There's plenty of things that I' ve seen that surprise me and plenty that don't. Here's what I mean.



I'm surprised the Celtics would sign Stephon Marbury. But not because of his attitude or locker room influence. So much of what the Celtics do revolves around smothering halfcourt defense. Marbury is, at worst an unwilling defender and at best, a defender who takes too many chances.



I'm surpirsed that with all of the coaching firings thus far this season, that Byron Scott has kept his job with the New Orleans Hornets. The Hornets are trending well below where they were at this point last season with a little more talent and a young strong core. They play with the body language of a team that doesn't like each other and Scott doesn't appear to want to be bothered with it. In a different financial climate, Hornets owner George Shinn might have no issue paying two coaches at the same time, then again, maybe not.....



I'm not surprised that the Chicago Bulls have started to playing better basketball. As bad a coach as Vinny Del Negro is, they've got a ton of young athletic talent. It took Vinny 50 games to figure out that if you want your young guys to help you, you actually need to put them out on the floor.

I'm surprised that the Knicks would trade for Chris Wilcox, when every spare minute they would have for him should be going to Danilo Galinari

I'm not surprised that the Dallas Mavericks unsuccessfully tried to move Jason Kidd at the trade deadline. Kidd is no longer a capable defender and he isn't exactly a coaches' dream. Mark Cuban may have undermined his own ability to win a championship in the next 5 years by NOT keeping Devin Harris.

I'm surprised that the Philadelphia 76ers are a much better team without Elton Brand. He was the wrong signing and with his accumulated injury history and bloated contract, he will be impossible to move in the offseason. At least he has his stellar reputation in tact.......

Speaking of Brand's stellar reputation, I'm still surprised how he blatantly screwed Baron Davis in the off-season. His "you sign first, then I'll sign after" act wreaks of two brothers going for crew cuts and the one who goes 2nd decides he only wants a trim.

I'm not surprised that Carlos Boozer would make it so obvious that he wanted to leave Utah after the season. After violating his verbal agreement with Cavalier owner Gordon Gund five years ago, there was no reason for the Jazz to believe that Boozer would be any more loyal to them, even though they paid him all that money. The Jazz' late owner Larry miller deserved better.

I'm not surprised that both of the two players I just referenced are disciples of that "great molder of men" Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. Keep churning them out, Coach.

I'm surprised that the Washington Wizards are so bad. They have much better than 14 win talent. This is a direct indictment on Coach Ed Tapscott.

I'm surprised the Spurs beat Dallas and Portland on back to back nights this week without Duncan and Ginobili. Their head coach Greg Popovich never ceases to amaze me.

I am not surprised that Mike Dunleavy still has his head coaching job with the LA Clippers. Despite an epic squandering of talent and endless nights of effortless basketball, Clipper owner Donald Sterling will not hold him accountable because Sterling needs to keep paying him regardless.

I am not surprised that Greg Oden has made a limited impact on the Portalnd Trailblazers. He plays like the oldest 21 year old in the world. He's like a modern day NBA version of Benjamin Button.

I am surprised that Michael Beasley has not had a better rookie season for the Miami Heat. When he came out last year, I thought his game was tailor made for today's NBA. But he has definitely gotten a wake up call for what kind of work ethic it takes to make it in the league. Very nice job by Heat rookie coach Eric Spoelstra. He gave Beasley no entitlements as last year's #2 pick in the entire draft. It will serve Beasley better in the future and continue Pat Riley's culture of accountability in Miami.

I am not surprised that Larry Brown has helped improve the Charlotte Bobcats. He could have done it with the Knicks if Isiah Thomas and Stephon Marbury were not working to undermine him at every turn. Larry's problem has never been turning around a bad team. His problem lies in staying around with good ones.

I am not surprised that the Atlanta Hawks have carried their momentum from last year's 7 game 1st round playoff loss to the Boston Celtics into this season. They have good young players who are growing together and they will once again be a pain in someone's rump in the Eastern Conference again in this year's playoffs.

I am still surprised how much the Toronto Raptors stink. There is no doubt that if their GM Bryan Colangelo could do it all over again, he would not have fired Sam Mitchell 17 games into the season.

I will be very surprised if the Houston Rockets don't give San Antonio and Denver everything they can handle in the race for the #2 seed in the Western Conference.

I will be surprised if the Ben Wallace injury derails the Cleveland Cavaliers. Increased minutes for Anderson Varejao and JJ Hickson may not be a bad thing for the Cavs. Playing with LeBron James makes everyone better.

I will be very surprised if Don Nelson is still coaching the Golden State Warriors next year. Chris Mullin has created a personnel mess by giving Nellie everything he's wanted. And before you envoke an injury excuse, this team had no chance of making the playoffs in the West without Baron Davis, no matter who stayed healthy. They are in NBA no mans' land. Not enough good young players to rebuild around and not enough good veterans to be competitive. If owner Chris Cohan is reading, time to clean house my man.

And finally, I will be very surprised if we do not see a few significant playoff upsets this year. Too many key injuries on too many teams at the top. It should be real interesting. Catch up with you later in the week.

Y'all be cool. Giddyap.

Back from vacation, ready to blog.......

Its been a busy few weeks. There's been a bunch of trades and a load of injuries. There's been some addition by subtraction and some subtraction by subtraction. We'll start with the addition by subtraction.

Those of you who read this space regularly probably got quite the chuckle earlier this week whne you saw across your ESPN scroll that Tracy McGrady went out for the year and Rafer Alston was traded. You probably figured that my Rockets are going deep in the playoffs prediction got thrown out the window before the calendar turned to March. Well, if thats what you figured, you're wrong. Let me be the first to tell you that the Rockets are significantly better without McGrady and Alston and are now more primed than ever to make a run . After you get done calling me ridiculous, I'll be glad to explain.

Tracy McGrady is an extremely talented player. However his shot selection has gone from bad to awful. That combined with his hesitancy to share the basketball has adversely affected the chemistry of the Rockets. One common element to the rest of the Rockets core players is their willingness to play unselfishly. As crazy as Ron Artest is, he will pass the basketball to an open teammate in crunch time to get a better shot. The Rockets will shoot less threes without McGrady and they will have a higher shooting percentage. It will aslo mean more minutes for Artest and Shane Battier, which will mean more defense. With Yao Ming, Luis Scola, and Artest, the Rockets have plenty of scoring. They will stop more people without McGrady and take higher percentage shots. This will lead to more wins.

And although I think the Orlando Magic made a very good trade in acquring Rafer Alston, primarily because he plays a similar style of point guard to the injured Jameer Nelson (although not as effective), this trade makes the Rockets stronger as well. It allows the Rockets to get more minutes for their second year point guard Aaron Brooks. Brooks is a much better pick and roll point guard than Alston. Don't get me wrong, I like Alston's game. But when you have big men like Yao and Scola who can not only handle the ball on the perimeter, but shoot it well also, it becomes a bit of a waste to have a point guard who is more effective penetrating. Brooks' skills complement the two big guys much more than Alston's. That will make the Rockets better.

The next reason to call me an idiot..... the Lakers are better without Andrew Bynum. i know it sounds silly. Bynum appears to be the next great big man in the NBA who has proven that his only real weakness as a player is his ability to stay on the court. Yet somehow the Lakers are a more cohesive unit when Bynum is not in the lineup.

The first reason is obviously the increased minutes for Lamar Odom. I have never been shy about my affection for Odom's game. It borders somewhere between infatuation and love. And as much as I respect Phil Jackson, I have always wondered why he hasn't gotten more out of Odom. So, it was disconcerting to see Odom come off the bench for the first half of the year. But watching the way Odom has dominated since Bynum got injured, I'm seeing the method to Phil's madness. The Lakers lost the finals last year because Kobe Bryant played selfishly and Odom sulked. Only one of those things is curable and it looks like Phil Jackson cured it, because Kobe will always play selfishly, his greatness not withstanding. When Odom is playing his best, his well rounded skill set is much more complementary to Bryant and Pau Gasol. As good as Bynum is, he neutralizes Gasol a little bit. Gasol spends a lot of time trying to stay out of Bynum's way. As long as Odom understands that part of playing well with Bryant is to stay out of his way, he's a better fit playing next to Gasol up front. And the added bonus is that for one reason or another, Luke Walton is a much more effective small forward playing next to Odom. Odom makes other guys better. Whats not to love!!! I'm smitten

The second reason is the selfishness of Kobe Bryant. This is not a bash of Kobe, but quite the opposite. A player like Kobe should have the ball a lot because he can score from anywhere on the court no matter who's playing defense. A big guy like Bynum needs the ball fed to him to be effective, which keeps Kobe feeding the post. Kobe is at his best when he's putting the ball on the floor or posting up himself. If Bynum needs post touches, those are less post touches for Bryant. And Bryant can carry this team back to the finals if his focus is to score closer to the basket. And the more he scores close to the basket, the tougher he will be to guard on the perimeter. And the tougher the Lakers will be in June.

Next reason to tell me I'm nuts. The Suns will be better without Amare Stoudemire. Now I'm cheating on this one a little bit because I don't think its going to to matter for the Suns. They're at best a first round playoff loser regardless and they had to fire their coach to get there, but I still think they will be improved.

This whole Stoudemire-Shaquille O'Neal experiment has been a miserable failure. They occupy the same space on the floor. At this stage, neither of them is a great rebounder. O'Neal is unable to rebound well and Stoudemire is unwilling to . And whats worse than that is that the rest of the team's core plays much more effectively in an up tempo system. Before the Shaq trade, the Suns had an identity. Having two post players with a bunch of greyhounds has put the Suns in no man's land. Not good enough in the halfcourt to get defensive stops and not fast enough to run and out score anyone. Without Stoudemire, new coach Alvin Gentry can play four perimeter players around Shaq and the track meet can begin again. The Suns will definitely win a couple more games playing this way, but it won't make a difference in May. And while I'm on the topic, its been a long time since I've seen a coach treated worse than Terry Porter was in Phoenix. Steve Kerr gave him a group of players who excelled much more at the offensive end of the floor than on defense. Then Kerr told him he wanted the team to play a half court walk the ball up system predicated on defense. Then when Porter had the team on the playoff bubble in the deep Western Conference, Kerr pink slips him and tells Gentry to pick up the tempo. Think Phoenix fans miss the Colangelos? But I digress.......

