NBA Blog

Below is the link of the video of Trinity’s fifteen lateral play as seen from the enzone.  Click on the link to watch it on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7oF4ZDigjM

I will be back later today with an NBA preview, but for now, rest assured that Tim Duncan will not leave San Antonio until at least 2012.  Good times.

***UPDATE***

You can listen to Trinity University’s Head Football Coach, Steve Mohr, on the Dan Patrick Show by clicking on the following link.  Enjoy.

http://www.xtrasportsradio.com/cc-common/streaming_onesite/index.html?refreshed=yes#
 
***

Sorry for the lack of lines from last week.  I would pat myself on the back for doing so well, but how could I prove it to you guys.  I just dropped the ball, and did not get the post uploaded in time.  Once it is too late, there is no point in putting the post online. 

Instead, I chose to watch, rewatch, rewatch, and rewatch the amazing finish in the Trinity University Tigers - Millsaps Majors football game.  My boys did us proud by, well, just watch the clip, because it makes you happy to be a part of T.U. Football.  Hoot! Hoot!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eeEy060qrA

That is the greatest finish to a game in all of college football history.  Forget about “the band is on the field!” because T.U. lateralled the ball FIFTEEN! times.

That tops the other amazing finishes in Trinity football history, including the:

3. Urban Legend’s game winning catch against Gustavus Adolphus.
2. Paul “Horse” Morris kicking the game winner as a freshman at Wash.U. after flipping the bird to the other team for trying to freeze him.
1. Hail Mary to Hunt at Wash.U.

So I realize that I offered a teaser of my predictions of the All Rookie Teams last Friday, only to leave everyone hanging.  Not cool, I realize that.  My bad.  Seriously, I really dropped the ball on that one.

Not to worry, though.  I have the first of my award winning NBA predictions below.

(So, they have not won an award yet, but give me time.)

Durant is going to win the Rookie of the Year Award as I previously mentioned, which means he will clearly be on the NBA All-Rookie First Team as well.  He will be joined by the following players:

First Team:
G - Juan Carlos Navarro - A rookie from Spain who will quickly steal minutes away from Mike Conley, Jr., Tarence Kinsey, and Randy Foye.  The Grizzlies actually have a nice collection of young point/combo guards to run their fast paced offense.  It will be interesting to see how that rotation unfolds, especially with Damon Stoudamire back in the mix. 
G - Kevin Durant - He’s starting the year at the two guard, so he’s making my team as the two guard. 
F - Al Thornton - I was torn between Thornton and Horford here, because I absolutely love how Horford’s game is going to transition into the NBA, but the Hawks just have too many bodies that they want to get minutes, including Horford, (uberwasted pick) Shelden Williams, Marvin Williams and Josh Smith.  Horford and/or Williams will share minutes with Pachulia, but I still don’t see enough time to go around for all.  Unlike Navarro, Horford will still have to develop against the professional players.
F - Luis Scola - This is the guy that I believe will make a run at Durant as the top rookie.  He’s 27 years old, and he’s been dominant in Europe.  Plus, there is that little axe to grind with the Spurs for never bringing him over to the U.S.  Scola will not have the stats to compete with Durant over the long haul, but he will be a very good rookie for the entire season.
C - Kyrylo Fesenko - This is my sleeper.  I watched him get minutes during the summer league game, and I hopped on the Fess bandwagon.  He is huge, he runs the floor really well, and he’s got a nasty streak that I have not seen in any Euro big men.  Once he breaks into Jerry Sloan’s rotation, he will stay there.  This kid is something special, and the stories I have been hearing about his personality are hilarious. 

