As Sherman Avenue Block Party readers know, I am a big NBA fan. Now that the NFL season is winding down, I thought I'd share some NBA-related things with you, to help get you excited about watching basketball again, if you're not already.
If you've been away from watching pro basketball for a while, now is a great time to come back. The league is experiencing a renaissance right now. The quality of play is fantastic. The young talent entering the league is real. The rule changes that were made earlier this decade has opened up the game and made offense more prevalent.
What I'm saying is, this isn't slug-it-out-defense, clear out for one star to either drive or pull up for a jump shot, 82-78 basketball. At the highest levels of the game, the offense being played is beautiful to watch.
You know about LeBron (though what he's doing this year surpasses anything he's done before, which I didn't even think was possible.) You probably know about Wade and Paul and Amare. You should know about what Dwight Howard has turned into (give some credit to our boy Patrick Ewing.) You also need to see what Rudy Gay, Danny Granger, Nene, Kevin Martin, Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant, Russel Westbrook, Caron Butler, Deron Williams, Paul Milsap, and many others are doing.
You know about the Lakers and the Celtics, maybe the Cavs. You need to see how Orlando is playing. And Utah, and Denver, and Phoenix (Shaq is a real baskeball player again), and Portland, and the Hawks (seriously).
Also know about these things:
If you're a Knicks fan, like many of the readers here are, you should be reading Posting & Toasting. It's a well-run and well-written site, with good insight and a good sense of humor. As an example, read this recap of the Knicks win over the Wizards the other night.
Also Knicks-related, read this article called "The Expected" from KnickerBlogger.net for a smart take on the value of David Lee.
One more Knicks-related link: check the video work at Seven Seconds or Mess. Genius stuff. If you're like me, living away from New York and not watching all the games, this will show you what's been going on with the team.
A plug for the Disciples of Clyde NBA Podcast? Here? Well, even if you haven't been listening, which you should be, we also have a new website where we've been doing blog posts as well. I think you all will enjoy this one - it has a cool graph I made!
The best league-wide NBA blog is by far Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo!. That's the first thing I read everyday, without fail.
Have I plugged the FreeDarko book, The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac, on here yet? If not, I should have. I couldn't recommend it more - the essays are smart, the illustrations are jaw-dropping, and the stuff they did with stats is brilliant. This isn't like anything else you've ever seen in sports books.
Chales Oakley has a cooking show. Do you think I'm kidding? Watch this.
And in case you didn't think basketball was truly back and ready to take over:
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2 comments:
Daniel,
I couldnt agree with you more about the league, it is indeed fantastic.
Orlando is clearly the underrated story nationally. People know about the Hawks because of what they did last year to the C's in the first round, and obviously the Blazers are also a known commodity as a young up and coming team because of their recent draft pics.
But the Magic are a great story. Stan Van Gundy has them playing outstanding defense, Howard is elevating his play to an elite level. Howard is rankd 20th int he league in scoring, but then his three man cohorts, Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu, and Jameer Nelson are scoring 19, 17 and 17 a game. That is great offensive balance. And though nobody, including me, thought Jameer Nelson would make that good an NBA player he is a tough as nails competitor with great leadership skills, never underestimate a kids heart.
Speaking of heart and leadership skills and intangibles I still cant get behind David Lee. I read that guys analysis on Lee, but as I had told you earlier in the year the kid is just a punk loner who has none of the intangible leadership skills. I was actually talking to my friend at Florida the other day and he was saying about how one of their big guys this year reminds coach Donovan of Lee and how much Donovan hated Lee when he was there.
All that being said, the league is in great hands, and with die hard fans like yourself I am hoping for a the resurgence to continue.
I have no doubt that was true in college about Lee, but I haven't seen any of that this year with him on the Knicks. I don't get the sense that his teammates dislike him or that he dislikes them. No Andrew-Bogut-high-fiving-no-one clips for Lee.
Now, do I think David Lee is a superstar leader-type? No, most assuredly not.
But to the point of that article, his ability to finish cannot be underestimated.
He has good hands, he can finish with both hands, and he's a talented rebounder. His defense is not great.
He's going to be an important piece if they are going to bring in a superstar in 2010.
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