NBA Blog

And I’m not referring to my lady friend’s bachelorette party in Chicago (or my makeshift bachelor party in Louisville this weekend which served as a precursor to the upcoming festivities in Las Vegas). 

I am actually referring to the Tim Donaghy fiasco that could potentially rip up the NBA.  If you do not know what I am referring to, you obviously live in a cave (or a van down by the river).  You should probably study up on the subject, because right now Mr. Donaghy is all over the ESPN.com front page.  The Sports Guy even had a fresh column ready to read this morning.  (Check it out here).

More importantly, several people have already started throwing stuff on YouTube regarding games that Donaghy officiated.  Some of you may remember one of these games fondly, Game 3 of the Spurs-Suns series, which we had been referring to as the “knee-to-groin” game.  If you need a refresher, check out the link.  I’m pretty sure that I mentioned how awful I thought the officiating was in that game as well, and I was a fan of the team that ALLEGEDLY got officiating assistance. 

This is terrible news for the NBA, which has always had those rumors floating around about potential fixing, no matter how outlandish those ideas were.  You know what I am referring to.

Now it has been released that Donaghy has retained an attorney who has developed the reputation for working with ’whistle blowers.’  Who will Donaghy talk about, his mob ties or other officials?  This will get a lot worse before it gets any better. 

For right now, I will wait to post anything else about this subject.  What I would like to do, is find out the list of games that Tim Donaghy officiated over the past two seasons and then get a report about the betting lines and outcomes of those games.  How many games did Donaghy actually alter?  Another question to ponder is how far back does this go?  Just go ahead and Google Tim Donaghy’s name and see what else you can find out.  This could get really ugly, and it will give those NBA haters plenty of material for the coming seasons.

In other criminal news, the NFL is set to open training camps, and Michael Vick may have some more indictments coming, this time from the State of Virginia.  Unfortunately for Vick and the Falcons, this is not his first legal battle since coming into the league.  Who can forget the story of Ron Mexico?  Mr. Vick and the Falcons are rumored to be working on the voluntary leave of absence that I mentioned at the beginning of last week.  I would highly recommend it.

At least Major League Baseball was able to stay out of the negative press over the weekend.  Thank goodness Barry Bonds only hit two homeruns last Thursday at Wrigley Field.  Although, with all the nastiness that is surrounding the other two big sports, maybe this is the perfect time for Barry to break the record.  It may be as under-the-radar as possible right now, and after all, steroids versus the slaughtering of animals, which one do you think is worse? 

I took some time this weekend to watch some NBA Summer League Games, which was quite enjoyable.  True, these games are guard-dominated, and 95% of the players will be playing in Europe or the D-League, but I just enjoy watching basketball.  Here are some thoughts:

• Kevin Durant’s silky-smooth offensive game looks just as good when he shoots 5-17 as it does when he shoots 12-17.
• Rudy Gay may be poised to make the leap this year, because all the skills are there.  He doesn’t show much intensity, he just makes everything look easy and fun.  His demeanor reminds me of Carmello Anthony when ‘Melo flicks the switch on.
• The Memphis Grizzlies are going to shock some teams early by running and gunning. 
• The Celtics may actually have been lucky to trade for Ray Allen instead of Shawn Marion, because it looks like they found the bootleg version of Marion in Brandon Wallace.  Wallace is 6′10″ and oozes super-athlete out of his pores.  His body size and length even closely resembles Marion.  If he can play solid ball for the Celtics in his limited minutes this year, he could be a dominant rebounder at the small forward/power forward positions. 
• Gerald Green, on the other hand, still takes too many TERRIBLE shots.
• I really hope that Daniel Gibson did not seriously injure his ankle against Team China.  Gibson looked extremely confident in the first half of that game, and should be ready to start at the point for the Cavs next season.
• Shannon Brown is an athletic freak.  I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do when Larry Hughes goes down for an extended stretch of time this season.
• I would like to apologize to Team China for saying that the Houston Rockets’ uniforms look like theirs.  That was just wrong, the Rockets’ uniforms look MUCH worse.
• Speaking of Team China, Yi Jianlian looks pretty darn good against D-Leaguers.  He’s not dominating them like 5′6″ trainers or folding chairs, but Yi is definetly putting up a pretty good showing thus far.
• Trying to be a defensive force in a Summer League game while D-League-in-training officials are calling the game has not helped Greg Oden.  However, there have been faint glimpses of his monstrous ability, like his three point play on an offensive rebound in his first game.
• If I’m a Portland Trailblazers fan right now, I’m giddy.  The twosome of LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden looks really impressive.  That team is loaded with young talent at every position.  At point guard, they have Sergio Rodriguez and Jarret Jack.  At shooting guard they have Brandon Roy.  At small forward, they have Martell Webster and Travis Outlaw.  At power forward, they have LaMarcus Aldridge and Josh McRoberts, and they’ve got Greg Oden at center.  Then they have five other players developing overseas.  In the words of my old friend Mox, ouches.

In other news, fairwell to Dan Patrick.  Patrick will be leaving ESPN Radio, and his final broadcast will be August 17.