- 10:24 AM
- 11/05/24
This game was not a fluke. I predicted before this game that the Bulls would win the East this year and I feel very secure in that prediction today. And Tyrus Thomas will be a superstar when he learns to play under control. Can anyone name another player who both rejected Shaq and dunked on Shaq in his first NBA game?
posted by Scott Carefoot at 10:15 AM on November 01, 2006
Scoop clearly knows how to write well, judging by this column. That's what makes some of his other work so irritating. I remember a profile of NBA player Ricky Davis he wrote for SLAM Magazine where every single sentence consisted of 1 or 2 words. I understood that he was trying an experiment, but it failed miserably (it remains the worst-written sports feature I've ever read) and he or his editor should have seen that and he should have started over again. But I sense his ego wouldn't allow that.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 11:24 AM on October 07, 2006
Weedy, I have mixed feelings about the idea of a second NHL franchise in Toronto. On the one hand, even more Toronto media coverage about hockey will drive me to hard drugs. On the other hand, it could drive more desperate Raptors fans my way. Anyway, I can't believe that I'm the first person to suggest that if the team moves, it should be to Hartford so they can resurrect the greatest NHL logo of all time.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 03:17 PM on October 05, 2006
Hillenbrand's a Grade-A douchebag. Ricciardi said this morning that the only way the team could communicate with him about anything was through his agent. There are also reports that he ripped the Canadian flag off his uniform and wrote "THIS SHIP IS SINKING" on the locker room blackboard.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 09:07 AM on July 20, 2006
It's impossible to claim with any certainty how the 06-07 Raptors will perform. It's starting to look like this could be an entirely new roster except for Chris Bosh and Morris Peterson. This kind of turnover is unprecedented in my memory.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 07:49 PM on July 13, 2006
Weedy's right. The Raptors had the 4th-worst per-game rebound differential (-2.67) in the NBA last season and with Hoffa, Sow and (probably) Woods gone, it's difficult to say they've upgraded in that department. Based on how Phoenix's roster was crafted (they had a worse rebound differential than Toronto), I suspect that Colangelo doesn't place a high priority on glass-cleaning ability.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 03:49 PM on July 13, 2006
Nihilists! Fuck me. I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 09:05 AM on July 07, 2006
I hate when trades like this happen over the weekend. Sorry about the late update.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 01:52 PM on July 01, 2006
bdt wrote: "I'm probably happier for Alonzo Mourning than anyone. He deserves a Championship, especially after everything he has gone through in his life. Congratulations to the Heat for winning the title." Did you forget about how he screwed over the Nets and the Raptors to get to this point? I wouldn't wish his health problems on anyone, but that doesn't change the fact that he's a selfish jackass. It causes me physical pain that his self-serving methods have delivered him a ring.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 11:59 PM on June 20, 2006
drumdance read my mind. I think it would be interesting to start a soccer league with that particular rule change and see what kind of effect it would have on scoring, gameplay and general entertainment value. Honestly, if a defender lets a striker behind him in the box, it's kind of his own fault, no?
posted by Scott Carefoot at 11:24 AM on June 19, 2006
Kornheiser is "an egotistical jackass?" Funny, I'm a regular listener to PTI (through the podcast) and he strikes me as very self-deprecating - and hilarious. As far as I'm concerned, they could just throw Kornheiser and Wilbon in the MNF booth and I'd tune in just to listen to their banter. They could even put "Stat Boy" on the sidelines.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 09:49 AM on May 29, 2006
I think Bosh's comments are being misinterpreted by some people. A reporter asked him what he thought about the idea of drafting Bargnani and he gave his honest opinion of what he thought would best suit the team. This Raptors club is softbatch and it would seem that the last thing they need to add is another finesse player. Bosh has grown in confidence recently and has started to embrace a leadership role on the team. Along with that, he's shown that he's willing to give honest, frank answers to questions like this. As long as he's not making ultimatums, I don't have a problem with it and neither will Colangelo. About the pick, I think Colangelo has the philosophy that the draft should be used to acquire the best available player, regardless of the team's needs. Then, you address those specific needs through trades and free agency. So it's quite likely that Colangelo will, in fact, draft Bargnani and then use the available cap space (in the $10-15 million range) to sign or trade for a player or players who can rebound, defend, block shots, run the point, etc. Personally, I would love to see Colangelo use the top pick on LaMarcus Aldridge, who has been training with Bosh this off-season. I think the two of them would form a formidable frontcourt who would push each other to improve and excel.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 09:57 AM on May 26, 2006
Snikastyle: I wouldn't take Morrison if the Raptors had stayed at the fifth overall pick. I would have to think long and hard about Morrison if the Raptors had been bumped down to eighth overall in their worst case scenario. What is it about Morrison that convinces you that he's the best pro prospect?
