Damnit, I think I need a new blog name

I just came up with this one, too :'(

On a team where the priority is evaluating players this season, Damien Wilkins said he's not happy with his diminished role.

With the Feb. 21 trade deadline a month a way, a change of venue might be a way for Wilkins to gain more playing time. Wilkins, 28, makes $2.9 million this season, and a total of $6.4 million the next two seasons.

"I still want to be here if they want me to be here," Wilkins said. "I just want to play, to be honest with you. I just want to get on the court and help my teammates win games, be it here or somewhere else. That's all I want to do." -- Tacoma News Tribune

I'm pretty sure I love the Hornets

Congratulations to my pet team for the best record in the West at 32-12!

This comes on a night where Chris Paul goes for 23 pts, 17 ast, 9 reb, 3 stl, 1 blk, 3 TO in a complete annihilation of the Melo-less Nuggets.

For the record, when we lose the Sonics, I am more than happy with getting the Hornets in return.

So the Sonics lost to the Lakers in OT

Because:

• When the game was tied with 20 seconds left and the Lakers with the ball, they elected not to contest the inbounds pass.
  

• They had Jeff Green trying to cover Kobe, who ran one screen and caught the ball without any problem.

• Kobe takes and makes a jump shot with about 4 seconds to go.

• Sonics run Durant off of two screens and get him the ball at the top of the key, where he is immediately fouled by Kobe since the Lakers had a foul to give.

• Wally Sczerbiak "tries" to inbound the ball. I realize this isn't really Wally's fault.. After all, Coach Carlesimo should know that if you're going to choose a person to inbound the ball, it should be someone who has actually passed it on more than a couple occasions.. Timeout sonics.

• Wally again "tries" to inbound the ball. Durant is moving around calling for it. Wally instead fires a pass to Kurt Thomas near the 3 point line, who swings it to Nick Collison for a hastily launched 20 ft jump shot. Game Over.

At least they didn't run the play for Damien?:[

Sonics vs Cavs 1/8/08

Some bulleted notes about the game as I see it..

• Kurt Thomas makes a couple of mid-range jumpers in a row to put the Sonics up 8-4. As much as I love his ability to make that shot, the fact that they run a play for him to shoot it boggles my mind. Durant was standing at an average distance of about 25 ft from the rim, (with the ball nowhere near him) on both of those possessions.
• Larry Hughes gets a steal takes a wide open jump shot on a 2 v 1 fast break, and predictably bricks it. Cavs fans boo.
• Earl Watson brings the ball up and runs a screen and roll.. Minus the roll. He passes the ball to a Cavalier. On the ensuing possession, he dribbles around the free throw line area for half the shot clock before missing a contested 20 ft shot. On the one after that, he penetrates and jumps in the air only to find no passing lanes, and lands on his feet for a double-dribble call. I firmly believe that 90% of coaches in the league would have sat him down after that, but nope he's still in there. Let me mention that he never got the ball to Durant at any point.
• This team is really depressing to watch. The Cavs are playing horribly and yet the Sonics make them look like the god damn 72-10 Bulls.

Nawleans, baby

With my beloved Durant having to fight through the rigors of one of the 5 worst coaches in the league, I've replaced the Sonics with the Hornets (currently 11-6) as my team to watch anytime it's on League Pass.

They've just beaten Dallas (now 11-5) in OT.. Had a bit of a flashback in that Peja Stojakovic put up a great offensive game, reminding us that just 4 years ago that the best Euro in the league wasn't German. He's been a bit of a forgotten man due to his injuries and the general collapse that the Kings had in recent years, but his game isn't one that will diminish much with aging. Remember that in the Kings' prime, EVERYONE was raving about his Bird-like shooting percentages (48%fg, 43%3pt, 93%ft) as he tied for 2nd in the league in points per game (24.2). He's not done.

At the ever-important point, we've got Chris Paul: arguably the best young player at his position in the league, no offense to Deron Williams. The man is unselfish when necessary, can take over offensively at his whim, is not afraid of contact and is dangerous anytime he has the ball in his hands.

At the five, it's Tyson "The Bulls got rid of me to get Ben Wallace" Chandler, who is the second coming of Marcus Camby. He's got the same iffy offensive game coupled with monstrous defensive presence and rebounding numbers.

