Category: NBA (Page 170 of 595)

      Where do the Suns go from here?

      May 30, 2010 /

      On the heels of their Game 6 loss to the Lakers, the Phoenix Suns once again start an offseason after coming up short in the postseason.

      In reality, despite the sour finish, making the Western Conference Finals represents a resounding success for the Suns, who weren’t expected to be a legitimate title contender heading into the season. But after the trade deadline, Amare Stoudemire played like an All-NBAer (27-10 after the All-Star break), and the Suns’ bench — specifically Goran Dragic, Jared Dudley and Channing Frye — provided a much-needed punch when the starters weren’t getting it done.

      This team already has great chemistry and is playing championship-caliber ball, why mess with it? Well, the Suns have a huge decision this offseason — whether or not to offer Stoudemire a max contract.

      Is he worth a max deal? He doesn’t rebound as well as he should — and grabbed just nine rebounds in the first two games of the WCF — and he’s not known as a very good defender. Shouldn’t a max player excel at scoring, rebounding and defense?

      Stoudemire is open to staying in Phoenix, but it seems like he wants a max deal. Without it, he’ll probably go elsewhere, providing they’ll offer him the non-Bird max.

      If he leaves, the Suns will have about $13 million of cap space assuming Grant Hill opts in and Channing Frye opts out (which they are rumored to do). What that means is that if Stoudemire bolts, the Suns will be a player in this summer’s free agency frenzy. They may not have a shot at LeBron James or Chris Bosh, but they could potentially afford someone like Carlos Boozer or David Lee, who would both fit in well with the Suns’ up-tempo system. However, neither player is known for his defense, so the Suns will probably continue to struggle on that end of the court. Also, such a move would only serve to further highlight the length issues that the Suns have when they face the Lakers.

      Steve Nash is already 36 and his game has to fall off at some point. However, he’s in tremendous shape and the emergence of Goran Dragic should continue to offset the decline in Nash’s game. The Suns have a nice core, so if they re-sign Stoudemire or end up with someone like Boozer or Lee to pay power forward, they should stay near the top of the Western Conference. It doesn’t appear that they’re built to get by the Lakers, but if there’s a playoff-threatening injury to Kobe Bryant or Pau Gasol, the Suns would be in position to pick up the ball and run to the Finals. That’s better than blowing the whole thing up and starting over, right?


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      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      Goran Dragic vs. Sasha Vujacic

      May 30, 2010 /

      Is there anything better than two Slovenians continuing their personal rivalry in Game 6 of the NBA Western Conference Finals?

      The Suns were on life support, down 17 in the fourth quarter, when Dragic came into the game, hit a jumper and started to talk some sh*t to Vujacic, who has some problems with Dragic over the fact that he (Vujacic) was dismissed from the Slovenian national team. Vujacic lost his cool and elbowed Dragic in the face, and it turned into a six-point play. Suns down 11 with 11:11 to play.

      Kobe on the squabble:

      Still, Bryant, who led the Lakers with 37 points, did not take kindly to Vujacic’s flagrant foul playing a role in Phoenix’s rally. In an interview with TNT immediately after the game, Bryant said he wanted to “kill” Vujacic after what he did and still wanted to “kill him” even though the Lakers won.

      So what did Dragic say? Vujacic, who we all know is not to be trusted, said the following:

      Continue reading »

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      WCF Game 6: I’m on Team Goran

      May 29, 2010 /

      The Lakers may have won, 111-103, thanks to some incredibly clutch shots from Kobe Bryant (37-6-2) in the fourth quarter, but the rivalry between fellow Slovenians Goran Dragic and Sasha Vujacic (sort of) stole the show. The Suns were on life support, down 17 in the fourth quarter, when Dragic came into the game, hit a jumper and started to talk some sh*t to Vujacic, who has some problems with Dragic over the fact that he (Vujacic) was dismissed from the Slovenian national team. Vujacic lost his cool and elbowed Dragic in the face, and it turned into a six-point play. Suns down 11 with 11:11 to play.

      The Suns eventually cut it to three with 2:18 to play, but Kobe hit two impossible shots, a 23-footer with 1:59 to play (and two guys in his face) to push the lead to five and a very contested 21-footer with 0:35 to play to push the lead to seven. Game over.

      So we have a rematch of the 2008 Finals — Lakers vs. Celtics. There is plenty on the line for both teams, but I expect Kobe and the Lakers will come out very motivated to avenge the Finals loss two years ago.

      On a side note, no one can question what Ron Artest has brought to the table in this series. After his timely game-winning put back in Game 5 and his 10-for-16, 25-point, three-steal effort in Game 6, I doubt there are too many Laker fans wishing that Trevor Ariza was still on the team.

      Be sure to check back on Monday for my writeups about where the Suns (and Magic) go from here.

      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA, NBA Finals

      NCAA investigating former Kentucky player Eric Bledsoe

      May 29, 2010 /

      Per the NY Times…

      Two years ago, Eric Bledsoe was a star point guard without the grades to meet the N.C.A.A.’s minimum standards and needing to find a new high school. He solved both problems by moving to A. H. Parker High School and now, after one season at the University of Kentucky, he is awaiting a lucrative payday in next month’s N.B.A. draft.

