Kris Joins Dan On FreeDarko Presents: The Disciples of Clyde NBA Podcast

Yes, Kris DeBlasio joins Dan Filowitz for a Teaneck-heavy episode of the podcast.

Check it out:

On The Disciples of Clyde site

On the FreeDarko site

In iTunes

Enjoy!

Kris and Dan Answer NBA Questions

Question: Who is your least favorite player in the NBA?

Kris:

My least favorite NBA player? Hummm…that is a good question, the Knicks don’t really have a nemesis like back in the day when it was easy to root against the flat face retard Scottie Pippen. I am not sure if I just clearly don’t like anyone in the league ... Oh wait a minute, yes I do, Larry Hughes.

Now this hatred stems way back before he became a New York Knick. It comes from his overall terribleness.

A few years ago he literally dribbled Cavalier playoff games off of his foot. It was truly painful to watch him just ruin a complete season of NBA title chances for LeBron as he continually made a mockery of the game.

Muhammed Ali once said “I’m so bad I make medicine sick.” Well Larry Hughes is similar just not in the funny or ironic sense. Cancer wakes up everyday and prays that it doesn’t have Larry Hughes. Diabetes has yearly checkups to make sure it hasn’t contacted Larry Hughes…is that enough…one more, okay. Heart Disease has to get its prostate checked twice a year to make sure it doesn’t have Larry Hughes.


Dan:

Larry Hughes is a good choice, sure.

But my least favorite player in the NBA is my least favorite for no reason I can put my finger on.

I hate Earl Watson.

There is just something about Earl Watson - no, wait, there is just everything about Earl Watson - that makes me not just disgusted and annoyed but actually angry.

Maybe it's the look on his face. Maybe it's that really crappy thin mustache he has. Maybe it's that he played for UCLA, and I have a residual dislike for everything UCLA. Maybe it's his game, which is simply not very good, with the added fact of him carrying himself like a player who is good, which he isn't. He takes bad shots. He doesn't make enough of them. He doesn't pass as well as he should. He doesn't really play particularly good defense. When he does something positive, it strikes me as wrong, anwyay.

I don't really understand it completely, to be honest. But every time I watch him play, I start cursing uncontrollably.

In fact, in December 2007 I had the opportunity to attend a game in Seattle, while the Sonics were still there and Earl Watson was on that team. I wanted to go to the game for three reasons:

1 - To see a Sonics game before they left Seattle
2 - To see Kevin Durant in person (that was awesome, I saw him dunk on Rasho Nesterovic)
3 - To boo Earl Watson. Which I did, from when he was introduced to any time he did anything good or bad on the court. Loudly.

And I enjoyed it. I really felt good, booing Earl Watson.

My friend Greg, who was at the game with me, didn't understand it. Like I said, I don't really understand it. But there it is.

I hate Earl Watson.

I wish he would go away from the NBA forever, and not ruin my league with his craptitude and his mustache and his awfulness.

Kris and Dan Answer NBA Questions

We took a little time off due to unforeseen circumstances (admit it, you missed us) but now Kris and Dan are back answering NBA questions.

Let's get right to it:

Question: Are the Washington Wizards really better without Gilbert Arenas?


Kris says:

In short, the answer is no.

However, something seems to happen to young teams when they lose a superstar. They rally around that and all pick up the slack for a little while. And with a young team it can help instill the necessary confidence in those young guys that will help carry them in the playoffs.

Obviously, last season the Wizards were just devastated to lose Agent Zer0 just weeks prior to the playoffs. Most weren’t sure if he would be back to start the season, but he was and the Wizards looked again as a strong contender in the East. However the Wiz started off the season by losing five straight, then rebounded to win 6 straight in the middle of which Arenas was again injured.

Since the injury the Wizards have won 8 of 13 games and put themselves back in the hunt. During this time it has allowed Caron Butler to really grow into his own player. He is the Robin to Arenas’ Batman when it comes playoff time. In Jamison, Haywood and Antonio Daniels there is a solid core of veterans but Butler needs to stand up and be counted on to win games with Arenas on the offensive end of the floor. The Wizards also have received contributions from their young bench in the time Arenas has sat out including third year man center Andrea Blatche and rookie Swingman Nick Young both of whom ripped off 3 straight double figure games when Arenas was inured.

