K Sports Talk

All day I’ve been thinking about starting up blogging again and now that I have more free time on my hands I decided there is no more perfect time to start blogging again then now.

For those of you who don’t know that much about me Michael Jordan is my hero, sure the man has some personal flaws, but who doesn’t. I’m not excusing or condoning any of his actions that cost him his marriage and money, but as an athlete in my mind there is no one that comes close to him as a competitor and as a winner. I’ve been sitting on my couch for an hour now watching old highlight tapes of MJ and while watching I was thinking LeBron could make that move or Kobe could hit that shot, so what was it that set Jordan apart from everyone else?

For me I’ve read a lot of articles and a few books on MJ and all of them say the same thing. The man was the biggest competitor the world has ever seen. Regardless if it was in a game or practice or even on a ping pong table, MJ didn’t want to just beat you, he wanted to destroy you. He wanted to make you go home completely P.O.’ed and thinking why do I even try against this guy. So, while I was sitting on my couch thinking about what set him apart I came to the conclusion that Michael simply wanted it more then anyone else in the world.

I watched his Hall of Fame induction speech and I honestly laughed through a lot of it. If anyone else in the world had gone up and given the speech he gave we would be sitting talking to amongst one another thinking wow this guy is so arrogant and full of himself. If you haven’t seen the speech MJ talks for 24 minutes and for about 20 min he is standing up there “thanking” (calling out) all the players and coaches and really people who motivated him to become who he is. The man is arrogant the man is confident, but that’s what made Michael who he was. He never changed for the world or people around him rather he made his fans and people around the world realize that he wasn’t changing and if they got passed that they would witness something special.

Michael Jordan was, and forever will be the greatest basketball player of all time in my opinion I don’t think anyone will ever come around who will be as competitive as he was and who will want it more then he did. The man was insane. I bring this up now because as you probably have heard the experiment down in South Beach isn’t going so well. They have shot out to a dismal start of 10-8 and honestly they don’t look like they will make it out of the Divisional round of the playoffs. The team is fighting amongst themselves they are playing their coach, which is absolutely ridiculous, and they are pretty much making excuses instead of looking in the mirror and simply saying we are not that good.

I will talk about what I think is wrong with the Heat in an article to come, but right now I want to talk about LeBron. I used to love LeBron when he was in Cleveland he was fun to watch. He made his teammates better, he made plays that left your jaw touching the floor, and most of all he was a superstar who you got the impression didn’t think he was above the game. Boy was I played, it’s amazing how my feelings towards him have changed over a few month span. I don’t watch the Heat play they make me sick, Bosh isn’t good Wade is having an identity crisis, and LeBron is “not having any fun”, but I blame this whole entire thing on LeBron.

When LeBron came into the league he had one thing in mind…that was to be the next MJ. He wanted to be a global icon he wanted to win championships and he wanted to be the guy that everyone knew was the best player. Up until this year, yes he was the best player in the league and yes he fooled me into thinking he could be MJ level. But then this past summer he did something that I call “selling out” he took the easy road out. He thought joining up with two of his buddies would win him championships. Something that you would never see MJ do, MJ wanted to crush his best friends, he wanted to destroy anyone and everyone, even in practice if you made a mistake MJ was on you because he wanted to win so badly. LeBron recently got called out by Miami Heat coach Erik Spolestra for not taking practice seriously enough. Now, I know LeBron is a fun loving guy, but not taking practice seriously enough? Common LeBron if you really wanted to be MJ level you can’t leave Cleveland, that’s like MJ leaving Chicago and going to Utah to join Stockton and Malone. You never would have seen that happen. Also, you never would have heard Bulls coach Phil Jackson tell Michael to take practice more serious. If anything you might have heard him lighten up.

The reason I’m fuming right now about LeBron is because he had the chance to be immortal he had the chance to be like MJ. However, he took the easy road out and threw away that chance. Making it more clear to me than ever that Michael Jeffery Jordan is one of a kind. We will never find another one of him on this planet, not in my lifetime nor in any lifetime in the future.

So I know it’s been awhile since my last post and I know there’s a lot of things that have happened in sports since I began my summer vacation and put writing on the back burner, but I felt like the timing was right to return to writing..so I’m back. No need for an hour long show to declare I was back or decide where I was going to take my writing talents to, much like Micheal Jordan I’m avoiding the fanfare and getting back to work.

