Khloe Kardashian + Lamar Odom = Championship…

Kim Kardashian + Ray J = vH1’s smash hit, For the Love of Ray J.

Well, the last one not so much (and probably not the highest rated program to come out of that relationship).

Well anyway, Ty was a little more graphic in tracing out this latest athlete superstition.

According to Huffington Post and TMZ and a million other shitty websites, Lawson tweeted, “I heard if u hit a kardashian i win a championship .. Kim k holla me!!! I need ya for 17 min.”

It appears as though he’s since deleted it, but still retweeted a friend’s retweet of his initially tweeted tweet.  (re-re-tweet?)

TyLawson3

(ty lawson)

RT @gLaDiAtOr_24: LMAO RT @TyLawson3: I heard if u hit a kardashian u win a championship.. Kim k holla me!!! I need ya for 17 min

On 21-6-2010 19:26:20 from Echofon

The theory falls apart in two areas though.  First, I’m certain there are other athletes that “hit” a Kardashian and remain ring-less.

Second, all you’re guaranteed to get if you nail a Kardashian is a gigantic baby…

I’m told that baby is five months old. Look at the size of that Armenian offspring!  Can you imagine what’s going to happen when Lamar and Khloe have one?

There’s an offshoot to this theory currently rumbling around the internet… If you spend a night with Kris Kardashian they put you straight into the hall of fame.

Craig only succeeds on one of these.  So why is he still there?  How did he get started doing this?

Did he show up at his first game in a regular suit, then slowly slip in ties with obnoxious patterns and white-trash-couch-cushion blazers?

Or did he don his full regalia on the first day and scream, “You can’t fire me! DO YOU KNOW WHO MY FATHER IS!”

What is the corporate structure over there that allows him to get away with this?

In case you haven’t seen Craig before…

Don Cherry’s at least got a flamboyant personality to match his wild suits.  Sager’s got all the originality of the Cleveland Cav’s offensive strategy.

I’ll never understand this man.

Fortunately, anyone who was anyone was watching the Lakers play the Suns last night.  And they all had something to say about The Artist Formerly Known as Craig Sager.

blakegriffin

(Blake Griffin)

I got dizzy after looking at craig sager's suit... Missed party of the game

On 18-5-2010 01:39:45 from UberTwitter

Blake Griffin’s equilibrium has been thrown off, he took a tumble, and he’ll miss next season for the Clippers.  Thanks, Craig.

ROYALTIVEY

(Royal Ivey)

Craig C'mon Son your suit game is bogus!!!! #quitwithurcircusantics

On 18-5-2010 01:28:25 from UberTwitter

Royal Ivey gets the award for Best-Sager-Related-Hashtag.

NBATVChris

(Chris Webber)

if you watch the pre game with players walking into arena or post game, who's outfits are outlandishly garbage?

On 18-5-2010 00:59:10 from TweetDeck

NBATVChris

(Chris Webber)

Sager doesn't count, his outfits are terrible I mean a hooper.. Kobe's m.j. jacket, D. Wades school boy look.. etc...

On 18-5-2010 01:05:27 from TweetDeck

Chris Weber disqualifies Craig for performance-enhancing-duds.

Uconn42

(Donyell Marshall)

What the hell Does Craig Sager have on

On 18-5-2010 00:57:41 from web

Donyell Marshall questions Craig’s outift.  And Marshall has a sense of style.  He’s obviously a fan of the classic Three Wolves t-shirt.

boomtho

(boomtho)

Craig Sager stole a costume from "Alice in Wonderland" and wore it to the Laker game. He's gonna get caught, I just know it.

On 18-5-2010 01:39:09 from Echofon

I’ll buy it.  Fortunately we finally got a tweet with a pic of Sager’s suit…

Adaye5

(Austin Daye)

Is Sager serious wit that suit lmao http://yfrog.com/5u807vj

On 18-5-2010 01:32:27 from Twitterrific

And the twit pic…

At this point, it seems like everyone on Twitter is watching this basketball game.  At least everyone involved in basketball is.  Well, almost everyone…

CJMiles34

(C.J. Miles)

3 ninjas #classic

On 18-5-2010 00:54:13 from Echofon

All the NBA talk for the next few days will center on where LeBron will be playing ball next year. This is partially because the next NBA game isn’t until sometime in July I believe and partially because this is LeBron Freakin’ James we are talking about here.

