SB Nation - Arron Afflalo

Something Special Brewin? Malcolm Jones Honored As Gatorade National Player Of The Year

Nestor — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:08:15 -0000

Many of us have followed college athletics long enough to know that we shouldn't always get too excited about hype around big time recruits. It is especially true these days in the world of college basketball. Sometimes recruits in hoops such as JF, AA, and KL live up to all the hype. Other times, well I don't think I have to go through the details of the Ben Ball ~~warriors~~ class of 2008 (you can also read the comments in this thread which will go back much further).

Same dynamics also play out in football to a certain extent (even though in football it takes recruits traditionally a year or two to make discernible impact in the program). I think we can write post after posts on who has worked out (MJD, Brian Price, Akeem Ayers, Rahim Moore, XSF) and who hasn't (Ben Olson, Aundre Dean ) in recent years in Westwood. Yet, every once in a while we read and hear about a recruit in football or hoops, and we can't help but hope for something special when everything looks and sounds right about his arrival to Westwood. Well, if you haven't yet then meet Malcolm Jones. He just became the first UCLA football recruit ever to be honored as the Gatorade National High School Player Of The Year:

The LAT writeup provides the eye popping numbers:

Jones, a running back-linebacker, has scored 109 touchdowns in his four-year prep career. This season, he has rushed for 2,156 yards, putting him 40 yards short of tying the single-season school record held by Marc Tyler. He has 36 touchdowns and is nearing 6,000 yards rushing in his career.

Jon Gold from the Daily News had the following comment from MJ's team-mate on how emotional he was yesterday:

"You should have seen the expressions on his face when he was walking out of class," Oaks Christian quarterback Nick Montana said with a wide smile. "He was with his family, biggest smile on his face; I haven't seen him smile like that in a while. He was tearing up a little bit - it was awesome to see."

Well congrats to Malcolm from the entire BN. We have a little more on him after the jump.

Gold sheds a little more light on Malcolm as a student and person off the field:

Jones maintains a 3.46 grade-point average and announced in early October that he would play for UCLA, choosing the Bruins over expected front-runner Stanford. Additionally, Jones is a peer tutor and a youth basketball volunteer referee.

"He's realizes I think that he's really blessed," Marshall Jones Sr. said. "He takes his blessings as something he should utilize for the good of himself and others. And that's what makes me proud of him.

"He's a better person than he is a football player."

He also has the right perspective heading into UCLA next season:

"I really wanted to go to a school where I can really make a name for myself, not just be the "next" star running back at a USC or one of those big-time colleges," Jones said. "I want to prove to everyone that I can really help turn the program around, get them back on top."

Sounds like a Bruin already. lol Here he was few weeks ago reflecting on his team's season, his commitment to UCLA, and the looming CIF playoffs:

Well, Malcolm is going to lead his 13-0 Oaks Christian team into tonight Northwest Division championship game against Gardena Serra. He has played on three consecutive section championship teams.

In terms of some previous history on this award, I should note in hoops it was KL and Jrue Holiday who were also honored as Gatorade NPOY (as I said in my opening grafs, we have mixed records). Previous honorees as Gatorade NPOY includes names such as Peyton Manning, Emmitt Smith and Jeff George. The list also includes Matt disrespected Barkely (won the award in his junior season), who hasn't really done all that much considering the talent he was surrounded with at Southern Cal.

All that said, it's still a big deal. As noted above Malcolm is the first Bruin recruit to win this award. As excited as we all are about him, what I am even more excited is listening to him, he comes as as the perfect Bruin in the mold of ATV. Keeping my fingers crossed, Malcolm experiences the same level of success as our current senior captain both on and off the field starting next year at UCLA.

GO BRUINS.

Welcome back, Birdman?... (Nuggets/Heat recap)

Andrew Feinstein — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 07:02:06 -0000

I'll happily take the Nuggets being on the right side of a blowout any day of the week. But it's extra special when the blowout comes during a fair fight.

Before we recap tonight's events, it should be noted that I - Andrew - is covering tonight's game and not my partner-in-crime Nate Timmons. So while blowout wins for our Nuggets tend to come on Nate's watch, let's hope my recent spate of jinxes has begun to reverse itself!

The other blowout win I covered recently was when the Nuggets clocked the Lakers a few Fridays ago. But as I alluded to at the time, that game wasn't a fair fight. Not only were the Lakers playing shorthanded, but they had to fly into Denver in the middle of the night coming off the late TNT game the Thursday before. (It should be noted that the Heat playing at the Lakers tomorrow won't be a fair fight for the Heat whatsoever. Tonight's game against the Nuggets started a half hour late, the Heat will have to travel to L.A. in the middle of the night and the Lakers have been off since Tuesday. Have I mentioned that the Lakers schedule is a fucking joke yet?)

Unlike that Lakers victory we can gloat for a while about tonight's conquest. The Heat had no excuse to show up flat: they're healthy, had plenty of time to acclimate to Denver altitude, had more than one day's rest and had confidently beaten the Trail Blazers in Portland on Tuesday. The Nuggets are just a hell of a lot better than their South Beach counterparts, and it showed.