posted by Scott Carefoot at 12:55 AM on May 24, 2006
Speaking of poor taste, is it in poor taste for me to hope that Sam Mitchell has a nervous breakdown and has to quit, and then the Raptors hire Adelman? If so, then forget I posted this.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 09:04 AM on May 10, 2006
If Tim Thomas misses that trey at the end of the fourth quarter in game six, this whole discussion would be moot. The Lakers didn't stand a chance in Game Seven in Phoenix, regardless of what Kobe did. The Suns are a better team. Anyway, the NBA needs players like Kobe. How interesting would pro ball if everybody had the personality of Tim Duncan?
posted by Scott Carefoot at 03:30 PM on May 09, 2006
My point certainly isn't definitive, but it's worth considering. And comparing baseball to basketball is ludicrous by any standard. Nash is the best offensive player in the NBA, but his defence is atrocious. Kobe is the second-best offensive player in the NBA, and is also one of the best perimeter defenders. If we're going to be honest with ourselves, defending Nash as the MVP is either based on Canadian patriotism or simply the fact that he's an eminently likable guy. Nash is the ideal point guard for the particular system that Mike D'Antoni runs in Phoenix. As I have written elsewhere, if Nash is truly worthy of back-to-back MVPs, then John Stockton should have finished higher than seventh in MVP voting at some point in his career.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 12:41 AM on May 02, 2006
In Steve Nash's final year in Dallas, the Maverivcks won 52 games. The following two seasons - when Nash was in Phoenix - the Mavs won 58 and 60 games. If you replaced Kobe Bryant with Jason Terry, where would they be now? Think about it.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 07:48 PM on May 01, 2006
Nowhere in this post is the writer able to substanstiate his claim that "the NBA has a major fucking problem on its hands." I think the appropriate response to this rant is to quote Inignot the 2-dimensional moon man from Aqua Teen Hunger Force: "Well, that sounds like a personal problem." I will agree that some players argue with the refs too much, but it's a huge overreaction to say that this is a league-wide epidemic. Besides, the refs have the authority to call technical fouls whenever they feel like it. Maybe they should tech up serial whiners (like most of the Detroit Pistons starting lineup) more often, but it's absurd to say that players should never be able to complain to refs. Sometimes, the refs need certain things brought to their attention. Some players are very sneaky with their infractions (*cough* Bruce Bowen *cough*) and it should be fair game to let the refs know what's going on.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 02:55 PM on March 09, 2006
Yeah, what Weedy said. I'd wake up somewhere New Year's Day and realize that I had used up my one freebie less than two hours into the year and I was too drunk to even remember it.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 01:14 PM on March 03, 2006
Hey, thanks guys. This was a nice surprise. One point I'd like to respond to: Eric Williams will NOT opt out. He's unhappy but he's not dumb. $4 million is $4 million, and he'd be lucky to get $2 million elsewhere. I don't have time to find the exact quote, but he hinted at this after the trade deadline passed, something about how it's a business and he has to think of his family first. Regarding the RSS feed, I get asked that a lot. The honest answer is, I'm not tech-savvy and I'm somewhat afraid of them. I've read that it's easy to steal content that way.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 10:05 AM on March 01, 2006
LiveWithIt has a great gimmick there. Somebody should give him his own show. Stephen A. Smith won't be able to compete. If the NBA wants to attract the big names for this competition, they need to get a sponsor to award $1 million to the winner (or a charity of his choice). As it stands, a guy like LeBron has little to gain from competing in an event he's unlikely to win. He's an explosive dunker, but not necessarily an "artistic" dunker. Nate-Rob is probably the sentimental favorite to win this, but Josh Smith won't be easy to beat - he's the best dunker I've seen since Vince in his prime. And that's my opinion...DEAL WITH THAT!
