Yao's out. :(

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AgqYIyT_4mMgSOAJpCSYOZS8vLYF?slug=ap-rockets-yao&prov=ap&type=lgns

"Clanton said there was no specific event that led to the injury, but rather an “accumulation of stresses on the bone. Yao first experienced soreness and pain in his ankle before the All-Star game and tests were done Monday when the situation didn’t seem to be improving."

So, basically he's been playing with a broken foot for a little while. crazy.

I'm thinking we can only expect 3 or 4 more years of watching Yao play. This foot problem isn't going away.

Brent Barry, who whats some?

According to what i heard on tv during the Pistons game today, all of the following people have called Barry to talk about him playing with them:

Shaq, Nash, Mcgrady, Ming, Dirk, and Kidd. They also named other teams that are interested in him, like Boston.

Dang, what a pimp. Thats gotta be cool to have all the contenders' stars calling you. I would make them do things. You know, imply that you'll join their team if they if they fulfill rediculous requests. You don't actually have to join them, cause you only 'implied.'

Devil Tracy?

Maybe Tracy's recent play can be because he sold his soul.

Projected Playoff rankings

The Hollinger Power Rankings are a measure of each team's performance in the season so far.
Based on those rankings, each day the computer plays out the remainder of the season 5,000 times to see the potential range of projected outcomes. The results reveal the most likely win-loss record for each team -- and how likely it is for each team to make the playoffs, win the NBA title, win the lottery, and so on.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/playoffodds

Shmevland

I think it is funny Clevland was part of an 11 man trade, and they still didn't get a point guard.
Asfar as guards go, they sent away Hughes and added Delonte West. So is West gonna start point? They confuse me so much. What exactly was their thought on this. Not that hughes is really a PG, I'm just saying, neither is West.

As it is, Lebron sets up all his baskets, and all of everyone's elses.
They need someone else to do the setting up.

Rambling, Gambling, Shambling along

Hello you fine folks. My first post of this season. Kind of pathetic, but suffice to say, I've got a lot of crap on my plate.

Anyways, I'm very stoked about the rest of the season and tonight’s LAL PHX game is huge!! For me, this game has got more drama than any NBA game in a long time. sure there were the Heat Laker games a few years ago that they hyped so much, but everybody knew that the Lakers couldn't compete. But now Shaq vs Kobe really means something.

I'm just amazed that Phx, LAL, and Dallas all went from having a lot of talent, to having a scary amount of talent.

I'm loving the way the playoff picture is shaping up. Every matchup in the west is marvelous. Although the East is still sucking, at least it's got some heft at the top. I think the C's or the Pistons would be formidable opponents for anybody and make a legitimately compelling Finals. Sorry bron bron and DHow.

My money is still on KG and crew to win it all, but man it all just got a lot more interesting this past month.

Revised Upcoming Schedules

Tom didn't like my % crunch, so I'm going to display the upcoming schedules a different way.

I'll group the opponents by winning %, road games and east teams.

If you have a better way of determining difficulty of schedule, let me know (Tom).

Look inside to see how it faired.

(Good thing I kept those Excel sheets)

New Rankings

Easiest to Hardest


Lakers
Houston
Dallas
San Antonio
Pheonix
Utah
New Orleans

Keep that order in mind. It could be the playoff rankings =)

Except that Utah would go third cause the seeding formula is still messed up (plug in Jimi rant here)

Is Kobe done?

Sounds like his finger is pretty messed up. Doctors say it requires surgury, but he doesn't want to miss the rest of the season.

Byron Scott said something interesting. In his day, opponents would swipe at injured fingers on purpose. Especially if they had protective garb. He said the NBA isn't as rough today though. Still, it should be a concern.

What do ya'll think? Will he be productive the rest of the season?

Upcoming Schedules

Here I try to determine the difficulty of remaining schedule for some interesting teams.

I've found the Strength of Schedule on ESPN.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/stats/rpi?season=2008&sortColumn=sos

However, I can't seem to find strength of remaining schedule.

What I don't understand is how Boston Detroit and Pheonix can be so far down there yet be so high in the power rankings. Meh

If anyone wants to do a team, just post it in here. Anything else that goes into difficutly?

Without further ado, from hardest to easiest...

Suns
Hornets
Spurs
Rockets
Mavs
Lakers
Jazz

Suns schedule looks tough!

Peja - The Yugoslavian Sharp Shooter

I know Jake is always going off on Steve Nash and his shooting percentages.

I don’t know how much you guys have looked at Peja Stojakovic. This season he’s shooting 47.8% three-pointers as compared to Nash’s 46.6%. Not only that, but he attempts 6.3 three-pointers a game compared to Nash’s 4.7.

I think that’s the most incredible part. That he can put up that many 3’s and still have such a high percentage. Because while Jason Kapono’s 51% three-pointers is impressive he only takes 1.9 a game.

