SB Nation - Ricky Davis

Game 8 Preview: Oklahoma City at Los Angeles Clippers

Zorgon — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:58:45 -0000

More photos » by Noah Graham - NBAE/Getty Images

We probably won't see D.J. White tonight, but that doesn't make his, "Puffer Fish" dunk any less hilarious.

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This also counts as an open thread, so feel free to post your thoughts during the game here.

Time: 9:30 PM Central Standard Time

Place: The Staples Center, Los Angeles, California

TV: KSBI-TV 52, Fox Sports Net Prime Ticket

Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1)

Enemy Blog(s): Clips Nation, ClipperBlog

Backstory: More than anything else, the Los Angeles Clippers are known as the unluckiest team in the NBA. That moniker continues into this season, as they've had recent injuries to Black Griffin and Eric Gordon, all leading to an underwhelming start of 3-5. I mean, if I told you a team had a lineup of Marcus Camby, Chris Kaman, Blake Griffin, Craig Smith, Al Thornton, Rasual Butler, Eric Gordon, Ricky Davis, Baron Davis, and Sebastian Telfair along with a Championship Coach in Mike Dunleavy Sr. and the 2nd largest market in the US, you'd think I was talking about a championship winning Lakers team, right? Wrong. I'm talking about just another sub-.500 Clippers team.

Despite the talent-laden roster, this is a very winnable game. The Clippers have only won against the Timberwolves, Warriors, and Grizzlies, who are possibly the 3 worst teams in the West. They've lost to the Lakers, Suns, Jazz, Mavericks, and Hornets. This game will determine exactly where we will be on the map for this season. Will we be lurking around the 12th or 11th seed, waiting for the lottery and mired in mediocrity, or will we be around the 10th-8th seed, fiercely competing for a playoff spot? Lets hope it's the latter.

Below: Matchups, Prediction

Matchups:

Center: Chris Kaman vs. Nenad Krstic

Chris Kaman is a better inside banger, and will probably get some crucial points against Krstic inside. Hopefully Krstic can pay him back with his mid-range jumper, but all of that will depend on if he's feeling hot or cold tonight. Still, I'd tend to think that Chris Kaman will have the better day.

Power Forward: Marcus Camby vs. Jeff Green

A mismatch if I ever saw one. Camby is a good ball handler for his size, but if Green can get hot from the perimeter, then it will be all over. If the Clippers can slow our game down I'd give the win to Camby, but otherwise, I think Green gets the win.

Small Forward: Al Thornton vs. Kevin Durant

Al Thornton is and will be a solid player, but he's no Kevin Durant. Thornton has been cold so far this season, so lets hope Durant can take advantage of that and exploit him.

Shooting Guard: Ricky Davis vs. Thabo Sefolosha

Ricky Davis is a good name, but he's not much more than a streaky shooter. He might drop more points than Sefolosha, but Sefolosha will beat him in every other area of the stat sheet.

Point Guard: Baron Davis vs. Russell Westbrook

Ah, the young versus the old. I used to watch Baron Davis on the Warrior teams of old, and it was good times. But now, he's trapped on one of the unluckiest organizations in history, and his scoring production has seen a serious hit. He'll beat Westbrook in assists, but it will be interesting to see who gets more rebounds and who can score more points, especially after Westbrook's cold performance last night.

Battle of the Benches

The Clippers have a deeper and more talented bench than we do for sure, but we have a more cohesive unit. Still, I think talent wins in this case.

Coaching and Intangibles

The Clippers have played 4 games in 6 days, and the Thunder are on the second game of a back-to-back, so both teams will be tired. The Clippers are at home, but they've had two crucial injuries, so I'd say this category is about even for both of us, unless you're counting the style points brought on by the suit of Mike Dunleavy Sr. In that case, the Clippers win.

Bottom Line

The Clippers are more talented, but they're older and bigger, so if the Thunder can exploit bad matchups, then they'll have a serious advantage. Remember when I said that if the Thunder lost to the Kings, it wouldn't matter that much? Well, if the Thunder lose here, it will put us 2 games in the hole, and it will matter.

Prediction: Thunder 97, Clippers 95

I feel like a homer here, but somehow I think that we can pull this one out against the Clippers, since their main scorer in Eric Gordon is out, and they have a lack of athleticism on their front line.

How do you think the game will go? Vote in the Poll!

And, again, feel free to drop any comments you might have during, before, or after the game below. I might be here during the game to drop my thoughts as well. Go Thunder!

