Top 25 NBA Basketball Blogs: May 2008

The May 2008 results are in and man are their some differences!

Thanks to Google's updated PageRanks we've seen some big moves. The biggest of course would be Odenized jumping all the way up to 12th, which I predicted last month. We also received a boost from the PageRank but my lack of producing quality material lately has dropped our BallHype ranking. (Next month hopefully!)

Here are the March results and the April results if you would like to compare the three.

*Remember that tie-breakers are decided based upon a blog's Technorati authority.

*A tweak to the next month's rankings is likely coming because of an interesting Alexa issue.

Enjoy!


Top 25 NBA Basketball Blog Rankings: May 2008

#1	FreeDarko.com	6	9	8	10	33
#2	Celtic's Blog	7	9	6	9	31
#3	Detroit Bad Boys	6	9	9	7	31
#4	Basketbawful	5	9	9	7	30
#5	Need4Sheed	4	9	9	7	29
#6	TrueHoop	6	10	10	3	29
#7	Golden State of Mind	3	10	7	8	28
#8	Sactown Royalty	3	9	9	6	27
#9	Hardwood Paroxysm	5	8	10	4	27
#10	Blog A Bull	4	9	6	7	26
#11	Hoops Addict	5	7	8	5	25
#12	Odenized	4	8	10	3	25
#13	Forum Blue and Gold	5	9	4	6	24
#14	Basketball Jones	3	8	7	6	24
#15	Blazers Edge	3	9	5	6	23
#16	Brew Hoop	3	6	8	6	23
#17	Hornets247	3	8	8	4	23
#18	Bright Side of the Sun	3	8	6	5	22
#19	Bullets Forever	3	6	6	6	21
#20	Pounding the Rock	4	7	5	5	21
#21	3 Shades of Blue	3	6	8	4	21
#22	Sonics Central	4	9	7	0	20
#23	KnickerBlogger	6	8	2	3	19
#24	Mavs Moneyball	3	6	5	4	18
#25	And One	5	10	2	1	18

The MVP Race Isn't Fair My Friends

I know what you're thinking, "Enough with the MVP chatter!" And I know just a few days ago while in my basketball funk I bashed on all the MVP posts and preached for originality. Well, today I've thrown myself into the fire and needed to share my own thoughts, as I haven't up to this point.

I think many of us take the opinion that deciding on the MVP before the Playoffs is completely ridiculous. After the Dirk Nowitzki fiasco from last year, the MVP award became somewhat of a joke for the first time in years.

This year however, we have experienced one of the most intriguing and possibly controversial MVP races of all time. You have the young up and coming superstar in Chris Paul and the veteran Michael Jordan-esque player in Kobe Bryant. The stats put up by CP3 are remarkable for such a young talent, but Kobe in all his greatness has never won the league's most prized award. How can this possible be decided?

A quick look at their Playoff stats:

• Kobe: 33.5 points, 5.25 rebounds, 6.25 assists
• CP3: 24.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 12 assists
  

Have we ever seen such a split vote amongst the NBA voters and bloggers? The "internet" NBA lovers have voted for CP3 but the "actual" NBA voters seem to be leaning toward Mr. Bryant. There have been countless articles, posts and rants thrown around that no one can agree upon. After each player finishes a game, we are sent another argument as to why this or that player should be our league MVP.

How can this possibly be decided? Both are easily as deserving as the other but only one can actually receive the award! Right?

I advocate for the birth of the co-MVP! That's right; let these two share the glory in this amazing NBA season! They've done it with the Rookie of the Year award and it's time they do it with the Most Valuable Player. (Wow...did I ever take the wuss road on that one!)

YardBarker time!

Here is another quick post to show you that we are still alive. We have been accepted to the YardBarker network! Woo hoo! You will definitely notice the 300x250 ad at the top of the right columns; please don't be too offended. Other than being in the network, you shouldn't expect any major changes. However, our stuff will all go straight to the network rather than anyone having to submit it.

Thanks again to everyone for making opportunities like this possible!

Le Basketbawl: PageRank 5!

And just when you thought I had disappeared for the second week in a row, I return! And with great news!

