Two's a Crowd

As the NBA Draft nears (10 days left from today) and Blake Griffin is almost already in a Clippers uniform (unfortunately for him), the question remains who will Memphis take with the second pick? It has to be either Ricky Rubio or Hasheem Thabeet, right? Rubio seems like the obvious choice for Memphis (though Thabeet would certainly lock things down defensively in the paint) but with his off-court contractual and potential NBA destination issues, he may not be available to suit up for the Grizz, whether by choice or by force. Thabeet, on the other hand, by all accounts has no qualms about either ending up in Memphis or Oklahoma City (where he will presumably go if Memphis do not pick him).

Ricky Rubio, at eighteen years of age, is the youngest player to enter this years draft and is potentially the most experienced. He has been playing professionally since he was fourteen and has been obliterating opponents since he was sixteen ( and I mean obliterating, check the line; 51, 24, 12 and 7). He has drawn many comparisons to "Pistol" Pete Maravich for his almost unthinkable knack for delivering the ball to the right person in the right place at exactly the right time. As Tommy Craggs writes "the mopheaded Spaniard who reminds everyone of Pistol Pete if Pistol Pete had discovered the defensive crouch". Rubio certainly has the potential to be a star (and even superstar) in the NBA. The so-called critics are quick to criticize Ricky's "sub-par" jump shot and high turnover rate, but that is mostly because they need something negative to say about him so people don't think they are all over his Spanish nuts. With some time and some work I'm sure Ricky will fix those deficiencies and then the critics will move on to questioning his lack of bulk or his mop hair-do.

The more pressing issue surrounding Ricky's draft status is the fact that he may not even be available to play in the NBA in the 2009-10 season. According to reports (see above links) Ricky earned 70,000 Euros ($97,000 US approx) last season and will earn 125,000 Euros ($175,000 US approx.) next season if he decides to return to Spain (and DKV Joventut) for his final contractually obliged season. If he chooses to leave DKV he will have to pay a $6.6 million (US) buyout for breaking his contract. The fact the buyout amount (which will increase if not paid by June 30) is so disproportionate to his actual earnings has caused much controversy in the Rubio camp and a lawsuit has been lodged to try and decrease the amount of his buyout. Rubio's father stated: "We want to know, if he really left, whether or not he'd have to pay these amounts. It's fair for DKV Joventut to get paid a certain amount of money, but what they want to collect is out of proportion with what Ricky earns."

On top of all the contractual issues, is the fact that Ricky allegedly does not want to play in Memphis or Oklahoma City. These comments came from Ricky's agent, Dan Fegan, who had already failed at attempt to get an international player a better draft slot (we see you, Yi). Ricky supposedly does not want to play in Memphis due to some of his Spanish Olympic teammates (Pau Gasol and Juan Carlos Navarro) not enjoying their time spent with the Grizzlies and he presumably does not want to go anywhere near Oklahoma City because the Thunder suck. Ricky (again I stress allegedly) has stated that he would rather play in Los Angeles or Sacramento (I can understand LA, but why Sac-town?), presumably due to bigger market potential and a climate close to that of his hometown Barcelona.

With all the intrigue surrounding Ricky it's easy to forget the other guy Memphis could choose, Hasheem Thabeet. Thabeet has kept a relatively low profile during the pre-draft preparations and that is not necessarily a bad thing. The 7-3 Tanzanian has drawn comparisons to Dikembo Mutombo due to his incredible defensive prowess, shot-blocking abilities and size (much like Deke). Hasheem played well during his time in Connecticut improving his game very year and leading the Huskies to the Final Four in his Junior and final collegiate season. Hasheem would be a great pick for Memphis as he provides them with the defensive presence they sorely lack (I'm sorry Marc, but defense just isn't your thing).

Memphis has an important and potentially franchise changing decision on their hands. Take a young stud who may not be able to play for you for a few season's if at all, or take a solid big man who gets the job done defensively. It's a close call, but I think I would take Hasheem simply because it seems as though he has no issue with playing for the Grizz and his size and defensive abilities will be a factor even if his offense is not. In saying that, I would not mind taking Rubio as long as I knew he wanted to play for my team and is granted a release from his current contract. If the decision were up to you, who would you choose?

Need for 'Sheed

Everyone has an opinion on Rasheed Wallace, some good and some bad. That is probably the most accurate assumption of Rasheed Wallace you're ever likely to come across. Rasheed can be seen as a pioneer of the I-don't-give-a-f*ck-what-you-or-your-friends-think attitude or as a enigmatic ball of potential all wrapped up in North Philly packaging that was never fully realised. But no matter what anyone thinks or doesn't think that Rasheed is, they know that when he is on his game you and your friends are in trouble. 'Sheed is a free agent this coming off-season and at 34 may have to consider hanging the trademark Air Force One's up.