This is an exciting topic for me, my favorite team, the Chicago Bulls, have the cap space to sign LeBron or another great free agent. Let’s start this discussion with a list of free agents heading into this summer:

Here are the players that are 100% going to be free agents:

Joe Johnson
Carlos Boozer
David Lee
Ray Allen
Marcus Camby
Raymond Felton

Here are the players who can opt out of their contract this year:

LeBron James
Dwyane Wade
Chris Bosh
Amar’e Stoudemire
Dirk Nowitzki
Paul Pierce
Yao Ming
Mike Redd

For the sake of this post I am only listing the premium free agents, so I did not list Shaq and T-Mac.

This is quite a list, with James, Wade, Bosh, and Nowitzki alone you have 4 of the top 10 players in the NBA that could all wind up in different places next year.

Now who are the teams with the most cap space who could actually sign some of these guys:

New York Knicks
Miami Heat
New Jersey Nets
L.A. Clippers
Chicago Bulls
Sacramento Kings
Washington Wizards
Minnesota Timberwolves

The interesting thing here is that the Knicks and Heat can most likely sign two players at a max contract this summer while the others can only sign one. I say it’s interesting because all that can change depending on where the cap ends up. The cap was recently projected to grow to a number where the other teams may be able to sign two max players also. However, this was based on 2010 playoff revenue estimates. As I am sure you know, there were three sweeps in the second round this year so revenue will definitely be down from Stern’s projections.

So now let’s take a look at the available cities and try to rate them (These are my own totally biased opinions):

* These are ranked 1-3 with 1 being the best

Current Team: I ranked these based on who the team is made up of now. You will notice I gave the Nets a 1 rating even though they stunk on ice last year. However, the Nets have a good young core and a very good chance at landing a major John Wall-type rookie in the draft. I also gave the Heat a 3 because as of now, they don’t have Dwayne Wade.

Major City: I ranked these based on the best cities to be a basketball star in. So some cities you may want to live in (Miami) but they don’t give a shit about the NBA.

Cap Room: Should be self explanatory

So based on my rankings the best cities to go to if you are an NBA free agent are as follows:

Chicago Bulls (4)
New Jersey Nets (4)
New York Knicks (4)
L.A. Clippers (5)
Washington Wizards (7)
Miami Heat (8)
Minnesota Timberwolves (8)

I would tend to move the Nets down the list because they won’t be in Brooklyn for another two years, spending the next two in Newark of all places.

Here is what I wonder, who is going to sign first? Will LeBron, the obvious cream of this free agency crop, wait it out to see who goes where and determine if he wants to shack up with another top tier free agent?

Another LeBron question is this, will the Cavs let him go in a
sign-and-trade? The Cavs can offer LeBron about 30 million more than any other team thanks to the Larry Bird rule. In essence, the Larry Bird exception allows teams to exceed the salary cap to re-sign their own free agents, at an amount up to the maximum salary. To qualify as a Bird free agent, a player must have played three seasons without being waived or changing teams as a free agent. (from wikipedia)

If the Cavs determine LeBron is going somewhere else it may be in their best interest to sign LeBron for the max then deal him to
another team for some pieces as opposed to getting nothing in return. The latest rumor of this happening is in a trade with the Bulls to get Loul Deng in return.

It’s going to be a fun offseason in the NBA and thanks to no games until Monday, we can start it now. Thanks NBA for sticking it to the fans.

And that’s pretty much all you need to know.

Although I wish I could hear Craig Sager repeat that line.

DickieV

(Dick Vitale)

Now I respect Dickie V and what he has done for college hoops. I also respect that is basically an ambassador for the game and tries to promote it whenever he can. That being said, this is just silly.

Dickie was on Mike and Mike saying John Wall, in his opinion, has what it takes to be an all time great point guard in the NBA.

Let’s review a list of all-time great point guards, picked by ESPN:

Magic Johnson
Oscar Robertson
Isaiah Thomas
John Stockton
Bob Cousy
Walt Frazier
Jason Kidd
Tiny Archibald
Steve Nash
Gary Payton

Now, that’s some good players there. Here is the question though how many championships between those guys?

17

17 World Titles between the best 10 point guards of all time. The
average is less than two per. Now let’s take out the number one best of the current three-point era of the NBA and the number one best of the non-three point era – Magic and Bob Cousy.