posted by Scott Carefoot at 12:46 PM on February 01, 2006
Too many haters in this thread and elsewhere on the Web where this is being discussed. I don't like Kobe "the man" but Kobe "the player" is unquestionably the best right now. You don't have to like it or admit it. Doesn't change reality. I saw the game (of course, since I would have to be in a coma to miss a Raptors game). Kobe did what he had to do to get the win for his team. He didn't start scoring for the sake of padding his own points until late in the fourth quarter. It makes me laugh to see people hate on him for not passing more. Have you seen his teammmates? The third best player on the Lakers is Smush Parker. Who? Exactly. "Kobe should make his teammates better," some people say. Let me assure you that Steve Nash or Jason Kidd or Tim Duncan or anyone else could not help that team any more. Replace Kobe with Michael Jordan in his prime and MJ would take just as many shots. Lamar Odom ain't Scottie Pippen by a long shot. It was painful to watch and I still think Kobe is a scumbag but I don't have to hang out with the guy. He's a legend. Jerry Buss picked the right horse.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 10:08 AM on January 23, 2006
*checks babelfish for "caveman to English translator"*
posted by Scott Carefoot at 11:32 AM on November 15, 2005
And let us not forget: Dave Semenko. I can just imagine that name appearing in cartoon letters (Batman TV show style) over Chris Nilan's head after a knockout punch...SEMENKO!
posted by Scott Carefoot at 10:18 AM on November 10, 2005
Scoop Jackson is like Ralph Wiley on tilt. He's the most tiresome, full-of-himself sportswriter I've ever read. He turns everything into a racial issue. Of course, he would respond that everything IS a racial issue. Fine, whatever. Forgive this ig'nant cracker for just trying to enjoy the games.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 03:51 PM on November 02, 2005
Weedy: Nobody wants Jalen Rose's contract, particularly not a rebuilding team like the Hornets. I can think of 2 teams that could potentially find it in their hearts (and wallets) to trade for him: the Knicks and the Sixers. If it's any consolation, this might actually increase the Raptors' odds of signing Magloire in 2 years. Are the Bucks going to re-sign him at $10 mil per if they've got Bogut ready to take over at C?
posted by Scott Carefoot at 10:02 AM on October 27, 2005
This will undoubtedly come off as sour grapes, but while he is certainly a wordsmith compared to most NBA players, I don't consider him to be a particularly good writer. His columns are mostly a vaguely connected series of run-on sentences. He seems like a good guy, though, and he'll be better than Charley Rosen by default. I wonder if he'll still be entertaining now that he's writing about the NBA "from the outside".
posted by Scott Carefoot at 09:01 AM on October 21, 2005
Weedy: I would suggest that if this year's crop of Raptors rookies are all busts, Babcock will not have a chance to screw up another draft. Too many reporters and fans (myself included) will be screaming for his head, As for Bosh leaving Toronto, this is highly unlikely, regardless of how the team does. After this season, the Raptors can offer Bosh a maximum-level contract extension. If Bosh turns that down, he risks suffering an injury in his "contract year" that could potentially cost him tens of millions of dollars. To my knowledge, no NBA player has ever rejected a max contract extension offer. There's always the possibility that Bosh could demand a trade at some point, but that's just speculating for the sake of negativity. Not every player responds to losing like Vince Carter did. Elton Brand has played on losing teams for all 6 seasons of his career and he's never made a trade demand or stopped giving 100% on the court.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 03:08 PM on October 18, 2005
I just wrote about this on my site, and I'll repeat my claim that this policy is senseless. Why should anyone care how a player dresses when he's not playing? If a particular team wants to set a dress code, that's their prerogative. To institute a league-wide dress code insisting that players wear "sport coats" on the sideslines is asinine. If you're not going to be an NBA fan because of how the players dress, then you're not really cut out to be an NBA fan, period. Go watch some golf, ya freakin' nancyboy.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 11:56 AM on October 18, 2005
mayerkyl: Grant Hill played 67 games last year and averaged 19.7 points per game. He's not what he used to be but he's still going and he's still pretty good. It's easy to forget how good Houston was in his prime. He's up there with Reggie Miller and Larry Bird as one of the best pure shooters to ever play the game. When he got hot, you could put a hand right in his face and he'd still rain treys on you.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 09:45 AM on October 18, 2005
Weedy: On what do you base your statement that "we likely could have drafted (Villanueva) at Graham's spot"? Mock drafts? Babcock picked Charlie right at the beginning of a run of big men: Frye, Diogu, Bynum, Vazquez and May. Do you really think all those guys would have still been picked instead of Charlie if he was available? As for the Raptors needing a center, that's obvious. Unfortunately, a good center is hard to find. That's why we're probably going to have to wait until the 2007 off-season when Jamaal Maglore is a free agent. The Raptors will have enough cap room to match any offer, and Jamaal will finally get to fulfil his wish to play in Toronto. I don't want anyone to have the impression that I'm thrilled with the job Babcock has done. But rebuilding is rarely easy. The Bulls sucked for 6 consecutive seasons before they became competitive. If things go according to Babcock's plan, the Raptors might "only" have to suck for 5 straight seasons. Small consolation, but I still prefer his method to Isiah Thomas' style. Isiah GMs like a crow. He collects shiny things with no discernible benefit.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 09:20 AM on October 18, 2005
Some perspective, for starters: 1. Maccabi Tel Aviv won by 2 points on a last-second basket. If that shot rims out, who knows what happens? 2. It's a pre-season game. Some of the Raptors *coughJalenRosecough* were clearly not giving their all. Yeah, it was embarrassing but still not nearly as embarrassing as Vince Carter coming to town last season and dropping 39 points on us. Rob Babcock does have a plan in place to free up cap space for the free agent period of 2007 and then start getting better in the 2007-08 season. That means the next 2 seasons will be tough to swallow. Whether the plan works remains to be seen. Incidentally, Charlie Villanueva looks like he was probably worth the 7th pick after all, in spite of Stephen A. Smith's spiteful yelpings on draft day. Babcock had a horrible first year as GM, but he is showing signs that he might have the foresight to turn this team around eventually.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 01:24 PM on October 17, 2005
Joe and Q were, respectively, the 4th and 5th best players on that team. And I'll let y'all in on a secret. Steve Nash was the 2nd best player. Amare Stoudemire is very, very good and he's going to get better. And Shawn Marion is so much better than any other team's third option, it's not even funny. The Suns will be fine. The only team with a chance to finish ahead of them in the standings is the Spurs.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 06:52 PM on August 25, 2005
dusted: The white teenagers that get drafted mostly come from overseas. Dirk Nowitzki, Nikoloz Tskitishvili, Darko Milicic and Andris Biedrins are a few recent examples. Robert Swift is the only domestic caucasian teenager to be drafted in recent memory. The true stupidity of this suggested rule change is revealed when you notice that the two previous rookies of the year (LeBron James and Amare Stoudemire) were both drafted as teenagers. And the prohibitive favorite for this season's award? Dwight Howard, drafted first overall out of Southwest Christian Academy high school in Georgia.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 11:43 AM on April 13, 2005
"Unless Cleveland trades for another piece, I dont see Phil coaching there." I don't know that Cleveland would need to trade for another great player. Phil and LeBron would turn Cleveland into a top free agent draw, and the Cavs have some cap space available after this season. If they hire Phil and re-sign Ilgauskas, Michael Redd would be foolish to turn down the opportunity to join this team. Add Redd to this team and they would compete for the Eastern title.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 12:42 PM on March 22, 2005
petty-45: Perhaps you're not familiar with some of Barkley's previous quotes. He disses black people too. When he retired from playing, he said, "Just what America needs, another unemployed black man." In fact, Barkley has defended himself on racism charges before: "I always say two things: Black people will borrow money and not pay you back and white people cannot dance. If somebody wants to think that is racist, I said it in humor and jest. If somebody wants to make it into racism, I don't worry about it."