I don't know about you, but I thought the story of the game tonight was the continued - and desperately needed - resurgence of Chris Andersen. For the second game in a row, the Birdman reminded all of us why I started the "Bring Back Birdman" petition last season: blocking and altering shots, grabbing big rebounds, finishing around the rim and generally wreaking havoc - in a good way - inside. And his bench mate J.R. Smith also brought back the energy and production that made the Nuggets bench so special last season. Now the question is whether or not they can replicate this production on the road. I've always felt like if the Birdman and J.R. are solar panels, then the Pepsi Center crowd is their sun.

Tonight's victory might also send a more profound message throughout the NBA than the Lakers victory did. What does it say to the rest of the league when Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups shoot horrifically (and indeed they did, even as Melo eeked his way to the 20-point plateau for the - gulp - 19th straight game!) and yet the Nuggets can still beat a playoff caliber team in a walkover? It says we have balance and when we play the game the right way, look out.

A few observations that I'm sure most of you noticed, too...

...you have to love J.R. dishing out a season-high six assists. Imagine if he starts embracing the pass?

...under the radar, Arron Afflalo is finding his role with the Nuggets and is becoming a major contributor. I couldn't be happier having him on the Nuggets.

...I was thrilled that George Karl picked up at technical foul early in the game when he sensed the Nuggets sluggishness, and even more thrilled to see Kenyon Martin hold his coach back by embracing him. But I have to admit I was a little disappointed that Karl didn't get himself kicked out alongside K-Mart when K-Mart got tossed in the second half. Given that the game was clearly over anyway, I'd have loved to see the two of them walking out the tunnel together a la Humphrey Bogart and Claude Rains in Casablanca.

...for those who watched the Celtics/Spurs game beforehand, are you as frustrated as I am that the Nuggets didn't draft DeJuan Blair when they had the chance in the second round? Even though the Nuggets were able to sell the draft rights to their second round pick (Sergio Llull) for a record price, they were being penny-wise and pound-foolish by passing on Blair (along with 28 other teams). Blair is yet another example in a long line of slightly undersized but gutty, tough power forwards who kicked ass in college and yet NBA teams routinely pass on (just a few off the top of my head: Carlos Boozer, Paul Millsap, Jason Maxiell, Leon Powe and Glen Davis). Damn I wish Blair was in a Nuggets uniform right now. I just can't shake it.

14-5. Pretty damn good. A few more victories like this, and the home loss to the Timberwolves will prove to be a wake up call, and not a trend.

Go Nuggets!

Photo courtesy of AP: David Zalubowski

Meadowlands Massacre in reverse... (Nuggets/Nets Recap)

Andrew Feinstein — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:09:12 -0000

Between tonight's 28-point victory at the Izod Center and last season's 25-point win over the Nets at Pepsi Center, I'd say the Nuggets have properly avenged last February's debacle in New Jersey.

The Nets are one of the NBA's worst teams with All-Star point guard Devin Harris in the lineup. Without Harris (as they were forced to play tonight), they're a slight step above an NBDL team. For the Nuggets to win by 28 in spite of Carmelo Anthony having a horrid shooting night, it tells us that our Nuggets are either this good or the Nets are this bad. It's probably a bit of both.

In my recap of the Nuggets opening night win over the Jazz, I mentioned how the NBA will be made up of "haves" and "have nots" this season. But it's broader than that. The Nets - like their losing predecessors in Indiana last night - aren't just bad, but they're broke and cheap like nine or so other struggling franchises. Just another casualty of a worldwide financial crisis and poor (literally and figuratively) ownership. Take Bobby Simmons amazingly high $10.5 million contract off their books and the Nets entire roster combined would cost the same as having Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin, Chauncey Billups and Nene.

What this game got me thinking tonight is that we might see one of the greatest disparities in recent memory between the records of the good teams with stable ownership (the Lakers, Celtics, Magic, Cavaliers, Spurs, Nuggets...thank you thank you Stan Kroenke) and these shoddy outfits in New Jersey, Indiana, Milwaukee, Sacramento, Charlotte and so on. In other words, if you thought the Nuggets had an easy time last season feasting on sub-.500 teams, this season could be even easier.

Or...another thought...are the Nuggets just this good? Do the additions of Ty Lawson and Arron Afflalo in particular, combined with the substantial upgrade in play by Carmelo Anthony, make the Nuggets even better than last season in spite of the dire financial situation affecting 30% of their opposition? Considering that the Nuggets are 5-0 with two pairs of back-to-back wins under their belts already and J.R. Smith hasn't even stepped onto the floor yet, it's fair to ask, wonder and dream about what could come of all this. But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves until the Nuggets start racking up road wins like this against real NBA teams.

(Speaking of Afflalo, he's clearly getting more comfortable in the Nuggets "system" and I'm perplexed as to why he's not starting yet. Anthony Carter hasn't hurt us through five games, but I'd argue that he hasn't helped much either. With Afflalo kicking off games, at least we'd be playing five-on-five on the defensive end.)

Unlike last season when the Nuggets stepped onto the Izod Center floor and forgot to play basketball altogether, they handled tonight's game (second half anyway) like the pro's they're supposed to be night in and night out.

