The Incredible Blake - All Star or All Wet?

Monday Madness- The Beginning

So now that I have a respectable spot to post my dominant NBA knowledge (SavingTheSkyhook.com), I haven't forgotten Ball Above All, NO. Screw it, I still like having somewhere to put the crazines I fall across every day, right? So not only will I link stuff like my earth shattering Kobe Expose' here, I'll make GUARANTEED, or your money back), with other nonense, or make yu think with news that needs to been seen to be believed. Keep pushin', Monday is just one day....

Saving The Skyhook - We're Really Doin' It!

Soooooo....what's new, y'all? Nothing much here...just WRITING FOR A REAL SITE NOW. Yeah, Yours Truly has been invited to participate in Fansided's SavingTheSkyhook.com. In FACT,  my latest thoughts on why teams like OKC and Dallas have a 0% chance of winning a championship this year is up right this very second. I'll still be here doin' what I do, but...not as much doing, I guess. I know it's not big time, but it's on a bigger stage, so come and comment, critique, and show support! As always, catch me on Facebook and on Twitter, @SnottieDrippen.

24 Hour Twitter Chatter -or- Blogger Blogging Bloggers

Great NBA holiday weekend, with a slew of entertaining games headlined the Kobe vs Monta shoot-out on Friday and 2 exhilarating Los Angeles Clippers games. Blake Griffin exploded in record fashion on MLK Day, but more impressively, Zach Harper kept ESPN.com's Daily Dime Live going for over 12 friggin; hours! I could hardly keep up with all the NBA (and other weird) goodness flying around Twitter, but I tried. Click on the names to take you to these dope Twitter pages. Let's go...

• First and foremost,  High Fivernator of Absolut-ism.com with a sobering take on how cavalierly we treat the day we set aside in memory of one of the greatest leaders the world has ever seen. Sneakers sales and a Rick Ross promotion, not a good look.

• Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld.com investigates the "Big Apple" phenomena when it comes to NBA players. THe Knicks were disgustingly bad for about a decade, and yet it's still regarded as a hoops hotbed. Good stuff.

Blake Griffin was an EXTREMELY hot topic, and with good reason; he led his Clips to a HUGE wins over the Lakers on Friday, then dropped a Scud-Missiled sized gem of a game on the over-matched  Indiana Pacers.

•  Sam Amick posted on USAToday's Game On! about Blake's habit of grinding opponents' gears. James Posey reaction to Blake trying to give him dap after the final horn is the single funniest thing I've read.

"He gave us 40-something and I'm gonna shake his hand and thank him? Nah, I'm good."

• J.E. Skeets of The Basketball Jones sent out Trey Kerby's amazing 2-minute video unveiling all 47 of Blake's record detonation versus Indy.
• How huge was he that night? Truehoop's Henry Abbott put's Griffin's historic night into perspective: 2, and only 2 rookies have been so productive, EVER.

• Sticking with Abbott, he examines a topic that I recently touched on myself; Carmelo Anthony's position in the pantheon of the NBA. Star? Superstar? Gunner? Abbott give an extremely fair look at the facts and stats.
• Royce Young from CBSSports says LeBron might have planted the seed for Melo's departure (ANOTHER dang thing that's Bron's fault!).

• Zach McCann looks at the roller coaster that the Orlando Magic season has been- canceled games, viral domination, roster shuffles, it's a wacky ride.



"How is this a FOUL!?!?"

• J.E. Sheets from The Basketball Jones swings back through with word of a little Boston Bravado. Celts Big Baby and KG sound alot like the Rasheed/McDyess Pistons when dissecting their coverage of Dwight Howard. I'm pretty sure this is the 1st time in print history the word "finesse" has been used to describe Dwight Howard's game.
• My man JR. at CelticsLife.com has a different angle on Big Baby's comments- basically, Baby needs to zip his lip and play his role. Either way you look at it, Boston has dominated Orlando in the wins column lately, but Howard DID go for 33 pts and 13 boards, so maybe Big Baby Davis and Garnett might wanna tone down the "handling Howard" talk.

• OK, Tom Ziller at Team Ziller dropped this bomb on me from Lithuaniabasket - A basketball experiment gone wrong. 124 3 pointers. 108 team boards. A jealous Eddie House. If Roylandas Dovydaitas was pulling this crap while we played Live '98, I'm slapping his face then shutting the game off.

