College Football Opening Weekend Ramblings

The NBA lockout is still here, and that kind of sucks – but at least the next four months will be ever so slightly bearable with college football back. My scrambled thoughts on an exciting as ever opening Saturday, starting with my favorite team to ever lose at home to Sacramento State:

· Oregon State: I don’t think the Everclear is strong enough – pour me a double shot of rubbing alcohol.

· Mississippi: Part of me wants to see Houston Nutt remain gainfully employed just so Boise State can get a free pass in next season’s opener. The coaching matchup will be kind of like seeing Stephen Hawking run circles around a toddler on a Calculus test – comically and entertainingly lopsided, fascinating in a sick and twisted way, yet oh so excruciatingly painful to watch. But if Ole Miss is serious about having a good program I’m not sure how they don’t fire Nutt – even they can do so much better.

Scottie Pippen: Greatness in a Nutshell

With the lockout upon us, and the future of the NBA as we know it up in the air I want to take some time to reflect on the sport and the league that I love so much, and all the players, teams, and moments that hold the most special places in my heart.

What better way to kick-start all my lockout posts with a tribute to my favorite basketball player of all-time – the incomparable Scottie Pippen. I have always felt and still feel that Scottie continues to receive far less due than he deserves – he remains eternally underappreciated, and I want to illuminate some of the qualities that endeared him so much to me. There has already been a lot written by much smarter basketball minds (and much more concise writers) than myself, and I only hope to add a few of my own thoughts to the blogosphere’s Pippen anthology, starting with all the things I loved about Scottie strictly as a basketball player:

2011 NBA FInals Preview - 2006, the sequel!

In 2004 nobody gave the Detroit Pistons a chance to beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the finals. The Lakers had two all-time greats still in their primes, and they had won three of the last four titles; Detroit simply didn’t have enough talent on paper and would never be able to score enough points to keep up. You just don’t win a series when the other team has the two best players, right? Well normally you can’t. But in retrospect we ignored some obvious advantages – namely that Detroit had a transcendent defense that made more of an impact than any one player on the Lakers, that their bench and their team was significantly deeper and more versatile, that the coaching matchup was beyond unfair (Phil Jackson is an all-time great but he was on total vacation check for this series), and above all Detroit, a team full of castoffs and misfits, had an enormous chip on its shoulder that reared its head on every loose ball, every rebound, and every fourth quarter.

In 2011 nobody is giving Dallas a chance to beat Miami, not when Miami has the two best players in the league in their primes, not when Dallas simply lacks the talent to contain Miami. But are we ignoring a lot of smaller advantages that can allow Dallas to steal the series? Like their ridiculously efficient, borderline unstoppable offense? Like their ridiculous depth and versatility? Like their experience and vast array of hungry, rabid veterans who have been turned back on the biggest stages so many times and are desperate for redemption? Like their 7-foot assassin who transcends matchups and lifts his team to greater heights not quantified by the sum of their parts?

To me this will be an extremely close, hard-fought, exquisitely well-played series; and given all the subplots, storylines, and notoriety of the stars involved this could be a historically entertaining clash and the perfect way to close out this era of hoops before the lockout. With that here are my thoughts on what will decide the series.

Scattered NBA thoughts

This has been the greatest season that I’ve ever watched, both the regular season and the playoffs. We haven’t had a boatload overtime games and game sevens (the spring of 2006 remains tops in that regard), but in terms of the quality of play and the number of transcendent individual performances that we’ve seen, nothing tops this year’s postseason, at least nothing from my lifetime as a basketball fan. To recap:

-Chris Paul reminded us that he’s still the best point guard alive and put on a clinic for how the position is meant to be played.

-Carmelo Anthony showed us why he’s the most unstoppable scorer on the planet when he’s going all out and playing aggressively, unleashing a barrage that rivaled LeBron’s 2007 heroics.

-Brandon Roy temporarily resurrected his career on Easter Weekend, almost singlehandedly leading a comeback for the ages and giving blazer fans hope that he can rehab his knees and still contribute as a scorer off the bench as a Paul Pierce-lite type of player.

-Dwight’s 48-19 in a game one loss to Atlanta exposed how amazing Dwight is (and how flawed his supporting cast is), showing the flaws behind using team wins as the primary metric in MVP voting.

-Rajon Rondo pulled an Isiah Thomas, shaking off a dislocated elbow to lead the Celtics to victory in game 3 vs. Miami, a courageous display of his toughness and will to win.

-We all Neal before Gary when it comes to ridiculous, out-of-nowhere, do-or-die last-second shots.