Onto the subtraction by subtraction situations, a few that look almost irretrievable......

Its also been an intersting week for the San Antonio Spurs. They begin the week rumored to be extremely close to adding Vince Carter, who would have been the perfect player to put them over the hump . His ability to score combined with unselfishness would have been a tremendous complement to the Duncan-Ginobili-Parker trio. They end the week losing one of that trio to injury for a few weeks with more devastating ramifications.

Last sason the Spurs lost the Western Conference finals to the Lakers. Although the Lakers had an excellent team that would have been difficult any season, the reality is that the Spurs didn't have a chance. The reason is simple. Tim Duncan makes the Spurs great, but Manu Ginobili makes them champions. And during that Lakers series Ginobili was physically compromised because of a bad ankle. The way Ginobili plays does not lend itself to playing with a bad wheel. So, when the trade deadline rolls around Wednesday and the Spurs don't get Carter and find out they lost Ginobili to a "stress reaction" in that same ankle, my optimism for their championship aspirations seriously wanes.

My last subtraction by subtraction example is a little more obvious, so I'm not really out on a limb when I say that without a healthy Kevin Garnett, there is no way the Celtics go back to the finals, let alone repeat. And I will take it one step further in saying that this 2-4 week period in which the Celtics will be without Garnett, will be enough to keep the Celtics from winning the East.

The reason for this is pretty simple. Without Garnett, the Celtics are barely average. And barely average will not hold up when your neck and neck with LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers for home court advantage in the Eastern Conference, even if its just for two weeks.

The Cavs have it all going on. They've got a tight group who are in lock step with the coach. They've had some injuries and their depth has been tested, yet their entire bench has responded admirably. They stand up for one another. And most of all, they have the best player on the planet. With the year LeBron James is having, I cannot believe anyone will come into Cleveland and beat him in a game 7 come playoff time. From every indication, including this Garnett injury, its the Cavs year up and down the line.

Y'all be cool. Giddyap.

Some more NBA ideas right below......





I received a little flak from some readers about my endorsement of the Houston Rockets. Questions have been raised about team chemistry and Tracy McGrady's willingness to play within the framework of a team concept. Normally, I would heed these concerns, bu head coach Rick Adelman has a hostory of dealing with these types of things quite well. Thats a prediction I'm not backing off.





However, I'll give you a prediction I'm starting to back away from. I'm not sure Michael Curry has a clue what to do in Detroit. It appears as though the only right move he's making is bringing Richard Hamilton off the bench. The Pistons play good, agressive team defense. But for a team with this much offensive talent, it shouldn't be such a struggle to score, yet somehow it is. The problem tends to be when Rodney Stuckey is not on the court. When Stuckey is on the court, he's the point guard and no oen has to play out of position. When Stuckey is on the bench, Curry plays with a different point guard each possession. This is fine on every third possession when Allen Iverson is handling the ball. But to have Hamilton and 6'10" Tayshaun Prince on the peimeter handling the ball is assinine. It appears that Curry is trying not to ask Iverson to be too much of a distributor. Yet when Stcukey isn't in the game, thats exaxtly what Iverson should be. Taking Prince away from the baseline offensively really takes away from his game. Him and Rasheed Wallace do a great job occupying space together. This has been a very successful organization most of the decade with this core group. Iverson should be asked to fit in around the other guys, not vice versa. If Pistons general manager Joe Dumars is not committed to Curry long term, it would be a great idea to break Chuck Daly out of mothballs and let him try to make one run with this team. He'd get them right. Then start over next year with someone new. they're only going to be loading uo for the 2010 free agent class anyway next year.





Over the last few years, I've been pretty critical of Cleveland Cavaliers' coach Mike Brown. But as far as this season is concerned, no one has done more to this point to earn Coach of the Year than he has. He has the Cavs competing with the Celtics for the top spot in the West and he's done it with injuries to two key guys, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Delonte West. Now, you can call the Cavs Team LeBron if you'd like and I couldn't argue with you, because without him they are a 25 win team. However, Brown does an outstanding job of using LeBron's wide range of abilites to put the Cavs in the Best possible matchups. Brown is not afraid to play LeBron at any of the 5 positions on the floor, if the matchup or the opponent calls for it. He will go deep into his bench and without Ilgauskas and West, he's had to. It looks like every player has a well defined role and there's never a question of how any player fits in to a particular situation. This and Lebron's maturity and commitment to defense have been the chief reasons that the Cavs are part of the league elite. S they get healthier, they'll only get tougher nad they may end up being too deep for the Celtics in a 7 game series.





Most times that a coach is fired and a general manager is asked to move down to the sidelines to coach the mess they've made, its normally the last step out the door for said general manager. Last year's dictionary definition was the New York Knick swan song of Isiah "they can't do that to our interns, only we can do that to our interns" Thomas. However, there's a version of this scenario playing out this year in Minnesota that is starting to appear as quite the opposite. Kevin McHale appears to be getting the Timberwolves onto the right track. He has a very young team with a few talented pieces and a few pieces that don't fit. The Wolves are 12-14 since Mchale took over and were 4-15 under Randy Wittman. But the record doesn't matter as much as the fact that plyaers are improving under McHale's watch. The centerpiece of the Kevin Garnett deal, Al Jefferson, is playing at an all star level night in and night out. Rookie big man Kevin Love has had a very productive rookie year coming off of McHale's bench. And potential disappointments Randy Foye and Sebastian Telfair have shown progress under McHale. Now will all of this be enough to get McHale a stay of execution at the end of the season? That remains to be seen, but its nice to see him give it a run. He's been portrayed as a clueless personnel guy and some of that could be true. But he's taking advantage of the opportunity to prove his critics wrong.





One of the more amazing implosions of a franchise is going on right in front of our eyes and yet no one seems no take much note of it because its being done by an organization with whom we have always directly associated futility. Considering the talent level and interesting mix of young and veteran players on the Los Angeles Clippers, their pitiful season is inexcusable and a direct indictment on head coach Mike Dunleavy. It is amazing that just 2 1/2 years ago, the Clippers made a run into the 2nd round of the playoffs. If owner Donald Sterling does not unload Dunleavy at the end of the season, then he gets what he deserves, whcih would hopefully be loads of season ticket holders not renewing. As in most situations like this one, the guy that made the mess should not be the one to clean it.

Y'all be cool. giddyap

More NBA thoughts going coming out of the weekend.



Statement win for the Celtics Friday night, soundly beating Orlando by 10 in Orlando. The Magic have a very nice, young roster and an excellent coach, but they are one solid rebounding big man away from being able to beat teams like the Cavaliers and the Celtics in a 7 game series. It gets very difficult on the defensive end to compete when you start two small forwards and no power forward. As good as Dwight Howard is, he needs help inside against the bigger front lines. Orlando will win at least 60 games by beating up on lesser teams. But they will not advance far in the playoffs against the bigger tougher teams.



The coaching massacre continued on Friday with the Grizzlies firing Marc Iavaroni. Out of all the firings we've seen this year, this one made the most sense. With very young talent like Rudy Gay and O.J. Mayo, the Grizzlies needed a better teacher. And although Iavaroni had a stretch this year where he seemed to be almost getting something out of these guys, ultimately it all collapsed. The Grizzlies actually followed through well also, reportedly offerring the job to former Dallas coach Avery Johnson. Johnson turned them down, but its nice to see an organization make a run at a guy with a proven track record as oppossed to a team like the Wizards who fires a true pro like Eddie Jordan for a life long pencil pusher like Ed Tapscott, whose claim to fame was passing on Ron Artest for Frederic Weis, but I digress. The Grizzlies ended up hiring Lionel Hollins who has been an interim coach for them 2 separate times. He may not be the long term answer, but at least they're out there looking for one.



So I see where the Detroit Pistons have decided to bring Richard Hamilton off the bench in favor of starting Allen Iverson and Rodney Stuckey in the back court. Gutsy move by rookie head coach Michael Curry. And from this angle, I believe it to be the right decision. Firstly, Hamilton will most definitely still average in excess of 30 minutes a game. He will provide to the Pistons what San Antonio Spur fans have come to mknow as the "Ginobili effect." Manu Ginobili is a big time player in the NBA and a prolific winner. Spurs coach Greg popovich brings him off the bench and derives a big advantage in late first quarter/early second quarter action of games. Philosophically, its simple. Ginobili is better than anyone else's 1st or 2nd guy off the bench and inevitably ends up with a matchup that can be exploited. A coach can only get away with this with decent starters. This year's version of the Spurs has Tony Parker and Roger Mason. And the Pistons have Iverson and Stuckey. Hamilton is going to thrive in this arrangement and this will make the Pistons a much tougher out come May for Cleveland or Boston than Orlando could ever be.



Don't look now, but Larry "Next Town" Brown is starting to weave his magic in Charlotte. Six weeks ago it looked like they were throwing in the towel on their season by trading their best individual player in Jason Richardson. The two players they brought in, Raja Bell and Boris Diaw, are generally perceived as role players whose productivity was tied to Mike D'Antoni's system and Steve Nash's generosity. But they have come into Charlotte and fit in very well with a group of raw young players. This combined wuth the improved play of point guard Raymond Felton and the emergence of Emeka Okafor as a real solid inside player, and Next Town Brown has the Bobcats playing over .500 basketball since the Richardson trade. If Brown can turn this team into a winner, this will be a very nice notch on the belt of Larry's coaching career. I give the wandering one a lot of credit for not allowing his coaching career to end on the blemish that was his ill fated tenure as coach of the New York Knicks. The lesson is, everyone who gets attached to Isiah Thomas comes out of it dirtier than they came in. Just ask his daughter....

A few weeks ago, I predicted in this space an epic Western conference final with the Spurs and the Lakers. If there is one team out West that can definitely blow that up, it is certainly the Houston Rockets. They are the most well rounded team in the NBA. They are also the only team in the entire league with two perimeter defensive stoppers, in Shane Battier and Ron Artest. They play well in the half court and catch match up with big teams. They are athletic and deep enough to run with the fast teams. Their coach, Rick Adelman, has a lot of experience bringing teams deep in the playoffs. He was always blocked from a title by Jordan's Bulls and Shaq and Kobe's Lakers. If he can get this Rockets team to think more like an ensemble cast (more shots for everyone, and less for Tracy McGrady), he has the team that no one wants to play including the big bad Lakers.

