Real life is keeping me away, but here are some quick links for the Monday afternoon perusal:
- FanHouse colleague Nate Jones is an unabashed Lakers fan, and he attended Friday’s game in LA against the Pistons. His entire recap of the game is worth reading, but I chuckled when I read this:
But probably the most surprising aspect of the Pistons’ performance last night was the production from Kwame Brown. I sat right under the Pistons’ second half goal and got to see Kwame actually catch the ball, gather himself and dunk the ball one handed. Did you hear that Lakers fans? KWAME BROWN DUNKED THE BALL WITH ONE HAND! And he did it about three times in the second half. That is not the Kwame Brown that Lakers fans came to know and hate. They were used to the one that threw cake and air balled lay ups. I have a feeling that Rasheed has been working on him on his post work, because the guy actually looked serviceable on the offensive end last night.
- In case you haven’t been paying attention, yes, Rasheed has been working with Kwame. Here’s the video proof, and here’s the requisite blockquote:
“Rasheed is a veteran guy who’s constantly talking to you the whole time,” said Brown, who played 28 minutes Friday. ” ‘Sheed is a great leader — a lot of people don’t know that. He has weird ways of showing his emotion, but as far as basketball player and getting guys in the right spot, he does that better than anybody, and he’s constantly talking, constantly helping you out.”
- Mark Cuban … WTF?
- Shaq’s post-game explanation for trying to maim Rodney Stuckey (emphasis mine):
“When you understand the laws of physics like I do, the laws of physics state that a body in motion stays in motion,” Shaq said. “So when you have two objects that meet in the air, the smaller object is gonna fall much harder at the same rate of speed. I’ve never been the type of player to take anybody out. I was going for the ball, little guy ran into a brick wall, and you know, he fell, and he added a little bit to the end.
Stuckey added something? He fell chest first from seven or eight feet in the air and nearly suffered whiplash trying not to let his face hit the floor. And he added something? Yeah, it’s called a bruise.
- Whither the Baby Eater?
“Curry established roles for his bench players coming out of camp but the loss of Antonio McDyess has forced him to change things up on a nightly basis. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the reduced minutes for Jason Maxiell. He was their best reserve last season and now he’s only playing 11 or 12 minutes a game, even with the lack of frontcourt depth. Makes you wonder whether locking Maxiell up for four more seasons at the start of the season was a wise move.”
- Just in case you ever wondered what the Pistons looked like as Charlie Brown characters …
Mark Cuban…he just never gets any breaks with the refs…
Shaq doesn’t understand physics like I do. Bodies in motion do stay in motion, but the law that explains why little Rodney Stuckey would move so much faster (not at “the same rate of speed”) than Shaq away from a collision is the conservation of momentum. The conservation of jackass flagrancy applies to the domain after such a collision, sending Shaq in the direction of the locker room and the Pistons to the line.
Best part of the Cuban article? This:
“His turn last year on the reality television show “Dancing with the Stars” gave him a high public profile, but he and his professional partner were eliminated after a poor showing in the samba.”
Hopefully he pulls through, though. I’m sure he’s made some “shrewd” business moves, but he has always seemed like a regular guy who just happens to be a millionaire. Maybe I’m a sucker for falling for his schtick, but I think he’s been good for a lot of organizations.
I like how PHX’s announcers started to justify Shaq’s actions after Stuckey started taking the ball to hoop more aggressively. Because he was “throwing his body around” and every time he would get fouled he would be on the ground anyway. smh.
Nobody really believes cuban would engage in insider trading for 700 hundy k right? He’s worth a billion. Would you steal a lollipop from a convenience store? It’s the same order of magnitude for him.
I’m surprised so many people would take Amare over Boozer. I’ve always found Amare to be soft and his scoring is inflated by Nash getting him so many chippies.
I think it is way past time to trade Amir.
Dumars is paying him $3.7 million this year to sit and the end of the bench and collect DNP’s. They are paying $4 million this year for their starting center.
So I think that the Pistons should trade Amir for someone like Paul Davis who could back up Kwame. If the Pistons resign Dyess than better to let Davis sit at the end of the bench than Amir.
Time to trade him. The 4 year experiment has not worked and it is highly unlikely that it ever will.
I think that either Amir or J-Max or maybe both will be traded next offseason. They will both be earning perfect trade money, both are young, and both have room for improvement. Yes, Maxiell can still improve.
Is it just me, or does Tay look like Obama on that DVD cover?
Paul Davis?
are you high?
jesus christ
I like the idea of trading Amir and a proven commodity and picks for a star, but not another slog coming off the bench whose happy riding the pine.
“Yo Paul, you a slog”
That sounds like a skit from 3 feet high and rising.
Piston_nerd: this is why:
http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/comments/this_is_the_gamechanger/