Monthly Archives: March 2011

by | March 29, 2011 · 10:47 PM

The Cowbell Tolls for Thee: Ana-highway Robbery

The man behind the move

The city of Anaheim, California is doing everything it can to play the part of Clay Bennett in a made for television movie about team relocation. Only the city is not as prone to backroom deals as Bennett was and prefers to air their interests and willing underhandedness out in the open. On Tuesday night the Anaheim city council unanimously voted in favor of a $75 million dollar bond package in yet another attempt to sweeten the deal for a potential move of the Sacramento Kings to their city. It appears that the Mighty Ducks and Angels were just not enough to quench the thirst of the less than 400,000 residents of the suburban city.

However, nothing is set in stone as yet. The Kings’ owners, Joe and Gavin Maloof, have until April 18, after requesting and receiving an extension from the NBA’s Board of Governors, to file the necessary paperwork for relocation.

Despite many believing that the Kings move to Anaheim is all but inevitable at this point, many obstacles could stand in the way of the Maloof’s business dealings. The Kings currently owe the city of Sacramento $77 million from a 1997 loan. Joe Maloof publicly stated that the Kings would repay all the money they owe the city of Sacramento if the team were to relocate.

That statement, however, means little to California state Senator Darrell Steinberg. Steinberg is looking into legislation that could block the Kings move to Anaheim unless they first repay their debt to the city of Sacramento. Clearly, a fight is brewing that will leave wounds for quite some time.

There is one man who looks to gain the most from this whole ordeal and that man is Henry Samueli. Samueli, a billionaire, owns the Mighty Ducks (yes, they have dropped the “mighty” but I grew up watching the movies that the team was invented from so it sticks) and is also manages the Honda Center, where the Mighty Ducks currently play and the future home of the Anaheim Royals. That is if a relocation occurs.

Samueli is pumping in $25 million of his own money to make upgrades to the Honda Center to appease Emperor Stern, who’s only concern is the quality of a facility and not that of basketball. It is not like players are the main attraction of basketball or anything. The upgrades would include new locker rooms and a practice court. On top of that, Samueli is also willing to front another $50 million in relocation fees which would be paid out to the other NBA owners. (Since the NBA currently owns the New Orleans Hornets one can only assume that they will also receive a cut of the relocation fees if and when the Kings eventually move.) Gee, this Samueli sure is a generous guy!

The potential profits that Samueli will stand to make if the Kings relocate are staggering. Being the manager of the Honda Center, he will oversee, and get paid for, 82 regular season games with both the Ducks and Royals combined. That is potentially twice as much revenue being brought into the arena on what would be an almost nightly basis.

Forbes estimated the revenue of the Kings at $103 million for the 2009-10 season. That same season the revenue for the Ducks was placed at $85 million by Forbes. If these numbers were to remain constant and the Kings were to relocate and play in the Honda Center, the combined revenue of these two franchises would net $188 million for the 2011-12 season, barring an NBA lockout, of course.

There is a clearly defined winner and several losers in this whole ordeal. Unfortunately, Sacramento is on the short end of the stick. Everything the Maloof’s are currently doing to secure a move to Anaheim is exactly what they refused to concede in 2006 to the Kings. Toss the Maloofs into the losers column as well. They are giving up everything to try to save their financial lives while alienating an entire fan base that has been loyal since 1986. Kings fans will likely find themselves the bedfellows of Sonics fans in what is sure to be a relationship based on spite.

“I hope we come up with some creative way to replace the cowbell,” Anaheim city council member Kris Murray said after the 5-0 vote in favor of the bond package. Murray must not understand the big picture or just simply has a knack for being coy with the media. Anaheim has already replaced the cowbell, they replaced it with Samueli.

Marcos Breton of the Sacramento Bee reported on the concessions that the Maloofs have made to Samueli in order to help facilitate a move to Anaheim. The brothers Maloof will only net 50 percent of the parking and food and beverage revenue from the arena. They will not have naming rights to the arena, Samueli alone has those. However, if the arena were to change sponsors the Maloofs would be entitled to one-third the money from a new naming deal.

The one pseudo bright spot for the Maloofs is that they will have 100 percent of NBA advertising inside of the arena and would receive 92 percent of the revenue from NBA ticket sales. Yet, they would receive no revenue from NHL games nor any other event or concert held in the arena. Can you guess who will receive the revenue not allocated to the Maloofs in the potential deal to relocate the Kings?

