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God Only Knows What I’d Be Without You

March 3, 2010 in by with 1 Comment

One is an unselfish, accommodating power forward who is a revelation on the glass and is gradually increasing his range. The other is a more established post threat that can milk his face-up game as well as his back-down game, and should, in theory, be one of the most dominant scoring bigs for the better part of the next decade.

In theory, they should be one of the most fearsome pairs of bigs in the league. But they’re not. They’re nice and fluffy. They’re a cute distraction, but hardly a team. They don’t reinforce each other’s strengths, but counter them while magnifying each other’s weaknesses. They are Kevin Love and Al Jefferson, and despite the fact that they’re both immensely talented and incredibly productive, they will never, ever work as a pairing.

Okay, they might. In fact, they probably will at some point, provided they’re kept together. But at this point in their careers, it seems like they’re both forces that while unstoppable, are slowing and hindering one another, despite their best efforts not to.

It’s one of those cases that has oh so little to do with personality, and everything to do with style and system. Despite the particular strengths and versatility of Love and Jefferson’s games, the overlap is such that they haven’t quite figured out how to best play alongside one another. Or rather, Kurt Rambis hasn’t best figured out how his two best players can be effective on the court at the same time, which is not a good thing. The triangle is an effective system if given the right personnel with the right mindset. But when the squad has such strength in its low post game, is the triple post really necessary? Especially when you just drafted Jonny Flynn and Ricky Rubio? Is that the type of core that you construct the triangle offense around? Really? Really, Kahn?

The plan of attack is seriously flawed, and while that may not quite account for how poor the tandem of Jefferson and Love is defensively at times, it’s enough of a starting point to get worked up about it. Those two are such terrific players that they deserve more creative coaching, or a combination of system and players that can enhance their production rather than simply relying on it.

If you look to the numbers, not all that much appears to be wrong. Jefferson is only a slight tick down in production, despite whispers of a more significant drop-off. Kevin Love is averaging a freaking double-double in less than 30 minutes a game as a sophomore and a reserve. But this? Everything they’re doing right now? It’s in spite of the system. It’s in spite of a coach who, while I admire his want to see the installation of a complex system through to the end, is probably engaging in a futile practice that doesn’t for a second fit the roster he’s been given. Rambis is relying on the fact that his team is more malleable than his own philosophy. That’s hardly reason enough for him to be fired, but considering the pieces he has in Minny and the offense he’s still desperately trying to install, it certainly seems misguided.

Maybe all Love and Jefferson really need to thrive is a little space from each other. Then again, maybe all they really need is a little space from the triangle offense and the roster-assembling talents of David Kahn.

The End of an Error

March 1, 2010 in by with 7 Comments

The Bobcats’ woefully orange unis had to go. From the moment the concept was drawn up, they absolutely, positively had to go. Their particular hue of fluorescent orange may be useful for a crossing guard, a night cyclist, or someone working on a tarmac, but barring the obvious safety benefits of wearing bright, reflective clothing, they were among the worst uniforms any NBA team has trotted out this decade.

So it’s more than appropriate that this season’s uniforms are the first of a new era in Bobcats basketball. Maybe pinstripes aren’t the first thing that come to mind when you think of Stephen Jackson’s wild card career or Nazr Mohammed’s tendency to play below expectation. But both of those players have looked more at home in Bobcat blue than any, and though Charlotte will have to fight and claw to hold on to a playoff seed, the evolution of the Bobcats franchise from last season to this more than warranted a substantial aesthetic change.

Out with the old — the bad seasons, the bad memories, any remembrance of Jeff McInnis — and in with the new — the playoff hopes, the defensive excellence, new ownership, and a new direction.

Maybe all that’s needed to really complete the metamorphosis from struggling, small market upstart caterpillar into playoff-bound butterfly is not only a new man at every post save point guard and small forward, but a moniker change to accompany the face lift. ‘Bobcats,’ like the miserable threads that once bore the name, has to go. It’s not even a D-League-esque team name, like Moore mentioned. It’s the name of a seven-year-old’s soccer team, and one that probably couldn’t even make the playoffs at that. Bobcats aren’t just about as unferocious and unintimidating as ferocious cats get, but naming a team after an animal just isn’t NBA practice. It’s amateur. If you’re going to name an entire franchise after an animal, at least disguise it; not the Milwaukee Deer, but the Milwaukee Bucks. Not the Detroit Flaming Horses, but the Detroit Pistons. There are enough teams named after animals, I admit, but most have enough tradition that they no longer seem out of place. The two obvious exceptions are the Toronto Raptors and the Memphis Grizzlies, but dinosaurs are awesome and hilarious and Memphis Grizzlies still reads and sounds infinitely better than the Memphis Bears.

For the most part in professional basketball, we go inanimate (Nets, Nuggets, Spurs), confounding (Celtics, Lakers), or nonsensical (Pacers). It’s time that Charlotte buys into the tradition, and there is no better time than now. Regardless of what happens in the rest of this season, the Bobcats have been reborn. They’ve constructed hope without much potential, and they’ve created a culture and a family where there was nothing but confusion. I’m not saying anyone should buy into MJ and Larry Brown’s world like they buy into Pop and Buford’s, or Phil Jackson and Jerry Buss’, or Sam Presti and Scotty Brooks’. But there’s something going on in Charlotte that’s worthy of your attention, and it’s worthy of a far better name than the Bobcats.

…Wait, you mean you have to pay to have your name changed these days? With that roster and those ticket sales and in that market?

I think ‘Bobcats’ is starting to grow on me.

Shining Outward

February 26, 2010 in by with 1 Comment

With just about every competitive squad in the league, you can isolate a player that stands at the heart of everything the team hopes to accomplish. More often than not, that player is simply the team’s most talented (Chris Paul, LeBron James, Brandon Roy), but in some cases, it’s a secondary star who compensates for shear production with massive on-court influence (Chauncey Billups, Brandon Jennings, one of the Boston Celtics).

Or, in slightly less frequent and more bizarre circumstances, a team is left with no focus at all, depending on a balance of power, production, and personality to turn what could be a tornado into a whirling dervish neatly dressed in a tuxedo and a bow tie. The Atlanta Hawks are a team without a singular focus, without an anchor. That type of situation could be a cause of trouble for any number of rosters throughout the league, but somehow, someway, Atlanta makes parity look easy.

A number of pivotal parts could make or break the Hawks with their steady contributions or lack thereof. There is no transcendent talent on which Atlanta can hang its hat, regardless of how cool a customer Joe Johnson is, or how much of an impact Josh Smith makes defensively. This is one of those rare beasts that lacks a true superstar…and yet the Hawks are sitting at 4th in the East, and their lack of a star could be the precise reason why they pose such incredible match-up problems for so many of the league’s elite teams.

Now, if you throw LeBron James onto the Hawks, of course they improve. If you throw Kobe Bryant onto the Hawks, of course they improve. But there’s no way the current system in Atlanta forms organically around those players as it has since the Hawks acquired Joe Johnson. Stars of that magnitude come with a certain expectation, whereas Joe, who is about as low-key as low-key stars get, and somehow still flying under the radar, had few. The Hawks were adding a very good player for a lot of money, and that was that. It wasn’t expected to put them over the hump, or into the hunt, or to the head of the pack, or to the front of the race. In the strictest sense, it hasn’t; though the Hawks wouldn’t be the Hawks without Joe Johnson, it’s not as if his addition to the team instantly vaulted them into playoff contention. It took Johnson’s Hawks three seasons to top 30 wins and four seasons to make the playoffs, meaning their climb toward playoff contention and now fringe title contention, is based more on the internal development of a core and a system than it is on some grand acquisition or a “Eureka!” moment in Josh Smith’s subconscious.

