DSC_0044 on Flickr – Photo Sharing!. by s00zer

Fade-away shot on Flickr – Photo Sharing!. by m7han

Bosh kind of is steampunk-y, no? Couldn’t you see him with transistor tubes instead of the dreads, his face metallicized, with a monocle? No? Just me?

What if, as rumored, the Bulls want Al Harrington? Then the two could do Nate, Harrington and the Quentin Richardson exception for Thomas & Brad Miller. Too one sided for Chicago? Then perhaps the deal could be expanded to something like Thomas, Noah and Miller, for Nate, Harrington, Darko, and Jordan Hill. Although I don’t expect the Bulls to trade Noah so easily, it’s not a ridiculous deal. The Bulls plan on replacing Thomas with Taj Gibson anyway, and Al Harrington would probably eat up some of those minute and more. Between Harrington and Nate, the Bulls wouldn’t lack for scoring. They would be losing a bit at center, but Jordan Hill would give them a young option there.

via KnickerBlogger.Net » Blog Archive » Trading Nate, The Logistics.

Knickerblogger breaks down what it would take to trade Nate, which given how long he sat on the RFA market, he’s unlikely to garner. I don’t have much to add to this, but am I the only one that still really likes Jordan Hill?

“He’s exactly what we needed,” said Chandler. “Defenses used to not respect us. Coach would tell us to cut and move, but teams weren’t paying attention to us [on the perimeter] because they didn’t think we could beat them.”

Jackson’s presence has relieved the burden on some of the Bobcats’ primary offensive weapons. His playmaking skills 3.7 assists with Charlotte have taken some of the pressure off of Raymond Felton and Jackson’s ability to defend has benefitted Gerald Wallace, who now has someone to share the top defensive assignments with. In Jackson’s second week with the team, Wallace was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week.

via Stephen Jackson fits in with Bobcats, Larry Brown, more NBA news – Chris Mannix – SI.com.

It should be noted that the Cats have lost 4 of their last 6. It should also be noted that three of those losses came to Boston, San Antonio, and Dallas, and the fourth was a Nets team that was going to beat SOMEBODY.  And their wins were against Philly, who’s mediocre, and Denver, who’s great. So it’s a mixed bag but I have a hard time not thinking this team is playing better. Plus, through the end of the month they play New York twice, Detroit at home, Indiana, Milwaukee, and Toronto, all very winnable games. They have two tough-to-probably-losses games against Utah and OKC, but I could see the Cats getting over .500 for the first time this season by the start of 2010.

Which no one gets. Just like the Boris Diaw trade, everyone was ready to blast the Stephen Jackson acquisition. Another bad move by a bad franchise. And then it started to turn around. In November, they actually had a positive point differential. Maybe it’ll all fall apart, but based on last year, it certainly looks like the Cats are likely to be more complex than a simple write-off does justice, to, doesn’t it? This is with D.J. Augustin going through a slump of unimaginable proportions, little to no contributions from Gerald Henderson, and Brown still trying to figure out how to effectively manage the rotation with Flip Murray.

The Bobcats are not a good team. They’re not. Their roster isn’t super-talented, their bench isn’t deep, their offense is inconsistent, and their cap space is tapped. But this team is still the most underrated squad by most folks with an NBA opinion.

There is chaos going on right now. Absolute. Chaos.

We’ve got pseudo-fights being started in international territory, guys with last names that make school boys giggle destroying whoever was crazy enough to step in front of him and Matt Moore is playing Santa Claus.

So where do we turn in a time of so much craziness going on?

We need the fellas to center us with a meditation exercise.

Gentlemen?

Lion Face: LeBron James
He’s a damn freight train. I mean, he’s a FREAKING FREIGHT TRAIN when he wants to be. I understand that everyone is high on Oklahoma City. And even more people are high on Kevin Durant. He’s the hot new girl in school that everyone wants to be the first to kiss. But we’re forgetting this buxom fellow in Cleveland who likes to put on his little black dress every once in a while to remind us all that he still has the goods. LBJ pounced on the Thunder with 44 points (16/29 shooting!), seven rebounds, six assists, five threes, four steals and the W. He more than trumped Kevin Durant’s 29-point effort.

Choo-choo. Choo-choo, baby.

