“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” Robert F. Kennedy
As North Carolina punches their ticket in impressive fashion, setting the Final Four next week in the D, I wanted to talk about a couple things.
For one, I don't think I have ever seen a worse defensive performance than the one Oklahoma just gave effort to in last two hours. That was a complete travesty. Really makes you think about what these guys were doing in practice for the last 5 months, and how they won as many games as they did. They seemed just completely unwilling to guard anyone on North Carolina. Absolutely no effort whatsoever.
Having said that, North Carolina is the finest offensive machine left in the tournament. They have the most talent out of anyone. They have the best point guard. They have one of the best players ever to play the college game. They have wings that are gonna get a shot in the pros. They have a great system and coach. They are way more talented than Oklahoma. But even they had to be a little surprised at how easy they were able to get good shots. It was like they were running set plays and transition movements against air. Unmolested layups. Uncontested mid range shots. 3's in rhythm. No charge threat on their floaters. It was a joke.
Where do you guys stand on Blake Griffin? I think he's the Terminator. I think he's a freakish athlete with unbelievable game and a bright future. All those things are obvious. He's a lock to be the first pick. He's miles ahead of whoever is gonna go # 2 and other guys there after. Just the fluidity and efficiency he's shown has been tremendous. He's shown he wants to win, he's pretty unselfish and he's just lighting quick and explosive all over the floor. He can exert his will on the glass and can get to the free throw line.
But just to be critical, watching this North Carolina game showed me some things. He gets pushed off the box a lot, and he has a hard time holding guys off. The guys on NC are good players but none of them are great. It just seemed to me like he had a hard time holding his position. And a couple times he got pushed outta his comfort zone, made a comfort move to where he thought was gonna have an easy look, and ended up boxed in/under the basket and had to kick to the baseline drifter. I have probably watched 10 of his games this year, and I have yet to see him knock down a mid range jumper. He barely takes one, let alone five or six. Have you seen some of his shot charts. The make symbols just pepper the one foot and in range. There is rarely anything outside the kill zones that are both blocks. I also really haven't seen a great feel on the dribble drive. Obviously, his handle for his size is great. But he gets everything off a one dribble two step explode model. Two dribbles at the most. He gets a free pass on defense cause he has to stay outta foul trouble for their team to have a chance. So he sits in the key most nights, makes Sportscenter with his help side blocks and isn't really challenged on the dribble. He'll have to guard better in the pros. They don't do a ton of pick and roll, so he hasn't had a chance to show much of that. Just for comparison I think DaJuan Blair has a little better feel for the pick and roll game. He doesn't have as much game as Griffin when he gets that roll pass though. A lot of OU's sets bring him out to wing for a half ass screen then follow with a double for him that gets him to the opposite side block for an advantage post. But when he has pick and rolled it's been a good thing. And it will be a better thing in the pros. So to wrap up on this, I am a little suspect of his jumper and his comfort with shooting jumpers at game speed when the bullets are flying. I don't think he's shown a great ability to take guys off the dribble and counter when he gets leveled off initially. I don't think he's exerted much effort guarding guys. But all in all, hes got pretty good human capital to get some of those things going in his direction in the coming years. His future is bright.
At the under sixteen timeout of the first half of the Spartans-Cardinals game, I turned the TV off and went to work out. Knowing that my chances of winning money in the pool that I am in were officially over, I decided I needed to go do some work out stuff. They had it on at the gym, so I was keeping tabs on bits and pieces of it. It's amazing how every year you fill out a bracket, you convince yourself and assure yourself about so many silly things. It's the nature of the beast. I decided that I was gonna have Louisville win it, and I am so mad that I did. And it all could have been avoided if I just would have said four words to myself: Earl Clarke and Terrence Williams. How could I ever convice myself that those two idiots were gonna be consistent and lead their team? It just makes no sense. Those guys are careless with ball all the time. They think they can make 3's but the evidence points to the contrary. They fill the stat sheets with the staples, but there is just something about them that makes you shake your head. Louisville's role guys are fantastic. They do their jobs. There was just not enough leadership from the top 2 bums. In their defense, its gotta be hard to be a leader on a Pitino team. I know that sentence doesn't make a ton of sense, but Pitino is just so big and so powerful and so much in control that, that probably makes it hard to lead. But All the Final Four teams have great leaders. Leaders you can identify. Just go down the list. Cunningham and Reynolds. Sutan and Walton. Price and Adrien. Hansborough and Bobby Frasor (haha NC is a little different--Danny Green probably has a big voice, Lawson and Ellington too). I was real bummed for Pitt cause I love Blair, and wanted to see him all week. But moreso I think because of Fields and Young. Two guys that definitely are in that great leader pair group, if not the top 2 leaders.
Louisville came out with a shitty game plan I thought. I just thought Sutan has proved to be way too good a shooter to let him catch and shoot like he did. 3-3 for beyond the arc was a bit of an outlier, but not that much. The bigger problem was the possessions where Sutan could catch, turn and face, and realize he had an elbow jumper, a shot that he makes 8-10 of. That killed them in the first half. And State just played great defense. Tough. Nothing easy. Hammer when you're beat. Contest all three's. It was a classic Big Ten defensive performance. Lucas hit some big shots. Great win for Michigan State.
I wasn't at the Carolina game. But I bet if I did, and was there for warmups I would have said something like: "Wow, Carolina is gonna kill this team. They have so much more skill and talent than Oklahoma." And next week in Detroit, if I was there and watching the games I would say the same thing. Sometimes it's that easy. Sometimes the teams with the most talent win.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Basketball Notes
"Just when you think you have all the answers, I CHANGE THE QUESTIONS! -Roddy Roddy Piper
-"You want it to be one way.
-But. It's the other way." -Marlo Stanfield
GOOD STUFF
I just wanted to drop a quick couple thoughts on last night’s game. I mainly want to talk about Duke, but first just a few quick hits.
I am in an office pool at work. 15 people in it, 3 girls 12 guys. 7 of them had Memphis in the final 2 game. I found this be really funny. I watch a ton of hoops, and I have seen Memphis play for about 40 minutes this year. And I can guarantee you that the 7 people who picked them to go to the Final Four and then Final Two had seen 40 minutes less than I did. I am just confused on why everyone was so set on Memphis. Even some of the guys and people I know, who are aware of what’s going on in the college game liked them way too much. There was just no data on them. You never saw them play past the opening week tournaments and the game vs. Gonzaga midseason (in which they hammered the Zags). They rattled off 24 in a row before last night. Do you know who they play in their league? Have you seen some of those teams? And I never really understood the talking point about their defense. Everyone stressed how stingy they were on defense, and that was just a joke. Of course they weren’t stingy on defense-they’re Memphis. An offensively retarded team in Mizzou hung 102 on them. That was perhaps the biggest joke of anything-their great defense. C’mon. And I love Memphis. On Selection Sunday last year, I knew Memphis was gonna win the whole thing. They didn’t and they cost me $500 dollars, but you could argue that they really should have won. I love Cal; I think he’s the most charismatic guy in college hoops. I love DDM; I think that’s the way to play the game and where the game is going. But they just didn’t have it this year. And I think people should been a little smarter with that take. Having said all that, watch out for them next season, especially if they land John Wall. If Wall commits and Evan stays-holy shit
And just as a side note, the office pool stories about the most clueless person in the office winning the pool-those are all true. I am currently in 3rd place, behind Jessica and Andrea. Both cool girls, both really nice, not exactly hanging on to every word Jay Bilas and Andy Katz write on espn.com. They picked “chalk” pretty much the whole way, and I can guarantee you one of them win the pot. My bracket is going to blow up today (Friday).
Didn’t catch much of the Pitt-X game. I was busy with my interval training for the upcoming spring and summer basketball leagues. Caught the last 10 minutes, which was enough. Looked like a hard fought game between two really tough teams. I can’t imagine trying to get a shot off in that game. Gotta be a man to get space in that game. Levance Fields continued to make big plays for Pitt down the stretch. He seems like a very clutch player. He knocks down free throws late in games, and is never scared to fire his jump shots. He trusts his J.
Where do you guys stand on DaJuan Blair? If I owned an NBA team I would take him in the lottery just so he could be on my team and I could hang around with him from time to time.
My take is I think he’s special talent, with a really unique attitude and playing ability. He’s hungry and wants to improve. He’s relentless on the glass and can finish with his back to basket. He’s a little girthy, but has a great wingspan. He knocks down free throws. He has a good feel for the screen and roll game, evidenced by them featuring him in every high ball screen in the last ten minutes. He can definitely grow into a pick and pop midrange J or pick and pop one-to-two dribble move to the hoop player in the NBA.
Unfortunately, he’s really hard to take if you’re in that lottery range. It’s really hard to take a guy like that in the top 13. As great as it would be to take him, it’s really hard too. He’s listed at 6’6, which means he’s probably 6’5½ , he’s shown mimimal to average explosion capabilities and he’s very foul prone on the college level. He can only guard a 4, and even at that, most 4’s would have their way with him on the box. He’s quick, he’s just not a great perimeter defender because he has never played out there. He hasn’t shown an ability to knock down any midrange shots yet and conditioning has been a question mark. Might need to drop 10. This is a really weak draft, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he sneaks into that lottery zone. But I doubt it. I’m definitely trying to trade into that 13-16 range to try to take him. I think he’s special. Better than Big Baby, but not quite Zach Randolph. Hungry.
Great moment in that game last night, which really told me a lot Xavier and also Derrick Brown. Last night in that game a ball got tipped and catapulted into the back court by Pitt. Derrick Brown went Devin Hester and next-man’d speed and chased it down going the length of the court. It would have been a huge turnover. Unfortunately he stepped on the end line, and the ref was right there to call it. Brown was so pissed that he really snapped and barked at the ref. Almost technical worthy. It was a cool moment, because I think it really showed how much X wanted to win that game. I always thought Brown kind of loped around and mailed it in most of the time and hammered the occasional lob. That split second showed me he was there to play and he was playing hard for his teammates. He made 2-3 great plays for others in the last 3 minutes. 2 set up assists, and a great defensive help. Those guys at Xavier play extremely hard. And they do because they have a great coach.