posted by Scott Carefoot at 09:31 AM on February 22, 2005
3 other points I'd like to address from the above comments: 1. Why is scoring down? Primarily because the pace of the game is much slower than it used to be. In the mid-80s, teams routinely shot 7,500 field goal attempts over the course of a season. Now, teams tend to average around 6,500 field goal attempts over the course of a season. That's 12 fewer shots per game. That lowers scoring quite a bit. You can blame coaches like Jeff Van Gundy and Rick Carlisle for that because they have achieved success with "walk-it-up" offence and smothering defence. 2. The idea that free throw shooting has gone in the toilet is yet another myth perpetuated by people who think Shaq is the norm instead of the exception. The league free-throw success rate for the 2003-04 season was 75.2 percent, compared to 76 percent in 1983-84. There have always been players who tossed up bricks from the free throw line. Wilt Chamberlain was a career 51 percent shooter from the line, compared to Shaq's 54 percent success rate going into this season. 3. Team USA did not fail because the United States no longer produces the best players. Team USA failed because the committee failed to put together the best "team". You can't throw together a collection of All-Stars and automatically assume they're going to mesh and complement each other's skills. That team needed a player or two like Michael Redd to stretch out the defence with outside shooting. With all due respect, some people should not pontificate on "what's wrong with the NBA" for the same reason I don't pontificate on "what's wrong with the NHL" - when it comes to hockey, I know that I don't know jack.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 11:00 AM on February 14, 2005
As probably the most diehard NBA fan on this site (to quote Bill Simmons, "one of 19 NBA fans left on the planet"), I feel I should address this. As far as I can tell, he wants to: 1. ban the dunk 2. ban the 3-pointer 3. ban high schoolers from entering the NBA The dunk is actually not as prevalent as you might think. Dunks account for roughly 5 percent of NBA shot attempts (according to 82games.com). That's not exactly an epidemic. As somebody pointed out, it is the most efficient type of shot attempt (not to mention exciting) so the dunk doesn't strike me as a real problem. The 3-pointer is another story. In the 1984-85 season, Darrell Griffith led the league in 3-point attempts with 257, which was 64 more than the second-place guy, World B. Free (gratuitous ridiculous name-drop). Larry Bird was 8th with 131 attempts. A little over halfway into this season, Quentin Richardson has taken 445 3-point attempts. You have to go down to 14th place (Kirk Hinrich) to find a player that has taken fewer 3-point shots than Griffith in 84-85 - and this is with 35 games still to play. So is the 3-pointer ruining the game? Depends on who you ask. Phoenix's lineup consists of one athletic big-man (Stouemire), one brilliant point guard (Nash) and three athletic wingmen who love to shoot the trey (they are 1st, 17th and 21st in the league in 3pt attempts) Currently, Phoenix is tied with San Antonio for the best record in the NBA. Apparently, they're doing something right. My stance on high schoolers entering the NBA has already been stated by whoever called out the NCAA as a "penal system". I would like to see a developmental league for players who are not ready for prime-time (calling Darko Milicic) but for the most part, high school players won't play if they're not better than the other players on the bench, so it's not like the NBA is infested with kids who can't play ball. Four of the eight high-schoolers drafted in the first round of the 2004 draft (Howard, Livingston, Jefferson and Josh Smith) are making significant contributions to their teams and proving that they belong in this league right now. I would suggest that a 50% success rate is about what you'll get with players drafted at any age. Yeah, the game's not what it used to be, but you can also say that about hockey and baseball. You either like how it is now or you don't. Maybe some hoops fans long for the days of short shorts and long two-pointers. Others don't. I miss Larry and Magic, but there are these new guys named LeBron, Wade and Bosh that are pretty fantastic, too. And all three of them have nice mid-range jumpers. The game isn't broken, it evolved. If it leaves stodgy "fans" like Michael Sokolove behind, so be it. I like the game just fine the way it is.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 10:17 AM on February 14, 2005
Best part of this article is at the end. "We support Cheeks 100 percent and the same with Darius," center Joel Przybilla said. "It was just an instance of two guys having different views. I have seen worse. I was in Milwaukee with Anthony Mason, and this was nothing." I don't particularly care about the Blazers, but I'm glad Miles only got 2 games because he's on my fantasy team and I'm on a roll right now.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 04:13 PM on January 31, 2005