Lemon Face: Trevor Ariza

So I guess Trevor Ariza wasn’t able to use his words and ran out of ideas. He didn’t want to talk anything out. Instead, he took his 0/9 shooting frustrations out on DeMar DeRozan by throwing an unnecessary and unwarranted elbow. What I don’t understand is why the elbow was thrown. Was it because DeRozan decided to grab that loose ball? It was up for grabs – literally. Ariza lost the ball, missed on his Randy Couture Tower 200 training technique, and then got tossed from the game. But hey, at least he was responsible for four turnovers and a -22 in 26 minutes.

Now who had Trevor Ariza would throw an elbow this season before Ron Artest in the office pool because you just hit the jackpot…

Lion Face: Jarrett Jack
Not only was Jack the first to come to the defense on DeMar DeRozan against Trevor Ariza but he also shredded the Rockets throughout the entire game. He finished with 17 points, eight assists and eight rebounds with the majority of his damage coming in the second half of this game. He scored 11 of his 17 after halftime with five of his assists and five of his rebounds accompanying his defense of the Raptors’ rookie shooting guard. Thank you for being a friend, Jarrett. We know you’ve traveled down the road and back again. You’re a friend and a confidant.

You’re damn right that’s the theme to Golden Girls. Hit it, ladies:

Lemon Face: Rafer Alston
If only Skip To My Lou could Skip Back To The Future – Marty McFly style – and find a way to get him off of this Nets team. He just doesn’t seem to fit very well. Not even when Devin Harris was injured did he really look like he belongs. He isn’t built for terrible teams. He’s the type of guy who will only really find himself being useful for a playoff team. Otherwise, you get efforts like this 0/8 shooting, more turnovers than points (3:2) efforts in 23 minutes of play. And it’s not like you were going against Jason Kidd in his defensive prime here. It was Mike Bibby and Jeff Teague! That should be good for at least 12 points and six assists.

Lion Face: Marc Gasol
It’s hard to get more efficient than 16 points on 7/7 shooting with 15 rebounds, two steals and a block in 30 minutes of action. This ought to alert the Laker-fan Spidey senses but if you ask me, Marc Gasol deserves to be the backup center on the All-Star team more than Andrew Bynum so far. And here’s my reasoning:

Their numbers are pretty similar. Gasol has a better field goal percentage, is a better rebounder, and a better passer. Bynum has scored more points in fewer games and has a slightly better PER. They’re about even in every other aspect of the game. But Andrew Bynum has the easy road here. On most given nights (even with Pau Gasol out), he’s been the fourth best option for the Lakers at best. The other guys draw so much attention that all he has to do is not suck in order to put up good numbers and be a good player to put up the numbers he’s accomplished so far. Whether he was around or not, his team was going to win with their favorable schedule and ability to retain Kobe Bryant as a lifetime Laker. Marc Gasol on the other hand has been a more integral component for Memphis’ early success (for them). His numbers and efforts mean more to his team because his team is terrible. Therefore, his job has been harder to put up similar numbers to Bynum. If you disagree, then just put your typical “KOBE RULEZ!!!1!” comment below and go back to arguing that you think LeBron will join Kobe in the off-season.  

Lemon Face: Michael Beasley
Tough night for the Beas. Zach Randolph made just 5/16 from the field for 13 points, grabbed just seven rebounds and STILL out performed Michael Beasley. Beasley struggled from the field with just 2/11 shooting, six points total and four rebounds. He couldn’t help quickly enough with Rudy Gay. He couldn’t counter with scoring of his own. And he was a nonfactor in almost every facet of the game. But other than that, it was pretty good night. Prettyyyyyy, pretty good.

Lion Face: Mo Williams
Have you ever taken the time to look at the Mo Williams splits for this year? Go ahead. Take a look. Notice anything of consequence? How about the difference in his numbers in wins and losses? Well, against the Thunder on Sunday Mo came to play. He scored 22 points on 8/18 shooting. He made four of his nine three-point attempts. He even made this incredible shot as one of them:

How big was this shot? Well, it was just a four-point game at the time with the Thunder needing a bit of a break to take back the momentum. The Thunder were about to force a shot clock violation by the Cavs and have a chance to cut the lead to two or one. Instead, Mo calmly retrieves the deflected ball in the backcourt, takes his time to gather his shot and heaves it from about 50-feet. Now it’s a seven-point ball game and the Thunder probably assumed they were fighting too much of an uphill battle.