Second Team:
G - Marco Belinelli - A sweet shooting guard for Nellie-ball.  I’m waiting for the first Sportscenter highlight where Belinelli gets hot and knocks down 6 3’s in 13 minutes of game action.  Pietrus and Davis have a knack for getting hurt, Jax is missing the first seven games, and Monta Ellis’ nasty injury (which has not received enough press coverage) means that there will be plenty of minutes to be distributed between Kelenna Azubuike and Belinelli.  (Personally, I don’t buy the news that the Warrior rookies are spending the first part of the season in the NBDL, at least not Belinelli).
G - Rodney Stuckey - The Pistons will play solid all year long, and Billups and Rip will need some help from the bench.  Stuckey is able to rotate between the two guard positions, and he should see enough time to beat out Thaddeus Young for this spot.
F - Corey Brewer - Somebody has to play in Minnesota right?  Jefferson and Brewer should have solid fantasy seasons, but they won’t do much as far as wins are concerned.
F - Al Horford - He may not make the first team, but I believe he will be the third most important thing from this draft class right behind Kevin Durant and Greg Oden’s knee when all is said and done.
C - Jo Noah - Once again, there are no centers in the draft that will contribute much.  While I like Noah’s energy, he reminds me of nothing more than Mikki Moore.  Moore is a great energy guy, but do we really talk about him all that much?  No, so why does Noah get the hype.

Inconspicuously left off the list:
Jeff Green - solid season, just no ‘wow’ factor.  He will be like the Rounder of this draft class, never in the top, but never in the bottom either.  He’s gonna come in and do solid things every night.
Thaddeus Young - The wild card.  He has some tremendous athletic ability, but there’s no way to know how long it will take for him to develop.
Mike Conley, Jr. - Not enough minutes for him behind Foye, Navarro, Stoudamire, and Kinsey.

Left off for a big reason:
Morris Almond - I like his shooting stroke, but as I watched the other players on his team during the Summer League, I noticed that Matt Lojeski (white kid from Hawaii) is a MUCH better shooter.  I mean, Lojeski’s jumper is phenomenal, a la Mike Miller.  I’m on the Lojeski bandwagon, which makes two rookie Utah players that I like.  Add that to the Utah players that I have liked in my life, and that makes two.  (Note: Greatest of all time “NBA Hoops” flops, Rafael Araujo is also listed on the Utah roster for now, which continuously haunts me like the ghost of Luke Jackson).

For the highly anticipated return of the picks, I thought I would kick off the NBA prediction campaign by offering my personal, enlightened opinions about the NBA rookies this season.  Remember, nobody, and I mean NOBODY watches more basketball than me that does not earn a paycheck to do so.  I promise.  Name one person, other than yours truly, that Tivo’ed every single summer league game and watched them in their entirety.  You can’t.  Maybe some tried, but once the lineups got down to Hans Jorgenflugen, and four other deadbeats, you turned away in horror.  Not I.  I stayed the course.  It is what I do, and my wife sometimes hates me for it.

Sidebar 1:  You may or may not have noticed that I am dropping the ‘wife’ reference a lot lately instead of referring to her in my preferred nomenclature, ‘lady friend.’  Well, I am still adjusting to this whole marriage concept, and I just think that if I drop that term enough times the hotties will back off, I mean, it will sink in that I’m actually growing up.

Anyway, back to more pressing matters.  In my opinion, and the opinion of EVERYBODY else, Kevin Durant will be the Rookie of the Year.  No doubt about it.  He is going to get plenty of minutes and plenty of shots, so the numbers will certainly be there.  Will there be nights where he goes 4-19?  Probably, but I am willing to bet that they will be few and far between. 

Sidebar 2:  I am going to go out on a limb and demand that Kevin Durant get a great nickname, because I don’t want that stupid initial thing happening to him also.  Kevin Garnett is still the Big Ticket in my book and not K.G.  There are not enough quality nicknames anymore, which is a serious disappoinment.  J.Kidd, T-Mac, D.Wade, and ‘Melo.  That’s just lazy.  At least the Spurs have stayed strong starting with The Ice Man, then The Admiral and The Little General, and finally The Big Fundamental, but other players deserve quality nicknames, like Agent Zero.  That is good stuff.  Durant needs a quality nickname, and I am calling for all takers to offer up nicknames for Durant. 