So the big thing on everyone’s mind right now is LeBron James and how he has decided to take his talents to Miami and play with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh as a member of the Heat. The funny thing is though most people don’t care that he went to Miami, what gets them riled up is how he announced he was going to Miami. He had an hour long show to announce something that took literally one second to say. Now I’m not going to get into how I feel about how he handled it, all I’m going to say is that I think he handled it poorly and it sadly I think is going to define a good chunk of his career, but that’s it, no further comment on LeBron’s “Decision”. I’ve decided to cut out that hour of television that I painstakingly sat through.

So now that LeBron James is in Miami with his good friends Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh my big question is..will this really work? You have two superstars on your team and another all-star. I don’t put Bosh in the superstar category, the truth is yeah he is a good Power Forward in the NBA, but he’s not a superstar, I’d rather have at least three other power forwards before Bosh (Pau Gasol, Amar’e Stoudemire, and Kevin Garnett). So two superstars who for their entire careers have played with the ball in their hands at all times. Now that their together and you through in a good low post player, both LeBron and Wade will have to learn how to play off the ball, which is something neither of them have done their entire career. Which is why I think I am still skeptical on whether or not this experiment by Pat Riley will really work. Now I must say if their were two superstars in this league that could pull off playing together and making it work…it would be Dwayne Wade and LeBron James, both guys want to win championships and both seem like they would make sacrifices to do so, but I’m not sold on this working for three reasons.

Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, and LeBron James

Reason Number One: I don’t think that Pat Riley and the Heat have enough money left over to surround these three players with enough talent to win a championship (at least in the first two years) because let’s face it those three are taking up almost 90 percent of the Heat’s salary cap. Now, last time I checked you don’t play just three guys on the court so the Heat have to fill their roster with players who are willing to take a huge pay cut and play at the league minimum. I’m not going to explain how the salary cap works because that would just confuse the casual reader. However, basic rundown of the salary cap is that a team is allowed to sign players to fill their roster at the league minimum (there is not set league minimum because it fluctuates per player depending on their years of service in the NBA) to fill out their roster. The Heat have already signed a few players such as three point specialist Mike Miller and center Big Z from the Cavs. So their you go there’s five players, but they still need about six or seven to complete their roster..and let me remind you, they have no money! So that’s reason number one.

Reason Number Two: Their will be a power struggle between LeBron James and Dwayne Wade. Again maybe not in the first two seasons because they’ll still be in their kind of honeymoon stage, but after that each player is going to want it to be their team and when they realize that it’s both of their teams they are going to want to be the go to guy. Now we all know its Dwayne Wade’s team, he’s been their his whole career, he’s won a championship there, so it’s his team no matter what LeBron says. However, I can just see it..the Heat are down one with six seconds to go and LeBron and Wade are fighting over who gets to take the final shot, I just don’t see two mega egos like theirs coexisting, especially when you through in Bosh’s ego (who knows why this guy has an ego, he’s made it to the playoffs twice in a seven year career…hardly room to brag)

Reason Number Three: The NBA doesn’t want to see this. I can already tell you who is going to be in the NBA Finals and the Finals are a year away. There is no one in the West that can beat the Lakers, that has been known for the past few years, but it still remains the same. And now there is an unbeatable team in the East, the Heat. So pretty much their are two teams in the NBA that everyone is chasing and in a league that tries to sell its fans parity, there is an obvious disparity in talent. No teams will be able to compete with either of these teams and that is not what David Stern wanted to see. This doesn’t bode well for the NBA, especially since they are facing an inevitable lockout next season, so I know David Stern is on his knees praying tonight that this doesn’t last more then two seasons.

So there it is..I finally voiced my opinion on the LeBron James situation, I am now one of thousands of people. I could be wrong about how it all plays out in Miami it all could work out and they win 7 or so championships, I don’t see it happening, but it could, because it’s sports and if I’ve learned anything covering and following sports my whole life it’s this…expect the unexpected.