Joe Johnson is important, but so is Josh Smith. So is Al Horford. And so are Jamal Crawford, Marvin Williams, and, sigh, Mike Bibby. The way that Atlanta basically treats all positions as interchangeable and switches on every pick is the most obvious systemic metaphor you could ask for. On the floor for the Atlanta Hawks on a nightly basis are five basketball players. They vary in talent and occasionally in size, but it’s five basketball players executing a plan based on simplicity and balance. Where one ends and another begins isn’t quite as important as how they function as this amorphous, adaptive whole, and though that might leave them somewhat lacking in star-powered marketability, it was the genesis of an intriguing basketball product that shouldn’t be obscured by the conventional star model.

Absolutely Irrefutable and Completely Wrong

February 24, 2010 in by with 11 Comments

I’m going to drop a bomb on you here: Kobe Bryant is a really, really controversial player. His every move and word is dissected and debated to a ridiculous degree, and the full extent to which we (those in, around, and intrigued in the game of basketball) obsess over Bryant is beyond ridiculous.

Among the millions of possible implications of this, I’d like to point you in the direction of two, in particular:

  1. With the accessibility of information and media at an all-time high, fans consume more tidbits about Kobe Bryant the basketball player and Kobe Bryant the man than they ever have about any other player in NBA history…with the possible exception of LeBron James.
  2. As such, due to the ludicrous amount of content the adoring and not-so-adoring public have consumed, it’s absolutely, positively impossible for the Kobe mythology to achieve any sort of satisfying conclusion.

Well, now.

This isn’t in any way an indictment of Bryant’s game, other than to say that his advocates and critics are so distant in their opinions of all things Kobe that there can be no consensus. Supposing that’s somehow an indictment. Kobe is an incredibly driven player who has always wanted nothing more than to be conclusively better than Jordan…and it’s Bryant’s curse that he’ll forever walk through life in a position of uncertainty. We can debate all day and night about Kobe’s relative place in history, but at the end of the day, we’ll still be miles away from any kind of resolution. That’s not because he’s borderline in any regard or even because his career is the farthest thing from over. It’s just because he’s Kobe. We care too much about the way he’s evaluated and perceived to let anything rest, and any conclusions that are drawn about Kobe’s legacy will be predicated on an endless string of praise and backlash against that praise, both from others and from within ourselves. I don’t think it’s impossible that even in Bryant’s 14th year in the league, we’re still not entirely sure what to make of him.

When Kobe finally does decide to hang ‘em up, the credits will not roll. “THE END” will not appear in script inside an intricate line frame, nor will a tasteful and understated “fin.” appear in the bottom corner. There will be no closure whatsoever, because his career has never coincided with concord, even if always with conviction. The Kobe debates will rage on forever. If he wins three more championships, the presence of Shaquille O’Neal and Pau Gasol will have been a crutch. If he never again finds himself hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy, he’s still an MVP, a four-time NBA champ, a top-notch scorer and defender, and only the face of a basketball generation. He won’t be placed in a pantheon or grouped with a contemporary, but he’ll stand all by his lonesome. The personality, the performances, and the particulars leave no other possibility.

20 Lifeboats, 2,223 Passengers

February 22, 2010 in by with 3 Comments

The NBA deadline is a salvage mission. That said, it’s hardly as impersonal than stripping a car for parts or digging through the bottom of a scrap heap. The salvaged are often talented quasi-stars and/or consummate professionals toiling away on teams ranging from mediocre to truly unbearable, but even those bad teams are complicated webs of interpersonal relations between players, coaches, management, ownership, and fans. Everyone is somebody’s friend and somebody’s favorite, and as much as the sanctity of those bonds should be preserved, there’s a certain satisfaction in knowing that the deserving are where they should be. It’s good to know that after what has amounted to a nightmare of a year for the Washington Wizards, that Antawn Jamison is finally in a better place. The Cleveland Cavaliers have a legitimate shot at the NBA title, and to go from a Washington team that had long since spiraled into irrelevance to that kind of atmosphere — the winning, the talent, the camaraderie — must have Jamison experiencing a fair bit of culture shock in the best possible way.