Anyway, lets get back to the picks (home teams in bold, my picks are listed first):

Arizona +8.5 at Washington
New Orleans -8.0 v. Atlanta
Baltimore -3.0 at Buffalo
Dallas -8.5 v. Minnesota (yes, I have that little faith in Tarvaris Jackson and the Minnesota pass defense)
New England -17.0 at Miami
New York Giants -9.5 v. San Fran.  (Dilfer is no good)
Tampa Bay +2.0 at Detroit
Tennessee -1.5 at Houston (if Vince Young plays, if not, go the other way)
Kansas City +1.5 at Oakland
New York Jets +6.5 at Cincy (the Bengals are awful right now)
Chicago +5.5 at Philadelphia (close game because neither team is playing very well)
Seattle -8.0 v. St. Louis
Pittsburgh -3.5 at Denver
Indianapolis -3.5 at Jacksonville

for the formatting error of last Friday’s post.  I could not get it to format properly.  I guess I was a little rusty after my two-month hiatus.  Rest assured my crazy hoopsfans that I have corrected the problem, well somewhat. 

As I noted in my final paragraph last week, the preeminent prognosticator has returned to his proper place perched atop his …(struggling for another word with p)…perch?!.  If you had asked me which team to take last night, I would have laughed at you and said, “Go get those points with the Saints because they are beating the ‘Hawks, and they are going to blow the over right out of the water.”  You know why I would have stated thusly, well because this is a thing of the past.

As far as tonight is concerned, well, I could just make my picks and then laugh all the way to the bank only to tell you about it the next day.  After all, who would ever know if my picks did not pan out?

Instead, I’ll just advise going with the hapless Jets, -4.5 points, over the lackluster Falcons.

If you want to get really crazy, mix some Dicey Sox with your J-E-T-S, Jets! Jets! Jets!, because it is good when Manny’s being Manny.  I mean really good when Manny is being Manny.  Seriously.  What, still don’t believe me?

Wait, what was he wearing?  Is that for real? On second thought… I’ll back this guy.

     So I’ve been incognito for the past couple of weeks, it is not like a whole lot has happened in the sports world. (Okay, so here is where I would channel Buffalo Bill, no not in a mangina “it puts the lotion on its skin kind of way,” but rather just so I could drop that always funny line) Oh WAIT, wasn’t she a great big, fat chic?…” 

     Man, I have been going crazy with all the exciting things happening in the wide world of sports recently.  Unfortunately, I have been a tad bit busy over the past few weeks, what with the marriage, the honeymoon, the garage sale, the move, the new job, the wife applying to 18 different places for internships while writing her dissertation, and last weekend, planning an impromptu bachelor party for my buddy who is getting married this weekend. That is a lot of stuff.

So let us break down the past couple of weeks in that always entertaining, never boring, verse of haiku:

NFL:

NBA:

MLB:

NHL:

     Well, there you have it.  Several weeks of sports rolled up into one (or multiple) lines of obscure Asian verse. I don’t know what marriage has done to me.

     I’ll see you next week with some new stuff and I may even return to my NFL prognosticating ways. (Let’s just say there has been a resurgence of late after last season’s debacle.)

So everybody likes to hate on Barry Bonds.  I have grown increasingly tired of the attacks.  From people selling books about him to the never-ending coverage of angry posts against him that were shown on ESPNews yesterday.  It has become incredibly tiresome. 

There were even people who were saying that he does not belong in the Hall of Fame, which may be the dumbest thing ever proclaimed about Major League Baseball. 

Well, because of all of this hatred and disdain, I thought I would put in a good word for Mr. Bonds.  I believe ‘Game of Shadows’ chronicled Barry’s steroid use in either 1999 or 2000, and for the sake of convenience, I will just go with everything pre-2000.  By that season, Barry had already amassed 445 homeruns and 460 stolen bases.  That’s right, Barry was a 400-400 guy long before anyone gave a damn about steroids.  In fact, those were the Rennaissance years for the MLB.  Big Mac hit 70 during the summer when Slammin’ Sammy was nipping at his heels and the cookie-cutter 1970’s dual stadiums were being demolished for Camden Yark copycats.  Nobody knew about steroids and nobody wanted to know, including Bud Selig.  Everybody just wanted to relish in the spotlight.

Now, Barry is the face of everything that is wrong with this era, the so-called steroid era.  I have a question, does that make the 1970’s the coke-era or the pre-Jackie Robinson days the mighty-whitey era?  Maybe the MLB should be like artists and have periods.  Who could forget the MLB blue period.  Much like the steroid period, in the blue period, everybody was doing it no matter what the team colors were.

