Idle Chatter on Draft Day

Joakim Noah celebrates his arrival into the NBA with Commissioner Stern.

Since I have taken such a lengthly hiatus from Paints in the Point, let it be known that I intend to return to the web better than ever. Mediocrity may have been my calling card in the past, but tonight is the beginning of a new era. The 2010 NBA Draft marks the return of the Paints in the Point Podcast (my personal favorite) and my return to our webpage. It also marks the arrival of John Wall to the NBA and begins the weeklong countdown to July 1st and Free Agency. Big day, wouldn’t you say?

Are the Clouds Closer?

First off, this isn’t surprising and quite frankly is expected. Everyone knew or believed that the Thunder would take at least one game and everyone knew that Chicago would be competitive, especially after the first two games. And I wouldn’t consider either of these games a “steal” by the 8-seed, they were most certainly victories.

A Matter of Time

I find myself asking a question that at times seems incredibly moronic and myopic on my part and other times perfectly debatable. The question: how good is Kevin Durant? Now, this isn’t going to solve this question as much as work through my troubles with declaring his status thus far.

Long Delay

The Pacers smashed the Thunder yesterday. I can’t really explain why, I didn’t watch the game. However, I’ve noticed that Danny Granger cannot be the main star on a very successful team. Maybe a second option as an all-around player with legitimate scoring abilities, but not the main guy.

Observations on the Milwaukee/Oklahoma City Game

Jefferson out, Jennings in

We have never seen a Thunder game, We never seen a Jennings era Bucks game, we have never been so excited.

Champ’s Power Rankings: Week 4

Playoffs?

1. Los Angeles Lakers: OK, an early home schedule is good and all, and Pau Gasol is back and doing work, and everythings clicking. But, there is no but, the Lakers are the number one team in the league. However, I’m not sure Kobe’s increased scoring is a good sign or not.

2. Atlanta Hawks: Disclaimer: Yes I am writing this after watching their cold effort in their falling to the Orlando Magic, at home. But coming into Monday this team was still on fire, yes they deserve to be here now. Next week? watch out.

3. Denver Nuggets: Coming into the season I was concerned about Denver. Yes, drafting Ty Lawson is a HUGE plus, but they made no offseason moves to improve the team. But then, Carmello Anthony stepped up, he finally is dishing out points and rebounds like a true superstar. Tracking Anthony’s development at a recent trip to the pool really sold me on the Nuggets, they’ve come a long way. They had Allen Iverson around this time last year.

Champ’s Power Rankings: Week 2

 

 

Week Two showed the Beast in Chris Paul, however the Hornets still struggled.

 

1. Los Angeles Lakers: The Lakers played without Bynum and Gasol last night and still resulted in victory. The Lakers are the top dogs in the league right now. No questions about it. Lamar Odum also translated well into his role on Keeping up with the Kardashians.

2. Boston Celtics: A slip up against the now formidable Phoenix Suns lost some credibility as well as the near win over the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves cost the C’s to slip to #2 in my rankings. However, they still head their own conference and very well could earn homecourt advantage, minus any major injuries.

3. Phoenix Suns: Surprised? Maybe a little but the Suns are the hot team in the league for now. You forget this team has Steve Nash, Amare Stoudamire, and Jason Richardson. As well as a rejuivenated Grant Hill and an up-and-coming Channing Frye. Will they stay at three? Probably not, but this is Week Two.

Season Preview: Oklahoma City Thunder

The history of the Oklahoma City Thunder as the Thunder is brief. They’ve played one season going 23-59 and have high hopes for 2009-2010. The Seattle Sonics however have a much more storied past playing in three NBA Finals in 1978, 1979, and 1996, winning in 1979 with Dennis Johnson as the Finals MVP. They also gave the world the honor and glory of being able to witness Shawn Kemp play on the national stage while also giving him the opportunity to impregnate numerous women throughout the continental United States also helping to solidfy the stereotype of NBA players as infideious ladies’ men. This and other details will be discussed more in my spring semester course, Cultural Perceptions and the NBA: 1980-Present. Sign up soon, spots are running out.

Eastward Bound

There has been something bothering me for a couple of seasons at this point, and it could have something to do with my desire to see things balanced. Now, through a few important facts pointed out to me by none other than the Champ, the Conferences are even, but not in our hearts. There is a giant hole missing in the Northwest corner of the NBA map, and that is the former home of the Seattle Supersonics. How this can happen easily is to move Memphis, but since this post was already posted, I will just strategically edit this to make my point fit.

Inside the Name Part 5

When it comes to naming a team in the National Basketball Association, in my opinion, the name can fall in any one of five categories. Unbeknownst to many so-called “fans” of basketball, there is an unspoken hierarchy among the various team names. Well, unspoken until now. In a “Paints in the Point” exclusive, we go…

INSIDE THE NAME

In Part One of “Inside the Name,” we looked at animal team mascots in the Association.

In Part Two of “Inside the Name,” we looked at the assorted alliterative team names found within the Association.

In Part Three of “Inside the Name,” we looked at team names in the Association that actually make sense, given their geographic location.

In Part Four of “Inside the Name,” we looked at team names that didn’t bother to change their name (and in some cases, their logo) after relocating their team to a new city.

Another week has passed, and now we move on to…

Part 5: Unacceptable

At last, we’ve reached the end of our journey through the various team names within the Association (for those who had problems viewing the images associated with Part Four, the images have been fixed, so feel free to read it again). The reason that these last four names have been saved for the last part is because they are simply “unacceptable.” They’re Kwame Brown to Michael Jordan, the player to be named later to a player actually named in a trade, the Product 19 to your Lucky Charms, the Rocket Power to your Hey Arnold!,  the quality of my articles to the quality of The Custodian’s articles.

When I think of “Product 19,” I think of an industrial-strength cleaner. That’s not the best way to compete with other cereals, considering when I think of “Lucky Charms,” I think they are magically delicious.

These “unacceptable” names are the ones that confuse, perplex, and otherwise make people go, “huh?” if they think about the name.

You Ain’t Ready For War

How could I have missed the remarkable similarities through my surveying of the Association? While I have admired and respected the overall amazing scoring aptitude of Kevin Durant, I’ve yet to see the correspondence to another of the great players in the game: LeBron James.

These two stars of the game represent a sort of crooked parallel, both earning praise for their offensive competence, but they go about dominance in entirely different manners. This is partly inspired by the recent claims by an NBA source that Kevin Durant has the potential to be superior to LeBron James at the conclusion of his career. The validity of the claim is in question, but the similarities of the two are quite evident.