• Can't Stop The Bleeding Tweets (CSTB) tells us about everyone's favorite G, Stringer Bell (actor Idris Elba), being honored with a housing development bearing his name over in England. Word is Avon already got those tower boys hoppin'.

• 

  "Hey, Der-" "Shut the &$% up."

  Art Garcia of NBA.com's Hang Time blog weighs in on Charles Barkley's proclamation of Derrick Rose as the league's premier PG, surpassing Deron Williams. Personally, one hot stretch does not "Best Point in the L" make; Deron Williams will concede the title if Rose keeps up this torrid pace and blazes deep into the playoffs. Maybe.

• The homies at Got 'Em Coach! unearth Kobe' Bryant's diabolical public relation plot from Camp Mamba. I wouldn't put it past Bean...

•  Robert Littal of BlackSportsOnline hit me with this one-Rashad McCants: NC Tarheel Standout. NBA Enigma- Bisexual gangster thief ringleader. Also, with old pornstars. Yeah. Read it.

• And Jemele Hill with the show-stopper; I almost dropped my phone when she tweeted that Luther Cambell- yes, THE Luther Campbell of 2 Live Crew “Me So Horny” fame- may run for Mayor of Miami Dade County. What more can I say.

Mayor Campbell and his Brain Trust.

Questions or comments? Wanna tell me how much I suck? Hire me to pen your memoirs? Hit me here or on Twitter @SnottieDrippen.

Superstar Status: The Elite 9

OK, this post mutated as I got into it. I started off bemoaning the label of "Superstar" being attached to every NBA player who averaged over 19 ppg, and gettin' my "ornery old man" on about how there are fewer and fewer true superstars in the League. I texted my boy Jake,"Look at the '91 All Star game roster n tell me how many superstars you see." I counted 7. Off the top of my head, I figured that, by the standards we've seen in the past, there'd be only 4, maybe 5 today, with 2 on the same team. I did some digging, had it out with my Brain Trust, and I admit, was pleasantly surprised to pluck out almost double that many superstars in the current constellation of NBA players. 

and THAT'S where we begin. Superstars? Sure, there are 28 All-Stars every year, and every team has it's player or 2 (or 3, if you're in South Beach) who is THEIR star, at least in his respective fan-base. But SUPER? I mean, there's only one Superman. Tecmo Bowl was ok, but Super Tecmo Bowl was where it took off. College bowl games are fun, but there's only one SUPER Bowl. Mario? Plumber who likes spaghetti. SUPER Mario? Bad-ass. So what separates the All-Stars from the ultra-elite superstars? How many legit superstars are in the league right now? I think we can agree that LeBron James and Kobe Bean make the cut. Dwyane Wade? Certainly. Here's where it gets murky. So I took it upon myself to use the most stringent, scientific, meticulous (meaning I arged and shouted back and forth with my boy Dun for an 35 minutes) to come up with the criteria to delineate the really good from the great. So we agree that, to be a superstar, a baller HAS to meet 5 bulletpoints:

1. Show marked improvement over the course of their formative years
2. Elevate their team's play
3. Be able to take over a game, changing the momentum to win it
4. Their team is appreciably worse without them (meaning, you replace them with an average dude at their position, their team is looking at the lottery).
5. The eye test, the “It” factor, air of confidence, whatever you want to call it. If someone who doesn't necessarily watch the NBA watches a superstar in a game, he just knows,”That guy is good. Really good.”

Basically, a true superstar's GM is only going to consider trading him for another true superstar (unless he's Billy King or David Kahn; then he'll give up his Lambourgini player for two 2nd round picks, $3,00, and a pack of Newports). This isn't about rings, scoring average, or hype, this is about the players who, through a combination of dominating talent and sheer will, can turn a franchise around. Who are the bonafide superstar's in the league today?