Back with more later in the week.

Y'all be cool giddyap.

With a yawner of a Super Bowl on tap, its time for more random thoughts, NBA style.........

Is it me or does Greg Oden have bust written all over him. I've seen enough franchise centers over the years to know one when I see one, and he's not it. But he's definitely the type of guy who ends up collecting a ring or two as a role player right as everyone has written him off.

The biggest disappointment through the first half of the season has to be the Toronto Raptors. I have a question for their general manager Bryan Colangelo. If he thought that he might want to fire Sam Mitchell 17 games into the season, why didn't he try to get Mike D'Antoni in the offseason. If the answer is money, then its the wrong answer. Too many teams skimp on coaches, but when you look at the dollars committed to payroll, a healthy investment in the right coach can yield enormous dividends, but I digress. Their new coach Jay Triano clearly has not been an upgrade in comparing Mitchell's 8-9 record to Triano's 8-18 record. And he's just finding out what Larry Bird has known for 3 years. You can't win with Jermaine O'Neal. He's too selfish, too injury prone, and can't jump anymore. 2009-10 better be one great season if the Raptors are interested in keeping Chris Bosh around come 2010 offseason.

As far as disappointments go, the Chicago Bulls have to be a close second. There is too much talent there to be 18-24 at the halfway pole. Their impressive victory against Cleveland last Thursday notwithstanding, they're clearly underachieving. It was the wrong team for a rookie coach. The roster is an interesting talented mix of rookies and veterans. And they have very good personnel for an uptempo style. But their coach Vinny Del Negro has a disjointed rotation and can't seem to keep his young players focused. Think Jerry Reinsdorf would like that meeting with Mike D'Antoni back. D'Antoni would have won 55 games this year with that roster.

Speaking of wanting D'Antoni back, how's that whole defensive focus thing working out in Phoenix? Despite being 24-17, they're only 7th in the West and with Amare Stoudemire eligible for free agency after next season and their reliance on basketball senior citizens, Shaquille O'Neal, Steve Nash, and Grant Hill, I'd say the future isn't so bright. Terry Porter not doing a bad job. he's just playing the hand he's dealt.

D'Antoni IS doing a great job. He has the Knicks competitive night in and night out, despite their 16-24 record, with a team full of bench players. If Donnie Walsh can bring him some better talent, the future at Madison Square Garden is very bright.

You don't have to look further than across the Hudson River to find another coach doing a great job. New Jersey Nets coach Lawrence Frank has a young, raw roster. He overhauled the offensive system in the offseason to better fit his personnel, which is so obvious, yet so many coaches in the league don't do it. (Don Nelson, are you reading this?) Devin Harris is the perfect penetrate and kick point guard for that system. If a few of their young big players get better, they may be a very attractive option for one of the free agent superstars hitting the market in 2010.

And speaking of the Nets, Vince Carter has done a tremendous job this year leading a young group in a positive way. Carter has an awful reputation for quitting on the Toronto Raptors his last season there. But the job he is doing with this young Nets team proves he has grown up. At one point, the Nets will probably trade Vince, to get younger and clear more salary cap space. And because of Carter's unselfish play and positive influence on their young players, he should be a very attractive option for a veteran team who needs a shooting guard to put them over the top. Vince learned something Jason Kidd has never learned. When you do the right thing by the organization that pays you, kharma will reward you.

Kharma certainly is not rewarding Jason Kidd at this point. He dogged his way out of New Jersey to get a chance to win a title. The one problem is that the player the Mavericks traded to get him is younger and better than him, yet putting him that much further away from his elusive ring. They're further away from winning a title than the Suns. Kidd's jump shot is so bad, we can take the J out of his name and call him Ason. Now his defense is so bad, I'm not even sure he deserves the two d's at the end of his name. So let me say this. The Dallas Mavericks will not make the playoffs this year because of the skill deterioration of Ason Ki.

I know. It wasn't that funny. Sometimes I type things just to amuse myself.

I would not be surprised to see a Lamar Odom for Shawn Marion swap completed between now and the trade deadline. Odom and Kobe Bryant are like oil and water in LA. And as much as Odom is being a good soldier coming off the bench, one of their on court tiffs is likely to bite the Lakers at the wrong time. And Marion is a much better fit for the Lakers as a small forward playing next to Kobe and Pau Gasol. He's in a contract year, so the motivation is there. And for the Heat, bringing Odom in could give Dwayne Wade the sidekick he needs to make a decent playoff run. last time those two were side by side in Miami, the Heat made an improbable run to the 2nd round of the playoffs giving them invaluable playoff experience the year before they traded Odom for Shaq. If the Heat picked up Odom, that could be that team that gives the Cavaliers or Celtics fits.

Staying in the east for a minute, isn't it so very interesting how Elton Brand gets hurt and the Philadelphia 76ers heat up. Obviously this is a roster that is built much more for an uptempo style of play for the sole exception of Brand. By the time Brand comes back this year, it will be too late to move him, but don't be surprised if general manager Ed Stefanski finds a home for him in the offseason. Despite Brand's enormous contract and extensive injury history, he is still highly regarded by most NBA executives.

Catch you later in the week with more. Y'all be cool. Giddyap.

More random thoughts on the NFL and some other stuff.....

The NFL playoffs have officially become like the NCAA tournament. Starting with the 6 seed Pittsburgh Steelers in 2005 to the #3 seed Indianapolis Colts in 2006 to the Giants magical run in 2007 to what we have right now. The Arizona Cardinals are the NFL's version of George Mason. Lets see how long Cinderella's slipper stays on.

Speaking of the Cardinals, this little run they're mucks up the Kurt Warner contract situation that much more. If Warner takes them to the Super Bowl, how do they not re-sign him? But how do you pay him when you've got big money committed to Matt Leinart and Warner's 37? Because Cardinals' ownership is not big on spending money, its probably less of an issue than I'm making it, but lets see how far they get.

And by the way, who woke Edgerrin James?? Probably his agent, considering he's positive he's getting cut and he needs a new contract. The way he's running now, he'd look nice on some team's running back committee. But Edge better be prepared to take a pay cut.

Speaking of pay cuts, Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo isn't having the best 2009 so far. He originally wouldn't interview for the St. Louis Rams head coaching position because he was " out of their price range." Now, his vaunted Giants defense was shredded by the Eagles and most of the open jobs seem to be filling up quickly. The Broncos hired Josh McDaniels today, who by the way looks so much like Ashton Kutcher that I thought he was going to get Punked during the press conference, but I digress. It looks like the Lions are sweet on Jim Schwartz and the Jets are waiting for Rex Ryan. That leaves the Rams and the Raiders. The Rams really like Jason Garrett and the Raiders haven't come calling. And before someone says that Spags is a highly paid coordinator, remember so is Garrett. Opportunuties for the big chair are fleeting, thats why you've got to grab them when they're there.

WHile I'm on the Giants, maybe I spoke a little soon abiut wanting Eli in Green Bay in January. Or maybe I just needed to be more specific. I'll take Eli in Green Bay in January with Plaxico Burress and only with Plaxico Burress.

Can Andy Reid shave already? I expected the side judge to drop a quarter in his pocket as he walked by on the sideline yesterday. And doesn't he look like Chris Farley dressed up in his "DA Bears" costume??

The Carolina Panthers very rapidly reached an organizational crossroads this past Saturday night. They've got very good personnel on both sides of the ball for the exception of two areas, defensive back and quarterback. They can certainly address the secondary in free agency because they don't have a first round pick. But what do you do at quarterback? Its clear that Jake Delhomme is not the same quarterback after Tommy John surgery. Its not like he's a relief pitcher who can just throw more curveballs. He doesn't have it and he was horrifically exposed on Saturday night. Their best bet is a one year solution to see if they can make one more run before they decide to draft a qb. Think Kurt Warner might be available? Or what about bringing Kerry Collins back?

Speaking of Collins, I don't think the Titans bring him back. He had a very good year. But they're paying Vince Young a lot of money. Young is only going to sit for so long at that pricetag. And its the right move. Collins took them as far as he's capable of taking them. They're going to have to Young the keys at some point to see if he's got it. If he isn't any good, their 3rd stringer, Chris Simms, can do the same thing for them that Collins can do and he'll be much cheaper. I'm not a Young fan, but the Titans are smart. They manage their cap very well and stay competitive year after year, even with shaky first round picks like Young and Pacman Jones.

Whats the over/under on how long it takes Tony Dungy to take a lucrative long term contract to turn around a 3-13 franchise? I say 3 years and I'll take the under. A man's faith may help him sleep at night, but it doesn't pay the bills.

A few NBA thoughts before I leave you this evening........

The Celtics are not as good as their 27-2 start and they're not as bad as they've looked losing their last 7 out of 10. But the fact that their 3 best players are all advancing well into their thirties and that they do not have enough depth may very well undermine their chances to repeat. As regular readers of this space know, I'm not the biggest fan of the Danny Ainge/Doc Rivers team in Boston. And they've done nothing but shut me up. But if they think that Stephon Marbury is the answer to what ails them, they get what they deserve. They'd be better off adding another big man, because to get through Cleveland they're going to have to match up with Wallace, Ilgauskas, and Varejao and that might not even be enough.

I understand that the free agent class of 2010 is rich with talent. But with all these teams making trades designed to be big players that year, isn't it inevitable that one or two organizations get caught holding the bag. If its the Knicks, watch how fast Donnie Walsh jets out of town.

I know that the Pistons made the Billups/Iverson trade to create cap room for 2010, but they've created an athletic, experienced group that can be a brutal matchup for the Celtics or the Cavaliers in the playoffs. The whole key is to keep Rasheed Wallace and Iverson from killing each other before the playoffs. I'm not sure if Michael Curry is the guy to handle that but he's got them moving in the right direction.

I'm not sure what round of the playoffs this is going to happen but something tells me we are in for a Spurs-Lakers epic this spring.

Lots of coaches fired early in the season, which is a surprising but makes sense especially when general managers sell ownership on the quality of the talent. But the replacements that have been hired is downright shocking. Guys with no head coaching experience get hired while Jay Triano, Tony DiLeo, and Ed Tapscott are roaming the NBA sidelines while established winners like Mike Fratello and Jeff Van Gundy remain behind microphones. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Back later in the week. Y'all be cool. Giddyap.