The still photo does not do justice to the poetic majesty of Postertag's dance. Behold! (animated gif link)
posted by Scott Carefoot at 11:08 AM on January 21, 2005
bill: I think Hollinger's work is more useful for scouts and GMs (real and fantasy) than for casual fans. Casual fans can continue to believe that PPG, RPG and APG are the best indicators of a player's worth, and they can continue to be wrong about that.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 04:25 PM on November 25, 2004
Hollinger is great. If anybody is destined to be the Bill James of basketball, it's him. Thanks to his 2003-04 Pro Basketball Prospectus (called "Pro Basketball Forecast" this year), I knew that Kirilenko and Redd were going to have break-out seasons and I won my 20-team fantasy basketball league. 82games.com is great because it has some cool statistical measurements that show a player's effect on the rest of the team. The Net48 stat gives a plus-minus measurement of the team net points per 48 minutes of playing time for the player. For example, the Raptors currently run a point deficit of -9 every 48 minutes Vince Carter is on the floor. That's more fuel for the "trade Vince" camp.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 12:07 PM on November 25, 2004
Spree is an asshole. Always was and always will be. He should be thrilled with a 3-year, $27 million extension. He's 34 years old and his skills are declining. How many 37 year old guards not named Jordan are worth $9 million/season? I hope McHale tells him to go choke himself. Hopefully, KG will talk some sense into him.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 04:11 PM on November 01, 2004
Speaking of China, I believe we've found The Great Wall of Text. Paragraph breaks are our friends.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 08:47 AM on August 26, 2004
Chuck Swirsky is outstanding as the Toronto Raptors' play-by-play man. He has some great catch-phrases. After a great play, he yells, "Are you kidding me?" After a mean dunk, he growls "Sick, wicked and nasty!" or "Chris Bosh just gave Theo Ratliff a Spalding facial!"
posted by Scott Carefoot at 04:01 PM on July 26, 2004
If by "intriguing" you mean, "completely fabricated", then yes, it is. Raptors GM Rob Babcock has publicly refuted this rumor. Babcock will not trade Vince unless he gets a marquee player in return. Vince puts butts in seats and nobody in this imaginary deal can make up for that.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 11:09 AM on July 14, 2004
Phoenix overpaid. Never give a contract this expensive and long to a guard in his 30s. Nash is my favorite non-Raptor, but I say Cuban will have the last laugh here.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 10:09 AM on July 02, 2004
lilnemo: Are you a Lakers fan? I'm trying to figure out how you could rationalize that a 40-year-old Malone could have changed the outcome of a series where the average margin of victory in the Pistons' four wins was 13 points. Maybe Malone in his prime could have made the series interesting. But what happened in those finals was a good-ol-fashioned ass-whupping and creaky ol' Karl could not handle Wallace and Wallace, healthy or not.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 10:08 AM on July 02, 2004
lilnemo: The Lakers could not have beaten the Pistons even with a fully-healthy Karl Malone. Did you watch the series? They could have played 10 more games and Detroit would have won all of them. It was sheer domination and it would have been 4-1 with or without Karl. Now if Kobe had passed the damn rock to Shaq like he should have, that would have been a different story altogether. You can really consider Karl's accomplishments without acknowledging John Stockton's contributions to them. Stockton probably assisted on 50% of his career baskets.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 02:58 PM on July 01, 2004
Amazing, this topic couldn't even make it past the first post without a Vince Carter criticism. Maybe he needs to chase his fiance with a gun or get charged with rape to get an easier time of it. I'd like to point out that out of Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, Paul Pierce, Allen Iverson and Vince Carter, Vince was the only one to increase his points per game production last season - and he did this while playing on the worst offence in the NBA. Plus, he played in more games than all of them except Pierce. Lay off the guy. Sam is a good choice for this team. He was a mentor to Kevin Garnett and maybe he can have a similar influence on Chris Bosh. Bosh's potential is probably not at KG level but it's worth nothing that their rookie seasons were quite similar statistically.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 12:07 PM on June 30, 2004