What else is crazy is that Peja is 6-10!

And Ray Allen… He’s shooting 37.5% from 3-point land this season. In fact, the best he’s ever shot three-pointers is 43.4%. Maybe he got the “sweet shot” moniker because he attempts a lot of them. He had a season where he attempted 8.4 three-pointers a game!

The Least

A long time champion and apologist for the East, I never thought I would dedicate a thread to how much the East sucks. But here I go:)

I have always felt like people are pretty retarded with the 'easy' Conference jokes. While, for a while now, the West has been better than the East 1 through 8. I thought the West was way-overcredited and the East way undercredited.

But this year, I don't think people are being hard enough on the East. They are soooooo shitty. Aside from Detroit and Boston, I see all Isotopes. I mean, props to magic really. They just aren't a Finals quality team yet. But, they are improving at a nice pace each year.
But the rest is sadness.

We(East) should have been much better this year. But, most our best teams got decidedly worse this year.

Heat--Champs two years ago, now worst team in NBA.
Nets--One of the two teams that most picked to take East this year (before season began).
Bulls--The other team. Both these teams were supposed to be better this year than last.
Toronto--I guess Toronto is chugging along nicely. They aren't so bad, just not so good either. I suppose Toronto along with Orlando are improving teams, and that is fine. Still Isotopes though.
Orlando--Not an embarresing team at all. If they were any better at all, i wouldn't consider them Isotopes.
Knicks--No failed expectations here, just a bloody awful, god-damned, nightmare.
Indiana--A team that was very tough just a few years ago. Not long ago, they seemed like a longterm detroit rival.
Washington--This team maybe would have been better with their best player. Injuries can't be helped, so this team is not dissapointing. But, at the same time they are. Cause , i was counting on them to have a much better record after last season. Still, not their fault, i guess.
The rest of the teams were already bad, and them being bad again is no surprise.

If you look at the diff rankings this week. The East are 1 and 2. But the West are like 3-12. I mean, @#$%!!!.

Anyway, since i brought up 1 and 2. Thank God for them. Boston and Detroit look great. No matter how bad the East is, we still have as good of a chance at the Championship as the West with those guys around.

Mid Season Highlights and predictions

What are your Mid season highlights?

Who will win the dunk contest?

Who will be the MVP?

Coach of the year?

And, of course, what will the playoff picture be.

Didn't know Korvor was so leet?

Jazz were 17-16 before they got Korvor. They are 15-2 since. Is that a coincidence, or is this the benefits of spreading the floor more with 3s? Just curious.

I founda funny picture of Korvor for this, but can't get it to stick.

Shaq for Marion?!?!

What the hell was Steve Kerr thinking? Shaq is done! Marion is still throwing up crazy numbers. I just can't believe it.

On the other hand, I am happy to see Pheonix get crappier. Guess this is a good step towards balancing the conferences. All they need to do now is get Timmy over there and the finals might mean something again. Burn!

had to do it

Gasol to L.A Lakers!!!

http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/080201gasol_trade.html

"The Lakers will also receive the Grizzlies second round draft choice in 2010. In exchange Memphis will receive forward Kwame Brown, guard Javaris Crittenton, guard Aaron McKie (who the Lakers signed earlier today), the draft rights to Marc Gasol and first round picks in 2008 and 2010. "

Wow! Just Wow! Thats pretty exciting, and seems like the biggest thing LA lost were draft picks. Isn't Kwame the one that always messes up?

So what do you think LAs Finals chances are now? Seems to me about as good as anyone if they are healthy. What with SA slumping, Dallas being Dallas, and LA always plays Pheonix well it seems. I don't know. Course can't forgbet the hornets, but since they are never ever ever televised, i dont' even know how they play, except that they win.

One last thing, Who the heck is Marc Gasol? Paul's younger brother?

This picture is awesome

I don't know if everyone has seen this picture but it's awesome.

Shaq meets Earl Boykins.

It almost looks fake and I suppose it could be but I imagine that the Heat and Nuggets played each other at some point.

Decide for yourself I guess. Shaq is listed at a lean 7'1", 325 lbs and Boykins is listed at a mighty 5'5", 133 lbs.

That makes Shaq 20 inches taller and almost 200 pounds heavier!

I bet Boykins could run between Shaq's big dumb legs.

Just a mini post

I found this factoid and thought it was pretty interesting:

Since 1999 every NBA Finals has featured either Tim Duncan or Shaquille O'Neal.

Now Tom go ahead and say something about how Shaq is as good as Tim Duncan. :)

On another note. The player with the best efficiency rating this year...

Not KG

Not Timmy

Not Steve

It's......LeBron who boasts a 30.4 Eff rating. Next is Dwight Howard for all you Dwight haters and third is KG.