And we're all better off for it.

Photo courtesy of AP: Mel Evans

More Thoughts (And Questions) On The Upcoming Ben Ball Season

Nestor — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:00:49 -0000

More photos » by Jae C. Hong - AP

ND, MR, MM & JA signing autographs on media day. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Browse more photos »

Let's continue with the story lines on the Ben Ball warriors coming out of Media Day. One thing I am already liking about this upcoming season is the absence of incessant chatter from the local (and national media) driving the narrative that UCLA basketball season is a bust if there is no Pac-10 championship or drive towards the Final-4. Don't get me wrong. I want the Bruins to win the Pac-10 title every season and make a hard charge to the Final 4 (and banner number 12 and beyond) in every post season. However, the reality - especially in today's world of one and done ballers - it is not going to happen every year and there will be times when the Bruins will be in semi-rebuilding and reloading mode.

Well this is one of those years during which observers both inside and outside the BN are not going to expect a lot out of UCLA in terms of conference championships or deep run in the Dance, but we do have a team that has the potential to develop into something fun to watch and achieve a result somewhere in between what Howland accomplished between his second and third season at UCLA (something beyond just a 1st round tourney team but not necessarily a Final-4/Pac-10 championship team). Where the Bruins end up will depend on number of factors.

We will have to find out what kind of transition JA makes as the full time floor general replacing DC (who made a fantastic transition taking over for JF). From the LA Times:

Anderson expected to be a factor last season but got boxed out by Collison's decision to remain in school one more year. As a result, he played only 8.6 minutes a game.

The sophomore is eager to make up for lost time. "I definitely know how to run a team," he said. "This year, I'm going to be allowed to do that."

From what I saw in JA last year I saw a kid who certainly has the tools to become a good floor general and get the ball to his talented team-mates. However, the question I have in mind is his defensive mindset. How good and aggressive will he be defensively and generate pressure on the opposing guard. He did struggle at times during last season. For some reason I have bad memories from the Wasington game at Pauley (even though we won that game) of moments when DC left the court. I am hopeful that JA is going to grow into his new role and get to work out the kinks during the non conference. He will get to do that against very tough competition which will include dates with the Jayhawks at Pauley and a solid Mississippi State team in the Wooden Class. JA is not the only question mark around this team though. More after the jump.

I am also wondering who will emerge as the go to guy in this team in terms of when we really need a key bucket. Last year it was all about DC, JS and PAA. The year before ... well we had options such as KL, RW, LRMAM along with DC and JS. Of course we had the AA/JF core in preceding years. Who are going to be the scorers this year? JMM thinks everyone is ready to step up:

"It makes it a lot easier - we don't have to just look for 'that' guy," Morgan said, after the team serenaded legendary coach John Wooden on video, celebrating his 99th birthday. "Last year it was, 'We're in trouble, we need to go to Darren, we need to go to Jrue, we need to go to Josh.' Now I feel like we can go to anybody on the team and they can take care of business."

I love his enthusiasm but we will have to see. It will be interesting to see how ML emerges this season. Part of me still wishes he got more time last season, especially given JH's tendency to take time off on defense. I think ML has the natural ability to one of those guards who will be able to create offense with his athleticism (within the frame work of Howland's scheme) by attacking the basket and also connecting from the outside. I also like the energy he brings on defense (at least based on what I saw from last year. In addition to ML, another kid who could provide some scoring punch right off the bat is TH who is thankfully allright and was cleared to practice. From Jon Gold in the Daily News:

Honeycutt enters the season as the hottest ticket in the group (of freshmen), rated the No. 3 small forward by Scout.com, a double-double force from nearby Sylmar High. He was cleared to practice on Wednesday after re-aggravating a stress fracture in his back during the summer.

"I'm going to have that mentality that I have to go in there and do whatever I can for the team," Honeycutt said. "Whether it's score the most or lock up the best player. A lot of people say there's not really a go-to-guy - I'm going to try to be that guy this year."

The combination of TH and other highly regarded freshman - MM from Oregon - is going to be fun to watch. From what I have heard and seen (from his couple of games on television) he strikes me as a little more polished version of LRMAM when he came into college. However, I have no expectation that MM will produce the same way as LRMAM who was just an athletic FREAK in his first year at UCLA. However, if MM can bring that defensive energy and we can combine that with TH and ML's athleticism, it could be something really fun to watch.

We will also probably get long range bombs from MR and ND. However, we will reall need MR to step up in big conference games and ND to toughen up his defense (and build on his tangible improvement he demonstrated last season.

We also have quesitons at the 5 spot and who is going to fill the big shoes left behind by PAA. From the LA Times:

As the heart of last season's team, Aboya brought grit and tenacity to the middle.

"It's a very tough thing to match," Howland said. "Especially on the defensive end of the floor where he made up for other people's mistakes because he drew so many charges."

Sophomores Drew Gordon and J'mison Morgan will compete to replace him, along with senior James Keefe, who started at power forward for part of last season. Freshman Anthony Stover is in the mix.