Google has been doing some funky PageRank updating to its toolbar today and the internet has been buzzing about it. I figured I should probably check out lebasketbawl.com to see if after 4 months, Google has decided we are worthy of a rank.

Sure enough, they slapped us with a 5! Congrats to us on some hard work during our first 4 months as a blogger!

We came in not knowing what the hell we were doing, but we definitely knew we loved the NBA. We started rambling and making fun lists and calling people pretty boys and before long we had a small following. We made a ton of friends and have some great connections and even started a second blog! We got linked on SI.com 3-4 times, Ball Don't Lie a few, TrueHoop once, and we even made an appearance on this Yahoo The 9 video thing where this hottie pronounced "le basektbawl" with a sensual French accent.

I think the biggest surprise about this massive PageRank has to be the fact that we switched domains only about 2 months ago and Google still hooked us up!

Anyway, enough bragging but this is pretty exciting for us. A big thanks to everyone that reads our little NBA lovefest and made this all possible! Without you all reading this, I'm sure we would have quit long ago. (And I promise I'll try not to disappear again for 5+ days at a time.)

LINKBAWL: 4/24/08

• Blazers Edge is running a Player-by-Player breakdown of every single Blazer. Here is the Jarrett Jack eval. Make sure to check out the rest!

• More interesting tidbits from SuperSonic Soul on this OKC fiasco.

• Why did Mike Bibby open his mouth again? He plays for the freakin' Hawks.

• Holy be-jesus...this is the longest post in the history of an NBA game. And it's on the Spurs!

• The Pistons do things the right way? I'll have to think about that one for a minute. I'm not sure RAAAsheed has ever done anything the right way in his life.

• Forum Blue and Gold with some game 2 thoughts. How about this thought: "Kobe Bryant is good."

• The Suns should start Diaw? Maybe.

• TrueHoop won some awards! No surprise, but so do a lot of very nice blogs.

• Stop Mike Lupica is on his way out! Well to here anyway.

• People actually listen to Tim Duncan? Not surprising. Wouldn't you listen to a guy with all those ring-a-lings?

• Yeah, what is with this Sonics ad?

• Deshawn Stevenson really is a clown. The guy has ZERO game but keeps talkin' trash and doing that idiotic hand wave thing. It's pathetic D, it really is.

• 60 year old men dropping treys. Enough said.
  

A Little NBA Season End Venting

The regular season wrapped last week, the playoffs are well underway, and I'm a little frustrated. The season itself was fantastic and I have zero complaints about it, but now that it is over I've become almost annoyed with the lack of creativity I've seen. Just because the playoffs start doesn't mean we all have to beat things to death with 1000 same topic posts, do we?

How many "My vote for MVP goes to..." posts can you possibly have? At some point don't you start wondering if anyone is going to care? I mean, people started writing these in week 2 calling Dwight Howard the MVP and by the end of the season and 15,000 posts later, the majority had switched over to either Kobe or CP3. So now we are onto looking for the simplest little tweak or bias to our post to try and get people to see our vision? It's not up to us!

How many "Tonight's playoff preview..." posts can you possibly have? I understand that there are few games right now and being playoff games they are always exciting, but why does each person need to write their own game preview? Doesn't ESPN, SI, Yahoo, and every other major website or newspaper do this for us already? Throwing your own flair into it must be the reason, right?

How many "Kobe and the Aston Martin..." posts can you possibly have? I actually thought the initial video was pretty lame. I've seen this stunt done by skateboards and extreme sport guys for years. Maybe because Kobe got all "thugged" out with Heart-Man Turiaf it became a hit? And someone posted a "failed" version? And now a Kenny Smith TNT version? Zzzzzzz. (Ok the Kenny version was a little funny with the wrong foot part.)

What am I enjoying right now? Ball Don't Lie's daily caption contests, anything Empty the Bench is running, Hardwood's NBA Blogger Awards, the Cavs-Wizards series, not watching baseball, and all this 'Soulja Boy' Stevensen stuff.