Very pleased to see Villanova hammer Duke. That was just men amongst boys. Dogs v. pussies. A total mismatch for Duke. And good riddance because Duke is an absolute joke of a program right now. To me, I wouldn’t even him them in the top 20 teams right now. They have a really shitty business model right now. I really have a lot of problems with it. And unfortunately, it is really all due to the arrogance of Coach K and his staff. Well, arrogance is a big part of it but not all of it. Coach K has made the decision that he is not going to recruit kids that have any character question marks, or are going to leave in 1 year or 2 years. And he’s earned that right, and I’m fine with that. He’s probably the best coach of all time. They play hard, play a great style of offense and defense, and win 25 games a year because they are so well coached. HES NOT STUPID. He knows what he’s doing. So some of it, but not the majority, has to be arrogance. I think the arrogance plays both ways too. I think recruits grew up and hated Duke and their arrogance, and don’t wanna be part of that. It’s easy for other coaches to talk recruits outta Duke by just talking about their arrogance. I dunno. He just hasn’t had a good player in there for a while. Probably Loul Deng was his last big time guy. Redick kind of has his own category. He has however had a lot of quote/unquote pussies though in the last couple years. Guys that you can tell even if you haven’t played just don’t have any balls or raw toughness. There are no guys on Duke that give me that “I would like to go to battle with him” feeling. I mean Jon Sheyer, did you catch his act last night? How many NBA 3’s did he take with 5 on the shot clock after two pump fakes and a step through? 3? I mean he looked like I would have looked like in that game. Can’t get space. Looks like they’re gonna steal it from him every time. Gets leveled off after two dribbles. Can’t finish in traffic. They just need to get some things in order there. They gotta tweak their model a little bit, and try to find some tougher players. They gotta find a Jeff Adriane. An Antonio Anderson. A Jerry Smith. A Delvon Roe. They won’t be back into the discussion until they do.
-"You want it to be one way.
-But. It's the other way." -Marlo Stanfield
GOOD STUFF
I just wanted to drop a quick couple thoughts on last night’s game. I mainly want to talk about Duke, but first just a few quick hits.
I am in an office pool at work. 15 people in it, 3 girls 12 guys. 7 of them had Memphis in the final 2 game. I found this be really funny. I watch a ton of hoops, and I have seen Memphis play for about 40 minutes this year. And I can guarantee you that the 7 people who picked them to go to the Final Four and then Final Two had seen 40 minutes less than I did. I am just confused on why everyone was so set on Memphis. Even some of the guys and people I know, who are aware of what’s going on in the college game liked them way too much. There was just no data on them. You never saw them play past the opening week tournaments and the game vs. Gonzaga midseason (in which they hammered the Zags). They rattled off 24 in a row before last night. Do you know who they play in their league? Have you seen some of those teams? And I never really understood the talking point about their defense. Everyone stressed how stingy they were on defense, and that was just a joke. Of course they weren’t stingy on defense-they’re Memphis. An offensively retarded team in Mizzou hung 102 on them. That was perhaps the biggest joke of anything-their great defense. C’mon. And I love Memphis. On Selection Sunday last year, I knew Memphis was gonna win the whole thing. They didn’t and they cost me $500 dollars, but you could argue that they really should have won. I love Cal; I think he’s the most charismatic guy in college hoops. I love DDM; I think that’s the way to play the game and where the game is going. But they just didn’t have it this year. And I think people should been a little smarter with that take. Having said all that, watch out for them next season, especially if they land John Wall. If Wall commits and Evan stays-holy shit
And just as a side note, the office pool stories about the most clueless person in the office winning the pool-those are all true. I am currently in 3rd place, behind Jessica and Andrea. Both cool girls, both really nice, not exactly hanging on to every word Jay Bilas and Andy Katz write on espn.com. They picked “chalk” pretty much the whole way, and I can guarantee you one of them win the pot. My bracket is going to blow up today (Friday).
Didn’t catch much of the Pitt-X game. I was busy with my interval training for the upcoming spring and summer basketball leagues. Caught the last 10 minutes, which was enough. Looked like a hard fought game between two really tough teams. I can’t imagine trying to get a shot off in that game. Gotta be a man to get space in that game. Levance Fields continued to make big plays for Pitt down the stretch. He seems like a very clutch player. He knocks down free throws late in games, and is never scared to fire his jump shots. He trusts his J.
Where do you guys stand on DaJuan Blair? If I owned an NBA team I would take him in the lottery just so he could be on my team and I could hang around with him from time to time.
My take is I think he’s special talent, with a really unique attitude and playing ability. He’s hungry and wants to improve. He’s relentless on the glass and can finish with his back to basket. He’s a little girthy, but has a great wingspan. He knocks down free throws. He has a good feel for the screen and roll game, evidenced by them featuring him in every high ball screen in the last ten minutes. He can definitely grow into a pick and pop midrange J or pick and pop one-to-two dribble move to the hoop player in the NBA.
Unfortunately, he’s really hard to take if you’re in that lottery range. It’s really hard to take a guy like that in the top 13. As great as it would be to take him, it’s really hard too. He’s listed at 6’6, which means he’s probably 6’5½ , he’s shown mimimal to average explosion capabilities and he’s very foul prone on the college level. He can only guard a 4, and even at that, most 4’s would have their way with him on the box. He’s quick, he’s just not a great perimeter defender because he has never played out there. He hasn’t shown an ability to knock down any midrange shots yet and conditioning has been a question mark. Might need to drop 10. This is a really weak draft, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he sneaks into that lottery zone. But I doubt it. I’m definitely trying to trade into that 13-16 range to try to take him. I think he’s special. Better than Big Baby, but not quite Zach Randolph. Hungry.
Great moment in that game last night, which really told me a lot Xavier and also Derrick Brown. Last night in that game a ball got tipped and catapulted into the back court by Pitt. Derrick Brown went Devin Hester and next-man’d speed and chased it down going the length of the court. It would have been a huge turnover. Unfortunately he stepped on the end line, and the ref was right there to call it. Brown was so pissed that he really snapped and barked at the ref. Almost technical worthy. It was a cool moment, because I think it really showed how much X wanted to win that game. I always thought Brown kind of loped around and mailed it in most of the time and hammered the occasional lob. That split second showed me he was there to play and he was playing hard for his teammates. He made 2-3 great plays for others in the last 3 minutes. 2 set up assists, and a great defensive help. Those guys at Xavier play extremely hard. And they do because they have a great coach.
Very pleased to see Villanova hammer Duke. That was just men amongst boys. Dogs v. pussies. A total mismatch for Duke. And good riddance because Duke is an absolute joke of a program right now. To me, I wouldn’t even him them in the top 20 teams right now. They have a really shitty business model right now. I really have a lot of problems with it. And unfortunately, it is really all due to the arrogance of Coach K and his staff. Well, arrogance is a big part of it but not all of it. Coach K has made the decision that he is not going to recruit kids that have any character question marks, or are going to leave in 1 year or 2 years. And he’s earned that right, and I’m fine with that. He’s probably the best coach of all time. They play hard, play a great style of offense and defense, and win 25 games a year because they are so well coached. HES NOT STUPID. He knows what he’s doing. So some of it, but not the majority, has to be arrogance. I think the arrogance plays both ways too. I think recruits grew up and hated Duke and their arrogance, and don’t wanna be part of that. It’s easy for other coaches to talk recruits outta Duke by just talking about their arrogance. I dunno. He just hasn’t had a good player in there for a while. Probably Loul Deng was his last big time guy. Redick kind of has his own category. He has however had a lot of quote/unquote pussies though in the last couple years. Guys that you can tell even if you haven’t played just don’t have any balls or raw toughness. There are no guys on Duke that give me that “I would like to go to battle with him” feeling. I mean Jon Sheyer, did you catch his act last night? How many NBA 3’s did he take with 5 on the shot clock after two pump fakes and a step through? 3? I mean he looked like I would have looked like in that game. Can’t get space. Looks like they’re gonna steal it from him every time. Gets leveled off after two dribbles. Can’t finish in traffic. They just need to get some things in order there. They gotta tweak their model a little bit, and try to find some tougher players. They gotta find a Jeff Adriane. An Antonio Anderson. A Jerry Smith. A Delvon Roe. They won’t be back into the discussion until they do.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
It's Always Sunny on Coventry-tourage
The time has come for me friends, to become a sketch comedy writer. And my first project is a show that takes place on Coventry road. It’s a cant miss pilot, and when you couple that with the fact that myself and my writing team are gonna write it, it really makes you think how much longer shows like Entourage will be around. Coventry road is full of life. The geography and setup, especially at night make the street a very sought after socializing destination. It has every thing for every walk of life.
It’s a street where you can eat chicken wings, burritos, teriyaki chicken, hot dogs, quality sushi, Korean, a grand slam breakfast, a Panini sandwich, or a piece of pizza for a buck. It’s a street where you can buy a vintage KISS poster, trade in your Super Nintendo, buy purple leather pants with a vest to match, or purchase a 20 year old copy of 1984. It’s an avenue where you can talk to a black guy, get caught staring at the hottest chick you’ve seen all week, while overhearing two lesbians, while overseeing two gay guys fighting, while briefly getting scared by a group of Goths, while getting a kick out of the 17 old dishelved freak who is wearing tight jeans, Chuck Taylors, a cardigan and sunglasses (at night), smoking a cigarette and listening to his walkman cassette player. Coventry has great dynamics and character to say the least. Those dynamics, poised with a group of cool friends, an apartment right on the street and great writing; and a show is born.
I have 5 episodes in mind already, and I really only started thinking about it two days ago. The pilot episode is a no brainer: You guys know me. I love to argue and analyze the most pointless things in the history of the world. It is no surprise that I would write this inspired by the likes of shows like Seinfeld, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, 30 Rock, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. So think that kinda premise when you play with this idea in your head.
Episode 1: Swooping This pilot episode would take us through the Thursday of the two main characters. It would obviously start at the Coventry diner at about 11:30, right when they woke up, and profile the game planning they undergo leading up to the attempt(s) to take home a 18 year old skank from John Carroll from the dance floors of Johnny Malloys or McNultys. There would be a huge disagreement about which songs make the girl's panties drop (for comedic purposes, we’ll tentatively say this one and this one) Arguments and strategies would go on throughout the course of the day and would dominate the script. Friends would be called into question for their opinions and goals for the night (there would be 1 maybe 2 other friends who are unemployed and chill all day, there will also be a friend who works downtown, and is clinging to the life he used to lead). The night would finally start to get going. Hilarious lines would be tried. Questionable drunk grinding methods would be attempted. And the friends would go home empty handedfrom the token friend who hammered the gnarliest girl at the bar. It would end right where they began the previous morning, at the diner.
Episode 2: I Bet You Can't Get That Hot Asian Waitress at Pacific East
Episode 3: There is NO WAY that Bouncer at Panini's is Tough
The season would build off that. There is a lot to build on on Coventry Road. Characters will introduced. Nicknames will be given. Love interests will blossom. Enemies will be made.
Anyway, I would like some feedback on this topic. Let me know your thoughts whenever you feel like it.