Anaheim should not consider itself a winner if the Kings do in fact move there. They are merely a tertiary element in the whole ordeal. Yes, they have the arena but they do not run it. When the legal squabbling stops and the dust settles Henry Samueli will be the one winning if the Anaheim Royals ever become a reality.

1 Comment

Filed under NBA at Large

Tagged as , , , , , ,

by | March 24, 2011 · 3:24 PM

Jordan to Barnes, UNC: Dump the Kobes

Michael Jordan had some words for the current members of his alma mater’s basketball team, and especially for Harrison Barnes. It is a sneaker thing, people, and Barnes caught the ire of MJ for sporting another player’s signature shoe even though Jordan Brand is the equipment provider for the Tar Heels. In what can be described as borderline blasphemy, Barnes chooses to wear the Nike Zoom Kobe VI on the court…big mistake.

Leave a Comment

Filed under NBA at Large

Tagged as ,

by | · 2:20 PM

NBA Doldrums

Only the commentary of Bill Walton can kindle interest in the few remaining games

The last month and a half of the NBA regular season is easily the hardest time to stay interested with the sport. In many ways the games can seem to grow stagnant despite the several recent overtime games that we have witnessed. The excitement of the game just seems to be lost as the end of the regular season draws near.

With the conclusion of the season approaching the focus has shifted to the playoffs. Unfortunately, they are not here yet. This leads to rampant speculation about seeding and matchups which is merely speculation and has no real journalistic value. Yet, this is what the major focus of the news has been for a while other than game recaps and some injury reports. All it does is to serve to muddy the interest in the game with redundancy.

Now, not all outlets are perpetrators of such broken-record reports and there is quite a bit of good writing and reporting coming out of various outlets, it just seems like these pieces have taken a backseat where they were at center stage for a while. Such is life in the 24 hour sports news cycle.

On top of the repetition during these last dozen or so games is the fact that there are outside attractions that are new and fresh to compete with the drawn out season. We are in the midst of the NCAA Tournament. Though college ball has little bearing on the way the game is played on a professional level, it helps to break the monotony. It is a single elimination tournament in which every possession and play can either advance a school or send them packing. While at this point in the NBA every game means very little except to those teams sitting just outside the playoffs who, with the recent play by the Memphis Grizzlies and Indiana Pacers, have little hope of making the postseason.

This should be a time when the merits of players are being discussed as the NBA awards are just around the corner. However, this too has grown repetitive as it looks as though many honors were decided some time ago. Derrick Rose will be the MVP, Dwight Howard will be the DPOY, Tom Thibodeau will likely be the COY, and Blake Griffin will be the ROY. The Sixth Man and Most Improved Player awards are the only ones left open for debate it seems.

All of this adds up to a general sense of uninterest. Obviously, not everyone shares these sentiments but they must be acknowledged nonetheless. We are exhausted with the season at this point and need the life of the playoffs to reinvigorate us. There, the excitement returns as the drama of a seven game series unfolds. Do our teams have what it takes to win it all or will they fall by the wayside crushing our spirits and leaving us an emotional wreck for several days? This is what we are all craving, we want the trill to return to the game. We want to see players put it all on the line each play instead of dialing it in.

These last few weeks will not be easy. We will be subjected to the same stories again and again. Yet, if you love the sport you will make do with it because you know what is on the horizon. You know that the second season is near. All you have to do now is sit back, enjoy a few more somewhat meaningless games where seeding is the issue, watch half the league tanking games, listen to Magic Johnson make more terribly biased comments about the Lakers, and wait.

Oh, and whatever you do, try not to think about how there is probably going to be a lockout after this season. That will just ruin the entire ambiance of the playoffs.

4 Comments

Filed under 2010-11 Regular Season

Tagged as , , , , , ,

by | · 12:56 PM

Chocolate Thunder and Dr. J

Sultans of Slam

Leave a Comment

Filed under History of Hoops

Tagged as ,

by | March 21, 2011 · 3:45 PM

New York Nightmare: Melodrama Ch. 2

Wait for it.

This new era for the New York Knicks isn’t exactly starting the way fans had envisioned.  In fact, it’s turning into quite the nightmare.