 

• LeBron James/Dwayne Wade, Miami Heat- 2 unstoppable scorers, 2 willing passers, both have led their teams deep into the playoffs, each individually capable of destroying the opposition. While LBJ is more physically dominating, Wade's display of a steely will and relentlessness is superior to LBJ's sometime-passivity in the big spots. Say what you will about LeBron's puzzling PR moves over the last 7months, but the Cavs dismal season without him highlight his superpowers.
• Kobe Bryant, LA Lakers- Right now, LBJ and Wade are his physical superiors due to their relative youth, but Kobe's competitive fire and on-court IQ are on another level. While he may be a cornball off the court, Kobe's ability to beat you in any way necessary (15 boards in game 7 is insane) makes him NBA royalty.
• Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic- We get it. He's a shaky free throw shooter, his offensive repertoire is still in it's infancy, and his recent rash of techs is calling into question his focus. But MAN, he can play some defense. To witness his claim on superstardom, go no further than Orlando's decimation of the Charlotte Bobcats in last year's playoffs. While foul trouble had Dwight sitting for long stretches, when he was in he bullied the Cats into submission with smothering D. Even though Orlando inexplicably goes long stretches without getting him touches (show me another top-notch player who get's only 10.2 shots a game, like Howard got last year), Howard controls games with tight D and efficient scoring.

• Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs- His time is winding down, but Tim Duncan is still, at 34, an upper echelon PF. Don't let the career low numbers (about 14 points, 9 boards, and 2 blocks in less than 30 mpg)this year fool you, Coach Pop realizes the end of Tim's time is near and is asking him to do less to squeeze every last year of productivity he can out of Big Fundamental. Younger, flashier power forwards are out there, but think about it, future nonwithstanding, you don't think Pat Riley would jump at the chance to swap Duncan and and Bosh? Jerry Sloan wouldn't ship Al Jefferson out in a heartbeat for TD? He's scoring less, but he's proven he can imprint a game by defending the rim and controlling the boards. Superstar certified.
• Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls/Chris Paul, N.O. Hornets/ Deron Williams, Utah Jazz
  Here's where I almost lost a homie. D. Will and CP3 have been The Standards at point guard for the last 5 years; tough, efficient, and have shown that they can beat teams with the pass or shouldering the scoring load. I had them tabbed as superstars- they hit all 5 of the criteria dead-on. Rose, though...Naaaaah. My buddy Dun disagreed; more accurately, he stated,”You high.” Words were exchanged, family members defamed, guns drawn. But I can now admit I was wrong; Improvement? Scoring up by 4 points every year since his robust 16.8 ppg, dimes up to 8 a game, with almost 5 boards to boot. No question he's elevated this team's play, as evidenced by the epic 1^st round match-up the Bulls and Celtics waged back in '09, Rose's rookie season. Game domination? Just last night, he willed his team to a win over the Heat, hitting more than a couple eye-popping plays down the stretch. (the left-to-right-cross-floater-combo he hit Chalmers off with was Mortal Kombat“Fatality” level sick). Without him, the Bulls would be, in a word, putrid; there'd be bo one to get Boozer the ball, and they'd challenge the Nets and Cavs for a spot on the bottom of the barrel. Finally, just watching him handle the rock, watch him setting up his man with the slow dribble, like a coiled spring, you just KNOW he's about to do something that you probably are going to shout about (Click the link, please. He ducks so he DOESN'T hit his head on the BACKBOARD. Click it). So yeah. Any bias I had about his youth is blown away.
• Kevin Durant, OKC Thunder-The “KD is a lock for MVP” talk after he shot the world's eye's out at the FIBA Games this summer was a little overblown; he faltered a bit out of the gate this season, Russell Westbrook has been astronomical, and the Thunder took a while to hit their stride. SOMEHOW, my colleague Dun was of the mind that, while Rose was elite, KD was merely “a good scorer who got the refs in his pocket”. My rebuttal? “You high.” Durant's a force to be reckoned with; vast improvement, takes his team on his back, devastating scorer who has no problem diming, and with a team literally built around his talents, he's vital to his teams success. As far as presence, he's like a not-dorky Tim Duncan; quiet and seems humble, but really in tune with his team.

