Le Basketbawl

The “Orlando Sentinel” has reported that Orlando Magic guard Vince Carter is questionable for Sunday’s game against his former team the Toronto Raptors after spraining his left ankle Friday night. “Vinsanity” suffered the injury with 3:05 remaining in the second quarter of Orlando’s 95-85 victory over the New Jersey Nets. Carter was hurt when he stepped on the foot of his former teammate with the Nets Devin Harris. He hobbled into the locker room and did not return to the game.

There has not been any information released by the Magic on the status of the veteran guard who came to the Magic in a trade this summer with New Jersey. Presumably they would have carter undergo an X-Ray and possibly an MRI however there has been no mention of any tests. Carter was asked by reporters how he was feeling after the game. The veteran replied “It’s OK. We’ll see how it feels in the morning. I hate missing games. I hope to be back.”

Orlando head coach Stan Van Gundy told reporters that if Carter was not available he would most likely start J.J. Reddick in his place. The Magic are 2-0 so far in the young NBA season.

There is an old saying that your Old Pal New York Vinnie learned early in life and it is something that I have never forgotten; “Never Judge A Man until You Walk A Mile In His Shoes.” Each and everyone of us is a product of everything that has happened in our lives. That is what makes us individuals we each have our own strengths and weaknesses that we bring us to the table. You could show a video clip to 20 different people and get 20 different reactions. It is all based on our own perspectives.

We all react differently to pain also; some people have a very high threshold for pain yet others can not tolerate it at all.  It does not mean that you are a sissy or a wussy; that is just the way you were made. Some very very tough guys can not tolerate pain at all while some frail little old ladies could go through the same pain and hardly be bothered by it.

The Los Angeles Lakers have two star players who react to pain quite differently. Kobe Bryant has been playing with a messed up pinkie finger for the last couple of years. The only way the finger will get better and the pain will stop is if he gets an operation. He however so far has decided to skip the procedure and play through the pain because he does not want to miss anytime out on the court.

Lakers big man Pau Gasol is also in a lot of pain right now but unfortunately for the team and him he has not beeen able to play though it. The “Los Angeles Times” is reporting that the All-Star is starting to get somewhat concerned about his strained right hamstring. Gasol missed the last six preseason games because of the injury as well as the first two game of the regular season. His club takes on the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday; will the big man make his regular season debut in that contest. Gasol told reporters “I don’t think Sunday is the day.”

The former member of the Memphis Grizzlies hurt himself during the preseason and has only been on the court once; three weeks ago to practice since suffering the injury. Gasol who was a major part of the team that won the NBA Title last June as well as making the All-Star team right now is some what worried. He said “I’m concerned about it, definitely. There’s no set time to return, no set date. I just don’t want it to turn into something long-term.”

New York Vinnie wrote all off-season that I do not believe that the Lakers will make it back to the Finals this June. However if they hope to remain among the top teams in the Western Conference they need Gasol back as soon as possible. However if you have ever had hamstring problems you realize it is a really tricky thing. If you rush back too quickly you can mess yourself up pretty badly and start back worse off then you were after the initial injury.  If you try to be a Frickin hero you could be out for months. So Gasol and the Lakers have to be as cautious as possible to make sure this does not turn into a long term problem.

It looks like common sense and Danny Ainge prevailed in Boston as the “Associated Press” has reported the Boston Celtics will not suspend reserve forward Glen Davis. Ainge and Davis spoke with the media before Boston took on the Chicago Bulls Friday night and made the announcement that the injured forward will not be suspended by the club.

Davis told reporters that he had already apologized to his teammates and he also told the reporters he had a lot of growing up to do. Ainge told the collected media that the team wants Davis to practice with them while he recovers from surgery on his right thumb Tuesday. Davis broke the thumb horsing around with an old high school buddy on Sunday. The team was understandably quite angry and one of the Team Owners Wyc Grousbeck had told reporters it was “highly likely” Davis would be suspended.

This was a victory of Director Basketball Operations Danny Ainge who did not want to alienate Davis by suspending him. The big man learned a lesson and the humiliation he is probably feeling right now is most likely punishment enough. Davis is expected to miss 8 weeks due to the injury.

Friday the “Las Vegas Sun” reported that the city of Las Vegas is making an all out push to get themselves an NBA franchise. According to reports the city is now on the fast track to building a 20,000 seat sports arena downtown with the goal of getting an NBA team to play there. Mayor Oscar Goodman told reporters that the City Council will meet next week to discuss a possible deal with The Cordish Companies to build a facility.

The Mayor told reporters that The Cordish Companies is all ready to undertake this project. Goodman said “These are serious people. These are not people who are operating on a wing and a prayer. Cordish has a proven track record. They don’t have time to play games. They always said that they loved Vegas, they love the idea of the entertainment complex, the arena and a hotel on the site where we are now at city hall. They’re taking this very seriously … I don’t think they would be wasting their time unless they were very, very serious.”

The main question is at this point is “If they build it will they come?” First of all New York Vinnie does not believe that the NBA should expand past the current amount of teams. If you do you water down the product too much. You only have a certain number of All-Star players in any given era; the more teams you have the less teams with a superstar on the roster.

So that would mean relocating a current team; the Sacramento Kings quickly come to mind. There has been on and off talk over the last couple of seasons about the Grizzlies moving from Memphis and the Hornets leaving the “Big Easy” However let us not forget the city of Seattle and how much they want a replacement for the Sonics.

