Oden

Can you imagine if he averaged 34 minutes instead of 24. Man's a beast. He needs to learn how to follow less.

To me, the fact that he can make freethrows, means he has a chance of being better than howard. I see him as a future DOP. But, only if he can stay on the floor.

The real Iran?!

A Hamed Haddadi sighting. The Clippers broadcasters got suspended one game for this exchange. Kinda humorous

Smith began a 40-second exchange by saying, 'Look who's in?" Lawler then answered, "Hamed Haddadi. Where's he from?" The exchange continued as follows:

Smith: "He's the first Iranian to play in the NBA."

Lawler: "There aren't any Iranian players in the NBA."

Smith: "He's the only one."

Lawler: "He's from Iran?"

Smith: "I guess so."

Lawler: "That Iran?"

Smith: Yes.

Lawler: "The real Iran?"

Smith: "Yes."

Lawler: "Wow. Haddadi -- that's H-A-D-D-A-D-I."

Smith: "You're sure it's not Borat's older brother?"

Smith: "If they ever make a movie about Haddadi, I'm going to get Sacha Baron Cohen to play the part."

Lawler: "Here's Haddadi. Nice little back-door pass. I guess those Iranians can pass the ball."

Smith: "Especially the post players.

Lawler: "I don't know about their guards."

A viewer apparently complained about the exchange and later received an apology from Fox Sports.

hou-atl

I liked the last play of their game. All the rockets stood there dumbfounded, except, of course, for Battier. He was the only person that knew that game wasn't over. His team finally ran down court after he told them too; but..too late.

Of course, 00.7 is not a lot of time; but it's doable.

p.s. tough loss, i am not trying to pour salt.

port v atl-refs?

I have never seen so many blown calls; and they were, each one, in favor of the hawks (roughly 8). If hwaks win this here.. A wide variety of blown calls, too.

Whoa! overtime.

Outlaw etymology

i was curious.

"This is quite a rare, and certainly a very interesting English medieval surname. It would appear to mean what it says and describe 'an outlaw', one who lived outside of the community, either by choice or edict. This at first glance would seem to be confirmed by the original recordings of Alan le Utlage in the Tax Rolls known as the 'Feet of Fines' for the county of Essex in 1230, and Robert Outlawe in the Subsidy Tax rolls of the county of Sussex in 1327. However in both cases it will be seen that these are recorded in tax registers. It does not take a brilliant mind to realise that the authorties would hardly be in a position to tax a person who was outside of their jurisdiction, and even less that the person concerned, should he even receive 'The Final Demand', would then actually pay it! The tales of Robin Hood, the most famous of all outlaws, are all about robbing the sheriffs, who were the tax collectors. The thought of actually paying them, would surely raise a wry smile to your average neighbourhood outlaw. Strangely perhaps this surname is almost certainly a nickname or even a personal name, for an actor. In that it is similar to surnames such as Bishop, King or Pope, and describe one who played the part of a bishop, king, pope or outlaw, in the travelling theatres of the period."

The Internet Surname Database

palming

jeebus, detroit has been called for palming 6 times, by the end of the 3rd. I have never seen that. I'm not contesting the calls; i can't tell on my monitor.

Afflalo

I'm watching last night's Den-LAL game.

And i'm stoked cause i just found out one of my favorite (former) Pistons is a stater now. For a team like Denver, no less! Arron Afflalo. For those that forget him, he is a defensive specialist and occasional jump shooter. When he got traded to Denver, i was concerned he would get buried on the bench.

Ben Wallace

..is good again.

I had thought he was falling off into decrepit-old-man'ness the last couple years. So far his D has been very good; better than it has been since he left detroit. Check out steals, blocks, and rebounds.: 1.5, 1.5, 9.5.

Crooked?

Degenerate Gambler turned tattle-tale or just looking for more money to blow at the craps table?

http://deadspin.com/5392067/

The NBA threatened to sue the publisher so it's been pulled for now.

Wasn't that military-dude from a couple years back supposed to change things? Is he a company-man now?

Was anyone else actually disappointed when they resigned the agreement with the old refs? I completely ready to deal with crappy officiating for most of this season if it meant less BS down the road...

Who is the most improved team this season?

Here are some teams that seem to have improved:

Orlando got:
Matt Barnes
Brandon Bass
Vince Carter
Jason Williams

and they lost:
Rafer Alston
Tony Battie
Courtney Lee
Hidayet Turkoglu

The Blazers got:
Juwan Howard
Andre Miller
Ime Udoka

and they lost:
Channing Frye
Sergio Rodriguez

The Cavs got:
Coby Karl
Jamario Moon
Shaquille O'Neal
Leon Powe

and they lost:
Tarence Kinsey
Aleksandar Pavlovic
Joe Smith
Ben Wallace

The Spurs got:
Keith Bogans
Richard Jefferson
Antonio McDyess
Theo Ratliff

and lost:
Bruce Bowen
Drew Gooden
Fabricio Oberto
Kurt Thomas
Ime Udoka


Honestly, I'm thinking Blazers. They barely gave up anything and got 3 quality guys. Tough
to ignore the Cavs tho. And the (not listed) Celtics. I like what the spurs did, but it's tough to see it as too much of a step up since they lost such solid guys.

What do you guys think?

bucketology

Beasley picked on Diawara because of his deep French accent. Diawara, a Pepperdine grad, shot back: “I’m an educated man. Put Pepperdine against wherever you went, college dropout. Did you even stay long enough to major?” Beasley, who spent one season at Kansas State before leaving to become the No. 2 overall pick in the 2008 draft, didn’t hesitate. “Yeah, I had a major. My major was Bucketology. You don’t know about that. I mastered in getting buckets.” Miami Herald

jordan's trainer..

And yet there’s no magic to Grover’s formula. It demands immense work. That’s why Michael Jordan thrived with him and why Kobe and D-Wade do now. Those are the trainer’s three clients for the ages, the standards for everyone else. And he must admit: Arenas surprised him a little this summer. Grover knew he was a great scorer, but ultimately unsure he had the capacity for completeness. “I put Gil right up there with those guys, if not pretty damn close behind,” he said. “All the things he can do – and he showed – I never knew he had all that.”



man, if jordan, kobe, and dwade's trainer is the same guy, and he says THAT about arenas... dang man...

More instant replay

Referees will now be permitted to use instant replay in the following situations:

• To determine at any point during the game whether a 24-second shot clock violation occurred prior to the release of a successful field goal attempt or prior to a foul being committed.

• To determine during the last two minutes of regulation play and the last two minutes of any overtime period which player last touched the ball prior to it going out-of-bounds or whether the ball was last touched simultaneously by two opponents.

article

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I alright with that.

neat pic

Manut-7foot7
Muggsy-5foot3

you talking about that eating Vaseline thing. You can't teach retarded.

ummm...

youtube stephon marbury.


wtf

shaq attack

NBA star Shaquille O'Neal is getting ready to multitask. The four-time hoops champion, who joins the Cleveland Cavaliers next season, will star in Shaq Vs., an ABC reality series that pits him against top athletes in their own sports. Filming begins Wednesday in Pittsburgh, where Shaq takes on Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in football. Future hour-long episodes will pit him against Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, retired boxer Oscar De La Hoya, St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols, tennis pro Serena Williams and beach volleyball Olympians Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh


Pretty cool idea. retired boxer oscare de la hoya best be careful though. if shaq even lands one hit, he may be in big trouble.

Varejao

Varejao agreed on a six-year contract worth up to $50 million.


Does that seem like too much for Varejao to you guys? 8+ million a year? Seems high to me. Maybe i underestimate him.

Rockets Rumor

Houston Trades: Tracy McGrady, Carl Landry and Shane Battier
Gets: Amare Stoudemire and Jason Richardson

Phoenix Trades: Amare Stoudemire and Jason Richardson
Gets: Tracy McGrady, Carl Landry and Rudy Fernandez

Portland Trades: Rudy Fernandez
Gets: Shane Battier

What are your thoughts on this trade?

spurs get mcdyess!

how does tom feel about this? i'm sure yer a big fan of antonio, since he gave you so many valuable minutes, but isn't it a little better to have him on a team that you can combine with his name so easily. san antonio mcdyess? come on its like it was destined to happen.

but seriously, with the additions of RJ and mcdyess the spurs are looking ok right now. all i could think when they picked up RJ was "man! why don't they get someone decent to back timmy up?! if they've got room on that roster, thats who they need to get!"
and now this. i like the move. i dont know if it makes them LAL calibur, but i like the move.

what about you guys?