The NBA All Star game was pretty fun, while it may not be the best game in the world; it at least appears that the NBA gets what it’s all about. Having some fun laughing it up and enjoying some time with friends and the fans that’s’ what an All Star game is all about. In a lot of ways it is a lot like Walker’s Rants
Brett Favre has retired and as strange as it is for me to say this, I hope he stays retired…
Here’s a name to consider for the NFL trade block, Mike Vick. That’s right Vick is scheduled to be released from federal prison in July, and the Atlanta Falcons have admitted they are willing to trade the rights to his contract…
I’m glad that David Beckham is being forced to stay with the L.A. Galaxy, only because it’s funny to me. It will actually have a negative effect on the MLS…
Big Papi needs to shut the hell up about steroid use. Just because he dodged the bullet for testing positive does not mean he can now run around and be great crusader…
The Phoenix Suns should not have fired Terry Porter they need to fire Steve Kerr. He is on the fast track to become the next Isaiah Thomas of GM’s. Deconstructing the Suns should be a penalty…
The Bengals tagged a kicker and let their Pro Bowl receiver walk. I just don’t get that team…
Jason Richardson… wow I just can’t even believe you did that…
It looks like injuries are starting to take their toll on some of the college teams. UConn is already missing Dyson…
Blake Griffin is the best player in college basketball right now…
Well looks like USA Rugby is turning to Eddie O’Sullivan to lead them once again. Haven’t we been down this path already?
I don’t blame the Jacksonville Jaguars for cutting Fred Taylor. Jones-Drew is the future for them and the future is now…
Bud Selig cannot ignore the 1990’s; giving the records back to Maris and Aaron is just as bad as allowing Bonds to hold on to them…
Every year the Daytona 500 has to fight evening showers, why don’t they just move it up an hour and have the flag actually drop at 2PM and not 3 or later…
Can’t wait to see who gets traded before the NBA deadline, watch for at least 2 to 3 big names changing area codes…
Man I really wish the Braves had signed Griffey about 10 years ago…
Get ready, Thursday night, Charles Barkley is back on TNT and Inside the NBA is once again watchable…
NFL Draft weekend will be full trades trust me…
Thanks to the NBA we are getting some early drama too, before the college kids start showing what real basketball players look like, with one of the most active trade deadlines we’ve seen coming up this Thursday.
Why are so many teams looking to trade around and pass along marquee players? All of this player-go-round trade fest is tied to the simple quest for one simple concept that NCAA National Championship teams understand better than anyone; Chemistry. Players don’t win games, teams do. Some players make money for teams, but Championship teams make more money. There’s no disputing that. It’s a fact.
Sure, the Celtics last year had three of the best players in the last decade on their team. But the unknown we all watched for last year was whether or not they could come together as a team, and if 13th man on that team could dress for each game; chemistry. Show me one clip where Sasha Vujacic dove for a ball in last year’s
Finals, and while you’re looking for that clip you can think about, Perkins, Tony Allen, and Eddie House keeping the Celtics together throughout the playoffs. The Celtics may have had three of the
most talented players in the league in Garnett, Allen, and Pierce, but the others on the team poured more of their hearts into the ring mold than any one else, and the trio was made better by it.
And that’s what every GM wants, or if I were a GM, that’s what I’d be trading for. Isaiah Thomas was nothing with out, Rodman, Lambeir, and Mahorn (Joe Dumars is a given). Jordan was nothing without Pippen, Horace Grant, and Paxon. Roll players. Bird couldn’t fly without McHale, DJ, and the Chief. Magic had no spell, with out Cooper, Worthy, and Byron Scott. The list goes on. NBA players, even the best of them, need to learn how to be roll players, forget roll models, just roll players. The King has got that figured out. That’s why Lebron will out pass, literally out pass Kobe, as the best player to play the game when we look back. Nothing wrong with scoring, but statistically speaking, its better to spread the wealth and then get the ball back if you’re a star.
Since I don’t have the links to all the inside scoop like Mark Stein over at ESPN, lets look at some of the players on the block and explore where they’d fit, in the chemistry equation (try your own hand at ESPN’s Trade Machine - );
Amare Stoudamire - Chicago. I don’t know how to do the trade cap math here, but if Obama can get a $800 Billion stimulus bill passed, there’s hope that the Bulls a
nd Suns can figure out how to make this happen. Plus Chicago’s got a lot of chips to play with, without losing too much talent. Here’s a town that respects a good team more than a good player. Sure, the Jordan era was a lot about god-worship, but Michael knew what he had around him. Now the deck is full again in Chicago and their missing one piece. Ben Gordon, Derrick Rose, Heinrich, Tyrus Thomas all in ChiTown now. Move one or two (Thomas and Hughes), and put Amare into Chi-town and you’ve got yourself a dynasty, built on youthful team chemistry and passing with a lot of scoring at the end of it all.
