Sorry this has been absent, just been swamped with various things. But no more excuses. Another ginormous link depository for ya. In the words of Stuart Scott, “I had sex with a Turkmenistani prostitute!” Wait, that’s not the quote. Oh, yeah, “Booyah!”

• I just love this sentence: “Bicoastal Habana Avenue displayed elegant agility when it produced “Nine Lives,” the highly stylized, rock-n-roll open for ESPN’s “NBA Sunday” starring Tim McGraw and Def Leppard.” I’m torn on the new opening. Less annoying than the Pussycat Dolls? Ab-SO-lutely. Actually cool in any sense of the word? Not so much. Oh, and you can change it all you want, ABC. TNT will still kick your ass.
• So the Wiz have some change to toss around.
• Avery to take a buyout? Madness! I was driving through Dallas this weekend on my way North and I can tell you that the question on sports radio wasn’t if Avery would be fired, it was when. I think that’s insane, especially for a guy as notably loyal as Cuban.
• The Arbitrarian continues the magnificent statistical analysis with a graphical representation of rookies.
• I want to discuss this more in depth, but how in the hell is Seattle going to get an expansion team? I guess the only way you could do it would be realign into four divisions per conference, and add two teams total. Can the league support 32 teams? Even with the D-League keeping solid backup players around, I’m not sure. And where the hell are you going to put the Eastern team? Kansas City? St. Louis? I was talking to Ziller and came up with a ridiculous conspiracy theory. Stern forces all of this through, just so he can set up an expansion franchise in Seattle, which necessitates another expansion team to keep things even and prevent going back to odd numbers. Which allows him to force through the red tape and set up a Las Vegas franchise. He moves the Grizzlies to the East and sets up two Western Conference expansion teams. Ridiculous, yes? But fun!
• Consistency, consistency, consistency.
• Welcome to not sucking, Mr. Odom. This is one Laker I’m rooting for. I’m perfectly aware of how soft he is inside, but he was never meant to bang down low.
• On top of all the Oklahoma City overtures being bandied about, turns out Stern’s got the backing of the owners. How come these guys aren’t held accountable?
• Insert “speeding ticket” joke here.
• Jim Boylan and Andres Nocioni wish they could quit each other.
• (Formerly) SRP decides to slice and dice my Amare impression and bang the rally sticks after pretty much dogging the Suns constantly since the Shaq Trade. I’ll admit I was wrong about Amare’s ISO skills, though (which I realized I was totally off on when I went back and watched tape last night).
• I’m telling you, frickin’ genius.
• Every now and again, David Thorpe blasts something out of the park. This is one of those times.
• We’ll be politely stepping off Kevin Durant’s doorstep, now. Our bad, Kid-D.
• A terrific look at Michael Beasley. As with so many stars, if he can keep his work ethic up, he can be phenomenal.
• Rajon Rondo will dominate you at roller skating. It’s a nice little tidbit on the young star who I’m getting to like more and more, but it also makes a lot of sense. Watch him on the court, and you can see it. He glides. He likes to test the baseline defender on breaks, and when he does, he kind of slides forward, then stops, then glides back. Cool.
• Well, thank God for that. Jesus.
• If for some reason you haven’t read it, please take a second and read Ziller’s piece on Obama’s speech and the NBA. It’s good for you.
• About frickin’ time.
• ABC has some things going for it, but still is weak overall. I agree with all these points. Especially Van Gundy. Please, ABC, get rid of Mark Jackson. Let him work for the Knicks. Let him work for the D-League so I can deride his teams. Just get him to go. Just let JVG be JVG. No one, and I do mean, no one is in commentating right now that brings the kind of insight, humor, self-deprecation, and knowledge that JVG does. I’ll take JVG over any color analyst in the NBA. And yeah, I mean Hubie.
• With Malice laughs at our pitiful attempts to woe the Lakers.
• The Pistons could play in the West, on Mars, underwater, in Afghanistan, and they’d still kick your ass.
• You know, Ziller was kind of quiet there for a few months. But lately he’s been NBA-Jam-esque on fire.
• 3 Shades wants to know what in the 3 shades of blue blazes is going on in the locker room at halftime.
• Sterling wants to help the homeless. Well, okay, only kinda. Maybe not.
• The Nets get better, Kiki gets more influence. Coincidence? I think not.
• Ciao, senor Maggette!
• Ah, Boston fans. Tempting fate since 2007. They apparently didn’t learn from that whole “19-0 Book” thing.
• JC Mathis talks about getting ejected, losing his shot at the sportsmanship award, and making up with the guy you elbowed. Great blog.
• I’m really glad New Orleans is coming around. The All-Star Weekend down there really was a huge success.
• Best possible option for the Bulls.
• The Bucks bought a lemon. Lots and lots and lots of lemons.
• Empty The Bench is consistently putting out some of the best articles out there. If I’m the editor of a magazine, I’m picking these guys up. Now.
• That’ll be all, Mr. Giraffe in a Face Mask.
• I’m surprised this didn’t get more coverage. Shaq is with the fans in Seattle.
• It’s a comforting reminder of our own humility sometimes that Rod Benson doesn’t know who the hell we are and never reads our stuff. If he had, maybe he wouldn’t act like suggesting NBA players rehab in the D-League is an innovation all his own. But, sigh, another great blog entry from Boom Tho. Somebody pick him up for the love of God.
• Everyone hates Tyrus Thomas. And oh, yeah, the Bulls are completely and totally dysfunctional.
• I can’t stress enough how much I love Skeets’ BDL Tournament. Go vote for JVG and Crazy Pills. Now.
• And finally, SMP wins today’s cultural reference award for the Traveling Wilburys of the Knicks ineptitude.