Injuries hit Keefe (shoulder) and Gordon (knee) this summer; both are working to get back to full strength. Morgan, looking trim after an out-of-shape freshman year, still has much to prove.

Well there are lot of questions here. We will have to see what kind of shape JK and DG are in early in the season. Coaches have to be careful about how they work them in early on. We have talked anough about JMM's footwork and need to play better defense. The report in terms of how hard he worked off season to get in better shape is certainly encouraging.

AS is a definite curiosity. Have heard great things about his athletic ability but I think we can expect him to be pretty raw and unpolished early on. We will also have couple of other freshman forwards in BL and RN (who MR described as a "bull" in the LAT report linked above). I think those guys will definitely get a chance to compete early on but it will all depend on how they pick up on how to play Ben Ball D. So the whole team is going to be a collective work in progress to say the least and they are going to need every out of conference game to develop chemistry among themselve and get accustomed to Coach Howland's style and demand of playing basketball. What we do know is that Coach Howland is going to have some pure athletes to work with.

The group of freshman and sophomore he has now are collectively more athletic than the group he had when the freshman group of DC/LRMAM/PAA/MR/Ryan Wright joined up with AA/JF/LMR/JS. So that said here is the biggest question I will leave everyone with. Will the current batch of Ben Ball warriors play with the same passion, desire, determination and intensity we saw from the crew led by AA and JF in their second year in Westwood? I think the answer to that question will have a lot to do with what kind of season we have this year in Howland.

GO BRUINS.

Chris Bosh Now Owns Nearly Half of the Pistons Domains

Packey — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:25:54 -0000

Chris Bosh is probably viewed as a hero in Toronto for his play on the court (especially if he decides to re-sign there). Today, he's viewed as somewhat of a cyber-hero for a result in the court, as he just won a legal case that freed up over 800 domain names from a cybersquatter. The domain names were transferred over into his possession.

This story from the New York Times this morning:

A federal judge in California has ordered a cybersquatter to surrender chrisbosh .com to Bosh, the Toronto Raptors forward, settling a lawsuit filed last year. But the court went a step further — or several hundred steps.

Judge Florence-Marie Cooper of United States District Court ordered Luis Zavala and his company, Hoopology .com, to release some 800 illegally registered domain names to Bosh.

According to the lawsuit, Zavala registered the Web addresses in order to sell them to those whose names he appropriate, in violation of federal law.

The only relevance this story has in terms of the Pistons is that of those 800 illegally registered domain names, Bosh now owns seven current Pistons' domain names, should they ever want to have their name serve as a personal website.

Those Pistons include Rodney Stuckey, Tayshaun Prince, Charlie Villanueva, Kwame Brown, Chris Wilcox, Dajuan Summers and Chucky Atkins. Notable former Pistons include Darko Milicic and Arron Afflalo.

I know Richard Hamilton's personal website is RipCity32.com, Ben Gordon's is BenGordon.com, and Charlie Villanueva actually has a website, but it's CV31.com. And maybe Rip and Charlie's websites are what they are because some cybersquatter bought their full names ahead of time hoping to sell them illegally if the players came asking, but the players didn't want to go through the trouble. Or they just didn't think of purchasing their names in addition to what they went with.

Either way, whether these Pistons and former Pistons want to start a personal website using their full names or not,, nearly 800 other NBA players and other big names know where to go now, if they decide they do. Chris Bosh and the law has taken care of the situation.

Spoiler Alert: Denver Nuggets Preview

djturtleface — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 18:28:38 -0000

More photos » by Matt Slocum - AP

Nene is huge. And he'll need to log huge minutes if the Nuggets don't want to be playing a starting frontcourt with either Malik Allen or Johan Petro. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Browse more photos »

The Nuggets are my second favorite team in the NBA. Let's get that straight right now. I backed the Nuggets all season last year, told everyone that, yes, they were that good, even though nobody believe me that they were a new team. That's the funny thing about the NBA. Sometimes swapping one piece can completely change your team's outlook.

I remember that some stats-heavy analyst was saying that the Chauncey Billups trade didn't make the Nuggets great; the fact that the Nuggets played defense this year made them great. Apparently he's not into making the connect.

My point being that this isn't the same team the Nuggets had last year, just like swapping Allen Iverson for Mr. Big Shot changed their dichotomy last year. The problem, however, is that --unlike acquiring Billups -- I'm not convinced this season's change is for the better.

Preview

As I just pointed out, this season's Nuggets are fit to be a very different squad. Yes, the big pieces are all still in place: Carmelo Anthony, Billups, Kenyon Martin, J.R. Smith, Nene, and the Birdman Chris Andersen. The problem is that the small pieces are all jumbled, and probably not for the better. Losing Linas Kleiza is a bigger deal then most people realize; the Nuggets front-court is only Martin, Nene, Birdman, and Johan Petro -- unless you count Malik Allen, who you very might well have to by the end of the season. That's terrifyingly thin given the fact that Andersen is more of a gadget player than a power forward or center, and K-Mart is notoriously fragile.