Orlando Magic News for November 6th: Taking a Look at the Increased Scoring in the NBA; A Gander into the Past

erivera7 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:33:56 -0000

More photos » by Duane Burleson - AP

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Early Trends
Kevin Pelton of Basketball Prospectus takes a look at the increase scoring in the 2009-2010 NBA season and tries to investigate what is causing an uptick in the numbers. A must-read.

ESPN.com's Marc Stein first noticed an early increase in scoring, tying the uptick to the NBA changing rim manufacturers and styles this season. Through the first 10 days of the schedule, teams are averaging 99.4 points per game. While that may not sound like much of an improvement, since they averaged an even 100.0 ppg a year ago, historically defenses tend to be ahead of offenses early in the season. Through Nov. 5, 2008, teams were averaging just 96.3 points a night, meaning scoring is up 3.2 percent so far.

As John Hollinger noted in an ESPN Insider follow-up, the most significant difference has come beyond the arc. The league is hitting 35.8 percent of its threes so far this season, a considerable improvement from last year's 34.3 percent mark at the same time. Could this be tied to the rim? Certainly, although it is awfully early to draw any conclusions.
BBR News: MVP Award Tracker
Justin Kubatko of Basketball-Reference unveils a new feature at the BBR blog which tracks the NBA MVP Award. Check it out.

I looked at 54 years of voting results to determine what factors the voters deemed most important when selecting the MVP. In the end, four factors proved to be much more important than anything else: team wins, points per game, rebounds per game, and assists per game. I'm going to omit the fine details, but using those four statistics I came up with a model to rank MVP candidates in a given year.
15 Footer – So 2000 and Late
Trey Kerby of Hardwood Paroxysm "found a notepad that had this game preview written on it. The year was 1998 [...] " It matches tonight's schedule - here's what said about the matchup between the Detroit Pistons and the Orlando Magic.

This game is the future of the NBA. Grant Hill and Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway are going to be megastars, like almost on the level of Ricky Davis. We’re lucky to have such stars on our hands for the entirety of the foreseeable future.
1989 NBA Draft Remix
Jeff Fox of SLAM ONLINE remixes the 1989 NBA Draft, in which Magic legend Nick Anderson is picked by the Dallas Mavericks. The horror.
Rafer Alston Tells It Like It Is -
Bethlehem Shoals of The Baseline checks up on former Orlando player Rafer Alston, who's still adjusting to life with the New Jersey Nets.

Game Preview: Los Angeles Clippers

C.A. Clark — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:11:39 -0000

More photos » by Mark J. Terrill - AP

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Just a few short hours from now, your World Champion Los Angeles Lakers will finally take the court for the opening game of the regular season. Despite the fact that our fan base had a shorter summer than all the others, I think everyone would agree with me that it has been too long. For me, the months between an old season's ending and a new season's beginning pass like gall stones, slow and painful, and nothing can be better than the return of the NBA to my life.

So, without further ado, here are some quick thoughts regarding the Lakers and their upcoming opponents in tonight's contest, our cross-arena foes, the Los Angeles Clippers.

How do the two teams look coming into tonight's contest?

Since both teams have identical 0-0 records coming into the game, there isn't a whole lot to say about how the teams have fared recently. But I guess they play those preseason games for a reason, so we'll glean what we can from the 0th season. The Clippers had a very successful preseason, going 6-2 with standout victories against the Spurs, Hornets, Jazz, Trailblazers, and of course, Maccabi Tel Aviv. Since Israel is a couple seasons away from having an NBA franchise, it's clear that the actual results of these games don't matter. However, there are a few things that can be learned about the Clippers this season.

