The Return, The Reign, and The Redemption

Fellow NBA fans, we have a lot to look forward to this season! We have the return of a long awaited player with some credentials and a lot to prove, we have the returning champions with a king set to defend his throne, and last but not least we have a player coming back to put their city on their back and fight for a sixth championship. We are talking about none other than Derrick Rose, Lebron James, and Kobe Bryant.

Oh Chicago, how sweet it will be to not have to rely on Joakim Noah to carry your team, lol sorry even I laughed at the thought of Noah carrying anything. Back on topic, we finally have it, the long awaited return of Derrick Rose! To put into perspective how long awaited this is, Kevin Ware, the NCAA player who broke his leg to the point where the bone was exposed out of the skin during march madness, was back to playing basketball before Derrick Rose  returned from a knee injury. Yeah, I am not so sure how great Rose will be, he started off a preseason game 1 and 5 from the free throw line, and while he did seem to improve throughout the game, I have to think he will struggle when he gets hammered from major regular season defense, coming off a 17 month hiatus. He did get good feedback from his coach and teammates and opposing players and coach, however when he left the game in the third quarter he immediately went to ice both knees on the sidelines. This doesn't look very hopefully for the Bulls, especially when they find themselves in tough games where they will rely on Rose to pull them through with high scoring performances, like when they play the Pacers or the Heat, he will need to be 100%, but the question is, can he ever be 100% again? Granted D-Wade suffers with these problems but he is also a few years older, has three rings, and quite a supporting cast for a team, Rose doesn't have that benefit so the pressure really is on him. I think the best game plan for Rose this year will be a "slow and steady approach" if he comes out too aggressive he could reinjure his knee and cost himself his career.

Now moving onto to my favorite person to write about,the one and only Lebron James. He is
coming into this season off a newlywed high and his sights set on a three-peat, but the question is, can he do it? Well, when you think about the fact that he is coming back to the same strong and experienced team that he has seen two championships with now, a 3-peat seems likely. However, I am not going to sit here and act like this is going to be easy for them. The Heat struggle against teams defensively on the perimeter, we saw this in every game against the Pacers in the playoffs and often the Heat would rely on their sure shooter Mike Miller to bail them out with his amazing jump shots, the ones that seemed impossible from the corner and sides of the court are the ones he would drain time and time again. Respectfully Miller was released per the amnesty clause from Miami this season but his assets to the team will not be downplayed or forgotten. Lebron wouldn't have any of his rings if it weren't for Miller or Battier. While Miller leaving is a tough loss for the Heat they did have a few off season pickups including Beasley and yes of course Oden, it is yet to be determined how these new additions will play out but for now it seems the Heat's only "ace in the hole" three point shooter will be Shane Battier, and no I am not saying that Battier is the only good perimeter shooter on the team, obviously Wade is the go-to-man but many times in tough situations, there was a sense of relief to see Miller or Battier enter the game, especially if shoes start coming off, then the game was on. Don't worry Heat fans and don't get too excited yet Heat haters,  expect to see The Heat start off this season much like they did last, they will start slow and probably lose some easy games, but as we saw last year Miami didn't really turn up the Heat until after All-Star weekend, then it was down to business.

Speaking of business, Kobe Bryant is one player entering this season who is all business and no play. He is coming off an injury that took him out late last season, not after shooting his free throws of course, Kobe has always been a man of grit and dedication I will give him that. However, while it seems his rehabilitation is coming along well, he is returning for one reason and we all know why, he wants to see that sixth championship. To me, the measure of a player is not based upon a team accomplishment like a team championship, it is based upon individual credentials like MVP awards and broken/set records which Kobe has undoubtably done. Laker fans, I know it is exciting to see Kobe return but don't expect to see the sixth 'ship for him, at least not for this year. There are far too many young, healthy, competitive teams that are going to prove very tough for the Lakers to overcome in the regular season. But I expect the Lakers to do far better without deadweight such as Howard and I hope to see some high scoring games from Kobe that they will actually win, unlike last season. He was hitting high numbers and still losing thanks to players like Howard. It will be most intersting to see how the Lakers do when Dwight and the Rockets make a Staples center appearance in February. Overall we have a lot to look forward to this season and I cannot wait!!

The wait is over, the time is now, basketball is here!

This post season has felt like a century, possibly because we didn't have the Olympics to keep us busy over the summer like we did last year wherein we saw our favorite men from the NBA dominate as usual.

Like most of you I have occupied my time trying to care about football, but aside from my college alma mater and a few other teams,I could give a crap about football. I know I won't get featured on ESPN having that attitude about football but censoring myself is gonna be hard.


Anyway diving into business. I never really got to voice my opinion about Miami acquiring Greg Oden. Do I think he will start over Bosh? Absolutely not. Will he be an asset? Possibly. Here are my concerns and aspirations for Greg Oden. I think he will be a great rotator in the late second and early third quarters for Bosh, as much as he was hot and cold last season I believe Bosh is far more athletic than Oden. It will be nice to have a Shaq type physique posted in the paint to give Bosh a break or when he needs a timeout because he's screwing up. To me, Oden is like the "Jolly green giant" he is big, and powerful appearing, but I think if he falls it will be like Jack falling from the beanstalk and he will break every bone. Now as I sit here writing this blog, I got the SportsCenter alert that Bosh had a great second half of a game to defeat the Hawks! When he's hot he is hot.

Speaking of hot, another obvious topic points to Dwight Howard. Did anyone see his game debut with the rockets against the pelicans (can't wait until they lose that name). Anyways, he actually played like he knew what he was doing and you could see some decent team cohesiveness starting to form, however, he played lazy, got a few delay of games and a goaltending charge that a 90 year old woman who has never seen the game before would call. Oh, and let's not forget his technical foul, really? A technical foul in the preseason? Glad to see nothing has changed D.