After a decorated two years at North Carolina, Rasheed began his pro career with the Washington Bullets he was the 4th overall pick in the 1995 NBA draft. He had a solid rookie campaign and was selected to the All-Rookie first team. He had averages of 10.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 0.8 blocks while playing in 27.5 minutes per game in 65 games. After his rookie season he was traded to Portland Trailblazers (for Rod Strickland) where he spent the next 8 years of his career. 'Sheed earned an extended contract due to his play in his first years in Portland and seemed to be thriving. The Rasheed we have all become accustomed to emerged in the 1999-2000 season where he received an NBA record 38 technical fouls and the following season topped that mark with 40. Rasheed and the Blazers made it to two consecutive Western Conference Finals in 1999 and 2000 losing both to the Spurs and the Lakers respectively.

Wallace was named an All-Star in 2000 and 2001 after setting then career-highs in points and rebounds in both seasons. Rasheed was traded to the Atlanta Hawks in February of 2004 and played only one game before being involved in a three-way deal which sent him to the Detroit Pistons. Rasheed was an instrumental part of the Piston's dominance during the late 2000's and the NBA championship the Piston's won in 2005 after defeating the heavily favoured Los Angeles Lakers in 5 games. Rasheed and his Pistons were seen as one of the toughest teams in League every season as they made to six consecutive Eastern Conference Finals. Both Rasheed and the team have taken criticism for being complacent during games and not always "showing-up" to play, this is evidenced through the Pistons only being able to win one Championship during their years of dominance.

Throughout his career Rasheed has often been labelled as "potentially" the best player in the NBA, due to his size and incredible skill set. Rasheed has also been accused of not always playing with maximum effort and intensity and these accusations have only increased as 'Sheed's career has went on, due to his appeared lack of discipline and the increasing amount of games in which it seems as though he is not interested in being on the floor. The people who believe Rasheed's potential was wasted have only multiplied as his career winds down in a wash of technical fouls and sub-par performances.

There will certainly be teams that are interested in Rasheed's services and will be willing to pay an amount above the mid-level exception to get him. But will Rasheed be willing to play above the level he has seemed to have plateaued at these last several seasons and provide a decent level of help to a team who needs a boost at the Power Forward position. Will he put in a satisfactory level of effort and enthusiasm every game? That is something I'm not sure even Rasheed can truthfully answer. Rasheed still has the ability and the tools to be an effective players for seasons to come, but with all the history and baggage associated with Rasheed Wallace the question remains. Does any NBA team really have a need for 'Sheed?

Life Draft

As the NBA season winds down and all signs point to a Los Angeles-bound Championship many an NBA heads attention will turn (if not turned already) to the upcoming NBA Draft. The draft has the potential to cement a team as a contender (see 2007-08 Celtics and their draft-day trade for Ray Allen) or remind us all that we'll being seeing the same teams at this time again next year (see Los Angeles Clippers). The draft has always had the power to greatly influence a team's fortunes and that's why such a large amount of care is taken when a team is analyzing potential picks. The NBA Draft throughout history has shown us that the margin of error between selecting a good pick a bad pick or even a bust is minuscule.


The Portland Trailblazers in recent years have made a habit of making excellent draft-day decisions. Portland has had success through their cunning draft-day trades (Randy Foye for Brandon Roy and Tyrus Thomas for LaMarcus Aldridge) and getting lucky when the ping-pong balls fell their way when they were gifted Greg Oden and his lumbering, injury-prone frame. The Blazers showed their draft skills by acquiring three serviceable rookies from last years draft (Jerryd Bayless, Rudy Fernandez and Nicolas Batum). Portland also has the benefit of having Kevin Pritchard as their GM, which means that at almost every draft they leave with at least one solid player on which they can build for the future. Portland is a prime example of when the NBA draft is used correctly that it can transform your team from a bunch of rogue stars to one of the the most exciting young franchises in the League.


The Oklahoma City Thunder are also an excellent draft-day team, though their record may beg to differ. Over the past several season's the Thunder (then the Seattle SuperSonics) have been stockpiling draft picks via trades and many seasons of lottery pick status. When they lost out to the Blazers in '07 draft and had to settle for Kevin Durant the rebuilding process began, they traded away Ray Allen for the 5th pick (now known as Jeff Green) and some role players. After another lottery year and a change of location they found a gem in choosing Russell Westbrook with the 4th pick in the 2008 draft. This year they have the 3rd pick and whoever they end up taking will certainly bolster their roster and their fan base. The stockpiling of picks and the shedding of inflated contracts is an effective technique for a rebuilding team looking to strike it big in the draft.


