Why not start with a Vince Carter dunk and a Shaq reaction?

When people think back to NBA All-Stars battling on the Verizon Center hardwood in Washington, D.C. in 2001, they call it a great game. That’s slightly inaccurate. It was a great finish that came down to the very last possession and a missed attempt by Tim Duncan. But large chunks of the rest of the game were a sloppy mess, the two teams combined for 40 turnovers. Still, none of this is to take away from the great show put by Stephon Marbury, Kobe Bryant and MVP Allen Iverson, 15 fourth quarter points, 25 for the game. The East came back from being down 21 points to win 111-100, the stars trading big buckets and making Washington fans forget about how they got there.

The evening also featured homecomings of all sorts. Both Chris Webber and Rasheed Wallace, former Bullets big men, returned to Washington as All-Stars. Iverson, of course, returned to the place he called his “second home, his home away from home” after the game. And David Robinson, from nearby Manasas, Virginia, was making his final All-Star appearance.

The East had young-and-gunning guards and wings to complete — Iverson making his second All-Star appearance, along with Tracy McGracy (1st), Vince Carter (2nd), Allan Houston (2nd) Ray Allen (2nd), Glenn Robinson (2nd), Jerry Stackhouse (2nd) and Stephon Marbury (1st). Unfortunately, this crew didn’t know how to pass to each other in the game’s early going. Turnovers, often from trying to pass too much — with three courtesy of Iverson very early — resulted in the West jumping out to an 11-0 lead that was pushed to 30-17 at the end of one quarter.

While the West featured solid guards — Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant, Gary Payton and Michael Finley — their roster, and their control for much of the game, reflected the height of Western Conference big man dominance. Shaquille O’Neal, his eighth time on the All-Star roster, was out due to injury. But Chris Webber was making his third appearance, Tim Duncan his third, Kevin Garnett his fourth, Rasheed Wallace his second and Antonio McDyess his first; Karl Malone (13th), Robinson (10th) and Vlade Divac (1st) also suited up for the West.

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September 22, 1971. Louisville, Kentucky. Freedom Hall.

Just over 40 years ago the Baltimore Bullets made the 600-mile trip west from Northern Virginia, where they had battled the N.B.A.’s New York Knickerbockers in their preseason opener the night before, to square off against the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association in the biggest game few today have ever heard about. The contest would be the second act in an Inter-League Exhibition Game (ILEG) series, a sporting event invented by the owners who were looking for something to make “airing out the big arenas, sweeping the floor and printing up tickets worthwhile,” amid rumors of a merger between the two roundball associations. Though early on, these exhibitions were not well publicized, they weren’t without meaning.

The 1971 ILEG series was headlined by two N.B.A. titans, the Milwaukee Bucks and the Baltimore Bullets, both gearing up for another shot at an N.B.A. championship. They were scheduled to play five A.B.A. squads in five A.B.A. cities; the games were held in A.B.A. cities like Louisville and Winston-Salem for the simple reason that the N.B.A. didn’t want to legitimize the upstart league.

Baltimore Coach Gene Shue, two years removed from an N.B.A. Coach of the Year Award, journeyed westward without star guard Earl “The Pearl” Monroe (sent home with knee bursitis) and forward Gus “Honeycomb” Johnson (still working his way back into shape after off-season surgery in both knees), but still had a championship-caliber roster at his disposal. It was a homecoming affair for Bullets guard and Louisville native Westley “Wes” Unseld. Unseld was the star center for a Seneca High School team that won two state championships, and a three-year letter winner at the University of Louisville; the Cardinals played their home games at Freedom Hall, just six miles down the road from Seneca. In the 1968 A.B.A. draft, the Kentucky Colonels drafted Unseld, but lost a bidding war for their hometown prodigy, who inked a four-year $400,000 contract with the Bullets as the second overall selection in the 1968 N.B.A. draft

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[The deflated NBA - Lowell School basketball court, N.W. Washington, D.C. - photo: K. Weidie]

What does the latest lockout news, the cancellation of the first two weeks of the season, mean for player development, fan loyalty, media coverage, and if a season will be played at all? The collective knowledge of TAI contributors — Rashad Mobley, John Converse Townsend, Beckley Mason, Adam McGinnis, and myself – weigh in, on the scale of 1-5.