That being said there are reasons for positive outlook. Dahntay Jones is really terrible, I mean awful, and anyone watching him play knows that he was basically just playing to keep J.R. Smith from taking all of Carmelo's possessions. Jones wasn't nearly the defender the press made him out to be, and dunking was his only practical skill on offense. Replacing him with Arron Afflalo, who is very talented in the right situation, and with more, older J.R. Swish should be a huge production boost for this team.

The backcourt looks better than ever this season, and I suspect that Ty Lawson will nicely complement Billups, allowing him to play shorter minutes to compensate for his age. Again Afflalo is a useful player, kind of a Battier-lite, and this is the year J.R. pulls things together.

Then there's Carmelo Anthony. Anthony had perhaps his worst offensive season since his rookie year last season, and yet the national media gushed over his talents. Expect a return to a 50% shooting from the field, as well as a little improvement in his passing kid. 'Melo is one of the true NBA superstar franchise players, and I suspect he'll come up even bigger and better this year.

Fantasy Preview

Breakout- Carmelo Anthony- He's really good at scoring and rebounding, and a return to form would make Anthony a first round talent that you can find in the second or third. ESPN has him ranked at #18, which seems about right until you consider that guys like Andre Iguodala, Steve Nash, and Al Jefferson are ahead of him. I'd argue all of those players are even more unproven, with Iguodala never hitting potential, Nash on a short minute leash, and Al Jeff coming off an injury that normally slows players down in their first season back.

Bust- Chauncey Billups- Ranked one spot ahead of Anthony, Billups, like Nash, will be seeing shorter minutes this season, which should be terrifying to fantasy owners. I have a hard time drafting him in the second round -- I'd much rather wait a round for Rondo, Harris, and Calderon.

Useful- J.R. Smith and Nene- Both these guys will probably drop too far in your draft. If you can't tell, I really like the Nuggets for fantasy this season. Draft either in a second if you see them around near their ESPN ranks.

Predictions

My Predictions: 52-30 (ESPN: 51-31) Worth noting here that me and my boy Hollinger have the same number. The Nuggets benefited from a slightly weaker Western Conference last season. I believe that, somehow, both conferences are set to get better this year, as much sense as that makes. But while the other competitors definitely got popping this offseason, the Nuggets were mainly stagnant, though they're no longer a team that can punish teams with its infinite well of scoring. This season Nuggets like J.R. and 'Melo need to become smarter and more efficient scorers -- I think they're up for the change.

Denver Stiffs is great, I read it all the time.

Poll

How many games will the Nuggets win this season?

Over 52 games.

11 votes

Under 52 games.

8 votes

19 votes | Poll has closed

What I'll be looking for on Saturday night...

Andrew Feinstein — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:45:34 -0000

I'm fortunate enough to have tickets to both the Nuggets preseason game against Partizan Belgrade at Pepsi Center on Saturday night and the Broncos/Cowboys game at Invesco on Sunday. Guess which one I'm more excited about?

I love attending preseason basketball games for several reasons. First, the stadium is always half, if not two-thirds, empty so you really get to hear what's going on the floor between the players, coaches and (at least for now) replacement referees. Second, I like being as close as possible to the players early to see if all the summer rumors about who's in shape and who isn't are true or false. And third, even this early you can start gauging your team's energy and enthusiasm entering a new season. For example, last October you could just tell that the Nuggets had an extra gear in them, even before Chauncey Billups arrived.

So what will I be looking for on Saturday night? (And yes, I'm skipping ahead to Saturday since I can't watch tonight's game at Utah.)

I want to see if Carmelo Anthony is indeed 15 pounds lighter, as has been reported. And I'll also be looking for offseason improvements - if any - like adding a new move around the basket, working on the consistency of his free throw shooting or better defensive footwork.

Along the same lines as Melo's physique, I'll be keeping a close eye on Nenê. Did he maintain his conditioning this summer? Or did have another one of his "Brazilian summers" as we've seen in year's past as he recovered from that painful broken arm sustained in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals by laying on the beach?

Kenyon Martin is reportedly feeling better than he's ever felt and has his hops back from his New Jersey days. Hopefully we'll get to see a thunderous dunk or two that backs this up. K-Mart has been dishing out a lot of bold rhetoric lately, as well, and it will be fun to see if his body language matches up with his mouth. I have to say, though, it's nice having a Bill Laimbeer-type player on our team for once (in spite of the bloated contract) who deflects negative attention away from his teammates.

I won't read too much into Chauncey Billups' preseason performances. At 33 years old and with seven consecutive conference finals appearances on his resume, Chauncey has earned the right to ease into the preseason and save his energy for the regular season - kind of like how the Colts use Peyton Manning during the preseason in the NFL.

Everyone in attendance on Saturday night will paying close attention to George Karl's rotation and specifically, whether or not J.R. Smith starts. Karl has already come out publicly saying that J.R. isn't guaranteed to be starting as the Nuggets try to replicate last season's success with one of the most explosive benches in the NBA. The next question then is; did J.R. make any visible improvements in the offseason and how will he respond to staying on the bench?