Well, let us take a look at another player that could possibly be the face of this steroid era.  Notice the incredible spike in production during the two-year stint in Toronto.  In the four years leading up to his move to Toronto, Roger won a total of 40 games, lost 39 games, struck out 717 batters (an average of 179 per season) and seemed well over-the-hill.  Then Rog goes to Toronto, it is a whole other country with different standards about acquiring performance enhancers you know, and in two seasons reasserts himself as a dominant pitcher.  In two seasons north of the border, Roger won 41 games, more than his previous four seasons, while only losing 13 games and striking out an astonishing  563 hitters.  Oh, and his ERA dropped an entire point in that time.  But wait, there’s more!  Roger got his fat deal in New York and returned to ordinary in his first two seasons in the Bronx before making a huge push in 1998 to get more money.  In ‘98 he once again topped the 20 win and 200 strikeout marks all while losing a total of THREE games.  Roger was a superhuman by that point.  Then he retired after the 2003 season only to resurface in Houston late in camp and put together an 18-4 season with 218 strikeouts and a sub-3.00 ERA in a hitter’s park.  That was only his 20th MLB season, so obviously such greatness is easily feasible.  What did he do in year 21 you ask?  Well, he only had 13 wins, but he did manage to have an ERA of 1.87.  Read that again.  An ERA of 1.87.  Seriously.  In a hitter’s park.  ERAs weren’t even that low during the ‘Dead Ball’ Period.  (Already sticking with the period theme.)  Just throwing some gaudy numbers out there for all of you numbers people.

Perhaps you would like some information about this guy.  Gagne began his career with the Dodgers in 1999 when he started five games.  In those five games, he struck out a batter per inning in 30 innings of work.  He showed some skills, but then in 2000 Gagne went 4-6 with only 79 strikeouts in 101 innings of work and posted a 5.15 ERA.  Gagne continued to struggle in 2001 by going 6-7 with an ERA of 4.75.  He struck out 130 batters in 151 innings of work, and seemed destined to return to the minors.  Instead, the Dodgers moved Gagne to the bullpen for one more shot in 2001.  What did Gagne do, you ask?  Well, he simply put together the greatest three year stretch any closer has ever managed to do by saving 52, 55, and 45 games in 2002, 2003, and 2004 respectively.  Oh, and his ERA only climbed above a 2.00 in 2004 when it was an K2-like 2.19.  Lets not forget his little consecutive game streak that was such a big deal during that stretch.  He also struck out 365 batters during that stretch despite pitching only 246.9 innings, which translates to nearly 1.5 strikeouts per inning.  Not too shabby for a power pitcher that could not get the job done early in his career.

You say ’so what’ and ‘Roger added his splitter to make him better.’  Well, I counter with the fact that Barry, once a free-swinging speedster, much like his father, developed patience in San Francisco.  While working with Willie Mays and Bobby Bonds, Barry became a much more patient hitter.  He also shortened his swing to the picture-perfect swing that we frequently see today.  His attack of the ball is so compact that there is minimal room for error on his part.  Young Barry used to get his arms extended to the point that he was over swinging and getting around the ball.  He was trying to hit homeruns and often overextended his hands leading to frequent strikeouts or pulling groundballs that should have been linedrives the other way.  (As a young college ballplayer playing in a short home park, I too know what that was like.)

Barry became so patient and confident at the plate that he was able to wait for the perfect mistake in every at-bat.  Once more, he was so functionally perfect that he was able to turn that one mistake into a homerun, whenever that mistake came, which was typically once every two games.  For a four year stretch, Barry saw fewer hittable pitches than any other hitter in the league.  Yet, his obscene abilities and fundamentally sound approach (and alleged added muscle) allowed him to take advantage of those pitches with a much higher success rate than the average Major League hitter.  Screw it, he took advantage of those pitches at a much higher success rate than the greatest of Major League hitters. 