It’s a street where you can eat chicken wings, burritos, teriyaki chicken, hot dogs, quality sushi, Korean, a grand slam breakfast, a Panini sandwich, or a piece of pizza for a buck. It’s a street where you can buy a vintage KISS poster, trade in your Super Nintendo, buy purple leather pants with a vest to match, or purchase a 20 year old copy of 1984. It’s an avenue where you can talk to a black guy, get caught staring at the hottest chick you’ve seen all week, while overhearing two lesbians, while overseeing two gay guys fighting, while briefly getting scared by a group of Goths, while getting a kick out of the 17 old dishelved freak who is wearing tight jeans, Chuck Taylors, a cardigan and sunglasses (at night), smoking a cigarette and listening to his walkman cassette player. Coventry has great dynamics and character to say the least. Those dynamics, poised with a group of cool friends, an apartment right on the street and great writing; and a show is born.
I have 5 episodes in mind already, and I really only started thinking about it two days ago. The pilot episode is a no brainer: You guys know me. I love to argue and analyze the most pointless things in the history of the world. It is no surprise that I would write this inspired by the likes of shows like Seinfeld, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, 30 Rock, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. So think that kinda premise when you play with this idea in your head.
Episode 1: Swooping This pilot episode would take us through the Thursday of the two main characters. It would obviously start at the Coventry diner at about 11:30, right when they woke up, and profile the game planning they undergo leading up to the attempt(s) to take home a 18 year old skank from John Carroll from the dance floors of Johnny Malloys or McNultys. There would be a huge disagreement about which songs make the girl's panties drop (for comedic purposes, we’ll tentatively say this one and this one) Arguments and strategies would go on throughout the course of the day and would dominate the script. Friends would be called into question for their opinions and goals for the night (there would be 1 maybe 2 other friends who are unemployed and chill all day, there will also be a friend who works downtown, and is clinging to the life he used to lead). The night would finally start to get going. Hilarious lines would be tried. Questionable drunk grinding methods would be attempted. And the friends would go home empty handedfrom the token friend who hammered the gnarliest girl at the bar. It would end right where they began the previous morning, at the diner.
Episode 2: I Bet You Can't Get That Hot Asian Waitress at Pacific East
Episode 3: There is NO WAY that Bouncer at Panini's is Tough
The season would build off that. There is a lot to build on on Coventry Road. Characters will introduced. Nicknames will be given. Love interests will blossom. Enemies will be made.
Anyway, I would like some feedback on this topic. Let me know your thoughts whenever you feel like it.
Y LEAGUE BUZZ
I have been getting bombarded with questions about the summer session of the Y league. Who are we picking up? Who are we releasing? Who are we in negotiations with? Tyler and I have been impeccable with our word in answering the slew of questions that have been thrown at us. We are collectively exploring every avenue and player that we think can make us a better basketball team this summer and in the future. It is as simple as that.
There have been no decisions made about personnel up to this point. There have been a lot of talks about TEAM JC picking up Brendan Shuler. Wired reports actually had us close to a deal with him, that would have sent Joe Haffey to D-league. I would like to take this time right now to dismiss that rumor. We like Bub. His gaudy numbers speak for themselves. His reputation for popping off to the officials and media, and excessive fine history are an issue. We are in the midst of evaluating where he would fit on our team. We still have no clue whether he is in our plans yet both long term and short term.
Tyler and I have been really working with the belief that we are going to put a lot of guys we are interested in on 1 week contracts. In a league where there are only 4 players on the court, roster spots don't just grow on trees. We need our best team of 5, and at most 6 guys at all times. Guys are going to really have to fight and claw for minutes. Tyler and I have proven to be two of the most explosive players in the league on both ends, without question. And the thought of a team featuring two OAC journeymen who go the distance is frightening. There has been rumors that Ryan Patton caught wind of this and has decided to stay overseas in England, knowing he couldn't mess with that back court. That is why it is so pertinent to get players that understand how to play in the Y league. Per Rudy Kirbus' request, I am now officially calling on all bigs that will be in the NEO area this summer. WE HAVE A SPOT FOR YOU! Tyler Ousley, where are you? Matt Adler, where are you? Sian Cotton, where are you?
So in short, this roster is still wide open. We have some guys we have our eye on (3-4 OAC journeymen). We have some guys we have come to grips with letting go. A lot is going to happen in this April and May period before we get going in June.
John Curran
General Manager
Team JC
There have been no decisions made about personnel up to this point. There have been a lot of talks about TEAM JC picking up Brendan Shuler. Wired reports actually had us close to a deal with him, that would have sent Joe Haffey to D-league. I would like to take this time right now to dismiss that rumor. We like Bub. His gaudy numbers speak for themselves. His reputation for popping off to the officials and media, and excessive fine history are an issue. We are in the midst of evaluating where he would fit on our team. We still have no clue whether he is in our plans yet both long term and short term.
Tyler and I have been really working with the belief that we are going to put a lot of guys we are interested in on 1 week contracts. In a league where there are only 4 players on the court, roster spots don't just grow on trees. We need our best team of 5, and at most 6 guys at all times. Guys are going to really have to fight and claw for minutes. Tyler and I have proven to be two of the most explosive players in the league on both ends, without question. And the thought of a team featuring two OAC journeymen who go the distance is frightening. There has been rumors that Ryan Patton caught wind of this and has decided to stay overseas in England, knowing he couldn't mess with that back court. That is why it is so pertinent to get players that understand how to play in the Y league. Per Rudy Kirbus' request, I am now officially calling on all bigs that will be in the NEO area this summer. WE HAVE A SPOT FOR YOU! Tyler Ousley, where are you? Matt Adler, where are you? Sian Cotton, where are you?
So in short, this roster is still wide open. We have some guys we have our eye on (3-4 OAC journeymen). We have some guys we have come to grips with letting go. A lot is going to happen in this April and May period before we get going in June.
John Curran
General Manager
Team JC
3 BONES BABY!! 3 BONES!
"Don't be discouraged by a failure. It can be a positive experience. Failure is, in a sense, the highway to success, inasmuch as every discovery that is false leads us to seek earnestly after what is true, and every fresh experience points out some form of error which we shall afterwards carefully avoid." -John Keats
We’re a little more than month away from men’s opening day at country clubs all around NEO. It won’t be long before flag sticks are quivering, putts are being misread, birdies are being made (followed by a bad bogey on the next hole of course) and beers and cocktails are flowing on courses all over the Midwest.
Always around this time, I start to romanticize how this golf season is gonna be different. I think this is a natural inclination for the sorta serious player. I am a Cubs fan or a Browns fan in that sense. Right as the weather is starting to flip, I always feel like this is the summer where I’m gonna be a scratch player, and I'm never not gonna be a scratch for the rest of my playing days. Everything is gonna click at the right time, and the muscle memory will be there forever. Well this notion has yet to come to fruition.
The swing plane that I had working last Monday is nowhere to be found the following Monday. The tour reads that I was giving myself the day I shot 79, revert back to bad reads followed by a tentative stroke on a day I shoot 85. The soft draw drives on the front 9 turn into leaky fade drives on the back 9. The same 5 iron that I just smoked a hole ago where I was 196 in, leaves me 10 yards short on a 184 yard par 3. The good-feel chips that draw a "nice play" from my foursome, turn into decelerating blades that leave me with 5 foot putts, which are naturally left to right slippery testers. All of these characteristics are par for the course for most of our games. I am not alone. Nevertheless, its gonna be another good summer in Cleveland, and playing some good golf will only add to the fun. I just wanted to get the ball rolling on this golf season with a couple thoughts, goals and action plans for this summer.
I consider myself an 7 handicap. Whenever anyone asks me, I say 7. If you asked me at 2am somewhere after some pops I would be a 5, but the general answer you are gonna get from me is 7. Now, see the problem with getting down from that 7 handicap plateau is that breaking into that 6-Scratch range usually isn’t all that complicated in my opinion. ALL IT TAKES IS PLAYING A LOT OF ROUNDS. Would you guys agree with that? That is kinda my perception. If I play well well on a Monday and shoot 81 and get to play again on a Wednesday, I feel like I'm gonna be in a nice rhythm stemming from Monday and hit the ball real well from tee to green. Especially if its warm and I feel loose. It will be up to jarring some putts. The more I play, the better rhythm and feel I have. And that leads to good play tee to green.
What's your golf philosophy? What are you trying to accomplish when you go out and play? What's make playing golf fun for you? Is the game easy for you, or hard? I have a hard time answering those questions most of the time. But I love to play golf. I love to play golf in a competitive setting, dropping and playing a couple balls, and playing with my terrible friends and just drinking pops and enjoying the day.
If I had to tell you what I'm trying to do when I play, I would go with this: I wanna try to hit the ball flush tee to green. I wanna hit shots like a pro. I wanna hit a 300 yard bomb off the tee. I wanna hit a sky high soft draw into a left corner pin position. I wanna hit one of those low pitches that go "bounce bounce" and check up real quick. I wanna be rock solid on the borderline hard putts. And I wanna go to the next tee and be able to hit the exact opposite of shots I just hit with the same kind of ability. I only wanna care about how I am hitting the ball. I don't want to care about how I am scoring. It's about swinging with me. If I am swinging and hitting the ball at a high level, I hope the scoring would start to take care of itself.
But that's a hard philosophy to maintain most of the time. Idon't get to play everyday. I barely get to play once a week. And when I play, I wanna score the ball well. I wanna take 10 bucks from my buddy or Dad anyway I can do it. It's hard to play when you lifted weights the day before, or played a couple hoop games that you're still sore from. At the end of the day, a 38 where you hit the ball crappy is better than a 45 where you hit the ball great.
I guess my point is that I would urge all of you to worry about swinging and hitting the ball well. Don't feel burdened to tell someone you shot 84 when you shot 87. How did you hit it? I'm the king of "eh I shot 42 but I nuked my driver all day." It's a great feeling to say yea, I shot even par today. But for me its about flushing every drive and iron, being smart with chips and making the putts you should make.
Pressing Issues for Me:
-Hybrid---I need to fill a ocean wide gap in my bag with a 3 iron hybrid. I need something for that 220-250 zone. When I am playing well, I can hit my 4 iron 220 yards. But I'm rarely playing well. So the hybrid is the logical play. FYI: They have great used clubs at Golf Galaxy on the cheap. That's where I am gonna hunt for a hybrid, maybe even a new big bat. My dad's buddy said he's found unbelievable clubs for less than 100 bucks. An R7 Draw and Callaway Fusion hybrid might be in the plans for April.
-Grips---I will not play a round until I get new grips on my sticks. The ones on there now are the worst ever made. I grip the club hard and I basically am wearing the grips on my hands after rounds cause they are so horrible. I wanna go with the en vogue country clubber grip. I'll have to get that from a guy who plays 5 times a week.
