web analytics
<

Anatomy Of A Dunk Clip: Gerald Green

March 15, 2012 in by with 3 Comments

Photo by Crossett Library Bennington College on Flickr

I can’t stop watching this Gerald Green dunk from five days ago in a game against the Houston Rockets:

There’s simply no question that it’s a great dunk, just as impressive as Blake Griffin’s shoryuken of Kendrick Perkins, but different. In fact, these two dunks expose the dual nature of the dunk itself: on one hand, it can be a tremendously physical, assaultive act and on the other hand it can be fluid and quasi-balletic. In much the way that some running backs crush linemen to get yardage while others juke and spin their way up the field, so some dunkers smash and others soar.

But what keeps me coming back to this particular dunk again and again is not precisely the dunk itself, but rather the totality of the clip. The above clip illustrates why a great in-game dunk clip is the gift that keeps on giving. Let me take you back, as I often seem to do, to Greek tragedy. A huge part of the way the plays of Sophocles, Euripides, and Aeschylus work is through the tension between the audience’s understanding of the play and the characters’ inability to understand the play from within it. For example, we as the audience know that Oedipus has killed his father and married his mother but he does not, and so our enjoyment of the play comes from Oedipus’ understanding gradually reaching the same level as our own.

In the flow of the game, Green’s dunk is barely comprehensible. It happens so fast that we’re left only with the understanding that something kind of incredible just happened. As we watch the replay, or watch the clip again and again on YouTube, we can now see it and know what’s going to happen and so we get to enjoy the blossoming understanding of those who are just reacting to the moment. As you watch it again, take a look at the setup as the break evolves with MarShon Brooks leading it:

This is a pretty typical two-on-one fast break. Brooks sees Green coming up the other side of the floor and makes the smart play by throwing it up for him. At this point, we’re already expecting a dunk—there’s a clear path to the basket and Green is a terrific leaper—but most of the time this results in a straightforward two-handed dunk or, more likely, a basic one-handed jam.

But instead, Green jumps higher than really seems possible and delivers the windmill, turning this picayune fast break into something incredible. Take a moment to appreciate these two stills, which are separated by only a frame:

Somehow, every time you watch it, the sheer height of his jump manages to be surprising. You can watch it all day and the dunk itself just grows and grows. But what’s even more fun to pay attention to on repeated viewing is the reaction of the other players. I can let Kris Humphries’ face explain it to you:

It’s not the first time Kris has made that face, but maybe the first time that it hasn’t been related to a Kardashian. Allow me also to refer you to the Rockets’ bench:

Keep in mind this is the OPPOSING TEAM’S bench. It’s worth going back and watching the clip again just to observe their reaction. It’s like Kevin Martin and company are sitting on electrified chairs. Chase Buddinger’s “Oh face” is particularly priceless, given his recent participation in the worst All-Star Dunk Contest in recent memory. It is, in fact, the reaction of the Houston bench that makes this dunk clip for me, and that’s the great think about clips of dunks, as opposed to dunks themselves. The actual physical act is something that exists in space for a fraction of a second, but the video of that dunk incorporates a point of view and a commentary on the action. Consider, for example, Shawn Kemp’s iconic dunk on Alton Lister:

The dunk is, again, amazing, but how much of our understanding of that dunk is created by the low camera angle, by the way the camera follows Kemp’s finger guns to show Lister rising from the floor in defeat? And that’s the thing about a great dunk clip: it can be understood immediately but savored again and again for the little things.

So once again, here’s that Gerald Green dunk from a slightly different angle. Enjoy.

Mike D’Antoni Leaves, As Others Have Before And Others Will After

March 15, 2012 in by with 1 Comment

Photo from ejhobgin via Flickr

As Knicks owner James Dolan faced reporters for the first time since seemingly forever, it was hard to see anything but a transition period for the NBA’s worst marquee franchise. The beleaguered businessman had delivered an obligatorily stale, short statement, followed by GM Glen Grunwald introducing the team’s new head honcho, Mike Woodson. A different Mike, a different basketball philosophy, a different style of facial hair had just left after almost four years of great promise and little payoff, and now the franchise would embark on a different road. Hopefully better, possible just as bad, but different.