Things I'm thinking about getting all fired up for today's divisional round of the NFL playoffs

Great job by Norv Turner these past few weeks keeping all the attention on Tomlinson's injury with no clear intention to play him a lot, healthy or not. Takes pressure off of other potential distractions, i.e Vincent Jackson's DUI and Phillip Rivers' need for a new hair stylist.

Andy Reid gets a very bad rap as a coach. They've been to 4 NFC title games, one Super Bowl, and they're competitive every year. And lets face it.... McNabb's not that good. Yet, all you ever hear about Reid is that he doesn't run enough and he's bad with replay challenges. That may be true, but the results are there. The only problem I would ever have with Andy Reid is if I got caught behind him on a buffet line.

If you're a Kurt Warner fan, enjoy tonight's swan song. His contract is up at the end of the year and with the money they've committed to Matt Leinart, it would be foolish to re-sign a 37 year old former MVP who will expect to get paid after a great year. The Cardinals have proved their point to Leinart. No one cares what you did in college. In the NFL, you've got to work for everything.

And speaking of college, I believe I'm in the minority in being of the opinion that Tim Tebow is going to be a very good pro quarterback. He throws well on the run, is hard to sack, and has a strong enough arm. Plus from everything I read and hear, he's smart as a whip and no one can doubt that he's a winner. If you don't think there's a place for him in this league, keep in mind that Tarvaris Jackson started a playoff game last week.

How's that Jet coaching search coming along? Did Woody Johnson find any qualified candidates last week in Europe? The best thing you can say is that at least they've abandoned any hopes of being a "win now" team. Favre doesn't want to be there next year and it appears as though the Jets don't want him back. Someone finally explained to Woody that people aren't going to pay $25,000 per PSL to watch a has been lead the league in interceptions. The Packers knew exactly what they were doing last year. And the good news for them is that once the Jets release Favre, the Vikings will repeat the Jets mistake. I can see it now. CHarles Woodson returning an interception 90 yards to a booing Metrodome crowd while Zygi Wilf sits in the press box throwing up in his mouth.

Speaking of the Jets, Eric Mangini didn't stay unemployed long. He's just what the doctor ordered for the Browns. My guess is that he's learned plenty from his experience with the Jets. They'll get a good defensive player with their early draft pick and they've got lots of offensive talent including a monster offensive line. The big question is can they win with the quarterback. I say yes and think the Browns are a serious threat to challenge Pittsburgh for AFC North supremacy for a long time. We will all learn to appreciate Mangini/Tomlin chess games for years to come. And throw John Harbaugh's Ravens in the mix and that is soing to be a tough division for a long time.

There's been a lot of debate this week over the NFL's overtime rules. There's probably some sort of change coming and its probably the right thing. But can we please eliminate the notion that the overtime rules cost the Colts a game they should have had. The Colts had several opportunuites to win that game last Saturday night. But poor play calling, poor pass protection, and a lack of discipline cost them that game, not a coin flip. Their coach's playoff record is spotty at best, even with a Super Bowl ring on his resume. And as amazing a regular season player as Peyton Manning is, his playoff record isn't something to write home about either. His one Super Bowl ring removes the "choker " tag from his career resume, but there's no doubt he's proven to be a regular season phenom and an ordinary guy in the playoffs. Need to win one in New England in November, I'll take Peyton. Need to win one in Green Bay in January, I'm taking Eli.

This Pacman Jones story out of Dallas this week is kind of puzzling. Try to follow me here. The Cowboys sign him with a history of felonies that would make Tony Soprano cringe. He beats up his team hired bodyguard midseason, gets suspended, and goes to alcohol rehab. The Cowboys take him back to help for the stretch run and he really doesn't help that much. From a football standpoint, kind of a tough season for Pacman. But Pacman and the Cowboys declare him a changed man ready to move on with his career. Then an ESPN report leaks that he tried to arrange for a murder at a Strip club in 2007 before he was ever on the Cowboys, which by the way was the same thing he got arrested in Vegas for when he got suspended for the 2007 season. Was Jerry Jones naive enough to believe that the only time he ever did something this egregious was when he got caught? Did any of this come as a surprise? And if alcohol rehab changed him, then why cut him for something that occurred way before he was a Cowboy? ANd all this assumes the report is somewhat credible. The Cowboys, nor any other organization shouldn't have gotten involved with him in the first place. And I'm not in the business of defending convicted felons. But once they brought him on board, don't they owe him a tad more loyalty than to cut bait before these allegations are further investigated. This is a strange organization that has a knack for making every move they make wreak of awkwardness.

And while we're on the topic of the Cowboys, they need to get the coaching staff straightened out because they've got the ingredients to win now. They've got the quarterback, they've got an emarassment of riches with skill position players, they've got the the top defensive player in football, but somehow they remain a mess. If they can use this year's draft to straighten out the offensive line, they're a good coach away from being a Super Bowl contender. And waiting a year for Mike Shanahan to be ready to coach is a recipe for disaster.

Too much football stuff to get to hoops or hot stove this week, but I'll shoot for it next week. Enjoy the games. Y'all be cool. giddyap.

Its been over 18 months since I've last done this, but I figured that there was no better time to get this going again than on the eve of the NFL playoffs. So here are some random thoughts in no particular sequence.

If Chad Pennington had given the Jets the same year that Brett Favre just gave them, I'm kinda thinking Eric Mangini would still be employed.

Think the Niners aren't a little bummed they didn't wait a few days to give Mike Singletary a 4 year deal. If they had waited, Mike Shanahan could have come home to a hero's welcome.

Speaking of Shanahan, someone is going to hire a very good football coach in him. But they better make sure that someone else is shopping for the groceries.

If Jerry Jones doesn't get serious about running an organization, as opposed to a fantasy football team, the Cowboys are well on their way to becoming a very expensive laughing stock. But these are things that happen when owners make football decisions designed to sell PSLs instead of winning football games.

Do you think Woody Johnson read that last line? Not likely.

How did Jack Del Rio survive Shack Harris in Jacksonville? Wasn't Garrard Del Rio's guy? Seems to me that if Jacksonville doesn't make the playoffs next year, both Garrard and Del Rio will be looking for work. Del Rio's in trouble. You can't win with Garrard.

The Raiders are much closer to being good than their record would indicate. They can run the football and they play good pass defense. One more big defensive tackle and just a bit of improvement from the quarterback and they're a playoff team next year. But Al Davis definitely isn't reading this, so he'll probably take a player they clearly don't need.

Is it just me, or do the Giants kind of look like every other playoff team now that they don't have Plaxico Burress?? Earlier in the year, they looked good to repeat. Burress may have shot more than himself in the foot.

Sorry. I couldn't resist.

Excluding the league MVP, Philip Rivers was the best quarterback in football for the month of December. And a great job by Norv Turner in changing the identity of that offense to adjust for the fact that LeDainian Tomlinson is shot.

I really like Herm Edwards. He is very well respected and very well liked in the football community. But he's 6-28 in the last two seasons. Just the mere fact that Chiefs owner Clark Hunt is considering keeping him employed is enough to make Chiefs fans believe that the light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train.

It hasn't exactly been a stellar end of the season for the Belichick coaching tree. Romeo Crennel and Eric Mangini get the axe and Charlie Weis is stuck at Notre Dame if he wants to collect his money.

The big buzz with the NFL playoffs is the three first year coaches, Tony(The Dyxlexic Don) Sparano, Mike Smith, and John Harbaugh. So with so many jobs open, teams are going looking more at assistants who've never coached before as oppossed to "recycled" coaches. Yet. when you look back at the last two seasons, the Super Bowl winning coach each year (Tony Dungy and Tom Coughlin), were on their 2nd job. Now please explain to me while teams aren't lining up to interview Brian Billick and Mike Shanahan.

And while I'm on it, is someone going to be smart enough to hire Marty Schottenheimer. Last regular season he coached, he went 14-2. He has been the victim of some incredibly bad luck in the playoffs. With the right team at the right time, Marty definitely could be the right guy.

You'd think I was endorsing him for office......

There's a significant chance, Terrell Owens will not be in the league next year. Would you take him? And I will organize a national boycott of the network that chooses to hire him as an analyst.

And if its ESPN, shouldn't they make him apologize to Ed Werder?

And speaking of ESPN, isn't it hysterical when John Clayton reports a scoop and Chris Mortensen's scoop refutes Clayton's scoop 10 minutes later. ESPN treats these guys like the Menendez brothers got treated by their parents.

But I digress....

Also, I think I'm in the minority in not being 100% convinced that Bill Cowher will be as good a coach outside that Pitttsburgh cocoon. With all due respect to the tremendous job that Mike Tomlin does, that orgainizational system plays an enormous role in their consistent success.

Chad Johnson better pray that the Bengals don't decide to cut bait this off season. Between the butcher job that TO did in Dallas, and the constant whining of Jeremy Shockey in New Orleans, the market for divas who catch the football is starting to run thin.

Speaking of Shockey, can we now say that its no coincidence that Eli Manning grew up as a quarterback as soon as he didn't have Shockey screaming in his ear for the ball.

I'll be back early in the week with some more NFL stuff and a little hoops and hot stove baseball. Enjoy the weekend.. Y'all be cool.

Tim Duncan, NBA Draft Notes and some baseball thoughts


The NBA Finals seemed to come and go faster than John Goodman works at the Sizzler buffet. Othe surface it appeared to be the most boring playoff series of our generation. Oh heck, it was the bost boring playoff series of our generation!!!! But buried beneath all of that dreary boredom is a player who has placed himself among the greatest to ever play the game and that player is Tim Duncan.

Tim Duncan IS the Spurs. He is the best player on 4 different championship teams. Yet, because he has the personality of a paper plate, it seems as though the media wants to give everyone around him more credit. Tony Parker is my first example. He is a good NBA player, not a great NBA player. He gets extra credit for the Spurs success because of two factors. Firstly, his status as Mr. Eva Longoria. Secondly, he exists in Duncan's wake. Replace Tony Parker with Leandro Barbosa and the Spurs still win the same amount.