Reasons! A Quick Look at NBA Playoff Stats

How about a quick look at some stats from the NBA Playoffs? Here is a list of 5 box score stats for each series through 2 games that stand out as to reasons why every team is up 2-0. (With a little side commentary to go along with them, of course.)

Suns vs. Spurs: Spurs lead 2-0

• Grant Hill scores 5 points in 2 games with Finley or Parker guarding him? Huh?


• Leandro Barbosa scores 0 points in game 2. Weren’t you the sixth man of the year last year? Ginobili sure as hell isn’t flopping come playoff time is he?


• Shaq, 11 points 5 boards in game 2? Oof.


• Tony Parker plays 91 minutes in 2 games and thanks himself for taking half the season off.


• Amare goes for 66 points in 2 games. Obviously the Spurs know he can’t beat them by himself and are game-planning this.

Mavericks vs. Hornets: Hornets lead 2-0

• Brandon Bass scores 19 in game 2. When Brandon Bass is your second leading scorer, you won’t win much.


• Jason Kidd averages: 9 pts, 6.5 rebounds, 8.5 assists, 2 steals, 2.5 turnovers.


• Chris Paul averages: 33.5 pts, 4 rebounds, 13.5 assists, 3.5 steals, 2 turnovers.


• Chris Paul


• And...Chris Paul

Raptors vs. Magic: Magic lead 2-0

• Bargnani totals 14 points and 4 rebounds in 2 games. Buuuuuuust! Wasn’t he on my White Boy Bust list?


• Dwight Howard with 8 blocks, Raptors team with 2. Can you say “presence”?


• J.J. Redick with 0’s across the board. This being a reason the Magic are up 2-0.


• Rashard “Overpaid” Lewis goes 0-9 on 3’s in game 1. That’s OK, Dwight Howard grabbed 7 of them for dunks.


• TJ Ford totals 46 minutes in 2 games. Raptors fans must be wondering at this point if he will ever reach full potential and how good this team could have been with him.

Jazz vs. Rockets: Jazz lead 2-0

• Kirilenko with 21 points, 4 boards, 3 dimes and no TO’s game 1.


• Wow this series is boring and nothing else stands out. Is anyone watching this series?


• Next…

Wizards vs. Cavs

• Butler, Jamison and Arenas combine for 28 points in game 2. LeBron had 30.


• LeBron’s averages: 31 points, 7.5 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 blocks, 1 turnover. Such an overrated King isn’t he D?


• Boobie, Wally and Ilgauskas combined averages: 42.5 points, 13.5 rebounds, 8 assists.


• Butler, Agent Zero, and Jamison combined averages: 44.5 points, 21.5 rebounds, 9 assists.


• I just compared 3 All-Stars to 3 role players and their stats are almost identical?

A Non-Playoff Post: We need a mix don't we?

A not-so-loving view of the 1 and done college rule.

Albom from the Detroit Free Press wrote this blast on college, the NBA and its “one year minimum in college” policy. He is obviously not a fan of the rule and makes some very valid points. To me though, this is like that old washed up cliché or quote of “beating a dead horse.”

Enough already with the ramblings of calling it the “minor leagues” and enough with the overblown analogies and mockeries because things are not changing any time soon. We all know the rule alters the college landscape by allowing players to come to a college when everyone including the coach knows that player will leave after one year. It’s time to accept that this is the way it’s going to be for a while. (Until they raise the limit that is.)

I also don’t think that worrying about the lack of education they are receiving should be of any concern. Do we really think that big time college football players are there for the education? There is no point in laying all this blame on just college basketball when the history of bad student athletes has been with us for decades. College athletics have always been a stepping stone to show off talent before taking a chance on the big stage in hopes of receiving that big fat paycheck. Just because the NBA is forcing their players to be at least 19 doesn’t mean anything has actually changed.


Alert! We have a lack of whites in basketball!

I rarely link to a Bleacher Report because just about anyone can spam up something on there that they feel is important, but this guy actually brings up a great point. He points out that a stat from the other day announced that only 8.2% of the MLB is now black. (Somehow I managed to hear this in my non-TV-watching mode.) Sounds like a pretty low number but what really is the point here? Aren’t all sports seeing dominance by one ethnicity or another these days? Baseball is dominated by Dominican players; basketball with African-Americans; football just off the top of my mind seems to be fairly split between Caucasian and African-Americans; hockey by white crazy Canucks.