The other major factor in any move to Vegas would be the sports books and how the NBA would have to deal with that. Certainly if a team locates to Vegas they would not be on the sports books; but if you put an NBA team in Vegas should there still be gambling allowed on NBA games? New York Vinnie believes that is just asking for trouble. If you put an NBA team in Las Vegas New York Vinnie strongly believes you then have to stop any betting in casinos on any NBA contests. Would the casinos be ready to give up that revenue?

This is not going to happen overnight if it happens at all. New York Vinnie thinks there are too many barriers especially after the Donaghy scandal for the NBA to go to that market. But strange things happen all the time in this day and age. You can never count anything out!

The Associated Press is reporting that Cleveland Cavaliers center Shaquille O’Neal is looking to become a  Deputy Sheriffin Cuyahoga County, Ohio.  A spokesman for the county’s sheriff department confirmed that the NBA veteran did apply to become a deputy. If O’Neal is accepted he would have the right to carry a weapon and make arrests however he would not receive a salary.

O’Neal has been interested in law enforcement for many years now. He has previously held positions with law enforcement departments in Arizona, Florida and Virginia. A spokesman for the State Attorney General’s office said that Shaq would be required to take 36 hours of training before he would become certified. One thing for sure he will be a lot Frickin tougher than Barney Fife or Deputy Dawg!

Back in the days when Red Auerbach was running the Boston Celtics having diplomatic skills was unnecessary. A player knew plain and simple it was either Red’s way or the highway; there was no middle ground or give and take. The NBA is a far different place now than it was when Red ruled the roost. Players make millions of dollars and can leave a team via free agency. You no longer can be a hard nose guy and be a successful NBA executive.

Celtics President Of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge is well aware of how the game has evolved. According to the “Boston Globe” Ainge currently is trying to play diplomat between Boston ownership and injured forward Glen Davis. Davis will miss eight weeks recovering from surgery to repair a broken thumb; he got it do to horsing around with an old high school buddy on Sunday. And rightfully so Celtics Team Owners are Frickin Ticked off.

One of the Team’s Owners Wyc Grousbeck said on Monday that it is “most likely” Davis will be suspended for the incident. What that translates to is Grousbeck wants money back from Davis to punish him. Celtics head coach Doc Rivers has admitted that he was highly upset as well. Rivers said “He made a mistake. I was mad at the mistake, but he’s still a part of our team. You get upset at your kids and they’re still in the family.”

Ainge according to the paper made sure that the team’s operation’s crew included Davis in the pregame introductions Wednesday night even though the player was in the hospital. Now apparently the former Celtics player is talking to ownership to try to get them to be a little more forgiving to the reserve forward.

Davis committed a stupid and childish act and it is totally understandable of Boston’s management to be Frickin upset. But you do not want to alienate the player either. So Ainge right now is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

The Golden State Warriors went through a similar situation last year with Monta Ellis. Ownership wanted money back from the player after he injured himself in a moped accident last summer. The team’s General Manager Chris Mullins backed the player and Mullins is no longer with the team. The Boston Celtics do not want to see the same thing happen to Danny Ainge especially after he brought the team its first NBA Championship in 22 years.

Grousbeck and the other Boston owners have Ainge in that chair for a reason. When owners stop listening to their NBA management bad things usually occur. Maybe Grousbeck and the other Celtics owners should sit back and contemplate before they make a move they may regret later on.

We are living in a time when it seems like the “Bad Guys” always win and the “Good Guys” always seem to lose! There are millions of Americans out of work and losing their homes; yet the Frickin PUDS from Wall Street are still going to take home 7 figure Bonus checks this year. And that is after our money saved them from going down the Frickin sewer.

Maybe that is why when New York Vinnie saw this item on the wire I got a huge smile on my face. It looks like one of the worst Frickin Puds in the history of the NBA will not be rewarded for committing evil at least for the time being. The “Associated Press” has reported that a book by the Scumbago former NBA referee Tim Donaghy has been cancelled by the publisher.

Triumph Books which is a division of Random House has announced that they have cancelled publication of Donaghy’s book entitled “Blowing the Whistle: The Culture of Fraud in the NBA” which was supposed to be published in the next few weeks. The publisher cancelled the book’s printing due to “concerns over potential liability.”

Pat Berden who was acting as the conduit between Donaghy and the publisher said that Triumph decided to pull the plug in fear of what the NBA might do. Bereden said “Somehow, the NBA got wind of the project and let Random House know in a threatening-type correspondence that they would object to the publication of such a book and they threatened that they would sue if they did go ahead and do that. Random House considered that and … just pulled the plug on it. Our supposition is that they became aware that the book is coming. The major houses knew the book was coming. So it’s conceivable that the NBA found out the book was forthcoming and it was a reaction to the general information. There’s no question that they have a certain degree of contempt toward Donaghy.”

Now this is what New York Vinnie calls justice; for once the bad guy did not benefit from doing wrong. That seems to be the pattern in this country over the past few years; commit a Frickin unspeakable act and then publish your Frickin memoirs! And the problem is that the American people buy this Crapolla which only encourages publishers to write a check to the next PUD that comes along. Tim Donaghy is a Frickin cheater and a Frickin liar and should not be rewarded. At least for now he is not.

Now apparently there are other publishers who are interested in putting the book out. New York Vinnie is truly hoping that the NBA can intimidate them like they did Triumph Books. Criminals should not prosper from doing evil deeds. Hopefully this will the start of a new trend in this country so that these Frickin Puds can realize that crime doesn’t pay!