tieguy: Is it silly? Would Boston fans and sportswriters stand for a long-term rebuilding project? I suspect this would be met with a chorus of "WE'VE WAITED LONG ENOUGH" followed by a quick firing. It seems like this is why the Toronto Maple Leafs are always going for quick fixes with veteran players instead of improving through smart drafting.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 03:57 PM on June 24, 2004
There are some moving tributes to Ralph on today's Page 2. Wiley was that unique kind of writer that I didn't like but I definitely respected. I think he came from a political sensibility that I couldn't relate to. I'm half his age, white and Canadian. What do I know about the African American struggle in media, sports and society? I think he performed a unique and important role in sports journalism and I fear that there is nobody else out there with the stones or the talent to take his place. Ralph, the Road Dog and the rest of us will toast you when the badass Pistons bury the Lakers tonight.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 11:33 AM on June 15, 2004
I don't think Lew is being entirely fair about this hiring. On top of the Babcock hiring, the Raptors have hired Wayne Embry as the assistant general manager and Alex English as new director of player personnel. Embry and English are both well-respected in the NBA and Embry's previous GM experience will provide great support for Babcock. As for the new GM, if he had anything to do with discovering and drafting Kevin Garnett in '95 when four teams picked Joe Smith, Antonio McDyess, Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace before him, then that's good enough for me.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 02:43 PM on June 05, 2004
molafson: Not anymore. The real #11 should be: "Your team is not the Los Angeles Lakers." I take no satisfaction in this fact, but it is a fact.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 10:56 AM on May 28, 2004
I thought it was a self-indulgent mess. I love Simmons but Wiley dragged him down to his standard annoying level. Do I care about their favorite TV shows and Top 10 Hottest Honeys? No, I don't. And they're both morons for saying that Kevin Garnett should have retaliated against Peeler. Yeah, it would be true MVP behavior if he had gotten himself suspended for Game 7.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 08:18 AM on May 18, 2004
garfield: All I'm saying is that if the runner thinks the SS nailed him in the face on purpose, don't you think he'd tell his pitcher? And what if that pitcher is, say...Roger Clemens?
posted by Scott Carefoot at 04:05 PM on May 13, 2004
The funny thing about this is that I've always wondered why this doesn't happen more often. Maybe I'm a sadistic bastard, but if I'm a SS and I see a runner sliding high on a play where I know I can't turn the other end of a DP, I'd have a hard time resisting drilling the guy right in the melon. I guess the reason this doesn't happen more often is that the SS in question would be sure to receive his payback next time he comes to bat.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 03:50 PM on May 13, 2004
Damn, I haven't seen a title that long since that Fiona Apple album named after an entire poem. Although baseball as a sport bores me, I'm fascinated with the uniqueness and traditions of their parks. Fenway has always been my my favorite sports venue.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 03:46 PM on May 13, 2004
I've been clowning this guy since he declared in March. I don't know what's funnier, the fact that he thinks "the NBA wants and needs Ivan Chiriaev" (his words) when he was merely a third-team high school All-Star in Ontario, or the fact that he's seven-foot-one but thinks he's a point guard. There's a homeless guy outside my office who talks to imaginary people all day and he's less delusional than Ivan the Terrible. This kid will never wear an NBA uniform.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 11:22 AM on May 10, 2004
Tim Hardaway is making progress
Pardon me while I piss in the punch bowl, but I'm pretty sure this is the key part of this story... NBA commissioner David Stern met with Hardaway about a week after asking him to leave the league's All-Star festivities. He is aware of the changes Hardaway is trying to make. "We appreciate Tim's efforts at education and promoting understanding," Stern said Thursday. Hardaway wants to get back into the NBA some day as a coach or personnel director, yet readily acknowledges that he did those plans a major disservice with his comments. Over time, he hopes that'll change. It's a safe bet he wouldn't be taking this step if he didn't receive the reaction he did. However, I will say that it's certainly progress that people like him are being forced to at least consider the possibility that gay, bi-, and transgendered people deserve the same rights and respect as everyone else.