This guy is exactly right when asking about the percentage of white players in the NBA. Why don’t we hear that statistic EVER? Just browsing through my tiny little brain, I’m not sure I can name one All-Star that is white and born in the USA. (Someone please tell me on via comment.) It seems like this questions should be brought up for the minority in every sport shouldn’t it?

I could say some things right now that I’m sure some moron would find offensive and then call me a racist so I’ll spare the rest of you the ignorance that will follow, but I do want to pose a couple of questions. Why aren’t ALL the major sporting leagues looking together at the minority races in their sports? Is it time to diversify? Is a diverse league actually worth it? Does it become more competitive or lower the level of play? Should leagues just stick to accepting the “best” players and not care?


Leaving Magic and Bird off of an all-time NBA list?

Amazing short article here that you must read! I love comparisons with today’s game to that of the past. This brings out the “NBA purests” that usually end up sounding like the grouchy old men that will all figured they were.

This guy admits that until the last year or so there was a solid team of 5-7 guys that we all had penciled in as being the greatest at their positions and would easily make up the greatest team ever assembled. Well in recent years we’ve seen some amazing things out of players like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James that allowed us to throw their names in the hat. (He also puts KG in this mix but I’m afraid I’ll be leaving him off.)

Can you imagine MJ and Kobe on the court at the same time or LeBron, MJ and Magic running the break? All I can say is, “OOF!” I’m starting to drool just thinking about it. Not being a fan of Bird, I would put LeBron up there any day especially with the untouched potential he has left and the sheer athleticism.

I still remember a quote from an old Michael Jordan video where he said something about how disappointed he was when Magic had left the game early because of his positive HIV test. Jordan felt like he was being cheated by not being able to compete against Bird and Magic during his and their primes and wanted to show the world how great he was. Well I feel the same way about Kobe and LeBron. What would the league have been like with Kobe, Magic, Jordan, LeBron, Wilt, and Shaq all playing at the same time? Oh….my.

Getting out of a Basketball Blogging Funk

I know I haven't posted in almost 5 days (Sorry!) and the only real excuse I have is that I was a little busy with the family this weekend and I didn't have a chance to watch ANY NBA games. Sounds absurd huh? For a guy running a basketball blog? Well you'd be surprised at how fast a weekend can go!

Friday was carne asada steak taco night which kicked ass until the next morning when my stomach wanted to blow up. Too much beer, whiskey and taco meat truly DOES a number that you shall never ask to be repeated.

Saturday featured my Mom owning up some bowling tourney while I consumed cheap bowling alley $2 Michelob's and cheered! (First place after the first day; solid work Mom!) After napping off the bad beer we readied ourself for dinner.

We ate at a fantastic Indian restaurant called the Bombay Cricket Club which you should all try the next time you stop in Portland. Finding myself so fascinated with cricket on a mini-tv during my Lamb Tikka Botee was something to see. If only I knew what the hell was actually going on or what the hell was firing up my mouth I would have been golden!

Then came Sunday and a quick recap on Saturday's Playoff games followed by the Mom's team not fairing so well. More cheap beer and a disappointing finish in the tourney sent me home for the day hoping for something exciting.

For good reason the basketball was finally turned on, but I didn't actually sit down to watch it. Instead I set up my new desk and then went off for hours blogging on my other blog.

That makes 2 straight days of Playoff games and I had not watched one! I realized I was in a funk for basketball and must have needed a little break. Your thinking I'm crazy right? "It's the Playoffs Kellex!"

Well today I fixed my funk with this:

What a thing of beauty! (Yes both of them, but today we're talkin' TV's!)



Yes that is a LG 42 Inch 1080P LCD, son!

And I am officially out of that NBA funk and ready to watch every single damn game possible! Wouldn't you be?

The List: 10 NBA Videos of the Week

How about a list of the top 10 videos for this week of the playoffs? There are so many videos out there that a compilation just sounds like a great idea.

