First up, Amir Johnson apologists will appreciate my timeline of Flip’s contradictions and double talk at Free Darko. Those on the other side of the fence may say I’m beating a dead horse. To those I say … okay, you’re probably right. But do me a favor and still check it out.
- Michael Curry on pairing Rasheed Wallace and Amir Johnson:
“They’ve done a really good job. Amir brings all the athletic ability and youth to the floor. He’s not a very vocal guy, so when you put him out there with Rasheed, Rasheed helps him in a lot of areas and he doesn’t make nearly as many mistakes. I think they complement each other very well. Sheed can’t move like he once could, but he can direct Amir to do a lot of the dirty work for him.”
- I find the “Brandon Jennings in Europe” story incredibly interesting — I won’t be surprised at all if he ends up being the pioneer that turns the NCAA on its head. If you’re not yet up to speed, this New York Times article is a nice primer. Also, highlights from his first scrimmage in Italy.
- If you haven’t read every post of Henry Abbott’s “Train Like a Pro” series, bookmark this page and make your way through it.
- Michael Curry’s inspiration? Doug Collins. Here’s to hoping that doesn’t mean he has a two-and-a-half year shelf life before the players tune him out.
- Antonio McDyess is open for anything.
- The Amir Johnson and Rodney Stuckey mix tape.
- Highlights from Joe Dumars’ speech at the U-M Business School.
- With his third WNBA title in the bag, Bill Laimbeer ponders his future as coach of the Shock:
There is some uncertainty about Laimbeer, who has built this dynasty since taking over the team in the middle of the 2002 season. He isn’t signed for next year and admitted after Game 3 that he’ll walk away from the job at some point, saying that assistants Cheryl Reeve and Rick Mahorn are ready for head-coaching positions.
However, Laimbeer said he still loves what he does and it’d be a surprise if he decided to call it quits this offseason.
“I want to go to Florida and launch a boat,” Laimbeer said, referring to his offseason residence. “And I’m going to go up and get in the woods and sit in tree stand and look for deer and think about a lot of stuff and what I want to do.”
McCoskey is just great with his analysis and opinions.
No one was asking for Amir to play 25-30 mpg last year…a consistent 15 a night for the whole season would have been great. I like how less then a year later he’s fully on board with Amir as the right choice to replace McDyess.
The free press has an article with Curry comparing Stuckey to Bosh.
“Curry knew Bosh as a teammate on the 2003-04 Raptors.
After Sunday’s game, Curry said, “As a player, I was in Toronto when Chris Bosh was a rookie, and their demeanors to me are the same. Both of them are very quiet but aggressive. Both of them had to work at it, but both of them want to be great.”"
Their playstyles don’t have much in common, naturally (well, they both attack the basket and draw fouls), but despite being thin as a rail, Bosh has made himself into a perennial All-Star with aggressiveness and hard work. It can only be good if Stuckey has the same qualities.
“Here’s to hoping that doesn’t mean he has a two-and-a-half year shelf life before the players tune him out.”
What? On this team filled with veteran leaders? I could never see that…
How awesome is this quote from Stuckey?
“I felt good,” Stuckey told WDFN’s Matt Dery after the game. “That’s what is going to be going on throughout the year.”
hopefully curry doesn’t cry at the drop of a hat like collins.
Or develop man-crushes like Collins.
No permanent hair-do’s like Collins either.
OT: I somehow got Amir, Max, and Stuckey on my autopick Yahoo fantasy league team. I must have good karma or something.
Some team in the NBA is going to wise up and hire Laimbeer. The man can flat-out coach. I think he would be even better in college where he would scare the hell out of any player who didn’t listen to him in practice.
jjj: you must be the only pistons fan in your league.
are we doing that fantasy league again, dbbers?
Hey JD:
I’ll be writing a guest post about that tonight which might hit DBB as soon as tomorrow. DBB will be running a fantasy league this year which I’ll be helping get started. News on that to come…
My theory (probably not a groundbreaking one) on why the NBA will never have the ratings of Football and Baseball is because it’s not conducive to Fantasy.
Football is obviously the easiest. And baseball is all about stats. But basketball doesn’t seem to work as well as baseball.
Before Fantasy Football, I would follow the Lions until the pissed me off and maybe watch the playoffs. Now, people have an interest in every game.
If the NBA could rework the schedule to make it more fantasy friendly, I think it would do more for the sport than making the players wear suits and getting rid of hip-hop.