One thing that set Michael Jordan apart from every other player in the NBA.  It wasn’t  just his scoring or his inhuman competitive nature, but it was his ability and his want to defend and shut down the opposing teams best player. Jordan loved the challenge and he loved sticking it to other players on the offensive end and he loved shutting out the opposing teams best player. He lived to humiliate and destroy the opposing team in every facet of the game. In this years NBA playoffs we got a little glimpse of another NBA superstar who was up to the challenge of shutting down the opposing teams biggest threat.

In the LA Lakers first round match-up against the Oklahoma City Thunder the Lakers were struggling shutting down the Thunders point guard Russell Westbrook. After the Thunder tied the series at two games apiece the Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant told legendary coach Phil Jackson that he’s guarding Westbrook. From there out Kobe guarded Westbrook and LA went on to win the series in six games. Kobe is an eight time All-NBA first team defender, he has the mindset like Jordan of “there is no way you’re getting by me”. After Kobe switched to guard Westbrook it totally changed the dynamic of the series. Westbrook no longer got to the paint whenever he wanted and he was forced to shoot outside shots, which was ultimately the Thunders downfall.

I have always thought the ability to want to shut down the other teams opposing best player and successfully doing so is what sets the great players from the immortal players. There’s a lot of great players in the league, mainly a lot of great scorers in the NBA, but most of them don’t to anything on the defensive side of the ball. Look at Carmelo Anthony, the dude is one of the best dangerous scorers in the NBA, but you would never see Melo say “hey coach I’m going to shut down the other teams best player”, you just won’t, mainly because Carmelo couldn’t do that.

This brings me to my main point, heading into tonight’s game five match up between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston

Boston Celtics Guard Rajon Rondo

Celtics reports out of Cleveland are that LeBron James wants to guard the Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo. To give you a little background everyone always talks about the “Big Three” in Boston, Keven Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce, let me be clear in saying that this team wouldn’t make it out of the first round of the playoffs without Rajon Rondo. He is the best player on this Celtics team. He scores about 15 a game, he rebounds about 8 a game, and he averages about 12 assists per game. He is in my opinion the best rebounding guard in the NBA. He’s a first team All-NBA defender and he’s one of the best facilitators in the NBA. Up until this point in the series, which is tied at two games apiece, Rondo has single handedly kept the Celtics in games and won them games. In a pivotal game four in Boston, he had 29 points, 18 rebounds, and 13 assist….18 rebounds for a guy that is 6 1′ are you kidding me? Watching this game I was amazed with his ability to read exactly where balls were going to bounce of the rim. If you ever watch old tapes of NBA game Celtics legend Bill Russell had an uncanny ability to read were balls were going to go off the rim and he’d snag them away so easily. Rondo reminds me a little bit of Russell in the regard, minus the fact that Rondo is about 9 inches shorter than Russell was. Anyway, two things came to my mind when I first heard that LeBron wants to try and guard Rondo.

The first was LeBron wants to be remembered like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant as guys who wanted to shut down the opposing teams biggest threat. I get that, LeBron is a great player and when it’s all said and done he may have the greatest stats ever and most championships and most money ever. The thing is though he will never be Michael Jordan for one reason. Sure he can score and yeah it’s cool that he wants to defend the other teams best player I get that, but he’ll never be Micheal Jordan because LeBron James is to nice. If you watch LeBron he’s very buddy buddy with his teammates and with the opposing teams players. After a hard fought game you’ll see LeBron hug the opposing teams best players and shake hands and what not, even if the Cavs lost. You would never see MJ do that. He hated opposing teams players because of the simple fact that they weren’t on his teams. If you wore another jersey other than a Bulls jersey Michael wanted to destroy you..humiliate you. After a loss he’d be so upset people couldn’t talk to him. You’d never see MJ lose a than go hug the other teams best player who hit the winning shot…never. The NBA has become to friendly and buddy-buddy, which is why I think we’ll never see another MJ. So that’s the first thing that came to my mind when I heard LeBron wanted to guard Rondo, he want’s to be remembered like Michael.