Two much lesser examples are Manu Ginobili and Greg Popovich. Its tough to be critical of these two because they are both very good at what they do. Popovich is smart enough to know that his star shines as long as Duncan's does and he rides it. And the only real criticism you can make of Ginobili is his hygeine. But these two still would never have ascended to the pinnacle of the sport if they were not saddling up Tim Duncan.

At this stage of history the only NBA legends I would rank ahead of Duncan are Russell, Wilt, Jordan, Kareem, Bird, and Magic. Thats it. And you can't give me Shaq. Shaq is certainly a top 10 player in history, but he always had much more help than Duncan. Shaq won 3 titles with Kobe, and one with Dwyane Wade. The best player Duncan had next to him was an over the hill David Robinson. As much as I love Ginobili, he can't win a series single handedly like Kobe or Wade. Shaq could rest on offense for long stretches and Kobe and Wade made it very hard to double him. Duncan is the focal point of everything all the time and he's always double teamed. But he rarely makes a bad decision. The guy is a legend, even if it seems like no one really cares!!!

One of my favorite events of the year is the NBA Draft. Mostly because I generally believe that the majority of NBA general managers are woefully inept at their craft. With that said, here are some random thoughts about the draft.

Can't say i'm surprised about the Celtics moronic acquisition of Ray Allen for the first round pick and Delonte West. if Ainge's goal is to be the 6 seed in the East for two years before he drops back in the lottery, he's right on track.

I have dental floss with more bulk than Kevin Durant.

What are the Milwaukee Bucks doing? Yi Jianlian, the dude from China, declared he didn't want to go to Milwaukee because there are 6 Asians in the whole state. Then when you keep in mind that no one has ever seen him play against anybody, is he the right pick at #6 in one of the deepest drafts ever????

And while I'm at it, Sacramento butchered their first rounder as well. I guess because Brad Miller was out for much of the year that the fans missed having a big white stiff to boo. So the Kings leave two players on the board who go top 5 any other year (Julian Wright and Al Thornton) to fill their big white stiff quota with Spencer Hawes.

The Atlanta Hawks did very well. They got a developed high quality big player in Al Horford and a savvy NBA ready point guard in Acie Law. All they need is a decent head coach and this team could actually be interesting. Rick Carlisle would turn that program around.

The Charlotte Bobcats made a great trade. They didn't need another rookie, unless it was Oden, Durant, or maybe Horford. Jason Richardson is one of the more underrated players in the league. And you can't love Brandan Wright when he had effort issues as a freshman. You always trade a maybe for a sure thing. They also made a great pick at #22 in Jared Dudley.

The Knicks made a good trade. Channing Frye is a dog. He can't defend and he's a physically weak player. Zach Randolph may be nuts, but he can score and he really can rebound. The Knicks would be smart to install metal detectors at Randolph's home, their practice facility, and the Garden, you know, just in case.

And maybe just maybe, this trade is the pre-cursor to Isiah having a fleeting fit of sense and deciding to package Eddy "Shrek" Curry and get in the mix for Kevin Garnett, Kobe, or Jermaine O'Neal. Please read that last line again and note how stupid it sounds.

My favorite picks of the first round, besides Oden and Durant of course, are Jeff Green at 5 to Seattle via Boston, Joakim Noah at 9 to Chicago, Al Thornton at 14 to the Clippers, Jared Dudley to Charlotte @ 22, and the steal of the draft, University of Wisconsin's Alando Tucker to Phoenix @29. Reminds me of a late first rounder the Suns selected, also from Wisconsin, named Michael Finley.

My favorite picks of the 2nd round are Glen Davis to Boston via Seattle, Chris Richard to Minnesota, Derrick Byars to Philly via Portland, Taurean Green to Portland, and Demetrious Nichols to the Knicks via Portland.

And to close this evening, a few random baseball thoughts:

The Yankees are no where close to being done yet, with that said, Joe Torre looks like he's aged 8 years before the All-star break.

The Tigers are a better team this year than last. They loom as the scariest team to face in the playoffs.

When does Ozzie Guillen get blamed for the disaster the White Sox have become.? Lots of squandered talent normally translates into the need for a new voice in the dugout. But Guillen may skate because he's got himself a World Series ring.

The Seattle Mariners are the best team no one pays attention to. Imagine how yough they'd be if Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre played up to their contracts.

As a New York Met fan, I'm much more worried about having to face the Phillies in the playoffs than I am having them take over the division.

As bad as the NL Central looks, the Cardinals are still shot. The emotional hangover of the unlikely World Series victory combined with the death of Josh Hancock have given them the look of a team thats praying for the season to end and we're not even at the All-Star break.

No one is beating Milwaukee in the NL Central. They do the best job of beating up on their division weaklings, and that will be what enables them to hold off the Cubs.

The Dodgers have underachieved in the West. They clearly have the most talent, but the volume of older players could crush them in the end. They've already lost Jason Schmidt and they're counting on grey beards Jeff Kent, Luis Gonzalez, and Nomar Garciaparra to stay healthy. That and Juan Pierre looks like the worst free agent signing of the decade.

The team that has the best chance to win the NL West is the Arizona Diamondbacks. They have a young lineup thats getting better each day, a veteran pitching staff anchored by reigning Cy Young award winner Brandan Webb and a very good closer in Jose Valverde. Where the veteran squads of the Padres and Dodgers will try to hang on and stay healthy to finish the season, the Diamondbacks will only get stronger.

Giddyap.

Random Thoughts

This stream of consciousness rant I'm about to embark will be an occassional theme for this space.


Whats with all of the criticsm of the Sopranos finale? Isn't a little nervy to trash David Chase, who brought us the permanent piece of American culture, for ending HIS show in a way HE sees fit??


With all due respect to LeBron James and Tim Duncan, the most entertaining part of the NBA finals is the announcers. How much do you think it would cost to rent Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson for my living room? Those two are clearly the only watchable aspect of this final.

The best thing that could have happened to the Yankees is Giambi getting hurt. It opened up the DH which takes Johnny Damon out of the field. Melky Cabrera is a much better defensive outfielder and is a tough out. Damon is a player who counts on his legs and his legs look shot. And did I mention that the Yankees owe him $26 million in the two years after this year. But its okay because thats what Roger Clemens makes in a half season.

Don't try to argue with me about the Sopranos. I'm the only person you know who named their kid Meadow.

Has Billy Donovan explained to anyone why he pulled out of the Orlando job. Or more importantly, why he took it in the first place? The biggest beneficiary of Donovan's little 360?? The Orlando Magic and their fans. They're going to like Stan Van Gundy running their show. This team will be competitive faster with Stan than they ever would have been with Donovan.

If the Jaguars end up signing Daunte Culpepper, he'll get a chance to be the starting quarterback for his 3rd NFL team. Something tells me if he doesn't get it right this time, there will be no 4th job. With that said, Nick Saban did a lousy job rushing him back last year, then leaving him for dead.

If a team won the Stanley Cup and no one watched, did they really actually win it?

If Chase does a Sopranos movie, wouldn't Eric Mangini be perfect as Tony's consigliere?? You've got to admit he'd be better than Belichick, even if Paulie showed up with a truck filled with oversized hooded sweatshirts.

Speaking of Belichick, by a show of hands, who would laugh if Tom Brady went down with a season ending injury in the Patriots first game of the season?? My hand is currently in the air.

Michael Vick, Pacman Jones, Tank Johnson. I bet the NFL is thrilled to have become a year round phenomenon.

So whcih brilliant NBA GM will be the first in this year's draft to pass on a sure thing to use a high pick on unknown Chinese center Yi Jianlian? My money is on Danny Ainge and the Celtics. Call it Pitino envy, if you will.

Does anyone have the phone number of Manny Ramirez' barber??

Is there a professional athlete with a nose as big as Nomar Garciaparra??

Isn't the U.S. Open a more entertaining event when the players are starts as oppossed to the golf course? With that said, its a little fun watching professionals hack it up like duffers on a municipal course.

Did anyone else notice that the girl who chased around John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever turned up in the Sopranos finale as Patsy's wife? It might have passed you by because she had striking resemblance to Ginny Sack.

Giddyap.

LeBron, Sweet Lou, and the Top 10 Sopranos Episodes





If you've been paying attention to these NBA playoffs, and believe me, plenty of people haven't been, you are getting to watch something special. No matter what happens in the upcoming NBA finals, this year's playoff will be known for the monumental performance of 22 year old LeBron James.





In Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals, LeBron James scored 29 of his team final 30 points leading his team to a two point overtime victory. He got hot in a big spot in a fashion that we've only seen from all-time superstars with championship resumes. He led them to the finals with a supporting cast that resembles Police Academy 5. In these playoffs, he's shown a will to win and an enjoyment for the game that we have never seen from him. But probably the most underrated part of what James has done is who he did it against.



Since the Eastern Conference finals it has been en vogue to trash the Detroit Pistons. From the early stages of the season straight through to the first two games of the Eatern Conference Finals, it was the general consensus that the Pistons would cruise into the NBA finals. Obviously, LeBron James had other plans and executed them in grand fashion. There is a chance that this ends a 5 year run of virtual dominance in the Eastern Conference. When you look at the players that LeBron conquered, there are some pretty impressive track records. Tayshuan Prince is in his prime and he completely shut down Kobe Bryant in the 2004 finals. Richard Hamilton , if used correctly, is an extremely difficult player to contain. Rasheed Wallace is on the back nine of his career, but he still is a very valuable two way threat. And Chauncey Billups is a playoff tested championship point guard who has a knack for hitting big shots. The only significant weakness the Pistons have is that their head coach Flip Saunders seems to coach the playoffs with two hands wrapped around his own neck. Think about how many times Hamilton was run off screens the year they won the title with Larry Brown as coach. About the same amount of time that Saunders started Hamilton with the ball at mid court to beat his defender on his own, but I digress. Against the Cavs, Saunders' deficient coaching wasn't much of a disadvantage because Mike Brown doesn't outcoach anybody. The bottom line being is that any talk denigrating the Pistons is just diminishing a historical individual effort by LeBron James in addition to being a foolish dismissal of an excellent group of players.