So in fact the Arenas early season injury may turn out to be a good thing for the Wizards down the road, or at least that’s what I think. As great man once said, “often wrong, but never in doubt.”

Dan says:

Let’s get this out there first: Gilbert Arenas is a phenomenally talented player. He can score from anywhere, he can create his own shot off the dribble, and he is fearless in crunch time. He also plays with confidence and swagger that his teammates feed off of.

So of course in the long run the Wizards aren’t better off without him. No team is better when they lose a guy who’s one of the top 15 players in the league.

But here’s the thing about Gilbert Arenas: he dominates the ball. He needs the ball in his hands on most possessions, and he is a scorer first, facilitator second. Sure, he averages a pretty high assists-per-game, around 6, but that has as much to do with the pace that Washington plays as it does his ability as a play-maker for others.

So to some degree Gilbert’s success necessarily diminishes the success of those around him. Because of the volume of shots he takes, because of the volume of possessions that go through his hands, it limits what the other people on the Wizards can do.

Now, if this was a team like, say, the Cavs, where the other players are not particularly good, then losing your best player is catastrophic. But the Wizards have Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison. Both of those guys are outstanding players, way better than ordinary.

So with Gilbert gone, and with the ball being spread to these two all-star-level players much more than usual, the Wizards have turned out to be fine without Arenas. And remember, it was that both Butler AND Arenas were out at the end of last year that caused the Wizards to fail so miserably in the playoffs.

The answer then, is no, they are not better without him. But they are not as bad off without him as they could be.

While we’re here – why isn’t there more talk about the Caron Butler for Kwame Brown trade being one of the worst ever? Do you think Kobe wouldn’t mind playing with Caron Butler right now? How much better would the Lakers be with a lineup of Fischer, Bryant, Butler, Odom, and Bynum, with Walton, Turiaf, and Farmar off the bench? Just a lot better or championship run better?

Kris and Dan Answer NBA Questions

Welcome to the fourth installment of "Kris and Dan Answer NBA Questions" here at the Block Party.

Over the next couple of weeks, to get ready for the NBA season (which opened yesterday!) Kris and Dan are going answer a bunch of questions. One question and two responses per post. Pretty straight forward.

This question comes from our esteemed colleague Martin:

Question 4: Can the Denver Nuggets, with a healthy foursome of Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony, Marcus Camby and Kenyon Martin, shock one of the big three (Spurs, Suns, Mavs) in the Western Conference playoffs?

Kris says:

Hummm.....how much do I love the Nuggets? Let's say it in just a few words, not much. Now I will qualify that by saying this, though being a huge NBA fan, I always think every team stinks every year. What don't I like about the Nuggets, everything. If we were playing down at the park this would be the first NBA team I would take, the same goes for the NBA regular season which doesn't mean Diddly-poo. But, as for playoff basketball I am not on the Nuggets bandwagon.

In the short here are a few reasons why; JR Smith, Mike Wilks, Yakhouba Diawara, Eduardo Najera and Steven Hunter. These are some of the complementary players on this beautiful Nuggets roster. Listen, my life revolves mainly around the sport of basketball and I don't know who Wilks and Diawara are, never heard of them. So when Iverson misses a few games this year George Karl is going to turn to Mike Wilks to fill in, thank you, no. Here is what is worse, apparently Mike Wilks has played 214 NBA games over the past 5 NBA seasons. Okay besides not being in love with their bench I have plenty of problems with their starting lineup as well.

Everyone is in love with the fact that Kenyon Martin is back and healthy and that is why the Nuggets are a chic pick. Let me get this straight this starting lineup includes Iverson, Melo, Camby and Martin right? That lineup has the mental stability of a Jenga game aboard a cruise ship in the North Atlantic on an April evening in 1912 (that is when the Titanic sunk). Are you kidding me, a whole season with these nutbags is going to drive George Karl back into the bottle.

No I don't believe this team can keep it together all year, and the explosion is going to be fun. "Man we talking bout practice man." That is the same guy who is on this Nuggets team right? This is sucker-punch Melo right? This is crazy Kenyon right? And coke head Camby right? And you think they can unseat a team of solid veterans like the San Antonio Spurs? Good luck with all that.

No way, no how. I know Martin you love AI but his time is up.

Dan says:

The Nuggets have two of the best scorers in the league in Iverson and Carmelo. They have All Star level players in Camby and Martin. They have some nice other pieces, in Nene, Najera, and Kleiza. They have Chucky Atkins for some reason.

