SMACKDOWN!
When I started this blog I promised myself that I’d be more off the cuff and less professional in my tone. Well, other then the occasional Larry Brown or Allen Iverson slam, that really hasn’t happened as of yet. So today I’m going to abandon the factual jargon and type some smack for once.
(You’ll have to forgive me if I include some stats. Sometimes I just can’t help myself.)
- What is it with all these European players complaining all of a sudden?
>Pau Gasol requests a trade after missing 23 games with a broken left foot because his team was losing?
Huh?
Come again?
Memphis had made the playoffs in each of the previous three seasons for cripes sake!
News flash for ya buddy ….. your club was losing because YOU were out.
Plus, where does a “star” player like Gasol get off complaining about anything when he’s 0-12 in the playoffs?
SHUT UP AND WIN A PLAYOFF GAME ALREADY PAU!
>Then there’s the case of my boy Andrei Kirilenko, who decided to go public with his displeasure over his role in Utah’s offense.
Ummm, I hate to break it you AK, but you’re shooting a near career low 44.7% from the field and a putrid 21.7% from 3-pont land…..and you want MORE touches?
Maybe if you didn’t treat the ball like a hot potato every time you touched it your teammates and coach might have more confidence in you.
Just a thought.
Even lesser accomplished players then those two have taken it upon themselves to pipe up.
>Sarunas Jasikevicius ripped coach Rick Carlisle on his way out of Indiana for not using him right.
Pah-lease!
Saras, you shot 40.2% from the field as a Pacer and had an assist to turnover ratio of 1.93 to 1. Yet, Carlisle should have used you in the pick & roll more?
Whatever.
>Same goes for Gordan Giricek in Utah. He’s upset that coach Jerry Sloan doesn’t give him consistent minutes.
How about this Gira? When you start playing hard and giving 100% effort consistently, then you *earn* a spot in the regular rotation, but not before. OK?
>I actually like Jose Calderon, and think he’s a quality backup PG, but when he says he’s unsure of his role on the Raptors, I have to laugh.
Jose, usted es la segunda cuerda PG en Toronto.
¿Lo obtuvo?
Bueno.
>An old favorite of mine makes this list too. Marko Jaric is unhappy in Minnesota.
Hey Marko, I’m pretty sure they’re unhappy with your career low PER of 11.55 too (15 being average).
>And last but not least, there’s the case of Vassilis Spanoulis in Houston. After a decorated career on the Greek national team he came to the U.S. looking to establish himself.
So far all he’s demonstrated is that he’s a defensive liability that can’t shoot (30.9% from the field & 18.2% from three) or keep up with the speed on the NBA game.
I thought Europeans were supposed to be oh-so-much-more cultured then us? It seems to me that their basketball exports have had no problem adjusting to the petulant American athlete way of life.
- So Portland owner Paul Allen has said he plans to repurchase the Rose Garden Arena finally.
Well let me be the first to say, "Whoop-de-damn-do."
Don’t get me wrong here, this is great for the Trail Blazers overall, but I wonder what Allen’s next move is?
Part of me thinks this is just him seizing the moment when the team looks promising so he can get top dollar for the whole shebang and retire to his yacht on the Puget Sound.
The other part of me thinks this could signal a return to the free spending glory days of yore. The difference being that this time around the combination of assistant GM Kevin Pritchard (the talent evaluator or idea man) and President Steve Patterson (the smooth talker or deal closer) seems to know what they are doing. Which is a change around here, if you were wondering.
So now that Paul has plenty of young pieces in place, to go along with tons of money, and owning the arena again, is he going to…
A) Give building a winner another shot?
or
B) Cut bait, sell the franchise, and get out of Dodge?
I, for one, am waiting with baited breath for his decision.
- I see a lot of similarities between the Detroit Pistons (with the addition of Chris Webber) and the Phoenix Suns.
How can that be you say?
Well obviously they don’t play at the same pace. Phoenix is 3rd in John Hollinger’s (JH) “Pace Factor” at 98.7 possessions per game, where Detroit in dead last (30th) at 89.9. Despite the different tempos they play at (the Pistons excel in the half court while the Suns are the best in the open court), Phoenix is 1st in JH’s "Offensive Efficiency" at 111.8 points per 100 possessions and Detroit is 4th at 107.1.
The similarities don’t end there either. Both clubs rely very heavily on their top six players to carry them and are thus highly susceptible to injuries. But mainly, each squad is a nightmare to prepare for in the regular season.
