The NBA Draft's Five Best Second Overall Picks Since 1984 & Sammy Sosa Is a Joke and He Does Not Deserve Induction into the HOF posted by Colin Linneweber

The NBA Draft's Five Best Second Overall Picks Since 1984

The Los Angeles Clippers are expected to pick former Oklahoma Sooners star Blake Griffin Thursday with the first overall selection in the 2009 NBA Draft at the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

However, there is not a consensus projection for the No. 2 pick and basketball analysts remain largely uncertain who the Memphis Grizzlies will choose tomorrow in Gotham.

In recognition of the NBA Draft, I have decided to rank the five most accomplished players selected second overall in the past quarter century.

1) Jason Kidd

Kidd, 36, attended the University of California and helped resurrect the Golden Bears dormant basketball program with his stellar play at the point guard position.

After being honored as a First Team All-American as a sophomore, Kidd declared for the NBA Draft and was selected 2nd overall by the Dallas Mavericks in 1994.

Unfortunately, the Bay Area native’s initial stint with the Mavericks didn’t materialize as most anticipated it would.

According to legend, singer Toni Braxton went to the Mavs team hotel to meet Kidd after a game.

However, instead of rendezvousing with Kidd, Braxton instead left with his Dallas teammate Jimmy Jackson and the two purportedly fornicated until the wee hours.

Subsequently, Kidd loathed Jackson and he demanded an escape from “Big D.”

Kidd, a 9-time All-Star and 6-time All-NBA nomination, was traded to the Phoenix Suns at the conclusion of the 1996 season and his career began to truly ascend in the desert.

Magic--Nets blockbuster deal! posted by john howard

Vince Carter and Ryan Anderson are sent to the Magic for Rafer Alston, Courtney Lee, and Tony Battie.  In what looks like another attempt by Jay-Z and the Nets to get good buddy LeBron James to New Jersey has been made.  Moving Carter's big salary does that.  What was confusing was shipping youngster Anderson and acquiring poing guard Alston.  PG Devin Harris had a tremendous break out year.  Does this mean that he will move to SG or will Lee start there and Alston be a bench player.

For Orlando, this was a shock.  But also a statement.  They are going to resign Turkolu. Lee had an incredible season, but Carter is a much much much better player.  Huge upgrade there.  Then, Jameer Nelson returns and is better than Alston.  Anderson gives depth at the forward spots.  They need antoher inside bench player, but this team just got better.  Wow!!  I really like this move for the Magic.  The only way this works out for the Nets is if James does arrive.

New Jersey Nets draft pick posted by john howard

The New Jersey Nets have the 11th pick in this year's draft.  Devin Harris had a break out year and is an all-star as is Vince Carter.  That gives them some firepower on the perimeter. But that's pretty much it.  They really need a shooting guard and better inside players. Ryan Anderson and Yi Jianlian and Douglas-Roberts are all young developing players that it's not real clear on how good they will get. Brook Lopez is another young player that looks to be solid but not spectacular.  So, the Nets could go numerous directions with the 11th pick.   It doesn't look promising.  In the past 14 years only 2 starters have come from the 11th pick and neither was an all-star.  And, 6 of the players did not contribute much to their teams.  If I were a Nets GM, I would trade away the 11th pick and maybe an iffy prospect for a 3rd or 4th year starter. Continue reading "New Jersey Nets draft pick"

Wow What a great game the nets had against the pistons== WED APRIL 1 posted by Shady Shalan

THAT WAS A GREAT GAME. THE NETS KILLED THE PISTONS FROM THE START. MOST PEOPLE THINK THAT THE NETS SUCK BUT THEY PROVED EVERYONE WRONG. THEY KILLED ONE OF THE BEST TEAMS ON THE LEAGUE. I MEAN ITS SO SURPRISING AND IM HAPPY FOR THE NETS. BUT THE PISTONS NEED SOME REAL PRACTICE. IF THEY CAN LOSE TO ONE OF THE MOST UNKNOWN TEAMS. THEN THEY REALLY NEED A NEW COACH OR BETTER DEFENSE PLAYERS. AND I THINK MOST PEOPLE WILL AGREE WITH ME WHEN I SAY THAT THE NETS DID A GREAT JOB AND I HOPE THEY CONTINUE TO HAVE THE BEST OF LUCK.

NOT TOO SHARP "BUDINI" posted by Aarwich

Local news papers, though desperate to stay afloat, have a responsibility not to print one of their extremist's pipe dreams simply because he's been on ESPN.