The second thing I immediately thought was LeBron you’re an idiot. I like LeBron I respect his game and I am always amazed watching him. However, I will forever and always be a Kobe Bryant fan. So when I heard the LeBron wanted to guard Rondo I thought well he saw Kobe shut down Westbrook so he thinks he can shut down Rondo, the one player that has been beating them this series. It’s a nice thought by LeBron, but the fact is he can’t guard Rondo. The biggest difference between Kobe guarding Westbrook and LeBron guarding Rondo is size. Westbrook is a big point guard he is listed at 6 3′ he may even be 6 4′. Kobe stands at 6 6′. So that is a two or three inch height difference. Not that big of a difference and Kobe is extremely athletic so he can match Westbrook’s quickness. Seemed like a no brainier so Kobe on Westbrook makes sense. Now to LeBron guarding Rondo. LeBron is 6 8′ and 250 pounds. Granted he can move that body faster and quicker then anyone in this world can move that big of a body, but Rondo is 6 1′ 170. Rondo’s game is quickness and speed and there is absolutely no way LeBron can keep Rondo in front of him. The other thing is that LeBron isn’t a great on ball defender. He made his first All-NBA defense this year for his work on help side defense, which he is the best in the NBA at. But when it comes to on ball defending he’s just average. People are giving him credit for “shutting down” Paul Pierce this series, but the truth is Pierce is the easiest guy to defend ( Pierce ranks right up there with Matt Barnes as my least favorite player in the NBA) he has the slowest release ever. The only way he scores in the NBA is if he has a smaller defender on him who he can shoot over (a slow release doesn’t matter if the guy guarding you is shorter than you) or if

Cleveland Cavaliers Small Forward LeBron James

he has a taller power forward guarding him who he can blow by and score. But if you put any athletic small forward on Pierce he is not effective. So all this talk about LeBron shutting down Pierce is much-a-do about nothing. The fact is LeBron is going to cost his team big time if he decides to guard Rondo. He will be drawn out of help defense scenarios, which is where he thrives, and Rondo will be able to get by him almost at will.

I think that this move by LeBron is stupid, but at the same time I get it. He wants to be remembered as the best, and the best players do these kind of things. If he is able to shut down Rondo, then he’ll be on the right track to becoming one of the immortals, but as of right now I think it’s a stupid move that could cost his team the series.

With the NBA postseason well underway it’s about time we hand out this seasons awards. It will be my first annual post season awards. I will name the MVP, Rookie of the Year (I will refer to this as ROY the rest of the story), most improved player, defensive player of the year, and the first ever Most Likely to Make David Stern Lose Sleep at Night award. I will also name my All-NBA First Team and the first ever All-NBA Underrated Team. So without further ado let’s get started.

My MVP of this season is without question LeBron James. The guy put up numbers that haven’t been seenin the modern era of the NBA. He averaged a shade under 30 points per game (he easily could have averaged 30 if he really cared), a little over 7 rebounds per game, and a hair over 8 assists per game. He was the best player on the best team in the NBA and is even more deserving of the MVP award then he was last year. In my opinion LeBron James is capable of winning the MVP award the next 10-12 years. His talent is unmatchable, no one can stop him. He’s to big and to quick which allows him to get to the rim whenever he wants. He’s also started to add a consistent jump shot to his repertoire which makes him that much more dominant. The only

Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James

way he doesn’t win the MVP award for next decade is if he (god forbid) gets injured, or voters for the MVP award just get tired of him winning it so they give it to another player who is less deserving. Those are the only ways I don’t see him winning it. So for the 2009-2010 NBA season my MVP is LeBron James (go ahead and jot him down as my pick for MVP for the next decade).

My ROY of the 2009-2010 is a little different then who most people have. Most people have the Sacramento Kings guard Tyreke Evans and granted Evans led all rookies in scoring (20 per game) and he is exciting to watch and he made the god awful Kings a little less awful, and yes Evans has the intangibles of a great player, but he turned the ball over way to much (3 per game) and he was a very inconsistent shooter. He shot just a little over 20 percent from three point range and he shot just over 70 percent from the free throw line. He will be a great player, but he’s not my ROY. My ROY is the Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry. Curry may have got off to a slower start then Evans, but he finished the season on a high. He averaged 18 points per game and his shooting percentages were great for anyone on a team that tries to shoot the ball every 7 seconds, nonetheless he was a rookie. He shot almost 50 percent from the field, almost 45 percent from three point range, and almost 90 percent from the free throw line. If a magic genie granted me one player in the NBA’s jump shot I’d pick Curry’s (Shawn Marion’s would be my last pick). His jumper is so fluid and he gave the Warriors a shot to win every night. Look for Curry to be a staple at All-Star games to come because he has the makings of a super star and that’s why he’s my ROY.