-Zach Randolph put the finishing touches on a splendid series against the Spurs with a 31-11 closeout game (including 17 in the fourth quarter), presenting exhibit A of why teams continue taking chances upon chances with uber-talented knuckleheads.

-Kevin Durant’s 16 straight points in the game five closeout of Denver gave us a glimpse of what an unstoppable scorer and crunch time assassin that he’ll be when he puts it all together.

-General Grievis (Vasquez) put in a miracle, triple OT shot in one of the most ridiculous and exhilarating playoff games of the last 25 years.

-Dirk’s shooting in game one against Seattle was beyond unfair, as if he had set the game to rookie mode and turned up all the shooting bars to the maximum value. He was so damn good that Kevin Durant scored 40 points and was completely overshadowed.

Other than that nothing very eventful has happened in these playoffs. With that here are my scattered thoughts on a few of the recent storylines.

#1 Pick in the 2011 NBA Draft: Obvious... Isn't it?

The NBA Draft Lottery passed a couple of weeks ago, and the Cavs won the #1 and #4 picks. This seemed like the obvious result about 4 months ago, but was actually a bit of a surprise considering they no longer had the best odds to get the pick, and even more surprising considering that they one the top pick with the Clippers' unprotected lottery pick they received in a trade for Mo Williams (totally worth it by the way). Well now that this is all out of the way, the number one pick is obviously going to be Derrick Williams out of the University of Arizona... wait a second...

Well according to the Walterfootball 2011 NBA Mock Draft Database (pictured above), a lot of people that talk about basketball don't watch basketball. To explain, let's look at the Cleveland Cavaliers' depth chart (bold indicates starters):

PG - Ramon Sessions, Baron Davis, Daniel Gibson

SG - Anthony Parker, Manny Harris,

SF - Alonzo Gee, Joey Graham, Christian Eyenga

PF - J.J. Hickson, Antawn Jamison, Samardo Samuels, Luke Harangody

C - Anderson Varejao (injured for most of 2011), Ryan Hollins, Semih Erden

So between these five starters, which position could be improved the most? Well the answer is actually SG or maybe even C, but considering that Kyrie Irving and Derrick Williams are the only two realistic options at the top spot, let's look at just the PG and SF positions. 25-year-old Ramon Sessions held season averages of 13.3ppg, 3.2rpg, 5.2apg, and 46.7 FG% on 26mpg. 24-year-old Alonzo Gee held season averages of 7.4ppg, 3.9rpg, 0.8apg, and 46.2 FG% on 24mpg.

To try and get a sense of each player's potential, let's look at each player's best month during the season. Sessions' best month came in February, where he averaged 19.9ppg, 4.3rpg, 8.8apg, and 56.4 FG% on 35mpg. Gee's best month was April, where he averaged 11.6ppg, 5.0rpg, 1.0apg, and 56.5 FG% on 29mpg.

In both of these comparisons, Sessions has been much, much more impressive. So why is everyone saying that the Cavs need to improve their PG position more? It must be a financial issue right? Well, this is one area where Gee actually beats Sessions. Gee only has a $760,000 salary while Sessions' salary is just under $4 million. But even though he costs much less, is Gee actually more valuable at his position? During Sessions' month of February, the only month where he got legit starter minutes (35mpg or above), he averaged 20ppg-4rpg-9apg. Deron Williams, star PG for the New Jersey Nets, averaged 20ppg-4rpg-10apg. Sessions productivity is just a shade below Williams' when he gets the same minutes. Now here's the kicker: while Sessions only gets $4 million a year, Williams' salary for the 2010-11 season was $15 million!

So in every facet we've measured so far, Sessions has proven to be a much better asset than Gee. So since it obviously can't be about the current Cavs roster, it has to be about how much better Irving is than Williams... right?

Sophomore Derrick Williams averaged 19.5ppg and 8.3rpg while also shooting 60% from the field and 57% from 3pt range. His second leading scorer on the team averaged 9.7ppg, so it's not exaggerating to say that Williams carried his Arizona Wildcats to the Elite Eight, where they still only lost by 2 to the eventual NCAA Champion UConn Huskies. Freshman Kyrie Irving averaged 17.5ppg, 3.4rpg, and 4.3apg while shooting 53% from the field and 46% from 3. Irving played on the Duke Blue Devils, who entered the season as the favorites to win it all, and was arguably the reason why Duke got pummeled 93-77 in the Sweet Sixteen against *dum dum dum* the Arizona Wildcats let by Derrick Williams.

Well Derrick Williams was much more productive at the college level, but Irving must be a much better athlete... right?

