A few rants and raves about the NBA:
- How did Brandon Jennings slip to the number 10 pick in the draft? Every scout apparently fell asleep on this guy after his season-long charade in Italy last year. I believe they're realizing this kid has the ceiling of Isaiah Thomas and the floor of Allen Iverson, in terms of potential. I’m not kidding. He’s really that impressive. Check out the following link to some highlights of his 55 point barrage of Golden State here
- 2. The Oklahoma City Thunder at 6-6, are the second most surprising team this far into the season. They have notched victories against Orlando, Detroit, San Antonio, and Miami. Not to mention, they lost by 3 in over-time to the defending champs. Their nucleus of Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, and Russell Westbrook seem to have found their identities and have settled into roles that bring out the best of their abilities night in and night out. Now if only this trend could catch on with the Clippers…
- 3. Mavs Fan Alert! Dirk Nowitzki is averaging career-bests in points, blocks, turnovers, and minutes this season for an overachieving Mavs team filled with dead weight. Dirk has been needed to carry the likes of Drew Gooden, Tim Thomas, Jason Kidd, Josh Howard, and Shawn Marion. Each of whom have such fatal basketball flaws that it’s a surprise that Nowitzki hasn’t gone ballistic and just walked off the court. Instead, he’s single-handedly turned the Mavs into contenders again and making his best case for MVP since his 2006-07 campaign. (To all of you Dirk haters: Please comeback and read this in June)
- 4. The LeBron James free agency saga is, um, how can I put this….He’s going to New York. Just look at his facial expressions during the game. The raised eyebrows and piercing stares that Lebron dishes out every time Side Show Bob gets dunked on while attempting to take a charge, leave zero doubt that he’s already contacted a real estate agent. He’s leaving that circus behind in Cleveland for an ever bigger circus in New York. What we don’t know at this point is if he’s going to the Knicks or the Nets. I’d like to lean more towards the Nets because of his ties to Jay-Z and the upside of their current roster.
- 5. Continuing with LeBron…ESPN’s recent attempt to coax readers into believing that James is actually contemplating a jump to the NFL was quite comical. First of all, Lebron doesn't even begin to tip the scales at his listed weight of 250 lbs. If you don’t believe me, compare him to stockier and thicker players in the NBA: Carmelo Anthony – 230 lbs., Al Horford – 245 lbs., Brian Cook – 250 lbs. Incredibly, just as I was typing this post, Jeremy Shockey just tweeted "Trust me everyone, LeBron James can not play in the NFL.". Marshall Faulk responded by saying "The first time he catches one over the middle, gets hit, and the official doesn't throw the flag and give him two shots...he'll quit.".Enough said.
NBA games of note this weekend:
Friday - 11/20
Houston (7-5) @ Atlanta (10-2) – Calvin Murphy is torn when rooting during this game because of his tutorship of Josh Smith and guess what…I love it. I’m all for any sort of mental anguish the Murph is subjected to. I can’t even begin to tell you the number of accidents this man’s radio show has caused in Houston rush hour traffic.
Orlando (9-3) @ Boston (9-3) – A rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference Semifinals should surely entertain, and so should the commercials. One should expect to see many male enhancement spots and a handful of prostate relief advertisements during any Celtic game this season. We haven’t seen a collection of past-their-prime-but-not-yet-over-the-hill stars that were under this much pressure since Oceans 13.
Saturday - 11/21
New York (2-9) @ New Jersey (0-12) – The NFL equivalent would be the Browns @ Lions...what did sports fans do to get so lucky this weekend? They could pit the winner of this game against the loser of the NCAA Tournament play-in game and Vegas still might consider giving it a pick’em status.
Chicago (6-4) @ Denver (8-3) – This should be an interesting match up Chicago’s stingy defense and Denver’s high octane offense. This game could also mark the beginning of an intriguing weird hair rivalry between Joakim Noah and Chris Andersen.
Sunday – 11/22
New Orleans (4-8) @ Miami (7-4) – Record wise, this match up won’t jump out at you. Star wise, Dwayne Wade and Chris Paul make any game a little more interesting. This game is also brings together two of the top 25 Crime Infested Cities in the US (#8 N.O. vs. #19 Mia). I believe Miami could make a strong case for the top 10 with a victory over the Sodomesque city from the bayou.
Oklahoma City (6-6) @ LA Lakers (8-3) – Kevin Durant and the Thunder look to avenge a previous overtime loss to the Lakers. If Durant could notch a win on the road against the league’s best player, immediate respect will soon follow.
I think Brandon Jennings snuck into the draft like he did because he spent the last year in a place Americans hate to even think about: Europe. How could anything worthwile spend a year playing in Europe, right? Well, even though he doesn't play in Portland, I think Jennings is a trailblazer. I think you'll see a lot more guys skipping college, leaving high school early, or even SKIPPING high school, to play in Europe until they're of NBA age. Seriously, if you're good enough, but lack the age, why not go across the pond? I mean, spend your high school years making good money in Europe? With no homework to do? No one to bug you about your SAT scores? It's the future.
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