NBA All Star Picks

The NBA All-Star starters were announced this week and, as always, the fan voting has screwed the whole thing up. Truthfully, it's not the fault of the fans; the entire system is screwy. The fans really shouldn't have a say in who gets to play in the all star game and if they do, the NBA should make some restrictions to keep stupidity from prevailing. For instance, Allen Iverson will be starting in this game despite the fact that he's played in only 19 games and has averaged less than 15 points per game. I'm a HUGE Iverson fan; one of my top five favorite players of all time. But Iverson has no business being in this game. Likewise, up until last week, Rockets guard Tracy McGrady was in line to start this game despite having played only three games this season. Pathetic.

But I digress. After the fans get their ridiculous say in who should start this game, the coaches vote for the remaining 7 players on each squad. The format for this voting is 2 guard, 2 forward, 1 center, and two more players of any position. Like every other sports writer, professional or not, I feel the need to make my picks.

EAST
Guards - Joe Johnson, Rajon Rondo
Rando is the best point guard in the Eastern Conference (despite not being able to make a free throw) and Joe Johnson has been lights out yet again as the best player on a contending team.
Forwards - Chris Bosh, Paul Pierce
Really, Bosh should be listed as a center. This is yet another example of how outdated the NBA's system really is. Still, he's having a great season in what should be his last as a Raptor. Pierce has carried the Celtics this year with Garnett missing time.
Center - David Lee
I don't know, this whole center thing is ridiculous. Lee isn't really putting up an All-star season and he's playing for a crappy team but the other options at center (Al Horford, Shaq, Joakim Noah) are no more inspiring.
Wildcards - Gerald Wallace, Josh Smith
Wallace is having the best season of his career and is finally getting his just due. He absolutely fills the stat sheet. Smith has cut the bad shots and technical fouls down and that has made Atlanta a much better team.
Last two out - Ray Allen, Stephen Jackson
Man the East sucks. Allen is having a mediocre year by his standards. Jackson probably deserves to be in just based on the impact he had on Charlotte after the trade, but I just can't put two guys from a team that is barely over .500 on the All-star team.

WEST
Guards - Brandon Roy, Chris Paul
You could make a case for either one of these guys to start over Nash. Roy has been the only consistent player for Portland and Paul has been the only player for New Orleans, period. Both of them are pretty much locks for the All-star team for the next decade.
Forwards - Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Durant
I'm not going to say is absurd that Duncan is starting this game over Nowitzki, but it's not far off. Dirk is having an incredible season on a much less talented team whereas Duncan is sitting out games when the Spurs play on back to back nights. Duncan deserves to be here, sure, but his year doesn't compare to Dirk's. Durant is perhaps the best pure scorer in the league right now and only getting better.
Center - Chris Kaman
Again, the center position is weak. I don't think anyone can make much of a case one way or another for why Kaman, Andrew Bynum, or Marc Gasol should make it over the other two. Heck, even Erick Dampier is having a career year. But I'll take Kaman simply because I think he impacts the game the most on a consistent basis. I guess.
Wildcards - Deron Williams, Zach Randolph
Williams is a lock, no questions asked. It pains me to see Randolph on an All-star team. That guy has wasted more talent over the last nine years than most people will ever have at their disposal in any field. He's been a bum since day one. But he's having a heck of a season on an extremely surprising Memphis team and he deserves a spot, though I hope it never happens again.
Last two out - Pau Gasol, Carlos Boozer
Gasol has missed almost half of his team's games and really hasn't been THAT great. Boozer has been a little inconsistent, but really it comes down to the fact that I'm not sure a team that's in the bottom half of the playoff picture deserves two All-Stars.

We'll see how it all shakes out.

-BG

Why I Should Be In Charge- Part 1

As you can probably guess by my needless sports blogging, I watch a lot of sports. One of the things that drives me the craziest about sports is when I can figure things out better than those in the game. Like, for example, how I can see immediately when a basketball player's shot is drifting because of the positioning of his feet. If I can figure that out, why can't they? Anyway, it's one thing when it's a player making a dumb mistake but it's an entirely different issue when I feel like I'm outsmarting a coach.

Take tonight for example. The Mavericks are playing the Oklahoma City Thunder. It's a one point game with 6 seconds to go. Dallas is inbounding the ball off a Thunder free throw so they have talked about what play they'll run and who they'll get the ball to in this situation. Like they seem to do every time, the Mavs go directly to Jason Terry. Terry steps to the line and promptly misses both free throws, giving the Thunder a shot to win the game with a desperation heave at the buzzer.