So of course they can shock one of the top teams in the West in the Playoffs.

If the playoffs have shown us anything, it's that a top team can lose to a hot team that gets hot at the right time. Like Golden State beating Dallas last year. Or Cleveland beating Detroit last year. Or the entire 1999 Knicks playoffs run. Or even the Denver Nuggets beating the George Karl-coached Sonics back in the mid 90s, the famous shot of Mutombo on the ground clutching the ball in joy.

If those teams can pull off upsets, or semi-upsets, then so can this one.

Now, this doesn't mean that it's likely to happen, or that it is in fact going to happen. But if it's June and we're watching the Nuggets beat Dallas or Phoenix in a game 7, I'm not going to say that I'd be totally shocked. There's certainly enough talent here to get it done.

If Camby, Martin, Iverson, and Carmelo actually play 50 games together as a team during the regular season? THEN I'd be completely and utterly shocked.

Kris and Dan Answer NBA Questions

Welcome to the third installment of "Kris and Dan Answer NBA Questions" here at the Block Party.

Over the next couple of weeks, to get ready for the NBA season (which opened yesterday!) Kris and Dan are going answer a bunch of questions. One question and two responses per post. Pretty straight forward.


Question 3: Can the Mavericks rebound from the playoff disaster against Golden State?


Kris says:

I will admit it even after the fact; I was on the Mavs bandwagon all season last year. I saw them play a ton on TV and I really thought they had what it took to win the whole thing; they were just so dominant in the regular season. They were explosive and varied on the offensive end and they even played some defense. But for whatever reason they ran into a buzz saw known as the Golden State Warriors.

The question is now can they rebound form that terrible loss and have another great season. I don't think so. There are just some teams I feel have a certain window of opportunity and this version of the Mavericks I think have run their course. We have sent his version of their starting lineup and it hasn’t gotten the job done in the playoffs. Their bench is rounded out with veterans like Dampier, Stackhouse, Eddie Jones and Trenton Hassell. Those guys don't really excite me anymore. I was a big believer in Devan Harris when he came out of Wisconsin but for some reason he doesn’t truly fit on this team, they are always better when Jason Terry is running the show. Unfortunately if Terry is running the show that means one of the crusty vets like Jones or Stackhouse is in the game.

What happened to the Mavs last year in the playoffs was a complete and total embarrassment. When something like that happens it is up to ownership and management to shake things up a little. It is obvious that everyone there was too comfortable and you could tell by their lack of reaction toward what happened, the only guy that seemed truly pissed was Avery Johnson, the coach. This was the time where Cuban needed to make the big splash and trade Dampier, Diop and Howard for a guy like Jermaine O’Neal or swap Nowitzki for Kobe . The leadership is the key ingredient that is lacking. This team has obviously shown a lack of heart and resolve on the court. It is so hard for championship teams to have a resolve and rebound from things, never mind a team that wasn’t strong enough to win a championship and has no on court leadership.

This then begs to the larger question and that is do European (or other foreign) superstars have the cut throat win at all costs mentality to lead to a championship. It is best summed up as a Jordan-esque quality; though we began to see it from LeBron last year, Wade with the Heat, Billups with the Pistons. The Spurs don’t really count; they are just so boringly efficient at both ends of the floor they exude the expression the total is better than the sum of the parts.

Dirk has the opportunity to prove me and everyone else wrong, but it is up to Dirk and Dirk alone. He needs to stand up and be counted, the great ones do it, ask Peyton Manning.

Dan says:

Dallas won 67 games last year.

They bring back the exact same team, which wasn’t particularly old to begin with. The exact same coach, who has been incredibly successful so far, taking the team to the Finals in 2005-2006 and to the best record in the regular season in 2006-2007.

I think they will recover just fine.

They ran into the worst possible matchup for them in the playoffs last year. Golden State was hot, they were motivated, and they played a style that Dallas did not match up against well.

The largest concern is this: in that playoff series, Golden State was determined not to let Dirk Nowitzki beat them. This is a normal tactic, leaving it up to the rest of the team to step up and lead. For Dallas, no one did, with the exception of Jerry Stackhouse, who is not even a starter. Jason Terry and Josh Howard were non-entities against the Warriors, and so Dallas failed.