Baron Davis is in fantastic shape. I have no idea whether his new fitness regime will translate to him deciding to actually drive to the basket instead of simply hoisting another 3 point shot. I have no idea if his new found figure is a commitment to turning the Clippers into a successful team, or just part of his master plan to get more sponsorships for diet plans. But Davis has shown in the past that he can be an elite player when his heart is into it, and if his commitment to fitness this season is any indication, he's ready to reaffirm his elite status.
What about the rest of his team? They were a motley group last season, thrown into a funk by the betrayal of Elton Brand, and coached into the 7th circle of hell by Mike Dunleavy. I don't ever remember a team quitting on the season as early as the Clippers seemed to ... or was that just Baron Davis. Regardless, the Clippers have a fair amount of talent. Kaman has shown that he's one of the few true centers in the league, and he's got a decent array of post moves. Eric Gordan looks like a real winner. And Blake Griffin has shown glimpses of a tremendous amount of athleticism and ability. In short, the Clippers future is bright ... or at least it would be, if they weren't cursed worse than the Pirates of the Caribbean. Which brings us to our next point.
Blake Griffin blew out his knee. Not to get to Simmons-esque on you here, but what percentage of people saw Blake Griffin's inevitable injury coming? 50%? 80%? 100%? Simmons himself predicted it. As tragic as it is, there can't be a single person surprised by it. Clippers fans should unfortunately know better than to believe in their team. There is always something that will screw up this franchise. If they aren't willing to do it themselves with poor play, poor coaching, and poor personnel decisions, then God has repeatedly proven to be willing to pick up the slack in keeping the Clippers' franchise down. It brings me no joy to see this happen to that franchise time and time again. I'd love for the Clippers to be good. If nothing else, a serious cross-town rivalry would add a unique flair to our experiences as fans. But the writing is on the wall, and its been there for the entirety of the Clippers existence.

After the jump, some Lakers thoughts, and the matchups for tonight's game.

We've already given you much more information than you needed to know about how the Lakers look coming into this season, so these thoughts are specifically related to what should be a special night in Staples Center

The main event for Lakers fans tonight isn't even the game itself, but the ring ceremony which will precede the game. We already know just how special this championship was for the team, especially the team leaders: Phil Jackson, Derek Fisher, and of course, Kobe Bryant. While it won't have quite the same magical feel to it as when the team held up the Larry O'Brien while Kobe lifted his first Finals MVP, tonight will be a re-affirmation of all the hard work the Lakers went through last year, and it should be a relatively emotional night. Besides, any time you get a chance to see ridiculous amounts of bling, it's always a good time.
There's a potential for a letdown tonight, with the double dose of getting championship rings and playing the lowly Clippers. But it's the first game of the season, a season in which the Lakers know a very strong start is mandatory in order for them to set the pace for the rest of the league, so it seems nearly impossible that the Lakers start the season off flat.
Pau Gasol might miss tonight's season opener. It's a game time decision, but it looks more and more likely that El Spaniard will sit this one out. Since the Clips front line is also depleted with the loss of Griffin, it shouldn't cause too much trouble for the Lakers tonight

Matchups

With Griffin out, the Clippers will likely move Marcus Camby into the starting lineup, giving the Clippers a starting 5 of Baron Davis, Eric Gordan, Rasual Butler, Marcus Camby, and Chris Kaman. The obvious strength of the lineup is the backcourt, as Davis and Gordan are probably the two best players on the team, without Griffin. Assuming Gasol also doesn't play, the Lakers will trot out Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Ron Artest, Lamar Odom, and Andrew Bynum. It's the first game of the season, so forgive me for not knowing exactly what kind of rotations the teams will use, but the Clippers are likely to bring Ricky Davis, Al Thornton, Anthony Roberson, and Craig Smith (who absolutely killed the Lakers in the preseason) off the bench. For the Lakers, you'll see the usual suspects, Farmar, Brown, Vujacic, Walton, and a little bit of Mbenga and Powell thrown in for good measure.

Obviously, the matchups favor the Lakers, since they have a pretty large talent advantage over the Clippers. With Gasol out, you can count on a large early dose of feeding Bynum in the post and on the secondary fast break to start the game. The coaches will be looking to set Bynum up with the same kind of starts he's been seeing all preseason, and it should come as no surprise if Bynum is in double figures by the end of the 1st quarter. Other then that, Odom should have a significant speed advantage over who ever is guarding him, as the Clippers don't have any other athletic 4s waiting behind Griffin. The Clips also don't have an elite perimeter defender, so Kobe will get whatever Kobe wants, or the Clips will be forced to double team, leaving wide open shots for the rest of the team. The only matchup that will cause the Lakers problems is the point guard position. Baron Davis' new, svelte, body should have no problem getting by Fisher's old bones, and it'll be important for Odom and Bynum to protect the rim without picking up fouls, because foul trouble for either one causes the Lakers to have to use Josh Powell or DJ Mbenga for significant amounts of time, and the drop off in talent there is tremendous. Also, Kobe needs to just stay home on his man tonight. I don't like Gordon's chances to blow by Kobe, but if Kobe leaves his man, Gordon will drain the open 3.