6

Now we are down to six titles between 8 of the very best 10 guys to
ever play the position in the history of the game.

My point here is, the difference between Jason Kidd and BJ Armstrong is that BJ Armstrong is an NBA Champion while Jason Kidd is not. It’s not that BJ Armstrong is any better than Kidd, in fact he much worse, the fact of the matter is that point guards don’t make a tremendous difference on your ability to win a championship. Playoffs? Sure, they can get a team there. The issue at point here is the all important ring and unless a guy is going to be Magic Johnson you shouldn’t risk your franchise in order to get or keep them. In fact, I would argue paying a max contract for a point guard does nothing more than hurt your team in having money to get a second tier guy to work with them.

All this being said, you have a proven point guard at a relatively low price for the next few years thanks to the extension. You should never, under any circumstances trade him for an unproven (at the NBA level) talent, unless you know 100% this guy is the next Magic Johnson. On that note, even Magic Johnson couldn’t win Boston a title next year when Pierce, Allen and Doc Rivers leave town.

LeBronsElbow

(LeBron James Elbow)

I understand not many people like the NBA anymore, but I do and it’s my website so you will listen to every single word I have to say (or click away).

I am going to break this down by the series that are still going on and some comments on the teams that are left. I am going to aim to do this at least once a week during the playoffs.

Dallas vs. San Antonio

Everyone hates to watch San Antonio, I am pretty sure this is mainly because they were boring as hell in the 2003 NBA finals. I don’t disagree with that but they should be cut some slack for something that happened 7 years ago. The Spurs are semi-watchable these days thank to some young blood in the form of George Hill and a re-energized Manu Ginobili (the guy is swiping bats out of mid air this season!).

The Mavericks on the other hand were the hottest team going into the playoffs this year and have apparently refused to show up on some nights.

This series is always entertaining (at least to me) and I look for the Spurs to take this one, probably in 7.

Bucks vs. Hawks

FEAR THE DEER!!

I am truly amazed at this series. Let me start by saying I love what Bogut has done for the Bucks and after his brutal arm injury I considered them done. I have learned my lesson, never doubt a Scott Skiles team (at least in his first few years). The man can motivate young players.

As a Bulls fan, I am interested in this series. One of the Bulls old
coaches (Skiles), an old Bulls player (Salmons) and a likely candidate for a future Bulls player (Joe Johnson) it’s quite interesting. To be honest, I’m not sure how much I would want a player of the Hawks on my team; this series should have been over already. I am calling the Deer to move on.

Suns vs. Trail Blazers

In another series that should be over, the Trail Blazers are still
continuing on and only down 3-2. Brandon Roy and company decided to forgo safety and let him play out the rest of series just 8 days after knee surgery.

Here is what I don’t get here, the Blazers are not going to win the NBA title this year, it’s just not happening so why let Roy play? To get to the second round and lose there?

Your franchise is set back years because of the injury factory that is Greg Oden, why risk your best player?

Lakers vs. Thunder

My favorite series of the first round by far. Thanks to DirecTV giving me the NBA channel I got to watch the Thunder a few times during the NBA season and was waiting for them to get on the national stage. They are the anti-Lakers, they are young, they play fast, and they have zero respect from the casual NBA fan.

Apparently it was Kobe’s decision to guard the Thunder’s second best player (arguably the first best player this series) Russell Westbrook instead of one of their worst players Thabo Sefolosha. Here is what I don’t get about that move – how did Phil Jackson not come up with this? It just proves to
me that he is on auto-pilot lately.

I think the Lakers will take this one, probably in 6. However as Charles Barkley said the other day “You better the Thunder and the Bulls now, because they aren’t going to be getting beat for much longer”

Nuggets vs. Jazz

The Jazz are without two of their best players in Okur and Kirilenko yet they lead this series 3-2. I understand the Nuggets are without their coach but this has to go way beyond that.

I personally blame the Kenyon Martin April fools prank freakout (and his tattoo of lips on hiw neck).

Orlando Magic

I tend to worry about the NBA when its best center takes to his blog to complain that he isn’t getting star calls:

Ya’ll know that that series against Charlotte drove me crazy. I mean it was almost comical at times how I was getting fouls called on me. There was nothing I could do our there and I felt like I couldn’t even move without getting that whistle blown on me.