1) Scale 1-5: How much does the lockout set player development/rebuilding back for the Wizards — 5 being a huge setback; 1 being no big deal?

Mobley: The reality is that the Wizards would have been in rebuilding mode even without the lockout. What it has done is give franchise-player John Wall, an extended summer to flex the new found confidence in his game, and ideally that will be contagious.  Ideally. 1.

Townsend: The Wizards have a lot riding on the development of the last two draft classes. Rookies Chris Singleton and Shelvin Mack would greatly benefit from a full NBA offseason, allowing them to hit the ground running come game day; however, other players have signed deals overseas and continue to mature in professional settings. Setback? Maybe. Idle? More likely. 3.

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{ Jordan smokes 'em if he's got 'em - flickr/simplistic.designs }

I’m not a ‘huge’ fan of Michael Jordan, and I definitely don’t hate him. When he was beating the Lakers and Blazers for a ring when I was 11 and 12, I was like, “Oh cool! It’s MJ!” When he was taking down Chuck Barkley, my sentiment was “may the best man win.” When Jordan came back, I rooted for the Sonics and Jazz because I thought the Bulls had won enough, it was time for someone else. Finally, when Jordan was a Wizard, I initially thought his presence would be good, then responded to his departure with shock/surprise, and ultimately, became apathetic toward his presence in DC.

Ok, now that my Jordan fandom disclaimer is out of the way …

Jordan’s HOF speech has been called petty, uninspiring, disparaging, vicious, and strangely bitter by Yahoo!’s Adrian Wojnarowski. He was called a clown, and vicious again, by FanHouse’s Terence Moore. Ken Berger of CBS Sports dubbed Jordan “ruthless,” and called him a “competitive sociopath.” In his Twitter one word description of each HOF entrant’s speech, The Washington Post’s Michael Lee used “cruelty” in reference to Jordan. J.E. Skeets of Yahoo!’s Ball Don’t Lie twittered that MJ’s speech was a bad idea, and akin to “finding out the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were crackheads.” Joshua Lobdell of The Inquisitr called Jordan petty (again), and a disgrace, even going so far as to say, “a large part of Jordan’s legacy has been forgotten” as a result. Tim Varner of 48 Minutes of Hell called the speech “tacky, vitriolic, and unnecessary” … but Tim also recognizes that Jordan’s shots were “footnotes of his mythology,” and calls on us to better recognize the David Robinsons of the world (a more than valid request). And finally, Matt Moore of Hardwood Paroxysm calls Jordan a jackass, but has a great piece highlighting that such actions from Jordan are nothing new … although Moore does claim that, “Ron Artest probably has more going for him than Michael Jordan as far as a complete life goes,” and challenges readers to wrap their brains around that assertion. Not worth trying.

You see, I came across most of these reactions prior to actually seeing Jordan’s speech. My initial response to the reactions was, “Well, that’s Michael … he’s a dick, but a competitive and winning dick.” And the same sentiment seemed to be conveyed by many who knew Jordan with a shrug of the shoulders.

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It’s never too early to look at the schedule and start guessing what might happen as a team known for its “relaxed” locker room tries to get serious enough to win a title. DocFunk provides us with the hypothetical antics of the Wizards, and the NBA…

October

10/27 at Dallas: Gilbert Arenas arrives in a sparkling chariot. He is carried on to the court by his teammates where he shares a flawless 12-step handshake with President Obama (who made the trip). At which point, a teary-eyed Mark Cuban calls Arenas a thug and runs down the tunnel, spilling his ice cream cone in the process. You are probably going to want to see this.

10/30 at Atlanta: So hey, Zaza. You get my call? Over the summer. Oh, okay… I mean we left like seven voice mails… Nah, its cool… jerk.

10/31 vs New Jersey: In celebration of Halloween, JaVale McGee brings his Wolverine claws. Not to be outdone, the Nets’ Sean Williams brings a sawed-off shotgun. Read more »

Everyone is talking about Courtney Lee’s missed ‘layup’ that would have won the game for Orlando. Some even compared it to Nick Anderson missing four late free-throws  in game one of the 1995 NBA Finals, also played on June 7th  [via Slam].