I don’t expect that to happen again, as Josh Howard is a terrific player just coming into his prime, and Jason Terry is a talented and prideful veteran.

I think with fiery and ultra-competitive Avery Johnson as their coach, they will use that loss as motivation to have an even better year.

I think Dallas will easily be one of the top 4 teams in the West, and come playoff time, they’ll have just as good a chance to come out of the conference as anyone else.

Of course there will be questions, about their depth (they’re really only about 7 or 8 deep, depending on how you feel about Devean George), about Dirk and his “desire to win”, about Avery having the tendency to get outcoached occasionally.

But every team has questions, and these aren’t any more serious than any other top team’s questions.

So, Dallas is still a very good, very dangerous team. Losing badly in the playoffs last year will have no impact on what they will be able to do this year.

Kris and Dan Answer NBA Questions

Welcome to the second installment of "Kris and Dan Answer NBA Questions" here at the Block Party.

Over the next couple of weeks, to get ready for the NBA season, Kris and Dan are going answer a bunch of questions. One question and two responses per post. Pretty straight forward.


Question 2: Do the Bulls have enough to really challenge for the Eastern Conference title?


Kris Says

I am on the band wagon of the baby Bulls. Of course this is a tough question to answer because of the lingering Kobe saga. I do believe that if the Bulls were going to pull the trigger on the deal they would have done it earlier in the summer. That being said I will evaluate the Bulls on their current roster and not try and make any Kobe predictions.

I love they way the Bulls are built, especially they way they have acquired role players. Everyone knows they can score with the electric backcourt of Hinrich and Gordon and budding superstar Luol Deng. But up front they have a steady diet of role players, which sort of reminds me of other Bulls championship teams. They will start veterans Joe Smith and Ben Wallace. Now I have made fun of Joe Smith in the past, but this is a team where he can flourish, there is no pressure on him. There is plenty of scoring in the backcourt and Ben Wallace will always be the defensive stopper in the front court. In the draft the Bulls added Joakim Noah (by the way his name is simply pronounced JOE-KIM, nothing fancy) and Aaron Gray which were both nice picks. Also they have last years #2 pick Tyrus Thomas and third year man Andris Nocioni. What this gives them is scoring (Nocioni & Gray) defense (Wallace & Noah) and rebounding (Smith & Thomas). Now obviously all of them won't play but it is a nice rotation of players to choose from.

Like I said most of us know about their backcourt abilities. But besides the starters they have quality experienced backups. Chris Duhon has proved to be a consistent bench PG in this league, more than I ever thought he could. Also they signed free agent guard Adrian Griffin who can be a defensive stopper off the bench and second year man Thabo Sefolosha. Again like the front court it makes for a good mix of players with varying abilities.


The Bulls have the pieces in place, a team that has been together for awhile, a solid starting five, a mixture of veterans & quality young backups and a coach who has been with the team. However, basketball for the most part has always been a game of superstars (with certain exception like the ’04 Pistons). I feel that Luol Deng needs to now make that jump from promising young player to NBA superstar, be a an All-Star starter and someone his team can count on in big games. I think if he elevates his scoring to the 25ppg. range then the Bulls will be the best team in the Eastern Conference.

Dan Says:

To make a run at the Eastern Conference? Yes, certainly.

Let's take a look at why:

- This is a team that won 49 games last year, and destroyed the Heat in the playoffs.

- They didn't lose any major player in the offseason.

- They didn't go through any major player or coach related offseason turmoil.

- The nucleus of the team is young, just entering their prime. If anything, most of these guys should get better.

- There is no dominant team in the East.

The biggest question mark about this team is that they don't have any consistently dominant scorers. Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich, and Luol Deng are all decent scorers, but as evidenced in the Detroit series in last year's playoffs, they can be stopped by certain types of tough defensive teams.

But let's take the optimistic approach. Let's say Hinrich and Gordon have typically solid years. Let's say Deng continues to be one of the best small forwards in the league, as he showed most of last year. Let's say that Tyrus Thomas furthers his development, and plays more dominant, explosive minutes. Let's say that Joakim Noah and Andres Nocioni prove to be good energy guys for the second unit. Let's say that Thabo Sefolosha gets to show what he can do for more minutes. Let's say Ben Wallace doesn't die this year.

Then I'd say you're looking at a young, talented, and deep 50-win team that can contend with any other team in the East.