And this leads us straight to Arron Afflalo, already assumed to be the Nuggets best offseason acquisition. The Afflalo bandwagon is filling up fast and I'm a proud member of it. But the downside of that is everything Afflalo does will be dissected and over-analyzed on Saturday night. If Afflalo starts and plays well throughout the preseason, don't be the least surprised if J.R. becomes the 2010 Sixth Man of the Year Award winner.

Speaking of new acquisitions, I'll be looking to see if Ty Lawson can go through a game without getting his shot blocked routinely like we saw in Las Vegas Summer League. Lawson's learning curve is already being praised and we're collectively hoping he'll be replacing Anthony Carter as the primary backup soon. I can't wait to see this kid play on Saturday night.

Another observation to make a note of is how Chris "Birdman" Andersen responds to his newfound job security and how Renaldo Balkman handles being a rotation fixture, assuming he'll be filling in for the departed Linas Kleiza in backing up Melo. And I think we all know we'll get a good effort from A.C. even if a few turnovers come along with said effort.

And of course it's always fun to see new players. This weekend we'll be watching where Malik Allen fits into the rotation, how Joey Graham and James White do in a Nuggets uniform and if training camp newcomers Keith Brumbaugh, Dontaye Draper and Kurt Looby have any shot whatsoever of making the opening day roster.

I can't wait! A Nuggets preseason game and a Broncos victory over the Cowboys in the same weekend? It might be too much to ask...

On a side note, if any of you are coming to Saturday's game, Nate and I will be getting there early and it would be great to meet up with some fellow Stiffs at the Blue Sky Lounge. So drop us an email and let us know.

Photo courtesy of David Zalubowski, AP

Competition Discussion: Denver Nuggets

Mike Prada — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:26:27 -0000

(Previously: Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas).

The season is still a ways away, but most of the rosters are set, barring the requisite Michael Jordan comeback rumor (just kidding, but only a little). We have an idea where our team stands, but we can't really know unless we discuss everyone else. In that spirit, I'm going to throw up a "competition discussion" thread for each of the other 29 teams over the next couple months or so. We'll go in alphabetical order from A to Z. Today's team: Denver. Jump to the comments to discuss the Nuggets and make a prediction on their record.

Last year's record: 54-28 (Pythagorean record: 50-32)

Playoffs: Beat New Orleans 4-1 in first round, beat Dallas 4-1 in second round, lost to LA Lakers 4-2 in Western Conference Finals.

Offensive Rating: 110.4 (7th)

Defensive Rating: 106.8 (8th)

Pace: 94.3 possessions/game (5th)

In: Arron Afflalo, Ty Lawson, Malik Allen
Out: Dahntay Jones, Linas Kleiza

Projected starting lineup: Chauncey Billups, J.R. Smith*, Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin, Nene

*: I'd start Afflalo, but I don't know if Denver will

Key themes:

Is this team really elite or was last year's run to the Western Conference Finals a bit of a fluke?
How much more can Carmelo Anthony's game grow?
How will they handle losing two of their top nine rotation players in Jones and Kleiza? Can Afflalo and others replace them?
Their frontcourt guys (Nene and K-Mart) uncharacteristically stayed healthy, but the Nuggets didn't really increase their depth behind them. Will they stay healthy? Can Denver survive again in the West with only three real quality bigs (them and Birdman)?
What's the next step for J.R. Smith? Does he start? How will his tumultuous summer, which included a bad episode with Twitter, a reckless driving charge and his captain openly calling him out for his immaturity, affect him?
How will management get this roster to improve when they are so up against the luxury tax?
Chauncey Billups will be 33 this year. How will the Nuggets manage his minutes? How much of an impact will Ty Lawson make?
Was Denver's defensive improvement a mirage, or can it be maintained despite the strong personalities on the team?

Last year was the honeymoon stage of the supposed Chauncey Billups/Allen Iverson heist. This year is going to be where the long-term portion of the trade is going to be judged.

What do I mean? I don't think there are too many smart hoops fans who felt the Nuggets would be worse in the short-term with Billups rather than Iverson. (If you were one, shame on you). Billups' game, based mostly on efficiency, leadership and unselfishness, was perfect for a team like Denver that plays so frenetically. It also helped in George Karl's pleas to change Denver's "culture," which was already in transition before Billups came to town. Karl was already installing a new defensive system, and early returns were promising. Billups just made that transition easier. We all should have seen the short-term gains coming.

Of course, I doubt anyone thought Denver was going to have this much success in the short term. By that, I mostly mean playoff success. Denver emerged as a legitimate threat in the West by routing New Orleans, destroying Dallas and giving the Lakers a run for their money. A play here, a play there, and Denver might have made the Finals. Sure, their bracket opened up for them when San Antonio entered the playoffs so banged up, but Denver took advantage of their opportunity and proved their worth against the Lakers. This was and is a damn good basketball team.

But now comes the problem of trying to build on that success, which is a major uphill climb with Denver because of all the long-term salary they have. Adding Billups' long-term contract only made things worse on that front. The short-term gain was four more wins in a weaker West, with all their injury-prone guys playing more games than normal, and a fairly lucky (all things considered) draw to the Western Conference Finals. The long-term cost might be losing resources needed to build on that short-term success. In other words, Denver may have reached its peak with the Billups trade.