Mentioning Nick Anderson sounds very “woe is us” from Orlando. Thing is, true fans aren’t making the association, rather some professional MSMers.  These hacks need to be called out:

1) D-bag from the AP [via Sports Illustrated]:

A shot that couldn’t have been much easier.

Uh … no, a-hole. If you’ve played basketball before, you know how difficult Lee’s shot was — to time his jump, catch the pass, be concerned about an oncoming Pau Gasol, while slowing down uncontrollable momentum to lay the ball softly off the glass … exactly.

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I know it’s a bit early to start thinking about the NBA Draft….well, not really.

I couldn’t help myself as I watched the calm/cool/collective, yet, tough and banging exploits of Blake Griffin this past Sunday against UNC.

The Wizards want him on that line, they need him on that line.

All the fodder amongst “us” Wizards fans is that we are due for some good luck in the draft.

So naturally, I wrote a killjoy piece on NBC Washington called, Don’t Bet on Wizards Lottery Luck.

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U dead cat.

Hey you!….jerk Wizards fan (pointing to myself in mirror)….What, you have nothing to look forward to? (aside from the season ending)

Oh…I forgot, you’re all jazzed about Gilbert Arenas playing on Saturday. Keep it in your pants hot shot, that’s a ‘believe it when you see it’ situation.

I’m not talking three days from now, I’m talking TONIGHT!

Wait…..that’s right, you’re all BLAH, BLAH, BLAH…. “I want Dominic McGuire to score!!!”

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First of all, I’d like to thank all who participated in this the 5th round of NBA blogger MVP/ROY voting, the first of 2009. I’m honored to have been the host. Second, the esteemed panel:

• College Wolf from TWolvesBlog.com
• J.D. Mo from The Bob Boozer Jinx
• Fish from DallasBasketball.com
• Matt from Hardwood Paroxysm
• Jared from Both Teams Played Hard
• Dave from The Dream Shake
• Daniel from LA Ball Talk
• Don from With Malice
• James from Dino Nation Blog
• Mookie from A Stern Warning
• Jonny from The Lakers Nation
• John from Red’s Army
• RockKing from Waiting For Next Year
• Wyn from Canis Hoopus
• Ben from Blazer’s Edge
• Royce from The Thunder World
• Kyle (Me) from Truth About It

Previous Rounds:

• Round 1: Hoops Addict
• Round 2: Upside & Motor
• Round 3: The Dream Shake
• Round 4: Raptors HQ
• Home Base: Brew Hoop

Without further ado, here goes……

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Every couple of weeks in the 2008-2009 season, bloggers from ’round the NBA blogosphere will participate in a poll ranking the top 10 MVP candidates and the top five Rookie of the Year candidates. The idea was hatched by the guys at Brew Hoop and a different blog site will host each installment of the rankings. The first installment was hosted by Ryan McNeill of Hoops Addict, the second hosted by Rob Mahoney of Upside and Motor, and the third by Lee Grammier of The Dream Shake.

My rankings are as follows:

MVP Rankings (previously ranked week 1, week 2)

#1 Lebron James (2, 1) – Ugh….I gotta include a pic of LeBaby James on this blog again….oh well, game gotta recognize game.

#2 Dwyane Wade (1, 7) – Sure the Heat are only hovering a couple games above .500, but that’s quite an accomplishment considering that each Miami’s top 10 5-man units includes either a rookie, Mario Chalmers, or some cat named Chris Quinn at the point.

#3 Chris Paul (3, 5) – CP3 leads the NBA by far with a Net Points of +43.1 while on the court.

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I’m going to get more down on Javaris Crittenton in the future, among others (Dee Brown, and of course, Antonio Daniels), in the wake of today’s big trade (well, maybe not “big” in the grand scale of all things NBA, or even your fantasy team….but big for the Wizards’ point guard situation), but wanted to post something quick in the interim. You can also go to Bullets Forever to join the trade discussion.

Crittenton is the big “get”…some are saying “steal”…for the Wizards. But until I’m able to do a more exhaustive write-up on the former Yellow Jacket/Laker/Grizzly/high school teammate of Dwight Howard, I wanted to remind everyone that Javaris Crittenton has once walked in the shoes of Gilbert Arenas, literally.