And that's IT. Those are the league superstars. Amare' Stoudemire? Has the “swagger”, scores like nobody's business, doing a bang-up job as Da Man in NY, but does too many dumb things at bad spots, is too caught up in his numbers, and really, besides scoring, isn't a complete player. Steve Nash? A Picasso of passing, but a Dagwood Bumstead of defense, we're learning that maybe he needed Amare' more than vice versa. Joe Johnson? Please. Next....Chris Bosh? After his “chill” comment and the whining travesty he pulled about his “widdle ankle boo-boo”, I'm not sure he's even star status. Carmelo Anthony? BREATH-TAKING scorer, but too much of a volume shooter; like Amare', if he's your best player, no way you're winning a 'ship. And as much as it hurt leaving Blake Griffin off of the SUPERstar list, I need to see it for more than 40 games; he's already ahead of the rest of the pretenders in my mind.

That's what I think, any opinions? Questions? Tell me I stink? Hit me, here or on Twitter, SnottieDrippen.

24 Hour Twitter Stuff: Bloggers Blogging Bloggers

The Heat, REELING. OKC going in on Orlando (Dwight did his part this time, they're still a work in progress...). I refuse to talk about The Guy in Denver, not gonna happen. But there was plenty to talk about in the NBA. Here's a veritable smorgasborg of NBA blogger-writer goodness...

• Zach Harper sounds off on Hardwood Paroxysm about the whole bruhaha about LeBron James' image.

 "Now, LeBron is embracing his villainous stature like he gets nourishment from eating babies, stomping on puppies and masturbating to I Hate Orphans Quarterly. We see the change right before our very eyes. It didn’t start with The Decision or whatever the hell he was doing during the 2010 playoffs against the Celtics. It began the night he went to Cleveland and tried to put out the inferno by using Chevron With Techron."

Reminds me of when Hulk Kogan broke the hearts of millions of young Hulkamanics and went with the dark 12 O'clock stubble. Embrace the evil, LBJ.





Yup. "Dead Bird".


• Zach and Raul Takahashi of HotHotHoops watched the Clippers dismantling of the Heat and formulated the Nickame of the Decade. Thanks for your crappy play,  Carlos "Dead Bird" Arroyo.

• Robert Littal of BlackSportsOnline tips his hat to the not-so-subliminal heat Wes Welker aims at the J-E-T-S. All the tough talk by Antonio Cromartie looks foolish after this slick talk. Well played, Wes.

• Scott Schoeder at NBA Fanhouse let's us know about Joe Alexander, a favorite around these parts, is wrecking shop in the D-League and biding his time until a call up. 20-11 and almost 4 dimes a game, while settling in to a better fit at power forward? Yeah, he'll be back in the L.

• Kelly Dwyer from Ball Don't Lie on chimes in on the Rip Hamilton benching and offers some smart insight on the Brook Lopez/Avery Johnson tension. He hit's the nail on the head; the coach, as the "teacher", has GOT to figure out a way to get through to the youngster. The funny thing is, as an ex-player, you'd figure Lil General would be more adept at dealing with his team.


• Kurt Helin from ProBasketballTalk comes through wrecking shop; he hits on the rumblings about where Anthony Randolph might get ANOTHER chance, discusses the sad state of Portland Trailblazers' Brandon Roy's knees, and the Clippers' upcoming dilemma; 2 burgeoning centers, one starting spot-what to do with Chris Kaman?

• Get Banged On's Chris with video that teaches an important lesson: you make him angry, and Blake Griffin will find you...THERE WILL BE DUNKS.

Finally, The Basketball Jones blogger J.E.Skeets linked one of the dumbest things I've ever seen. 1st Mike Tyson (sorry Iron Mike). Then Stephon Marbury. The Game. Now Gucci Mane gets a $%#$ ICE CREAM CONE tatted on his face. Look at that picture. Lightning bolts. Ice cream. a healthy scoop of WTF. From this small sample of entertainers/athletes, I'm deducing "face tattoo = cry for attention/slide into insanity".

Questions or comments? Wanna tell me how much I suck? Hire me to pen your memoirs? Hit me here or on Twitter @SnottieDrippen.

Clip Show: A New Beginning (?)





Questions or comments? Wanna tell me how much I suck? Hire me to pen your memoirs? Hit me here or on Twitter @SnottieDrippen.

"Tech. No taunting."