Tips:
-Learn to play well and drink at the same time--the guys that get asked to play are the guys who can play well while they are wasted
-Play for something with your friends--play for beers, play for pushups, play for situps, play for money, play for dates with your friend's sisters--Anything that makes you focus on the task at hand
Goals for this Summer:
-Win a huge partner match with Rudy Kirbus, with him making a 30 foot + putt to win it
-Play Sandridge, Boulder Creek, Elyria, Stonewater, Weymoth, and Firestone
-Make 5 birdies in one round
-Make 2 eagles in one round
-Shoot under 75 5 times
-Drive the ball over the plaque that Eddie Hills drove it over at Fowler's Mill
-Play with Larry Joseph and keep some serious heat on him for at least 13 holes
-Hit my 4, 5,6,7 irons really well
We’re a little more than month away from men’s opening day at country clubs all around NEO. It won’t be long before flag sticks are quivering, putts are being misread, birdies are being made (followed by a bad bogey on the next hole of course) and beers and cocktails are flowing on courses all over the Midwest.
Always around this time, I start to romanticize how this golf season is gonna be different. I think this is a natural inclination for the sorta serious player. I am a Cubs fan or a Browns fan in that sense. Right as the weather is starting to flip, I always feel like this is the summer where I’m gonna be a scratch player, and I'm never not gonna be a scratch for the rest of my playing days. Everything is gonna click at the right time, and the muscle memory will be there forever. Well this notion has yet to come to fruition.
The swing plane that I had working last Monday is nowhere to be found the following Monday. The tour reads that I was giving myself the day I shot 79, revert back to bad reads followed by a tentative stroke on a day I shoot 85. The soft draw drives on the front 9 turn into leaky fade drives on the back 9. The same 5 iron that I just smoked a hole ago where I was 196 in, leaves me 10 yards short on a 184 yard par 3. The good-feel chips that draw a "nice play" from my foursome, turn into decelerating blades that leave me with 5 foot putts, which are naturally left to right slippery testers. All of these characteristics are par for the course for most of our games. I am not alone. Nevertheless, its gonna be another good summer in Cleveland, and playing some good golf will only add to the fun. I just wanted to get the ball rolling on this golf season with a couple thoughts, goals and action plans for this summer.
I consider myself an 7 handicap. Whenever anyone asks me, I say 7. If you asked me at 2am somewhere after some pops I would be a 5, but the general answer you are gonna get from me is 7. Now, see the problem with getting down from that 7 handicap plateau is that breaking into that 6-Scratch range usually isn’t all that complicated in my opinion. ALL IT TAKES IS PLAYING A LOT OF ROUNDS. Would you guys agree with that? That is kinda my perception. If I play well well on a Monday and shoot 81 and get to play again on a Wednesday, I feel like I'm gonna be in a nice rhythm stemming from Monday and hit the ball real well from tee to green. Especially if its warm and I feel loose. It will be up to jarring some putts. The more I play, the better rhythm and feel I have. And that leads to good play tee to green.
What's your golf philosophy? What are you trying to accomplish when you go out and play? What's make playing golf fun for you? Is the game easy for you, or hard? I have a hard time answering those questions most of the time. But I love to play golf. I love to play golf in a competitive setting, dropping and playing a couple balls, and playing with my terrible friends and just drinking pops and enjoying the day.
If I had to tell you what I'm trying to do when I play, I would go with this: I wanna try to hit the ball flush tee to green. I wanna hit shots like a pro. I wanna hit a 300 yard bomb off the tee. I wanna hit a sky high soft draw into a left corner pin position. I wanna hit one of those low pitches that go "bounce bounce" and check up real quick. I wanna be rock solid on the borderline hard putts. And I wanna go to the next tee and be able to hit the exact opposite of shots I just hit with the same kind of ability. I only wanna care about how I am hitting the ball. I don't want to care about how I am scoring. It's about swinging with me. If I am swinging and hitting the ball at a high level, I hope the scoring would start to take care of itself.
But that's a hard philosophy to maintain most of the time. Idon't get to play everyday. I barely get to play once a week. And when I play, I wanna score the ball well. I wanna take 10 bucks from my buddy or Dad anyway I can do it. It's hard to play when you lifted weights the day before, or played a couple hoop games that you're still sore from. At the end of the day, a 38 where you hit the ball crappy is better than a 45 where you hit the ball great.
I guess my point is that I would urge all of you to worry about swinging and hitting the ball well. Don't feel burdened to tell someone you shot 84 when you shot 87. How did you hit it? I'm the king of "eh I shot 42 but I nuked my driver all day." It's a great feeling to say yea, I shot even par today. But for me its about flushing every drive and iron, being smart with chips and making the putts you should make.
Pressing Issues for Me:
-Hybrid---I need to fill a ocean wide gap in my bag with a 3 iron hybrid. I need something for that 220-250 zone. When I am playing well, I can hit my 4 iron 220 yards. But I'm rarely playing well. So the hybrid is the logical play. FYI: They have great used clubs at Golf Galaxy on the cheap. That's where I am gonna hunt for a hybrid, maybe even a new big bat. My dad's buddy said he's found unbelievable clubs for less than 100 bucks. An R7 Draw and Callaway Fusion hybrid might be in the plans for April.
-Grips---I will not play a round until I get new grips on my sticks. The ones on there now are the worst ever made. I grip the club hard and I basically am wearing the grips on my hands after rounds cause they are so horrible. I wanna go with the en vogue country clubber grip. I'll have to get that from a guy who plays 5 times a week.
Tips:
-Learn to play well and drink at the same time--the guys that get asked to play are the guys who can play well while they are wasted
-Play for something with your friends--play for beers, play for pushups, play for situps, play for money, play for dates with your friend's sisters--Anything that makes you focus on the task at hand
Goals for this Summer:
-Win a huge partner match with Rudy Kirbus, with him making a 30 foot + putt to win it
-Play Sandridge, Boulder Creek, Elyria, Stonewater, Weymoth, and Firestone
-Make 5 birdies in one round
-Make 2 eagles in one round
-Shoot under 75 5 times
-Drive the ball over the plaque that Eddie Hills drove it over at Fowler's Mill
-Play with Larry Joseph and keep some serious heat on him for at least 13 holes
-Hit my 4, 5,6,7 irons really well
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
QUICK HITS
"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition."
-Steve Jobs
St. Patrick's Day:
I really hate St. Patrick's Day. We can really just end this thread right here. I don't like it. If you like it, that's great. I don't really know why I don't like it. I think the main reason is that it has been completely marginalized by drunk high school guys, high school sluts, college kids and college skanks. The sacredness of the Catholic holiday has been abused and infiltrated to the point where nothing good comes of it. Only bad. Like, if you get up get up early on day where you can sleep in, and the only reason you're getting up is to start drinking beer--you are a loser. I eat eggs all the time, but if you get up early on a day that you don't have to, to make eggs and dye them green--you are a loser. If you are a guy and you wear an obnoxious green outfit, hat or beads--you are a loser. I don't really know, it has just never really been a part of me. I think this holiday should be reserved for kids under 10 years old and their parents, people with full time jobs who leave work for awhile for a beer and to see the parade, and for old Irish people who love St. Patrick's Day and the parade. Those are the 4 categories of people that should be able to celebrate this holiday. The high school to college aged kids should be banned from the holiday. For college kids, everyday is St. Patrick's Day. You can do what you do on St. Patty's Day everyday if you want to. So if you want to, be my guest. But any day where the goal is to be wasted by 9am, throwing up, getting in fights, getting cuffed, getting arrested, losing your wallet, losing your cell phone, losing your friends--I don't really wanna be involved in that.
Warren Harding -6.5 v St. Edward +6.5
Big 2008 regional final rematch set to tip tomorrow night at the Wolstein Center on the campus of Cleveland State University. For both teams and coaches, it is a new and exciting game and experience, as many players from last year's epic game have moved on. For a slew of down on their luck, unemployed, morally bankrupt ass clowns from Warren, this is a huge revenge game. Although both teams are somewhat down on talent versus previous years, and battling injury plagued seasons, tomorrow's game is just another great Ohio high school playoff special.
I watched both teams play over the weekend. Harding turned up the defensive heat in the second half and got some clutch play from a guy wearing number 23 to hold off St. Ignatius at Warrensville. I would like to point out that I was wrongfully accused of cheering for St Ignatius several times in that game. And I was further ridiculed when I tongue and cheek said that Ignatius was gonna win the game easily. The truth of the matter is that I would have bet $10 dollars that Ignatius was gonna win. Anything more than that I would have obviously never done. Next, yes, I was cheering my ass off when Desmar Jackson made terrible play after terrible play and yelling at him that he was terrible because I was right by the court (is it normal for a 23 year old guy with nothing going for himself to yell at a clueless 18 year black kid cause he sucks?). Seeing that he makes 10 bad plays for every 1 good play, I was cheering every 9 times for what looked to be St. Ignatius. I have been on the record that Jackson is one of the worst players I have ever seen. I have watched him in pure amazement since he was a freshman in high school. He'll wash in and out of jucos and community colleges for the next couple years. But more than anything, I went to that game to see one of my best friends play his last high school game, just like he came to see my last high school and college games. That's really the bottom line.
St. Edward squeaked by a gritty Parma team to win the Brecksville district. This Parma team seemed like a decent story. I don't know what grades they were in, but a couple of their players were very good. Their main player was a nice driver, and seemed to be a pretty good shooter. St. Eds was lucky he was a touch off with the 3 ball, as well as 4-5 free throws. They got some 3 balls from guys that usually don't step up. Their second main player nearly put down what would have been the best dunk of the last several years, as he launched off one foot from mid key, went up to Raymar Morgan's floor and almost crushed a dunk over Zach Price. Those two guys, coupled with 2 of the best heckler fans I have heard imade the game enjoyable.
Delbert Love kept his playoff form we have become accustom to seeing it with 26 points. And trust me, they needed every one of those 26. He shot the ball beautifully, and made a couple tough driving layups, something I have been critical of when I have watched him closely. It was a great effort by him, after a couple games where he had been a little out of sorts. He's a big time player for St. Edward. Miles Hamilton had a very active second half on defense, causing turnovers, recovering steals, making deflections, and making a huge block that led to a bucket. They were really the lone bright spots for the Eagles, as they just hung tough and stayed patient. The changing defense was the key in the second half and the climax for a St. Edward fan. Those close to the program knew that a switch up was coming. Those kids from Parma had NO CLUE. Part of me felt for them.
I am gonna miss tomorrow's game unfortunately due to a class. I think its going to be an interesting game. St. Edward matches up better with Harding than Ignatius did. They also have different ways to attack you offensively, whereas Ignatius is very set in their offensive ways and values. St. Eds will also use changing defenses to keep Harding off balance. Harding is going to look to keep the game fast and keep heat on guys defensively. They want to put guys who are shaky ballhandlers in shaky positions on the floor. And quite frankly, St. Eds has had a lot of questionable ballhandlers in places where they shouldn't be.
St. Edward has to realize that Warren can only score off a long miss or a turnover. St. Ignatius plays good half court defense, no question. But I think it is more of a function of Harding having no concept of where to go with the ball to get good shots when the game slows down and they are in the half court. Buckling down, making them take and make contested jump shots, and getting the rebound to end the possesion is a key for St. Edward.