From a June 2008 story in the Washington Times, “Arenas’ shoes are on other feet” –

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The Lake Show is in DC tonight, and I’m afraid that Laker Nation posers will be dominating the Verizon Center. I’ve been called a Laker-Hater in the past, and yes, this fact forced me to root for another team I dislike, Boston, in last year’s Finals (just like the damn Super Bowl when I had to root for the Giants over the Patriots). Oh well, what’s a sports fan to do?

It is what it is. Thankfully, someone who is a real Lakers fan, Kurt from the Forum Blue & Gold, has been kind enough to take time to answer some questions I had about his team. Read on…..

[UPDATE: Head to Forum Blue & Gold to check my return answers about the Wizards]

1) In the olden days, when it came to Phil Jackson, I was like “meh…..he’s a convenient opportunist and I’m not buying his Zen B.S.,” but more and more, I’m beginning to like Phil because of his snarky sarcasm that screams, “Will you baby NBA millionaires just grow up and be men?” Plus, the realistic side of me knows that he’s always been a damn good coach.

That being said, what’s to make of the latest with Andrew Bynum? To me, what amounts to about a half an NBA season (last year and this year) does not make a boy a man. So, is he really a kid who doesn’t know better, or should he be in at the end of games for boards? And why do the Lakers do so much communicating in the press anyway?
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Every couple of weeks in the 2008-2009 season, bloggers from ’round the NBA blogosphere will participate in a poll ranking the top 10 MVP candidates and the top five Rookie of the Year candidates. The idea was hatched by the guys at Brew Hoop and a different blog site will host each installment of the rankings. The first installment was hosted by Ryan McNeill of Hoops Addict. You can find the second hosted by Rob Mahoney of Upside and Motor.

My rankings are as follows:

MVP Rankings (previously ranked)

#1 Lebron James (2) – I previously had D-Wade ranked #1, but I must give LeBron his due. The Cavs are winning games by a double-digit average and LeBron is making his teammates better. Cleveland is shooting over 48% from the field, holding opponents to just above 42%, and have the 2nd best rebounding % in the league.

#2 Kobe Bryant (6) – The Lakers are the better team, Kobe plays the bridesmaid in the MVP race because he has the better supporting cast.

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Ok, so the Wizards ’08-09 season isn’t exactly going as planned. Hell, it’s been downright disastrous. So, us of Bullets/Wizards Nation must revert back to small victories, such as when we all rooted for Timmy “Legs” Legler in the ’96 All-Star Three-Point Shootout as the Bullets toiled into the all-star break with a 22-24 record (which looks tragically unattainable at this point).

In any case, the first “little victory” campaign is to get Nick Young into the 2009 All-Star Slam Dunk Contest. And what better way to represent than a t-shirt?

Below you will find a lovely blue “Monumental Air” t-shirt….the very style I ordered before heading out of town for the holidays and received in the mail upon my return.

The design was crafted by Jake The Snake and is sponsored by the good folks at Bullets Forever. Shirts come in blue or white, with a large or wide logo, and the text on the back of each is:

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Every couple of weeks in the 2008-2009 season, bloggers from ’round the NBA blogosphere will participate in a poll ranking the top 10 MVP candidates and the top five Rookie of the Year candidates. The idea was hatched by the guys at Brew Hoop and a different blog site will host each installment of the rankings. Up first, Ryan McNeill of Hoops Addict.

My rankings are as follows:

MVP

1. Dwyane Wade is playing out of this world. Not only is he filling up the stat sheet, even to the tune of 1.6 blocks per game, but he’s creating for his teammates like he’s never done before. Just look at the Miami Heat roster and tell me that they’d have one win without D-Wade. At this point in the season, you can’t say that about any of the other candidates.

2. LeBron James – Cleveland Cavaliers
3. Chris Paul – New Orleans Hornets
4. Joe Johnson – Atlanta Hawks
5. Paul Pierce – Boston Celtics
6. Kobe Bryant – LA Lakers
7. Amare Stoudamire – Phoenix Suns
8. Dwight Howard – Orlando Magic
9. Kevin Garnett – Boston Celtics
10. Rasheed Wallace – Detroit Pistons

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