My Most Improved Player of the Year was probably my most difficult award to give out. Now I know that the official award winner of the 2009-2010 season was the Houston Rockets point guard Aaron Brooks. And I couldn’t agree more, he led his team that dealt with injuries all year and he is well deserving of the award. So I’m going to name him my Most Improved Player of the Year award winner, but I also want to name another player that could have won this award and that is the Charlotte Bobcats shooting guard Gerald Wallace. He led his Bobcats team to their first ever playoff birth and was named to his first ever all-star game. How he didn’t receive more votes is way beyond me, but I wanted to give him a little shout out. He adds maturity to a very young team, as well as a very consistent scorer. If Aaron Brooks hadn’t jumped from “okay role player” to “legitimate threat to take over a game” in such a short time I think that Gerald Wallace could have walked away with this award. But since Brooks made such a name for himself this year I can’t deny him the award.

My Defensive Player of the Year is without a doubt the Orlando Magic’s center Dwight Howard. He lead the league in blocks with nearly 3 per game and rebounds with 13 a game. We haven’t seen such a dominant low post defender since Russell. Howard is an incredible specimen, he’s got shoulders as wide as the state of Delaware and has the hops to be able to dunk on a 13 foot hoop. Needless to say no one effects players shots in the paint like Howard. His offensive game is another story, but I’m not talking about his offensive game this is a defensive award. I can’t really say much more about his defensive stats, they are pretty self explanatory. He’s a defensive beast and he’s a once and a lifetime 7 foot center.

Now, for my Most Likely to Make David Stern Lose Sleep at Night award. In the past years I would have easily handed this award to Rasheed Wallace and said here you go, we know you’re going to lose your cool at least once every three games and Stern is going to have to suspend you a handful of times. However, this year Wallace was limited in minutes with the Celtics (thankfully) and so he wasn’t my winner this year. This years winner would have to go to Orlando Magics Matt Barnes. Barnes is my least favorite player in the NBA and every time I see this guy I just get mad. He has an awful attitude, he thinks he’s the best defender ever and he carries himself like he’s Michael Jordan when he hasn’t won a thing in his career so needless to say I can’t stand him.

Orlando Magics' Matt Barnes

He’s got the the rep as the leagues most hated player and just this year Stern had to hand out numerous fines to Barnes for running his mouth about officiating or flagrant fouls. He was up there as league leaders in technical fouls and is just a punk. It goes without saying that Stern is worried about this guy and he’s not looking forward to dealing with him for years to come. So congratulations Matt Barnes you are officially the winner of the biggest a-hole of the year award and you will no doubt account for numerous lost nights of sleep for the poor commissioner David Stern.

My All-NBA First Team Looks like this: At Center I have Dwight Howard, there’s really no argument here, the man is the biggest defensive force in the league, and when he wants to be dominant on the offensive end he is, if he can develop a consistent want to dominate on the offensive end he could challenge LeBron for the MVP award, until then though he will only make my First Team. At Power Forward I have Kevin Durant. Now, I know that the “Duranttula” is listed as a small forward, but on my All-NBA First Team he’s my power forward because I had to put him on my First Team. Durant became the youngest player in NBA history to lead the league in scoring and he took the step this year from great player to super star. He’s one of the most exciting players to watch and he is the only player in the league that will be able to challenge LeBron James for the MVP title. At small forward is LeBron James, I’m not even going to go into why he’s on my First Team, his name speaks its self. My shooting guard for my First Team is Kobe Bryant. Now, I know his numbers are down this year and I hate to say it, but it appears as if Kobe is beginning to lose his edge. He’s appearing more fragile then ever and playing so many games in the past two years is beginning to take a toll on his body. With that being said there is still no player I’d rather have in the closing minutes of a game then KB. He has that incredible killer instinct that so few players have. As long as he has that killer instinct he will be on my First Team. At point guard I have the Miami Heat’s Dwayne Wade. This was probably my hardest choice for me, because the New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul is one of my favorite players, but he was sidelined for most of the year with injuries. So the award for First Team All-NBA point guard will fall to Dwayne Wade. Wade is listed as a shooting guard, but on a team that lacks really any supporting talent Wade is asked to do everything, which includes facilitating the offense as a point guard. He is in the elite of the NBA and every night he is capable of dropping 50. He was in the top five in scoring and he gave his team a chance to win every night.