A team who over the years has drafted extremely well but rarely got to taste the fruits of their draft-day labour is the Phoenix Suns. Over the past decade(s) they have made some excellent picks and have subsequently traded them away. They picked Steve Nash back in 1996 and got him back just before he blew up, they saved themselves from another blunder there. They chose Stephen Jackson in '97 he didn't do too much for them and they let him go so I'll let that one slide. But, every year since 2003 they have drafted a good player and traded him for almost (in some cases you can scratch the almost) nothing. In 2004 they picked up Luol Deng and traded him for Jackson Vroman (Who!?), in '05 they picked (Krypto)Nate Robinson and Marcin Gortat and traded them for Q-Rich and Kurt Freaking Thomas! In 2006 they drafted Rajon Rondo and Sergio Rodriguez and continued the trend of trading away solid picks. In 2007 they shipped their newly acquired Rudy Fernandez off to the Blazers. To top it all off the pick they decide to hold on to is Robin Lopez! The moral of the Phoenix Suns draft story is that sometimes its alright to be satisfied with the guy you end up with on that one night in June.


Drafting in the NBA is easy, say a guy's name, shake hands with him and hope he helps your team in the near future. Drafting well in the NBA is hard, it requires cunning, skill, luck and some big cojones as evidenced by the Blazers and the Thunder/Sonics and further highlighted by the plight of the Phoenix Suns.

(Here's a funny picture of Peja Stojakovic on draft night)

Back by (Un)Popular Demand

Yes, the most underwhelming moment of the year has finally arrived, I have decided to start blogging again. "Why?" I don't hear you ask. The answer is: I wanted something to kill the time when I'm not playing basketball or watching basketball or eating or sleeping and I wanted somewhere to express my opinions on what's going on in the basketball world. A lot hasn't changed since I took my barely noticed hiatus, the only things that have are the blog's layout and URL and the fact that my shoe collection has expanded. Hopefully people actually find out that this blog exists and give it a chance, or its back to petty theft for me.

Since I so rudely left without informing the one commenter I had (thanks Moose), I have discovered and learnt A LOT more about the NCAA and US High School hoops. I still can't stand the NBL, and quite frankly who can? I took particular interest in College ball and in turn learned a lot about the intricacies of the amateur game. So I guess you could call my leave of absence an "Educational Holiday"

My Favourite Video EVER

I have watched this video hundreds of times. It's Michael Jordan's Final Game, what more can I say. Well I can say it's a good video, which is certainly worth the almost five minutes of time it takes to watch.

(If the quality is bad, use the link)

More Money, More Money. I'm Takin' Your Money, Your Money.

More Money, More Money. I'm Takin' Your Money, Your Money. That has got to be the Ben Gordon Theme Song. He must have played that song so many times that he started to believe it was written about him. Now after that mostly useless introduction we will continue with our feature presentation: Ben Gordon; The Man, The Mystery, THE MONEY.

There are a few things in this whole issue surrounding BG that I don't quite understand and they are; why is Ben Gordon so damn greedy, why is Ben Gordon so damn greedy and why is Ben Gordon so damn greedy? Okay so they're all the same thing but you get my point. I can understand that Benny Boy wants what he believes is a fair price for his services, which is fine all ballers desire a fair and reasonable paycheck. According to my sources BG will decide in the coming days as to how much he will leech off the Bulls and maybe even where he will leech his cash from (if a trade is manufactured).

Ben wants 13 mil a year for six years but the Bulls are offering him approximately 10 mil for a six year time period. Ben also has the option of signing a 6.4 million dollar qualifying offer which means he can test the free agency waters at the conclusion of next season. I will finish throwing facts at you now and get to the point of this post.

The Bulls have just come of a horrid 2007-08 campaign in which they only won 33 games (sorry, more facts). This helps illustrate my first point which is; if Ben wants BIG money he has got to play like he deserves the money. If he wants a max contract he has to lead his team not just in statistical categories but in leadership and most importantly lead his team to wins, playoff berths, round advancements, you know, all the good stuff. (watch out here comes some more facts) For a player with max money aspirations Ben averaged only 18.6 (points), 3.1 (rebounds) and 3 (assists) solid but not excellent once again highlighting the difference between what Ben thinks he deserves and what his stats indicate about what the size of bank account should be.

