- Can you feel it? Something just happened. It's NBA time again. Bring on the playoffs.
- The NBA is soliciting some fans to join an exclusive panel of fan advisors. Some people got emails that say: "Want a chance to influence the many business decisions of the NBA? Be part of a League sponsored fan panel and share your thoughts and opinions about subjects such as the game, teams, players, and television broadcasts. To apply for this important and exclusive panel, please complete the following set of 24 questions about yourself. If you are selected to be a part of the panel, we will periodically send you additional surveys in the future that will consist of shorter sets of questions on various topics about the game of basketball and sports in general."
- You know how they have those various celebrity and political stock markets? ProTrade is like that for sports, only with really smart people and lots of statistics. It's especially cool because one of the Wizards behind it is Jeffrey Ma, who was a major figure in that book "Bringing Down the House," about some smartypants students who made more than a little money in casinos. Late yesterday, they launched a new feature which lets you use your fake money to buy and sell stock in entire NBA teams. Since the IPO, the Bulls have been the big gainers. It'll be interesting to see how the stock price fares as a playoff predictor.
- You don't often hear the phrase "hot panel discussion" but this one at Harvard next Wednesday has Maverick Carter, Jason Whitlock, Michael McCann, Vince Carter's business manager, and more. Open to the public.
- More on this later: Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress writes an essay on how to clean up the world of agents.
- A line from Chris Palmer's profile of Shawn Marion in ESPN the magazine: "Back in Tempe, Marion and his Cutlass reach their destination: Hooters, and its half-price, happy-hour Buffalo wings special."
- A roundup of the 2006 draft makes me wonder: if you were John Paxson, and you could go back in time, would you trade LaMarcus Aldridge for Tyrus Thomas and Viktor Khyrapa again?
- SLAM's Lang Whitaker is taking a little pre-playoffs break from the NBA. What's he doing in the meantime? Oversharing: "During my self-imposed hoops sabbatical, I've turned to two things for mental stimulation: movies and baseball. (There's actually one other thing, too, but I shouldn't write about that here.)"
- When the Nuggets signed Nene to a $60 million deal, the explanation from Nuggets honcho Bret Bearup didn't make sense to a lot of people. The way Nene's playing now, however, changes things.
- Wonder if Grant Hill will retire? I bet he doesn't.
- Kevin Willis, older than the institution of nationwide zip codes, will stick with the Mavericks.
- A spirited defense of Anderson Varejao, whose errant three-pointer some weeks ago almost won Cleveland fans free chalupas, but instead pissed off almost every player on the floor.
- I guess I have to tell you go see this photo of Dennis Rodman among the little people.
- Talk that Keith Van Horn is not done, and may be interested in being a Nugget.
- Sam Smith, writing for MSNBC, says that if the referees hurt any team in the playoffs last year, it was the Spurs, who lost to Dallas: "I am not one to blame officiating in a loss, especially given the high quality of NBA officials and the horrendous officiating you see elsewhere in basketball, like in the NCAA tournament. But Dallas absolutely stole Games 3 and 4 in Dallas, and I've since had referees tell me they felt the younger officials tend to be intimidated by Cuban and all the referee scrutiny he maintains with former officials on his staff and regular reports to the league. It never became much of an issue because the Spurs remain perhaps the classiest and most professional of organizations, and never complain about apparent inequities. You can imagine what would have happened if the calls went against the Mavs that way."
- Yahoo's Steve Kerr assesses lottery team needs in the upcoming draft, and it looks to me like lots of people could use Corey Brewer. I hope he becomes a Blazer, frankly. Kerr also suggests Andrew Bogut could be on the move if Greg Oden's available: "New coach Larry Krystkowiak has made defense a priority, so look for Milwaukee to draft accordingly. Corey Brewer would give the Bucks a versatile defender on the perimeter. Joakim Noah would provide much-needed toughness and energy on the frontline. If Milwaukee gets the No. 1 pick, then Oden is the obvious choice, with Andrew Bogut perhaps being shipped off for perimeter help. No matter where they pick, though, the Bucks will have plenty of options given the talent on the roster."
- Old-timers complain that a lot of today's players play with one really good hand. This is playing with one really good hand.
- Elie Seckbach, the embedded NBA correspondent, now has a bunch of stuff on YouTube. Just keep watching. It's honest NBA stuff, and sometimes you learn about $600 Red Monkey jeans.
- The Sonics arena plan clears a hurdle by getting out of committee. Plenty of hurdles left, and what happens when the inevitable delays arise? Is it off to Oklahoma City, or will Clay Bennett stick around to duke it out?
- We have been talking about cherry picking. LeBron James pulls off something of a cherry pick out of a dead ball situation, and played it perfectly, per Brian Windhorst of the Akron Beacon-Journal: "Right at the end of the first quarter the Cavs pulled off a home run play -- possibly something cooked up in practice recently since I've never seen this before from them -- after the Nets made a free throw with 1.2 seconds left.
First off, Eric Snow threw a great long pass. But instead of catching and then having to rush a jumper, LeBron let the ball bounce so the clock wouldn't start. He judged the angle and skip perfectly and picked the ball up and dunked it ahead of the buzzer. It was an innate/instinct play that was easy to overlook but I thought was superior." - Life on the road in the NBA is not all glamour. At least not for journalists.
- A roundup of NBA players with heart trouble.
- Kerry Eggers of the Portland Tribune: "Sitting at a Trail Blazer game with my 18-year-old son last week, he asked, 'Dad, why are they playing music while the game is going? It's distracting.' I couldn't provide an answer. But if youngsters can't relate to it, what's the purpose?"
- If you're following the case involving the incident at a Toronto nightclub involving Gary Payton, Jason Caffey, and Sam Cassell, you should really see Matt Watson's post on the FanHouse, and the accompanying PG-13 (for language) video reenactment. Granted, this is one side of the story. But interesting, nonetheless.
- The greatest five in college history: a t-shirt based debate brought to you by Dan Shanoff and Wizznuttzz.
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