Frank Isola with the New York Daily News mentioned that Carmelo Anthony’s honeymoon in the Big Apple is over.  Divorce papers aren’t being filed yet but Isola does have a point.

It looked like all fun and games when Melo debuted as a Knick on February 23rd with 27 points and 10 rebounds in a 114-108 win over the lowly Bucks.  However, the high from that game was short lived as they fell to the Cavs two nights later 109-115.   The big three, Amar’e Stoudemire, Chauncey Billups and Melo all had a big night with loaded stat sheets but the worst team in the NBA dropped 115 on them.

They responded with a win over the Heat and later with a win over New Orleans but both are arguably two of the most up and down teams in the league outside of the Knicks themselves.

Since the acquisition, the Knicks have gone 7-8 with back-to-back loses to the Pacers, a loss to the Pistons and an embarrassing defeat handed to them by the very team Melo debuted against, the Bucks.

Philadelphia has passed them in the standings and Atlanta has held onto their spot at fifth in the East easily with this New York team playing so poorly.  Right now, they hold onto the seventh spot in the conference and are poised to match up against either Boston or Chicago in the first round.

It seems inevitable that Mike D’antoni will not be leading this team into the second round and could very well be looking for a new job come summer.

The Melodrama did not end after the trade.

After the 99-95 loss to the Pistons that dropped them behind Philadelphia, Anthony declined speaking with reporters.  During the game, he refused to join one of the huddles and even went on to miss all five of his shots in the fourth quarter.  Stoudemire has mentioned that certain players are having a hard time adjusting to D’antoni’s system and we all know who he is talking about…

However, I can’t imagine why it would be Carmelo since he’s shooting 44.3 percent from the field with 24 points and 6 rebounds a game as a Knick.

It’s understandable why Amar’e is defending the D’antoni system that he has been playing under his entire career; however, this may be a sign that the days of all shoot and no defense are numbered in the NBA.

His Phoenix Suns will forever go down as the team that never really accomplished much other than a trip to the Western Conference Finals and some MVP trophies for Steve Nash.  They puttered out every season in the playoffs due to their style of play.

Now, he is enforcing the same system in New York but with even less depth.  Against the Bucks, the bench only mustered 13 points and went 5-20 from the field.  Their secondary unit is ranked 26th in the league with just over 25 a night.  The longest tenured player on the team is Toney Douglas in his second season with New York and they lost one of their most talented players in Raymond Felton during the trade.

It’s a simple case of too much too soon for these Knicks that are also giving up 106 points a night since acquiring Anthony.  You know you have a problem when the Milwaukee Bucks drop 100 on you when they are ranked last in the league in scoring at 91 a game.  By the way, their bench had only two points against New York.

Even Melo has stated that it will take some time and he’s right.  We all saw how slow it took Miami to finally start clicking and the same is true for New York.  Their offensive system is different for both Billups and Melo but with the way things are going, that may be changing soon.  New York is a high drama team performing in the world’s spotlight so of course they are going to get some flack for losing all these gimmies.

The Knicks will not be bringing the title home this year and a first-round upset is not in their cards.  You can buy titles these days but they may need to wait until next year.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

by | March 20, 2011 · 10:44 PM

Blake Griffin’s incredible dunk that didn’t count

Blake Griffin had a MONSTAR dunk over Phoenix’s center Marcin Gortat.

Gortat, there’s good news and bad news.  Good news is that the bucket didn’t count.  Bad news is that people will be gawking at this amazing dunk that just so happened to embarrass you.

Leave a Comment

Filed under 2010-11 Regular Season, NBA at Large, Players

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

by | March 15, 2011 · 5:30 PM

Paul Pierce is a monster

Last night, the Celtics may have lost to the Nets 79-88 but at least Paul Pierce had this monster dunk that embarrassed both Sasha Vujacic and Kris Humphries.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , ,

by | · 5:22 PM

Spurs slip but still have chance to avoid fall

Keep it together.

The best team in the NBA may have the No. 1 spot all but sealed but now is not the time for them to slip.

San Antonio has been running on all cylinders this season as they have amassed the best record in the league at 54-13.  However, they need to finish the regular season strong if they plan on making any sort of statement in the playoffs.