Has anyone stopped to think as to how this affects Chicago's new Golden Child, Derrick Rose. Derrick has just fulfilled, what I assume, was his life's dream and he turns up to his first practice (We talkin' bout practice!) and there's bickering and hatred flying around like he's just walked into the middle of a Jukai vs Eboy vs BETCATS e-beef. (that's an in-joke for the SLAMonliner's) As a rookie Derrick is as impressionable as a child and all the drama of the Ben Gordon fiasco can't be good for team chemistry or Mr Rose's view of the league. What is BG teaching DR? That fighting with your team is all part of the ride as an NBA basketballer. All I'm saying is that I Hope Derrick doesn't pick up some of Ben's Bad habits.

Now for all you stoners, try your hardest to remember (yes, remember) back to the first quarter of the 07-08 season when the Kobe-to-Chicago rumours (that's right with a "U") were running riot around the Bull's and as a direct result of those rumours the Bull's played poorly and Scott Skiles was fired. Now imagine what Ben Gordon's over-inflated sense of self-worth is doing to Chicago and this time it is being caused from the inside out.

I sincerely hope someone who holds some authority in the Bulls organization realises that Ben Gordon is toxic and they should give him his qualifying offer and then let him go. They can do that as long as they ensure he does not come to Philadelphia, my Sixers are fine without a toxic under-achieving, under-sized two guard who can talk the talk but struggles to walk the walk which is a direct result of all his egocentric talk.

For The Record: Ben signed the Bulls qualifying offer and will have another shot at free agent success and the completion of 08-09 season. I believe this was the best move for Chicago because it doesn't leave them strapped for cash and they have an opportunity to get rid of Ben (wishful thinking) in a season's time.

Being Gilbert Arenas

Not that I would know or anything like that (I am definitely not Gilbert Arenas) but I assume that life as one of the most loved and unpredictable basketballers on the Earth isn't smooth sailing at the moment. Despite being seemingly upbeat about another round rehabilitation on yet another knee surgery *sigh* one would have to assume that Gilbert "Agent Zero" Arenas is coming to a crossroads both in his life and his career as a basketball player and to an extent a blogger.

To understand where I am going with this you must understand that I am trying take on the persona of one, Hibachi. The point here is to highlight an alternate point-of-view on the whole knee injury, media shunning and conspiracy theorying fiasco that has followed Arenas ( Me; for the purposes of this post). Amid all the stories of Gil turning his back on the media, I can see some method in his madness. From now until the conclusion I will try my best to give an opinion on the Arenas-Files from the inside-out (inside-out being what Gil would say about the events that transpired) rather than the prototypical outside-in (outside-in being what everyone else would say).

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Now imagine you are Gilbert, lets say a month after the end of the season, you had just signed a BIG contract extension, secured your future (and the rest of your families future) and your rehab was going well (except for a little twinge in your knee: smell foreshadowing, anyone?) and all signs pointed to a healthy recovery and an end to the injury bug that had plagued you and your team for the past two seasons. Things are looking bright and why shouldn't they be, right. WRONG! Unbenounced to you there is a storm brewing over some little debris in one very important knee.

Eventually after trying to ignore this so-called twinge you realize that your best option is to sadly have *duh duh duuuuuhhh* surgery and miss the first month or two of the NBA season. It is a difficult decision but one that needed to be made, you convince yourself that this was the best choice for yourself, your team and your fans all over the world. You break the news to the hoops community and it is obviously shocked and dismayed over what seems like a rotten stretch of luck. You receive sympathy from your fans on your blog like Tyson Chandler receives perfectly weighted lob passes from Chris Paul, but things can turn (just ask Spree) and they did.

Your beloved fans started questioning whether this injury may spell the end of your career and that you won't ever get back to your old self, they start speculating that you knew you would need surgery and that you signed a contract, for guaranteed money and then let your team down, ON PURPOSE! These ideas came from the same mouths (and fingertips) of the people who once supported you, this is blasphemy, they ought to be excommunicated, you thought so you decided to stop talking to the people who doubted your integrity and betrayed your trust, the Judas Escariot's of the basketball world. If you didn't talk to them they couldn't hurt you, or so you thought. The rest as they say is the future.
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And I'm back, see, being Gil especially with these latest setbacks ain't so easy. I may be completely wrong about everything I've just typed but if anyone actually reads this I hope it was worth your while, if not, tell your sister to stop calling me, she's ugly.

Count yourself officially OWNED!!