I’m not looking to say anything to get myself in trouble with the league, but I just don’t see other star players getting called for fouls the way I get them. No star player in the league is outta games the way I am. I even talked to Pat Ewing about his career and he said he never had foul troublelike what I’m going through.

You have to worry about a team that’s star is more worried about what calls LeBron and Kobe are getting than who he is playing in round 2.

Celtics vs. Cavs

The Cavs and Celtics both made short work of their first round opponents and both are hell bent on winning a title this year. The Cavs need to win this year because it could be their last year with LeBron. The Celtics are determined to win because the team will most likely get blown up this offseason and a majority of the teams stars are on their last leg.

The Celtics are playing some of their best ball of the season and the Cavs don’t seem to be quite right yet. They are having issues working Shaq back into the lineup and to go with that they have regressed back into “Give LeBron the ball and pray” doing the end of games. That strategy worked well playing the Bulls; I don’t know how well it can work when you play a team
not coached by Vinny Del Negro.

LeBronsElbow

(LeBron James Elbow)

MRI Results back. Just what I thought. They found no damage, a autograph from Jesus, the tears of Joakim Noah and a lightning bolt.

On 28-4-2010 21:30:56 from web

BigMay42

(Sean May)

And the accompanying twitpic. (By the way, not exactly “twitpicable”)

Don’t worry, Sean. If you keep taking pictures of your driving hand holding your coffee, I have a feeling you won’t be driving much longer.

For god’s sake, just don’t do anything to distract you any further.

BigMay42

(Sean May)

#nowplaying Adam Lambert whataya want from me ... Don't know why I like this damn song lol

On 19-4-2010 21:41:29 from Tweetie

The game wasn’t especially close, but the Bulls just couldn’t stop James from scoring how ever he wanted. It’s like the Cavs took that horrendous isolation strategy that cost them a trip to the finals last year and made it actually work.

Aside from some brilliant finishing moves, Lebron also lit up the interwebs. Here’s a review…

Jmack37

(Jason McKie)

D.rose is a beast....Lebron is legendary

On 20-4-2010 02:25:38 from Echofon

chitownforte22

(Matt Forte)

Seriously Lebron geeeeeezzzzz

On 20-4-2010 02:26:03 from Echofon

AaronMaybin58

(Aaron Maybin)

Ok. This is outta hand now. MVP...MVP...MVP!

On 20-4-2010 02:26:26 from UberTwitter

cbarwin

(Connor Barwin)

Lebron obviously got an extra shoot around in today...

On 20-4-2010 02:26:53 from Echofon

JaredDudley619

(Jared Dudley)

If lebron James is not the best in the NBA u are CRAZY!!!! He is by a big margin..give props when it's due

On 20-4-2010 02:29:52 from Echofon

Thirty2zero

(Aaron Brooks)

Cavs are gonna be pretty hard to beat if Lebron keeps finishing like that.

On 20-4-2010 02:32:31 from UberTwitter

Dmoceanu

(Dominique Moceanu)

Haha. I'm sorry. I'm a Clevelander now. Gotta represent. RT@EljayIU: @Dmoceanu You being a Cavs fan ruins all my childhood crush on you! LOL

On 20-4-2010 02:32:15 from UberTwitter

LennoxLew1s

(Lennox Lewis)

RT @TonyRahsaan: I never EVER heard of James Johnson until Lebron made him famous by #posterizing him tonite...lol

On 20-4-2010 02:32:52 from Tweetie

J_Flynn

(Jonny Flynn)

RT @JakePresutti: LeBron James, smh

On 20-4-2010 02:37:18 from UberTwitter

shawnemerriman

(Shawne Merriman)

I wonder how does it feel knowing Lebron is going 2 come out & give U 30 or 40 points "coach I cnt play my hamstring is tight" lmao

On 20-4-2010 02:38:18 from UberTwitter

Foxworth24

(Domonique Foxworth)

King James is the truth. Do you remember how much hype he had coming out of HS and he surpassed it, crazy talented

On 20-4-2010 02:39:16 from web

matrix31

(Shawn Marion)

Ok just walk in bathroom and thought I was in wrong one cause the dude looked like a girl wow

On 20-4-2010 02:35:55 from TweetDeck

Whoops. That last one wasn’t about Lebron… as far as we can tell.

Revis24

(Darrelle Revis)

Wow we got holmes this is crazy. We makin big moves this off-season. Putting the pieces together to get closer to that superbowl ring.