All that said, I think Denver did the best it could to improve or at least maintain their position this summer. Dahntay Jones isn't a big loss, and the swap for Arron Afflalo, who does the same things Jones does but costs half as much, was a brilliant move. Letting Linas Kleiza go was also a good decision, because he was never going to get the proper playing time behind Carmelo Anthony to justify a long-term contract. Trading for Ty Lawson on draft day was also a brilliant move because he can immediately play backup point guard minutes.

But none of those moves move the Nuggets too far forward, and there are a few things that could move Denver backwards. For example, Nene played 77 games last year, even though he's averaged just 53 games per season in his career. If he gets injured, that's a huge loss, because he's so underrated and because Denver only has one legitimate backup big man. Also, if JR Smith's summer struggles carry over into the season beyond his seven-game suspension, the Nuggets could take a step back.

At the very least, San Antonio and Portland have certainly passed Denver (though you could argue they were already ahead of Denver last year), and others could too. Denver will still be a factor, but I don't see them getting back to the Western Conference Finals again until the next rebuilding effort.

Mike's prediction: 53-29, second in the Northwest, fifth in the West.

Team	Mike Prada	JakeTheSnake	Truth About It	Rook6980	bwoodsxyz
Atlanta	47-35	44-38	45-37	45-37	45-37
Boston	57-25	55-27	54-28	44-38	56-26
Charlotte	32-50	32-50	29-53	34-48	37-45
Chicago	39-43	40-42	42-40	40-42	44-38
Cleveland	63-19	60-22	64-18	64-18	61-21
Dallas	49-33	44-38	51-31	50-32	47-35
Denver	53-29

Around the Association: 2009-2010 Detroit Pistons: The Return of the Bad Boys

R Dizzle — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:00:33 -0000

Maybe I should leave the photoshopping to Tony.psd.

One could easily argue that the Detroit Pistons had one of the busiest offseasons. They're making more moves than Ford Motors! Actually, I take that back...I shouldn't make jokes about the dying American car industry...

With two of the most expensive free agents added to the Pistons roster this year, are they going to be able to break into the top 5 in the East?

Jump for some more thoughts.

Offseason Additions

VIA DRAFT
Austin Daye (No. 15)
DaJuan Summers (No. 35)
Jonas Jerebko (No. 39)

VIA FREE AGENCY
Ben Gordon (from Bulls)
Charlie Villanueva (from Bucks)
Ben Wallace (from Suns)
Chris Wilcox (from Knicks)

Offseason Subtractions

VIA FREE AGENCY
Rasheed Wallace (to Celtics)

VIA TRADE
Arron Afflalo (to Nuggets)
Amir Johnson (to Bucks)
Walter Sharpe (to Nuggets)

RENOUNCED
Allen Iverson
Antonio McDyess (to Spurs)
Walter Herrmann

WAIVED
Fabricio Oberto

Woooooowwwww. That's some crazy ish for Joe Dumars to be pulling in a city that can barely take care of its own people. I know, I shouldn't rag on Detroit and its financial problems, but I feel a sort of connection to the city now - more on that later.

Rewinding 2k8-2k9 Season: 39-43

For some odd reason, Joe Dumars thought practice wasn't important so he traded Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson.

It unfortunately did not answer much.

A.I. never really found his role on the Pistons, ended up becoming the 6th man, developed "back problems' at the end of the season and rarely played. The Pistons ended their season as the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference and had a quick 1st round exit to the Cavaliers.

Projecting 2k9-2k10 Season: 41-41

Q: What happens when you sign Ben Gordon for 5 years at $55 million and Charlie V. for 5 years at $35 million?

A: You don't win very much.

Don't get me wrong, Ben Gordon was huge in the Bulls-Celtics series. He's a great shooter and can turn on his Pistons (get it?) at any given point. Awesome offensive power and the man you want for that last minute three.

But that's about it. As Warriors fans, we know all about volume shooters (see: Jamal Crawford) and know the problems with running your team through that. $11 mil a year? That's a lot to dedicate to a one-dimensional player. Again, we know all about that as Warriors fans (see: Corey Maggette.)

As for Charlie Villanueva, as much as I love following him on Twitter, I don't like following his game on the court. He's got talent, but not enough to justify that new contract. He's basically another Al Harrington, so ask yourself, would you pay big Al $7 mil a year?

My review about Joe Dumars this offseason?

GO JOE?

NO JOE.

R Dizzle's Predictions

The Detroit Pistons end up 8th Place in the Eastern Conference
Get swept by the Cavaliers (again?!?)
Eric Gordon averages 25 points and 5 assists
Joe Dumars publicly admits trading Chauncey Billups was a mistake

For more on the Pistons check out Motown String Music.