10. Kenny Smith jumps an Aston Martin.




9. Bob Delaney just ejected a fan?




8. Haywood drops LeBron.




7. Ernie Johnson doing his own toolbox Stevenson.




6. Kobe Bryant with a Jordan-esque moment.




5. People are loving this Steve Nash "60 Million Dollar Man" video.




4. LeBron shuts up toolbox Stevenson.




3. Kirilenko and the flop of the century.




2. Shaq hit in the "scrotum."




1. Michael Jordan - Maybe Commercial.

LINKBAWL: 4/17/08

• Part one, two, and three of Give Me the Rock's "Catching up with the International Game."

• Empty the Bench's 36 season ending lists.

• Golden State of Mind with NBA Playoff Bracketology. And a new site design! Pretty.

• Nugg Doctor recognizing that Denver just hit 50 wins for the first time in 20 years.

• KnickerBlogger on how the season ended including playoff positioning and draft percentages!

• Dream Shake is not all that happy with ESPN right now.

• The Yao Ming rehab video courtesy of NBA Obsessed.

• Seriously Kyle Korver. This is twice now!

• Hoops Addict with a great article on the NBA and the Internet.

• I freakin' love Charles Barkley.

• Twolves Blog and a look back at Minnesota's draft history. Eek.

• What If Sports simulating the playoffs 10,000 times? Damn,
  

First Round East Playoff Winners!

Ahh yes, the Eastern Conference! After picking the winners of the Western Conference we had better give a shot at the East, right? What's amazing is the East will probably be a lot more tricky than the West. Now I know the majority of legit teams are out West but the East is still pretty damn close. And some of these teams are so bad that they may just put on a good show!

Matchup 1: Celtics vs. Hawks

Umm...Boston in 4. That was easy!


Matchup 2: Pistons vs. Sixers

Umm...Pistons in 5. That was easy too! OK, a little explanation is probably deserved on this one since the Sixers are one of the hottest teams in the NBA right now. The Pistons are just too damn solid as a team and have been doing this for way too long for this series to drag on longer than 5 games. Some of these games may be close, but Detroit has been there and simply knows how to win.


Matchup 3: Magic vs. Raptors

This will probably be the most underrated series of them all. The Raptors may being playing pretty bad right now but the Magic lack much experience. I'll still go with Orlando just because Dwight Howard is Superman; just don't expect Bosh and the boys to lay down easy. Orlando in 7.


Matchup 4: Cavaliers vs. Wizards

What a series this is going to be! The return of Agent Zero! The King reigns supreme! The headlines will be flying once Gilbert starts running that mouth and LeBron starts putting up "Jordanesque" numbers. Expect some fireworks, but I can't go against the king after last year. Cleveland in 6.

First Round West Playoff Winners!

Yeah we are pretty damn crazy to be picking winners from the most competitive first round of the playoffs we will probably ever see, but we just like to live a little on the edge. And you know if we get these all right we'll be bragging all over the basketball blogosphere!

Matchup 1: Lakers vs. Nuggets

Is this one really that difficult to decide on? Of course not. The Lakers will take this series down with ease, sip a few cocktails in the sun and wait for their second round opponent. Nice job with that "Dewy" days before the playoffs Melo! Kobe in 5.


Matchup 2: Hornets vs. Mavericks

Ooh the second matchup is actually a good one! We're going young here and taking the Hornets. The Mavericks are definitely one of the scariest 7 seeds we've ever seen but Chris Paul is absolutely on fire this year. He may have a little beef with the league also once that MVP voting gets dropped. Hornets in 6!


Matchup 3: Spurs vs. Suns

It really makes me sad to see these teams meet in the first round after last year's fiasco, but damn is this going to be good! I'm pretty sure Steve Nash will do everything in his power to not let the Suns go down in flames AGAIN to their rival, but I've got some worries. Can Shaq make up the difference? Will Timmy D do it again? I'm going "Longoria Annoying Factor" here and picking the Suns in 6.


