Chris

Just a couple days back, I wrote an impassioned open letter on my Facebook page to one of my favorite athletes of all time:

Dearest Chris,

If you would be so sweet, so kind, so generous, as to allow my poor, humble city the honor of putting your simple, yet elegant name, in small letters below the nape of your neck on a jersey of a royal blue and flaming orange, I cannot express the levels we would go to to show you our gratitude. We will forever love Amare, the one free agent of the summer of 2010 who didn't spurn us, who truly believed the Garden could be great again. We will always love Carmelo, with his Brooklyn-Puerto Rican origins and as a symbol that once more, New York was such a desirable location that an athlete would do anything to come and play under the name of our once beleaguered franchise. But you? You are a different breed entirely. You represent all the aspects of basketball that has long been held dear in my small, humble city. The brilliance in your distribution of the ball. Your grit and determination on defense. Your fiery will to dominate and succeed by any means necessary. Even your diminutive stature next to the giants that wear the majority of the Leagues uniforms would endear you to us. That one man, only 6 foot in stature, constantly takes the ball, with the utmost care and brilliance in his handle, through the masses and to the hoop, only to dish it out to the open man for the most efficient shot, will make the city yours forever. We love point guards in the Big Apple. We love ferocity. We love tenacity. We will love you. More than Steve Harvey loves you. More than the great city of New Orleans loves you. In the words of one of our great poets:

"Give me the splendid silent sun
with all his beams full-dazzling,
Give me juicy autumnal fruit ripe and red from the orchard,
Give me a field where the unmow'd grass grows,
Give me..."

Unfortunately, Mr. Whitman's editor did some aggressive editing and decided it would be better to end the line with "...". But speaking for every New Yorker who has great love for the Knickerbockers, I'd like the poem redacted to end with "Give me Chris Emmanuel Paul."

Yours truly,
David Lukashok

Now, just two days later this comes out:

Chris Paul Request trade to the Knicks

I've had inside information from my Chris Paul spies for years now and thanks to my sources, I have a full transcript of his phone call to his agent, Leon Rose:

*Phone Dialing*

LR: CP3, my man. What's going on dude? You get that gift basket I sent you?

CP: Yeah, it was great, you know I love me some New 52.

LR: So what can I do for you Chris?

CP: I know that we've talked trade options before, and I know I've usually been hesitant to let down the great people of New Orleans, but this ownership situation is pathetic, my teammates are castoffs and I stumbled across something online that made it apparent to me that I only have one option. I need to play for the New York Knicks, Leon. As soon as possible.

LR: Woah, Chris. This is a huge deal. You sure about this?

CP: I am.

LR: What changed your mind?

CP: Well, you know how I constantly Google myself, looking for feedback from my fans?

LP: Duh.

CP: Right, so I stumbled across this kid's Facebook page, and he wrote this long, touching, at times inappropriately homoerotic, open letter to me, begging me to come play for the Knicks. At first I just laughed it off. Then it got me thinking. He swore New York would love me even more than Steve Harvey (go to the 1:23 mark) did! And the more I think about it, NYC is the best destination for me. Running the high pick and roll with STAT, finding Mello down low in transition, establishing myself as the greatest Knick of all time. It's too much to pass up.

LR: OK, Chris. I'll make it happen.

CP: Thanks, boo.

*End of Call*

Knicks Fans, thank me whenever.

Lockout Monotony

Haven't posted in the last couple weeks. Chalk that up to 2 parts school work and 1 part the fact that there is little to write about. The lockout has had its ebbs and flows. We keep getting to deadlines where a deal is supposedly close to being reached and then yielding very little due to the pissing match between owners and players over BRI, owners versus owners over revenue sharing, conniving agents looking to advance their own situation, and a general disregard by both sides towards the third group involved, the fans.

The last four seasons, dating back to the resurgence of the Celtics and Lakers and coupled with the maturation of a new generation of star players, have been some of the best the NBA has ever had. Regardless of whether todays talks end the lockout, I can't imagine this year comparing favorably. With a shortened schedule, the whole season will be compressed. This means more games per week and more back-to-back games. This means we can expect more injuries, reduced playing time for starters, increased playing time for role-players, and generally lower quality basketball. Teams with injury prone stars like the Knicks and Celtics will be playing russian roulette, hoping Amare, KG, and co. can stay healthy. After the dust settles from free agency, expect it to take a while for teams to mesh given a shorter training camp and preseason.

Look, nothing is set in stone and maybe those factors don't contribute to the season as much as I'm afraid they will. No one can say for certain. All I know is that there will be ramifications for how the union and the owners wasted so much time this summer. After initial talks before and immediately after the July 1st lockout, the players and owners didn't meet again until mid August. In contrast, the NFL immediately took action once their CBA ended and were meeting all throughout the winter and spring working towards a deal. This whole facade of really caring about getting a full season are merely a masking agent for owners willing to screw over the players and fans to rewrite the rules and the players taking a stance against a group of men who, regardless of how the lockout ends up, control their destinies. All I can say now is that I want basketball. I'm tired of coverage of all day meetings. I don't care about who wins this power struggle. I don't even care if it's an inferior product to the past few seasons. All I want is to know that every night, balls are headed through hoops.

I'll Be Missing You

Oh Sonics, at least you'll play as many games as the rest of the league you belong in this year...

R.I.P. Sonics

How Long Will LeBron Rule the League?