It’s the only way to generate interest in the regular season because the long playoff season renders 90% games pointless.
Thoughts?
@QD:
I’m hopelessly addicted to fantasy basketball, have played for about five years religiously. It is an absolute blast. It takes a daily commitment due to the sheer number of games. It is a statistician’s dream, there is so much that goes into building a solid, winning team.
I think its too involved for fantasy football players, with that its similar to fantasy baseball. Fantasy football is easier– you set your schedule and forget it before making changes for the coming week. Fantasy NBA takes daily involvement, and with that you can get a lot more creative with your roster and the waiver wire to win the week.
If you haven’t yet played fantasy basketball, join the DBB league this season. Like I mentioned above, I’m going to do what I can to help with the DBB league– with a post forthcoming….
Nice mp, dbb fantasy bball would be sweet.
I gave up on the NBA.com DBB league last season because it was too weird. I’m not a super stats guy, so I like the Yahoo version better.
I’m down for a yahoo! DBB league… that nba.com crap was just too, I dunno, difficult to track
Garrett, Boney, using Yahoo was going to be my first suggestion
Glad to hear you guys would dig that!
the main problem with baseball/basketball is that they’re usually rotisserie leagues. i just can’t get too excited about keeping track of 3pt%. i like head-to-head better. is that part of your plan, mp?
although, either way, i’d be in.
Head to head, preferably. It’d be totally democratic, entirely up to the players, with Matt’s blessing. IMO, head-to-head at Yahoo!.
I prefer fantasy basketball over the other two genres. More strategy and less luck goes into it. I’ll definitely be looking forward to the DBB league - it’ll be the only league in which Amir and Stuckey go in the fourth round
Found this article on CBS Sportsline about Stuckey being prime to have a break out season. Thought some of you may like to read it.
http://www.sportsline.com/nba/story/11012466
It’s the only way to generate interest in the regular season because the long playoff season renders 90% games pointless.
Thoughts?>>
Sorry but you don’t sound like a real basketball fan to me.
Basketball is the most graceful and athletic of all major sports. It combines athleticism, skill, intelligence, toughness both physical and mental into an exciting and beautiful sport weather it is on the playgrounds or hardwood.
To the true basketball fan, no game is meaningless.
@Mike:
Relax, buddy. I don’t think you can call QuickDarshan’s fandom into question. The guy is a legacy here, having been around for years– through every off-season and regular season alike. He’s one of our own and he’s proven his understanding of this game and passion for it in comment after comment.
Plus, QD likes slam-dunk shots.
Also, QD is right. Take Boston for instance. They clinched the playoffs on March 5, making the last month and a half (23 games, 28% of the season) literally meaningless. Still, the Hawks made the playoffs with 37 wins and the Celtics got their 38th win in February on their 47th game of the season. So they could have forfeited their final 35 games of the season (or 43 percent of the season) and still made the playoffs. Then they went on to play 26 playoff games which spanned the period of almost two full months.
They started making fantasy playoff final games on week 16 instead of 17 because every year the Tom Bradys, Peyton Mannings, Tony Romos are done sit. Well the Celtics had the playoffs wrapped up in Feburary. KG went from playing 37 mpg and being a valuable fantasy player in November to nearly worthless in the second half of the season, playing 29 mpg and being overly cautious returning from injury. Or in other words, a week 17 that lasts two months.
So the point is that I agree with QD that the NBA’s season is not conducive to fantasy. And that I spend too much time avoiding work at work.
Fantasy baseball and basketball came before fantasy football.
Fantasy football has been such a phenomenon because you can track your team in real-time. It makes you feel like you are playing an actual game.
It also has a large luck factor built in, which attracts newer players. In basketball, if a guy sucked last year, he’ll probably suck this year, too.
i think qd was talking about the general populace. certainly the fantasy football phenomenon has only helped the nfl become more popular. reason would suggest if the nba became as conducive to fantasy scenarios as the nfl, its popularity would increase as well. and let’s face it, outside of these dbb walls, nba enthusiasm isn’t at an all-time high.
“i think qd was talking about the general populace. certainly the fantasy football phenomenon has only helped the nfl become more popular. reason would suggest if the nba became as conducive to fantasy scenarios as the nfl, its popularity would increase as well. and let’s face it, outside of these dbb walls, nba enthusiasm isn’t at an all-time high.”
Exactly.