New Logo, New URL, New Year, New Post......


Is there anything more fun in this world than being right?? Its clearly to me one of life's great pleasures. Since its been a good six weeks since I've written, I'd like to give my readers pleasure as I pleasure myself at the same time...(hey now). I'm going to use this column to follow up on my early season predictions I made in this very space. I promise that I will break my own arm patting myself on the back for some things. And for others, i will remind you all what a bufoon I truly can be. Nonetheless, prediction follow up is something we rarely see in the mainstream media. So, here goes......

I'm going to start with an easy one. I was correct in predicting what an absolute mess the Washington Wizards have become. And this was before Gilbert Arenas decided to play Billy the Kid in the Verizon Center locker room. . Two Wizard related questions to ponder.... Does Wiz GM Ernie Grunfeld wake up in a cold sweat dreaming of Ricky Rubio running the fast break for Minnesota?....And is there a bigger bad ass in sports than David Stern? The Don Corleone of commissioners placed a proverbial bloody horse head right in Arenas' bed. Don't mess with the Don.

And while I'm congratulating myself, I was also correct on the Miami Heat. Ultimately, its a one player team. Michael Beasley is developing some, but its essentially team Wade. And no team has a bigger upside and downside in this coming offseason free agent sweepstakes. If Wade stays, it will be because someone decided to join him (LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemre etc..) or Wade leaves and they get nothing. Pat Riley is another league executive who has a legitimate reason for grave concern.

As embarrassing as it is, I totally missed on my New York Knicks. I thought they would be downright atrocious and they've managed to ascend to barely mediocre. The good news is that they actually have 3 players who have a chance to be part of their future. David Lee has improved considerably and has seemed to rediscover his work ethic. Wilson Chandler has learned the defensive end of the floor and he is truly athletic enough to be a difference maker defensively. And Danilo Gallinari has shown signs of being an electric offense player at a young age. And while I'm on the subject, I think Knick coach Mike D'Antoni isn't using Gallo correctly. Having him play a wing and primarily shoot threes is a waste and will not develop Gallo's inside skills enough. Gallo is a high post player who can step out for threes. He is big, strong, and a fantastic scorer. He can be a star as a high post player. If used properly, he could be a dominant offensive player in the mold of Dirk Nowitzki. To be fair to D'Antoni, I'd like to commend him on his handling of future Harlem Globetrotter Nate Robinson. He has sufficiently humbled this sideshow act to the point where Robinson conducts himself on the court like a professional ballplayer. Unfortunately, the next guy Nate defends will be his first, but I digress.

I was really really really wrong about the woeful New Jersey Nets. Very frankly, the most disappointing player in the entire league has been Net guard Devin Harris. His game has seemed to lack fire. He's not the greatest team player and has seemed to lose any shred of killer instinct that he's had. And as good as Brook Lopez is developing, he has been remarkably slow in learning what to do out of double teams. In all fairness, the Nets have the sorriest assembly of perimeter shooters I've seen in this league in along time. And as much as I respect Net president Rod Thorn as a team executive, he exercised the most futile gesture in the league this season in firing Lawrence Frank.

My prediction that the Cavalier-Shaq marriage would be an abject failure is on its way to fruition. All you need to know about that is that neither the Cavs best small unit and the Cavs best unit do not have Shaq in it. And besides LeBron, the most important Cav players to stay healthy are Anderson Varejao and Jamario Moon. I never thought I'd write that last sentence. And if they can manage to add Antawn Jamison from the Wizards' pending fire sale, they might just have a chance to compete for the Eastern Conference title.

I completely blew it on the Bulls. They have taken three giant steps backwards since their classic first round series last season versus the Kevin Garnett-less Celtics. The only reason head coach Vinny Del Negro has not lost his job yet is because they haven't found anyone to take it and team president John Paxson doesn't want to do it himself. Del Negro's biggest failure has been his inability to get through to 2nd year point guard Derrick Rose. Rose has taken a big step backwards this year. He has become a high volume shooter and a reluctant passer and defender. Del Negro has not gotten him to understand that he didn't have to try and be Ben Gordon to replace Ben Gordon.

And while I'm talking about Ben Gordon, I was absolutely correct on the miserable Detroit Pistons. Piston GM Joe Dumars assembled a roster only Isiah Thomas could be proud of then hired a lifetime assistant in John Kuester who would have trouble managing a 7-11. What Dumars has is one of the worst teams in the Eastern Conference loaded with untradable long term contracts, most of them being guys who play the same position. This may end up being the end of the road for Dumars in Detroit. This disaster may exhaust the rest of the goodwill capital Dumars built with the 2003-04 championship.

My prediction for the Indiana Pacers this season was a total miss. They are currently 12-25 and going nowhere. I thought they had an interesting, versatile roster. But Danny Granger went from being an up and coming star into a high volume shooter who is disinterested in defense. T.J. Ford is not a starting NBA guard. And head coach Jim O'Brien tends to coach this team like he has no clue what he's going to get from certain guys on a nightly basis, which is the case. Mike Dunleavy has been slow to return to form after a knee injury. Troy Murphy has been inconsistent. Rookie Tyler Hansbrough has been the Pacers' most consistent player. Indiana needs to be sellers at the trade deadline. Its time for Pacer president Larry Bird to gut the whole operation.

I completely whiffed on the Atlanta Hawks. I figured the Hawks might fall victim to some of their moderate playoff success over the last two seasons. Combine that with the pending free agency of their best player Joe Johnson and the presence of all-world chucker Jamal Crawford, and I thought things would get tough. Instead, they have played like a top tier team. Center Al Horford has developed into a very unselfish, physical big man. Josh Smith is one of the most athletic big forwards in the league. Crwaford has actually been a very productive scoring guard off the bench. And Johnson is turning in another routine stellar season. Head coach Mike Woodson does one of the most underrated jobs in the league with this team. They are officially the Cetics worst nightmare come playoff time.

I'll close it out with a giant pat on the back for my correct call on the success of the Phoenix Suns. One can never underrate how much a team can be helped merely by the removal of a 400 lb washed up Hall of Fame championship center who is the only one that doesn't realize that he's just not an asset on the court anymore. Without Shaq, the Suns have rediscovered their identity as an up tempo team. They probably won't make a deep playoff run because there are at least 4 better half court teams in the West, and the playoffs are more of a half court game. However, this success could increase their chances of keeping Amare Stoudemire in the offseason with free agency around the corner. Lots of credit here should also go to head coach Alvin Gentry, who has his guys playing a system perfectly tailored to their roster.


Back next week with more predictions for the second half of the season. Giddyap. Y'all be cool.