Antawn Jamison was saved. The Wizards are a mess right now, and it would be a shame for the twilight of Jamison’s career to dwindle away on a team forced to look past today, and maybe tomorrow, too. I couldn’t be happier for him, and for the Cavs, for just how great of a fit this is and will turn out to be. There aren’t many guys in this league more deserving based on talent and outlook, and though Jamison certainly doesn’t come without flaws, he’s going to rock alongside LeBron.

But others weren’t so lucky. While Jamison (and Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood, DeShawn Stevenson, and even Dominic McGuire) were able to jump ship thanks to the merciful hands of the Pollin family, other players around the league were left to rot away on their respective sinking ships. Among them: Troy Murphy, jump-shooting big man, solid rebounder, and unfortunately in this case, back-up plan. Murphy was linked to Cleveland among a variety of teams, but was somehow left in the Indiana cold by the time the trade deadline finally passed last week. But while Jamison’s story was a ground-shaker and headline-maker even before he was actually moved by the Wizards, Murphy has toiled away well outside of the public consciousness, draining threes and collecting defensive rebounds somewhere just below the surface.

Antawn has the bigger name and the bigger game, but does that really make him so much more of a sympathetic figure than Murphy? The Arenas-Crittenton debacle was an obvious embarrassment for every member of the Wizards organization, but at the very least, it presented a scapegoat. Washington’s plan won’t work, and it’s all Gilbert’s fault. The team won’t make the playoffs again as presently constructed, and it’s all Gilbert’s fault. Grunfeld has to trade away all of the team’s best players immediately to plan for the future, and it’s all Gilbert’s fault. But in a lot of ways, Gil is the red herring; the Wizards were already 10-20 before the gun story ran wild, and that’s not only on Arenas, but also Grunfeld, Flip, Antawn, Caron, Brendan, et al. But Washington has Gil as the goat of all goats, which doesn’t make the situation any less tragic but does make the excuses all kinds of convenient.

Murphy has no one to hide behind. After all, whose fault is it that the Pacers are an awful 19-36, a full game behind the Wizards? Is it Danny Granger’s fault for refusing to diversify his game and regressing in his most valuable attribute? Is it Jim O’Brien’s fault for coaching a horrid offense? Is it Larry Bird for piecing together a mismatched, underwhelming roster? Or Mike Dunleavy for the way his body refuses to cooperate? Washington at least had the blessing (or maybe just the illusion) of certainty, whereas things in Indiana are so muddled they’re almost indistinguishable. With over $60 million in guaranteed salary for next season, little in the way of trade bait, and no prospects waiting to take the leap, Murphy is stuck in his own private hell. He’s more productive than ever, in his prime, and playing for the worst Pacers team in franchise history. There’s no one to blame but everyone, no clear means for improvement, and nothing that even vaguely resembles hope. And while the pitied and respected Antawn Jamison could be sizing a ring or dancing on a parade float in a few months’ time, Troy is hardly so lucky. The best years of his career will be spent idling in Indianapolis, on a  Pacers team doomed to sink before it even reaches mediocrity.

NBA TRADE DEADLINE: May We Also Recommend…

February 19, 2010 in by with 2 Comments

I don’t see a conceivable downside to the Celtics trading Eddie House, Bill Walker, and J.R Giddens for Nate Robinson (and technically, Marcus Landry). It’s a pretty terrific upgrade talent-wise, and personally I’m not sure you can ever have too little Eddie House on a given team. He’s admittedly been better with the C’s in the last few years than I ever would’ve expected, but come on. Dude. You’re still Eddie House.

