THE LEBRON LOCKER ROOM WALK, JAZZ FLIP THEIR SEASON, OTHER NBA THOUGHTS

"GOD I LOVE THE NBA--IT'S SO GREAT."


"GOD THE NBA IS SO FREAKING BAD--I'M EMBARRASSED I LIKE IT SO MUCH."

These are normal everyday thoughts that go through my head, as I watch the first month of the NBA take shape. It pretty much changes every hour. It's a love/hate relationship. I have been watching a lot of Laker games. That's the love. Then I just look at every team in the eastern conference not named Celtics and Heat and Magic. That's the hate. Hornets are a love. T-Wolves are a hate. And so on.


THE LEBRON JAMES LOCKER ROOM WALK

There is really nothing better for me than watching LeBron walk into the locker room after a loss. It's just so fun to watch. I love when the TNT or the ESPN cameras move to him and he just puts his head down and does that fast putzy walk that he thinks shows confidence but everyone who knows knows it's an insecure walk. It's a get me into the locker room before anyone asks me how big of a fraud and loser I am walk. And it's becoming a tradition unlike any other. It's a May tradition. It's a June tradition. It's a almost every big game in the first 82 tradition. I love it. Looking forward to the Christmas Day LeBron James walk after another "tough" loss.

JAZZ CHANGE SEASON TEMPO

Had the privilege of watching the Utah Jazz go from absolute bums in the first 2 weeks back to a contending, great team in the matter of 2 days. And hats off to Paul Millsap. What a monster! He I think single-handedly got them back on track going into the winter months. The 48 and 14 clinic, 19-28 from the field, 3-3 from 3, and the amazing offensive rebound and stick back against the Heat was awesome. Anybody who can create not only a LeBron James walk off, but also a Dwayne Wade walk off is a beast in my book. They followed that up with a another sweet road win in Orlando on national TV. A game where Al Jeff, a guy who I think was on the fence, not really buying into the culture of hard work in Utah, DESTROYED D12 in front of an ESPN audience. He finally broke out, and Derron Williams has been strong to quite strong as well. Gordon Hayward--not quite there yet.

THUNDER

The OKC Thunder are done in my opinion. They are out of elite team and title contention. Kevin Durant is dead tired. And guys are gunning for him and teams are scheming for him. I don't care about his numbers. I know he's still playing great. I just think they need to scale back his minutes. Maybe even put him in street clothes sometimes. He's been going non-stop all spring, summer, fall and now winter. The problem with that is that the rest of their team is so horrible that they can't afford to not have him in. I touched on the Russel Westbrook dynamic a little bit after I saw him at the Clippers game. He's got a little more of an agenda folks. He's still getting assist numbers, but their different kind of assists if that makes sense. Jeff Greene is hurt, again. And James Harden. Wow. I forgot about Jimbo Slice at the Clipper game but here's a take: he's awful. If I was Sam Presti I would try to move him yesterday. But the team as a whole, a team that I thought was gonna be great and fun, is in that good team sophomore slump and its gonna take a couple more good players to get them out of it.

PAU

Pau Gasol has been the best player in the league through the first 3 weeks of the season. Had an off night last night in Denver, but that not withstanding. He's just a pure pure professional basketball player. And everything he's doing right now has been great. His game and feel have reached another level. The Lakers before last night were playing such beautiful hoops. I have been watching a lot of Lakers since being in LA. I am practically a fan. But going forward, staying healthy and getting rest will be important for Pau. Hopefully Bynum will get back in January and give Gasol a break in the second half. His most important trait is that he's a matchup nightmare for the Heat. I know CP3 is back, but it's Pau Gasol in the number 1 hole right now.

JO NOAH

I think I am going to brag about him in every writing that I do. It's my number one chess piece. My reigning favorite player in the league has been great. What a fantastic player. He keeps getting better and plays great in the big ones. Might be better than D12.

ROOKIES

John Wall and Blake Griffin have separated themselves from the field. I don't think that's a surprise. Those guys are great. Those guys belong in my little top 40 rankings if we're being honest. