rebuild, not trying to stay afloat.  

Rare Opportunity

This year's Chicago Bulls have a rare opportunity.  The last two seasons, the Bulls have finished the regular season with the best record in the NBA.  Unfortunately, that regular season success has not translated into the post-season.

Two years ago the Bulls exited the playoffs after a lopsided Eastern Conference Finals loss to the Miami Heat.  This past season, bad luck struck, and the Bulls best player (and possibly the best lead guard in the NBA), Derrick Rose, was injured during game 1 of the playoffs. The Bulls then became only the second 1-seed to lose to an 8-seed since the first round of the playoffs expanded to a 7 game series.

I guess that's why they play the games.

But enough statistics.  The point of the above introduction is this.  The Bulls have a rare chance this season to join the upper echelon of super teams that is currently exclusive to the Thunder, Lakers, and Heat.  How can they do this you ask?  Well simply put, by losing as many games as possible.

Now, you may be asking yourself how that makes any sense?  How are the Bulls going to become one of the best teams in the league by losing a ton of games?  Well, I'll tell you how.  In the mid 1990's the San Antonio Spurs had a great player named David Robinson.  The Admiral (as he was nicknamed) attended the Naval Academy and was therefore forced to serve his term of duty with the Navy after his NBA career had already started.  With David Robinson, the Spurs were a middle tier playoff team, incapable of drafting another star, and incapable of getting over the hump to win a championship.  But during the 96-97 season, the Admiral was off doing his tour of duty for his country, and the spurs were busy being the worst team in the league and earning the number one draft pick.  With that pick they selected one Tim Duncan, the greatest Power Forward in the history of basketball.  And four championships later, that one year of mediocrity seems to have worked out very well for them.

Well, this worked out nicely.

So back to the bulls.  Derrick Rose is expected to be out until at least February.  I've never been one to believe in tanking.  I love competition and to lose games on purpose I believe is very detrimental to the sport.  But that being said, the Bulls seem to be taking the approach where if they put a bad enough team on the court, they wont have to try to lose.  It will just come naturally.  The Bulls let many of their key contributors from the last two seasons walk in free agency, and signed many players that have never been anything more than bit contributors.  It looks like they plan on letting second year wing Jimmy Butler and rookie point guard Marquise Teague lose together grow together while D-Rose heals up.  By doing this, the Bulls, in a season where they know they have no chance to win a championship, may end up with a very high draft pick or possibly the number one overall selection.  Pairing a player such as Indiana's stud PF Cody Zeller or UCLA standout freshman wing Shabazz Muhammad with a healthy Derrick Rose and Scrappy Joakim Noah at center is the makings of a contender. 

Pick Me!

 Some would argue that losing on purpose is never acceptable, and I would agree with them. But you can't deny the Bulls strategy.  If they stay the course and try to win while their franchise player is sidelined, they wil; end up probably missing the playoffs, getting a middle of the road draft pick, and being  a perennial loser to the Miami CHeat for many seasons to come.  With the opposite strategy, they can possibly have a one-two punch to rival any the league currently has, and a legitimate shot to win multiple titles. 

If you ain't cheating...

It seems the Bulls have made their choice, but is it the right one?

This Place is a Mess

The Bobcats. Oh the Charlotte Bobcats. The epitome of bad management in the NBA. The bobcats are quite frankly, for lack of a better word, a mess. Bad draft picks and free agent signings since their introduction to the league as an expansion team in 2004 have placed them into dead last in the league. In fact, last year they finished with the worst record (by percentage) in NBA history.

The man making all the final basketball decisions for the Bobcats is the one and only Michael Jordan. As the team's president of basketball operations, Jordan has final say on all the moves and transactions his home town team makes (Jordan is originally from North Carolina). Unfortunately for the franchise, Jordan's success as a player has not translated to his career as a manager. Not. At. All.

The Bobcat's young history is a long list of bad contracts to underachieving players on top of misguided draft picks. Their best finish was getting swept out of the first round of the playoffs three years ago, other than that, zero playoff appearances. As I said in my last post, I believe that if I were to take over the "Cats" I would have them as a consistent playoff team in three to four seasons.

It has been a very long time since the Bobcats made a smart signing. For this reason, a headline I recently saw on the basketball news website "RealGM" was very discouraging. The Bobcats were considering signing Tracy McGrady. McGrady was a great player in his heyday in the early 2000's but is currently what people in basketball like to say nicely as past his prime. He had abysmal averages for the Atlanta Hawks last year and besides bringing veteran leadership, I can see no reason why the Bobcats would ever sign him. Much like the other moves the bobcats have made, It makes no sense. This summer the team traded the expiring contract of one aging player, which would have given them free salary cap space to sign free agents after this season, for a larger and longer contract of an equally aging veteran. Why?! Why not let the player play out the season and get the contract off the books. Why not use McGrady's roster spot on a young player who has the potential to be a star? You know what you're getting with McGrady. He won't improve your team. A young player with a breakout season could be beneficial now and into the future.

Many of the Bobcats moves lack common sense. When I say I truly think I could turn them around, I am not trying to be arrogant. I truly believe that a general manager with common sense and solid basketball knowledge would do wonders for the Bobcats. Its inexcusable how consistently bad they have been with high draft selections every year. The only good basketball decision the Bobcats have made in recent years was the drafting of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, a promising rookie from the University of Kentucky that could blossom into a star. No one will know if this was a good pick for several years, and that's the best the Bobcats have done in almost a decade. If I were in charge, young, promising players would be signed and drafted. They would be allowed to grow together with low paid veteran players mixed in to guide them. The goal would be to build a championship contender, and with smart and savvy basketball moves, that goal could definitely be accomplished.

Put me in charge of the Bobcats and watch the results. After all, the only way to go is up.

The Realest GM

Ever since I was a young boy I have followed the sport of basketball. I love all athletics but something about basketball made me fall in love with the sport. I've been a player, coach, fan, employee, manager of fantasy teams. I've been involved with basketball on so many different levels, and I can't imagine my life without it.

As I've grown older, and begun to think about a career I am heavily considering pursuing one in basketball. The general manager of a National Basketball Association (NBA) team is responsible for all player and personnel management. He is the one who decides to sign free agents, trade players, hire coaching staff, and makes sure the team stays within the financial contract restrictions of the NBA so that his team can continue to build towards a successful future. The general manager (GM) is the architect of a team and deserves just as much credit for its success (or failure) as the players and coach. This is by no means an easy job, but it is one I believe I want to pursue. There are many responsibilities and professional sports is a high pressure business. Everyone is expected to win and only one team can each year. Its up to the GM to make his team the one that comes out on top.

There are a few NBA GM's who are very good at their jobs. Mitch Kupchak of the Los Angeles Lakers, Sam Presti of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Masai Ujiri of the Denver Nuggets, to name a few. That being said. It is my honest opinion that right around 75 percent of general managers in the NBA are completely incompetent and horrible at their jobs. Why do I believe this? The NBA is different from a lot of major sports currently in one huge way. There are only three teams that experts consider legitimate threats to win the championship of the league at the beginning of the season. Those teams are the Los Angeles Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Miami Heat (all have great general managers). In many other professional sports leagues there is a sense of parity. Eighty percent of teams and their fan bases believe they have a real shot at a championship at the beginning of every season. This is not the case in the NBA. It is the three elite teams and everyone else. The reasons for this are many, but all of them lead back to piss poor management by mediocre teams. The league has become filled with super teams such as Miami, Los Angeles, and Oklahoma CIty. This is the result of good general managers taking advantage of mediocre ones in lopsided trades. The best management make great draft picks. The unskilled managers make the wrong draft picks and give bad players too much money, perpetually keeping their teams in the cellar of the league. If the bottom tier teams had better management, it would help them greatly achieve the level of success of the top franchises in the NBA. But, the mistakes continue to happen.

It is my honest opinion that if I took over the Charlotte Bobcats today (the worst team in the league for the past two seasons), I could make them into a playoff team in the next 3 seasons. Their management, which is ironically run by arguably the greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan, has not achieved anything since the franchise was created less than ten years ago. They continue to make head scratching decisions as do other teams in the league. The examples are many. The Lebron James free agency debacle a few years back, the Chris Paul trade drama last season, and most recently a lopsided Dwight Howard trade that made one of the leagues top teams, the Lakers, much better and possibly ruined the future of the Orlando Magic, a team that people believe will be in the bottom of the league for years to come.

In this blog I will vent my frustrations and the frustrations of many NBA fans with the majority of NBA management. I will review trades, free agent signings, and other NBA happenings. I love basketball and believe myself to be very knowledgeable on the topic. Feel free to comment on my posts and give your opinions of the topics I bring up. this should be an open forum for all people who believe themselves to be knowledgeable at basketball to give their "expert" opinions.