My Machines are Oiled

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With about nine minutes left in the fourth quarter, backup guard Shannon Brown for the Los Angeles Lakers jogged up the court, saw a partially open lane, and took off. He leapt with the intent to do harm. He was trying to suck the gravity out of the building.

He nearly jumped over a cowering Jason Richardson who was called for a block. He missed the dunk, his fingers just edging the rim/net. However, he made everybody stand up out of his or her seats in amazement. That was the kind of night the Lakers were having, even their misses were spectacular.

Hip-Hop Breeds Contempt

Aim here Gilbert

As the Gilbert Arenas saga evolves from comedy to tragedy, a familiar topic is once again linked to the NBA. The ever present Hip-Hop culture once again surfaces as a catch all for the actions of Arenas and teammate Javaris Crittenton. Somewhere along the line David Stern and other league executives decided to marry the NBA to hip-hop and, but clearly they didn’t know what they were getting themselves into.

Given recent player actions, it seems as though the dark side of hip-hop has also managed to infiltrate the league. With its “bling-bling” gaudiness and “I gotta get paid” ruthlessness, this culture isn’t exactly synonymous with the average NBA fan. To the NBA’s credit, welcoming the music of Will Smith and L.L Cool J is a terrific marketing move, one certain to help the league resonate with younger fans. However, when welcoming the mainstream side of hip-hop, the NBA also opened the door for violence, drug-abuse, gang related sub-culture, and other misnomers of traditional thug life personified by players such as Allen Iverson. When he entered the league, Iverson was the poster boy for this thug life ruthlessness; he was a walking middle finger pointed directly at David Stern and his efforts to improve the image of the league.

Just My Thoughts

Kobe Bryant shows off his fourth championship ring.

At long last, we tip off once more. Eight months away from the 2010 Finals, the Association is already buzzing with the excitement of opening night.

Season Preview: Miami Heat

The heat is on in South Florida, with the Dolphins rising once more and and a return to national prominence by the  Hurricanes, the Heat, a perennial playoff team, struggle to keep the attention focused on them. The Heat followed a 43-39 season, good enough for 5th place in the Eastern Conference, with a disappointing off season. Targeting Lamar Odom and other big-men, the Heat only managed to add the services of point guard Carlos Arroyo and guard Quentin Richardson. Odom resigned with the Lakers and the Heat were left with lesser players to pick from.

Dwayne Wade had a prolific 2008-09 season. Wade averaged a league high 30.2 points per game, earning his first NBA Scoring Title, and added 7.5 assists, 5.0 rebounds, 2.2 steals, and 1.3 blocks per game. Wade scored 50 points through three quarters of play in a game against the Knicks but was taken out of the game after scoring 55 points, one shy of the Heat franchise record held by Glen Rice.

Season Preview: Los Angeles Clippers

Good question.

History:

The Los Angeles Clippers (and its predecessors) have sucked for a long time. The End.

With 55 characters to spare, that tweet could accurately sum up the entire franchise history of the Los Angeles Clippers better than I’ll be able to in the few paragraphs that follow.

The Buffalo Braves sucked. The San Diego Clippers sucked. Now the Los Angeles Clippers suck. The End.

That’s 39 characters to spare.

With only seven winning seasons as a NBA franchise in the thirty-nine seasons of existence, the Los Angeles Clippers define “suck.” The End.

Perfect.

Keeping Up With the Candy Man

Dreams do come true, or at least mine do. News broke that Khloe Kardashian has recently become engaged to Lamar Odom. What more could I ask for than a reason to bring the Kardashian sisters into this blog that focuses on basketball?

The couple have been dating for less than a month at this point, so you know its going to last. Exactly why Lamar has decided to get this committed could easily be explained if he had a desire to land himself a television series on E!, but is more perplexing otherwise.

Bottom of the T-Odom Pole

The Lakers management has put their status as the early odds-on favorite to repeat as champs at jeopardy with the somewhat myopic and infantile contract-offer withdrawal from Lamar Odom. The offer was withdrawn from the Candy Man after he refused to sign the deal that was worth nearly $27 million over a three-year span, instead unabashedly hoping for a 5 year contract over similar year-to-year worth.

The Success Recipe

Most teams around the Association have enacted the same process for going about building a team that has a great chance of winning games. They use the same basic outline and then add a few spices to the mix in order to attain the ultimate glory.

One More for Kobe

There you have it ladies and gentlemen, curtain call for the NBA Finals and guess who ended up with all the marbles.

The Big Iceberg

Lamar Odom could be one of the best players in the game. Could be. At 6’10”, Odom displays a capacity to handle the rock like that of his shorter brethren and the competence to drop 25 points a game. Yet, he doesn’t.

The Calm before the Storm

With all of the focus on the 2010 free agent class, this upcoming class is being overlooked. Not without substantial talent, the free agent class of 2009 has the ability to change the direction of a team or hinder their development.

Playing for Keeps: Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant played like a man possessed during game one of the NBA Finals. The look in Kobe’s eyes as he drilled dagger jumpers in front of Mickael Pietrus speaks volumes about the mission he is embarking on.