After all, Mike Woodson knows defense; Mike D’Antoni does not. Mike Woodson likes the dull drumming of isolation basketball, the kind that “superstar” Carmelo Anthony thrives on and yearns for; Mike D’Antoni likes the fluent song of the pick and roll, symphonic spacing at it’s side, the type of basketball that our cliché-spouting grandfather tells us is only good for teams without championship aspirations. That’s not good enough for New York. In the city where playoff games haven’t been won in a decade, the expectations declare championship or bust.

More than anything, Mike Woodson has the benefit of a future that has not yet been written, and that therefore, still has room for optimism. Mike D’Antoni has but a murky past. The New York Knicks don’t do murky pasts, not when the next messiah could be right around the corner. He really could. Don’t tell us otherwise.

Odds are, Mike Woodson’s future becomes Mike Woodson’s past very quickly. The Knicks are in no position to do anything more substantial than a respectful first round surrender, at which point a franchise attracted to glamour like a moth to a flame will have no choice but to choose the next shiny name from the never ending coaching pool over a dude with an interim tag and peculiar eyebrows.

Jerry Sloan, Phil Jackson, Stan Van Gundy after Dwight Howard fired him, a re-animated Isaac Newton – the identity of the new man or the absurdity that will surround his inevitable arrival is meaningless in the face of the role he’ll play. The same roles played by Jeremy Lin, Baron Davis, and Tyson Chandler this season, Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire last season, and yes, even Mike D’Antoni, back when he was still an offensive innovator that could turn a franchise around. That hopeful savior, he who succeeded so much elsewhere that bringing him to New York is a foolproof strategy, the name that will get the press a-runnin’ and the fans a-hummin’ and the Knicks a-winnin’.

I don’t know what James Dolan was thinking as he stared into the jam packed conference room where yet another false prophet was buried, his mustache not even cold yet. He may have been wondering where it all went wrong, again. Or maybe he already knows. Maybe he can see that bringing in Mike D’Antoni, The Name, but ignoring Mike D’Antoni, The System, was just like bringing in Larry Brown, The Name, or Zach Randolph, The Name, or Eddy Curry, The Name. Maybe he realizes that the only difference between a core of Melo-Amar’e-Tyson and one of Marbury-Francis-Rose is that the glitzy players who were available for the harvest in 2011 just happened to be slightly less crazy and slightly more talented than those that were reaped in 2006.

Maybe James Dolan realizes that the true problem in New York isn’t bad luck or a vengeful commissioner or any outward influence that may or may not be biased against TEH GREATEST CITY EVAHHHHHH, but a way of thinking that extends beyond a simple Isiah Thomas. Maybe he realizes that it is him, his attraction to the penny-wise headline above the pound-wise hibernation, that adding patch over patch over patch only gives you a very patchy quilt, that the only time his team was somewhat successful was when he allowed a respected professional carry out a respectful long-term plan.

Maybe James Dolan sat in that conference room and finally got it. Maybe, just maybe, James Dolan is the savior. Even if he’s not, I bet the messiah is just around that corner. He really is. Don’t tell me otherwise.

Video: The John Lucas Bulls Explosion

March 15, 2012 in by with 0 Comments

Thought we all needed a little trade deadline interlude.

9-of-12 shooting. 24 points. JL3 is way more fun than Dwight’s flip-floppery.

The End

March 14, 2012 in by with 2 Comments

I had to fall
To lose it all
But in the end
It doesn’t even matter

from In the End by Linkin Park

Goodbye, Mike D’Antoni. I’m a little sad, if not entirely surprised, to see you go.

Your tenure with the Knicks, like nearly every other coach who has passed through Madison Square Garden since Red Holzman, ended ugly, and there’s no doubt in my mind that you deserved far better. You’re not blameless in this mess, but shoving you out the door isn’t going to solve everything either.

You arrived from Phoenix in 2008 hailed as one of the best coaches in the NBA, an offensive visionary and “player’s coach” who all the big stars would flock to team up with in the Summer of 2010. The plan was to shed salary, create cap space and make a run at LeBron James and the other superstars whose contracts expired at the same time. The plan was to create a free-wheeling team in your image, one capable of being the best offense in the league and ruthlessly beating opponents into submission with an overpowering attack.

But you weren’t as big a draw with the stars as we thought you might be, and only one of the primary targets that summer signed up for the cause. But when Amar’e Stoudemire stood in front of Madison Square Garden in July 2010 and declared, “The Knicks are back,” it really felt like it was true. You had turned him into the most fearsome finisher in the NBA in your time together in Phoenix, and he was coming to New York to re-join your cause and help elevate this long-dormant franchise and fan base back to where we all believed it belonged. It felt like the start of something good.