Keys For St. Edward:
-Be ready to play fast
-Be ready to be strong with the ball
-Be ready to handle the rock vs. pressure
-Make solid fundamental passes all over the court-- this is Warren Harding length and quickness, not Parma length and quickness
-Make them defend you when they are in man in the half court--move hard, cut hard, don't reverse it just for the sake of reversing it. Be a threat.
-Know where you wanna go with the ball and what shots you want to get vs. their zone
-Play their main guys as slashers, make them prove their gonna make contested 3s
-Make them throw the ball around when you're in your zone looks--these guys panic with pressure and are careless, especially Jackson
-Nothing easy for Desmar early, make him finish contested floaters--DO NOT bail him out if you think you're beat--better FT shooter than finisher
-Be ready to play that high ball screen with 23 or Jackson coming off it--the screener is a good player too, may be their best guy
-Weather their spurts, look to make heady plays to kill their momentum
-Rebound the ball hard on both ends
-Make free throws down the stretch
j.
-Steve Jobs
St. Patrick's Day:
I really hate St. Patrick's Day. We can really just end this thread right here. I don't like it. If you like it, that's great. I don't really know why I don't like it. I think the main reason is that it has been completely marginalized by drunk high school guys, high school sluts, college kids and college skanks. The sacredness of the Catholic holiday has been abused and infiltrated to the point where nothing good comes of it. Only bad. Like, if you get up get up early on day where you can sleep in, and the only reason you're getting up is to start drinking beer--you are a loser. I eat eggs all the time, but if you get up early on a day that you don't have to, to make eggs and dye them green--you are a loser. If you are a guy and you wear an obnoxious green outfit, hat or beads--you are a loser. I don't really know, it has just never really been a part of me. I think this holiday should be reserved for kids under 10 years old and their parents, people with full time jobs who leave work for awhile for a beer and to see the parade, and for old Irish people who love St. Patrick's Day and the parade. Those are the 4 categories of people that should be able to celebrate this holiday. The high school to college aged kids should be banned from the holiday. For college kids, everyday is St. Patrick's Day. You can do what you do on St. Patty's Day everyday if you want to. So if you want to, be my guest. But any day where the goal is to be wasted by 9am, throwing up, getting in fights, getting cuffed, getting arrested, losing your wallet, losing your cell phone, losing your friends--I don't really wanna be involved in that.
Warren Harding -6.5 v St. Edward +6.5
Big 2008 regional final rematch set to tip tomorrow night at the Wolstein Center on the campus of Cleveland State University. For both teams and coaches, it is a new and exciting game and experience, as many players from last year's epic game have moved on. For a slew of down on their luck, unemployed, morally bankrupt ass clowns from Warren, this is a huge revenge game. Although both teams are somewhat down on talent versus previous years, and battling injury plagued seasons, tomorrow's game is just another great Ohio high school playoff special.
I watched both teams play over the weekend. Harding turned up the defensive heat in the second half and got some clutch play from a guy wearing number 23 to hold off St. Ignatius at Warrensville. I would like to point out that I was wrongfully accused of cheering for St Ignatius several times in that game. And I was further ridiculed when I tongue and cheek said that Ignatius was gonna win the game easily. The truth of the matter is that I would have bet $10 dollars that Ignatius was gonna win. Anything more than that I would have obviously never done. Next, yes, I was cheering my ass off when Desmar Jackson made terrible play after terrible play and yelling at him that he was terrible because I was right by the court (is it normal for a 23 year old guy with nothing going for himself to yell at a clueless 18 year black kid cause he sucks?). Seeing that he makes 10 bad plays for every 1 good play, I was cheering every 9 times for what looked to be St. Ignatius. I have been on the record that Jackson is one of the worst players I have ever seen. I have watched him in pure amazement since he was a freshman in high school. He'll wash in and out of jucos and community colleges for the next couple years. But more than anything, I went to that game to see one of my best friends play his last high school game, just like he came to see my last high school and college games. That's really the bottom line.
St. Edward squeaked by a gritty Parma team to win the Brecksville district. This Parma team seemed like a decent story. I don't know what grades they were in, but a couple of their players were very good. Their main player was a nice driver, and seemed to be a pretty good shooter. St. Eds was lucky he was a touch off with the 3 ball, as well as 4-5 free throws. They got some 3 balls from guys that usually don't step up. Their second main player nearly put down what would have been the best dunk of the last several years, as he launched off one foot from mid key, went up to Raymar Morgan's floor and almost crushed a dunk over Zach Price. Those two guys, coupled with 2 of the best heckler fans I have heard imade the game enjoyable.
Delbert Love kept his playoff form we have become accustom to seeing it with 26 points. And trust me, they needed every one of those 26. He shot the ball beautifully, and made a couple tough driving layups, something I have been critical of when I have watched him closely. It was a great effort by him, after a couple games where he had been a little out of sorts. He's a big time player for St. Edward. Miles Hamilton had a very active second half on defense, causing turnovers, recovering steals, making deflections, and making a huge block that led to a bucket. They were really the lone bright spots for the Eagles, as they just hung tough and stayed patient. The changing defense was the key in the second half and the climax for a St. Edward fan. Those close to the program knew that a switch up was coming. Those kids from Parma had NO CLUE. Part of me felt for them.
I am gonna miss tomorrow's game unfortunately due to a class. I think its going to be an interesting game. St. Edward matches up better with Harding than Ignatius did. They also have different ways to attack you offensively, whereas Ignatius is very set in their offensive ways and values. St. Eds will also use changing defenses to keep Harding off balance. Harding is going to look to keep the game fast and keep heat on guys defensively. They want to put guys who are shaky ballhandlers in shaky positions on the floor. And quite frankly, St. Eds has had a lot of questionable ballhandlers in places where they shouldn't be.
St. Edward has to realize that Warren can only score off a long miss or a turnover. St. Ignatius plays good half court defense, no question. But I think it is more of a function of Harding having no concept of where to go with the ball to get good shots when the game slows down and they are in the half court. Buckling down, making them take and make contested jump shots, and getting the rebound to end the possesion is a key for St. Edward.
Keys For St. Edward:
-Be ready to play fast
-Be ready to be strong with the ball
-Be ready to handle the rock vs. pressure
-Make solid fundamental passes all over the court-- this is Warren Harding length and quickness, not Parma length and quickness
-Make them defend you when they are in man in the half court--move hard, cut hard, don't reverse it just for the sake of reversing it. Be a threat.
-Know where you wanna go with the ball and what shots you want to get vs. their zone
-Play their main guys as slashers, make them prove their gonna make contested 3s
-Make them throw the ball around when you're in your zone looks--these guys panic with pressure and are careless, especially Jackson
-Nothing easy for Desmar early, make him finish contested floaters--DO NOT bail him out if you think you're beat--better FT shooter than finisher
-Be ready to play that high ball screen with 23 or Jackson coming off it--the screener is a good player too, may be their best guy
-Weather their spurts, look to make heady plays to kill their momentum
-Rebound the ball hard on both ends
-Make free throws down the stretch
j.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
QUESTIONS
"Mental is to physical, as 4 is to 1." - Robert Montgomery Knight
“I will act now. I will act now. I will act now. Henceforth, I will repeat these words each hour, each day, everyday, until the words become as much a habit as my breathing, and the action which follows becomes as instinctive as the blinking of my eyelids. With these words I can condition my mind to perform every action necessary for my success. … I will act now for now is all I have. Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labor of the lazy. I am not lazy. Tomorrow is the day when the failure will succeed. I am not a failure. I will act now. Success will not wait. If I delay, success will become wed to another and lost to me forever. This is the time. This is the place. I am the person.” - Og Mandino
EXPLAIN TO ME, HOW BUTLER AND DAYTON ARE LOCKS TO GO TO THE TOURNEY?
That was a great win last night for Cleveland State against Butler. Hats off to Gary Waters and those guys for punching their ticket. It's great for Cleveland. Thank God they didn't do the unthinkable and blow 3 games in one season to one team. But, well deserved for those guys. I have played against those guys. I think all those guys on that team stink. But they work hard, they really get after it on defense, and they play for their coach. You can't knock that too hard. Cedric Jackson can play a little bit when he gets it going huh? And I am not convinced they are done. I think them knocking off a team in the first round is very much in the question. They draw a 13 seed, maybe even a 12, you're telling me they can't hold a team to 58 and have a chance to win it with a bucket late? If I'm a marginal offensive team, I don't wanna see them.
I like Butler a lot, especially over the last two seasons. Mike Green. AJ Graves. Pete Campbell. Those guys were just high skill level, gritty, tough awesome players. And those guys were beating anybody at any time other than a couple teams. I like Brad Stevens. I like his demeanor and style. I think he's way overrated. I think he had a great teacher in Todd Lickliter, and he's still riding a serious momentum wave Lickliter created visa vi set plays, practices and recruiting hotbeds. Nevertheless he's very good. Probably in the third tier of great coaches if you were slotting him. He's real smart. He's an operator. He's got good guys around him too because the freshman they have are outstanding. They lured Matt Howard away from a couple big ten schools to play. He's a very nice post player. And this year they get Mack, Nored, and Gordon Hayward, along with that 6'8 bruiser who came in cold and laced an 18 footer in Chris Moore's grill on his second possession. But those first 3 guys can play in any league, much less the horizon league. Mack and Nored are physical and quick, can grab key on offense, and get in the lanes on defense. They rebound the crap outta the ball too. Hayward is a high skill player. Very cerebral shooter and passer. Mailed it in a little bit last night but was 4th in the league in scoring. So you get those 4 guys, with Howard a year ahead. That's a pretty good effort. We'll see if they can keep getting studs.
Praise aside, I just don't understand how they are a consensus lock to be an at large team. Who have they beaten? Who have they played? I wasn't really sure so I did a little work on it this morning:
28-5
RPI: 21
SOS: 84 (CSU 83)
Key Wins: at Bradley, at Xavier, vs. Northwestern
Key Losses: at Ohio State, at Loyola, at Green Bay
Not exactly a stone cold case in my opinion. They beat Xavier right after they got their hearts ripped out by Duke by about 100 points on national Tv. Bradley isn't as rugged as they usually are. And the Bucks are a 10 seed. They didn't close the deal on their home court. Plain and simple. I think they should be firmly on the bubble.