Matchup 4: Jazz vs. Rockets

I know the Rockets went on that nice heartwarming streak just after the All-Star break but I'm still not buying their legitimacy. The Jazz are the real deal and with Sloan still running the show I would expect them to roll through this series. Sorry T-Mac. Sorry Yaozer. Sorry Adelman. It'll be "Deron Williams time" all over again. Jazz in 5.

Brandon Roy, Your Rose Festival Grand Marshall

You read that right! Brandon Roy led the Portland TrailBlazers to a remarkable season that was completely unexpected and now will lead the rest of Portland as the Grand Marshall through its baby, the Grand Floral Rose Parade.

If you are outside of Portland this may not seem like as big of a deal as it is to those of us that actually live here. You see, this parade, in 2007, was voted the Best Festival in the World by the International Festivals and Events Association. (In other words, it's a big freakin' deal!)

People actually fly into this crazy city just to watch a parade that will most likely force them to wear rain slicks or be completely soaked. You may think the Rose Bowl Parade or some of those others are big, but you ain't seen nothing until you've seen Portland's Grand Floral Rose Parade.

For Brandon Roy, in only his second year in the city, to be named the Grand Marshall is one of the biggest honors anyone could have. Today is proof that Rip City is truly back and will be back for many years to come.

Brandon took down Rookie of the Year honors last year and followed it up this year with an unexpected All-Star appearance by beating out the likes of Baron Davis and Deron Williams. (Both are players that receive way more hype from media outlets.)

A quote from the president of the Rose Festival Organization:

"We thought it was a perfect choice," said Mark McGirr, president of the Portland Rose Festival Foundation. "We're a World Champion festival and Brandon Roy leads a future World Champion NBA team, our own Trail Blazers!" McGirr went on to say, "Brandon represents both excellence and sportsmanship, qualities we can all embrace. The Blazers and the Rose Festival are both winners and both institutions of the Rose City."

As odd as you may think this sounds, it makes complete sense to those of us that watched this team and Brandon all season long do remarkable thing after remarkable thing. Congrats B-Roy!

LINKBAWL: 4/15/08

• A touching article on autism from Carolyn at the And One blog.

• Ball in Europe's Final Four is finally here! Whoo Hoo!

• Basketbawful's worst of the night.

• Hardwood Paroxysm covering Deshawn Stevenson now that Ron Artest is done for the year.
  

• Sports Sayers not surprised that Michael Beasley is coming to the NBA?

• Sports Tsar just "O RLY'd" Carmelo. Haha.

• Odenized letting us all see the Cavs cheap win. Thank you.

• What the hell? Yes! The 30 foot Asian dunk!

• On Deck Circle and their take on the MVP race.

• Empty the Bench reminding who was freakin' horrible this year. Yes you Kirk Hinrich.

• Fear the Beard not feeling good after last night's Warriors meltdown between Nellie and the Beard.
  

The "Sort of" NBA Season Ending Award Show

The NBA regular season has come to a close! And what does that mean? Awards time! Whoo hoo!

We’ll need to determine an MVP, 6th Man of the Year, and Coach of the Year plus a few other special awards before the Playoffs start. Should you expect surprises? Of course! Should expect controversy? Of course! This is Le Basketbawl after all isn’t it? Let’s get right down to it.


Most Valuable Pre-Madonna (MVP)


Kobe Bryant. Why? Because he threw the biggest tissy fit this world has ever seen in the off season. “I’m done in L.A. and there is nothing anyone can do to change my mind!” Oh really “Aston Martin Jumper”?

It was like Nick Saban telling Dolphins fans he would not be coaching Alabama no matter what, but signed a multi-year deal with them a couple of days later. It was like Shawn Kemp telling his 9th baby’s mama, “You really are the one Suga!” It was like Mark Cuban banning bloggers even…though…he is one. It was like Stephon Marbury in the back of a limousine with his cousin’s girlfriend. It was like Isiah Thomas attempting to clarify that certain words said to black women are acceptable but not when said to white women.

Ok, that made no sense, but weren’t those all great stories at one point in time? Great, just like Kobe’s pathetic attempt at having us think he was leaving L.A. He was never leaving folks, but somehow his little trick worked on the Lakers staff which brought him Gasol’s hair. And that is why he deserves this year’s Most Valuable Pre-Madonna award.