On 12-4-2010 04:24:44 from UberTwitter

So the Steelers traded their Superbowl MVP Santonio Holmes for a fifth round pick.

The question is why?

A contract year for a player who has been suspended (and according to @ADAM_SCHEFTER will be suspended yet again) for drugs and is currently battling an assault case will be the excuse. They don’t want to bring him back next year due to all this and might as well get something for him now.

Could this be a message to Big Ben?

No comment on twitter from Santonio yet but when he does break the silence we will be there to make fun of him.

As for the Jets, all I can say is this.

I can’t wait to watch Hard Knocks.

NBA/NHL Playoffs

BigMay42

(Sean May)

Huge game on.... Chicago vs Toronto ..... Both fighting for the 8th spot in the east

On 11-4-2010 22:45:40 from TweetDeck

jeskeets

(J.E. Skeets)

Goodbye, sweet playoffs.

On 12-4-2010 00:30:03 from TweetDeck

J.E. Skeets (@jeskeets) is one of my favorite bloggers to follow on twitter, guy is hilarious. He is also a Raptors fan. I am a huge Chicago Bulls fan so for the next few days we are on opposite sides of this story.

So the East is all setup except for one spot. The Bulls now have a lead on the Raptors but the “magic number” to “mathematically eliminate” the Raptors is still at 2 because they own the tiebreaker over the Bulls.

With the way the Bulls shit the bed versus the Nets on Friday night and Vinnie Del Negro refusing to play Noah even though he is the main hustle guy on the team I wouldn’t count out the Raptors just yet.

The West is still a mess, we know the 8 teams going in but the rankings are still up for grabs. It should be an entertaining few days.

JLupul

(Joffrey Lupul)

Philly vs NYR shootout to get in the playoffs is the situation everyone feared when we adopted the shootout...

On 11-4-2010 21:45:25 from web

In the NHL the playoffs are now set. There was a defacto play-in game last night between the Rangers and Flyers, an excellent game by all accounts. That is, except for the ending. The game ended at 2-1 when Claude Giroux scored a goal in an OT shootout to clinch the playoff spot.

The question is though, is that how the playoffs should be decided? This is a relatively new way of ending hockey games and I won’t type here pretending I am a purist for the game; truth is I barely watch until the playoffs. I can’t help but feel like this is ending an NBA game with a free throw contest or a game of horse. I don’t think you should change the game for overtime. I’m looking at you college football.

Phil Mickelson Wins the Masters

The weekend started with Tiger and his story of coming back to golf after his self imposed hiatus and it ended with Phil kissing his wife whom herself was making her return to the golf course after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

From my point of view, both were pretty amazing. I want to be one of those guys who says Tiger’s personal life doesn’t matter to me but I can’t say that in one breath and then talk about what a great story Phil’s personal life is. It would be hypercritical for me to do both. So I will leave it at this, both men hit some amazing shots (Tiger’s shot at 9 on Thursday was probably the best shot I ever seen) and I look forward to these two battling for the coming years.

There also was some good showing by young guys (and older guys – Tom Watson still amazes me). Checking out Twitter this morning I was reminded while even though I make fun of athletes and their use of it, it can be a great medium for reaching out to fans (and vice versa).

Ianjamespoulter

(Ian Poulter)

Morning all, sitting in bed reading emails from last week, a bit disappointed with the result, but I guess you learn from mistakes made.

On 12-4-2010 13:31:19 from Twittelator

Here we have Ian Poulter who by all accounts had a great masters tweeting out to his fans and showing his disappointment. You could never have this type of closeness with ESPN or a CBS interview.

Thanks for the good show and reminding us how great golf can be.

But this one really surprised me.  So many twists and turns in 145 characters.

Amareisreal

(Amar'e Stoudemire)

Working on a presentation for tomorrow on the Fundamentals of Finance. Meeting w/500+ 9th graders & parents at a Phoenix HS.

On 6-4-2010 01:31:46 from web

Here’s a scene from Phoenix Elementary tomorrow:

Student 1: “We’ve got an assembly today?  About what?”

Student 2: “I don’t know, but Amar’e Stoudemire is going to speak!!”

Student 1: “Oh man!  This is gonna be awesome.”

Teacher: [snickers]

Student 3: “I’m gonna wear my Andrew Bogut jersey.”