#24 KryBaby

Let's talk about Kobe Bryant.

At some point I'm going to have to anyway, you may have noticed my anti-Lakers' sentiment running through my previous articles. Kobe has a lot to do with that.

I respect Kobe, I really do. He's an amazing scorer, he's got a pure shot, and he's got ice in his veins. But he's exactly what has been wrong with the NBA for the past decade, and instead of him being an example of it, I'm going to push the nail in deeper and place the blame on him. After all, he's been at the head of it all.

The league has heralded Kobe as it's golden boy since he first won a title, but what has he really earned? He has 5 rings, sure... Want to know who's got 6? Robert Horry. Now tell me how much rings matter. And let's break down those 5. He won three straight with the Lakers, right? Everybody remembers that. Shaq and Kobe puttin' it down, Phil Jackson at the helm, what could go wrong? Of course they'd win three in a row. But what did Kobe do after Shaq left? Nothing. For three long years the Lakers were flat-out dismal, even with the great Kobe Bryant. I personally loved it, but that's a different story

What was it that brought the Lakers back to glory? Some would say - myself included - that it was Pau Gasol being brought into the system. After getting Gasol, the Lakers made three straight Finals appearances, winning twice. Kobe and Pau played great. In fact, Kobe played amazingly. 

And those are Kobe's five rings.

But why is it that in those three in-between years, Kobe couldn't will his team to win, the way he's always seemed to be able to do? Probably because between Shaq's and Pau's reign in the middle of the Lakers' offense, their most notable centers were Vlade Divac and Kwame Brown.

So why can't Kobe win without a center? Well, let's look at his skill set. He's an amazing shooter, and is able to score off the dribble, we know all of that. But when a team has a dependable center, the opposing team has to watch out for him the most. After all, he's the closest to the rim, he gets the easiest buckets, and he gets offensive rebounds, giving second and third chances after bad possessions, or even just misfires on good shots. A good center is key to forming a winning team.

When a team doesn't have that big man in the middle, their opposing defenses can spread themselves out a bit more, can breathe a little easier. More importantly, they can focus more on the scoring guards, like Kobe Bryant.

Some of you might (rightly) say "well Michael Jordan didn't have a great center, he was still able to win". That's very true, but not only did Michael Jordan have an amazing rebounding hustle forward named Dennis Rodman, but he was also a more complete player than is Kobe. He defended, and passed the ball. As cliche as it sounds, he made his teammates better. Who the hell is Scottie Pippin anyway? Without Jordan he's nobody. With him, he's a hall of famer. - That's not my opinion, by the way... it's a fact. Scottie Pippin is in the hall of fame.

The Kobe has been in the NBA Spotlight practically his entire career because he does exactly what people want to see. He scores, plays individual defense, and says "fuck passing, I'm Kobe Bryant." Him scoring 82 that night was just a night where he couldn't miss, he didn't play it differently than any other game. But basketball isn't all about scoring, there's a lot more at play, and a player who understands that is going to be a better help to his team.

That's all well and good though, it's an entertainment industry anyway. I just wish that we wouldn't coddle him too much, honestly. Especially with this recent injury situation. In case you haven't heard, which you probably have, Kobe recently suffered a life-threatening ankle sprain, the Lakers are yet to issue a statement as to whether Bryant will ever be able to play basketball again.

Anyway, he's blaming it on the Hawks' Dahntay Jones, saying that Jones stepped underneath him before he landed, causing Kobe to land on his foot and subsequently sprain his ankle. I'm not going to act like what Jones did was fair, that's a harsh move in basketball, but it happens. To stars like Bryant especially. It's a little rough, but you get used to it and you do it back, and you keep on taking it to them. What you don't do is cry to the audience that they're not playing fair.

And what we shouldn't do is act like he's so different from everybody else, and treat him like a player, not a star. Kobe called out the refs' decision in that game, saying that it should have been a flagrant foul, which is very strictly punished in the NBA. As Fascist as it seems, the NBA really suppresses any and all negative criticism. The Raptors coach Whatever-his-name-is got fined 25 grand for saying he's "tired of losing games because of missed calls at the end of the game." 25 Grand! Just for suggesting that NBA referees are imperfect. It makes me feel pretty good that I'm constantly writing about people being imperfect and I don't pay a damn cent.