I remember a game three years ago where Barry was fooled by a Jason Isringhausen splitter (when Izzy still had good stuff), and I mean completely fooled by it with his body weight already shifting forward.  Yet, Barry managed to stay on the ball completely and rip a line shot into the power alley in right-center in Name-of-the-Week Stadium (what is it now, AT&T Park?).  It was absolutely incredible.  The steroids did not make him able to hit that pitch, and only one or two other hitters would have been able to stay on and behind the pitch enough even after being completely fooled to the point that they could get good wood on it.  The alleged juice probably helped that ball carry a few feet over the wall, but what he did in that at-bat (and not how far the ball traveled) was the incredible part.  Just like Vlad Guerrero has an ability to hit a ball no matter where it is pitched, Barry Bonds has the patience to wait for the absolute perfect time to swing and his obscene bat control allows him the ability to seemingly hit a homerun whenever he so chooses.  I don’t think it is the steroids, I just think he is a mutant, and I am jealous.  Even when I picked up the perfect pitch coming out of the pitcher’s hand, and knew it was my pitch to hit, I still could not/did not know that I was hitting it out.  Several times I did, but several times I got greedy, went long with the arms or dipped the back shoulder and ended up flying out to right.  Barry does not do that.  So respect his amazing abilities, and know that he is just better than you.

Seriously, look at the numbers.  If you made a mistake while pitching to Barry at any point during the late 1990’s to early 2000’s, he was getting a hit off of you.  Most likely, it was going to be a homerun.  Was he on supplements, or even more?  Certainly.  But we have already seen how clean even the worst hitters in the game are.  Heck, even middle releivers are on the juice.  Take a look at this list of players that have tested positive, admitted to some form of use, or have been implicated during this period.  That list is just scratching the surface.  All those holier-than-thou people who claim that he cheated the game are somewhate hypocritical.   The fans (and the League office) stood and cheered when two likable characters chased 61, yet turned up their noses when a far better, yet surly player went after Hank Aaron. 

I believe a much greater number of players used steroids or other federally banned substances that were not tested for in Major League Baseball during that period, and we will never know the true effect they had on the game.  Barry was already one of the greatest players ever, and the homerun mark only cemented his position atop the greats of the game.  Banned substances could not do that for David Segui. 

So relax people.  There are far worse things going on in the world of sports and the world in general.  You have the opportunity to see something/someone that infrequently comes along (approximately ever 35 years).  Enjoy it for what it is worth, a quick break from reality.  Barry plays a game that we all dreamed about as kids, and in those dreams, we were larger than life.  It just so happens that today’s ballplayers actually are artificially larger than life. 

For the record: after we watched Barry hit 756, I turned to the soon to be Mrs. Hoops and told her that Barry would go on a tear now that 756 is out of the way.  757 took off last night, and I expect at least three more bombs before the end of next week.  Barry will easily finish the season with 30+ homeruns.  Not too bad for a 43-year-old with no knees and a blown elbow.

Quick note: While doing some research, I stumbled upon a recap of the moronic “Turn Forward the Clock” promotion that MLB did in 1998 and 1999 at Uniwatch.  Man was idea ever terrible.  If you want to relive those monstrosities, go to this link.

Urban Watch:  Tune to the Indianapolis Colts-Dallas Cowboys preseason game this evening and root for the Legend.  He’ll be the only white receiver for Da ‘Boys and he wears number 15. 

I have not been a Dallas Cowboys fan since Jerry Jones purchased the team and fired the legendary Tom Landry.  I will admit that Tony Dorsett was my favorite player as a young mind, long before I realized that being born in San Francisco would lead me towards the 49er faithful. 

Then, for a period, I was a sports bigamist.  I loved the Cowboys and the 49ers, and it was hard.  The 49ers were my hometown team and they beat my brother’s favorite team, the Miami Dolphins, in the Super Bowl.  Wow.  How could you not back that crew.  Roger Craig ran with his high knees, and Taylor and Rice flew by defenders to catch passes from the ultra-cool Joe Montana.  Bill Walsh was just as cool and collected on the sidelines, and the old gold and red were a great match.  (I am extremely excited that the 49ers will start the season in throwbacks, but it will be a sad time to mourn such a coaching genius).

On the other hand, the Cowboys had Dorsett, the star, and the open stadium so God could watch His favorite team.  How could you not love that.  The always calm Landry patrolled the sidelines with his trademark hat, and never seemed to show any expression, even when Danny White would throw three lame ducks and then stay in to punt the ball as well. 