David West is a guy that I can't help but love. The man was basically a nonfactor his first couple years in the league.. then Chris Paul comes along and he decides that he can drop 25 and 17 every now and then, with the swagger of a Kobe or T-mac.

They're just very athletic and very fun. Along with Morris Peterson, their whole starting five is very competent, with four of them with the ability to take over any given game. Their team is built extremely well and has no real flaws other than a knack for injuries.. If I were a betting man I wouldn't have any trouble putting money on them against any team in the league. They're freakin scary :]

This sums up the 07-08 Sonics so far

tradebark: ALRITE GUYZ WE'RE DOWN AND THERZ LIKE 2 MINS LEFT
tradebark: DURANT I KNOW UR THE BEST COLLEGE PLAYER EVER AND OUR FRANCHISE PLAYER AND YOU HIT A FADEAWAY 3 PTER WITH AL HORFORD IN UR FACE
tradebark: BUT
tradebark: PASS IT TO DAMIEN
tradebark: AND LET HIM CREATE
arthurjsb21: hahahaha
tradebark: K ALL IN
arthurjsb21: hahahaha
tradebark: $#^@$%^EWEAWEAW

On Donaghy and the "Future of the NBA"

This whole scandal is getting more boring by the minute. I mean I realize it's the offseason so every NBA analyst/writer/blogger doesn't have a whole lot to write about other than the latest impending Team USA hip-thrust, but come onnnnnnnnnn..

Let's see what we've got so far

1. Tim Donaghy gets accused of point-shaving and possibly altering the overall outcome of games.

2. The mob is more than likely involved.

3. Donaghy has a "history" of gambling and a few notorious games under his belt (06-07 Game 3 Suns/Spurs and the Palace Brawl)

4. Journalists are milking the "is the league in trouble?" "will anyone ever trust the NBA again?" angle to DEATH.. Emphases placed on whether the league's future is at risk and the supposed problems of trust that it already had involving its fans.

Really, what the hell?

In the end, people are getting mad over strategic calls that Donaghy probably made in order to fix the over/under numbers for games he refereed.. Yes that sucks, yes it is clearly a problem the league has to deal with, but how do people honestly see this as THAT big of a deal in terms of game-to-game officiating?

How many times have you watched a game on TV and heard announcers talking about "make-up calls"? Where they obviously make a bad call on one end and call (or don't call) a cheap foul or travelling violation or defensive 3-second on the other end to "offset" it? In the end officials cover themselves because they are the ultimate arbiters for such calls in a given game.. A tiny shove is normally not called but is probably a foul under the rules, so a given referee could call it a foul at his/her discretion anytime. However it still boils down to being a bad call since they would likely be officiating outside of their normal patterns and potentially changing the outcome of the game.

How often have you seen officiating sensitive to outside factors? Such as flagrants being called if the hit player is injured or comes up fighting, but not if the player bounces back up without a word? Late whistles where fouls are called after the basket is missed?

How many times have technical fouls been called on coaches or players for yelling out an obscenity that just hit that official wrong? Yes the techs are often issued for a reason, but in the end they are complete judgement calls by the referee and have no true standards in the grand scheme of things--it is, by nature, the referee rolled up newspaper that can be used to whack the unruly dog. On the same note how many times have players and/or coaches been ejected via technicals for reasons not involving safety?

How many times has a player received key fouls from light contact and taken out of the game because of it? Or gotten away with a lot of contact and not? Players like Shaq complained endlessly about the physical abuse they received from game to game without getting calls; how different would the outcome of Shaq's prime be if he'd gotten say.. 30% more free throw attempts?

How many times have you seen Dwyane Wade shoot free throws? (had to throw it in there)

All of those things (especially Wade if you like the Mavs) are signs of bad officiating that are not only present in the league but are largely considered part of the game.. Every single one has, I'm certain, made an impact on the outcome of a game at some point in time, whether intentionally (Donaghy, Crawford, and that corpse they always put in Lakers games) or not..

.. And beyond the certainty that this scandal will probably improve officiating in those areas and more at least for the next couple years, I'm not sure I see why this is such a massive deal as far as the NBA's future is concerned. It's like you're telling me people put flies in my soup on purpose when there's like 50 of them in there already, and the soup still tastes good (or I wouldn't keep getting it!)..