I'll be the first person to put forth my anti-Lebron opinions. Ask anyone who's ever watched Basketball with me and they can confirm this. With that being said, even I can't make the argument that he's not the best player in the league. Forget the fourth quarters, the lack of post up game, the iffy shooting, the narcism, and all the other shots that I have thrown at him, the unfinished product that is Lebron James is significantly better than any other player in the NBA today.

There are clearly guys with a more refined game than him. Dwyane Wade is a more creative finisher who also has one of the best midrange jumpers in the league. Kobe has worked on every aspect of his game to continue to be dangerous inspire of his rapidly deteriorating athleticism. Tim Duncan had mastered every technical aspect of the big man when he was younger than LeBron is now. None of those guys are ever going to be a better player than James ever again. Kobe and Duncan have lost too much due to age over the last few years that they lack the athleticism to compete with him. Wade still has enough left on his knees to stay around the same level as his teammate for the next few years, but would have to rapidly improve his game in that short time to surpass Lebron. Youth is key in the league. Youth means speed, hops, and strength. Lebron is so durable and such an athletic freak of nature that it seems incredibly unlikely he'll be overtaken for the throne by someone with more mileage than him.

There are obviously younger superstars the LeBron. His big man counterpart Dwight Howard is only a year younger than James, but bigmen tend to last longer than athletic wings historically so it seems possible that Howard will be able to extend his prime out longer. There's Kevin Durant, who's four years younger and already, albeit arguably, a better scorer than James, with his limitless range and more refined layup package. Other contenders to Lebron's crown are Blake Griffin, the next great power forward and dunk artist, and Derrick Rose, a point guard with scoring prowess. Unfortunately, I can't see any of them knocking James off the top spot anytime soon. Regardless of whether or not he improves his game, Lebron has shown a tremendous work ethic when it comes to taking care of his body. He has managed to pack more pounds onto his frame without slowing down much and staying healthy the whole way through. What's more, even without improving his game, his versatility allows him to compete with players at any position. It almost seems as if LeBron will be the best player in the league for the next decade.

This is where the average fan has a hard time liking Lebron in this day in age. Even before the Decision, there was already doubts as to whether he would reach his potential. He has struggled with "clutch" situations and staying engaged the way Michael, Magic, and Larry did. He has so much raw ability (athleticism, size, strength) and is miles ahead of most wings in other attributes (passing skill, rebounding, defense) that we can't help but see what could be if he mastered the intricacies of every position since he has the qualities of everything from a point guard to a center. His potential is so great that we expect him to be able to seamlessly transition to whatever his team needs. While this seems doable given all we've already covered, I don't think its manageable. So for the foreseeable future, Lebron will continue to be significantly better than his competitors, and we'll still consider him imperfect. It's tough to be the King.

Skins Vs. Manes

Team Skins

At Center, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The fro just wouldn't stay up by the mid 80s

 At Power Forward, Karl Malone. Defiantly Bald

 At Small Forward, LeBron James. There's a reason he's usually wearing a headband

 At Shooting Guard, Michael Jordan. As he is with all decisions, Jordan saw it coming and shrewdly made the shaved head the new look

 At Point Guard, Jason Kidd. Read that last sentence

Team Mane

At Point Guard, Steve Nash. The only time "Slimy" and "Canadian"were used in the same sentence

 At Shooting Guard, Latrell Sprewell. Forget the incredible hair for a second and let this picture sink in. To quote Cam'ron (sorry)"Choke and threaten to kill her, like her last name's Carlissimo/Listen yo"

 At Small Forward, Julius Erving. Cooler than the other side of the pillow, as usual

 At Power Forward, Dirk Nowitzki. The flowing locks, headband, beard, who does this remind you of...

 At Center, Bill Walton. Dirk was raiding the Mountain Man look!

If the two teams played, I'd take Skins, MJ and Kareem's clutchness would cancel out LeBron and Malone's 4th quarter pants-shitting struggles.

Reasons 2007-2008 Was the best year in NBA history:

Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett team up to make the Celtics relevant and drastically change the way we will remember their career

Kobe Bryant leads the Lakers back to prominence, gets the first seed in the West, captures his first MVP (not totally deserved but consider it a reward for being ripped off in 2006 and 2007)

The final year of the Pistons incredible stretch as the dominant team of the Eastern conference. This could be taken two ways in this context and neither one is wrong

The Pau Gasol Trade, and the hilarity that ensued with the whole league freaking out and the Chris Wallace jokes that went along with it

The last year of the comedic goldmine/car crash that was Isiah Thomas’ reign as GM/Coach of the New York Knicks. Now he’s just the invisible hand maneuvering everything our team does. That’s an improvement right?

The Anucha Browne Sanders case. You know it was a great year when it’s post-1991 and Isiah makes a list like this twice

Manu Ginobli, super sub, wins his first Sixth Man of the year award even though he should have won the previous year as well (I know that Leandro Barbosa had better stats on a arguably better team, but you can’t tell me that Barbosa was better than Manu, who was the second best player on the Spurs behind Tim Duncan and the French guy who some how ended up with the Finals MVP trophy that year because Tim Duncan some how didn’t deserve it as the only Hall of Famer who was in his prime on his team, and yes that was sarcasm)

The Rockets lose Yao Ming but somehow Tracy McGrady leads them on the longest win streak of the modern era, a shocking 22 game spree in which included defeating 10 playoff bound teams before losing to the eventual champs. Seeing as T-Mac was on the team and active, can you guess how far they went in the playoffs?