And Nate Robinson is still Nate Robinson. That means that if you give him the shots on the right night, he’ll explode for 41 points. And worst case, he’ll give you everything that Eddie House could, but with better driving ability, more athleticism, and some actual room for growth. Plus, Eddie has always benefited from the Celtics’ internal structure; he was never jerked around in the rotation, but given a role and told to do his damn job. That kind of order — and the clearly defined hierarchy that exists in Boston at point guard, in which Rondo will always come first — could very well give Robinson the structure he needs to properly thrive; in the same way an abstract painter needs rules in order to break them, Nate seems to need a proven structure in order to provide chaos.

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. There’s still a bit of a problem in that Boston is in no position to really compete for the title with this group, regardless of Robinson’s addition. Bummer there, I suppose.

NBA TRADE DEADLINE: Recasting the Mold

February 18, 2010 in by with 2 Comments

You have to love a trade in which both sides seem to get exactly what they want…even if what they seem to want is completely and utterly unspectacular.

John Salmons may be proving last year a fluke more and more with every errant jumper, but he’s a natural fit in Milwaukee. They need someone to fill the void as an honest two guard, and though Carlos Delfino has done a great job of playing well above his head, Salmons is the better player. Even in a state of regression.

Salmons is a perfect Scott Skiles guy exactly because he’s not a perfect Scott Skiles guy. If you break down John’s game, you’ll find he’s a decent but underwhelming defender, a decent enough offensive player, capable of being either crafty or foolish with the ball, and decidedly unathletic for his position. Remind you of anyone? I don’t know, maybe, say, a bit of a reclamation project playing at back-up point guard and churning out the most impressive season of his career? These are the kind of players that Skiles gets the most out of, despite their reputation. Who cares if Salmons isn’t a hard-nosed defender? There are other ways to win over Skiles, and I have no doubt Salmons will do just that. Plus, Delfino, Charlie Bell and Jerry Stackhouse isn’t the strongest collection of wings the league has to offer. Salmons provides a bit more scoring and appears to be a seamless fit in the lineup, which is pretty significant considering just how bad the Bucks are on offense at times.

The Bulls cap jockeyed their way out of $5.8 million due next season, which is perfect for a franchise looking to make noise on the free agent market. I don’t know if you’ve heard this, but Chicago’s a city with a bit of basketball history, has a certain historical greatness associated with that red and white uni, and just so happens to have a young stud point guard with a mile-high ceiling. Joe Alexander shouldn’t see much playing time, but Hakim Warrick should be good as a half-season loaner. Hak is basically just a less irritating, if less talented, version of the outgoing Tyrus Thomas. And if given the opportunity, he’ll win over VDN just like Taj Gibson did.

Chicago’s not going anywhere this season with or without Salmons’ marginal production, but hopes for that a different system and a change of scenery might reboot his season are not misguided. He’s looked out of place and out of rhythm all year long in Chicago, and though Milwaukee system is hardly a polar opposite, sometimes it’s the illusion of significant change that can jump-start a guy’s season. It’s a risk the Bucks could and should have taken, and though it’s not likely to make much of a difference come playoff time, there’s nothing wrong with being opportunistic and beefing up the rotation.

NBA TRADE DEADLINE: Nowhere to Go But Down

February 18, 2010 in by with 1 Comment

Donnie Walsh strolled into the Big Apple the man with a plan. He signed a few role players, picked up a big-time coach, drafted well, and…traded every first rounder the Knicks have between now a 2084, their lottery pick from last year in the infancy of his career, and their best defensive player for cap savings.

And you know what? Aside from the truly ridiculous surrender of first round picks, this is exactly what he was supposed to do.