2009-2010 Around the Association

Introduction
Atlanta Hawks: Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. The Hawks are for real.
Boston Celtics: Sheed in Green + Another Answer
Charlotte Bobcats: They Do Exist
Chicago Bulls: Ring Around the Rose-y
Cleveland Cavaliers: Now or Never
Dallas Mavericks: The Curse of the Dampier
Denver Nuggets: If it ain't broke...
Detroit Pistons
Houston Rockets
Indiana Pacers
Los Angeles Clippers
Los Angeles Lakers
Memphis Grizzlies
Miami Heat
Milwaukee Bucks
Minnesota Timberwolves
New Jersey Nets
New Orleans Hornets
New York Knicks
Oklahoma City Super Sonics
Orlando Magic
Philadelphia Sixers
Phoenix Suns
Portland TrailBlazers
Sacramento Kings
San Antonio Spurs
Toronto Raptors
Utah Jazz
Washington Wizards
Rewind

Poll

How are the 2009-2010 Detroit Pistons going to do?

Bad Boy baby. Can't stop, won't stop.

90 votes

As we proceed, to give you what you need.

136 votes

226 votes | Poll has closed

Checking In With Coach Howland And Ben Ball Warriors

Nestor — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:48:16 -0000

Don't forget we are also a basketball school.

So moutekicksboute reminds us of that in this fanshot, which is a good occasion to check in with Coach Howland and Ben Ball warriors. We have some news bits concerning the upcoming season, great stories (and well tweets) concerning our classic Ben Ball warriors, and Howland's excitement about working with the new ones.

Let's start with moutekicksboute's fanshot about WWL pverviews of the big picture storylines of the upcoming Pac-10 hoops season. Here is their quick outlook on this year's Ben Ball warriors:

This is a whole new era for coach Ben Howland. The Bruins don't have Alfred Aboya, Josh Shipp or Darren Collison for the first time in four years. The three-year Final Four run now seems like distant history. The Bruins will be leaning heavily on potential stud Malcolm Lee as well as Drew Gordon, Nikola Dragovic, Michael Roll, Jerime Anderson, James Keefe and J'mison Morgan -- not exactly national names. But the competition at every position should be as intense as it has been under Howland. He will be searching for an identity for this squad early and often in fall practices. Lee might hold the only lock on a position, while the rest clearly are open. UCLA has a challenging nonconference slate, but the talent should carry this squad toward the top of the Pac-10, getting the Bruins enough wins to make another NCAA tournament appearance.

I think that sounds about right. They have ND as one of their Key Pac-10 players to watch and marked MM and TH as the two of the conference freshmen they can't wait to see:

• Mike Moser, PF, UCLA: Offensively, Moser is a jump shot away from being an all-conference candidate. Defensively, he has the physical attributes to guard all three perimeter positions. [...]

• Tyler Honeycutt, WF, UCLA: He may be headed for a redshirt year if his lower back doesn't heal in time. Nonetheless, this late-blooming wing type has a bevy of upside. He can stroke the 3-point shot and pass with the best of them. And his shot-blocking ability is impressive.

We will cross our fingers wrt to TH. There will be enough time in the coming weeks to talk about the team but suffice to say at this point we can expect this team to go through the same growing pains, the team with core of JF/AA/DC/LRMAM did in their early years. I certainly don't think we are going to be one of the favorites to contend for the Pac-10 titles, however, I do know that under Howland's leadership, it will be exciting o see these kids grow and develop into warriors. Meanwhile, speaking of those classic Ben Ball warriors we have pretty cool updates involving LRMAM, PAA, RW and AA. More after the flip.

In case you missed it, Michael Hunt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran an awesome piece on the Prince going back to root of his dreams:

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute remembers being 15 or so when he left his home in Cameroon to attend a NBA-sponsored camp in Johannesburg.

When it was over, a woman addressed the young players from across Africa.

Mbah a Moute's English wasn't so good, so this is what he thought he heard her say:

"If you see me again, you will have made it."

Typical teenager he was, Mbah a Moute recalls rolling his eyes and thinking, Who is this person and what is she talking about?

Several years later, when Mbah a Moute was interviewing with Milwaukee Bucks general manager John Hammond before the 2008 draft, the memory resurfaced during their conversation.

The woman, Hammond told him, was Kim Bohuny, the NBA's vice president for international basketball operations.

Suddenly, it all made sense.

"It was funny," Mbah a Moute said Tuesday. "Later, I called her and told her I was

Well last February when Bohuny visited Milwaukee while making her rounds through the NBA, LRMAM took our to dinner to talk about that day in Johannesburg. He completed the dream. Just a beautiful story which you can read in entirety over here.

Meanwhile, while the Prince is living his dream Coach Howland tweeted couple of days ago giving us an update on the President. PAA was back in town this past week. Per Howland he headed to France this past weekend to play for Gravelines, "a professional team in 1st division." Howland said PAA looked "great!"

Howland also had AA, DC, and RW (arguably three of the greatest Ben Ball warriors) at a fundraiser celebrating the First Annual HDSA LA Hoop-A-Thon, which was held at Pauley Pavilion. By all account that event chaired was a huge success. Again just fantastic to see these guys remain such a big part of our program and doing whatever they can to lend Howland's efforts such high profile assists. He was pretty exuberant about how much it meant to him and Mrs. Howland.

Speaking of excitement, Coach Howland is fired up to work with the incoming Ben Ball warriors who he met with last week. He can't wait neither can rest of Bruin Nation.

GO BRUIINS.