After spending the previous regular season on cruise control before turning it on in a run to the Finals, 23 year old, Pre-Decision LeBron gave us a rollicking regular season where he showed us what his peak numbers would look like submitting a stunning 30-8-7-2-1. Absolutely carried his beloved Cavs on his back and I haven’t even gotten to his playoff heroics yet

At the precocious age of 21, Dwight Howard and Chris Paul had their respective coming out parties and established themselves as the premier players at their positions. Dwight put up 20-14 with two blocks, stellar defense, and absolutely blew us away with his dunk contest win. Chris Paul was the most valuable player (but not in the award winning sense) in the league, put up a 21-4-11.6 with a league leading 2.7 steals, carried his team to the second seed in the West in a historically stacked division (Spurs-56 wins, Rockets-55, Mavs-51), and played like a cross between Isiah Thomas and Tiny Archibald on their best days

Shaq and Jason Kidd are traded to the Southwest as the Mavs and Suns desperately try to compete with the Lakers after the Gasol trade goes down. Me likes blockbuster trades.

The 2008 Dunk Contest was the first dunk contest in years with any sort of relevance. Dwight Howard came in as the favorite, much like Blake Griffin in 2011. Unlike Griffin, Howard fulfilled our wildest expectations and exceeded them with his slap it off the backboard dunk and his legendary Superman dunk. Gerald Green prevented it from being totally one sided with his entertaining cupcake candle dunk but the night was clearly Dwight’s

The Kevin Durant vs. Greg Oden conundrum, in retrospect, is settled quicker than any other draft day “Who To Choose?” drama in NBA history as Durant wins Rookie of the Year and Oden precedes to miss as many games that season as he has played in to this point

The last great Allen Iverson year, where at 32 he put up 26-3-7-2 despite at one point diving for a loose ball at the same time as Melo which lead to a rough wrestling match for possession and them having to be separated like toddlers by the rest of the team. Best of all they were teammates. Anyone surprised that the Lakers swept them in the first round?

Final season for Robert Horry, Chris Webber, Antoine Walker, PJ Brown, Sam Cassell, Alonzo Mourning, Eddie Jones, Penny Haraway, and the immortal Damon Stoudemire. Crazy amount of what-if? Scenarios that could have drastically changed most of these guys careers. This was the ultimate sign of the end of the most underachieving era of basketball players in history

Amar’e Stoudemire cements a career year for him by going on a blistering scoring tear after the Shaq trade goes through and frees him up to actually play his natural position at PF for the first time in his NBA career, averaging 28.5-9-2 while shooting 59% from the field. In my NBA watching lifetime I’ve never seen a stretch of more dominant scoring by a power forward including KG and Duncan at their peaks

A young Hawks team, suddenly intriguing Magic, LeBron lead Cavs, Big 3 Celtics, and the “Good Old” Pistons breathe some much needed intrigue back into the East for the first time since MJ left Chicago

The West is so incredibly stacked with talent that the Golden State Warriors, a year removed from pulling a 1st round upset over the #1 seeded Mavs, win 48 games and still miss the playoffs

The Greatest Playoffs in History of the NBA. Big statement. Especially given that I was born a year before Magic Johnson retired. I can only provide the truth I know but I am willing to give mountains of evidence and context to back it up.

Post Season

In the Cavs-Wizards series, the third in as many years, the 6 game battle is fueled by true hatred between the teams, hard fouling of LeBron, the meteoric rise of DeShawn Stevenson and the subsequent feud between Soulja Boy and Jay-Z over Stevenson’s “feud” with LeBron. In the pantheon of rap feuds this ranks pretty damn low on the list.

In the Hornets-Mavs series, Chris Paul cements his status as most valuable player in the league (once again, not in the award winning way) by putting up a 35-10 and a 32-17 in his first two playoffs games (both New Orleans wins) and a 24-11-15 in the clinching game 5. Since I’ve been born, LeBron is the only younger player to record a triple double in the playoffs and in those two games Bron played all 48 minutes

The Spurs and Suns have a rematch of last years controversial Tim Donaghy assisted win by San Antonio. Sadly this was during the 2 year hiatus from the 7 Seconds or Less era and the Spurs rolled through in 5 games. Game 1 was an alltimer for Tim Duncan who posted a 40-15 and hit a rare 3-pointer, which crushed the Suns’ emotionally, to send the game into a second overtime in an eventual series defining win.

The Lakers sweep the Nuggets and start serious Title Favorite buzz. Funny stat I figured out about that Nuggets team: as far as I can tell, they are the only team to ever lead the league in both steals and blocks, yet they gave up the second most points in the regular season. This is due to perimeter defenders who put in little effort other than to gamble for steals, and Marcus Camby who averaged a league high 3.6 blocks per game. Poor Camby was the only defender on the least active defensive team in the league not coached by Don Nelson. And they eventually traded him to the Clippers! What did Marcus do to deserve this?

The most exciting matchup of the first round ended up being the 1 seeded Celtics taking on the number 8 seeded Hawks. Atlanta barely made the playoffs with 37 wins and losing the last three games of the regular season. Thankfully for the 457 Hawks fans not related to the players, the New Jersey Nets lost the last game of the season to, essentially, the Celtics’ scrubs allowing the Hawks to play that same Boston team in the first round. The Celtics had cruised to a league high 66 wins and it was assumed they would make short work of the lowly Hawks. However, the Hawks made there stand and forced the Celtics into a game 7, winning all 3 of their games in Georgia, and giving the Celtics everything they could handle.