So to recap my All-NBA First Team:

Center: Dwight Howard

Power Forward: Kevin Durant

Small Forward: LeBron James

Shooting Guard: Kobe Byrant

Point Guard: Dwayne Wade

Here’s a few names of other players that are worthy of First Team, but didn’t quite make the cut. We’ll call them the honorable mentions: Atlanta Hawks shooting guard Joe Johnson, Utah Jazz point guard Derron Williams, Portland Trailblazers shooting guard Brandon Roy, Milwaukee Bucks center Andrew Bogut, Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook, Denver Nuggets shooting guard Carmelo Anthony, and the Los Angeles Lakers center Pau Gasol.

Now for my All-NBA Underrated Team. These guys are my picks if I had to pick a starting five of players who are underrated and under appreciated in the NBA. At center, I’d have to take the Los Angeles Clippers center Chris Kaman. Kaman made his first all-star game this year so hopefully fans are beginning to appreciate how good he actually is. He’s often overlooked because he plays on an LA team not named the Lakers. So that right there is why he’s often overlooked. The facts are Kaman has averaged a double-double for most of his career and has always been a consistent center. He plays on an awful team with a terrible supporting cast so he doesn’t win that many games, but he is a darn good center. At power forward I have David Lee of the New York Knicks. Now, I’ll be first to say I hate all New York teams regardless the sport, but you have to respect Lee’s game. He plays in the biggest media market in New York, he’s really the only white guy on his team, and he’s without a doubt their best player. If the Knicks didn’t have Lee, they’d win 20 games max, Lee can single-handedly win them 10 more games. He’s undervalued by the Media, but players and coaches in the NBA know just how valuable he is. He guarantees you a double-double every night and he’s a solid defender. At small forward I have the Indiana Pacers Danny Granger. Granger suffers from the “I’m forced to do everything for my team” disease, he’s a great scorer and would be one of the best complimentary players in the league, but because of how awful his team is, he’s forced to be a superstar, which he is just not capable of. If Granger went somewhere with a proven superstar he would help that player win championships. Granger is a streaky shooter who is capable of putting up 20 a night. He’s on a bad team so people fail to realize just how good he really is, but maybe if he goes elsewhere this summer people will begin to see his real worth. At shooting guard I have the Atlanta Hawks Joe Johnson. For years I’ve been saying that Johnson is the most underrated player in this league. He’s averaged over 20 points almost his entire career and he’s made an average Atlanta Hawks team a title contender. He wants the ball in big moments and he’s never afraid to take the big shot. His release is so quick on his jump shot it’s almost impossible to defend. If I had to pick one player to hit me a game winning shot with two seconds left Johnson would be in my top three (behind Kobe and Durant) he lacks the charisma that LeBron or Durant have so fans outside of Atlanta don’t appreciate him as much as they should, but if he goes to a bigger market this off-season people will begin to see his true worth. To round out the starting five my point guard is the Boston Celtics Rajon Rondo. Every game I watch of Rondo’s I continually get more and more impressed. He plays on a team that has three so called superstars in Pierce, Garnett, and Allen (I think all three are overrated and washed out) and he is clearly in my mind the best player on that

Atlanta Hawks' Joe Johnson

team. He is one of the league leaders in assists per game and assist to turnover ratio, and he also is up there with LeBron in league leaders in triple-doubles. He’s an exciting player to watch and if he played on a team that didn’t have so much baggage I think he’d be even better.

So to recap my All-NBA Underrated Team:

Center: Chris Kaman

Power Forward: David Lee

Small Forward: Danny Granger

Shooting Guard: Joe Johnson

Point Guard: Rajon Rondo

So there you have it. Those are my postseason NBA awards. If you don’t agree with them that is your problem. But after watching the entire NBA season and looking at stats, these are my choices for each and every award. I had to think long and hard about some, but in the end these are my picks and I’m sticking by them.