Off the bench, it'll be important for Powell (or Walton if the Lakers go smaller) to focus all of his energy on boxing out Craig Smith so that Smith doesn't repeat his ridiculous preseason line of 26-7 in 22 minutes. Other than that, the Clippers bench looks pretty ugly, and the Lakers bench should theoretically have an easy time dominating this rag-tag group. In other interesting bench news, tonight will be our first real glimpse of how PJ intends to handle the rotation in a game that actually counts. After the questions about Ron Artest fitting in, and Bynum achieving results in line with his potential, the bench rotations qualify as the 3rd biggest question surrounding the team this year. Who's the first guard off the bench? Do the Lakers go small with Brown and Farmar together? Do they go really small with Brown, Farmar, and Sasha? These questions won't be answered definitively tonight, but we'll at least catch a first glimpse of reality instead of grasping at straws from meaningless preseason games.

In the end, this should be a comfortable Lakers victory, and I expect nothing less on Ring Night.

FYI, since it's the first night of the season, and there happens to be a pretty fantastic opening game, and we'd like to give you all the time you need to re-adjust to live blogging the games, our game thread will start with the first game at 5 P.M.

Daily Links 10/9

FLCeltsFan — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:30:21 -0000

Herald Kevin Garnett slow to get in flow
Pickup games keep NBA players fresh
Shaq’s latest twist: Yoga
Heat’s Jamaal Magloire suspended for two regular-season games
Globe Allen in shape to contribute

Loy's Place    Celtics Host the Knicks in the Home Opener
Celtics 17Important Notes: Celtics-Rockets, Preseason Game One
Red's Army   Maybe Marquis CAN handle the point
Lamar Odom photographed smoking weed?
Ray: "this is the best my feet have felt"
Perkisabeast    19 Days Until The Regular Season
Celtics Circuit   TONIGHT: CELTICS VS. KNICKS
Celtics Hub    What Shelden Can Bring: Offensive Rebounds
Lex Nihil Novi     KC Jones: Walton is on Par with Russell, Wilt, & Kareem
Bill Walton was Obsessed
Walton: Wooden Prepared Me for Celtics' Basketball
How Tall Was #5?
Ricky Davis without the Range, But with More Grey Matter
Celtics Life Are There Enough Minutes For Big Baby?
The Countdown Continues...THE COMEBACK
Today's Video: KG Doubleheader
Gino's Jungle    Celtics More Mouth Than Predicted?
Fang's Bites     Interview with WEEI’s Jessica Camerato
Republican American    Ray Allen bringing back memories to Hartford
CBS Sports   Shaq's faith in Cavs knows no bounds
Hoopsworld     Lewis' suspension puts Magic in tough spot
Dimemag    Nuggets get locked up abroad; Shaq says ‘10 Cavs > ‘00-02 Lakers
CSL    Reloading to Re-Lead: Where do the Celtics Rank Heading into the 2009-10 Season?
ProJo   Healthy Garnett, impressive Daniels the big stories from Celtics preseason opener
USA Today   Frequency of whistles rising early on with NBA's fill-in refs
Examiner     My Q+A with Boston Celtics Examiner, Mark Rawden
Newsday    Weighty issues link Curry and Sweetney
NESN   Encouraging First Step For Kevin Garnett In Preseason Loss
Hoop Doctors   Do the Wolves Have the NBA’s Next Great Frontcourt?

Who Is Mike Taylor?

Jeff Clark — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 23:11:21 -0000

More photos » by Pat Sullivan - AP

Mike Taylor

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One of the names thrown out there recently for the backup PG position is Mike Taylor, formerly of the Clippers. He's not exactly a household name, so it might help to get better acquainted with him. Tom Halzack takes a look at Taylor on the Conn Post.

6′ 2″, 23 year old Mike Taylor was a rookie for the Clippers last season. He played in just 51 games for them and averaged 5.7 points and 2.1 assists in 15 minutes. On his best night, Mike scored 35 points in one game against the Knicks and followed that up with 23 more against the Kings the following game.

He started 5 games and averaged 11 pts with 3.2 assist in 28 minutes in those games. After the All Star break, in 18 minutes he averaged 7.7 points and 2.4 assists in 27 games for the Clips, while shooting 39% from the arc. He only weighs 165 lbs. I haven’t really watched him play much, so I can’t offer too much more than that.

An Iowa State player, Taylor played for the Iowa Stampede of the NBA Development League before being drafted by the Portland Trailblazers.

