- 02:03 AM
- 05/12/08
| Name: | Rick |
|---|---|
| Location: | Pasadena, CA |
| ZIP Code: | 91107 |
| Gender: | Male |
| Member since: | August 2, 2003 |
| Last visit: | April 17, 2008 |
lilnemo has posted 245 links and 1443 comments to SportsFilter and 5 threads and 130 comments to the Locker Room and has written 12 columns.
Where have you gone Darius Miles? Former basketball phenom Darius Miles waived by the Trailblazers after the team, and an independent doctor appointed by the NBA, deem his injuries "career-ending".
posted on Apr 15, 2008 - Go to the detail view for this result
SI: The Vault Sports Illustrated has opened up its archives. For free.
posted on Mar 22, 2008 - Go to the detail view for this result
posted on Mar 18, 2008 - Go to the detail view for this result
Anatomy of a trade.
via Truehoop. Again.
posted on Mar 14, 2008 - Go to the detail view for this result
The Sad tale of Maurice Stokes. On the 50th anniversary of the accident, Steve Aschburner recounts the night that Maurice Stokes career ended.
via TrueHoop
posted on Mar 12, 2008 - Go to the detail view for this result
WHAT GIVES, GUYS? Nelson says there's no problem, Davis says very little For Warriors coach Don Nelson, the mind-boggling question everyone wants answered is really a no-brainer. Why didn't he play Baron Davis in the second half of Monday's playoff-elimination game in Phoenix?
posted to Basketball at 8:05 AM CDT
Where have you gone Darius Miles? Former basketball phenom Darius Miles waived by the Trailblazers after the team, and an independent doctor appointed by the NBA, deem his injuries "career-ending".
posted to Basketball at 11:17 AM CDT
The team will pay Miles the remaining $27.5 M left on the contract, which will not count against the cap. The team will collect $6.6 M in insurance, and save over $3.5 M in luxury tax penalties this year. This gives the Trailblazers between $25-$33 M to play with for free agency '10.
Though Miles has been waived with a "career-ending" injury he can sign with another team once he clears waivers.
*knuckles to forehead*
*.*
posted at 11:25 AM CDT on April 15
This sounds like a defense team in a trial going to as many "experts" as it takes until they find one who will agree with their side of the case.
How exactly? The Blazers had to have the NBA bring in a third party to ensure such a scenario wouldn't happen. Otherwise the Blazers are stuck with Miles and his contract.
posted at 1:06 PM CDT on April 15
The article brings up the fact that Miles can sign with another team upon clearing waivers. The article also states that it is uncertain whether Miles has the desire to play. If Miles does end up playing again, whether in the next two years or after, his injury couldn't really be classified as "career-ending".
If the Blazers wanted rid of Miles they could have bought him out. They'd take a hit on his cap number, but they'd be rid of him. Or they could have traded him off to another team for picks and parts. But they didn't. Does involving the league and its independent doctor benefit the Blazers? Sure. It gets Miles off of the cap. But the league isn't in the business of letting teams off the hook for luxury tax considerations. The bit of business in the article about Miles joining another team? Yes he absolutely could. Just like Keith Van Horn did. Until Miles files retirement papers, any contract he signs makes him a financial commodity, not an on court asset. He had microfracture, so the odds of him coming back are unknown. Kidd and Amare have come back from it. Houston, and Penny did not.
If Miles "had the desire to play" and his injury wasn't career threatening why wouldn't he suit up for the Blazers? Allen loves him, the article makes that plain. Cheeks is gone. Ditto Randolph. The team as a whole, are a pretty likeable bunch. They're up and coming, and have the talent to challenge for the playoffs for the next few years. I just don't see the nefarious machinations of the League Office at work here.
posted at 2:42 PM CDT on April 15
posted to Basketball at 5:27 PM CDT
Attn: News Media
Re: Trolls
Don't feed them.
I'm trying to see what Taylor gets out of this. Its not as if he's trying to shield himself from bad publicity over the trade. In most circles, people are glad Taylor allowed Garnett to move on to a team with actual title aspirations. He really hasn't gotten much criticism (to my eye) over the pieces of the trade (not that they were all that bad). Any blame for that has largely fallen on McHale.