Let's talk about something that doesn't really get highlighted right off the bat, let's talk about this young talent we have entering this year! For once the Blazers may have a draft pick to be happy with, 21 ppg leading all the rookies,  with 4 rebounds and 3 assists per game Mr. CJ McCollum. If it plays out the way I foresee it, you will be seeing him play off-the-ball opposite of Lillard. If this works they could be the youngest most exciting back courts in the league this year! Don't expect to see him playing very much tho, he will be more of an off the bench option for the trailblazers but it will be exciting to see him run the point a few times if the coach finds opportunities in the regular season to do so. However my Portland fans, don't expect another ROY run for your team, I don't think he will get enough playing time to make a run for this award. Cody Zeller is on my radar for ROY, especially if he can see the Bobcats to more than 7 wins in a season, yikes challenge accepted.

Two months left unil pre-seaon, let the countdown begin

I haven't posted in this blog since this time last summer but I have been having basketball withdrawals and I am getting back into this blogging business. This will solely from now on be just basketball.

With that being said, this time last year we had the honor of watching our men win the basketball Gold Medal in the Olympics. Unfortunately we don't have that privilege this year. There are FIBA games going on but sadly we can only keep up with that via social networking. I am also not a lucky owner of NBATv so I can't even watch re-runs. So where does that leave us? Well that leaves us obsessing over trades, trade rumors, new team rosters, and predicting the 2013 season.

So let's get into it.

We will start off with Americas sweetheart, Dwight Howard. If you look closely at my previous posts everything I predicted about the Howard/Kobe matchup became true. They were not able to be teammates, Howard's attitude overshadowed his talent and when things started to not go Dwight's way, what did he do? Bricked for his team time and time again.  No matter how much Kobe came through for his team they just could not get into a winning rhythm, which is proof that no matter how good of an individual player you are, if you do not have the supporting cast on your team you will not succeed. Lebron's success is half his talent and half his supporting cast, period. Now the Howard show has moved onto Houston where he joins another All-Star lineup but the question is, how long is THIS going to last? Now I was a huge fan of Howard, until these last two seasons ruined that for me. The Lakers have gone on record trying to be the bigger person saying "Howard is one of the best centers in the league" Let's dissect this for a second, I believe he has the potential to be one of the best like he once was. I believe he fuels his bad attitudes with his own injuries as a crutch, I feel if Howard walked onto that court pissed at his team, he would throw bricks all night and watch his team sink. This last season from Howard may have been one bad apple in the bunch but it really only takes one to ruin the bunch. And now he is Houston's problem, I wonder how Lin and Harden will mesh with him? And with Camby and Asik still present on the team, is Howard a sure starter?

 

 

The summer is winding down and our beloved players only have one month before training and practices start for this new season. Looking back at this summer we can evaluate which teams or players "sank or swim" with free agencies. Now Greg Oden and Niokla Pekovic are still some wildcards out there and Greg Oden has been spotted in meetings with Miami head Coach Spo, but let's not even open up that shit show.

 

First we have Brandon Jennings who seemed to be invisible to most teams but Detroit picked him up with a decent 4-year $24-million contract that he is well worth, and though he has been compared to Rondo we can't forget that Jennings is a little lack on the percentage of long-range 2's which sinks him a little bit compared to Rondo. That being said I do think this addition to the Pistons will be a good one.

 

It isn't payer related but Doc Rivers to the Clippers is a great move, Blake Griffin needs some coaching direction, his jumpers on the court are looking a little lazy, I have felt this season Griffin has been playing on borrowed time, just my opinion but I think Doc can get the ball rolling for the clippers offensively.  

 

I am tired now and have so many more teams and trades so they will have to wait.

Lebron Doing It Again?

First of all, I have got to address the fact that I have not posted in this thing for a long time.  Another season started and let me re-cap my predictions, I believe if you look at my previous posts about this Nash-Howard-Bryant trifecta I predicted it was going to be a shit show and surprise surprise I was right. Nash should have just stayed or retired, he is not cohesive in the Kobe system at all. And of course we have Howard who is being Howard, I knew it wouldn't be long before their personalities clashed. Howard is too much of a super star in his own mind to play alongside someone like Kobe. Now I may not be the biggest Kobe fan out there but he needs his props, he has had some pretty amazing games this season scoring very high carrying his team but now you have Howard who is just playing like he doesn't care because he can leave next season. Very selfish of Howard but are we really that surprised? Nope.

Moving onto the drama in the eastern conference, let me address New York first, yes you guys beat the Heat at the beginning of the season and JR Smith had a field day with but if I have learned anything over the years watching athletes tweet trash talk is that it always comes back to bite you in the ass. Eveyone was hollering "Melo for MVP" and Melo is a great and talented player but just because you start a season off with 30+ point games that does not guarantee or qualify you for an MVP award. Melo and his Knicks team are just not consistent enough to be a big threat for Miami in the playoffs or for Lebron in the MVP battle, and I think last night Lebron proved he he was worthy for his fourth MVP award as he dismantled a fellow contender in the race with Kevin Durant. I said it from the beginning of the season, wish I would have said it on here but the Heat were not and have not been going full throttle out there. They lost some games they should have easily won but they have just been cruising up to this point, expect after all-star weekend for them to turn it up even more on the court.

About the all-star game, if the East plays lazy like last year I will be pissed, I know most of them don't care but I do as a fan and the East should be dominating but maybe now that we don't have Howard we can play like adults and not children. Now don't get me wrong I am still a fan-ish of Howard, that guy cracks me up on and off the court I just wish he would start playing big kid ball and leave some of his fuckery attitude off the court.Follow this link to keep up on all that is going on with NBA All-Star Weekend 2013.