Rookie of the Year

Greg Oden. Why? For dancing on stage at his Portland debut, racking up 18 fouls in a pre-season game, blowing a knee while removing himself from a couch, growing a mini-fro, shaving it into a GO-hawk, recording hundreds of annoying rehab videos, hiding at Blazer games, and working some white kids on a lowered hoop at 24 Hour Fitness with the team on a road trip.


Coach of the Year

Pat Riley. Why? Do you know how hard it is to care as little about an NBA season as he did and still make the Hall of Fame in one year? Ol’ Slicky-do threw in the towel months ago and didn’t care who knew it. When was the last time you saw a coach take time off in the middle of the season to catch up on some much needed NCAA action? When was the last time a coach told his 2 star players to take the rest of the season off with 20 games to play?

Pat Riley truly deserves this award more than any other. If not for the fact that he won a championship with this team just 2 short years ago, but maybe because he hit the gutter of the NBA with the Memphis Grizzlies still in the league.


Owner of the Year

Clay Bennett. Why? For that very nice string of emails that was just released. Lying to your current fan base over and over and thinking you may get away with it is always an amazing approach to take! What kind of moron sends emails like that anyway? Don’t you know that everything on the internet is retrievable? You obviously didn’t make those millions from being an internet guru like me! (hah)

Let it be noted that he doesn’t win this award for moving the team from Seattle to Oklahoma City. You can blame that move on the Seattle fans and the former owner for selling to a jackass with ties to a city just dying to have an NBA franchise. You also cannot fault David Stern for backing this guy. At least this new owner has the cojones to take over a team that is struggling and attempt to bring it back to life.


6th Man of the Year

Travis Outlaw and Pamela Anderson. Why? For this facial on Philly Sixer Rodney Carney and for this facial delivered courtside at a recent Lakers game. My response to both, “EEK!”


Most Improved Player

LaMarcus Aldridge. Why? Because I’m a Blazer honk at times. Do we really need another reason? I’ve heard rumors of Beno Udrih winning and that just makes me laugh. Aldridge doubled his scoring averaged, added to his rebound total and helped the youngest team in the NBA improve 8 wins while their future sat on the bench with a bum knee. Do you need any more?


Defensive Player of the Year

Yao Ming. Why? For “defending” his chances at playing in the Olympics rather than an NBA title. I know, I know, you are probably thinking Camby or Dwight Howard deserve this but neither of them took half the season off to make sure they were well enough to play for their country come Olympic time. That takes some dedication on the defensive front wouldn’t you say? Defending his little (big) ol’ foot will hardly help China’s chances to win gold, so I’m not sure exactly what he was thinking.

Maybe Yao was just spending some time with Pat Riley? Or maybe someone should have reminded Yao that tanking on a 50 win team doesn’t help your lottery chances. “Yo!”

10 Worst Possible NBA Playoff Headlines

1. “The Finals are set, Magic vs. Jazz!”

Oh lord…could you have a bigger ratings killer than that? I guess we would get to see Dwight Howard dunk all over Boozer for 4-5 games which would be fantastic. I’m always up for a former Dukie getting his head slammed in by a ball. Does Rashard Lewis still play in the NBA? Really? And how much are the Magic paying him?


2. “Stern still sticking to bench rule! Suns down Shaq, Amare and Barbosa.”

If the Spurs and Suns actually do face each other in the first round you better expect some fireworks, controversy and plenty of “Big Shot Bob”. Although his teammates might want to remind him that the Diesel is on the other bench now and checking miniature white guys into scorers’ tables will not be tolerated.


3. “MVP! MVP! MVP!”

Mimicking the chants heard every time Kobe steps to the line and when he drops 65 on the Nuggets. (If they actually make it to the Finals…spare me.)


4. “CP3! MVP!”

See #3 and insert Chris Paul. Also expect a higher dosage if he DOESN’T win the award and the Hornets start rolling through a couple of rounds.


5. “Matchup for the Ages!” “History will be made!”