Derrick Williams, at 6'8 and 240lbs, is considered to be one of (if not the) most explosive athletes in the draft. Kyrie Irving, at 6'2 and 180lbs, hasn't shown the speed that many were expecting coming out of high school, and has been athletically underwhelming in regards to the top PGs of years past (John Wall, Tyreke Evans, Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, etc.). Irving also has some injury concerns, as he suffered a toe injury 8 games into the season that took him out of a majority of the season, and only returned for the NCAA Tournament, where he was obviously not at 100%.

Now take in mind, this is not an "I hate Kyrie Irving" post, this is a "Draft Philosophy 101" post. In summation, start watching more basketball, NBA and College Basketball pundits. Also, common sense doesn't hurt.

NBA Season Recap: Thanks for the Memories

A month ago San Antonio, Boston, and Seattle all laid eggs in crucial stretch run games; the Lakers nearly did the same, choosing not to arrive at the Delta Center until midway through the 3^rd quarter. But it was still special because it was the first night of the season that we had experienced anything other than top-notch, high quality, uber-competetive basketball – IN MARCH!!!!!!! When you can actually notice that the one night of NBA hoops isn’t amazing, well that speaks to the high level of play during the other 81 games.

When I look back at this season in 50 years, I’ll remember it as the season for the ages, the season that everyone brought his A-game every night, the season that all the old guard stars managed to extend their peaks against all odds while the next generation arrived as legit superstars (the perfect intersection of the best of the old and the best of the new), the season in which all the top players and teams took the games more personally than ever, and the biggest games became absolute battles, the final frontier when everyone delivered the his best before entering the brave new post-lockout world. We’ve never seen a perfect storm like this and may never see it again. But all I know is that this year the players combined to make this an absolute treat for anyone and everyone who cares about professional basketball (and if the regular season is any indication then these playoffs will surpass 2006 as the greatest spring ever). With that here are the reasons why this has been the greatest NBA season ever.

Uncle Tom, Rebecca Black, Elizabeth Taylor (with a dash of NBA MVP talk)

I wasn’t planning to pen a blog post until the NBA playoffs started…but then when an epic two-night stretch of basketball collided with two weeks of some of the more memorable pop culture news in recent memory….well I just couldn’t resist writing about everything going on. Starting off with the NBA as the top teams start looking towards gaining an edge for what could be the greatest spring in years…

The MVP Race

Let me start by saying this has been one of the most entertaining seasons in recent memory. Between Los Angeles defending the title with a vengeance, Boston furiously chasing the championship belt that they were minutes away from grabbing, the Heatles teaming up to take the league by storm, Derrick Rose, Blake Griffin, and Russell Westbrook ascending to superstardom, the Spurs turning back the time machine for one last hurrah, Stat and Melo making revitalizing the Mecca of Basketball, Seattle planting the seeds for years of future contention, and Portland fighting on despite Brandon Roy’s sudden downfall, I can’t think of another season with this many juicy story lines and subplots. We’ve never had this many rivalries and elite teams; people complain about players forming superteams, but what’s wrong with having stars going to battle every single night? You’ll see once the playoffs arrive and every night is a thriller. And that was BEFORE Tuesday night’s epic night of basketball, which saw Derrick Rose singlehandedly destroy the Hawks, put his stamp on the MVP race and reignite MVP discussion throughout the blogosphere, followed by the Suns and Lakers staging the most epic clash of the season. Once the Blake Griffin and John Wall followed that up with another two overtimes, I couldn’t help but weigh in on the MVP race at the ¾ mark of the season. Without further ado…

NBA All-Star Game Picks

TONY'S PICKS

Eastern All-Stars:

Starters:
PG - Derrick Rose
SG - Dwyane Wade
SF - LeBron James
PF - Amar'e Stoudemire
C - Dwight Howard

Analysis: They got all of these right, though it would've been pretty hard to screw these ones up. And to people saying that Rondo and KG deserve to start over Rose and Amar'e: shut up, just shut up. They've carried their teams into the playoffs and they're both in the MVP race, something neither Rondo nor Kevin "I like to touch other blokes' naughty bits" Garnett can claim.

Reserve:
PG - Rajon Rondo
SG - Ray Allen
SF - Paul Pierce
PF - Kevin Garnett
PF - Chris Bosh
C - Al Horford
SG - Joe Johnson

Analysis: Joe Johnson started out the year terribly, the Hawks have been overall underwhelming this year and he's a big reason why, seeing as he shot them out of more than a few games in the beginning of the season. Josh Smith hasn't been as great as he was last year, but he's still had an all-star worthy season... again. While he hasn't been as great defensively as he was last year, he's actually added the three-point shot back to his game and is actually shooting a good percentage, somewhere around 36 percent I believe. Either way, he deserves to get in after getting royally snubbed last season.