Maybe this was just an owner lashing out during a losing season (we've seen it before, this season even. Thank you Mr. Sterling). Maybe Taylor was feeling trader's remorse. I don't know. Any way you spin it, this was a stupid statement. In a few years, Garnett is going to retire. He's going to get into the Hall of Fame. Is it a good idea to alienate the defining player of your franchise?
posted at 11:32 AM CDT on March 19
As much as I rag on McHale, he did what he could with the money Taylor afforded him. The one time he was given the green light to spend, the Wolves ended up in the WC Finals. Though the Joe Smith deal pretty much overshadows anything he's done since.
Bird took over a playoff team, ousted Isiah, hired Carlisle, and was on the verge of a huge playoff run. And then his club went apeshit in Detroit. I don't really see how you can blame him for that. Until Bird shakes loose the rest of the remnants of that squad (Tinsley, Jermaine O'Neal), and their bad contracts, its going to be hard to judge his work with the club. The question is whether he wants to stick around long enough to rebuild.
posted at 11:44 AM CDT on March 20
when was Bird a head coach in the NBA?
Its right here. He coached the Pacers from 1998-2000. They lost the EC Finals in 98 and 99. They advanced to the NBA Finals in 2000 and lost to the Lakers.
I would like to know why the Pistons got over the fall-out from the fight, and a few seasons later the Pacers are still in shock.
The Pacers had finished the 2004 season with a 61-21 record. They lost the EC Finals 4 games to 2 in a closely contested series to the eventual NBA champion Pistons. The following season they opened up the season with a 6-2 record heading into the palace. This is a team that hadn't missed the playoffs since 97, all while rebuilding on the fly around O'Neal. This was a team that was prepared to make the next step. In the fallout from the brawl Artest was suspended for the remainder of the season (73 games) and postseason (13 games), Stephen Jackson for 30 games, Jermaine for 25 games (later reduced to 25), Anthony Johnson for 5, Reggie for 1.
And the Pistons? Ben Wallace 6 games, Billups, Campbell, Coleman 1 game.
With the Pacers short 2 of their leading scorers, and forced to rely on green players like James Jones, Fred Jones, Eddie Gill and Tremaine Fowlkes, the quick start they had enjoyed ground to a halt. The Pistons ran away with the Central Division while the Pacers clawed their way into the 6th seed of the playoffs. The teams met in the playoffs, and the Pistons won the series. Much of the personnel from the Pacers 05 squad still bare the stigma of the incident. Most notably Artest and Jackson. The coverage of the incident over the season adversely effected both players value, to the team and on the open market. As such, when the groundswell of bad sentiment rose against the players from the Pacers fans, the team was forced to deal Artest and Jackson for somewhat less than fair value. Which goes a long way to explaining why the Pacers, a small market team, are paying close to the cap maximum and yet possess the 5th worst record in their conference. 2005, the season of the Brawl, was the last time the Pacers finished with a record above .500
06 record 41-41
07 record 35-47
08 record 27-41
posted at 7:10 PM CDT on March 20
The Sad tale of Maurice Stokes. On the 50th anniversary of the accident, Steve Aschburner recounts the night that Maurice Stokes career ended.
via TrueHoop
posted to Basketball at 4:38 PM CDT
Welcome to SpoFi deadsteen.
I tend to agree with your assessment. With the NBA's stratospheric rise in popularity and revenue under Stern, the game has become more businesslike and less personable. It puts players at the forefront of its ad campaign. But 75% of the players in the league are indiscernible in their differences.
To be fair, Magic's fund raiser has been taken over by Paul Pierce and Baron Davis. And the exploits of Gilbert Arenas, and Channing Frye have made following players off the court more fun the last season or two. I'm sure these examples are not exceptions to how most NBA players are in real life, but it'd be nice to see it reported more often.
posted at 11:44 PM CDT on March 12
What Part Of "Spring Training" Don't You Guys Get? Spikes go high and benches clear between the Yanks and Rays. To paraphrase, Man, we talkin' practice here! With nifty spikes-to-crotch photo action!
posted to Baseball at 4:00 PM CDT
Thats what I come to SpoFi for, the "nifty spikes-to-crotch" action.
posted at 4:31 PM CDT on March 12
The Other side of the tracks. High school athletic departments are getting contentious enough to propose that private schools compete in a separate league.
posted to Culture at 3:35 PM CDT
One could always argue that with a larger pool of talent to draw from, that public schools should always be competitive. But with the money private schools are able to put into facilities, equipment, and coaching staffs its hard to see why a kid with the option to go to private school wouldn't.