David and Goliath. Washington Generals and the Globetrotters. The bullies from Kobra Kai versus Daniel-Son. The Fratellis vs the Goonies. You can use any imagery you want, but that fact is, the Miami Heat, winners of 9 straight and 20 of their last 21  games, rolled into Los Angeles to play the young buck Clippers with their chest puffed out, and left with their hat in their hands and their egos bruised, the result of a rousing 111-106 Clips victory. Miami's Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh had the pedigree: 17 All Star games, 2 MVPs, a Finals MVP, 1 Larry O'Brien trophy, a shot at a historic road win streak,  and a foolish nickname (LeBron, "Heatles" is a terrible, terrible idea); all the The Clips have is a FIBA World Games medal and a couple of Rookie-Of-The-Month accolades on it's mantel. But from the opening tip, you just FELT a shift. Watching the Clips fly around the court like attack dogs (ok, attack labradors, but still), seeing the young legs of the Heat 3 get overwhelmed in the opening minutes by the young-ER legs of the Clip 5- the box score is going to show Blake Griffin's collossal 24 point, 14 rebound, 6 assist line and Eric Gordon's 26-5-6 as the big story, but best believe that Eric Bledsoe, Al-Farouq Aminu and DeAndre Jordan's speed, energy and D off the bench were JUST as vital- it was enthralling. As long as I can remember, the Clips have been, in a word, pathetic. Even the blip in the early 2000s when Lamar Odom, Darius Miles, and Q Richardson were clowning, dunking, and ignoring their coach had an air of desperate optimism, like a drowning man clutching at straws and convincing himself that they'd float him to shore. Even earlier this year through all the hullaballoo of  Blake literally exploding  in Mosgov the Knick's face, we glossed over the fact that they LOST the game. But the electricity tonight was different; the Clips didn't win because of a flukey shot, or with the other team losing a Big Gun in the 1st quarter to injury. The Clippers stood and stared down the same juggernaut that had steamrolled Lakers in the same building about a week ago. Blake Griffin bullied through a defense that refused to give up the adrenaline-pumping dunk,  3 or 4 non-calls, and a suprisingly mouthy Mario Chalmers (Yeah. You read that. Mario Chalmers). Baron Davis shot waaaaay to much, but you can't hate on 20 points, 9 dimes, and 2 incredibly clutch buckets in the 4th. Boom Dizzle alternately set up Blake n' Co., scored off of crafty drives and long Js, and tried to gack the game up with "hero mode" pull ups and blown lay-ups. Eric Gordon picked his spots, running through and shooting over Wade when it counted. Bledsoe (4 dimes, 2 steals, sblocks(!), a steal, 2 points)  was everywhere, dropping dimes and bringing the crowd to a roar when he chased doen Chalmers LBJ-style to wipe out a fastbreak, and by stuffing a loafing LBJ lay-up attempt straight up. DeAndre Jordan was hit with foul trouble, but in his 25 minutes he was pivotal to clogging the middle on D and keeping Bosh in check until the Heat were playing catch-up. Aminu continued to fill in the gaps and give Clip fans hope for the future; 4-4 for 9 points and a 2 critical blocks.

 In the big scheme of things, I know, this is just one game in the doldrums of the season; when we look in the history book, there won't be an asterisks. But seeing this young team that was such a disheveled mess as they stumbled to 1-12, then 5-21, take the big blows of the Miami Triumvirate (Wade, Bron, and Bosh combined for a staggering 84) and actually make the plays to win. It wasn't always beautiful backetball, but their youthful energy and all-out effort showed glimpses of a talented team under the recent ineptitude.It was obvious the Heat were in foreign territory down 9 late in the 4th; Wade shot a 3 off of the SIDE of the backboard, and Bosh inexplicably channeled his inner Jesus Shuttlesworth, jacking up 2 horrible 3s in the closing minutes. When Griffin threw down a thunderous baseline dunk off of a slick Baron drop-off, then stared down Mario Chalmers through the howl of the delerious Clip crowd, even though there was still a few minutes in this tight game, you knew it was over. Daniel-son had Crane-Kicked the blond jerk. THe Goonies had found Chester Copperpot's gold. It's only one game, but history shows that sometimes it just takes one game to turn a season from a lost cause to something to pull for. Now if only Donald Sterling would get lost in quicksand or struck by a meteor, the Clips faithful could really havr reason for hope in the years to come. Never know, it MAY happen; like that one dude said: Karma is a....ah forget it. BEAT. THE. HEAT.