But instead of being consistent and slapping a similar fine on Bryant for saying that the refs missed a call. In fact, the NBA issued a statement conceding to Bryant, essentially saying 'you're right, we're sorry, good job on that one buddy'. Why should he be treated differently? Next time don't kick your leg out - a move you made especially famous.

Changing Pacers

Evening basketball heads -

As I'm sure you can tell by the title, I wanted to talk about the Pacers today... Well, I didn't want to talk about the Pacers, but after last night's mini-scruff with the Warriors I thought I'd strike while the iron was hot.

I hate the Pacers. --- But don't give up on this post just yet.

They've annoyed the hell out of me as a team ever since Reggie Miller was knockin' down every shot he could to keep Jordan from his 5th and 6th rings, unsuccessfully, to my intense relief. But just because the Pacers of old made me want to break Reggie's shooting wrist, doesn't mean I don't respect the Pacers of today. I do. In fact, I see the Pacers as one of the most fundamentally sound teams in the league, and looking  at the game from a coach's perspective, I can appreciate that.

Since Reg retired a few years back I've been enjoying the opportunity to watch the likes of Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson, and Danny Granger struggle with a team as dismally landlocked in its conference's middle as its city is in the continent's. Nothing has made me happier. But within the last few years even I must admit that the Pacers have, at the very least, begun to turn things around. The main catalyst that I attribute this progress to is the change in the role of Larry Bird behind the scenes.

Bird, who obviously knows the game, took over as the team's GM a few years back (off hand I think it was around 5 years ago, but I haven't looked it up), and has since switched to the more appropriate title of "President of Basketball Operations". In the years since the team has added players like Roy Hibbert, George Hill, and Paul George, who continually give Sportscenter reason to report on the very forgettable Pacers. 

In the team's starring role, Paul George has been able to gain personal fame while still managing to work inside a team-centered system, which has contributed greatly to the team's respectable level of success, given its outstanding degree of youth and inexperience. Such inexperience sows its roots so deep in the Pacers' bench that it dips down even into the coaching staff. Led by head coach Frank Vogel, the NBA's youngest and newest coach, the Pacers work with only three players who have more than 4 years of league experience, and a roster that looks more like a who's who of college stars for the last 5 years (Tyler and Ben Hansbrough, Miles Plumlee, and Pitt-alum and my personal favorite, Sam Young).

Clearly Larry Bird has used the good head on his shoulders to screw a good head on his team's collective shoulders, and they seem more than likely to return to the playoffs and get another shot at the Heat and Bulls teams that knocked them out the past two years. Maybe 2013 is Indy's year to make it to the Finals --- although they'd have to be playing the Lakers to get my support.

The Bottom of the Barrell

Hello again,

Initially I was going to write something today about All-Star Weekend, the ups and downs and whatnot, but the only story that seems to be emerging from that is Kobe's blocked shot on LeBron, which, while I find it amazing that Bryant finally decided to play some defense, I don't find to be as incredibly interesting as does ESPN. Furthermore, I wish this weren't the case, but I don't know 2013's least disappointing dunker Terrence Ross, but I can say that this year's was an incredibly forgettable dunk contest - and that I opted not even to watch the last 2 dunks.

My next topic in line was the LA Lakers, just simply to air out all my disgust for them, but with the passing of Dr. Buss, I find it would be in bad taste. I'm not that low. I can respect the fact that he helped to bring the Lake Show to the Lake Showtime that it currently is, and so I will refrain today.

With the cupboard of topics as bare as it is, I've decided simply to give a cursory assessment of some of the Association's teams that receive less air-time than the Heat, Lakers, and Celtics. They're not as pretty, they probably won't win a championship within the next few years, but hey, somebody's gotta lose, right?

Since that's the case, and since nobody likes to be the loser, these teams have to figure out what's broken and fix it before their fan-base finally loses faith in them altogether. I'm focusing on three teams in general: the Sacramento Kings, the New Orleans Hornets, and the Toronto Raptors.

I suppose as a show of good manners, we'll let Canada have first go.

