Last time Chris Webber was a free agent, I wrote about how Chris Webber would not make a big difference wherever he landed. Then the Pistons signed him and rattled off a mess of wins. Now he's honing in on Golden State, and I'm inclined to think the same thing again. Don Nelson disagrees, however.
The web lets you see things you never used to get to see. Like Sonic fans planning their protests at the All-Star Game. They're collecting money to have a plane fly a banner over New Orleans urging the NBA to prevent the current ownership from taking the SuperSonics away from Seattle.
What would happen if Lawrence Frank was replaced in New Jersey? The Newark Star-Ledger's Dave D'Alessandro can see the hypothetical future: "The next guy -- either B-Hill or Cartwright, more than likely -- will force-feed Marcus Williams as many minutes as possible, just in case they are facing the doomsday scenario. The new guy will play Jamaal Magloire for a few minutes. The new guy will lock Sean Williams in the gym until he memorizes how they want to defend the damn screen/roll. The new guy will probably scale back the motion stuff. And the new guy will probably be more insistent that some people -- OK, Carter -- either defend or watch somebody else do it, which was Sam Mitchell's M.O. back in '04. Then the team will get the New Coach Bounce, play well for a game or two, and then punch out early on him like they do this guy. And Thorn will get a really pissy phone call from Ratner, who will ask him why the hell he is paying somebody $9 million for the next two years just to stay home. Here are the only questions you really need to ask: Is a coaching change really going to make J-Kidd play harder? Is a coaching change really going to make VC play smarter? Is a coaching change really going to get Krstic back sooner? The answer to each is: Dude, seriously."
Kansas City Chiefs' tight end Tony Gonzalez has a record-setting season after becoming a vegan with the help of a former Clippers strength coach Jon Hinds. Hinds had some solid advice about bread: "After a preseason practice, he accompanied Mr. Hinds to learn a skill he believed as important as blocking techniques: how to shop for groceries. Mr. Hinds showed him nutritious fish oils and how to pick out breads dense with whole grains, nuts and seeds. 'The best bread for you,' says Mr. Hinds, 'is if I hit you with it, it hurts.'"
Eva Longoria tells the English press that sometimes when her husband is flopping around on the court, looking hurt, he is merely acting to get a call. Whoops.
Kevin Arnovitz of ClipperBlog on Tim Thomas: "Tim Thomas plays like an efficient low-post power forward in the Clippers' halfcourt, but he's physically manhandled on the defensive end on a night when the Clippers desperately need him to play up to his size. With Thomas, though, it's as much mind as it is body. We see it on the game's very first possession, when he leaves Gay alone on the perimeter to pick up a diving Darko Milicic. We see it on the second possession when he slides off Gay again to become the third Clipper to collapse on a driving Mike Miller. And on the third possession - remember, Gay already has five points in the first 90 seconds - he barely puts up a hand to challenge Gay's 20-foot set shot. I know it's unseemly to lambaste a guy who chips in 23 points on 10-13 shooting, but any informed critique of this game - one in which an average offensive team minus its best offensive player achieves - has to conclude that Tim Thomas makes it all possible with one of the worst individual defensive performances of recent memory."
Jason Friedman of the Houston Press: "Houston needs to brace itself for the possibility of a continued dry spell. The Rockets' young talent offers hope, but the road through the wild west won't be getting any easier. The old guard-San Antonio, Dallas, and Phoenix-is still steady, despite showing a few cracks. Meanwhile, the kids in New Orleans, Portland, and L.A. are growing up in a hurry. Is it possible that the window for the Yao-McGrady combo has already slammed shut?"
Mark Cuban, on Blog Maverick: "This year is shaping up to be a crazy one. A 5 or 6 game losing streak and any of the 4 teams who have had the best record in the west over the past month could find themselves out of the playoffs. This scenario is not lost on players or fans. ... For the remainder of this season, EVERY game is important. Every team will have their up and down streaks simply because its going to be hard to play playoff quality basketball for 40 games. Back to back games in the West are going to be brutal. The playoffs to make the playoffs has started and it doesn't look like any team will get a breather between now and when their season ends. That will make this the Best NBA Season Ever!"
Section F Sports: "Hedo's big moment aside, I couldn't help but feel like I was watching a doomed Orlando team today. Considering that the Magic has Dwight Howard manning the middle, plenty of shooting on the wings, and residence in the Eastern Conference, that shouldn't be the case. But watching them play is just extremely frustrating. That is because they have this monster of a lowpost player yet he gets the ball once every 15 possessions or so. Now, I understand that Howard still delivers exceptional value even when he's not getting post feeds, because he dominates the boards, protects the rim, and draws defenders into the paint. That said, the fact remains that he's Orlando's best player. He should be getting the ball! There was a stretch in the fourth quarter in which Howard went nearly five minutes without receiving a pass (he did snare three offensive rebounds). When they finally did throw it to him, he absorbed a double team, spun baseline, and dunked over two help defenders. "Effortless" doesn't even begin to describe the move. Yet the Magic went right back to not passing to him again. Obviously, it isn't hard to figure out why Howard is denied the rock. He's surrounded by poor passers."
Now that Rod Benson is playing really well in the D-League, he's getting a lot of attention from agents, as he writes on Yahoo: "There are guys coming at me from every angle now. I've got people calling me who I never gave my number to. I've got people blowin' up my MySpace page and my Facebook. I even get AOL Instant Messages from guys talking about jobs. I got an email from a guy who asked me if I had an agent. I was like, "Dog, of course I do. C'mon now." My teammate even got a phone call from HIS agent. His agent first asked how he was and if he was ready to leave or if he was content with the D-League. Then the guy said that he had a job for me, Rod Benson, for $50,000 a month and for my teammate to tell me. My teammate pretended that his phone was breaking up, just to ask this guy to repeat himself. The agent continued to ask about me. My teammate fired him the next day. ... We just got done playing the Tulsa 66ers. Keith Closs told me that he was the sexiest skinny guy in the world. If he was that sexy, agents would be fighting for his attention tonight instead of mine. In fact, women would be MySpacing him at a higher rate, but they aren't. I'm as hot as they come for D-league skinny guys right now."
Anyone notice at the the end of the third quarter yesterday in Dallas? The game clock had less time on it than the shot clock. Think about that one. And then think about the fact that this is not the first time I have seen that.
Britt Robson of The Rake on a key moment in Minnesota's comeback win against New Jersey: "Tired of watching [Rashad] McCants get roasted by New Jersey's Richard Jefferson, [Minnesota Coach Randy] Wittman used the occasion of Marko Jaric's fourth foul to go with a larger lineup, subbing in Craig Smith for Jaric, a move that slid Ryan Gomes down to small forward to guard Jefferson and McCants down to shooting guard to cover Vince Carter. At the time, Richard Jefferson had 27 points in 18 minutes of action, including 10-14 FG. He scored just a single point (0-3FG, 1-2FT) the rest of the third quarter. Gomes's entire third quarter line looks like this: one foul in 10:28. And yet he was plus +4, devoting himself to shutting down New Jersey's biggest threat."
There's some interesting gamesmanship going on between teams that want veteran point guard help, like Toronto, Boston, and Phoenix, and the veteran point guards who might be available like Damon Stoudamire and Sam Cassell.
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