Lets move to the Dayton Flyers. Spoke to my buddy DJ Mocini the other day. He's the grad assistant for the Flyers. He of course, made a strong case about how they are in, how they have played their way to an at large bid and all things holy about their coaches and players. Might be true might not be true. But first, did anyone catch marcus johnsons dunk last week at Xavier? If you didn’t, you might wanna try link if it works. Filled the right lane, gotta great pass, took off from way outside the right key off 1 foot and hammered a one hand Lebron patented dunk. It was nasty. But here's Dayton:
25-6, 11-5 in the A10
SOS: 88
RPI: 23
Key Wins: Marquette neutral floor, at Auburn
Key Losses: at Creighton (not a tourney team), at St Louis, at Rhode Island at X at Charlotte
That Marquette win is a little suspect because it was at a tip off tournament and they have fallen off the grid the last few weeks. Auburn is the hottest team in the country right now, so that is perhaps a good win but mostly isn't. Again, this is a team that I don't think should be a lock to get in. They haven't beaten anyone. They're terrible on the road. They have no distinctive strengths. They just rocked out at home in front of the Flyer faithful.
I think it is very hard to be objective with selecting at large teams. But more than anything, you can't put teams in because you think they can get a couple wins. You can't put Butler in because they have been the darlings of the tourney the last couple years, and have a great offensive scheme. If Davidson were on the bubble, you can't put them in because they have Curry and Bob McKillop is their coach. You can't put Dayton in automatically because their tough and play good defense. It goes the same way. You can't put Providence in because they have 10 wins in the Big East. It's who did you beat? Who did you play? I think I am starting to bury my point here a little so Iam gonna jump off.
WHO IS THE UTAH JAZZ'S PLAYER PERSONNEL GUY?
I was watching the Jazz the other night at about 1am, and it just kinda hit me: Who is the guy making the player decisions? Cause whoever this guy is, has been right on the money for about 5 years. Williams. AK 47. Ronnie Brewer. Paul Millsap. CJ Miles. Ronnie Price. Sign Booze. Sign Okur. Sign Harpering. Trade for Korver. The GM's name is Kevin O'Connor. If he's the boss, then he's done a pretty good job. The obvious suspect is Jerry Sloan. One of the best NBA guys ever. The one terrible move they made recently was waiving Gerry McNamara in mini-camp. If he's on the team, they're not sleepers to get to the Finals this year, they are favorites.
“I will act now. I will act now. I will act now. Henceforth, I will repeat these words each hour, each day, everyday, until the words become as much a habit as my breathing, and the action which follows becomes as instinctive as the blinking of my eyelids. With these words I can condition my mind to perform every action necessary for my success. … I will act now for now is all I have. Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labor of the lazy. I am not lazy. Tomorrow is the day when the failure will succeed. I am not a failure. I will act now. Success will not wait. If I delay, success will become wed to another and lost to me forever. This is the time. This is the place. I am the person.” - Og Mandino
EXPLAIN TO ME, HOW BUTLER AND DAYTON ARE LOCKS TO GO TO THE TOURNEY?
That was a great win last night for Cleveland State against Butler. Hats off to Gary Waters and those guys for punching their ticket. It's great for Cleveland. Thank God they didn't do the unthinkable and blow 3 games in one season to one team. But, well deserved for those guys. I have played against those guys. I think all those guys on that team stink. But they work hard, they really get after it on defense, and they play for their coach. You can't knock that too hard. Cedric Jackson can play a little bit when he gets it going huh? And I am not convinced they are done. I think them knocking off a team in the first round is very much in the question. They draw a 13 seed, maybe even a 12, you're telling me they can't hold a team to 58 and have a chance to win it with a bucket late? If I'm a marginal offensive team, I don't wanna see them.
I like Butler a lot, especially over the last two seasons. Mike Green. AJ Graves. Pete Campbell. Those guys were just high skill level, gritty, tough awesome players. And those guys were beating anybody at any time other than a couple teams. I like Brad Stevens. I like his demeanor and style. I think he's way overrated. I think he had a great teacher in Todd Lickliter, and he's still riding a serious momentum wave Lickliter created visa vi set plays, practices and recruiting hotbeds. Nevertheless he's very good. Probably in the third tier of great coaches if you were slotting him. He's real smart. He's an operator. He's got good guys around him too because the freshman they have are outstanding. They lured Matt Howard away from a couple big ten schools to play. He's a very nice post player. And this year they get Mack, Nored, and Gordon Hayward, along with that 6'8 bruiser who came in cold and laced an 18 footer in Chris Moore's grill on his second possession. But those first 3 guys can play in any league, much less the horizon league. Mack and Nored are physical and quick, can grab key on offense, and get in the lanes on defense. They rebound the crap outta the ball too. Hayward is a high skill player. Very cerebral shooter and passer. Mailed it in a little bit last night but was 4th in the league in scoring. So you get those 4 guys, with Howard a year ahead. That's a pretty good effort. We'll see if they can keep getting studs.
Praise aside, I just don't understand how they are a consensus lock to be an at large team. Who have they beaten? Who have they played? I wasn't really sure so I did a little work on it this morning:
28-5
RPI: 21
SOS: 84 (CSU 83)
Key Wins: at Bradley, at Xavier, vs. Northwestern
Key Losses: at Ohio State, at Loyola, at Green Bay
Not exactly a stone cold case in my opinion. They beat Xavier right after they got their hearts ripped out by Duke by about 100 points on national Tv. Bradley isn't as rugged as they usually are. And the Bucks are a 10 seed. They didn't close the deal on their home court. Plain and simple. I think they should be firmly on the bubble.
Lets move to the Dayton Flyers. Spoke to my buddy DJ Mocini the other day. He's the grad assistant for the Flyers. He of course, made a strong case about how they are in, how they have played their way to an at large bid and all things holy about their coaches and players. Might be true might not be true. But first, did anyone catch marcus johnsons dunk last week at Xavier? If you didn’t, you might wanna try link if it works. Filled the right lane, gotta great pass, took off from way outside the right key off 1 foot and hammered a one hand Lebron patented dunk. It was nasty. But here's Dayton:
25-6, 11-5 in the A10
SOS: 88
RPI: 23
Key Wins: Marquette neutral floor, at Auburn
Key Losses: at Creighton (not a tourney team), at St Louis, at Rhode Island at X at Charlotte
That Marquette win is a little suspect because it was at a tip off tournament and they have fallen off the grid the last few weeks. Auburn is the hottest team in the country right now, so that is perhaps a good win but mostly isn't. Again, this is a team that I don't think should be a lock to get in. They haven't beaten anyone. They're terrible on the road. They have no distinctive strengths. They just rocked out at home in front of the Flyer faithful.
I think it is very hard to be objective with selecting at large teams. But more than anything, you can't put teams in because you think they can get a couple wins. You can't put Butler in because they have been the darlings of the tourney the last couple years, and have a great offensive scheme. If Davidson were on the bubble, you can't put them in because they have Curry and Bob McKillop is their coach. You can't put Dayton in automatically because their tough and play good defense. It goes the same way. You can't put Providence in because they have 10 wins in the Big East. It's who did you beat? Who did you play? I think I am starting to bury my point here a little so Iam gonna jump off.
WHO IS THE UTAH JAZZ'S PLAYER PERSONNEL GUY?
I was watching the Jazz the other night at about 1am, and it just kinda hit me: Who is the guy making the player decisions? Cause whoever this guy is, has been right on the money for about 5 years. Williams. AK 47. Ronnie Brewer. Paul Millsap. CJ Miles. Ronnie Price. Sign Booze. Sign Okur. Sign Harpering. Trade for Korver. The GM's name is Kevin O'Connor. If he's the boss, then he's done a pretty good job. The obvious suspect is Jerry Sloan. One of the best NBA guys ever. The one terrible move they made recently was waiving Gerry McNamara in mini-camp. If he's on the team, they're not sleepers to get to the Finals this year, they are favorites.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
MYSTERY IN THE NUMBERS
I'm not surprised that I was absolutely all over the post season OAC awards. The oac preview I posted before the season was right on the money, almost a carbon copy, furthering my reputation as the most knowledgeable OAC mind going right now. And that’s a very sad commentary on my life, by the way. You don’t wanna be able to predict how the league is gonna finish and you don’t wanna be able to name 11 outta 12 names on the first two teams and a hand full of the honorable mentions. You don’t wanna be able to predict that Trevor Scott (average player) is gonna make the first team. Its just the OAC journeymen inside of me I guess, and the ability to be a scary judge of talent.
To be honest, I was pretty surprised Nate Stahl racked his 2nd OAC player of the year award earlier this week. I was never sold on him playing against him, and have continued to be very skeptical watching him closely twice this year. I question a lot of things about him, mainly how hard he plays. I have just never seen him play on anything less than cruise control. I know that's just how he is, and how his body language naturally looks, but I think its pretty visible to guys who play against him and are bumping and moving with him all game that he's never going 110. I don't think the guys from Heidelberg have been sitting around drinking, and Jim Smalley just blurts out, "wow, Stahl plays his ass off huh?" I have also never seen him make a hard dribble move to the basket. The guy can't dribble. You can count on one hand how many times he's driven from the top of the key to bucket and finished a contested layup. Nevertheless, as Terry Walsh has said "he could be the best shooter in the country though", and he proved that two years ago leading the country in 3 point shooting. He also defends pretty well because he is so long, and he goes after and gets a lot of rebounds when he wants to. He is also a sneaky dunker. And I hate those guys who act like they can't dunk when in reality they do a cool looking two hand smash.
You could have done a lot worse than picking Nate Stahl again. I was very surprised they did not pick Ryan Wood. He was a senior who had a great stat and high percentage year, and has arguably been the better player of the two over the last couple years. He's much more intense and aggressive offensively. He can also put it on the floor, grab some key and cause some damage. Both of those guys though had a very funny way of just totally backing off and disappearing down the stretch of close games. And that's kind of a weird thing to me. These guys are really really good, yet none of them want anything to do with the ball late in games. Neither of them wanna shoot. Neither wanna take their guy off the dribble and draw a foul. Its gotta have something to do with their coach and how they have been coached. Maybe they just stress team, team, 5 guys no matter what at Capital. I know I am going off about 10-12 games that i have played or watched in against those two guys, but even in scouting reports in the past, you have seen stat trends that these guys went AWOL for long stretches of games. Ryan Wood scoreless in this year's semi-final. Nate Stahl, 10 points in this year's chip. Anyway, let's move on.
I thought Justin Gaines was a huge reach for the first team. I did not see him play this season, and just looking at box scores from time to time, didn’t think he was any different than he has been in previous seasons. My buddy from Wilmington who is also a coach assured me that he played very well this year, playing under control and didn't force many shots. If that is true, then it becomes much less of a reach, cause Gaines is a real good player and athlete.
Big ups to Big Rude for representing John Carroll on the first team. He had a great season, shot a high percentage, and led a great team to regular season and tournament titles. He continued to show that fitness level has nothing to do with being a good OAC player, or any player for that matter aside from possibly the NBA. Its about being better mentally and being the toughest guy in the last 4 minutes. It's about having the balls and the confidence to take shots and go to the basket and make free throws. And Rudy has that more than a lot of guys who have played around here over the years.
