…and I’m back!

Sorry to leave you all in the dark for so long. I wish i had a good excuse but unfortunately my enthusiasm for writing about the NBA is directly proportionate to the form of the Phoenix Suns (sigh). Well the Suns are still losing but today I go a jolt of energy from another source… DWYANE WADE!

This dunk got me thinking about my favorite dunks ever, and I thought I would share some of them with you. I’ve tried to include the dunks you don’t see on every second YouTube playlist. Enjoy!

Gerald Wallace- This dunk gets no mainstream love.

Tom Chambers- I don’t get high on bigs dunking on point guards… this is the exception.

Rondo- Tenacity.

Baron Davis- The dunk on Kirilenko is a masterpiece that deserves every replay it gets, but take a minute to appreciate some of his earlier artwork.

Grant Hill- Some definite PHX bias, but remember Hill is 5 inches shorter and 13 years older than Noah.

Kobe Bryant- Its so hard to find a good video of this dunk, but if there was one of those NBA Phantom slow-mos of this dunk it would be my screen saver, and I’m not even a Kobe guy.

Got some favorite dunks that don’t get the air-time (no pun intended) they deserve? Share them with me.

Kobe gets the win and the hardware in front of his loyal hometown fans. LeBron dropped the most impressive triple double the ASG has ever seen. Blake Griffin re-ignites the dunk contest and James Jones pleases LA by shutting down Boston’s Pierce and Allen in the 3pt contest.

Sooo… Boston are the only losers this weekend? No Way, Doc Rivers made sure he put enough minutes on his conference rivals to injure Wade and exhaust LeBron. Meanwhile, his 4 Celtics spent most of the game relaxing on the bench. Genius.

Could it have been any better?

Well Blake could have made those two dunks he attempted in the first round and Kobe could have got the ASG scoring record –BUT– now I have some Blake Griffin dunks to look forward to next year, and as my friend, Andrew Lynch, from Sun ‘n’ Gun pointed out on twitter, the only person who cares more about a pointless scoring record than Kobe Bryant is Wilt Chamberlain.

For those of you who have never heard of the low profile non-celebrity NBA All-Star’s like LeBron James or Kobe Bryant, the NBA has got your back with the NBA All-Star Celebrity game.

Personally I feel like this event doesn’t get enough press, but I’m happy to pick up the slack even if it is only as an excuse to use google-friendly keywords like Justin Bieber, Rob Kardashian and George Costanza. Yeah, now I got your attention!

So whether you have Bieber fever or you’re just sick of Justin Bieber, the thought of him mixing it up with some ex-nba greats like Scottie Pippen, or getting dunked on by a Harlem Globetrotter (or better yet, a WNBA player) has to be a little enticing.

To help out the other celebrities, I have put together this brief Bieber scouting report from the following video:

JUSTIN BIEBER SCOUTING REPORT:

The first thing you will notice about Justin Bieber is his serious face, his eyes say “I’m a baller” and he has the handles to back it up -BUT- rest assured, there are some holes in his game.

OFFENSE:

Bieber is a little taller than a Honda Civic, but compensates for his lack of size by playing an entourage that is too wise to risk hurting their meal ticket with hard defense (see :30). Also feel free to commit more than one defender, he passes the ball about as often as Nick Young*.

DEFENSE:

Rather than defending his man, Bieber follows the ball like a golden retriever forcing his team to scramble (see :12). If you are unable to find the player Bieber has left open use a variety of jab steps and shot fakes; Bieber falls for both, every time, without fail (see :23).

*For those of you who found this article searching for Justin Bieber on Google, Nick Young is what us basketball folk call a “black hole”.

…The backboard!

The rookies these days, am I right?

Those of you dedicated enough to read the S&D about page already know I have love for every single NBA player… except Sasha Vujacic. If you ask me why, I will usually say “because of his stupid face” and expound no further because I don’t want to waste another minute of my life… But tonight, I got some minutes to waste.

After the Nets overtime victory against the Hornets Sasha Vujacic said:

“I know I can score 20 or 30 points anytime I want. But I’m not that kind of a guy. I want to win. I want to play the right way”

20 or 30 Sasha? In 449 career games he has scored over 20 points only 6 times and over 30 in, umm… ZERO!

Clearly he is being the kind of guy that sacrifices scoring like Kobe to make his team mates better at a rate of 1.2 assists per game… or maybe coaches have asked him to curtail his scoring to focus on maintaining his 0.3 offensive boards per game.

What happens when an Irresistible force meets an unmovable object?

Sounds like a lead up to an epic battle between two powerhouse teams, but actually I’m talking about futility. On Sunday the Washington Wizards play the Cleveland Cavilers in Cleveland for what I believe is the biggest game of the season for each franchise. The fact that these two teams were once competitive rivals is only icing on the cake compared to the following facts.

1. Cleveland are desperate to snap their record breaking losing streak.
2. Washington are looking for their first road victory this season (0-25).

Sure, the faces are different (except for Antawn Jamison who now plays for the other team), but this game deserves some hype, even if I’m the only one hyping it.

Unfortunately for anyone who can appreciate the magnitude of this game, Cleveland will have two chances to break their skid against the woeful Pistons and the combustible Clippers first… fingers crossed they fail

One thing I love about basketball is that there is always a winner… or in this case, a loser.

The rules for the SnD position rankings were mentioned previously here, but the gist of it is; rankings are based on current performance and each player only qualifies for their preferred position.

Ranking the PF position was a lot harder than ranking the C’s. The talent runs deeper, there are the bona fide studs, the wily vets, the up and comers, and one mutant beast who is kicking it off at number 5.

SPOILER ALERT: When I started this list I wondered if there would be room for Tim Duncan, but the more I researched the clearer it became that a) Duncan isn’t playing at Griffins level right now, and b) I don’t think its likely that Duncan will ever be as productive as Griffin from here on out. Since these rankings are based on current performance, TD will have to wait for the best all-time list, or accept that he’s a DAMN CENTER!

5. Blake Griffin- Los Angeles Clippers

Unless there is some kind of miracle or monumental disaster, Griffin will be the only rookie to crack the top 5 at any position. Since the league began recording turnovers in 1978 only 3 other rookies have had a higher player efficiency rating than Griffin’s 22.91. They are:

• David Robinson (26.3)
• Michael Jordan (25.8)
• Shaquille O’Neal (23.2)

When comparisons demand a list of names like that, my reluctance to introduce new faces into the elite goes out the window. The scary part is he’s getting better, FAST.

On the season he’s averaging an extremely impressive 22.6 points, 12.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, but over the last 30 days his averages leap to 25.6, 13.6 and 4.2. To add some perspective, if Griffin was to maintain those numbers for an entire season, he would be the first player to do so since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did it in 1975-76… Whoa, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, its probably just a spike, but the point is: Griffin is LEGIT!

Continue reading →