Having said that, I'm against the proposal to have seperate leagues. While better funding may give private schools the edge, I don't see how a School Administrator can look their students in the eye and say they aren't good enough to compete with another school.
posted at 6:58 PM CDT on March 5
Fast and the Furious In a sport historically slow to adapt to any but the slightest change, basketball programs at every level from high school to the NBA are embracing a whole new way of playing the game. Stranger yet, the architect of this change has never coached above Division ll.
posted to Basketball at 5:20 PM CDT
There have been some interesting changes in coaching philosophies over recent years, but we are far from a paradigm shift. And this article spells it out pretty clearly. Its not surprising that coaches are willing to let innovators like Walberg bend their ears when it comes to offense. But defense?
I'm not shocked by the articles change in tone, but it was pretty jarring to go from reading about the creative, energetic, experimental offense to:
"Opposing teams can play their own defensive trump cards, of course, and the most common gambit against Memphis's DDM attack has been to ditch man-to-man for zones and hybrid junk defenses, which clog the Tigers' driving lanes."(Emphasis mine)
"I've had very few original thoughts in my life," Hurley says, "but I'm smart enough to take from people who are successful and seem to have a greater view of the game. We got to a point where kids spent more time in the weight room than out on the court working on skills. [Dribble-drive] gets you working on skills. You can move your center around. It doesn't have to be mud-wrestling where just the stronger, more physical, more athletic kids win."And yet:
Because there were no screens and attackers were spaced so far apart, the formation opened yawning gaps for penetrators, as long as they had the talent to beat their defenders and the smarts to read defenses on the fly. "I wish I had chosen a fancier name than AASAA, but I wanted kids to understand that it was attack-attack-skip-attack-attack," says Walberg. "What am I trying to say? Get to the rim. It's basically here we come." All of Walberg's teams hear the same slogan (we like three-pointers, but we love layups), and shot charts reveal that the teams take almost no midrange jumpers.The subject matter is obviously more complex than I'm making it out to be, but these details jumped out at me. Very interesting read.
posted at 6:30 PM CDT on February 13
The NY Times real time blog of the Clemens hearings. The NY times blogs today's hearings. A follow up story from the Times is here.
posted to Baseball at 3:24 PM CDT
Its the job of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to look into whether Roger Clemens used steriods? Try again.
Does no one remember this? The freaking President made it a point of contention. Several politicians jumped on the PED bandwagon and started making veiled noise about MLB's antitrust exemption. So to quell the clamor, good ole Bud got on the horn with Mitchell.
For all the righteous indignation, the pleading for the safety of the children, and the gnashing of teeth, its all PR. The members of the House get to show their constituents that they're "tough on drugs", MLB gets to act contrite for the fans, and the accused players defend themselves. All with varying degrees of success.
posted at 1:44 PM CDT on February 14
For all those wondering about Roger wearing the other pinstripes.
posted at 1:50 PM CDT on February 14
Jason Kidd traded to the Mavs. ESPN reports that discussions are ongoing. But Yahoo is reporting its a done deal. The official word is that the teams agree on the deal "in principle" pending league approval.
posted to Basketball at 2:51 PM CDT
Mavs get:
posted at 2:56 PM CDT on February 13
Could someone clarify the Stackhouse situation for me? It is quite confusing.
Stackhouse was included in this trade to make the numbers work. While it is entirely possible that the Nets do like his skill-set, the incumbent cadre of wingmen (Jefferson, Carter, Nachbar, and now George and Ager) make him expendable. Beyond that, its rather obvious that Stack has enjoyed his time with the Mavs and would prefer to try and get back to the Finals with them than languish on the Nets bench. Under the CBA, if the Nets buy Stack out he can only re-sign with the Mavs 1 month after the buyout (the Gary Payton rule), though he could sign on with any other team ASAP for the remainder of the season. I'm not sure of the cap implications, but I believe this effectively takes Stack off of the Net's cap next season (while still counting towards this season). Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
posted at 6:39 PM CDT on February 13
In the NBA you have to rely on your star players to work through a poor stretch or at least provide some intangibles.
This is true for the most part. Most players will look to drive to the basket to get off easier shots (distance-wise), or in the hopes of drawing contact/fouls. Unfortunately, Baron has established a reputation as a player who will fall in love with his jumper, and who will stop penetrating late in games. Why this is, I do not know. I just know that this move (Nellie shenanigans aside) isn't quite as unexpected as some are making out.
In fact, given Baron's age, health, and (alleged) coachability issues. Its not too hard to read the writing on the wall. Ellis will be the primary focus of this off-season and of the offense come next year.