The RAPTORS are a franchise that seems to have been just scraping by for a while now. A decade ago they had Vince Carter and...... Five years ago they had Chris Bosh and........ Now they're left with a random assortment of talent and athleticism dressed in purple and black. The flash of the team is made up of their high-flyers, DeMar "Double De" DeRozan, and newcomer Terrence Ross. Dunking, to me, is like a symbol of what the NBA has become: it's flashy, it's fun, it's upbeat, but at the end of the day it's only two points, same as a kiss off the backboard or a turnaround jumper. But after all, basketball is a vertical game, and having players who can get up there is never a bad thing.

The background has a lot of youth, and seems promising. Players like Landry Fields, a smart, capable point guard, and Quincy Acy, who - undersized as a 6'7" forward - is a surprisingly talented blocker, and a fairly well-rounded defender. Scoring, however, might be an issue for Acy, as his role at Baylor was essentially a goaltender. Lastly we come to the newest Raptor, Rudy Gay. Not much needs to be said about him that Stephen A. Smith hasn't already, but I really believe Gay to be underrated. He's a 6th year man out of UConn, meaning he played under Calhoun while he was still the great Calhoun - he can recognize a good coach and can play inside a system. Not to mention he's been Memphis' man for 5 years now, so he knows what it is to carry a franchise. When it comes down to it I think the Raptors just need a coach who can pull these resources together and come up with a team that can at least give the Celtics, Bulls, or Heat a run for their money in the early playoffs.


In Chris Paul's departure, the HORNETS suffered a heavy blow that was nobody's fault but their own. A premier player like Paul can't be expected to wait on a franchise like New Orleans to get their shit together, and seeing that his contract was about to expire, management should've done everything they could to get a trade deal done before he walked out on them and left a gaping hole in their back-court - which is exactly what they need to focus on for the future. 

The Hornets had a good draft this past year, taking Unibrow Davis and Austin Rivers in the 1st Round and Kentucky's Darius Miller in the 2nd, but while Rivers might show promise as a shooting guard, he's only got Eric Gordon to bring the ball up with him, and the Hornets are going to have to have another good draft in '13 to continue improving. If they could land him (which is certainly a possibility, since Charlotte just invested their first round pick in Kemba Walker) Michigan's Trey Burke would be a smart pick, and if not, Mizzou's Phil Pressey would be a solid point man - they'd just have to hope that his passing and defensive abilities make up for his 5'11 stature. Other than that they just have to hope that the budding talent that they do have now is both able to stay healthy throughout the remainder of this season and willing to work to improve in the off-season.


That brings us to the KINGS, a franchise that seems to be dead in the water. Talks of the team moving to Seattle might really help the franchise out, providing a fan-base that's eager to make up for the loss of the Sonics/Thunder and their star in Kevin Durant. On top of that, the move might reinvigorate Sacramento's talent in players like DeMarcus Cousins, Thomas Robinson, Jimmer Fredette, and the 2nd best player ever to be named Isaiah Thomas, Isaiah Thomas.

The Kings have a lot of promise in the front-court, with Cousins, who can and needs to perform so much better than he currently is, and Robinson, who showed some promise in his senior year at Kansas as a defensive rebounder and a big man who may be able to stretch the floor a bit. His ability to hit 16 and 18 footers will leave Cousins either single or double covered in the lane, both of which he can handle, as we've seen at Kentucky.

Their back-court, though not as impressive, is young and respectable, with a good handler and passer in Thomas and a shooter in Fredette. While Jimmer may be small for a shooting guard, and seem rather specialized, he could provide for the Kings what JJ Redick and Steph Curry have been able to do for the Magic and Warriors, respectively.



Thanks for reading guys, hope you like what I've had to say so far. 

Greatest of All Time

Hello again,

For those of you who watch ESPN, whether you're like me and make a habit of watching SportsCenter on a nightly basis, or you simply put it on in flipping from channel to channel, you've probably noticed that the last few weeks have centered around the semi-centennial birthday of the great Michael Jordan.

In lieu of this utterly momentous event (it's difficult to portray sarcasm through the written word, but I'm hoping you're staying with me) we've seen countless clips of some of his greatest moments, and little vignettes documenting his impact on the game narrated by Common and others rando's voices aren't as awesome as Common's. This doesn't bother me at all - who doesn't enjoy reminiscing about His Airness, the great Jordan?