I’m not saying I agree with Walsh’s plan of attack, because I’ve never thought the super-secret plan of luring LeBron to NYC would do anything aside from motivate the Cavaliers to keep him. James may love fame as much as he loves basketball, but he’s smart enough to know that his legacy rests in making the right choices in situations like these and grabbing as many rings as is humanly possible. That’s not something he’s going to get by moving to New York, regardless of how impressive David Lee has been this season, how much cap space their stocking, how nice of a player Danilo Gallinari has become, or how well Wilson Chandler or Toney Douglas could play alongside him. Every day brings LeBron closer and closer to re-signing with the Cavs, as Danny Ferry’s countless moves made to accommodate James and the team’s slow, but sure climb into the East’s elite give LeBron the whole package. He can win the championship, be a legend, and still be the hometown hero.

But our good friend Donnie? He has to make a run at LeBron. Just like he has to make a run at Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Walsh’s cards have been face-up from the very beginning, and though his transparency with the Knicks’ fan base has been admirable (and what they deserve after all they’ve been through), this is the price that he has to pay. Telling everyone your master plan can paint you as a genius and buy you some time, but the same information that has created FREE AGENT FEVER 2010 in New York has given the upper hand to anyone sitting opposite Walsh at the negotiating table. We all know that the Knicks can’t go into the summer with anything less than prodigious cap space, and Daryl Morey knew that he was Walsh’s last legitimate shot at pulling it off.

But most of that we already knew. We knew that Walsh would have to sacrifice to be a major player this summer, we just didn’t know how much he would have to sacrifice. And so while the Knicks may be the deadline’s biggest losers on paper, all they’ve done is exactly what Walsh said they would do when he took over: put together a few young pieces, get rid of long-term contracts, and hope and pray that the market, the coach, and the promise of the roster is enough to lure a big-name star or two. Whether they’ll be able to do that or not remains to be seen, but can we really blame Donnie Walsh for doing what he pretty much had to do at this point? We knew the trade deadline was endgame, and that all movable 2010 salary had to go.

Make absolutely no mistake: Daryl Morey runs this game. The Rockets made a killing, and though they had to part with Carl Landry, they’ll ultimately be a better team because of this deal. Even the Kings managed to clear cap while acquiring some real talent…and they didn’t have to give up multiple first round picks. But Donnie Walsh is being grilled today for yesterday’s sins, and though many have found fault with his 2010 scheming, this part of the deal had somehow flown under the radar. You have to give a little to get a little — or in this case, you have to give a lot to hopefully get a lot.