This could be a battle of late second round draft picks as Taylor was the 55th pick in ‘08, and Hudson is the 58th pick in ‘09.

Lester Hudson is solidly built and has been suggested as a potential poor man’s Nate Robinson by one writer.

Only after seeing each of the above players play will I be able to make a more informed judgment on them.

Update: Here's another link on Mike Taylor (with relevant quotes after the break)

If you're wondering why Taylor was waived today, you need to realize that his three year contract was unguaranteed, and that it became guaranteed as of August 1. From the moment the Clippers acquired Sebastian Telfair two week ago, particularly in light of their pursuit of Ramon Sessions, this moment seemed inevitable. The Clippers were working too hard to shore up the position Taylor plays - and with roster spots becoming scarce and Taylor's contract unguaranteed, this was bound to happen. It's too bad for a lot of reasons, one of which is that we'd all prefer to have Taylor from a basketball and potential standpoint as opposed to say Ricky Davis or Mark Madsen. But those guys have guaranteed contracts, in their final year no doubt, so they have a value of a different kind. The roster was too crowded, and Taylor was the odd man out.

It's tough to reconcile today's events with the events of March 25, 2009 in Madison Square Garden. On that evening, a little more than 4 months ago, Taylor scored a career high 35 points against the Knicks. It was the third highest scoring game for a rookie last season - after Eric Gordon's 41 and Anthony Morrow's 37 against the Clippers. It's also worth noting that he followed up that game with two more solid outings, scoring 69 points in that three game span, while at the same time doing a better job of taking care of the ball - a 3 to 1 assist to turnover ratio during those games. It seemed, perhaps, as the season was winding down, Mike Taylor was 'getting it.'

Brian Scalabrine Is Whatever You Want Him To Be

Jeff Clark — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:19:55 -0000

Brian Scalabrine has been loved and hated; valued and vilified; counted on and counted out.

He was brought in to be a veteran role playing leader. He became a punchline and a scapegoat. He was named on lists of "worst contracts." At one point fans started to give him the old Bronx cheer (cheering in jest).

Then somewhere along the line he became useful again. The cheers became genuine. People actually started counting on him. Now he's back to being a veteran role playing leader. His contract is actually an asset now because it is expiring this year.

The funny thing is, I don't think Brian Scalabrine has changed all that much. He's been poorly fit into an ever changing landscape during his tenure as a Celtic.

In the early years the starting lineup consisted of Paul Pierce, Ricky Davis, Marcus Banks, Raef LaFrentz, and Mark Blount. That lineup plus Gary Payton and Antoine Walker won 45 games and made the playoffs the year before Scal arrived. But Pierce had just pulled his jersey waving, head wrapped in bandages routine and the team was in serious need of some maturity. Scal was a key role player on some successful Nets teams. He was never supposed to be a go to guy, but he was supposed to fill in and be that steady hand off the bench.

Unfortunately that didn't work out. Whatever maturity he brought to the locker room was far outweighed by the strong personalities on that team. The squad quickly imploded and was rightly torn apart by Ainge as he shifted focus to a youth movement. On a team of early-twentysomethings, Scalabrine was once again a bad fit.

I'm not trying to make excuses for Scal, mind you. There were times when he played like he was trying to force it. Like he was trying to justify his contract. The losing and the fan reaction had to weigh on him and I think his play suffered from it. But every single person that's been around the team will tell you what a class guy he is. He never took it out on anyone, he just did his job.

So when the team got good again, he was able to step in and provide some valuable backup minutes at both of the forward positions. He even started for a few games in KG's absence 2 years ago (which allowed Doc to maintain most of his rotations). When the team added PJ Brown, Scal didn't complain when he was put on the inactive list. In fact, he delivered one of the funniest Finals post game interviews I can remember (pushing Kobe back a few minutes).

He was just getting rolling last year when multiple concussions derailed his season. It is a shame too, because a fully healthy Scal could have played the role of a poor man's Posey. In fact, I think that is one of the elements that Ainge was counting on last summer (along with Tony Allen's progression) that didn't play out as he had hoped.

So where does that leave us today? That depends. What do you want from Brian Scalabrine?

Do you want him to be a valuable backup forward? He can backup Pierce and also give us added depth at power forward. Do you want him to step aside and give more time to Bill Walker? Scal will happily tutor the young lad and wave a towel on the bench. Do you want to use his expiring contract to pick up a player at the trade deadline? Pair him with Tony Allen and you can swipe a $7M player away from a team hemorrhaging money (call it the Redhead Bailout Plan). Want him to play some point guard? Well, everyone has their limits.