      The changes in Bledsoe’s academic and athletic prospects have attracted the attention of the N.C.A.A., which has sent investigators to at least three places in Alabama to ask about him. The N.C.A.A. does not talk about its investigations, and the scope of this one is unknown.

      The report goes on to discuss interviews with people in Bledsoe’s life that may reveal potential violations:

      Brenda Axle, the landlord for the house where Bledsoe and his mother moved for his senior year of high school, said that Bledsoe’s high school coach [Maurice Ford] paid her at least three months’ rent, or $1,200.

      A copy of Bledsoe’s high school transcript from his first three years reveals that it would have taken an improbable academic makeover — a jump from about a 1.9 grade point average in core courses to just under a 2.5 during his senior year — for Bledsoe to achieve minimum N.C.A.A. standards to qualify for a scholarship.

      A college coach who recruited Bledsoe said that Ford explicitly told his coaching staff that he needed a specific amount of money to let Bledsoe sign with that university. The coach, who did not want to be named out of fear of repercussions when recruiting in Birmingham, said Ford told him and his staff that he was asking for money because he was helping pay rent for Bledsoe and his mother.

      Uh-oh. If the coach’s assertions are true, and Ford did indeed demand money to “let Bledsoe sign with the university,” and Bledsoe eventually signed with John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats…well, then, you can connect the dots.

      Trouble just follows Calipari around. I’m starting to think that it’s partly due to the kind of player he recruits. Calipari clearly doesn’t care about academics, so sometimes shady things go on to get his recruits eligible to play. In Bledsoe’s case, his GPA shot up after enrolling at A.H. Parker High School. Of course, this comes on the heels of the NCAA vacating Memphis’s trip to the 2008 Final Four because someone else actually took Derrick Rose’s SAT test during his senior year of high school.

      This is party the NBA’s fault. The league’s age-limit rule forces kids that have no business going to college to enroll for a season, and that can lead to all sorts of shenanigans in trying to get a player eligible. We’re talking about a handful of players every year, but Rose and Bledsoe fall into that category. Both players would have been NBA draftees had they turned pro straight out of high school.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      College Basketball, External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, March Madness, NBA, NBA Draft, News, Rumors & Gossip

      Hedo Turkoglu wants out of Toronto?

      May 29, 2010 /

      The answer is a resounding yes, assuming this translation of an interview he did with a Turkish sports program is accurate.

      The disconnect stems from a midseason incident where Turkoglu was accused of being out at a bar after he was too sick to play against the Denver Nuggets. Here is his side of the story:

      After a sleepless Thursday night and not having eaten much, they asked me how I felt. I explained the situation and said, “I didn’t sleep. I’m not feeling good.” Their answer was, ‘We shouldn’t put you on the court without practicing.”

      Our Italian physiologists said, “You are not starting today. After training on Sunday you’ll give it a go against Miami and Charlotte.” I nodded and did some weight work on game day.

      Although they allowed me to go home, I wanted to watch the game with my teammates. After the game, I went back home. Some European teammates called me and said, “Hedo, are you sleeping?” Then they told me where they were hanging out, which is actually 100 meters away from my home. I said, “OK” and when I arrived, all the guys were here. And if you check the camera records, you will see that I left there in 15-20 minutes with Andrea Bargnani. I guarantee it. And if they prove me wrong, I will give back my contract!

      So Turkoglu admits to being at the bar, but says he was only there for 15-20 minutes and that it was not his decision that he wouldn’t play against Denver.

      Obviously, it wasn’t a good decision to go out after not playing in a home loss, but if he was really told by the training staff that he couldn’t play because he hadn’t practiced and if he was really only in the bar for 15-20 minutes, then the incident was really blown out of proportion. The reaction had more to do with the frustration in the perceived falloff in Turkoglu’s game than it does with any single incident.

      This raises the question — just how far did Turkoglu’s production fall? Raptor fans will have more insight into the subjective nature of this, but his points per shot (PPS) fell from 1.26 last season in Orlando to 1.24 in Toronto, which isn’t much. Moreover, his rebound rate actually increased while his assist rate stayed about the same. His averages fell because he was playing six fewer minutes and took four fewer shots per game. His FG% and 3PT% were comparable to his previous season in Orlando.

      So this looks like a case of a team with high hopes having a very disappointing year (compounded by the probable loss of Chris Bosh) and the newcomer they had hoped would be the missing piece getting all or most of the blame when things don’t go as expected. Throw in a controversial trip to a bar and suddenly Turkoglu is the target of Toronto’s frustration.

      Later in the interview, Turkoglu basically asked for a trade:

      When the circumstances turned against me, I lost my enthusiasm for this city. My lawyers have talked to the front office recently. Honestly, I do not want to go back to Toronto. My lawyers talked to Mr. Colangelo and I hope that they will come up with a solution soon.

      I understand that he feels betrayed, but I’d like to see Turkoglu try to put the incident behind him since nothing would have transpired had he not made the decision to go to that bar after not playing in a home loss. Even if it was only for 15-20 minutes, he created this situation. He may not like the organization’s response, but his poor decision put them in the position where they had to respond.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

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