Mr. Mahoney’s All-Star Emporium: Random Thoughts From the Weekend in Big D

February 15, 2010 in by with 2 Comments

  • Omri Casspi is probably the new underground, above-ground celebrity. On one hand, he’s still a bit of an unknown quality for a lot of people; Casspi’s name doesn’t have the public draw of Tyreke Evans or Brandon Jennings, despite the fact that Omri has had an absolutely terrific season. But on the other, he’s still a highly-regarded rookie, and something of a cult hero. His game is smooth, he’s a mellow, charming cat, and oh, I don’t know, something about his national identity. Which makes me wonder: at what point do guys with a unique trait in the NBA start to view their trait as a burden rather than a gift? Is Omri already burned out on telling people how much it means to represent Israel? Or does that revelation come later, when everything he does matters more because he’s from Israel than it does because he’s a basketball player?
  • Despite the fact that he probably out-performed DeMar DeRozan in the dunk-in/dunk-off, Eric Gordon was still really supportive of the concept. Can’t say I agree. I just don’t see either competitor really taking it seriously, especially when the very nature of the event tells the competitors to save their strength for the rest of the Rookie-Sophomore game, avoid injury, and save their best dunks for the actual contest.
  • If Dirk Nowitzki isn’t the funniest player in the NBA, he’s certainly among them.
  • Another thing I talked to Eric Gordon about that I thought was pretty interesting — draft classes always have a sense of camaraderie, because often the prospects have grown up together and competed with and against each other at every level along the way. The obvious exception though, is international players. Guys like Danilo Gallinari wander into a party where everybody already knows each other.
  • James Harden’s beard is even more impressive in person than it is on TV.
  • Just in case you were curious: NBA players are not so great with Chinese pronunciation, and none of them are aware what the current Chinese symbol is. SO STOP ASKING, MEMBER OF THE CHINESE MEDIA #21.
  • Russell Westbrook spent the second half of the Rookie game gunning for Kevin Durant’ scoring record, but Chris Bosh/Patrick Ewing pulled Russ with a few minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and the record still in reach. The Durantula, who was coaching the rookies, met the move with standing applause. But after just about talking Ewing’s ear off begging to get back in, Westbrook finally broke him. Some impressive plays followed, but Durant’s record is still intact.
  • Royce Young, Steve Weinman, and Spencer Ryan Hall are not only tremendous writers who you should be reading daily, but tremendous guys as well. Had tons of fun hanging with the fellow TrueHoopers (Moore included, of course, as well as The Blogfather himself), and that’s really the underrated part of the whole experience; the player access, the events, and the glitz all make for great times, but a lot of those that cover this game are just incredibly friendly, interesting people. And to top it all off, some of us blogger/writer types had a great run of pick-up hoops on Sunday morning at SMU, courtesy of NBA.com’s Art Garcia. Good guys, great writers, and solid ballers to boot.
  • I appreciate Brandon Roy’s sartorial taste.
  • There was a lengthy break between the end of the D-League All-Star Game and the beginning of H-O-R-S-E, so the emcee for the day took it upon himself to entertain and engage the waiting audience in the meantime. So he did what any sane human would do: called a large amount of people down to the floor, and played a giant game of ‘Simon Says’ while cackling into the microphone. Yeah, that was fun.
  • If you’ve never heard Gerald Wallace speak, YouTube him immediately. I’m not even sure the average recorder can register sound at that low of a pitch…which makes transcription a bit tricky. Also: FIRST BOBCAT ALL-STAR EVER. If that’s not a reason for a party, then I don’t know what is. Looking forward to the ‘Cats first ever playoff appearance, too.
  • Speaking of H-O-R-S-E, I still have yet to watch it on television, but I’d assume it dragged its feed a bit. BUT, the final shoot-out between Durant and Rondo was fantastic, even if the shots were completely pedestrian threes. But Rondo. Shooting threes. Come on!
  • Some events happened on Saturday night. Kinda wish they hadn’t.
  • Don’t ever, under any circumstances, drive to Cowboy Stadium. It was nightmarish. I was stuck in traffic for what seemed like days, and ultimately parked somewhere in Argentina and had to hike over. Not as much fun as you’d think, especially considering the bizarrely chilly weather in Dallas.
  • Al Horford is a terrific interview. Maybe it was the first-time All-Star glow?
  • Even though the parking and traffic are horrendous, the stadium really is a marvel. Pictures and video don’t do it justice…you really to see the place from inside-out to grasp  just how impressive it is.
  • Look, Paul Pierce, we need to talk. I know you want to put together an attention-grabbing ensemble. But you don’t need to go for a salmon coat one night and a pink plaid on another. A bit much, don’tchathink?
  • You probably noticed during the game, but most of the Nike guys were all wearing these odd colored shoes: a hue I can only describe as ‘electric teal’ (electric teel?) for the blue-clad Easterners, and something of a fluorescent red for the Westerners. No good, Nike. No good.

Video Killed the All-Star: Vince Goes NOVA

February 10, 2010 in by with 6 Comments

Hi. My name is Rob Mahoney, and I like to video. You may have seen some of my videos at some other video locations. But I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be videoing my videos here at HP as well.

We have decades, nay CENTURIES of tradition here at the Paroxysm, the most celebrated of which is making fun of Vince Carter. So when VC drops 47 on national television, naturally it warrants this post. But it probably warrants a little something extra from us as well, which is where I come in. I present to you, ladies and gents, Vince in full NOVA-vision:

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