I think Scal will help this team in a number of ways this year. He's also the kind of guy I'd like to see get into coaching when his career is over (like Sam Cassell). Here's hoping that he gets one more shot at that podium after the Finals.

Building A Mystery In Minnesota

Jeff Clark — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 01:17:38 -0000

More photos » by Ann Heisenfelt - AP

Big Al isn't sure he likes what he's seeing.

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There's not a lot going on with Celtics news, so I'm trying to pop around the league and check in with teams as they get written about. That's why you've seen me link to articles on the Hawks and the Thunder recently. Expect more of these as I try (in vain) to add back some of the NBA-wide flair that Steve Weinman provided.

The Celtics and TWolves have been linked for years. First there was Kevin McHale running the show, then there was the Ricky Davis, Mark Blount trade, then there was the KG trade. They still have Big Al and Ryan Gomes, but not much else is left on that team now that new GM David Kahn has taken over. TrueHoop takes a look at the team and where they are headed.

Ripping the Timberwolves Down to the Studs - TrueHoop By Henry Abbott - ESPN

Thirteen of the players, a head coach or two, and the face and brain trust of the team through its first two decades -- Kevin McHale: All gone.

In their place: One of the most profound and rapid rebuilds the NBA has ever seen, highlighted by the frenetic activity of hardworking new president of basketball operations David Kahn. He has ushered in new young players like Jonny Flynn and Ricky Rubio, a new coach in Kurt Rambis, a small collection of returning players highlighted by Al Jefferson and Kevin Love ... and a thousand questions.

Kahn goes on to give a timetable:

Kahn spells out that this season will be an exploration of how the existing roster works. Next summer there will be several more new players to be added through the draft and free agency. "2010-2011 could be something of a laboratory, too," says Kahn. "There are so many things that can change, but with the path we're on, I think the third year is the first time we can really expect to make a playoff push."

As for Big Al, he sounds like he's about done with rebuilding.

Al Jefferson, the team's MVP and the star they received in the Garnett trade, flatly rejects that schedule, saying "It shouldn't be no three years." While hardly bitter, Jefferson is not guzzling the kool-aid of rebuilding either. "I was a little disappointed about Kevin McHale leaving, and also a little disappointed about Sebastian Telfair leaving," he says. "But I understand it's a business, and I understand David Kahn is here to do a job and he's doing it. ... The team becomes part of your family. You get close to guys, and to see them go, it hurts. ... I miss the guys. But you move on, and it's a new beginning."

Oh yeah, and there's "the Spanish kid" (they are still working on that pesky buyout):

"I have a gut feeling, right now, that Ricky would be the starter," says Rambis. "Flynn with his speed and and nastiness as a defender, I see him being a key player off the bench ... but it's not set in stone."

So what do you think? Is this team finally headed in the right direction?

Lamar Odom says 'Thanks, but no thanks' to Dwyane Wade and Pat Riley

DolPhanDave — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 07:06:05 -0000

Well...there you have it. For whatever reason, Odom seems to have chosen staying in L.A. with Kobe and Ron Artest instead of coming to South Beach to play with the likes of Wade, Beasley and co. The only real concern I have is that Dwyane Wade will feel somewhat demoralized after trying fairly hard (from what we could tell) to lure Odom to Miami...but the positive to take from this is how dedicated Wade seems to be about improving 'his' franchise. Dwyane's final 'tweet' on the Odom saga:

"Happy for LO either way thts family forever.."

You can't fault Odom for making the 'smart' move and staying with the Lakers. He's been with them for the last 5 seasons, they just won a championship and are poised to make a run at another one. Miami offered him as much as they could, but apparently this just wasn't the 'right move'.

I still stand firm that Wade isn't leaving, and now we see how despite what he says, Pat Riley is going to do whatever he can to get Dwyane some sidekicks to try and build a dynasty.

On that note, the Heat are scheduled to meet with Jamaal Tinsley sometime this weekend. I see that (according to the comments) many of you are not in favor of bringing Tinsley to Miami because of the problems he had in Indiana. But just keep in mind that there is no way Riley will bring a 'bad seed' to the Heat. If we could survive Antoine Walker and Ricky Davis, I'm not worried about Tinsley.

