Posts under ‘The Blogosphere: Pro Style’

I think it’s pretty tough to draw any sort of meaningful conclusion from the first couple days of training camp in any sport, but it might be even more pointless when it comes to NBA preseason training and games. With the regular season lasting an interminable six months and 82 games, training camp is [...]

Shades of Frederic Weis anyone?

Not in these case since Gallinari bounced back so well that Couch, who admits to being skeptical about Danilo, wrote that “(he) looks like he could be a player.”

Obviously it’s going to take more than a decent second half in a Summer League game to convince Knicks fans that Gallinari could be a player but it’s a start.

I don’t remember the last time, guys that went 1-2 in the NBA draft squared up with each other in a Summer League game. Yet, as enticing as watching Beasley and Rose go at it would be, that still wasn’t enough to get me to sit down in front of the tube and watch Monday’s game. And I’m guessing that goes for all but the most ardent and desperate of hoopheads. After all, come November, and continuing for the following six-plus months, we’ll get plenty o’chances to watch Rose and Beasley play in games that actually matter.

We know he’s being replaced and that he’s played his last game as a Knickerbocker but the real question is where does he go?

It should come as no surprise that Walsh and D’Antoni have been trying to rid themselves of Marbury since minute one of their new jobs. And it should come as no surprise that they have found no takers for Starbury. That a player with his natural gifts can’t find a single team willing to take a risk on him shows what a monumental headcase Marbury is.

19-year old French wing Nicholas Batum with the 25th pick in the first round is the official sign that we’ve passed to that part of the NBA draft where teams can officially just pick names out of a hat or from the yellow pages or randomly out of Facebook or from wherever. Somebody’s got [...]

With this pick they just acquired in a trade with Denver and they took one, but it’s not somebody I know anything about. French center Alexis Ajinca looks, well, tall, and probably has a great pallet but I don’t know if he brings much more to tobacco country than that.
Guess that’s why they think [...]

Spindly 7-0 center JaVale McGee, the Wizards have, well, made the type of non-descript pick that befits a franchise that could disappear immediately with few people caring or noticing.

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Player that has a chance to make a, well, minor-to-middling impact this season. If he can give the Phoenix Suns 8-to-10 minutes a game of rebounding and D, then this will be a pretty good pick for the Suns.

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Has moved ESPN’s draft coverage from merely awful to unwatchable. Come 9:00 PM EST, I’m out and over to ESPN2 for the MLS Thursday Night Primetime scrap between FC Dallas and Houston.

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He could supply some instant O off the bench, which is definitely something the Portland Trailblazers need. Not only that, but Rush was the best player on the board, which makes this a pretty good pick for a side that could improve significantly this season.

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Taking 6-11 Rider big Jason Thompson at numero 12 could be a bit of a reach for Sacto but with a frontline that consists of Brad Miller and Mikki Moore, Thompson’s a good fit. Don’t be surprised if he’s one of the few guys picked outside the top five that starts next season.

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Is that he isn’t Jamaal Tinsley, who’s one of the NBA’s primary knuckleheads. Bayless being picked by Indiana certainly marks the end of Tinsley’s time as an Indian Pacer.

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Rod Thorn and the New Jersey Nets braintrust to do the smart thing. Taking Brook Lopez is exactly that, and at 10th, it’s a steal.
Should Bruce Ratner ever get the Barclay’s Bank Arena in Brooklyn built, I’m looking forward to watching Lopez man the interior for the then-to-be Brooklyn Nets. Can [...]

That Charlotte’s given up on Raymond Felton?

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Joe Alexander’s a good story and has shot up the draft board meteorically, but is really the best player the Milwaukee Bucks could’ve gotten with the 8th pick? The answer to that question is no.

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But he’s going to eternal mess that is the LA Clipper so he’s pretty much irrelevant until his contract expires in three years.

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That Donnie Walsh, Mike D’Antoni and the rest of the Knicks braintrust wanted to hear lots of boos because they picked Italian forward Danilo Gallinari. I don’t know much about Gallinari’s game but I do know that he’s got to have a brass pair and Rambo-like guts to sit there with Steven A. Smith, [...]

With six picks, the Sonics could afford to roll the dice a bit and pick UCLA combo guard Russell Westbrook. I don’t think Westbrook’s position is point in the NBA but, if that’s the position he’s going to play in Seattle, then I have little doubt that he’ll be better than the Sonics incumbent [...]

So much for all those O.J. Mayo and trade rumors surrounding the Heat’s pick. They did the smart thing and took Michael Beasley, ignoring the pointless chatter about him not actually being 6-10 but being closer to 6-8. As far as I know, height is not the most important indicator of success for [...]

What does that mean if you’re an NBA GM on Thursday?

It should mean that, unless you’re Chicago picking first and doing the no-brainer by taking Rose, you draft the best basketball player on the board when it’s time for your pick. And, I don’t mean the guy with the most potential or tools, but the player with the best hoops IQ that’s most ready to contribute now. Sure, as Andy Katz points out, there are tons of talented frosh that are draft-eligible. And many of them will go in the first round. But, if the GMs and scouts are right, the best of them will end up being solid NBA players. Why waste a three-year contract just to find out that a kid will end up being a career backup or complementary player? Why not take the player that’s proven himself over a college career that lasted more than one season?

ince we’re talking firearms, we might as well as bring up Aaron McKie, who, while no longer in the league, just had to get in on what passes for Summer fun for NBA players. According to Yahoo, McKie lied on a background check when he went to buy a couple of guns back in April. The purchase was denied, and McKie’s been charged with a felony according to the report. His lawyer says McKie, sought the guns to protect himself from the violence in his old Philadelphia neighborhood, which brings up another question: why is a guy who played in the NBA for 13-years and made millions of bucks running the streets in Philly?

We’ll probably never know but bless McKie for not allowing young bucks like Butler and ‘Melo to have all the gun-slinging, booze-chasing fun this summer.

Legendary Boston hardcore/skate punk band Gang Green’s most famous song is “Another Wasted Night,” in which they rock out as they recount how their constant drunken hooliganism renders each and every night the same indistinguishable haze of blackouts and buffoonery.

While the analogy isn’t perfect, I can’t help but think that watching the NBA Eastern and Western Conference finals is just another wasted night.

That we’re saved from yet another San Antonio Spurs appearance in the NBA Finals but the Lakers’ mammoth comeback in game one of the Western Conference finals is a giant leap in the right direction. Like usual, Kobe was the man, carrying Los Angeles to the 89-85 dubbya but, as has become the norm [...]

Just might’ve been the play the Spurs just ran off the telly timeout that came with the game knotted at 81. Whether designed or not, any play that ends with Tim Duncan passing from the left elbow of the key to Tony Parker underneath the hoop is bizarre.
No wonder the Spurs are [...]

They’ve climbed all the way back from a 20-point second half deficit to knot game one of the Western Conference finals with the Spurs at 81 with 3:11 left to play. With the best closer in the NBA, Kobe Bryant, having another monster game and reliable third/second banana Lamar Odom getting going, I think [...]