Maurice Haynes had another very solid year. I am pretty confident that he will find himself on the first team next season. Chris Zajac was the third and final John Carroll rep on the post season awards. Chris had a phenomenal year, including the 10 game terror that he is currently on where he has arguably been the best player in the league in all areas. He should have been an easy second team pick.
And that’s what I don’t really understand about how they set these teams. You're trying to tell me that Brian Pollock is one of the 12 best players in that league? You gotta be kidding me right? That kid can't play. He would barely get burn on Ohio Northern, much less Wilmington Carroll and Cap. What he does do well is score ½ a point per minute on the shittiest team in the league. I mean, you can't be serious with that pick. Anyone who is good in this league can score 20 points in 40 minutes taking unlimited shots for a terrible team. Are we in agreement on that? You put me on Otterbein this season, give me the ball, play me 40 minutes a game, give me free reign to shoot when I feel I have a good look or advantage situation, and without a shadow of doubt in my mind I would average 24.1 points per game especially in a year where the league was down a little. How can anyone vote for him then? There is no coach except Ricky Reynolds who would take him. Are you trying to tell me that Coach Hunt from Wilmington takes Pollock over King Zaj? ABSOLUTELY NOT. These are stats driven awards. They in no way reveal who can really play the game in this league. The fact that there were like 10 guys from Marietta in the mentions was a travesty. Never saw them play, but come on you're rewarding 3 or 4 guys for going .500 in a year where the league was way down. The Marietta game is a game where you go out the night before smoke, drink, get arrested, don’t sleep and still win by 20-30. This year you could drink, and still win by a 10. JOSH CALVER? LET'S BE SERIOUS. Here are my season awards:
First Team:
Meyer
Wood
Stahl
Kirbus
Haynes
Bene
Second Team:
Scott
Gaines
Rogers
Switzer
Zajac
Crozier
Honorable Mentions:
Q. Mitchell
Kurtis Brown
Casey Brown
Corey Shontz
Tyler Kircsh
Brian Dandrea
Tyler Ledford
Trevor Halter
Kevin Knabb
Brian Pollock
To be honest, I was pretty surprised Nate Stahl racked his 2nd OAC player of the year award earlier this week. I was never sold on him playing against him, and have continued to be very skeptical watching him closely twice this year. I question a lot of things about him, mainly how hard he plays. I have just never seen him play on anything less than cruise control. I know that's just how he is, and how his body language naturally looks, but I think its pretty visible to guys who play against him and are bumping and moving with him all game that he's never going 110. I don't think the guys from Heidelberg have been sitting around drinking, and Jim Smalley just blurts out, "wow, Stahl plays his ass off huh?" I have also never seen him make a hard dribble move to the basket. The guy can't dribble. You can count on one hand how many times he's driven from the top of the key to bucket and finished a contested layup. Nevertheless, as Terry Walsh has said "he could be the best shooter in the country though", and he proved that two years ago leading the country in 3 point shooting. He also defends pretty well because he is so long, and he goes after and gets a lot of rebounds when he wants to. He is also a sneaky dunker. And I hate those guys who act like they can't dunk when in reality they do a cool looking two hand smash.
You could have done a lot worse than picking Nate Stahl again. I was very surprised they did not pick Ryan Wood. He was a senior who had a great stat and high percentage year, and has arguably been the better player of the two over the last couple years. He's much more intense and aggressive offensively. He can also put it on the floor, grab some key and cause some damage. Both of those guys though had a very funny way of just totally backing off and disappearing down the stretch of close games. And that's kind of a weird thing to me. These guys are really really good, yet none of them want anything to do with the ball late in games. Neither of them wanna shoot. Neither wanna take their guy off the dribble and draw a foul. Its gotta have something to do with their coach and how they have been coached. Maybe they just stress team, team, 5 guys no matter what at Capital. I know I am going off about 10-12 games that i have played or watched in against those two guys, but even in scouting reports in the past, you have seen stat trends that these guys went AWOL for long stretches of games. Ryan Wood scoreless in this year's semi-final. Nate Stahl, 10 points in this year's chip. Anyway, let's move on.
I thought Justin Gaines was a huge reach for the first team. I did not see him play this season, and just looking at box scores from time to time, didn’t think he was any different than he has been in previous seasons. My buddy from Wilmington who is also a coach assured me that he played very well this year, playing under control and didn't force many shots. If that is true, then it becomes much less of a reach, cause Gaines is a real good player and athlete.
Big ups to Big Rude for representing John Carroll on the first team. He had a great season, shot a high percentage, and led a great team to regular season and tournament titles. He continued to show that fitness level has nothing to do with being a good OAC player, or any player for that matter aside from possibly the NBA. Its about being better mentally and being the toughest guy in the last 4 minutes. It's about having the balls and the confidence to take shots and go to the basket and make free throws. And Rudy has that more than a lot of guys who have played around here over the years.
Maurice Haynes had another very solid year. I am pretty confident that he will find himself on the first team next season. Chris Zajac was the third and final John Carroll rep on the post season awards. Chris had a phenomenal year, including the 10 game terror that he is currently on where he has arguably been the best player in the league in all areas. He should have been an easy second team pick.
And that’s what I don’t really understand about how they set these teams. You're trying to tell me that Brian Pollock is one of the 12 best players in that league? You gotta be kidding me right? That kid can't play. He would barely get burn on Ohio Northern, much less Wilmington Carroll and Cap. What he does do well is score ½ a point per minute on the shittiest team in the league. I mean, you can't be serious with that pick. Anyone who is good in this league can score 20 points in 40 minutes taking unlimited shots for a terrible team. Are we in agreement on that? You put me on Otterbein this season, give me the ball, play me 40 minutes a game, give me free reign to shoot when I feel I have a good look or advantage situation, and without a shadow of doubt in my mind I would average 24.1 points per game especially in a year where the league was down a little. How can anyone vote for him then? There is no coach except Ricky Reynolds who would take him. Are you trying to tell me that Coach Hunt from Wilmington takes Pollock over King Zaj? ABSOLUTELY NOT. These are stats driven awards. They in no way reveal who can really play the game in this league. The fact that there were like 10 guys from Marietta in the mentions was a travesty. Never saw them play, but come on you're rewarding 3 or 4 guys for going .500 in a year where the league was way down. The Marietta game is a game where you go out the night before smoke, drink, get arrested, don’t sleep and still win by 20-30. This year you could drink, and still win by a 10. JOSH CALVER? LET'S BE SERIOUS. Here are my season awards:
First Team:
Meyer
Wood
Stahl
Kirbus
Haynes
Bene
Second Team:
Scott
Gaines
Rogers
Switzer
Zajac
Crozier
Honorable Mentions:
Q. Mitchell
Kurtis Brown
Casey Brown
Corey Shontz
Tyler Kircsh
Brian Dandrea
Tyler Ledford
Trevor Halter
Kevin Knabb
Brian Pollock
Quick Thoughts
The Fray
The Fray released their long-awaited second album last week (self titled). Their first album How to Save a Life was phenomenal, and arrived on the scene in '05. It was a very strong debut album to say the least. Well, this album is great too peeps. Its awesome. I have been listening to it non-stop on my way to and from work. It's the best part of my day. Hard to top, let alone match the stuff on their first disc, but this album offers consistently good stuff 1-10. I am a pretty easy target though. I fancy myself as the singer/songwriter/guitar player in a past life or the next. I like their lyrics and what they sing about. I like guys like Jack Johnson and even to some degree John Mayer, who write about trying to get girls, and love, and finding love, and getting crushed by girls and then picking themselves up to try to finding another one. Their lyrics speak to me in a charm that they may not to speak to others with. The piano game is high level and relaxing, and I like the guys in the band and their style. Anyway, long story short, if you take a girl to a Fray concert this summer, you're gonna get laid, plain and simple, so plan on it.
The Cavs
Joe Smith cleared waivers late Sunday night, and the Cavs were able to mid-level exception him for what looks to be a championship stretch run. The Cavs continue to be lights out, rarely mailing in games and seemingly totally locking up teams defensively (I think so, but can't really tell). And rightly so, right? I mean, teams don't win at Quicken Loans Arena. Home court is historically one of the major, major correlators with winning the NBA title. They have to stay healthy and focused down the stretch. I think Boston will be hard pressed to keep pace with them in this last couple weeks. I think they think they are good enough and tough enough to beat Cleveland without home court this season. Make no mistake, they desperately want it, but are more concerned about KG's knee, Ray Allen's ankle and PP's back. (I like Mikki Moore. I think that was a sneaky good pickup. He gets up for games, is intense, is long, and has played well in the playoffs before). The real question is are we gonna get home court over the Lake Show, or are they gonna keep pace and/or win more games than the Cavs.
Joe Smith is fine. He'll fill his role well and do his job just fine. I was a proponent of trying to go with the Drew Gooden play instead. And I think Danny Ferry was thinking about pulling that trigger too, from the little I have read. It was a chemistry move. It was the move LeBron wanted done. So it was done, plain and simple. But for some people I know to completely denounce Drew Gooden, and be so set on Joe Smith is silly. Really? You want the worse player? You want the lifelong underachieving tweener who shoots baseline 15 footers? You wanna passive guy on the back end of his career, WHO WAS DEAD SET ON PLAYING IN BOSTON THIS YEAR, ONLY THEY THOUGHT MIKKI MOORE WAS THE BETTER OPTION? I dunno about that. Don't get me wrong. Drew Gooden stinks too. He's just better than Joe Smith. He's bigger, stronger, more active, and a better rebounder on both ends. He is averaging 11 and 8 this year on 48% shooting from the field and 86% from the stripe. His PER has easily been higher than Joe Smith's the last couple years according to Hollinger. He takes over Ben Wallace's role and adds more value to the team, Joe Smith only augments Ben's role and they split minutes. The only problem with Drew is that he likes to shoot way too much. He subscribes to the "Hey, I got a put back layup, 3 rebounds and block, and I have had good energy, but I haven't touched the ball the last 5 possessions, so if I get it I'm gonna shoot jumpers 2 outta the next 3 possesions" mentality. I'm sure most Cavs fans only remember Drew for taking those ugly looking foul line and short corner jumpers that led to expletives coming from all 3 couches in the house. They don't remember the many 14 and 14 nights with 8 offensive rebounds. They don't remember the adequate defense on a defensive minded team that made it to the finals 3 years ago. They don't remember the 11 and 8 on 50% shooting in the NBA Finals. Look, Joe Smith is great, and he's gonna do the job that he needs to do. The Cavs are in GREAT FREEKING SHAPE whether they did that deal or not. But let's be objective with our analysis. It's all Gooden.
The Browns
The Mangenius is cleaning house. Him and George Kokinis are putting their stamp on this organization. That's fine with me. It's a step in the right direction. I'm curious about a couple things. And I have a couple names.