And for a while, it was. The 2010-11 Knicks weren’t world-beaters, but they ran and they scored and they fought and damn it if they didn’t make us smile – and cry. It was a true D’Antoni team, warts and all. The offense, when firing on all cylinders, was beautiful to watch. The defense, at pretty much all times, wasn’t. But for the first time since you had arrived, you were coaching a team that was clearly designed to play your style of basketball.

There was Felton at the point, pick-and-rolling teams to death with Amar’e. STAT was STAT, dunking on heads, splashing mid-range J’s, not playing much D but, for the first time in his career, being a true team leader. Gallo and Chandler manned with wings; they slashed and they shot and they gave it their all on defense. Turiaf “protected the basket,” made funny faces and was French. Landry did Landry things. And everybody else just kind of picked up the slack.

And then, for reasons beyond your – and Donnie Walsh’s – comprehension, came the Carmelo Anthony drama. Through it all, there were those who maintained that it would never work, that his isolation and post-up heavy game wasn’t a fit for your coaching style and that his all-offense, no-defense, ball-stopping ways weren’t a fit with Stoudemire, who plays largely the same way. It appears they were right, though we’ll never know how it may have turned out had you been given more time with a roster that stayed the same for longer than even three months.

All that I been givin’
Is this thing that I’ve been living
They got me in the system
Why they gotta do me like that
Try’d to make it my way
But got sent up on the highway
Why, oh why
Why they gotta do me like that

From Why by Jadakiss featuring Anthony Hamilton

Despite your apparent protests, the Knicks brass did send out Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Timofey Mozgov, Anthony Randolph, Eddy Curry and a couple of future first round picks for a package headlined by Anthony. At that point, regardless of whether it was a good fit or not, it became up to you and Carmelo to adjust to each other and to make things work.

You should have been able to fit him into your offense. You should have been able to get him to lurk on the baseline for mid-range jumpers. You should have been able to find ways to get him the ball on the perimeter for side pick-and-rolls. You should have been able to take advantage of his many, many offensive gifts. You should have been able to do a lot of good things with Carmelo Anthony. And he should have been able to help you.

He should have realized that with Amar’e in town to share the scoring load, he should buy in more defensively. He should have realized that with Jeremy Lin emerging to share the ball-handling and distributing load, he could get easier and better shots by working within your offense. He should have stopped worrying about who was “the man” and who got to take the most shots and the last shot. He should have done a lot of things. And it was up to you to help him.

But you – the two of you, together – failed. Miserably.

The Knicks team that was on the floor this season didn’t fit your ideals, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have been able to make it work. You weren’t the only – or even necessarily the biggest – problem with this group, but you were definitely one of them.

Finally, after years of waiting, you had the defensive stalwart center who was also a big time threat in the pick-and-roll, the staple and centerpiece of your offensive design. Finally, after years of waiting, you had a team that was constructed to win this year, rather than to sit around for hoping, praying for another future savior. This bunch should have been good enough to make some noise, should have been good enough to win. You said it yourself in the pre-season, you had championship aspirations. And when you throw around the C-word in THIS city, you better be able to deliver. You didn’t.

The team struggled early. The team has struggled lately. In between, there was 10 or so game stretch of magical basketball, and I imagine it was exactly what you envisioned when you signed up to coach this team four years ago, albeit with much different names on the back of the jerseys. But a 10 game stretch does not a coaching career make. For far too many other 10 – and more – game stretches, this team under-achieved. Badly. And you were the man in charge.

And that, above all else, is why you’re no longer the coach.

Dwight Howard’s Potential As A Villain

March 14, 2012 in by with 0 Comments

Quite clearly, Dwight wants his cake and eat it, too. Some Magic officials privately disgusted with his comments tonight, sources say.
March 13, 2012 11:03 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite
@KBergCBS
Ken Berger

With the combination of Howard’s disdain for confrontation, desire to be liked and a pragmatic belief that a trade is no longer in his best long-term interests, Howard has created an illusion with the Magic that there are factors that could cause him to sign an extension with the team.

Via Dwight Howard: He’s determined to leave the Magic for the Nets, either now or later | Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports

Give ‘em a glimmer of hope. Let ‘em down gently. And when all else fails, play the victim card. Right out of the high school breakup handbook. It’s childish, passive-aggressive, and absolutely what Dwight Howard is doing right now. It won’t work; it never does. But for a player who has made a name for himself by being this era’s embodiment of youthful exuberance, was there really any other way to get exactly what he wanted?