What does bother me is all of the comparison that's been going on around this network-created holiday. 'Is LeBron at the level of Jordan?' 'If not now, will LeBron ever be at the level of Jordan?' 'Will we ever see another Great One ascend, and meet the expectations set upon them, since people like Vince Carter, Tracy MacGrady, Sebastian Telfair, and countless others have fallen short?'

Who really cares? Ultimately, Jordan was Jordan, and that was all he needed to be.

He's generally recognized as the greatest, but for what reason? His game wasn't all-around the greatest out there. He was a great scorer, of course; he was an amazing dunker, sure; but what about other categories? Bill Russell was arguably the best blocker the game's ever seen. Wilt was definitely the most dominant player the game's ever seen (he averaged 50 pts/gm one season...... AVERAGED). They may not have been the best in their respective areas of expertise, but John Stockton was a much better passer than Jordan, and Walt Frazier was just as impressive a defender, if not more so.

All that being said, I still believe Jordan was and is the best of all time, as I'm sure most of you do, so do stats or figures even really matter? Or is it all about the mystique? No doubt Jordan has that air of divinity; that legendary feel. Maybe it was his 6-0 record in the Finals... with 6 Finals MVPs under his belt (holy shit) or his astounding dunk contest wins, but whatever it was, Jordan had it, and simply the fact that these things have stood out to us above all else and for so long shows that he earned every accolade he's been given.

Personally, I refuse to compare the NBA's past with its present, simply because I don't think it matters. If you're just realizing that LeBron is the best the league's seen since Jordan because Mike Wilbon and Skip Bayless are finally saying it, you're a few years behind, and if you honestly put Kobe in the equation you're probably just a die-hard Lakers fan who doesn't understand Kobe's many short-comings (MANY shortcomings, but that's a conversation for another post).

The fact of the matter is, and I'll repeat from above, Jordan was Jordan was Jordan was Jordan. All his in-game achievements aside, he sold tickets, he sold sneakers, he sold Gatorade, he sold the Association, and his contribution to everything that the game now consists of is immense.

So honestly ESPN, I see that your intentions are good, but there's no need to compare every phenomenon we see in present day with those we've seen in the past - and all of this talk about him turning 50 is simply painting him as this aged shade of what he once was. If I were him, I wouldn't appreciate it, no matter how much flattery they threw my way in the process.

Welcome

Hello all,

For those of you who are like me - who love the game of basketball; who recognize the levels of talent and skill that dominate the NBA, who recognize that the NBA is among the worst-organized sports associations in the world (yes, the world) yet can't so easily quit the thrill of seeing such an exciting sport played at its highest and most beautiful level - I'm writing this blog.

I decided to start this simply out of a love and respect for the game of basketball. For those of you who don't know me or my story, I grew up around basketball. I was in the gym from the time I was 4 years old, maybe younger, trying to dribble a ball that was as big as my torso, and watching my dad coach teams of largely untalented and selfish young men into fluid, cohesive units that would go on to win sectional, regional, and state championships.

But this blog isn't about myself, nor my dad - truthfully those accomplishments aren't all that special, though they'll forever hold a place in my own heart. This is about the spark that those memories lit in me - a white-hot, burning love and respect for the game. A game that can simultaneously look so rehearsed, so orchestrated, and still so effortless.

The NBA has come to a point of utter ridiculousness. Blanched with selfish, flashy players, impotent coaches, and a commissioner who cares more about finding out just how full his pockets can get than he does about the satisfaction of his fans, the Association has become the laughing stock of American sports, falling sub-par to its contemporaries in the NHL and MLS, to say nothing of Major League Baseball or the ever-fattening cash cow that is the NFL.

In this blog I intend to address the hot topic issues around the NBA today, giving my own opinions on teams and players as I see them: purely as a fan. After all, it is just a sport - it's purely entertainment, but those of you who enjoy the entertainment the way I do; who feel such allegiance to your favorite teams or players that it seems that you personally hold stake in their success; who feel the pain of a wasted season after watching your team lose in game 7, you know it's so much more than simple entertainment. It's a lifestyle, and you love it.