Shaq (and Tyrus Thomas) to New Orleans Louisiana. Bring back the local LSU boys. Send the big fella and LSU’s most prolific scorer back to the big easy where they can let their roots flow and help the best point guard in the league, Chris Paul, show the rest of the league that the big fella still has it. You want to see break dancing. Paul and Shaq would be in the finals and the big fella would be downed in Mardi Gras beads. Trade works this way, Suns get Chandler and West and in return send Thomas (Acquired from the Bulls) and O’neil.
Phoenix - Get Chandler, West, and Hughes. Not a bad deal all around for everybody. West is the biggest loss for the Hornets, but to get Thomas back you’ve got to give something up, and West fills the loss of Amare.
(I did check this trade on the Trade Machine and this deal is good to go).
Trade Marbury and Thomas back to Detroit. That’s right. Isaiah Thomas and Starbury are too perfect for each other. Their both selfish and make the parent drama of an AAU tea
m look like an episode of My Little Pony. Joe Dumars can settle them both out. Rasheed in NYC would bring respect back. At least ‘Sheed is from a credible team based system like UNC and Philly’s Simon Gratz. Keep the little guy too. You want chemistry? Nate Robinson’s Seattle Rainer Beach grittiness is exactly the kind of thing young hot shots like Telfair from NY need to learn from. A Robinson - Sheed one-two punch is the unlikely fire that will get the street-ballers of NYC back to respecting the pathetic NY squad, maybe.
Vince Carter - Flight School. Send him to Charlotte. Michael needs a good vet
eran that can fill the seats. We all love high-flying Vince, but is a player really only worth his vertical? The Nets haven’t been cut since Vince showed up in Jersey and I’m not sure if he’s really worth all the mustard - Josh Howard from the Mavs or half the Spurs bench? I don’t think so. The Nets could use someone like Felton, Radmanovick, or Okafor, straight up. Maybe then, Vince will go back to being the star ACC-look-to-pass-before-you-shoot (or take off from the foul line) player that he was at UNC.
The Wizards - Back to Baltimore for the rest of season. They could learn a thing or two go
ing back to a town that actually respects the game. Somehow the District has decided that a guy with a bum knee that talks smack all the time and is forced to hit game-winning-half-court-pull-up-three-pointers is the person to worship. Change has come to D.C. so lets get moving back to the world where Gilbert Arenas (god bless his soul) is off figuring out how to set the world on fire somewhere else. Caron Butler (Big East), Antoine Jamison, and Juan Dixon (ACC) were raised right on east coast basketball with good team chemistry basketball as their foundation, where scorers, score and pass, and roll players rebound and pass, and sometimes tip the ball in. So the basics are there, but Arenas needs to go. He is the bottleneck. D.C. is the Hollywood for ugly people, but that doesn’t mean all these out-of-towners should steal our pride in east coast basketball. Send the team to Baltimore for the remainder of the season, and I guarantee they’ll sell out the arena and the team will actually get some helpful advice from the brilliant basketball minds in Charm city rather than the mixed bag of regional allegiances that fill the empathetic hometown crowds.
Next installment; my predictions for NCAA March Madness.
Thom Wallace writes about the convergence of media, art, technology, and sustainability at www.thomwallace.com and contributes to Walker Sports when a great Baltimore basketball mind is needed.
Everyone knows that Shaq is the elder statesmen of the NBA. Shaquille O'Neal is also the the biggest clown you have ever seen both figuratively and literally. And what better place for the class clown to show off than at the 2009 NBA All Star game which happens to be taking place in his own back yard?
Shaq gave us all something to cheer about when he broke it down during the introductions to this years All Star game. At least is is better on the dance floor than Kurt Warner. But this this is not the first time we have seen the big man break it down, just think back a few seasons ago...
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So this weekend we have seen the 6 Nations march on and the start of the sUpposed "Best competition in the world" in the Super 14.
All I can say is that The Super 14 better start improving by the time round 2 is completed or they will struggle to get 50 people to a match. With the exception of The Sharks and Stormers match and parts of The Waratahs performance the rest of the first round was rubbish.
There were blokes playing like they had not been introduced to the rest of the team. Teams playing as if they had never played a game of rugby before.
Commercially it appeared to be a disaster of a round too, Wellington, Dunedin, Perth all had the half full signs up. Why? Perhaps it is because people don't want to see pretend rugby.
Love it or loath it the rugby in Europe sells tickets, week in week out.
Perhaps the powers that be in Super rugby need to look at the European Cup format and drag in a few teams to make the competition less stale. Anything has to be better than what was served up this weekend in super rugby.
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