If the Heat tries to sign Tinsley, it could use part of the mid-level exception, its $1.9 million bi-annual exception or offer merely the $1 million veteran's minimum. Tinsley's agent Raymond Brothers said Thursday that the Heat's interest in Tinsley appears genuine, and the interest is mutual.

Tinsley sat out the entire 2008-2009 season by request of the Pacers, who bought out his remaining $14.7 million contract by paying him $10.7. I'd imagine that whatever off-court problems that let to the Pacers and their fans being so upset with Tinsley were thought about during the year he spent sitting on his butt, and he's likely ready to get back to just playing ball, preferably with a team like the Heat who features one of (if not the) best player in the NBA and one of the best coaches to ever grace the sport.

Tinsley was involved in three late-night incidents in a 14-month span in 2006 and 2007, but has not been convicted of any crime. The most serious: He faced a felony charge of intimidation and misdemeanor counts of battery, disorderly conduct and intimidation after a bar fight in Indianapolis in February 2007, but agreed with prosecutors that if he stayed out of trouble for two years, all charges would be dropped.

Pat Riley won't bring anyone to the Heat who would hurt out team, on or off the court. Tinsley will help with the maturation of our younger guards and even though we aren't bring in Lamar Odom, there is still a plan in place for the Heat to make some big moves in the future. Riley tried to make some things happen this summer, but there is no need to force anything now. Let's just keep moving forward, keep working hard and have faith. Good things are coming for the Heat...but you know what they say: "All good things come to those who wait". So if you can, just be patient my friends...good things are coming.

Big Bang Theory

djturtleface — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:01:07 -0000

Times are tough for me right now. I understand that being a Grizzlies fan has never been easy for all you stalwarts in Vancouver, but now might be the most difficult time of all. You see I'm from the Cleveland area and am fortunate enough to witness one lucky draft pick turn a destitute, perennially losing franchise into the talk of the Association and championship contender. The only problem is it's not my team. The Memphis Grizzlies are my team.

And you can catch both my history and my introduction after the jump. Grizzlies fans, feel free to introduce yourselves in the comments section too:

To give everyone some history, when I was just a boy in the 90's it was a terrible time to be a sports fan in Cleveland. The Browns had been ripped from me while I was practically in the crib, and the Cavaliers were the image of squalor. Coming off a team that just couldn't quite beat Jordan, the Cavs were almost constantly both terrible and terrible to watch. I was a younger and wiser back then, and hated it that Ricky Davis shot on his own hoop. To this day I'm not sure how my friends ever managed to survive the blue-and-orange era to emerge in awe of the King James explosion.

On the other hand, the 90's were an excellent era for puffy windbreakers and sharply colored marshmallow coats, so instead of the Browns and Cavaliers I embraced the Jaguars and Grizzlies. Not only were their logos incredibly over-the-top intense, but they were expansion teams so nobody else had their schwag. At age 10 I was already living the on cutting edge of fandom. Screw tradition, my traditions were stolen away to Baltimore and eliminated by Michael Jordan. Even before either of my new teams had made the playoffs, I had their pennants. I wanted the teal and the mean-ass looking animals. Eat your heart out Andre Miller; I'm with Mike Bibby now.

But as I got older the Browns moved back to Cleveland, so the Jaguars were out. And more importantly the NBA was beginning to rebound from the nuclear winter that was Jordan's retirement. Around Y2K there was a time of incredible parity and plenty of flawed, but incredibly intriguing stars. I entered a state of liberated fandom and absorbed every bit of basketball knowledge I could, watching every game that showed up on national television. In pickup games I would quote Iverson and wag my finger like Dikembe one week, spotting up for big man threes like Sheed the next. Why love the Grizzlies when I couldn't even watch them night in and night out like everyone else?

And while I might not have been a Grizzlies fan for those few years, in fact I was pretty embarrassed of my old puffy jackets, I gained a perspective on the game that I cherish. I came to understand Larry Brown's "Right Way," and the JailBlazer's incredibly wrong way. I watched every move of the holy trinity of Jordan replacements, Carter, McGrady, Bryant, and learned that Jordan could never be replaced. In short I lived every moment of NBA's new millennium.

I don't remember the exact moment that led me back to the Grizzlies, but it was second nature to return to my mother bear. A classic coming-of-age story, I left and returned humbled by the sheer enormity of the rest of the NBA world. There is no comfort in cheering for a different team every night. So while I'm still very much a student of the game and like to think I remain quite knowledgeable about every team in the Association, my heart is back in Memphis.