I would love to know if we were active in trying to get Matt Cassell. I hope the answer is a resounding yes. I doubt it was, but I would have traded that pick we got from Tampa, along with another piece to try to get him. The Browns have big issues at quarterback. I don't think that's any secret. It's a question that Mangini has been very mum on, and looks like he will continue to be mum on. I hope it's because he's trying feverishly to try to get someone in here that he likes.
Poor Brady Quinn. You kinda gotta feel for the guy. He might end up getting his shot. And for intents and purposes, that might not be a bad idea. But in no way shape or form would I be betting on him to have a big year. He's just not the guy to me. He's terribly inaccurate and always has been. He can't that deep out. He can't throw that deep seam route. He has really only shown that he can hit the check guy, or hit a 5 yard pass on 3rd and 7. Even in the couple of games he played last year, he was under 50% and made no big time throws. Put another way, I have never heard anybody that knows say anything positive about him. I have never heard Jaws say anything about him. I have never heard Collinsworth say anything about him. Michael Lombardi ripped him today in his blog post. Mangenius backhanded him last year in one way or the other on a couple occasions. In closing, if he's the guy, why hasn't Mangini come out and say he is yet? Why haven't they cut DA, when he has a $5mm roster bonus coming in 10 days? You just can't be uncertain about the quarterback position in the NFL. It's the only position in the league that matters. THE COACH AND THE QUARTERBACK ARE THE ONLY IMPORTANT THINGS IN THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE. Plain and simple. The Vikings have had the #1 rush offense and a top 3 rush defense the last two seasons, and in 07 they watched the playoffs on TV, and in 08 they snuck in and got housed by Philly.
We know those for certain that those two shmucks don't handle pressure very well. And a controversy throughout training camp, where someone wins the job is gonna suck and be ugly. It's good for the Plain Dealer. It's bad for the Browns.
Back to Cassell. I am pretty sold on that guy as a franchise quarterback. He just seems like he has that it quality. I mean, the biggest guy in the game, Tom Brady, gets hurt in the first quarter for the best team in the league. And Cassell steps in, wins that veteran locker room over, plays very well, and leads them to an 11-5 record. If that's not it, I don't know what is. We're gonna see very soon if that comes to fruition. I could be wrong. But the guys that know (Jaws, Collinsworth, Lombardi, Hodge) have watched him with a microscope, and they love him. They think he's great. The guys that don't know, the guys that are gonna read this post and be mad are the guys that are saying "Gee wiz, thats the Hoody and McDaniel doing all that, it's not Cassell." They have a point too. There is case and points all over this Earth that prove that out (see: Romeo, Charlie Weiss, Mangenius to a degree, possibly McDaniel but I'll be working for him soon so I'm hoping he bucks that trend). There has gotta be something to this guy if McDaniel is trying to trade for him when he's got the sexiest QB in the league Jay Cutler on his team. Everyone wanted him. I hope the Browns did too.
Couple suggestions for the Browns:
-Trade Brady Quinn
-Cut Brady Quinn
-Play Quinn every game unless he gets hurt
-Cut DA
-Sign a veteran, knows his role backup (Damon Huard)
-Trade Derek Anderson
-Cut Derek Anderson before March 15th
-Play DA the whole way
-Trade or cut Brady Quinn
-Trade for Tyler Thigpen (Jaws has liked him, Lombardi likes him, throws the ball all over the yard, young guy, showed big flashes)
-Trade Quinn
-Trade or cut DA
-Sign a veteran backup
-Sign WR Lance Moore (I'll let you look him up, sneaky good player)
-Trade down on that 5th pick
The Fray released their long-awaited second album last week (self titled). Their first album How to Save a Life was phenomenal, and arrived on the scene in '05. It was a very strong debut album to say the least. Well, this album is great too peeps. Its awesome. I have been listening to it non-stop on my way to and from work. It's the best part of my day. Hard to top, let alone match the stuff on their first disc, but this album offers consistently good stuff 1-10. I am a pretty easy target though. I fancy myself as the singer/songwriter/guitar player in a past life or the next. I like their lyrics and what they sing about. I like guys like Jack Johnson and even to some degree John Mayer, who write about trying to get girls, and love, and finding love, and getting crushed by girls and then picking themselves up to try to finding another one. Their lyrics speak to me in a charm that they may not to speak to others with. The piano game is high level and relaxing, and I like the guys in the band and their style. Anyway, long story short, if you take a girl to a Fray concert this summer, you're gonna get laid, plain and simple, so plan on it.
The Cavs
Joe Smith cleared waivers late Sunday night, and the Cavs were able to mid-level exception him for what looks to be a championship stretch run. The Cavs continue to be lights out, rarely mailing in games and seemingly totally locking up teams defensively (I think so, but can't really tell). And rightly so, right? I mean, teams don't win at Quicken Loans Arena. Home court is historically one of the major, major correlators with winning the NBA title. They have to stay healthy and focused down the stretch. I think Boston will be hard pressed to keep pace with them in this last couple weeks. I think they think they are good enough and tough enough to beat Cleveland without home court this season. Make no mistake, they desperately want it, but are more concerned about KG's knee, Ray Allen's ankle and PP's back. (I like Mikki Moore. I think that was a sneaky good pickup. He gets up for games, is intense, is long, and has played well in the playoffs before). The real question is are we gonna get home court over the Lake Show, or are they gonna keep pace and/or win more games than the Cavs.
Joe Smith is fine. He'll fill his role well and do his job just fine. I was a proponent of trying to go with the Drew Gooden play instead. And I think Danny Ferry was thinking about pulling that trigger too, from the little I have read. It was a chemistry move. It was the move LeBron wanted done. So it was done, plain and simple. But for some people I know to completely denounce Drew Gooden, and be so set on Joe Smith is silly. Really? You want the worse player? You want the lifelong underachieving tweener who shoots baseline 15 footers? You wanna passive guy on the back end of his career, WHO WAS DEAD SET ON PLAYING IN BOSTON THIS YEAR, ONLY THEY THOUGHT MIKKI MOORE WAS THE BETTER OPTION? I dunno about that. Don't get me wrong. Drew Gooden stinks too. He's just better than Joe Smith. He's bigger, stronger, more active, and a better rebounder on both ends. He is averaging 11 and 8 this year on 48% shooting from the field and 86% from the stripe. His PER has easily been higher than Joe Smith's the last couple years according to Hollinger. He takes over Ben Wallace's role and adds more value to the team, Joe Smith only augments Ben's role and they split minutes. The only problem with Drew is that he likes to shoot way too much. He subscribes to the "Hey, I got a put back layup, 3 rebounds and block, and I have had good energy, but I haven't touched the ball the last 5 possessions, so if I get it I'm gonna shoot jumpers 2 outta the next 3 possesions" mentality. I'm sure most Cavs fans only remember Drew for taking those ugly looking foul line and short corner jumpers that led to expletives coming from all 3 couches in the house. They don't remember the many 14 and 14 nights with 8 offensive rebounds. They don't remember the adequate defense on a defensive minded team that made it to the finals 3 years ago. They don't remember the 11 and 8 on 50% shooting in the NBA Finals. Look, Joe Smith is great, and he's gonna do the job that he needs to do. The Cavs are in GREAT FREEKING SHAPE whether they did that deal or not. But let's be objective with our analysis. It's all Gooden.
The Browns
The Mangenius is cleaning house. Him and George Kokinis are putting their stamp on this organization. That's fine with me. It's a step in the right direction. I'm curious about a couple things. And I have a couple names.
I would love to know if we were active in trying to get Matt Cassell. I hope the answer is a resounding yes. I doubt it was, but I would have traded that pick we got from Tampa, along with another piece to try to get him. The Browns have big issues at quarterback. I don't think that's any secret. It's a question that Mangini has been very mum on, and looks like he will continue to be mum on. I hope it's because he's trying feverishly to try to get someone in here that he likes.
Poor Brady Quinn. You kinda gotta feel for the guy. He might end up getting his shot. And for intents and purposes, that might not be a bad idea. But in no way shape or form would I be betting on him to have a big year. He's just not the guy to me. He's terribly inaccurate and always has been. He can't that deep out. He can't throw that deep seam route. He has really only shown that he can hit the check guy, or hit a 5 yard pass on 3rd and 7. Even in the couple of games he played last year, he was under 50% and made no big time throws. Put another way, I have never heard anybody that knows say anything positive about him. I have never heard Jaws say anything about him. I have never heard Collinsworth say anything about him. Michael Lombardi ripped him today in his blog post. Mangenius backhanded him last year in one way or the other on a couple occasions. In closing, if he's the guy, why hasn't Mangini come out and say he is yet? Why haven't they cut DA, when he has a $5mm roster bonus coming in 10 days? You just can't be uncertain about the quarterback position in the NFL. It's the only position in the league that matters. THE COACH AND THE QUARTERBACK ARE THE ONLY IMPORTANT THINGS IN THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE. Plain and simple. The Vikings have had the #1 rush offense and a top 3 rush defense the last two seasons, and in 07 they watched the playoffs on TV, and in 08 they snuck in and got housed by Philly.
We know those for certain that those two shmucks don't handle pressure very well. And a controversy throughout training camp, where someone wins the job is gonna suck and be ugly. It's good for the Plain Dealer. It's bad for the Browns.
Back to Cassell. I am pretty sold on that guy as a franchise quarterback. He just seems like he has that it quality. I mean, the biggest guy in the game, Tom Brady, gets hurt in the first quarter for the best team in the league. And Cassell steps in, wins that veteran locker room over, plays very well, and leads them to an 11-5 record. If that's not it, I don't know what is. We're gonna see very soon if that comes to fruition. I could be wrong. But the guys that know (Jaws, Collinsworth, Lombardi, Hodge) have watched him with a microscope, and they love him. They think he's great. The guys that don't know, the guys that are gonna read this post and be mad are the guys that are saying "Gee wiz, thats the Hoody and McDaniel doing all that, it's not Cassell." They have a point too. There is case and points all over this Earth that prove that out (see: Romeo, Charlie Weiss, Mangenius to a degree, possibly McDaniel but I'll be working for him soon so I'm hoping he bucks that trend). There has gotta be something to this guy if McDaniel is trying to trade for him when he's got the sexiest QB in the league Jay Cutler on his team. Everyone wanted him. I hope the Browns did too.
Couple suggestions for the Browns:
-Trade Brady Quinn
-Cut Brady Quinn
-Play Quinn every game unless he gets hurt
-Cut DA
-Sign a veteran, knows his role backup (Damon Huard)
-Trade Derek Anderson
-Cut Derek Anderson before March 15th
-Play DA the whole way
-Trade or cut Brady Quinn
-Trade for Tyler Thigpen (Jaws has liked him, Lombardi likes him, throws the ball all over the yard, young guy, showed big flashes)
-Trade Quinn
-Trade or cut DA
-Sign a veteran backup
-Sign WR Lance Moore (I'll let you look him up, sneaky good player)
-Trade down on that 5th pick
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