Lion Face: Rudolph Harrison Gay
I have no clue if this is his full, given name. But it’s going to work tonight because not only does it sound distinguished beyond belief, it also has a certain air of assasinous ability to it. Like if I were to tell you that I was bringing a good friend of mine – a Mr. Rudolph Harrison Gay – to dinner, would you assume I had put a hit out on you or at worst, he was the type of tycoon oil man that Daniel Day Lewis portrayed in There Will Be Blood? It just sounds like this guy is important and a force to be reckoned with.

Well, Rudolph Harrison Gay donned his usual #22 jersey for the Memphis Grizzlies tonight and then decided to hang 41 points on the Miami Heat. He made 15/28 from the field. He peppered the Heat with jumpers and dunks, drives and runners. He had an “I’m not paying you to talk; I’ll just leave the money on the dresser when I leave” sort of game.

Does all of this mean that Harden is a better player for the Thunder than Thabo? Again, maybe. Now some individuals would scream, “Of course it does, look at the numbers!” and they’d have a pretty good argument. Harden is at least within striking distance of Thabo in steals, blocks and rebounds (the only ones Thabo is ahead of Harden in) and Harden is way ahead of Thabo in the others. But that being said, stats are notoriously lacking when it comes to defensive analysis and so much of what Thabo does will never be scored or quantified by a box score, so let’s try to keep a level head about all of this as we move forward. But in terms of an overall player, Harden is definitely a more complete player than Thabo. But that’s not what the issue is, or the question was, for this column. It is if Harden helps the Thunder win games more than Thabo does, and I just don’t think we can definitely know the answer to that question yet.

via Sunday Discussion – The Harden Hourglass | Daily Thunder.com.

Daily Thunder breaks down the Harden v. Thabo debate. They leave out the plus/minus numbers (which favor Harden) but do a good job of putting each in the context of the league standards.

Harden’s reputation as efficient makes sense. He’s productive when he’s on the floor. He doesn’t fade to the background, he’s active. Even if he’s not making a play, he’s working within the flow of the entire team. But having Thabo to rely on is a blessing. Rookies have such trouble with consistency, so having a veteran to provide a counter is invaluable in that regard.

It’s the slow acquisition of depth that’s helped OKC reach this point, along with Durant and Green’s development. Then you start to consider how good Harden could be in a few years and you begin to realize we’re seeing the adolescent stages of a powerhouse.

Graphic video: Wolf attacks Derek Fisher – Ball Don’t Lie – NBA Blog – Yahoo! Sports.

Someone wanna pick up Derek’s manhood? It’s right there next to the cameraman with the Green Lantern tattoo.

Corey Brewer stole Shannon Brown’s “completely inconsequential NBA player who looks really awesome dunking” mojo for the night.

Very soon you’ll be reading a review of the new NBA Game Time App for the iPhone on this site. But in the meantime, we’re going to give you a chance to get your hands on the app so you can judge for yourself.

So what are we asking you to do? Answer some trivia? Tell us what a devoted fan you are? No, because those ideas are lame.

Instead, we want you to break out that Lisa Frank journal and give us your best writing. The stuff that made you want to start your Livejournal account. That’s right. We want your best piece of Zach Randolph fanfiction.

More after the jump.

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We here at HP are disciples of League Pass. We’re entirely devoted to watching teams that don’t get much play on national television. We love the unknown, the unheralded, the obscure. As such, we are wholly in tune with League Pass. It is our Holiest of Holies, the glory of the A, the world encapsulated in a few select streams of basketball.

And now we want to share it with you.

We’re giving away a copy of NBA LEAGUE PASS Mobile. But instead of some contest about why you’re the biggest fan, or the best fan, or the betterest fan? We want you to put it into terms we can relate to. And that, my friends? Means facial hair.

Join us after the jump to find out how you can win the NBA LEAGUE PASS Mobile App for the iPhone.

(more…)

Space Jam, 1996 dir. Joe Pytka By thisjulia : Movies In Frames.

Being in a movie with the Looney Tunes. Is there any player big enough to star in his own movie with iconic cartoon characters? Is there a modern cartoon big enough to be in a live action-cartoon feature? Is it like, LeBron in the Simpsons Movie II? How about Kevin Durant in a Dora the Explorer?

I’d say that Kobe’s the natural next-in-line, but he would end up stabbing Bugs and keeping his ears as a trophy, then eating Daffy. And when all the crew were sitting there crying, he’d just look up, and say “What? You want some? I mean, you can’t have any, because it’s mine, but I can kill the pig for you.”