Giving the ball to Terry in this situation is a huge mistake and I'll give you two reasons.

1.) You have Dirk Nowitzki on the floor. Dirk is one of the 10 best free throw shooters in the league and at one point this year hadn't missed a single freebie in the 4th quarter (a ridiculous stat). He's also huge so in a situation where you know the other team is going to foul immediately and there's virtually no chance of a steal, all you have to do is lob the ball over the top of the defense and Dirk is going to get two points at the line.

2.) Jason Terry is a freaking terrible free throw shooter in the clutch. I don't know why because the guy has ice in the veins when he's shooting an important jumpers. But for some reason, he fails over and over at the free throw line when it counts. That's not a new thing, either. He lost a game for the Mavs in the 2004 playoffs with poor free throw shooting down the stretch. He also cost the Mavs a game against New Orleans earlier this year by missing two free throws that would have put the game out of range. It's happened A LOT.

What I don't understand is how a smart coach like Rick Carlisle continues to choose to get the ball into Terry's hands in these situations. If you're scrambling to get the ball in and Terry winds up with it, that's fine, you live with that. But you don't purposely run a play where the number one option is to get the ball to Terry. When he caught the ball I told my wife, "I guarantee he misses at least one of these shots." I wish that was some sort of a gamble but it's not gambling when you know you're going to win. Terry may be an 85% free throw shooter on the season but I would guess his shooting percentage is, at best, 60% in clutch situations.

If I, as a know-nothing fan watching every game on a TV in his home, can tell you Terry isn't dependable at the line in those situations, shouldn't a coach who gets paid two million dollars a year be able to figure this out as well? And that is why I should be in charge.

-BG

Shawne Williams Busted

On a day when the NBA is focused on the legal matter involving Gilbert Arenas, I find myself a little more interested in the one involving Shawne Williams. Williams was a first round pick of the Pacers back in 2006 and promptly embraced the Pacer culture of the day and was arrested on drug charges within a year. The Mavericks traded for him in 2008 and essentially told him, "you have one chance, don't screw it up." Within about two months Williams mysteriously disappeared from the team and wasn't heard from again for quite some time. The word was he'd gotten caught trying to take a bag of weed on a team flight and had been banished. The Mavs packaged him in a trade to New Jersey last week. Today he was waived by the Nets and simultaneously arrested on 8 drug counts in Tennessee.

Crap like this happens all the time in the NBA. A talented-but-troubled kid comes into the league, gets a little money that he doesn't deserve, and runs himself out of the league before his first contract is up. I took a special interest in Williams' case for two reasons:

1.) in the short time he was with the Mavericks he was given jersey number 4. To me, number 4 for the Mavericks is Michael Finley and Michael Finley alone, and to have a known spare like Williams wearing that number drew my ire.
2.) Just about a month ago Williams did an interview with a Memphis newspaper in which he basically said the Mavericks front office had misrepresented him and all his troubles were in the past.

I don't mean to revel in the guy's problems. I just think it's probably a good idea to keep your mouth shut when you're currently involved in a business venture designed for the sole purpose of manufacturing and selling drugs.

-BG

The Clipper Curse Strikes Again

Today it was announced that the first round pick in the NBA draft last year, the Clipper's Blake Griffin, will miss the remainder of the season with a knee injury. Griffin never took the court this season after messing up his knee in the final preseason game in October. Griffin's rookie season will have to hold off until next year and while injuries happen, you have to wonder if a player who's game is so built around power will be the same coming back.

Griffin is just another casualty in a long line of potential stars who have succumbed to The Clipper Curse. Time and time again the Clips have watched a guy crash and burn under their watch. No one has ever summed up the Curse better than the great Bill Simmons did last June in an open letter to Blake Griffin. On paper it's a bit eery that Simmons called this so perfectly. But really, it wasn't much of a prediction. The smart money was on Grffin blowing a knee in his first two years in the league. I feel bad for the guy. He is, by all accounts, a stand up character whose only mistake was getting drafted by a cursed franchise.

Looking back, Griffin should have done anything and everything to keep the Clippers from drafting him. Were I his agent I would have advised him to show up to his predraft interviews in a dress and tell the Clips he would no longer answer to anything except Juwanna Mann. Maybe that would have forced the Clippers to draft another person and maybe Griffin would be enjoying a Rookie of the Year campaign as we speak. As it is, the Clipper Curse strikes again and it's only a matter of time until it takes another victim.

-BG