They'd still struggle against Detroit most likely, as that is a bad matchup for them. But they're deeper than Boston, they're tougher than Toronto, and they are superior to Washington, Cleveland, and Orlando.

And none of this is to mention that they have the assets to trade for Kobe. Which is a whole other story.

So, bottom line, this Bulls team certainly has enough to contend for an Eastern Conference championship. They won't beat any of the Western teams in the Finals, though. No chance there.

Kris and Dan Answer NBA Questions

Welcome to the first installment of "Kris and Dan Answer NBA Questions" here at the Block Party.

Over the next couple of weeks, to get ready for the NBA season, Kris and Dan are going answer a bunch of questions. One question and two responses per post. Pretty straight forward.

One twist: if there's a question you want Kris and Dan to answer about the NBA, submit it in the comments. And if it's not totally dumb, we'll answer it in a post. Cool? Cool.


Question 1: Will the Eastern Conference be legit this season after the additions of All-Star caliber players like Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Zach Randolph, Jason Richardson, and Rashard Lewis?

Kris says:

The Eastern Conference teams definitely did what they needed to do in order to compete. Some teams went with youth additions on their bench like the Pistons or some like the Celtics and Magic made the big splash by acquiring All-Star players. Clearly the East is not as top heavy as the Western Conference, there are still no dominant forces like the Texas Two and the team in Phoenix, but the East can compete this year.

Last year I would have told you that I didn’t really believe any of the Eastern teams could win the title. However, this season I can see Chicago, Detroit , Boston , and Miami all being title contenders. Furthermore, I think teams like Cleveland, Washington, and New Jersey if they were able to add pieces during the year via trade could clearly make a move. Just remember by the February trading deadline there could be some interesting Western Conference players looking to be dealt, including Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady (if the Rockets struggle again), Pau Gasol and Shawn Marion.

At the very least the East will be much more compelling this year. Clearly the story of the offseason was made in Boston and you can’t argue that even non Boston fans might be pulling for this team a little because of the quality of people and players that Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett are. We also have the drama of watching LeBron and see if he can follow up that unbelievable playoff performance and take his game to an even higher level, which is scary to think about. Add those factors to the fact that the Big Fella says he is healthy and ready for one more shot at glory and you have an Eastern Conference worth watching this year.

Dan says:

If the question was “will the East be more compelling this year” then the answer clearly would be yes.

Of course there is the new Big 3 in Boston. The Bulls seem like they should be better, with a lot of the young talent (Deng, Heinrich, Gordon, Tyrus Thomas) having more experience going into this year. The Heat still have Wade and Shaq. The Nets still have Kidd and Carter and Jefferson. The Pistons still have their core, and some intriguing young guys (Amir Johnson, Jason Maxiel, Rodney Stuckey) to work into their rotation. LeBron still plays for the Cavs (though no one else seems to.) Washington’s big three (Arenas, Jamison, Butler) could have given the Cavs trouble in the playoffs last year if they were healthy, and they’re all back this year.

In tier two, the Hawks have some players worth watching (Josh Smith and Joe Johnson) along with two top-10 picks from this past draft (Horford and Law IV) so they could bring some excitement. Same with the Bobcats, adding Jason Richardson to a team that already has the best and most exciting player to watch you don’t hear enough about, Gerald Wallace (worth the price of League Pass by himself.) And the Knicks, well, they won’t be boring with all those characters on the team, if nothing else (though they will sure to be maddening, frustrating, and ultimately heartbreaking for their fans. That's another topic for later.)

But the question here is “will the East be 'legit'?” And, despite being better than last year, I don’t think they are quite legit yet.

These teams in the West would be favored to win the East if they switched conferences tomorrow: Dallas, San Antonio, Phoenix, Houston, and Utah.

These teams in the West would be considered strong contenders to be in the top three in the East if they switched conferences tomorrow: Denver, New Orleans, Golden State, and the Lakers.

That’s nine teams in the West that are better than or just about as good as the top three teams in the East (Detroit, Boston, Chicago.)

Think of it this way: if you put Detroit in the Finals, which team in the West would they be favored against? Any of the top five in the West? Maybe Utah? What about Boston or Chicago? Would they really be favored against any of those top five?

So while there is certainly a lot to watch for this year in the East, and while there is certainly a lot of future potential, I don’t think the addition of those All Star players makes this conference any more of a legitimate threat to win a championship in 2008.