Both the Suns and the Pistons can come at you from a variety of directions. Each team can run their offense through any of the five guys on the court at any time and switch it up on the fly. That’s why if the opposition only has one day (or less) to look at tape, or is playing on the second night of a back-to-back, or is coming off playing a defensive team, or is playing their fourth game in five nights, they are dead on arrival. It’s just too tough in today’s NBA to be adequately prepared for a well balanced offensive attack like these two sport.
That said, the regular season is a completely different animal then a seven game series. When their opponents have the chance to create a game plan that abuses C-Web on defense, or takes the ball out of Steve Nash’s hands, can they really stand up to the test?
I’m not so sure, which is why I’m labeling both Detroit and Phoenix “regular season teams”. Squads like Houston and Chicago may not look all that great now, but they are built for post season success. Whereas when the advantages that the Suns and Pistons enjoy on a nightly basis are taken away from them, I think you’ll see their flaws exposed.
- Over the last two seasons I’ve noticed that the Toronto Raptors play an inordinate amount of Sunday matinees. Being that I live on the West Coast, I usually end up watching them play as I eat breakfast, and I’ve come to this conclusion:
If you’re a Western Conference team you don’t want to play the Raptors on a Sunday morning.
For some reason Toronto has a certain mojo as the only team that really embraces the idea of playing regular matinees on Sundays (it must be a Canadian thang).
Anyway, if you’re a gambling man, and the Raps are playing a club from the West at 10 AM PST on a Sunday, you know what to do.
- I can’t wait for the 3-6 and 4-5 match ups in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. Whoever ends up playing each other out of the Spurs, Jazz, Rockets and Lakers, it’s going to be awesome (barring injuries).
Speaking of which, that’s what makes the West so great this year. Arguably the six best teams (maybe Detroit makes it 6 of 7 now) in the league all reside in the West. What that means to me is that any of them can win it all with a few key injuries and some favorable match ups.
- Rhetorical question of the day: Can Shammond Williams really be that much worse then Smush Parker and Sasha Vujacic?
- Since I finally figured out how to insert internet links into clickable text last week, I’m going to leave you with some of the music I’ve been listening to lately. I promise that if you’re brave enough to give it a try, you might actually enjoy what you hear.
Stream or download, take your pick. That's why archive.org is king.
Bustle in Your Hedgerow 8/6/06
If you like Led Zeppelin, then you should check these boys out. I’m not giving any highlights, so you’ll just have to listen to Marco Benevento, Joe Russo (The Duo), Brendan Bayliss (Umphrey’s McGee) and Dave Dreiwitz (Ween) tear it up.
The Disco Biscuits 12/31/06
The Biscuits are back people, and better then ever too. I can’t stress enough just how much difference new drummer Allen Aucoin really makes with the originators of jamtronica.
If you listen to nothing else from this show, at least check out the cover of the Beastie Boys’ ‘Paul Revere’.
I’d recommend taking in the whole show, but I know that’s too much to ask of most. So maybe the ‘The Great Abyss > Spacebirdmatingcall > 42 > Spacebirdmatingcall’ is a good place to start.
For the more hardcore, the ‘Bazaar Escape > Listening to You > Helicopters > Bazaar Escape > Munchkin Invasion > Basis for a Day > Bazaar Escape > Basis for a Day’ is pure unadulterated Bisco at it's finest.
(Sidebar alert!) I love that point in all their songs where they finish the composed section, or lyrics, or whatever and then flat drop off into the jam. The crowd always goes nuts for this split second in time, even though they don’t know what’s coming next. BTW, the 23 minute ‘Spaga’ encore is pretty choice too.
Sound Tribe Sector 9 12/31/06
The books ends of the first set (‘T.W.E.L.V.E. & Instantly’) are must hear, but the second set is where the real business goes down. The run from ‘You Don’t Say’ through ‘One a Day’ is pure energy, and the closing trio of ‘Inspire Strikes Back, Aimlessly’ and the ‘Moon Socket’ encore are off the hook, yo.
String Cheese Incident 12/31/06
If you hadn’t already heard, I was there. The must hear section goes like this: ‘Miss Brown's Teahouse > Sex Machine > Miss Brown's Teahouse > Star Trek Theme > Rollover > Ziggy Stardust, Rain’.
Other highlights include the ‘¡BAM! > Rockit > ¡BAM!’ and the ‘Close Your Eyes > Rocket Man > Close Your Eyes, Desert Dawn’ in the first set.
The end of the second set isn’t too shabby either (‘Bumpin' Reel, Black Clouds’), and the encore of ‘Joyful Sound, Birdland > Wheel Hoss > Birdland > Rollover’ is worth a listen too.
Animal Liberation Orchestra 12/29/06
Overall this is an above average ALO show, but the cover of the Grateful Dead’s ‘Help on the Way > Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower’ to open the third set comes out of nowhere and shows what these boys can really do when they feel like it.
theNEWDEAL 12/14/06
If you are in need of some late night dance music, look no further.