Last night, the Spurs lost to the Miami Heat 110-80.  Yeah, the same Heat that they beat last week 125-95.  According to STATS LLC, it was just the second time in NBA history that such a swing in scoring has happened.  Last season, the Dallas Mavericks beat New York by 50 at Madison Square Garden.  They lost to them at home by 34 nearly two months later.

Additionally, the loss was to the Heat that entered Monday with an 0-9 record against the Bulls, Celtics, Mavs and Spurs.  Well, make that 1-9 now for many reasons.

Yes, Chris Bosh played well with smart shot selection and 30 points in the box score (Hey, that’s the same amount they won by).  However, it’s the Spurs offense that looked ragged and their defense that looked anemic.

San Antonio leads the league in scoring with a .399 percentage.  They went 6 for 22 from beyond the arc.  They are averaging 103 points a game but only mustered 80 against the Heat.  Miami hasn’t held a team to that few points since the Clippers’ 79 on February 6.

They went long stretches of the game with zero points and it was mainly due to poor shot selection.  Tony Parker did not drive the lane once during the game and only made four of nine shots from inside the arc.

Gary Neal is one reason that this team has become such an offensive, high-speed team.  He made two shots in the second, one in the third and one in the fourth.  That’s it.

George Hill was invisible even though he was on the floor for 30 minutes.  He made one shot.  An eight-foot jumper in the second quarter.

I forgot that Richard Jefferson was on the Spurs since he didn’t take one shot in the second half.

During a late timeout, head coach Greg Popovich virtually told his team to run their asses off and get a workout.

They did and all it did was open up the fastbreak for the Heat.  It shut down the Spurs’ transition defense and allowed LeBron James and Dwyane Wade put on an offensive circus that got the Miami fans on their feet for once.

Yes, San Antonio has been beating up on some bad teams this month including Miami once.  However, statement wins have been hard to come by lately for the Spurs (remember, the Heat were 0-9 against the top two teams in each conference going into yesterday’s game).

Memphis beat them at the beginning of the month.

Derrick Rose dropped 42 points on them on February 17 in a 109-99 loss to the Bulls.

Philadelphia held them to 71 points in February as well.

However, it’s not the end of the world.  The Spurs are a good team and like I said, the essentially have the top seed sealed.

They need to prime themselves for the playoffs though and this new style of play doesn’t lend itself to that.  Last night, they looked tired and the regular season still has a month to go.  It will wear them out but they will also have the opportunity get this offense ready for the playoffs.

On Friday, they have an opportunity to shine against the Mavericks who will have Dirk Nowitzki.  Golden State will test their defense on the 21st and Denver will push them on the 23rd.  They will have an opportunity to shut down a small team in Memphis towards the end of the month and Portland will test their ability to take on a super scrappy squad.  Boston will test all of the above on the 31st.

The Western Conference has some serious teams set to make the playoffs and San Antonio needs to be ready.  Anyone can beat up on crap and crap can beat anyone (remember, 0-9 going into yesterday).  It’s going to be hard and it’s a new system for the Spurs.  Hopefully it wont fade.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

by | · 1:29 PM

Eastern teams should be wary of the ides of March

Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, Shrunk to this little measure?

The ides of March is upon us and there are several NBA teams that have reason to beware, especially when it concerns their playoff fate. Teams around the league are beginning to lock up playoff spots, the East already has three such teams (Boston, Chicago, Miami) because it is still the weaker of the two conferences. Out West on San Antonio has secured a playoff bid as of March 15. These teams need not worry about their post season appearances. The ides of March did not only have serious connotations for Julius Caesar, it also marks just less than a month of the regular season left to play and when teams either rise or get murdered in a coup on the floor of the theater of Pompey. Towards the bottom of the standings is where we find the teams who are looking over their shoulders almost constantly. They hope to not be the ones to utter the words, “et tu playoffs? Then fall, (insert team name here)!”

In the Eastern Conference the jockeying for the final few playoff seeds has been taking a rather disastrous turn for all teams involved of late. The Philadelphia 76ers likely will not drop from their seventh seed anytime soon but their play of late has been marred by unenthusiastic and disinterested displays on the court which has led Doug Collins to use the word terrible when describing his team’s efforts. The Sixers have lost two in a row in stylish blowout and near blowout form (they were down 15 in the fourth quarter to the Jazz) after upsetting the coasting Celtics.

