March-
I am getting caught up on the NBA after a long winter and a great NFL season. Here are some quick hits.
Quick Screen:
-Dwight Howard has impressed me so much the last few times I’ve watched him. I’ve always been impressed with how physical he is, how he clearly cared about winning but still had fun, and how he made this team work. He also has done well in a small market where fans get there 30 minutes late. But I cannot believe how much he has improved on the offensive end, especially assertively.
I saw him take three terrible 15 foot jump shots against the Heat, two off the glass. And I loved it. He even made 1 of them. Go Dwight. It just shows he is willing to demand the ball and shoot. Too bad Otis Smith ruined it by trading for Gilbert “I make 22 million for the next 3 years and shoot 37.1%” Arenas. Dwight is going to win multiple championships…when they trade him to LA in two years for Bynum and 1st round pick, because he was going to leave anyway. Write that one down right now. It is going to happen, because otherwise he is going to leave for nothing.
Side argument, who was better? Dwight in Orlando or Shaq in Orlando? Dwight has been there twice as long, same amount of Finals, just saying.
Top of the Key:
-I said to a friend last night “watch, Heat are down three, Lebron is going to clang this. And it isn’t even going to be close.” Sure enough, that is what happened. The Heat cannot play good basketball late in games, and just don’t rise to the occasion. Bibby is an okay addition, but he won’t even have the ball enough to make good decisions. Lebron will continue to clang them.
Because neither Wade nor Lebron is a good spot up three point shooter, the floor spacing is weird even with Big Z and Miller out there. Rose-Boozer is a better late game combo because both of them can influence the floor and contribute on big plays. It is clear that while Wade and Lebron may be the league’s best 1-2 combo during the first 44 minutes of the game, they need a better plan for finishing games. And it might just involve Wade and Bosh doing their best Terry-Nowitzki impression. Yes, I know that doesn’t involved Lebron. But that might give them their best result. Wait, never mind. Forget I said anything Miami….
Followup: I wrote this paragraph before Miami’s implosion to the Spurs. Would it surprise anyone to know I was giddy?
Inbounds pass:
-So, we have all seen the Davies issue with BYU. To summarize, Brandon Davies was kicked off the BYU basketball team for having sex, which violates the University Honor code. I have observed many people explode against BYU on twitter as being backwards and idiodic. I have heard all the talking heads and panelists on various shows say how unfortunate it was. However, I have also seen them play the politically correct line because they cannot say anything negative about the religious rules of another institution, even if several of the commentators clearly hate this rule.
I am only going to say how damaging this is going to be to BYU. They have built up a large amount of national respect due to their rise in many sports over the last decade or so. The general public had stopped to some degree the insane teasing and excessive jokes about Mormonism, and that is a good thing. But, this case has the potential to destroy that. The general public, and especially other university populations, just will not understand in the year 2011 that a university can kick a player off the team and give them formal punishments for having sex. They will have issues recruiting people. Specifically, other universities will say “hey, don’t go to BYU, they have rules against caffeine! Come here to Miami!”. And I fear the effect will be more a lack of respect for BYU than a gaining in respect for actually enforcing their rules.
I hope Jimmer can carry this team and they do okay in the tourney. And I understand and somewhat support BYU for enforcing an honor code, despite what I think about the articles in it. However, I would really careful, because perceptional can kill you. And BYU might have been permanently hit in many people’s eyes.
Overtime:
-One of things that have really made me sad this year is the death of SSOL. Seven Seconds or Less is my favorite offense and clearly shows what I love about basketball. I enjoy creative movement, quick shots, and sleek scoring. Get the rebound, run, and get a shot off in seven seconds or less. Thus, I quickly became attached to Mike D’Antoni and Steve Nash when they first hooked up in Phoenix. My heart died a little bit when Shaq was traded to Phoenix because I knew that was the end of SSOL in Phoenix. It meant the management had given up on the idea of that style working. And that was unfortunate.
So, I followed my focus of SSOL and D’Antoni to New York. This was easy because I lived there at the time. He made it work to varying degrees with absolute crap for talent. I was so excited when Amare signed there, because I knew what D’Antoni could do. I was very excited at the prospect of Gallo playing SG and C at different points in time. And, I was actually excited Lebron did not sign there, and no other stars than Amare did. I like SSOL because it emphasizes teamwork and utilizing the abilities of all 5 guys. I thought Felton could grow in the system and when Fields came out of nowhere, it was perfect. Amare was the focus and everyone else played their role. And they were at least a .550 team, with hope for growth. I just didn’t want Carmelo. Deron would have been much better.
However, SSOL died again two weeks ago with the Carmelo trade. Carmelo does not suit this offense. He is a ball stopper. He is not a great passer, partly due to mindset. He is not a great 3 point shooter. And they traded away Gallo among others to get him. Gallo was so perfect for SSOL, primarily because of his shooting and European upbringing. Is Carmelo a great player? Yes. But, is he enough to get them to win a championship? Probably not. At least not for a few years. Will they be good to watch? Yes. However, they are not going to be as exciting as a true SSOL team. And that makes me a little sad.
Up soon, an article on our boy CP3
BLISS
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