(You’ll have to forgive me if I include some stats. Sometimes I just can’t help myself.)
- What is it with all these European players complaining all of a sudden?
>Pau Gasol requests a trade after missing 23 games with a broken left foot because his team was losing?
Huh?
Come again?
Memphis had made the playoffs in each of the previous three seasons for cripes sake!
News flash for ya buddy ….. your club was losing because YOU were out.
Plus, where does a “star” player like Gasol get off complaining about anything when he’s 0-12 in the playoffs?
SHUT UP AND WIN A PLAYOFF GAME ALREADY PAU!
>Then there’s the case of my boy Andrei Kirilenko, who decided to go public with his displeasure over his role in Utah’s offense.
Ummm, I hate to break it you AK, but you’re shooting a near career low 44.7% from the field and a putrid 21.7% from 3-pont land…..and you want MORE touches?
Maybe if you didn’t treat the ball like a hot potato every time you touched it your teammates and coach might have more confidence in you.
Just a thought.
Even lesser accomplished players then those two have taken it upon themselves to pipe up.
>Sarunas Jasikevicius ripped coach Rick Carlisle on his way out of Indiana for not using him right.
Pah-lease!
Saras, you shot 40.2% from the field as a Pacer and had an assist to turnover ratio of 1.93 to 1. Yet, Carlisle should have used you in the pick & roll more?
Whatever.
>Same goes for Gordan Giricek in Utah. He’s upset that coach Jerry Sloan doesn’t give him consistent minutes.
How about this Gira? When you start playing hard and giving 100% effort consistently, then you *earn* a spot in the regular rotation, but not before. OK?
>I actually like Jose Calderon, and think he’s a quality backup PG, but when he says he’s unsure of his role on the Raptors, I have to laugh.
Jose, usted es la segunda cuerda PG en Toronto.
¿Lo obtuvo?
Bueno.
>An old favorite of mine makes this list too. Marko Jaric is unhappy in Minnesota.
Hey Marko, I’m pretty sure they’re unhappy with your career low PER of 11.55 too (15 being average).
>And last but not least, there’s the case of Vassilis Spanoulis in Houston. After a decorated career on the Greek national team he came to the U.S. looking to establish himself.
So far all he’s demonstrated is that he’s a defensive liability that can’t shoot (30.9% from the field & 18.2% from three) or keep up with the speed on the NBA game.
I thought Europeans were supposed to be oh-so-much-more cultured then us? It seems to me that their basketball exports have had no problem adjusting to the petulant American athlete way of life.
- So Portland owner Paul Allen has said he plans to repurchase the Rose Garden Arena finally.
Well let me be the first to say, "Whoop-de-damn-do."
Don’t get me wrong here, this is great for the Trail Blazers overall, but I wonder what Allen’s next move is?
Part of me thinks this is just him seizing the moment when the team looks promising so he can get top dollar for the whole shebang and retire to his yacht on the Puget Sound.
The other part of me thinks this could signal a return to the free spending glory days of yore. The difference being that this time around the combination of assistant GM Kevin Pritchard (the talent evaluator or idea man) and President Steve Patterson (the smooth talker or deal closer) seems to know what they are doing. Which is a change around here, if you were wondering.
So now that Paul has plenty of young pieces in place, to go along with tons of money, and owning the arena again, is he going to…
A) Give building a winner another shot?
or
B) Cut bait, sell the franchise, and get out of Dodge?
I, for one, am waiting with baited breath for his decision.
- I see a lot of similarities between the Detroit Pistons (with the addition of Chris Webber) and the Phoenix Suns.
How can that be you say?
Well obviously they don’t play at the same pace. Phoenix is 3rd in John Hollinger’s (JH) “Pace Factor” at 98.7 possessions per game, where Detroit in dead last (30th) at 89.9. Despite the different tempos they play at (the Pistons excel in the half court while the Suns are the best in the open court), Phoenix is 1st in JH’s "Offensive Efficiency" at 111.8 points per 100 possessions and Detroit is 4th at 107.1.
The similarities don’t end there either. Both clubs rely very heavily on their top six players to carry them and are thus highly susceptible to injuries. But mainly, each squad is a nightmare to prepare for in the regular season.
Both the Suns and the Pistons can come at you from a variety of directions. Each team can run their offense through any of the five guys on the court at any time and switch it up on the fly. That’s why if the opposition only has one day (or less) to look at tape, or is playing on the second night of a back-to-back, or is coming off playing a defensive team, or is playing their fourth game in five nights, they are dead on arrival. It’s just too tough in today’s NBA to be adequately prepared for a well balanced offensive attack like these two sport.