Drew Sharp, a columnist for The Detroit Free Press, also known as Budini on FM 97.1 “The Ticket,” wrote a little ditty about how desperate the New Orleans Hornets are due to the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina and the economic struggles thereafter. He feels now would be a good time to take advantage of said peril and go after Chris Paul (CP3). This would be a great idea, if Hornets management wanted to go down in NBA history as making the most ignorant move ever.

If you haven't read Sharps latest smug attempt to sound clever while insulting the intelligence of the Detroit sports fan, I'll break it down for you.

-“Joe Dumars should go after New Orleans point guard Chris Paul.” OK, BUT NOT BEFORE HE (DUMARS) GOES AFTER LABRON JAMES, KOBE BRYANT, DWYAN WADE AND DWIGHT HOWARD. HE WOULDN'T BE DOING HIS JOB IF HE DIDN'T MAKE THAT CALL. BUT I'M SURE JOE APPRICIATES YOUR ADVICE.

-“It's not as outrageous as you might think.” TAKING A TRIP TO MARS ISN'T AS OUTRAGEOUS AS YOU MIGHT THINK.

-“Overall league revenues are falling...” SO LET'S GET RID OF ONE OF THE NBA'S MOST MARKETABLE PLAYERS.

-“...the Hornets cannot afford (Paul) unless they part with most of his high-priced supporting cast...” RIGHT, BECAUSE THAT WOULDN'T MAKE SENSE. PEJA $14.2, CHANDLER $11.85, WEST $9.0

Predict the order of finish for the 2009 Kentucky Derby posted by Johnny Matheis

Fill out how you think the Kentucky Derby will finish, in order. Here are the rules

All entriest must be received by Saturday, April 2, by 9:00 A.M., with no edits after that time, in order to qualify.

Scratches will merely be eliminated from your order of finish. Don't worry about them.

You may make comments about your selections. You don't have to.

Each placement will receive positive or negative points, or break even, if the horse you select for that placement is exactly 7 positions away.

For each placement in which you are exactly correct, you will get 40 points. If the horse in that placement is off by one position, you get 30 points. By two positions, you get 25 points, for three positions, you get 20 points, by four positions, you get 15 points, by five positions you get 10 points, by six positions, you get 5 points, by seven positions a push or break even 0 points, by eight positions -5 points, by nine positions -10 points, by ten positions -15 points, by eleven positions -20 points, by eleven positions -25 points, by 12 positions -30 points, and more than 12 positions is -40 points. For example, if Dunkirk finishes fifth, and you have him selected for second, that is three positions away, and you get 20 points. If Dunkirk finishes ninth, and you have him second, Dunkirk nets you zero points.

For predicting the winner perfectly, you get 50 bonus points.

For predicting the winner perfect, and the second place finisher perfect, you get 75 more bonus points added onto the 50.

For predicting the last place finisher correct, you also get 50 bonus points.

Playoff Excitement Part 1: Winning in the West posted by Michael J. Shambaugh

With the first round of the playoffs slowly crawling towards the end, and so much excitement developing around the league, I want to take some time out side of the Blazer Box and take a quick look at the two conferences and what they have brought us this playoff season.

We’ll start with the West…

Los Angeles Lakers versus Utah Jazz:  It was no question as to which of these two teams would be moving on in the first round, but building up to their season finale match up, a lot of people wondered: “Is L.A. going to give their final home game of the season away to Utah for a chance to play Dallas in the first round?”  Most of us expected as much to happen, but there was obviously something the Lakers knew that we didn’t.    We saw it once Dallas destroyed San Antonio in the same fashion that Los Angeles destroyed Utah.  Not much excitement out of this series.

Denver Nuggets versus New Orleans Hornets:  After watching Monday’s Game 4 in New Orleans, would you believe me if I told these two teams split the season 2-2?  The Nuggets bullied the Hornets around like a Varsity team beats up on a Junior Varsity team, or the Freshman team for that matter!  There is no excuse for losing a game by 58 points.  Chauncey Billups now has one more thing to add to his already extensive resume.  New Orleans is probably in the worst situation of the teams left in the playoffs.  They have won 1 game by 2 points while they have lost the other 3 by double digits each time.  Where do you start when trying to adjust for game 5? How about turnovers? Chris Paul and his Hornets committed 27, which lead to 41 Denver points. Shame on you New Orleans.