In the second round, the Celtics continued fighting for their turf tooth and nail-style in an epic 7 game series against Lebron and the other guys on the Cavs. Once again, the home team won every game as Lebron equalized the talent disparity in a series that is cool to look back at, but in reality was one of those sloppy, rough, defensive battles that the NBA was trying to get away from. We forget that now because Game 7 was a doozy. Lebron and Pierce went for 45 and 41 respectively while guarding each other and down the stretch were trading incredible basket for incredible basket. Especially given how these two had more or less contained each other for 6 games and the fact that ever since Lebron came into the league these two haven’t liked each other, it was great TV. The Celtics managed to squeeze out a 5 point win and advance.

The other great series of the second round was the Hornets-Spurs series. I’m biased on this one. The Knicks still were paying Isiah, Marbury, and Eddy Curry (who will get his due on this site) so I had shifted to being more a fan of Basketball than a Knick fan. And I was convinced that the Hornets were the team of the future. Chris Paul was that good all season. It was a battle of the up and comers versus the old guard. With the Hornets holding home court advantage I felt confident CP3 and co. could pull it off. The Hornets ran off to a 2-0 lead after their home games and it seemed like it was time to put a nail in the Duncan-Popovich era but then the Spurs held the homecourt and forced Paul to try and win solo by shutting down his passing lanes. They traded Games 5 and 6, homecourt prevailing each time, setting up a final showdown in New Orleans where the Spurs experience won out and I was forced to realize that other than West and Chandler, Paul had no teammate who was going to be able to take him past the second round.

Once the Conference Finals started everyone was whispering the same thing: Could we quite possibly be heading to a Lakers-Celtics Finals? It had been the hope of the League since the Winter when the two teams were tearing through their schedules and building up the buzz. But despite the Lakers being represented by Lakers lifer Kobe and the Celtics with their own home grown hero Pierce, both of these teams were very green. And both were pitted up against teams that had made the Conference Finals more times than you could count on your fingers the past 10 years. The Spurs-Pistons Finals in 2005 was memorable but was also one of the lowest rated Finals in the Modern Era and nobody wanted to see them go at it again. Everyone wanted at least the Lakers or the Celtics to make it and if you had no affiliation with San Antonio or Detroit, you probably wanted both.

The Lakers-Spurs series was surprisingly short considering the circumstances. Kobe and Duncan were both sensational as expected and in the elimination Game 5, Kobe prevailed with 39 points over Duncan’s impressive 19-15-10. Most impressively though, Kobe was excelling across the board while lighting up the scoreboard. Other than Game 3, he held Manu Ginobili to 10 points or fewer every contest. He contributed in the rebounding effort. And he used the Triangle brilliantly to keep his teammates involved. After blowing through a historically great Western Conference with surprising ease, Kobe earned a long awaited return to the Finals with possibly his best series ever. Lamar Odom was at his best, providing great all around play in the wingman role as a rebounder and secondary scorer. The one blemish for the Lakers was that Pau Gasol was almost eaten alive by Duncan. His scoring was low throughout the series due to being guarded by TD and in retrospect, he took a big confidence hit in this series. More on this to come.

As with the rest of the playoffs, Boston refused to make things easy for themselves. In their defense, the Pistons were coming off a great five year run with a team that had stayed intact throughout. However, with the Celtics talent it should have never been this close. After the Pistons stole Game 2, for the first time the Celtics, who hadn’t won a game outside of Boston all Postseason, didn’t have home court advantage. Rather than crumble, this forced the Celtics to play with their backs against the wall and take Game 3 in Detroit before finishing the series in Game 6 on the Pistons home floor. I have a really distinctive memory of that Game 6. My girlfriend at the time had her senior prom that night and I had no way of watching the game. This was about 9 months after the iPhone had come out and you had to use Safari to look at scores since the Apps hadn’t taken off yet. Throughout the night, I’d sneak off to the bathroom and check the score on the way out. Unfortunately for my date, we had to leave early because someone in our group sharing our hotel got sick. An hour or so after we got to the hotel I snuck to the TV room of the penthouse and got in just in time for the 4^th Quarter. As the Celtics slowly turned an 8-point deficit into an 8-poin lead to win the game it slowly dawned on me that we were going to get what we wanted. Lakers. Celtics. New Generation. Then I forced myself to ignore Basketball for a few hours and enjoy Prom Night.

The Finals seem to rush by in a matter of minutes. Coming in, the Lakers were the favorites, partially because Kobe was coming off an incredible series and partially because up until late in the Pistons series the Celtics seemed to just be squeaking by inferior teams. I won’t go into a blow-by-blow description of the games but here’s what I took away from it. Pierce played better than anyone else and was invigorated by his success on defense against Kobe. After getting chewed up by Duncan, Pau was a mess and was bullied by Garnett to the point of barely impacting games. Other than his work on an already shook up Gasol, Garnett famously underachieved. People let him off the hook because he posted a 26-14 in the Game 6 finale but it was in a 39 point drumming of the Lakers and he did it against a shell of Gasol while Bynum sat on the bench in street clothes. I still see it as stat padding. Kobe fell apart in Game 6, a toll of having pushed so hard thinking he finally had the supporting cast to go all the way and then the anguish when he realized that the team just wasn’t there yet. Kobe detractors point to this as a time when if Kobe were really worth his stock he would have emboldened his team. I prefer to think that spending the last 3 years with Kwame Brown and Smush Parker traumatized Kobe and that this supposedly favored Lakers team was the ultimate tease. That’s not to take away from the Celtics. They had the better team thanks to one of the most dominant defenses ever. Ray Allen and Paul Pierce were incredible, peaking when their team needed them most. Rondo began to show flashes of his impossibly high ceiling. In the end the better team won.

So there’s my evidence. Let my opinion be filed away with those of everyone else who takes time out of their day to write about professional basketball. All I can say for certain is that this was a major turning point for the NBA. People want a balance of traditional dynasties and up and coming superstars, I believe, and this season had it all. I just remember looking at the league leaders and seeing Lebron, Dwight, and Paul leading in points, rebounds and assists, looking at the standings and seeing the Lakers and Celtics at the top, and it all felt right. Like that’s how things are supposed to be. Can’t ask for much more from a season.

Stephon Marbury

I've been thinking about the sudden golden age of point guards that we have in the (LOCKED OUT) NBA today and I couldn't help but think back to the man who made this site possible, Stephon Marbury. In the last year, off the top of my head, I can think of three up and coming point guards be compared to Marbury should their careers take a horrible turn for the worse. John Wall. Russell Westbrook. Derrick Rose. All three represent the new generation of point guard. Big, athletic, lightning quick guards who can create shots for themselves and others. Stephon was once that. When he came into the league in the incredible 1996 Draft he seemed like the perfect compliment to KG. Minnesota all of the sudden had the evolutionary point guard who could score, distribute, and space the floor, and the evolutionary big man.

But the point guard position is one of the most clearly defined in all of basketball. Guys who never possessed an iota of Marbury's raw talent far surpassed him at point guard skills because its not just about ability but about a mindset. As a point guard, you have to keep track of every member on your team. If someone is getting disengaged, you get them the ball. If guys are working hard on defense and the boards, reward them by hooking them up for easy baskets. Slow down the tempo when guys are looking winded and push the ball when the other team is running out of steam. Some of the best quarterbacks in the history of the NBA are forgiven for their lapses on defense (Magic Johnson, Steve Nash) and its understandable. Being responsible for the whole offense is a ton of work. Steph racked up a lot of assists over the years, but to a certain degree they were empty calories. He'd hold onto the ball for 18 seconds, looking for an opportunity to score and then as a last resort would toss the ball to an open teammate. Starbury was only a point guard in the sense he brought the ball down the court. No point guard in the history of the game has won by ignoring his teammates needs. Oscar Robertson was the most talented point guard of his era, a guy who by the end of his 5th season was AVERAGING A TRIPLE DOUBLE ON HIS CAREER but alienated his teammates on and off the court. He never won a title until he moved onto Kareem's Bucks team towards the end of his career and took a backseat role. No way Stephon was breaking ground that Big O hadn't.

After every time Steph left a team they improved. Leaving the T'Wolves allowed Garnett to flourish. The Nets swapped him for Jason Kidd and then went to the Finals the next two years. Phoenix traded him to New York which opened the doors for them to sign Nash that offseason and unleash one of the greatest offensive stretches in NBA history that would have produced at least on title if not for their owner's resistance to the luxury tax. Even my pathetic Knicks improved by 9 games the season after we dumped him, even though most of the awful signees of the Isiah era were still on the roster. Hell, even on draft day the Bucks improved by trading him for Ray Allen who was the pick after him.

If NBA history has showed us anything, it's that basketball teams become great by meeting at a cross section of talent and chemistry. When the guy who's in charge of overseeing the offense doesn't pay attention to his teammates then there's no amount of talent in the world that can overcome that and win a title. So pay attention D-Rose. You too Westbrook. And especially you John Wall, because your my favorite. Learn from the Cautionary Tale of Starbury.

Locked Out

I'm a pretty simple guy. I love friends, music, tv, movies, and sports. Big emphasis on that last one right there. I think the best thing that my dad ever did for me (other than constant support, love, and devotion of course) was from a young age gear me towards athletics. It teaches so many lessons. And if it clicks with you, you've always got an outlet for entertainment and joy. It clicked. I'm a hardcore NBA junkie. If I could ever make money writing about basketball, I'd be the happiest person in the world. I love this stuff. I woke up this morning and checked ESPN just to read 8 different takes on the latest NBA news, that the League has officially cancelled the first two weeks of the season, even though this event has been written in stone since before last season even ended. No surprise. And it's not even like this is where it ends. Since 2007 its been widely believed that the 2011-2012 season was in serious jeopardy and we (the fans, players, and owners) have been preparing for a year without professional basketball. The owners can sit tight, knowing that if they were losing money anyway that they can ride this out since the players need them. The players have their own solutions, foreign leagues, ad-money, appearance fees, etc. to ride out a year without the NBA. What do I have? I'm past the point of the casual fan. During the season, I watch as many games as I can and then the next morning watch highlights, read EVERY box score and recap, and then work on formulating my own opinions. If that sounds like a sick obsession to you, then good. It means you're a functional, normal human being who cares about healthy, rational things. Not me. The League is more than just some overpaid giants running around. To me. It's my favorite pastime. Its beyond comprehension. I feel like a chump because this lockout is taking all this enjoyment away from me and I'm angry at both parties but I know as soon as its over I'll be right back at it. I don't have another option really. While the millionaires do battle over revenue sharing, how to split earnings between players and owners, and contract lengths, I'm watching Youtube clips trying to decide on my favorite Barkley dunk.

(Go to the 0:30 mark)

So while the owners save money on operating costs and the players decide between lucrative overseas options or just taking extra vacation time, I'm here. There is no win for me. I love basketball and that won't change. Thanks Dad (I think).

My Dream Starting Line-Up

Chris Paul (2008)

Michael Jordan (1992)

Scottie Pippen (1995)

Tim Duncan (2002)

Hakeem Olajuwon (1990)

While all of these players are undisputed greats, though Paul hasn't quite had the same distinguished career that the other four have to this point, this starting five might draw some raised eyebrows. Paul over Magic? Olajuwon over Wilt? Pippen? Most all-time line-ups contain at least one of the following; Bird, Magic, or Wilt/Russell/Kareem, but when I was trying to come up with the perfect line-up for playing in today's NBA I kept finding myself trying to justify putting any of them into my line-up because the single most important thing in my mind for a line-up is athleticism, versatility, defense, and most importantly match ups. Each of my picks is a match up nightmare for the opponent. It's hard to imagine more than one of those match ups going in the favor of the other team. So before I explain the merits of this line-up, I'd like to defend why I passed over the conventional picks that come up most all time starting 5's.

Magic Johnson- In my mind he's the best point guard in history of the league. A triple double threat unlike anyone since Oscar Robertson ran amok in the 60's. That being said, his defensive ability is a weakness and for my dream line-up I'd like the ability for each of my starters to be able to lockdown their man at once if it was necessary. So if it makes sense, being the best at your position doesn't automatically qualify you for my all time line-up.

Larry Bird- Magic's top rival and misses the cut for similar reasons as his foil. Bird is as versatile as any forward other than LeBron. He could shoot the three, pass like no other forward, post up, and rebound. His lack of absolute elite athleticism and world class one on one defense is what makes him lose the spot. His intensity and once in a generation competitiveness nearly got him the position but he'll have to settle for falling just short.

Bill Russell- The greatest winner in history of professional sports. His credentials are unparalleled but not to offend every basketball purist out there, there's no way he is as effective today as he was in the 60's. His defense and rebounding would keep him relevant in todays game but his body has a hard time translating to the modern game. Also, though I'm sure he could have stepped up and taken the scoring load if it was necessary back in the day, I'm not sure I'm putting the chips on that if he's being guarded by Dwight Howard or Dikembe Mutombo.

Kareem Abdul-Jabar- The toughest cut from my starting five. Widely considered the most effective post-merger center. He was an unstoppable scorer (including in his repertoire the surest thing in history of basketball, the Sky Hook) who's size and instincts made him a great rebounder and defender. The only thing that gets him from being in my ideal starting five is that I don't trust his ability to run the court, bang bodies and play defense at the same level as my pick. 

Wilt Chamberlin- Wilt Chamberlin has scored 100 points in a single game. He has pulled down over 50 rebounds in a single game. He averaged 50 points per game for a season and even led the league in assists one year. As far as tangible skills come and individual accolades, he was the most dominant basketball player of all time. That being said, I don't trust him shooting free throws and I'm not sure of how well he would mesh on a team of competitive players who are all willing to sublimate their games for the greater good. On top of that, I think Michael Jordan would go out of his way to show him up and everyone would be pissed off at his lack of killer instinct.

Now with that taken care of, time to explain the beauty of my lineup. 

Chris Paul: PG (6'0"   22 years old)

49% FG      37% 3pt      85% FT

21.1 PPG   4.0 RPG   11.6 APG   2.7 SPG   2.5 TOV

 In 2008 Chris Paul turned in arguably the greatest statistical season by a point guard. He led the league in assists (11.6) and steals (2.8). This has only been done by four other players and Paul did it at the age of 23. He also averaged 23 points, shot over 50% FG while shooting a high percentage of outside shots too, and 5 rebounds while taking the title of best point guard in the league from Steve Nash and he made first team all NBA/Defense. The only possible hole in Paul's game is his short stature but with this line-up around him I doubt it becomes a problem. Paul was able to become the heart and soul of his Hornets team at a precocious age and showed amazing leadership over the lineup. Much like Isiah Thomas he demonstrated the nasty streak that one wants in his point guard. Also, for some reason the stories of how well Paul meshed with the Redeem Team in the 2008 and how he was able to handle the point duties and know when to defer to the teams alpha dog (Kobe Bryant). This encourages me that he will be just as ready when he's defering to the greatest player of all time, at starting shooting guard, from the University of North Carolina, number 23...

Michael Jordan: SG (6'6"   28 years old)

52% FG      27% 3pt      83% FT

30.1 PPG   6.4 RPG   6.1 APG   2.3 SPG   0.9 BPG

There's not too much I need to say to justify this pick. In 1992, Michael Jordan was firing on all cylinders. He had just won his first championship the year before. He had his world class athleticism and his great instinct, all of his physical abilities were at their peaks. This was the Michael Jordan who made it clear that the 90's would be his. This was the Michael Jordan who led the Dream Team to the most dominant stretch of basketball ever in the 1992 Olympics. This Michael dominated Clyde Drexler to the extent that his career was never the same. This Jordan dropped six three pointers on the Blazers and just shrugged. Esentially, this is the Jordan I want taking my last shot, the one I trust the most as my leader, and the greatest alpha dog of all time. Now time to set the greatest super hero up with his Robin...