So what can you expect from my Memphis Grizzlies blog? Specifically you can expect a few things on the column level. First, I like to write in series. Secondly, I like to write recurring pieces, say a Sunday article on the NBA at large or Wednesday pop-quizzes that evaluate various Grizzlies player's performances that week. Those ideas will start rolling out later this week I'm sure, and I'm not going to keep running unpopular series. I like to use advanced statistics but never rely on them, and typically abhor your run-of-the-mill standard statistics. I'll be doing some arm-chair GM'ing, some FreeDarko-esque basketball vision quests, and also plenty of insightful analysis. You'll find a bunch of stuff from my old site on here, feel free to peruse archives.

Most importantly, however, I intend to really foster a strong community. I'm alone as a Grizzlies fan in life, so I'll be building my support group here. I deeply love a good argument, and believe it is possible to hold one on the internet. I hope to be useful moderator for these discussions because, as someone who has devoured the league for the past few years, I have a realist's view of what's possible in the Association for the Grizzlies in a given time frame. When the Grizzlies make moves I don't like, whether it is on a historic grudge, hunch, or for real basketball reasons, I'm going to state my opinion and not pull punches. Being a fan isn't the same as being a lemming, and I'll encourage the community to act similarly. Don't listen to me because of commentator clout; listen to me when and if I can convince you to listen. Then tell all your friends.

Because, sadly, mine only really care about LeBron.

Ends of Eras, the Mark Madsen Open Thread

Stop-n-Pop — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:00:31 -0000

OK, now that we have had some time to think about the Clips/Wolves trade, I would like to add one important item to the discussion: The trade marks the official end of two important eras of recent Wolves history--The KG age and the Roy/Foye debacle. Both eras died when Mark Madsen was sent to LA.

The first point is obvious: Mad Dog was the last player on the Wolves roster to play with KG. He is the last remaining Wolves player who actually laced it up with the greatest player in Wolves history. In just two short years, the Wolves have undergone a complete roster makeover. I can't think of too many rosters in the league that have undergone such a radical makeover in the last two seasons. Everyone is gone.

The second point is a bit less obvious. Madsen, while being a fine citizen, was involved in one of the darkest moments of recent NBA history: He was the key actor in the greatest example of tanking in league history. In the last game of the 05/06 season, Madsen jacked up 7 three pointers, missing them all. The game was remarkable on two fronts. First, the Wolves were in the midst of a grand tank-a-thon, sitting out KG for multiple games and fielding a starting lineup of Eddie Griffin (RIP), Justin Reed, Rashad McCants, Marcus Banks and Marc Blount against the Griz in a last-ditch attempt to keep the top-10 protected pick owed to the Clippers in the Marko Jaric trade. Second, the Griz were trying to lose a game in an attempt to avoid playing the 60-22 Dallas Mavs in the first round of the playoffs. In an overtime game, the Griz did not play a single one of their starters over 25 minutes while sitting Pau Gasol. Madsen ended the game shooting 1-15 from the floor with the aforementioned 7 three pointers. His 15 shots were a career high. Memphis also sat out Eddie Jones while the Wolves gave Ricky Davis the night off. The Wolves lost the game and were guaranteed their first round draft choice.

As we all know, the first round choice was then used on Brandon Roy...who was immediately traded to the Portland TrailBlazers for Randy Foye. To his credit, coach Dwane Casey understood the stakes:

"There's been so much doom and gloom around here," Casey said. "There is a rainbow at the end of the storm."

The rainbow for Casey was Roy. Unfortunately for him, Kevin McHale stood in the way of him keeping Roy as well as him staying on as head coach in the following season.

Actually, Madsen's departure hasn't completely ended the Roy/Foye era. Memphis' leading scorer on that pathetic night was Brian Cardinal, who jacked up 18 points against the lowly Wolves. The front office also has some reminants from the night:

Fred Hoiberg received a standing ovation between the first and second quarters. Hoiberg retired on Monday to join the Timberwolves' front office, deciding not to risk coming back from open heart surgery he had before the season started.

Whatever the case, hats off to David Kahn for doing all he can to right the Wolves' sad history with Ms. Karma. With Madsen and Randy Foye out the door, the Wolves have turned the corner on Roy/Foye and KG. Here's to a new era. We'll have to wait and see what happens to Cardinal and Hoiberg.

Finally, the trade now means that Corey Brewer is the longest tenured Wolf on the squad. How things change.

Until later.