- Brandon Roy is a very friendly guy. But when you put 16 of his head shots together in one place, it somehow seems less friendly.
- Bill Simmons chooses his MVP: 1. The Fans Why can't we win for putting up with such a brutal season? Aren't we the real MVPs? If Time Magazine can name "Us" as the 2006 Person of the Year, then "The Fans" can win the 2007 NBA MVP, dammit. And you know what? After enduring Tankapalooza 2007, a wasted trade deadline and a regular season best described as "apathetic," we deserve it. Bring on the playoffs. Please. (PS: Congrats on your first MVP Award.)
- Sebastian Telfair made a guarantee that the Celtics would make the playoffs. He should have added a "someday." For what it's worth, the aforementioned Bill Simmons calls Telfair one of the most important players in the league: "No way the Celtics land the second lottery spot without him."
- ESPN's Andy Katz (Insider) reports: "USA Basketball is expected to invite former Texas star Kevin Durant to the July practices ahead of the Tournament of Americas, a source close to the situation told ESPN.com."
- Author and Economics Professor David Berri wonders why we have a draft: "So what then is the point of the draft? What the draft does is restrict the salaries paid to newcomers into the league. Initially it restricted who was allowed to bid on a player's services. The past tendency of high draft choices to hold out led the NBA to institute a rookie salary scale, which eliminated the rookies bargaining power completely. And what did the elimination of bargaining power do for the NBA? It allowed teams to pay far less for the wins and revenue the top talents create early in their careers. In sum, people have argued that the draft as evidence of socialism creeping onto professional sports. In reality, though, the draft is really part of the darker side of capitalism. The owners of capital (if I can get all Marxist for a moment) have created an institution that allows them to exploit their workers (i.e. pay the workers a wage that is below the amount of revenue the workers generate for the firm). So should Greg Oden turn pro and begin his exploitation by an NBA team? Well, right now he is being exploited even more by the NCAA. So he might as well join the Association where at least he can be exploited less."
- TNT has announced that they are going to be very MySpace-centric with their playoff coverage. Big deal site launching tomorrow, they say. What's a little weird about that is that TNT is part of TimeWarner, and MySpace is part of FOX. And TrueHoop here is part of Disney! Media titans collide!
- Sports Illustrated's Ian Thomsen reports on the Bulls. Plenty of people were mad at them for not trading for Pau Gasol. The rumored offer was Gasol for Luol Deng, Thabo "Swiss Mister" Sefolosha, and P.J. Brown. Thomsen makes a decent case that not making the deal was a good move:""I know a lot of people thought we should have made the trade, and I don't know if it's right or wrong, but my confidence in Deng is obviously really high,' Paxson said. The ensuing absence of wing forward Andres Nocioni for most of February and all of March helped affirm Paxson's decision. 'With Nocioni out so long,' Paxson said, 'we wouldn't have had a small forward, so who knows what would have happened then.' Without Deng and Nocioni, the Bulls would have spent the last two months trying to reinvent themselves offensively around Gasol in the post. It would not have been a simple transformation, and there's a good chance they wouldn't have been able to exploit their relatively easy schedule of recent weeks." (Via BlogaBull)
- Celtic Ryan Gomes talked about tanking, and might have caused trouble with the league. As long as David Stern has his investigator cap on, Avery Johnson started Maurice Ager, Jose Juan, Greg Buckner, Devean George and DeSagana Diop, and loses by 29. Afterwards the Dallas Coach says the team pretty much accomplished what they wanted. No one cares that Dallas rested starters for a game, but how do you phrase the rule to punish the one and not the other?
- Word of Jerry West's impending departure from Memphis is not a shock. But the way he says he's keeping his options open makes me think he might be headed somewhere else. Steve Kerr agrees.
- The Heat will be watching the scoreboard and rooting for Chicago to beat New Jersey. Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel explains: "Stopping the Cavaliers means stopping LeBron James, the type of singular challenge that Pat Riley and his staff specialize in. Stopping the Bulls means facing no individual target, with Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich and Andres Nocioni each capable of having their nights." Conspiracy theorists say there's no way the league lets Dwyane Wade and LeBron James face off so early in the playoffs, and expect New Jersey to get many favorable calls tonight in an effort to move Chicago to the fifth seed against Miami.
- Atlanta fans, this is the place to decide who should be fired.
- ClipperBlog: "I'm almost ... almost ... hoping the Clips don't make it to spare the Naçion the indignity of being in the postseason with a losing non-winning record, which is sort of like showing up to a black tie function in your frayed jeans and your favorite ratty gym tee. Besides, the Dodgers are playing great."
- Rally for the Sonics.
- The Lakers are reportedly suing Lou Gossett, Jr.
- A podcast of Bill Schonley interviewing Trail Blazers in the locker room after winning the NBA title 30 years ago.
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