Sooner or later (and far sooner than later), he’ll hear the boos and he’ll feel the palpable tension of spurned lovers. He’ll be the villain, and we can have our national souring of a once-beloved superstar all over again. LeBron didn’t handle his induction well, but he survived it. Can Dwight make a good villain? Can he stand it?

I have a few ideas. But first, want to see something bizarre?

World, this is Piglet Howard. Piglet Howard, World.

This is what happens when your friend goes to an All-Star Weekend autograph signing and has no idea what to get autographed.

Last year, Dwight Howard has a signing at a Foot Locker in Los Angeles. A huge crowd lined up, lawn chairs and all, to get a chance to meet with the man. My friend didn’t have anything and panicked. He found a sketch of Piglet’s head (of Winnie the Pooh fame) he’d done a few days earlier at Disneyland. It was the only thing in his backpack.

Sitting in a lawn chair, with an audience peering over his shoulder, the artist haphazardly adds a grossly disproportionate Magic jersey complete with imprecise pinstripes, off-type “MAGIC” lettering, and an incomplete “12” to the Piglet sketch. By all accounts an extremely creepy/crappy excuse for a drawing. Yet, the finished work, with a flowing Superman cape—probably to make clear that it’s a drawing of Howard, seeing as his jersey number is cut off—had a certain charm. Not only was it a complete inverse of Dwight’s actual physique, it was a bizarre caricature of a bizarre caricature; like a clown looking into a funhouse mirror.

Used to the monotony of signing memorabilia, my friend’s random drawing catches Dwight by surprise. He hands it to Dwight. The men and women surrounding him have a nice laugh. He picks it up and examines it. He cracks an awkward smile; an expression left of flattered and just right of horrified.

“Piglet Howard,” Dwight said.

He keeps the drawing and says thank you, probably still unsure of what exactly he’s going to do with it. We don’t know of its whereabouts. For all we know, he crumpled it up into a ball and bricked an imaginary free throw into the ocean from the railings of Santa Monica Pier. For all we know, he has it framed somewhere.

My friend’s sketch might as well have been a professional portrait. Is there a more Disney NBA player?  For the last seven years we’ve seen unbridled joy from Dwight. Big smiles, big goofball dances, big antics. But like other overarching portrayals, it’s hard to inspect the fine points. It’s hard to separate artifice from reality. Which is why Dwight’s latest verbal commitment to the Magic will work; at least in his mind. Unfortunately, feigning devotion is difficult when you’re one of the most recognized athletes in the NBA.

So, what happens if he bolts for Brooklyn, as prophecy has decreed? It’ll galvanize the haters, and he’ll be left in unfamiliar territory as the next saga in his narrative descends into villainy, despite his best efforts to circumvent that step entirely. It’ll be a painful transition, knowing full well how much Dwight just wants to be adored. It’s why Dwight has expressed a desire to become the Magic’s closer. Clutch performers hold an importance to us, a tier of select individuals who bend and break pressure and deliver iconic moments that define games and careers. Howard wants in, because that’s what fans talk about. That’s where the love is.

He’ll be in LeBron’s position last year, learning who he is and how to find joy in inhospitable areas away from his new kingdom. The backlash won’t be as severe, but it’s still being made a spectacle, whether or not his departure has its own one-hour special. He’ll learn that nothing is sacred. Like LeBron, all of his beloved qualities will be stripped and mangled. But the question stands: Knowing what we know about Dwight, can he be a villain?

LeBron has made some truly creepy, sinister faces in his years on the court, which was why I had faith in his ability to turn heel. Dwight’s face is all 1,000-kilowatt light bulbs and feigned melodrama. The commercials he’s been in all have a deliberate, “Gee, look at me, I’m acting!” vibe, as only Dwight can manage. These aren’t traits becoming of a future villain, traits that aren’t normally affiliated with someone we can actively consider part of an axis of evil.

… Which could be precisely why he’d make an excellent villain in the NBA, in theory.

