- In recent weeks both Tex Winter and some stupid blogger have gone out of their way to make clear that it's too early to expect much from Andrew Bynum. I'd like to scratch my previous wait-and-see attitude, and replace it with " it appears he may be the second coming."
- Clipper Blog on Amare Stoudemire (the Clippers, by the way, are obsessed with the Suns): "For all the talk about Amare's less-than-100-percent status, he appeared powerful on the offensive end. At 4:50 in the first quarter, Nash brought the rock upcourt. He passes the ball off to Raja at the left garden spot. Amare sets up on the right spot out on the perimeter. Nash sets a down screen on Andrew Bynum. I repeat, Nash sets a down screen on Bynum, a man four times his size, at which point Amare cuts to the left block. Nash gets it back up top, drives, dishes off to Amare - who get doubled (Bynum & Lamar). Amare, he of the two operations, drives and hits the little hook. Scary."
- SunsGossip makes sense of it all: "We at SunsGossip know the real reason Kobe didn’t play in tonight’s season opener against Phoenix. He could have played. But he wanted the Lakers to lose so that his team would appreciate how much they need him. Sorry. Sadly, this Kobe Teaching Moment occurs at the expense of our dear Suns, who lost 114-106. Here at SunsGossip we are struggling to find meaning in it all. We’re comforted only by the fact that Raja Bell’s hair looked absolutely perfect."
- The Detroit Bad Boys are loving Miami's bad night. But if I were a Pistons fan, I'd be careful about loving Chicago right now. Here's Matt Watson on Shaquille O'Neal: "Shaq, who's still thawing from the preseason, finished with just seven points on 3-10 shooting. He also tallied five boards and three turnovers in 24 minutes. I tell you, $20 million a season doesn't buy as much as it used to."
- On that note, BlogaBull swoons: "The defense....my god. It's like playing pick-up games and there's that annoying guy who is trying too hard on defense and pissing you off. Except it's a whole team of them."
- The Cavalier from YAYSports! is totally not bitter that I didn't mention his orange roundie in that little piece I did for ESPN.com yesterday.
- Carmelo Anthony has yet to miss a pre-natal checkup with his pregnant fiancee. Weird that that qualifies as news. But, you know, being a good husband (to be) and father in the NBA is a big deal. Step one... check. 10,000 more to go.
- Jalen Rose is about to be much happier. Most of the best teams in the NBA reportedly want him. You have to give the edge to Detroit. It's in his blood. His mom told me a theory once about the magical water in Detroit that created Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, and Jalen Rose.
- I was going to link to several articles about different players signing extensions--T.J. Ford, Brian Cook, Nick Collison, the list goes on--but instead it's easier for me to just tell you that everyone in the NBA got an extension. It's not strictly true, but close enough. Check your local team's website for details.
- They asked me, for Halloween, which NBA player was scariest. A little while ago. Robert Swift! Easy! (The silent guy, who, it suddenly becomes clear, has been seething with anger for years?) Next question. Then he got hurt. Thus I find myself building an argument for super buff Aaron Williams, because who wants to pile on Ron Artest like that.
- Commenters can be so cruel. Dan Shanoff goes to a lot of trouble to compare various LeBrons to Borat characters. Comment #1: "What a waste of time, it's a freaking commercial get a life."
- For a little while this morning, on this page David Thorpe was identified as Chris Thorpe. But that's not nearly as important as Chris Sheridan's observation about Thabo Sefolosha: "Chicago rookie Thabo Sefolosha went 4-for-4 and scored 11 points with two steals in 11 minutes of garbage time." Tyrus Thomas was pretty good too.
- Brian Windhorst says the Cavaliers will win 52. Predictions, shredictions, right? Well, he has a pretty good track record: "In 2003-04, I picked them to go 34-48 and they went 35-47. In 04-05, I picked 41-41 and they went 42-40. Last year I picked 47-35 and they went 50-32. So I have always slightly underestimated them."
- Brandon Roy is all hopped up on Froot Loops.
- Wally Walker is proud that during his tenure, Seattle had the fifth best record in the NBA. SuperSonicSoul points out that the vast majority of those wins came from players Bob Whitsitt acquired. The rest? Watch out for the phrase "boatload of crap."
- J.A. Adande with the Lakers as Jerry Buss gets his Hollywood star: "An NBA veteran once told me that if you want to stay fresh you can hang out as late as you want - just stay off your feet. So here were the Laker players, standing on the pavement for an hour, most of them wearing dress shoes. ("My back is killing me," one told me. "I'm ready to go home.")... [Paris] Hilton arrived beyond fashionably late, and wound up standing next to Jackson. (Villaraigosa was on Jackson's other side). At one point Jackson said something to Hilton. I wondered what he could possibly be discussing with her. Then it quickly became apparent he was asking her to move so that Jeanie Buss could stand next to him."
- Is racism in sports on the rise? (via Sports Law Blog)
- Keeping tabs on events in Sacramento. See if you can make sense of this stadium deal.
- Nate Robinson: still tiny, still blogging.
- How freaking BIG and UGLY were those rings? If you want to squeeze in all those characters, nicknames, tributes, images, and diamonds, much better to just make it a four-knuckler (good for self-defense, too).
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Chris SheridanTrueHoop ESPN Archive |
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