Scottie Pippen: SF (6'7"   29 years old)

48% FG      34.5% 3pt      71.6% FT

21.4 PPG   8.1 RPG   5.2 APG   2.9 SPG   1.1 BPG

 Flanking Jordan I want his side kick, the most devastating perimeter defender in history of the sport. Just look at what he did two years later when Jordan went to play baseball and Pippen had to carry the Bulls. He lead the team from the fall of 1993 to the spring of 1995, over that course of time he led the Bulls in points, total rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, and three point field goals made. And those are just the stats. Ask him to do anything and Scottie would do it. The only time he ever showed ego was when he was the best player on his team and wasn't given the task of the final shot in a tight playoff game. Every season he played with Jordan, a teammate who he knew was a superior player, he showed absolutely no hint of jealously towards Jordan. Put him on this super team he would and it would be the same situation. Want him to work the boards? Done. Take over scoring for a while? No problem? Play Point Forward? Sure. Defend the other teams best player, be it a point guard, wing, or power forward? No complaints. Not only could Scottie do it all but he was also willing to play any role his team needed from him. The way the team won didn't matter, only the outcome. That's the kind of guy you want on a team full of egos to be juggled, a guy willing to do whatever it takes to win.

Tim Duncan: PF (6'11"   25 years old)

50.8% FG      79.9% FT

25.5 PPG   12.7 RPG   3.7 APG   0.7 SPG   2.5 BPG

 Ok, calling him a straight up power forward is a little bit of a stretch. But with that being said, Duncan has been able to mesh with any teammates he's played with and fit in incredibly well next to Olajuwon's rival David Robinson. On top of this, in 2010-2011 Duncan showed he was totally willing to change offensive style so that the Spurs could run more through Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker since Duncan could no longer carry the team on his shoulders. So that answers any questions I had on his versatility and ability to sublimate his game for the greater good of the team. Duncan is quite simply the most fundamentally sound big man of all time. He can score in the paint with an incredible array of post moves but can also step out up to 15-18 feet and swish a jumper so defenders have to give him respect. Even at 7 foot, he was incredibly agile and could run the court gracefully. He's one of the best all time at passing out of the post and is one of the best teammates in history of the game. All this sounds pretty good, but we haven't even touched on his defense yet. Duncan is one of the best team defenders of all time. His Spurs teams always seemed to keep a running dialogue while on D, keeping each other in check, letting each other know when opponents were cutting or setting picks, essentially turning 5 defenders into one unit designed to stop any offense. And at the middle of all of this was Duncan, the overseer, the shot blocker, the defensive coordinator who also happened to be guarding the best big man on the floor. Duncan is a consummate team player and the best "power forward" of all time.

Hakeem Olajuwon: C (7'0"   27 years old)

50.1% FG      71.3% FT

24.3 PPG   14.0 RPG   2.9 APG   2.1 SPG   4.6 BPG

Since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976, there has not been a more complete or versatile center in professional Basketball than Hakeem Olajuwon. He had more post moves than any other center in the history of the NBA, including his signature move, the Dream Shake. He is the all time leader in blocked shots. He was incredibly athletic and because he grew up playing soccer in his home country of Nigeria, his footwork was superior to any other big man. Defensively, the only center who was as dangerous working the passing lanes and pick-pocketing opponents was David Robinson, who Olajuwon thoroughly defeated in the '95 Playoffs, after Robinson was presented his MVP trophy. During the middle of his career, coinciding with his prime unfortunately, he developed a reputation for being a ball hog, though this could be explained by his awful supporting cast. When surrounded by above average teammates in the mid-80's and in the late 90's, Olajuwon showed that due to his soccer background, he displayed his superb court vision with his ability to make difficult passes out of the low post. He was an incredible rebounder due to his anticipation, footwork, and sheer athleticism. Since the NBA began tracking blocks and steals in 1973, Olajuwon is the only player to have finished a game with a quadruple double twice. He played his best years in the 1990's, the last era of dominant centers. He was never athletic as David Robinson, never had Patrick Ewing's shooting range, and was no where near as strong as Shaquille O'Neal, but in the two years when Jordan was playing baseball, Olajuwon won two championships, during which he decidedly outplayed all three of them. Olajuwon could do it all and on either end of the floor would control the post.

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So there you have it. My perfect starting five. Ideally, you surround these guys with bench players who are willing defenders, a couple guys who can space the floor with their shooting, a big who can rebound and we're beating any other line-up that can be conceived. At least in my opinion. This team would be destructive on defense, superb at passing the ball, and have the perfect mix of inside force and outside speed and shooting. Are you going to drive into the lane with Olajuwon and Duncan waiting for you? How do you get free on the perimeter with Pippen, Jordan, and Paul hounding you? And offensively with Pippen and Paul moving the ball around between the outside and along the perimeter, you never know who's going to be controlling the tempo. And we have Jordan. That's the crux. Because in a pinch, he's going to get sh*t done.

What will we Witness?

Tonight we are going to learn something about LeBron. He's clearly underperformed this series. No question. Had the most irrelevant triple double in basketball since Ricky Davis grabbed an inbound pass and intentionally threw the ball off his own basket so he could get to 10 rebounds. No really, that happened. It was like the Watergate scandal on SportsCenter at the time.