Good Riddance to Jason Kidd in New Jersey posted by jason

i am not a j kidd fan. he has always struck ( no pun intended ) this blogger as a phony and a front runner. he faked a migraine and skipped a game vs. the knicks this season to pout over a perceived insult of not being extended on the 40 million he has left to collect from the netsa...this after the nets have paid him over 50 million dollars already, during his stay in the meadowlands...for all his passing skills on the court he is still the self centered immature baby as he was when he rolled his 4 runner in college and when he jammed fries down his wifes throat! good riddance to this brilliant player, i will be rooting hard against the mavs if they pick up this guy, but he could be the piece they need to free up jason  terry to produce points from the 2 spot without point guard pressures and ball handling and distributing responsibilities.Continue reading "Good Riddance to Jason Kidd in New Jersey"

Another Big Western Conference Trade posted by The Sports Point

http://thesportspoint.blogspot.com/2008/02/another-big-western-conference-trade.html

For the third time this month, a Western Conference title contender in the NBA has made a move to strengthen its team. This time, the Dallas Mavericks have agreed in principle to acquire point guard Jason Kidd, returning him to the team that he began his career.

Both the Mavericks and Jason Kidd publicly said they didn't feel the deal would happen, but the Mavericks and Nets reached an agreement Wednesday. New Jersey will get Devin Harris, Jerry Stackhouse, DeSagna Diop, Maurice Ager, a first round pick in 2008 and 2010, and $3 million in return. The Nets are also giving up veteran Malik Allen along with Kidd.

This trade looks good for the Mavs in the short term, and the Nets have invested well in their future. It's not surprising that Dallas Owner Mark Cuban could not remain complacent while multiple teams around him made changes to their rosters. Hopefully all of these teams from the West don't forget about the two favorites to win it all: Eastern Conference powers Detroit and Boston.

My Name Is KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDDDDDDDDD! posted by Gus Johnson's Whisper

ESPN is reporting that Jason Kidd is going to be traded to the Dallas Mavericks:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3244102

I love this trade.  I do.  I am so thankful that New Jersey is freeing J Kidd from his prison sentence as the team wallows in the ever awkward: 'we could compete for a 7th seed if everone was healthy' phase.  I hate when teams do this.  They settle.  What's the point of having a team?  It's to try and win a championship.  It's not to try and make the playoffs every year.  Win a championship; that's your goal.  The Nets needed to punt on this season and begin anew.  This trade will help them start over and build.

Here's the trade:

Jason Kidd and THE Malik Allen (should we call this the Malik Allen deal?)

for

Devin Harris, Jerry Stackhouse (who will be bought out faster than 10 cent ocean front property), Maurice Ager, Desagana Diop, and Devean George.

John Hollinger of ESPN.com, who I usally love, hates this trade.  He usues a fancy calculation and metrics to tell you that he wouldn't trade Devin Harris for Jason Kidd.  That's what this trade is about.  He crows about the loss of Diop and Stackhouse like they are Magic and Barkley.

The Mavs are better now because of this deal.  I don't know how you can argue this.   Kidd gives them flexibility (he can defend bigger guards so you can play him and Jason Terry at the same time), he gives them easy buckets (the Mavs play slowly and can go through stagnant times on offense.  Kidd creates shots for people.), and he gives them some much needed toughness.

Nets pick up $2.06M option on F Hayes (AP)

The New Jersey Nets are picking up the $2.06 million contract option on forward Jarvis Hayes for next season. "Jarvis was a key member of our rotation last season, providing instant scoring and the ability to stretch the defense," Nets president Rod Thorn said Monday in a statement. "We are pleased to have him continue as a member of our roster, and look forward to a similar... [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Turkoglu opts out of contract with Magic (AP)

Hedo Turkoglu's run with the Orlando Magic appears to be over. A day after the Magic acquired Vince Carter from the New Jersey Nets, Turkoglu's agent said Friday that he sent a notice to Orlando earlier this week that his client will opt out of his contract to become a free agent. Agent Lon Babby said the Magic had made Turkoglu an initial offer that Orlando general manager Otis Smith... [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Howard, Bosh, Boozer to hold Africa camp (AP)

Olympic teammates Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh and Carlos Boozer will reunite to take part in a Basketball without Borders camp in September in South Africa. The NBA and FIBA announced Thursday that China's Yao Ming will lead a camp in his home country. The other camp will be in Mexico City and include forward Eduardo Najera of the New Jersey Nets. [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports