Dirk did David Hasselhoff proud with his rendition of Queen’s “We Are the Champions.”
Category: NBA (Page 39 of 595)
Below you’ll find the consensus mock draft from NBA.com. Click here to read the rest of the article.
Guys like Kyrie Irving and Marcus Morris are familiar to most U.S. readers, but what about Enes Kanter and Jan Vesely?
Here’s a look at the four lesser-known prospects currently projected to go in the lottery.
Enes Kanter, Turkey (C)
6-11, 260 lbs, 19-years-old
NBADraft.net said “Bigman with excellent size, strength and polish … Combines brute strength with a high skill level … ” but that “One of the big concerns scouts have with Kanter is his physical health. He has had a history of knee problems and there are concerns about his knees not checking out 100% when he has NBA physicals.” DraftExpress says “Kanter has soft hands and displays good touch on his shots, both around the basket and from the perimeter. He’s a reliable finisher who can score in multiple ways in the paint — with a soft turnaround jumper for example” but that his “lack of experience shows up first and foremost on the defensive end, where Kanter was incredibly ineffective in the film we watched. His fundamentals, instincts and positioning leave a lot to be desired.”
Jonas Valanciunas, Lithuania (C)
6-11, 240 lbs, 19-years-old
NBADraft.net says Valanciunas “uses all of his physical skills to the fullest when attacking the glass … Extremely aggressive rebounder both offensively and defensively …” while DraftExpress notes that “he’s an incredibly intense competitor, a boundlessly energetic player who never stops working for a moment and whose presence is constantly felt on the court” and that “Valanciunas’ most important source of scoring comes from his ability to finish plays created for him by teammates around the basket.” In other words, he’ll fare well in the pick-and-roll.
Jan Vesley, Czech Republic (F)
6-11, 240 lbs, 21-years-old
DraftExpress says that he “has terrific size and length for a small forward at 6-11 and couples that with incredible explosiveness. He looks a lot more confident in trying to utilize his athleticism as of late, as he’s been responsible for a number of unbelievable dunks this season.” However “watching him handle the ball in the open floor is definitely not a pretty sight.” NBADraft.net notes that “as a shooter he improved since last year and feels more confident taking shots outside the 3pt line and creating off the dribble; his mechanics and follow-through look fluid; good elevation on his shot” but that he “needs to continue improving his offensive skills.”
Bismack Biyombo, Congo (PF/C)
6-9, 240 lbs, 18-years-old
DraftExpress says that “his combination of length, strength agility and explosiveness is almost unheard of, causing many to marvel at his physical gifts despite the low-skill level he displayed” and compared him to a 6-9 version of Dwight Howard. NBADraft.net thinks that “Biyombo is a player who likes to play above the rim. Additionally he has nice skills in the low post to attack the basket, using fakes, spin moves and jump hooks.” However his “offensive game is a long ways from being NBA ready.”
ESPN just released their “Ultimate Team Rankings,” where they rank the 122 professional sports franchises using eight categories: Bang For The Buck, Fan Relations, Ownership, Affordability, Stadium Experience, Players, Coaching and Title Track. (Click on the link above for more details on what these categories mean.)
The Top 10:
1. Green Bay Packers
2. Tampa Bay Lightning
3. New Orleans Saints
4. Los Angeles Angels
5. San Antonio Spurs
6. Oklahoma City Thunder
7. Pittsburgh Steelers
8. Colorado Rockies
9. Memphis Grizzlies
10. Pittsburgh Penguins
The Bottom Five:
118. Minnesota Timberwolves
119. Sacramento Kings
120. Toronto Maple Leafs
121. Washington Redskins
122. Cincinnati Bengals
I’m not going to dive too deep into these rankings because I think they’re kind of silly. Are they fun to look at? Yeah, but so are pinwheels and I don’t want to break them down either. If you spend enough time, you can find a gripe about any team outside of the Packers. (It’s kind of hard to argue that they’re not the best franchise in sports right now across those eight categories, although somebody probably will – if they haven’t already, that is.)
Take the Bengals for example. You look at the Bengals and there’s a reason why they’re ranked so low. Their ownership sucks, they haven’t won a playoff game in two decades and their quarterback just quit on them. But in the “Affordability” category, they dropped from 80th last year to 114th this year, yet their ticket prices didn’t change. Their coaches dropped from 60th to 114th, which seems excessive even given Brad Bratkowski’s failures as offensive coordinator last year. And their players (which is a category based on effort on the field and liability off it) are 122 out of 122? Once again I’m splitting hairs because they’re ranked No. 121, but how are the Pistons not 122 after they quit on their head coach last year?
You get my point. These rankings are fun and they’re meant to be argued and debated, but I wouldn’t get too invested into the final numbers. I know there’s a lot of number-crunching that goes into some of the categories, but on a whole there’s a lot to be left up to interpretation.
That said, I’ll bite: What teams do you think should be ranked higher or lower? No surprise, I think my SF Giants deserve to be higher. No. 32 seems a tad low for a World Series champion with a beautiful stadium and players that are extremely well liked by fans. San Francisco is an expensive city so the Giants lose a little ground in “Bang For The Buck” and “Affordability,” but I was surprised to see them ranked in the 30s. (Especially considering the Rockies are ranked eighth – eighth!)
The top 10 plays…
…and the top 10 dunks…
After Game 6, LeBron had this to say about the people that were rooting against the Heat:
“All the people that was rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today,” James said Sunday.
“They have the same personal problems they had today. I’m going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things that I want to do with me and my family and be happy with that. They can get a few days or a few months or whatever the case may be on being happy about not only myself, but the Miami Heat not accomplishing their goal, but they have to get back to the real world at some point.”
To many, that sounded like LeBron was playing the “I’m richer/better than you” card, so at the end of the day, if you found any joy in the Heat’s struggles, you still have to go on with your day-to-day life while LeBron goes back to being a multi-millionaire. It was a clear shot at the “haters,” and it’s somewhat understandable that LeBron would want to lash out after all the criticism he has taken over the past couple of weeks.
On Tuesday, LeBron clarified his statements.
“Basically I was saying at the end of the day this season is over and — with all hatred — everyone else has to move on with their lives, good or bad. I do too,” James said.
“It wasn’t saying I’m superior or better than anyone else, any man or woman on this planet, I’m not. I would never ever look at myself bigger than anyone who watched our game. It may have come off wrong but that wasn’t my intent.”
Of course he thinks he’s better than the average American, but I’d suspect that, deep down, most professional athletes feel that way.
What LeBron needs to understand is that he brought most of this criticism on himself. Had he announced his decision to sign with the Heat in the same way Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh did, he wouldn’t have been under nearly as much scrutiny as he was this summer. We still hold “The Decision” against him because it was an ego trip that tore the heart out of the city of Cleveland on national television. He may have had good intentions, but those intentions don’t matter.
LeBron isn’t going to be able to move on until he accepts some responsibility for the hatred that is aimed his way. If he had come out and said that “The Decision” was a well-intentioned mistake and apologized to the city of Cleveland for the way he handled his announcement, it would go a long way in repairing his image.
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