But anyways, Lebron! He's floated through this series. He has yet to score in the last five minutes of a game when the two teams are within 5 points of each other. Dirk is out-scoring Bron 44-13 in the 4th quarter. It's been a sh*t show for him. He's even deferring to Wade when it comes to making fun of his opponents.

Look, I'm far from a Lebron apologist. I've taken every shot at him I could this season. His clutchness, his game, his mother, his hairline. I got into an argument at a pickup game that lead to several hard fouls later in the game because a kid on the other team tried to justify the Lebron > MJ argument. No. Just no. Won't go into this.

But back to my point, I'm not Lebron's biggest fan. With that being said, I still can't believe that he's going to choke this bad. I can't imagine him going out this quietly. I'm not predicting he's going to turn the series around with two 40-15-15 games and redeem himself, but I can't imagine him going out this weakly. Remember 2007? Cavs-Detroit Game 5? The spectacular 48? He singled handedly willed his team from the 4th quarter through the end of the second overtime to overcome the Pistons, scoring something like 115% of the Cavs points through that stretch.

Look, it's not like he hasn't had some very bad games before, most notably Game 5 in Cleveland against Boston last spring and Game 4 in Dallas just last week. He's not MJ. But he also has games like that Detroit Game 5, Game 5 against Chicago this year, and his legendary duel with Paul Pierce in Game 7 in 2008. He's not Vince Carter, he's not MJ, he's somewhere in between. He's capable of the incredible unlike anyone else in the league. He's also capable of disappearing from games and floating through quarters like no other all time great I've ever witnessed.

Here's what we know for sure, this season has been his best chance at a ring. And now for the first time in this playoff his back is against a wall. Will he take over MJ style? Will he play Pippen to Wade's Jordan? Will he go into Magic Johnson mode and control the whole flow of the game from the point? Or will he play 4 quarters like he's Karl Malone in the final two minutes of a must win game? This and a million other possibilities are on the table. This is the most crucial game he's ever played in his career. Perhaps even bigger for him then game 5. And one way or another, we will learn from how he plays what type of role Lebron is willing to take on when it matters. As Nike has been telling us since he first made the playoffs in the Spring of '06: We are Witnesses. Now we'll finally know for sure what kind of player we're witnessing.

CARMELO

OK, coming off a long hiatus due to getting used to college life but this deal has prompted me to put down a bazillion case briefs to analyze what just went down to get one of the top 3 scorers in the league. So with out further a due lets get to the new Knick lineup

Starters:


Center: 
Ronny Turiaf is our starter. Big inhale... now exhale. Ok. Turiaf is a good rugged big man. Unfortunately, he won't play more than 27 mpg. He's a great bench player and brings in a bunch of good things to the table that we need (rebounding, defense, hustle). That being said, this is our biggest weakness at the moment. Mozgov wasn't worth holding onto if it was going to prevent us from landing Melo. That being said, we're weak in the frontline depth department. Moving on before I start second guessing this trade again.


Power Forward:
Amar'e. The best pure power forward left in the league (until Griffin takes that title in 6 months). What more can I say about Amar'e? Did he lay us the foundation for this Knick team? Yes. Was he arguably the MVP of the first 3 months of the season? Yes. Did he play too many minutes over that period of time? Absolutely. When Amar'e gets used to playing with Melo and the rotation starts being played regularly Amar'e will be able to play fewer minutes and preserve his best play for the playoffs when we need him most.


Small Forward:
'Melo. 'Melo. 'Melo.

Ok, first off, he won't be wearing No. 15, that was Earl Monroe's number. But the more important thing is that now we have the best forward tandem in the league other than Bosh-LeBron. Sure, defensively they're two of the most underachieving duo there is, but on offense, they will be dominant. Neither is particularly good at setting others up (though 'Melo is definitely better than he was a couple years ago) their ability at creating shots will stretch apart the defense and make everyone elses jobs easier. Not to mention that they will put hella points on the board. In the end, totally totally worth it. Sure we'll miss Chandler and Gallanari, but lets be honest, there was no way we were having 'Melo and Chandler and Gallanari can be replaced in the three-point shooting category.


Shooting Guard: 
The only reason that the Nuggets pushed to try and get Landry Fields was for trade value and to save face. The more pieces they got for 'Melo the better. But on the post-'Melo Nuggets, a player like Landry Muddy Fields isn't especially valuable. On a boarderline contender like the Knicks, Fields is invaluable as a glue guy. He provides defense, rebounding, ball movement, and efficient scoring. I love Fields, he's the perfect compliment guy on a team that is interested in winning. In general, he's a selfless winner who has the confidence and talents to make an impact on a team heading to the playoffs.


Point Guard: 
Ok, here's the stickiest part of the 'Melo deal. This deal is supposed to be about the long term rather than trying to win a few games this season. Yet we had to give up our long term answer at point guard, Raymond Felton, for an aging stud who is good for the next year or so but isn't in the long term future, Chauncey Billups. Hopefully Billups can help us enough this year and then his expiring contract will be there to help us acquire better depth and hopefully another starter. Deron Williams and Chris Paul are both long shots because of the new CBA which will lower the Salary Cap but hopefully the Knicks can move around enough space to stay in contention for one of them or get another impact player.