If Dwight treats the criticism and naysaying as one big role-playing spectacular, things could get interesting. Grinning and dancing amid the boos and jeers would subvert the structure and power of perceived villainy, thus making him an even greater bad guy. Last season, it was clear that LeBron wasn’t always comfortable with himself out on the court. If Dwight lands in Brooklyn, he has a chance to become a much more fulfilling villain—so long as he can continue to be who he’s always been and allow his inner-strength and identity to trump the shifting fan dynamic. If this all seems beyond the realm of basketball reality, blame Dwight. His entirely animated career thus far sets all of this into motion.

If prophecy rings true, my friend’s drawing might be an accurate depiction of what we’ll see in Dwight Howard: a player whose head has swollen far past its body’s ability to support it. It could take a day to find out, or a few months. So smile for the camera, Dwight. It’s who you are. Yet somehow, your outward joy will be what transforms you into something you’re not; something you never thought you’d become.

Trade Deadline: Bucks, Warriors Trade For Each Other’s Shadows

March 14, 2012 in by with 0 Comments

Photo from Vít Hassan via Flickr

Trade deadline season finally took off late Tuesday, with an intriguing Golden State-Milwaukee swap. From the gentlemen that brought you Corey Maggette for Dan Gadzuric and Charlie Bell:

The Milwaukee Bucks traded Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson to the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night for a three-player package headed by high-scoring guard Monta Ellis.The Bucks also receive forward Ekpe Udoh and center Kwame Brown in the deal

via Milwaukee Bucks trade Andrew Bogut, Stephen Jackson to Golden State Warriors for Monta Ellis – ESPN.

There is sense to be made here, from both sides. The Bucks clear up loads of cap space by bringing in Kwame Brown’s expiring deal and sending out the poisonous fumes of the burning pile of feces that is Stephen Jackson, and bring in a talented scorer to boot. The Warriors finally pick a side in the 32-month saga that is the Stephen Curry/Monta Ellis backcourt, get their elite defensive center, and now have the legitimacy to play horrible basketball for the rest of the season so they can sneak back in to the lottery in one of the deepest drafts in years.

The basketball intricacies are fascinating. Bogut and Lee is a frontcourt match made in heaven: Lee is the high-post presence that Bogut never had in Milwaukee, enabling him to make the logical move from the overmatched only option to just one other crucial part. Both are elite passers with deft touches around the basket, a combination of big man that pretty much can’t be rivaled in today’s NBA outside of Los Angeles and Memphis. Conversely, Bogut very nearly league-best interior defense is just the security blanket that Lee has always lacked. Add in the fact that both have career defensive rebound rates over 24%, and Golden State looks very, very scary long term, ankles and elbows notwithstanding. Curry-Thompson-Dorell Wright-Lee-Bogut lineup, with Jackson and hopefully that top 7 pick helping out is a good NBA lineup, if not a great one.

Milwaukee loses that presence as part of a complete makeover from a defensive squad to an offensive squad, albeit one that specializes in quantity over quality. The Bucks will never have trouble creating a shot again. Making them is another matter – here’s hoping that Ersan Ilyasova, instead of wilting and crying in the corner, continues to grab every offensive rebound in sight – but the previous Bucks were bad at both. Meanwhile, they get what could possibly be the biggest steal of the deal in Ekpe Udoh, a +/- deity who may or may not become an all-NBA defender given the minutes.

Adding the cap space, and remembering that both Jackson and Bogut were giving the Bucks nothing this year, and it’s possible to argue that this both vaults Milwaukee into the playoffs over the Knicks (sheesh, the Knicks, let’s not even go there), and are better in the long-term. In fact, if Milwaukee finds a team willing to take on Beno Udrih’s 2012-2013 salary (the Lakers? The Blazers? The Rubio-less Wolves? People need point guards) and amnesties Drew Gooden next summer, they could be looking at 28 million dollars of cap space. Re-sign Ghostface Illa, AND GO BANANAS.

More than anything, though, this trade is striking from a grass is greener perspective. The Bucks have been in “if only Andrew comes back” mode for two years now, the prospect of the Aussie’s rehab going well hanging over the franchise like a noose. It’s unfortunate – that 09-10 squad meant quite a bit to me, as I’ve written here before, and this is the final nail in its coffin – but it’s true. A franchise can only go on for so long before the what-ifs sink it, and Milwaukee’s nose was barely above water levels as is.