Has anybody else noticed that the entire landscape of managerial post game press conferences has really changed for the positive in major league baseball. The sole reason for this is the return to the dugout Of Sweet Lou Piniella as manager of the Chicago Cubs. No manager in the history of baseball does a press conference like Lou. He yells at everyone about virtually anything. He is eminently entertaining, especially when he is at his angriest. But somehow, I don't think that Cubs management is as entertained with Lou as I am.

This past offseason, Cubs management made a major financial commitment to turn around the fortunes of Chicago's lovable losers. They invested $300 million in player contracts signing players such as Alfonso Soriano, Ted Lilly, and Jason Marquis in additon to retaining Aramis Ramirez. Piniella himself got a 3 year deal worth $10 million. The suits at the Tribune Co. , the company that owns the Cubs, cannot be too happy with a 27-32 record as a current return on their investment. And to add insult to injury, the Cubs appear to play better baseball without Lou Piniella.

Piniella is just completing a 4 game suspension for kicking dirt all over an umpire, then admitted in his post game press conference that the umpire made the right call and he " was getting kicked out fo the game no matter what." This Piniella tirade was preceded the day before by an ugly dugout brawl. Cubs ace ( and we use the term loosely these days) Carlos Zambrano and Cubs catcher Michael Barrett reenacted the Frazier-Ali thriller in Manilla in the dugout and clubhouse at Wrigley Field. These incidents highlighted the fact that the talented Cubs play tighter than Paris Hilton's hand cuffs ( hey now!). The point is especially underscored by the fact that the Cubs won 4 in a row without Piniella.

Now don't get me wrong. Lou is one of the best managers in the game. But he doesn't exactly have a stellar history of handling media and fan pressure, which is an unfortunate circumstance of being the Chicago Cubs manager. Cubs GM Jim Hendry and the Tribune Co have furnished Lou with a talented ballclub, despite the fact that their bullpen stinks. If Lou doesn't take his foot off the gas for a little while, the Cubs whole season could go up in smoke. History has taught us that Lou will handle it correctly. The Cubs are lucky enough to play in the worst division in baseball, so it would be an upset if they didn't hang around.

This Sunday is the last episode ever of HBO's hit mob drama, The Sopranos. The show was certainly one of the most unique viewing experiences to ever hit the small screen. I fancy myself as somewhat of a Sopranos afficionado which is a kind way to rationalize all the time I've spent rewatching episodes like a mental patient. So in the spirit of self indulgency, I've created a top ten list of the best Soprano episodes ever with an honorable mention list of 5. I figured it was easier and more fun than trying to read series creator David Chase's mind. So without further ado, here is my list.

Honorable Mention

Pine Barrens(Season 3 Episode 11)- Paulie and Christopher chasing the Russian in the woods. A very fun episode highlighting the tension between Paulie and Christopher but gave very little plot development and did not tell us anything we didn't know about these two characters.

Funhouse (Season 2 episode 13)- In this one, Tony, Slivio, and Paulie whack Pussy. Tony gets arrested for stolen airline tickets right after the murder. Very dramatic episode, but I always felt it was a stretch that Tony figured out that Pussy was a rat during a hallucinating dream.

Members Only (Season 6 Episode 1) - Gene Pontocorvo commits suicide after Tony and the Feds won't release him from the life and Junior shoots Tony in the gut during a delusion. A very dramatic episode that was powerful at the time, partly because it was the 1st episode off a 20 month hiatus. And watching Tony attempt to call 911 with a belly full of lead was one of the more riveting moments the show ever has had.

Stage 5 (Season 7 Episode 2) - Johnny Sack gets a terminal prognosis and quickly dies. Cleaver premieres as Carmela points out to Tony that the movie is Christopher's revenge fantasy. And Phil Leotardo lays down the law that he is taking no prisoners with one line, "No more of this Butchie. " This episode sets the stage for the events leading up to the finale. And the acting job done by Vince Curatola, who plays Johnny Sack, is the best performance you'll see from someone not named Gandolfini or Falco.

The Weight ( Season 4 Episode 4)- This is the Ginny Sack 90 pound mole episode. A unique combination of suspense and comedy. The tension of two hits being planned simultaneously keeps you guessing until the end. And watching the joke being explained to senior citizens Uncle Junior and Carmine is absolutely priceless.

And now the Top 10

10) I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano ( Season 1 Episode 13) In the season 1 finale, Tony learns that Uncle June and his mom plotted to have him killed. Tony pops Junior's whole crew, but Junior gets arrested before Tony gets to him. Tony forces Melfi into hiding for her own protection. And Tony is forced to admit to his crew that he sees a shrink. This episode stands up historically because when Chase wrote it, he didn't know he was going to get a second season.

9) Kaisha (Season 6 Episode 12) This episode was the beginning of the end for Christopher and Tony. Many say it was the killing of Adriana, but I disagree. This episode was the first time Tony realized that Christopher would readily lie to him. In this episode, Chrisopher has an affair with Tony's wannabe goomar, Julianna, brilliantly played by Julianna Margulies. Her and Chris met in Narcotics Anonymous and it doesn't take them long to start using together. So Chrissie has to let the cat out of the bag to keep Tony off the trail of him using, especially after Tony catches them talking. Also in this episode, Phil has a heart attack and him and Tony share their infamous "moment of friendship". Carmela also gets her spec house back becomes she is ready to hire a private detective to find out what happened to Adrianna. Another interesting footnote of this episode is Julianna being the first one to point out that the boss in Cleaver is intended to portray Tony. This episode makes this list because it accurately parralels the beginning stages of Tony's downward spiral with the deterioration of his relationship with Chris by highlighting a recurring series theme, Tony's hypocrisy.

8) Whoever Did This (Season 4 Episode 9)- Ralphie's son ends up in a coma in a bow and arrow accident. And Tony consoles him by accusing him of killing their racehorse and then beats him to death when he won't admit it. The most relevant development of this episode is Tony catching Chris high on heroin while they're taking care of the body, but Tony can't say boo because he needs Chris to cover for him for killing Ralph. This episode has a great ending as Tony touches the picture of the stripper Ralphie killed in the dressing room at the Bada Bing. (see below)


7) University ( Season 3 Episode 6) - This is the episode where Ralphie beats to death his stripper girlfriend for mouthing off and gets a taboo ass kicking from Tony for his trouble.
The writing in this episode is tremendous. The episode focuses on Ralph's stripper goomar who happens to be the same age as Meadow as we see Meadow's life at Columbia University. I remember this episode as being the first that made me feel as if I was Tony as I watched his daughter's boyfrined have sex with her. A lot of people were appalled by the graphic nature of the stripper's death, but scenes like that are symptomatic of the message David Chase is delivering to us.

6) Irregular Around the Margins (Season 5 Episode 5) - This is the episode where Tony and Adriana are involved in a late night car accident and the rumor mill starts pumping that her and Tony were engaged in a sex act at the time of the crash. The tension in the scene while Tony pointed a gun at Christopher's was enormous. It also established a premise that Tony B was the only one who had the power to reason with Tony and Christopher. The acting and directing are tremedous in the sex tension scene with Tony and Adriana playing darts. They are not really a believable pairing yet it didn't seem far fetched as the secenes were acted out.

5) College ( Season 1 Episode 5) - The most critically acclaimed of all Sopranos episodes. Tony encounters an old associate who is currently in witness protection while visiting colleges in New England with Meadow. So Tony drops Meadow off for an interview at Bowdoin University, then finds and strangles his old associate. This is also the first episode where Tony explains his "business" to Meadow. An underrated portion of this episode is the establishment of Carmela as a hypocritical sinner as she attempts to seduce her priest after he gets stranded at her house during a rain storm.

4) Whitecaps ( Season 4 Episode 13)- This is the episode where Carmela and Tony separate. The arguing scenes between Carmela and Tony are some of the most well acted scenes any of us will ever see in our lifetime. Can never forget how Tony shoves his fist through the wall as Carmela taunts him about Furio. This episode also starts the decline of the Tony/Johnny Sack relationship when Tony calls off the hit on Carmine. This episode ranks as high as it does on nthis list because of the pleasure I got watching James Gandolfini and Edie Falco practicing their craft to perfection.

3) The Second Coming ( Season 7 Epsiode 7)- This is the AJ suicide attempt, which stands as the singuilarly most dramatic scene the show has ever produced. We also see Tony's ego get the best of him one too many times as he beats a made NY guy within an inch of his life for approaching Meadow. Tony can't make this one right with a peace offerring towards Phil and it eventually leads to dire conseuences for Bacala and Silvio in the next episode. This is also the episode where Melfi is made aware of the painful fact that Tony has been playing her all along. An amazing stroke of writing surfaces in this episode as AJ reveals that his dismal view on life came from comments Tony's mother made to AJ in a scene at her nursing home in Season 1.

2) Long Term Parking ( Season 5 Epsiode 12 )- This is the Adriana episode. The feds squeeze her to a point where the only choice she has is to recruit Christopher into witness protection. It almost seems to work until Christopher spots a poor schook with shoppoing bags tied to the top of his old Toyota while he's is filling his Hummer with gas. The drama in the Adriana death scene as Silvio pulls her from the car is nerve racking, mostly because Adriana was written brilliantly as a lovable idiot. Also in this episode, Tony and Carmela reconcile and Tony tells Johnny Sack to take a long walk off a short pier when John refuses to kill Tony B. quickly. As we end up seeing later, another example of Tony's ego interfering with business decisions.

1) The Knight in White Satin Armor ( Season 2 Episode 12 ) I picked this as the best episode because this episode shows us Tony exactly as we want to see him, a hero. He raises Carmela's ire by leaving in the middle of the night to go help his Russian goomar who tried to kill herself. He then rescues Janice after she put two slugs in Richie's chest as retribution for a punch in the face. He enlists Chris and Furio to dispose of Richie's body and he sends Janice back to Seattle.
This episode also shows us Uncle Junior at his best as he plays Tony and Richie off each other to see who could get support to lead the family. He chooses Tony and tips him off of Richie's plan to dispose of the "current leadership." Also, in this episode, we see Tony in his mother's presence for the first time in Season 2. It is the only time in the series we see Big Bad Tony Soprano intimidated by anybody as he falls down the steps running from his mother. And lastly, this episode contains three fo the best quotes in series history.
1) As Tony and Silvio ponder Richie's immediate demise Silvio utters, ' I don't think there's much to be gained by keeping him around. "
2) As Tony lectures Richie about not selling drugs on the garbage routes, Tony quite accurately tells him, "Those that want respect, give respect."
3) As Tony is putting Janice on a bus back to Seattle the morning after she offs Richie, " So all in all I'd say it was a pretty good visit. "

Just one man's opinion.