While the Sixers look to lockup the seventh seed, the eighth seed remains wide open. The Indiana Pacers, Charlotte Bobcats, and Milwaukee Bucks are all vying to creep into the playoffs but none of them are by any means as constant as the northern star.

Indiana currently holds a slight advantage over Charlotte for the eighth seed despite the two team’s identical 28-38 records. This is thanks to having defeated the Bobcats all three times the teams have met this season. However, Indiana is currently on a skid which has allowed Charlotte and Milwaukee to think themselves worthy of a playoff bid. The Pacers have only won two of their last ten games, six of their last ten were on the road, and during that span the team has shot only 42.6 percent from the floor while giving up an average of 105.8 points. Indiana’s average total per game during this slump has been 97.2 points. This is not a recipe for success, especially when they only played two top-tier teams over their last ten, both road games, in Oklahoma City and Dallas.

The Pacers’ schedule is not laced with tough teams for the remainder of the season, however, they must face the New York Knickerbockers twice, the Celtics twice, and the Bulls, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Hornets, and Orlando Magic before the regular season draws to a close. Also in that span they must play the Bobcats and Bucks which may turn out to be Indiana’s most important games if they hope to stave off their immediate competition.

Since paul Silas took over for Larry Brown in Charlotte, the Bobcats have gone 19-19. This is a major reason for them being within reach of the playoffs. Over their last ten games they have gone 4-6, with all six of their losses coming in a row. All but one of those losses were at the hands of playoff bound teams. Against the Magic, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers, and Bulls the Bobcats mustered an average of 80.6 points on approximately 41 percent shooting while surrendering 101.2 points per game in those five losses and allowing their opponent to shoot 48.9 percent. With numbers like these, Michael Jordan needs to decide if watching his team be swept in the first round is even worth it. This is a team that is primed and ready to be blown up this summer.

What more is there to say about the Bucks after that pathetic performance against the Celitcs where they only scored 56 points. Clearly, the ides of March arrived slightly early for the Bucks. If Milwaukee, and their anemic scoring,  somehow makes its way into the playoffs, both the Pacers and Bobcats should spend next season in the D-League to reflect upon the embarrassment that they brought on the league.

It says a lot about the Eastern Conference that, statistically, the Cleveland Cavaliers are not yet out of the playoff chase. Statistically they could still mike it while in the West both the Minnesota Timberwolves and Sacramento Kings are out. Now, realistically, the Cavs have no shot at making the playoffs but that should serve to temper the comments that the East is now the dominant conference.

The Western Conference is slightly more complicated, however, the teams currently sitting in the lower playoff spots may be the ones that ultimately make the playoffs. Right now, only four and half games separate the sixth seed and the eleventh seed and each of these teams (New Orleans, Portland, Memphis,  Utah, Phoenix, and Houston) has a record of .500 or better. On top of that, each has won at least five of their last ten games as they know that not just making the playoffs, but playoff seeding is on the line.

Lower seeded Western Conference teams will likely fair somewhat better in the first round of the playoffs as opposed to their counterparts in the East. This is simply because the distribution of talent is not as top-heavy as it is in the Eastern Conference. This is why there has been a better likelihood of an upset in the West over the past several years.

The bottom tier of the Eastern Conference playoff picture has a long way to go if it is to ever become relevant. Teams slipping into the playoffs with a sub-.500 record bring nothing to the table. Sure there are some decent to good players on these teams but in a division that holds the Nets, Raptors, and Cavaliers there is no reason not to find a couple more wins during the season. Outside of the top four teams in the East, there is nothing but teams asking for handouts in the forms of wins. None will see the light of the second round. When beggars die, there are no comets seen.

2 Comments

Filed under NBA at Large

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

by | March 8, 2011 · 10:29 AM

Blake Griffin dunks against Bobcats

Blake Griffin was kind enough to send the Beef an early present against the Charlotte Bobcats last night. We thank him for it.

It is good to see that Mo Williams can in fact throw a decent lob for Griffin. However, that only means that somewhere Baron Davis is green with envy as he reminisces about the days before he found himself in Cleveland. Good thing there is always comfort in food.

Leave a Comment

Filed under 2010-11 Regular Season

Tagged as , , ,