Thankfully, Jerry Jones came onto the scene in the late ’80’s and purchased the team.  His first order of business was to fire Landry.  Right then and there, I was done.  “Never again will I root for that team as long as Jones owns them,” I swore.  Luckily, the Cowboys made it easy to dislike them.  Emmitt Smith came along and started to become the Greatest Cowboy Running Back Ever.  To this day, Touchdown Tony Dorsett is the best in my book.  I don’t care about the records.  Troy Aikman could have been ultra-cool, but I just could not back him.  He was not the military man like Staubach, and he was no Montana.  Then again nobody ever will be.  Tom Brady has come exceptionally close, though.  Then, Michael Irvin and Jimmy Johnson took the cake.  I could not stand them.  Irvin pushed off and showed too much flash on a first down.  Jerry Rice and John Taylor would have scoffed at such antics.  Even Emmitt Smith had bad, over-the-top celebrations.  (The NFL even created a rule because of Emmitt.  He is why no on can remove their helmets after a touchdown).  Do not get me started on Barry Switzer.  Yeesh.

I was rolling right along with my disdain for the Cowboys, enjoying the post-Aikman years of Coach Campo, et. al., when the Cowboys had to do such a despicable thing.  They signed my man Legend.  If you do not know what I am talking about, obviously, you are not a regular reader.  (Quick recap:  I was a mediocre Division III football player for Trinity University, and I played alongside Jerheme Urban “Legend” for three years.  Hence, he is my favorite NFL player).  I was exceptionally happy when Urb scored his first, and only thus far, NFL touchdown against the Cowboys.

 

Now, I find myself scanning the ‘Web daily for information about the Cowboys.  I ritualistically tune to the NFL Network in the hopes that Rich Eisen will talk about the Cowboys.  I was even pining to draft Tony Romo and Jason Witten in my fantasy draft this past Sunday.  Dare I say it?  Am I once again a Cowboys fan?  …

Nah.  But I’ll root for Urban, and hope that he works his way into a roster spot, which appears to be the case thus far.

 

For now, I hope that Urban makes the squad and plays well.  I will even go so far as to hope the Cowboys make the playoffs, so long as Urban is on the squad.  But if they do my boy wrong, it is back to the hatred and animosity which they rightly deserve.  Hey, maybe the 49ers need another receiver!

 

Finally, we have the real poster boy for steroid abuse in Major League Baseball.  Forget Barry Bonds.  Leave him alone.  This is the real culprit, and his inflated stats prove that the stuff works.  See the link below.

 http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2960193

I know, I know, a second post in a day.  Like I said, I’m halfway out the door here.

I was watching some of the Giants-Dodgers game last night and caught Barry Bonds’ at-bat in the eighth inning to hear the loud, raucous booing going on.  I know this is one of the greatest rivalries in baseball, second only to the Yankees-Red Sox (only for publicity’s sake). 

And, I know that Barry is Dodger-faithful enemy number one.  That all is completely obvious. 

Though last night, I could not help but think of the Dodger fans as hypocrites.  Not only is Los Angeles the kingdom of fake people.  Per capita there is more fake-baking and silicon, botox, and plastic walking around there than anywhere else. 

Not only that, these are the same fans that joyously rooted for Eric Gagne when he was shattering save records.  I, and I am not the only one, truly believe that Gagne, who never could cut it at the Major League level, came out of nowhere to have the greatest two seasons a closer has EVER had.  Then, just as fast as his rise, he had serious injury issues and vanished, only to resurface with a fastball at least 9 mph slower.  Hmmm.  That was clean stuff.

Another Dodger favorite that may not be as squeaky clean as everyone wants to believe is Nomar Garciaparra.  During his heyday with the Red Sox, Nomah was a little more bloated than he is now, and there was a lot more pop in the line drives he used to rip.  After a long bout with injury issues, Nomah is now a contact hitter who will occasionally spring for a long ball, like he did last night.  I’m not calling him a steroid user, I’m just asking a question.  That is all.

This was just a quick little rant.  You all can go back to hating Barry Bonds for doing the exact same thing at least 27% of MLB was doing during the late 90’s and early 00’s.