Giddyap

Lottery Leftovers and thoughts on Kobe Bryant and Baseball's commish





The Boston Celtics finished last season with the 2nd worst record in the NBA. They rightfully earned that status from management to coaching and straight down to the players. General Manager Danny Ainge traded a lottery pick that could have drafted impressive rookies Randy Foye or Rudy Gay. For his trouble, he acquired Sebastian Telfair. The best thing you could say about Telfair's only season as a Celtic was that he was an expert marksman. The worst thing you can say is that he was an alleged felon two times over.


Celtic head coach Doc Rivers disinguished himself by executing one the ugliest tanking jobs the league has ever seen, ranking right up there with Bill Fitch's 83-84 Rockets who mailed it in for the right to select the great Hakeem Olajuwon. And the players at time acted like they did not want to be in the gym, let alone on the floor playing the game. So, when the 38% chance they had "earned" to get one of the first two picks in this year's draft (i.e Oden or Durant) blew up in smoke at last year's draft lottery, logic would dictate that the organization got exactly what they deserved. Yet since last week, Celtic fans are acting like they got screwed out of their birthright.


One would think that 7 NBA championships spanning a 19 year period from 1967 to 1986 would be something that would satisfy a fan base for a lifetime. Yet, when you read the nation's foremost Celtic apologist, ESPN.com columnist Bill Simmons, he is referring to this year's lottery as "the tragic events of 5/22. " The prevailing thought is that the Celtics got shafted 10 years ago when the Spurs won the right to select Tim Duncan. And that line of thinking is simply misguided idiotic naive nonsense.


The Celtics fortunes were scarred for generations with the hiring of suppossed franchise savior at the time, Rick Pitino. A lot of Celtic fans would disagree wuth this, pointing to the tragic deaths of Len Bias and Reggie Lewis. But the reality is that the franchise was well positioned to return to prominence until Slick Rick came in and took over. His first order of business was to insist on the title of President of the team. But there was one problem. That title was already
taken by basketball icon Red Auerbach. Whether Auerbach was active in the personnel department was immaterial. He had earned that title for life with his championship resume. But Pitino's ego was so out of control before he ever won a game as Celtics' coach, he insisted on the title of President, his autonomous power and enormous contract not withstanding. This started the Celtics' luck of the irish on a downhill path.


Pitino's first year as Celtic Basketball Czar was 1997. In the 97 draft, the Celtics had the #3 and #6 picks. Despite the fact that the Tim Duncan ping pong ball eluded them, this still represented an enormous opportunity to upgrade the roster. With the #3 pick, Pitino selected Chauncey Billups, a point guard from the University Colorado. This turned out to be a great draft pick as Billups is the floor leader for a team that is currently making its 5th straight appearance in the Eastern Conference finals with one NBA title to their credit. For the Celtics, there is one major problem. Slick Rick traded Billups half way through his rookie year. He used the #6 pick on Ron Mercer. Mercer was a career journeyman who never actually stuck anywhere. His career highlights came while he was at the University of Kentucky came when his coach was none other than Rick Pitino. And the #9 pick in that same draft was Tracy McGrady. At that time, the rumors leading up to the draft had Pitino selecting McGrady. After the draft Pitino admitted that McGrady was a strong consideration, but he was looking for players who could make more of an immediate impact. Patience did not prove to be Slick Rick's strong suit.

In 1978, Red Auerbach used the #6 pick in the draft on a junior named Larry Bird, even though Bird was not going to play for the Celtics until the following season. Auerbach knew that when your goal is to build a champion, patience is an essential element. The Celtics fortunes haven't turned unlucky. Their fortunes changed when they sold out the greatest basketball executive in history for a good college coach who conned ownership out of millions.

And the current regime appears just as bad. So the good news for the Celtic fans on missing out on Oden and Durant is that they are virtually guaranteed to have plenty of ping pong balls in next year's lottery.

Kobe Bryant had a pretty busy week. In the last 7 days, Bryant has demanded the Lakers to "surround him with a better team.", demanded that Mitch Kupchak relinquish his job as general manager to Jerry West, (Kupchak and West are close friends), publicly blamed Laker owner Jerry Buss for the Shaquille O'Neal trade, demanded to be traded himself, and recanted said trade demand. He actually had a good idea sprinkled in there. Its time for the Lakers to cut bait and get out from under the nightmare that Bryant has morphed into.

Before I even address the on court problems Bryant has created, I feel the need to address what a disgusting ingrate Kobe is as a human being. This organization that he has publicly embarrassed on every management level is the same organization that stood by him while he went on trial for rape. They flew him back and forth from the trial in Colorado for practices and games. They did not require him to participate in all team meetings, practices, and activities, even when he wasn't in court. At no time did they hold him accountable for the irresponsible actions that put him in that tenuous legal position in the first place. When his contract expired they offerred him the maximum amount of money league regulations would allow. When he wanted Phil Jackson back as coach, they went and got him. And Kobe respects their loyalty by going on a public verbal assault. If you owned an NBA team, would you want this kind of guy as the face of your organization? I know I wouldn't.

The next issue he created here is how do you now go back into a locker room with your teammates. What he pretty much said here in not so many words is that the rest of these guys stink. And although the shoe fits in more than a few instances, there are also more than a few players that have a right to be mighty ticked off. In my humble opinion, Lamar Odom is one of the top 20 players in the NBA. He does everything well on the floor and he's 6'10". Odom's best attribute is his ability to pass. He is especially effective offensively when he plays with players that share the basketball. The reality is that the Lakers have their 2nd star. Kobe Bryant is too much of a selfish pig to play with him.

So now Kobe has placed himself and the Lakers in the unique position of Kobe actually having more value to the Lakers off their team as oppossed to on their team. It doesn't matter how much talent an individual player has. If that talent cannot be applied within the framework of a team concept, there is a ceiling on how much that talent translates to winning games. Combine Kobe's genral difficulty of working within a team concept and the significant fact that he just alienated every teammate he currently has, and you get an impossible environment for the Lakers to succeed.

Keeping in mind that the Lakers best stretch of the 2005-2006 season was the 20 game period Kobe was on the injured list, there are a few tremendous options for the Lakers to build around Odom. Kobe to the Houston Rockets for a Tracy McGrady package is one viable option. McGrady has become a much more mature player and in turn a much less selfish one. His skills translate very well into Phil Jackson's triangle offense. if the Lakers could grab a pick and/or more cap space as well in a deal like this, all the better. Kobe to the Chicago Bulls is another option. If the Lakers could get Luol Deng and Ben Gordon, it would completely reinvigorate their youth movement and make them great again much faster. Because if the Lakers keep going this way, greatness is not imminent anytime soon. Its starting to appear that any sentence that includes Kobe Bryant and the word greatness should include the name Shaquille O'Neal as well.

As baseball season swings toward summer, Barry Bonds inches closer and closer to baseball's most hallowed record, most career home runs. A record held by the great Hank Aaron. Under different circumstances, baseball would be celebrating this record with unprecedented fanfare. Instead, when broached on the issue, baseball's commissioner treats the issue like Tony Soprano treats a RICO investigation.

Selig has gone to lengths in the last few years to try to bring accountablility for the steroids epidemic. He's hired George Mitchell to head up a federal investigation and rumors are abound that Mitchell has gathered enough information to start naming names. So now that major league baseball is holding the offenders accountable, what about the people who condoned rampant steroid use. People like Bud Selig.

Selig has not yet announced that he will be in attendance the day that Barry Bonds is about to break the record. Yet, when McGwire and Sosa were breaking records in 98, Bud was everywhere. The point that appears to escape Commissioner Selig is that the steroids era happened on his watch. That makes him accountable. And since the players who are proven to be steroid users will presumably be subject to some sort of league discipline, shouldn't Selig be disciplined as well. He sold out the integrity of the record book in exchange for revenue growth. Maybe a worthwhile tradeoff in the end, maybe not. But if he starts doling out punishment, start in the mirror. And what better way for Bud to punish himself than to have to publicly congratulate Barry Bonds and his oversized head in person on the day he breaks the record. Thats what Selig gets for looking the other way.

One last note: I will refrain from commenting on LeBron James' tour de force Game 5 in the Eastern Conference finals until we see who actually wins the series.

Giddyap.

Thoughts about the NBA Lottery, LeBron James, and the New York Yankees





So earlier this week, the most relevant NBA lottery in this decade took place, solely because of the presence of potential superstars Greg Oden and Kevin Durant. And it certainly seems as though these two players will play big roles in attempting to turn around two once proud franchises in Portland and Seattle. But there are two other things that jumped out at me in the time before, during, and after the lottery.

The Chicago Bulls and the Phoenix Suns are two playoff teams who are both close to being title contenders next season. Yet, when we looked up last Tuesday night at 8:3o, there they both were in the mix for lottery picks. The Bulls even had a small chance at Oden or Durant. How does this happen you ask? In the words of Forrest Gump, " Stupid is as stupid does."

The Suns procured their potential lottery pick through the trade of Joe Johnson to the Atlanta Hawks. Joe Johnson is a very good NBA player who is extremely hard to defend at three positions. It certainly would not be a stretch to consider him an All-Star. And since the Hawks had cap space ansd the Suns were up against the luxury tax, a deal made sense. So the Hawks, who were bidding against no one, give up Boris Diaw and 1st round draft pick. Not only did Diaw fit on the Suns much better than Johnson, now the Suns would have an opportunity to add a young impact player. The only good news is that Hawks GM Billy Knight made the pick top 3 protected, which took the Suns out of the mix for Oden or Durant. And since the Hawks got the 3rd pick in the lottery, the Suns have to wait unitl next year's draft to reload. This deal was so bad that one of part owners of the Hawks took the other part owners to court to have it overturned. But the again, this is the same general manager who passed on two of the best 5 point guards in the NBA in Deron Williams and Chris Paul, to select Marvin Williams when he drafted two guys the year before who play the same small forward position in Josh Childress and Josh Smith. And then to bring us full circle, Joe Johnson's strongest position??? Small forward. Billy Knight has established himself as the NBA's version of Matt Millen. A lucky version at that, with 2 lottery picks whne he only deserved 1.