Variations of this ridiculous headline are to be expected if the Lakers actually do meet the Celtics in the Finals. You get the point.


6. “Hawks make ‘Golden’ history!”

The thought of the Hawks pulling off last year’s Golden State heroics makes me want to vomit. I’m pretty sure KG won’t be allowing this, but hey Dirk did!


7. “Hibachi-less? No problem!”

The headline when Gilbert Arenas shuts it down AGAIN but the Wizards still sneak out a first round playoff victory. Then the blessings of the David Friedman’s of the world arguing that the Wizards are actually better without him. (I actually did just vomit while typing that…and my IQ dropped…and I should find the nearest busy intersection.)


8. “NBA Playoffs, Where re-seeding NEVER happens.”

I think we are all in agreement that the NBA is a little lopsided right now and I think we all agree that some changes may need to happen to keep the league competitive. How annoyed are you going to be when the first week of the playoffs happens and all you hear about is Golden State not making the it and the 6, 7, and 8 seeds out East not deserving to be there?


9. “Grizzlies seal #1 pick, expect Beasley.”

Poor Michael Beasley will be forced into one of the worst franchises in sports history. Can’t he just go to the Heat? PLEASE!


10. “The NBA Playoffs or the NBA’s second season?”

One week into the playoffs we’ll start to hear chatter about the length of the Playoffs and how the “regular season doesn’t matter” and blah blah frickin’ blah. As an NBA fan, I love the playoffs and think they are just fine with the length of each series. The biggest annoyance to me about the NCAA tourney is seeing some Cinderella team upset a big dog and then get trounced in the next round. The NBA Playoffs tries to keep that from happening.

2008 Nike Hoop Summit Recap

I would say the future of USA basketball sits in fairly good hands after watching today's Nike Hoop Summit. It was nice to see this kids actually work hard on a basketball court rather than that McDonald's All-American dunk/spam fest we are all accustomed to now. The USA team was clearly better than the world team even though a few of the world members play professionally from what we understood.

Recap:

The game was close in the first half and then the athleticism of the USA team was too much for the world and the game soon turned into a blowout. (Recap done!)

Now, the last thing I want to do is provide a complete rundown of each player so instead I'm going to talk about the few that really stood out to me with a couple little pictures added in. (Classic Kellex story telling style!)


Players to watch:

Team USA

Everyone going to UCLA! There was a crew of soon-to-be UCLA guys. In fact there were four on the team. They all impressed me but two of them really stood out and those were Jrue Holiday and Drew Gordon. These two were clearly the best players on the court even with Mr. Hype Machine, Tyreke Evans attempting to run the show. Jrue Holiday will be the real deal and the Bruins will definitely need his skills once Collison leaves. And the other Drew will fill in nicely with the departure of our personal favorite, Kevin Love.

The other guy from the USA team that stood out was Demar DeRozan, straight outta Compton! He's headed to USC and should make an immediate impact. This kid had game like you wouldn't believe and the box score definitely showed it.

Of course I should mention Tyreke Evans again. You can tell the kid is the real deal, but anyone that waits this long to decide on a college is destined to be a bust. Choose already son!

World Team

There really wasn't a whole lot going on for the World team today. They did have this kid, Serge Ibaka that will be one hell of a player if he can hone some skills. This kid was one of the most athletic kids I've ever seen and he'll soon be dunking on the world's big stage in no time.

The rest of the team was pretty pathetic including the two 7 footers.

Now for pictures and a first for Le Basketbawl, video!

This kid wins the "Flopper of the Century" award! Zyggy Janavisius!

Another horrible 7 footer. And these obnoxious kids behind me kept yelling his name, "BOBAN!"

This kid made my day! We posted a pic of him a month ago from a Blazers game and he was wearing the same ridiculous outfit. We just about died laughing. Haha! Whoo!

Ms. Dovex represent!

Ok and this is the first video ever created by Le Basketbawl! Some random dunk that I managed to catch. Just let it be noted that right before this, I missed this huge facial and then right after I missed this absurd 40 foot fouled 3 that dropped. Go me! (please work)