The same went for Golden State. Ellis is wildly overrated, but he’s just as talented, and Stephen Curry is a bum wheel away from being an elite NBA player, but the fit wasn’t there, and wasn’t going to be. As Ethan Sherwood Strauss noted a few weeks ago, making an actual pick was always more important than what the pick would eventually be. Well, the pick has been made, and even if it comes at the price of Stephen Jackson, even if it is dependent on how Bogut can come back, even if we’re still not sure what a Klay Thompson is (though we’re less pessimistic than last month), even if it just reminds us how ridiculously stupid it was to amnesty Charlie Bell’s expiring contract instead of Andris Biedrins (you could have had Bogut, Lee, Curry AND CAP SPACE, you fools!) – it is commendable.

Of course, these problems aren’t over – they were just shifted. Stephen Jackson’s contract is still as bad as it ever was, even though it makes all the karmic sense in the world that the original offending front office is the one that must pay it.The Andrew Bogut Comeback Train is now parked in the Bay area instead of Wisconsin, but it will still suffocate an entire franchise until Bogut is either back in full form or retired. The Monta Ellis Quandary will live on as well, even if it involves a different ill-fated backcourt companion. The fears are all the same, it’s just another franchise trying to overcome them.

Which is why it’s so fascinating.

Trade Deadline: Stop It, Dwight

March 14, 2012 in by with 1 Comment

Photo by mademoiselle lavender via Flickr

Have you heard? No, not that the bird is the word. Have you heard that Dwight Howard now wants to stay in Orlando?

“I told them I want to finish this season out and give our team, give our fans some hope for the future. But I feel they have to roll the dice. It might be tough, but I feel we’ve got a great opportunity. But they’ve got to roll it.” – Dwight Howard, 3/13/12

You can rest easy Orlando fans. Nothing to worry about here. That statement alone should give you supreme confidence in Howard’s decision to re-sign in Orlando when July 1 rolls around. Or not.

I, like many others, have become absolutely sick of Dwight Howard. This situation is worse than the Carmelo Anthony “Melodrama” that captured our attention last season because Denver ultimately got compensation for getting rid of Anthony. It’s worse than the LeBron situation because the Cavs actually had a legit shot at winning the title in LeBron’s last year in Cleveland, and it made sense for them to “roll the dice.” Howard is setting the stage for a first or second round exit and to leave the Magic high and dry for the Nets come July.

I will give him credit for one, and only one thing. Howard looked at what happened when Anthony forced a trade to the Knicks and saw the results for both teams involved. The Knicks are fighting for the 8th seed in a weak Eastern Conference while Denver is currently sitting as the 6th seed in the West. Anthony’s dream scenario of playing in New York has turned into a nightmare of sorts when the dust settled and he realized he was surrounded by a quickly aging Amar’e Stoudemire, Tyson Chandler, and a slew of players flirting with the minimum salary line. When free agency is an option in less than six months, Howard doesn’t want New Jersey to gut its entire team just to secure him. The Nets aren’t competing for the playoffs this year anyway, and Orlando, barring a situation where they get scorching hot à la 2009, isn’t competing for the title. Like a good soldier, he will continue to play through the rest of the season, put up impressive numbers like last night’s 24 point, 25 rebound performance, and end in early July with an, “It’s not you, it’s me,” type of press conference before signing with the Nets to play alongside Deron Williams.

Aside from that, everything else he has done in relation to his free agency situation is insulting to both Orlando fans and NBA fans in general. No one wants to hear about how just he wants to win, but refuses to go to Chicago. Nor do we want to hear that everyone should just trust him and things will work out OK. It’s akin to a guy planning for divorce and openly talking about the dates that he has lined up once the paperwork becomes final while maintaining the guise of “trying to work it out.” Sure, we all know it’s coming, but can’t you just wait a couple of months until it’s official before making your feelings known? To do so otherwise is infuriating to everyone involved.

The sad thing is, I honestly believe that the Orlando front office believes they can keep Howard. Reports surfaced in the past couple of days that they were trying to orchestrate a trade to land another big piece such as Monta Ellis around Howard to convince him to stay. Unfortunately for them, Golden State pulled the trigger on a Monta Ellis for Andrew Bogut deal without getting Orlando involved. It’s clear that the new CBA, whether it’s teams’ reluctance to take on more salary or the fact that they are still trying to wrap their minds around fully understanding it, is playing a part in the dearth of deadline deals thus far. Surrounding Dwight with talent via trades is almost assuredly not going to occur, and by the time free agency rolls around, it will most likely be too late. That said, one cannot blame the front office for seeking out every possible deal and opt against “rolling the dice.” After all, this is the same team that saw Shaq walk out the door to Los Angeles in 1996 without receiving any players or draft picks in return. They say that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. We’ll know tomorrow at 3:00 PM whether or not the front office is insane.

My final advice to Dwight: you’ve already learned from the mistakes of Carmelo Anthony, now it’s time to learn from LeBron. Seriously. Everyone remembers The Decision which was one of the single worst PR moves in the history of sports and on its own merits helped to swing public opinion from love to hate of LeBron in one night. Few people, however, remember that following a game against the Miami Heat in November of his last season with the Cavs, James declared that he was no longer going to take questions about free agency through the rest of the season. True to his word, the media honored his request and he stuck to his guns refusing to get caught up in the free agency process until it was time. Dwight Howard needs to do take a page out of LeBron’s book, shut up, and play because this situation has spiraled completely out of control.

Trade Deadline: Golden State Climbs Deeper into the Crevasse

March 13, 2012 in by with 1 Comment

The Golden State Warriors have agreed in principle to trade guard Monta Ellis[, Ekpe Udoh, and Kwame Brown] to the Milwaukee Bucks for center Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

-First reported by Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports.

You’ve no doubt heard by now that the Bucks and Warriors completed the first big trade ahead of the deadline. But why would these teams do these trades? What’s in it for Milwaukee and Golden State, personnel-wise? For that, you can check out Sean’s take. But here’s a big reason Golden State is doing this trade: they want a piece of this deep draft.

Ahhhhhh... now I get it, GSW wants to tank rest of 2012 season b/c Utah gets their 2012pick unless it's top-7. Thx @.
March 13, 2012 8:17 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@sportsguy33
Bill Simmons

Oh?

New Warriors coach Mark Jackson had guaranteed Golden State would make the playoffs this season. With Ellis gone and Bogut potentially sidelined for the rest of the season after fracturing his left ankle on Jan. 25, the Warriors will have trouble meeting Mark Jackson’s goal. They began Tuesday three games behind the Western Conference’s eighth and final playoff seed.

The Warriors will have to give up their first-round pick to Utah this year if they don’t finish with one of the first seven selections.

-Woj, filling in some more blanks.

Interesting. But I’m not quite there yet.

OK, sure. But what does that have to do with this trade?

Almost there. Another screengrab would help.

So what you’re saying is Golden State purposefully liquidated assets so that it might get worse in order to ensure that it drafted in the top 7. That way, Utah couldn’t keep GSW’s pick it had received in a previous trade, thus allowing the Warriors to draft a good wing to replace Ellis to pair next to Curry in the backcourt? And they just rolled the dice with Bogut’s injury history and Jax’s personality history because they wanted to get rid of Monta that bad? Oh. Why didn’t you just say so?

*The mock draft scenario, trade machine scenario, and Hollinger’s playoff odds  were current as of 11:00PM EDT 3/13/12.
*The title is an homage to an Episode of “30 Rock,” which is an homage to this event.
*I take full responsibility for all of the horrible screengrabbing and photoshopping.

Trade Deadline: Pray For Ersan

March 13, 2012 in by with 1 Comment

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSNDCIVMhYs w=600 h=400]

Yes, indeed brothers and sisters. Let’s put our hands, our voices, our prayers together for Ersan Ilyasova.

The Turkish sensation will be put through a trial and tribulation of biblical proportions: playing alongside Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis.

Now, I freely admit this analysis isn’t the most in-depth and I’ll readily defer to someone who really pounds the keyboard to get a more thorough take, but this Jennings/Ellis pairing is going to squeeze the amount of shots available for other Bucks players, including my beloved Ersan. This is where I also admit that I think Ersan is the greatest thing since Turkish Delight. Hell, he is Turkish Delight.

Here comes the breakdown courtesy of Basketball-Reference and all players tallied must qualify for the MP/G leader board:

Only 32 players this season have a usage rate above 25%. Two of them now play for Bucks. But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Such luminaries as LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Dirk Nowitzki are in this club.

But only 14 of those players have a true shooting % below .520. Two of them now play for the Bucks. Now we start to worry because such questionable decision-makers like DeMarcus Cousins, Nick Young and Josh Smith are on this list. But other guys like Jordan Crawford and CJ Miles aren’t on the court a lot so, their damage is minimized.

But only 4 of those players play over 35 minutes per game. Two of them now play for the Bucks.

That’s a whole lot of usage (the number of plays that a player consumes while on the court). That’s a whole lot of poor true shooting (a measure combining FT, FG and 3PT shooting). That’s a whole lot of minutes (the amount of time a player spends justifying all the dolla dolla bills in his contract).

And now Ersan is going to feel a pinch in shots. Although there should be ample offensive rebound opportunities! But this is a player who has shown over the past few weeks he’s more than capable of being an offensive spark. But this may all become moot because the deadline is still two days away. Ersan may find himself traded as the Bucks look to cash in on his hot streak before Ersan himself does during his summer free agency.

If this happens, then I’ll truly be bummed.

The Bucks have always been my favorite Central Division team going back to the days of Lee Mayberry and Blue Edwards. I’m not sure I could live in a world where my favorite Buck, Ersan, is hampered by gung-ho guards or shipped away to god knows where… (please, Lord, not the Bobcats, although I do hear the Cult of Biyombo may be worth joining one day).

So again, let’s put our hands together. Lift all our voices and sing. Combine all our prayers and positive vibrations for Ersan.

 

(but really, we have no idea how this is going to work. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. The NBA always has strange days).

Trade Deadline: What Bogut-For-Monta Means

March 13, 2012 in by with 1 Comment

Bucks and Warriors have agreed in principle on trade to send Bogut and Jackson to Warriors for Ellis, Udoh and Brown, league source tells Y!
March 13, 2012 7:27 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@WojYahooNBA
Adrian Wojnarowski

Ask, NBA blogosphere, and ye shall receive. After a few days of intensifying speculation and rumors, the first real trade of the 2012 deadline went through on Tuesday evening, and it’s a doozy. Let’s unpack:

  • If Andrew Bogut can stay healthy (kind of a big if, but it’s not at all out of the realm of possibility), he and David Lee will make up one of the better 4-5 combos in the league. Bogut isn’t expected back for a while, but the back end of the Western Conference playoff race is close enough that Golden State has a shot at sneaking in, and if they do, his presence could make them a tough first-round matchup for one of the top seeds.
  • As unlikely and questionable as Stephen Jackson’s return to Golden State seems on the surface, perimeter D is a need that he fills. There are risks involved with bringing him back, but getting a center as talented as Bogut makes it worth the gamble. Worst-case scenario, they can negotiate a buyout.
  • If the Warriors do decide to buy Jackson out (which isn’t the plan as of now, according to Yahoo!’s Marc Spears), he instantly becomes the most intriguing candidate to be picked up for cheap by a contender.
  • The biggest downside to this trade for the Dubs: the future of their franchise now depends entirely on the health of Bogut and Stephen Curry, the very definition of a high-risk/high-reward proposition.
  • The second-biggest downside to this deal for Golden State is losing Epke Udoh. But if the Warriors are in win-now mode, it’s worth giving up an unpolished prospect for a known quantity like Bogut.
  • The Bucks save some money by unloading Jackson’s contract and getting back Kwame Brown’s expiring deal.
  • Think about the prospect of a Brandon Jennings/Monta Ellis backcourt for a second. Has any guard combo ever posted a usage rate over 100? Will they combine for 70 shots per game? Is this the black-holiest backcourt since Marbury and Francis? The Bucks just became everyone’s favorite League Pass team for the final third of the season, purely from a morbid entertainment standpoint.
  • Of course, though they deny it now, there’s always the chance this deal could foreshadow a Jennings trade. I wrote about his future in a post yesterday, and now the Bucks may have to answer the question sooner than we thought. If it doesn’t happen before Thursday, we’ll definitely be hearing increased talk about moving the third-year guard this summer, when he becomes eligible to sign an extension.
  • In the grand scheme of things, this trade will probably become a footnote to whatever does or doesn’t happen with Dwight Howard in the next 36 hours. However, if Howard does get traded, this could be viewed as the first domino. The Magic had been making a hard push for Ellis in the past few days, in hopes that it would placate him. Now that that’s off the table, who else can they target to try and keep Dwight happy? Even if Phoenix has a change of heart at the last minute and decides to move Steve Nash, Orlando doesn’t have great assets. The Ellis/Bogut trade might be the thing that finally convinces Otis Smith to pull the trigger on a Howard deal, in which case the Bucks and Warriors can claim a small piece of the credit in helping to end the tiredest story of this season.

The trade deadline is fun, isn’t it?

Page 18 of 363« First...10«1617181920»304050...Last »