The Bulls unprotected lottery pick came about through a slightly different route. Their young center Eddy Curry was diagnosed with a heart issue. The Bulls felt he wasn't fit to play professional basketball. Curry and his agent felt differently. So the stage was set for Curry to be dealt. Enter the Basketball Czar of the New York Knicks, Isiah Thomas. Thomas was able to acquire Curry and Antonio Davis for Michael Sweetney, Tim Thomas and two #1 draft picks after the Knicks had already invested 30 million over 5 years in Jerome James after he had one good playoff series in a creere spanning 4 seasons. At the time, Isiah vitually broke his arm patting himself on the back lauding the trade as a steal. He felt like it was the type of deal that would turn around the franchise. The main reason is that Isiah never figured the two first rounders would be lottery picks. His oversized ego got the best of him on this one and the New York Knicks organization paid a dear price.

Now don't get me wrong. Curry is a nice big player. He has a very good post game and is a decent rebounder when he wants to be. But he has lead feet and generally doesn't miss a meal. And defensively, referring to him as a liability is probably being a bit kind. What compounds this is that the year before Thomas makes the trade, he drafts Channing Frye, a polished offensive player with slow feet who needs to double up on a couple of meals, And defensively, Rerun from Whats Happening would be a tough matchup. Does any of this sound familiar? The closest thing to chemistry that Curry and Frye have with one another in the frontcourt is their physical resemblance to the number 10. Common sense in building a basketball team generally dictates the if the power forward or center needs the ball to be effective, the other one shouldn't. So the Knicks lose a chance at Tyrus Thomas last year and the chance at Joakim Noah or Jeff Green this year for an overweight one dimensional center with a heart condition. Maybe Knick fans will get lucky and Dolan will hijack Billy Knight from the Hawks.

LeBron James has received a lot of heat this week for his failure to generate game winning shots for his team with the game on the line twice this week in the Eastern Conference finals versus the Detroit Pistons. In Game 1, LeBron committed the cardinal sin of actually passing to an open teammate as oppossed to taking a shot closer to the rim with a defender breathing down on him. And then in Game 2, LeBron got into the paint, and missed a leaner as he unsuccessfully tried to draw a foul on Rip Hamilton.

Every national radio or TV sports show that covers the NBA has had a talking head of some sort has had some so called expert criticize LeBron for not making the right decisions. Jeff Van Gundy has it right when he says that critics look at the result and work back from there. If Donyell Marshall hits the jump shot in Game 1, LeBron is an unselfish winner. But because Marshall misses the wide open 3, LeBron is a guy who can't win in the playoffs. Here's the thing. He's only a 22 year old kid. Watch in the huddle late in games. He's chomping his fingernails like a 16 year old taking the SATs. And on top of that, he's surrounded with over the hill veterans like Eric Snow, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and Damon Jones. Larry Hughes plays like he's jealous of LeBron. Its almost like the two of them are playing parralel basketball. Drew Gooden is useless in a big spot. In these first two games, Rasheed Wallace absolutley dominated Gooden in crunch time. The only guys on this team he's capable of leading are Daniel Gibson, Anderson Varejao, and Sasha Pavlovic. And I have to believe the primary reason for the latter two is probably the language barrier. With all this said, maybe someone should give the kid a little credit for carrying this motley team into the Eastern Conference finals.

Anyone who has been exposed to New York talk radio the last couple of weeks has had overexposure to the ridiculous media created issue, " Are the Yankees finished this year?"

Now I completely understand that it is quite uncommon to see the Yankees 3 games below .500 towards the end of May. And 9 1/2 games out of first place is a whole lot. But someone please find me a team that is more capable of winning 20 games a month for the next 3 months. Last time I checked, they still had a pitching staff with Cy Young runner up Chien-Mien Wang, Andy Pettite and his 2.66 ERA, with the imminent return of Roger Clemens.

Don't get me wrong, there still are problems. But some will be solved. The odds are in favor of Mussina turning it around. Abreu is not going to hit like this all season. Rivera may not go back to being dominant, but he will find his way towards effective. Cano will hit. He's got too much talent. The only real long term problems are Damon and the bullpen. Damon's best asset is his legs, and they're starting to break down on him. And the Yankees are commintted to two more years at 13 million per year AFTER this year. The bullpen mess will be solved the way the Yankees solve all of their problems. Steinbrenner will throw some money at it.

Now if Giambi will just shut his big fat piehole...........

Giddyap!

I'm back after a long, but effective hiatus. On to business.



Before I get to the on court business of the NBA in May of 2007, let me discuss some off court activity that has transpired, namely, The Traveling Van Gundy Brothers.

The lead NBA headline today was the firing of one of the better coaches in the world in Jeff Van Gundy. On one hand it appears totally logical. He never won a playoff series in 3 playoff appearences within 4 years. He had 3 years with two of the league's Top 15 players in Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming and achieved zero success. However those that spent a little time watching the Houston Rockets know the understand the deck that Jeff had stacked against him.

His first year, he was saddled with the Artist Formerly Known as Steve Francis, who believed he was a superstar. The two problems were that he never was a superstar and by the time Jeff got there Stevie's game was in steep decline. The following 2 years he had Yao, McGrady and a glorified CBA roster. Only this past season did they add Shane Battier and give him a player who plays Jeff's way. They won 52 games and got beat in Game 7 in a 4-5 series in a deep, difficult Western conference. His franchise player, McGrady, publicly campaigns for his return. It looks like they're ready to turn the corner, right? Not for owner Les Alexander.

Essentially, Jeff had to fall on his own sword. They told him he could keep his job if he switched his coaching style to "up-tempo." I guess no one reminded ole Les that you need a Steve Nash or Jason Kidd type of point guard to play that style successfully. One thing Jeff knows is that it ain't happening with Rafer Alston as his point guard. So he tells management, I coach my way. If you want up-tempo, hire another coach. So Van Gundy gets canned pride in tact.

Even though it appears that Jeff is prepared to spend a significant amount of time in the broadcast booth, I believe that there is a currently occupied head coaching job that would fit him perfectly. That job is the New Jersey Nets. Lawrence Frank is an OK coach. H certainly has a decent feel for defense. But his halfcourt offense is abysmal. With no big post presence, Frank has a unique opportunityto post up his three big perimeter players, Kidd Carter, and Jefferson. Every night, at least one of them has a size mismatch. Yet the majority of their field goal attempts are perimeter jump shots.

The last team that I saw overachieve from posting up big guards was the 1999 New York Knicks who went to an NBA final with a halfcourt offense primarily composed of posting up big guards Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell . The coach of those 1999 Knicks??? Jeff Van Gundy. Playoff basketball hasn't changed. It still is and will always be a half court game.

It has been reported that Jeff's older brother Stan has interviewed for the openings in Charlotte, Indiana, and Sacramento. You remember Stan, don't you? He's the coach that took over the Miami Heat when Pat Riley decided there wasn't enough talent to win. So Stan developed his young talent, (Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, and Charles Barkley's love child, Dwyane Wade), got them into the 2nd round of the playoffs in his 2nd year, and set them up to make the Shaq trade. And right about the time the Heat are ready to compete for a championship, he steps down to "spend more time with his family." And who takes over, but Pat Riley. They can spin that one any way they want but Riles is coaching that team with blood stains on his hands.

So now Stan is in the mix for another well deserved chance. If you're reading Stan, don't touch that Indiana job. They are a mess. Anchored by an unhappy superstar in Jermaine O'Neal, and no supporting cast, the Pacers are going no where fast. By the way, special credit for this mess goes to Larry Bird, proving by the shadow of a doubt that he was a much better player, and even a better coach than he is a basketball executive. That organization is yet to recover from his brutal mishandling of the enigma known as Ron Artest, who is the NBA';s version of Tony Soprano.

Back to Stan. Stan, if they offer you the Charlotte job, take it. You've got a good young point guard in Ray Felton. A legit defensive big man in Emeka Okafor if you can keep him on the court. They will have a high lottery pick in this year's very deep draft. And they've got cap space galore. It represents a chance to mold something in his own image without the Riley shadow. Which is really all a Traveling Van Gundy brother could ever want.

This year's NBA playoffs have been drmatically unremarkable. But there are still a few things going on that warrant mentioning.

Firstly, I can't figure out for the life of me how a role player like Bruce Bowen can get away with being the dirtiest player in this league in the last 15 years. The knee he implanted in Steve Nash's genitals was one of the nastiest, unnecessary acts I've ever seen on a basketball court. Which begs the question, does Bowen have pictures of David Stern or Stu Jackson at a bachelor party? They suspended Kobe Bryant twice this year for landing hiis arm on a defender's head while taking a jump shot, but Bowen can mutilate Nash family jewels with impunity??

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the Stoudemire and Diaw suspensions. Those rules about leaving the bench are necessary an important, especially in the playoffs. Remember, Steven Jackson played in 2 rounds this year. Any league that employs Steven Jackson always runs the risk of him starting a riot in any game he plays in. But I digress. Bowen gets away with murder. And in a league that employs rules that suspend guys for doing a lot less, it has to be time that Bowen has outlasted any benefit of the doubt he's afforded.

With that said, there is a great story going on that not enough people are paying attention to, the Utah Jazz. Their general manager, Kevin O'Connor has put together a brilliant mix of young players and sprinkled in veterans nicely. 3 years ago, he invested his enormous cap space in Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur to man the center and power forward positions. While at the time, these two appeared grossly overpaid, their pairing has been a stroke of pure genius. they completely compliment each other on both ends of the floor. Offensively, Boozer plays in the post and Okur hangs on the perimeter firing (and making) threes. Defensively, Okur takes the tough inside matchup and Boozer helps out and cleans up the glass. The Jazz also sprt the best point guard no one ever pays attention to in Deron Williams. This guy looks like a young version of Jason Kidd, yet he rarely turns it over, and he can shoot. I would also be remiss if I did mot mention their outstanding coach, Jerry Sloan. The Jazz play hard, smart disciplined, and unselfishly. Everyone seems to know their role. They are as well coached a basketball team as you will see in the league. The Spurs will get all they can handle.

More to come soon. Thanks for reading.