That said, the regular season is a completely different animal then a seven game series. When their opponents have the chance to create a game plan that abuses C-Web on defense, or takes the ball out of Steve Nash’s hands, can they really stand up to the test?
I’m not so sure, which is why I’m labeling both Detroit and Phoenix “regular season teams”. Squads like Houston and Chicago may not look all that great now, but they are built for post season success. Whereas when the advantages that the Suns and Pistons enjoy on a nightly basis are taken away from them, I think you’ll see their flaws exposed.
- Over the last two seasons I’ve noticed that the Toronto Raptors play an inordinate amount of Sunday matinees. Being that I live on the West Coast, I usually end up watching them play as I eat breakfast, and I’ve come to this conclusion:
If you’re a Western Conference team you don’t want to play the Raptors on a Sunday morning.
For some reason Toronto has a certain mojo as the only team that really embraces the idea of playing regular matinees on Sundays (it must be a Canadian thang).
Anyway, if you’re a gambling man, and the Raps are playing a club from the West at 10 AM PST on a Sunday, you know what to do.
- I can’t wait for the 3-6 and 4-5 match ups in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. Whoever ends up playing each other out of the Spurs, Jazz, Rockets and Lakers, it’s going to be awesome (barring injuries).
Speaking of which, that’s what makes the West so great this year. Arguably the six best teams (maybe Detroit makes it 6 of 7 now) in the league all reside in the West. What that means to me is that any of them can win it all with a few key injuries and some favorable match ups.
- Rhetorical question of the day: Can Shammond Williams really be that much worse then Smush Parker and Sasha Vujacic?
- Since I finally figured out how to insert internet links into clickable text last week, I’m going to leave you with some of the music I’ve been listening to lately. I promise that if you’re brave enough to give it a try, you might actually enjoy what you hear.
Stream or download, take your pick. That's why archive.org is king.
Bustle in Your Hedgerow 8/6/06
If you like Led Zeppelin, then you should check these boys out. I’m not giving any highlights, so you’ll just have to listen to Marco Benevento, Joe Russo (The Duo), Brendan Bayliss (Umphrey’s McGee) and Dave Dreiwitz (Ween) tear it up.
The Disco Biscuits 12/31/06
The Biscuits are back people, and better then ever too. I can’t stress enough just how much difference new drummer Allen Aucoin really makes with the originators of jamtronica.
If you listen to nothing else from this show, at least check out the cover of the Beastie Boys’ ‘Paul Revere’.
I’d recommend taking in the whole show, but I know that’s too much to ask of most. So maybe the ‘The Great Abyss > Spacebirdmatingcall > 42 > Spacebirdmatingcall’ is a good place to start.
For the more hardcore, the ‘Bazaar Escape > Listening to You > Helicopters > Bazaar Escape > Munchkin Invasion > Basis for a Day > Bazaar Escape > Basis for a Day’ is pure unadulterated Bisco at it's finest.
(Sidebar alert!) I love that point in all their songs where they finish the composed section, or lyrics, or whatever and then flat drop off into the jam. The crowd always goes nuts for this split second in time, even though they don’t know what’s coming next. BTW, the 23 minute ‘Spaga’ encore is pretty choice too.
Sound Tribe Sector 9 12/31/06
The books ends of the first set (‘T.W.E.L.V.E. & Instantly’) are must hear, but the second set is where the real business goes down. The run from ‘You Don’t Say’ through ‘One a Day’ is pure energy, and the closing trio of ‘Inspire Strikes Back, Aimlessly’ and the ‘Moon Socket’ encore are off the hook, yo.
String Cheese Incident 12/31/06
If you hadn’t already heard, I was there. The must hear section goes like this: ‘Miss Brown's Teahouse > Sex Machine > Miss Brown's Teahouse > Star Trek Theme > Rollover > Ziggy Stardust, Rain’.
Other highlights include the ‘¡BAM! > Rockit > ¡BAM!’ and the ‘Close Your Eyes > Rocket Man > Close Your Eyes, Desert Dawn’ in the first set.
The end of the second set isn’t too shabby either (‘Bumpin' Reel, Black Clouds’), and the encore of ‘Joyful Sound, Birdland > Wheel Hoss > Birdland > Rollover’ is worth a listen too.
Animal Liberation Orchestra 12/29/06
Overall this is an above average ALO show, but the cover of the Grateful Dead’s ‘Help on the Way > Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower’ to open the third set comes out of nowhere and shows what these boys can really do when they feel like it.
theNEWDEAL 12/14/06
If you are in need of some late night dance music, look no further.
posted by D$ at 3:41 PM
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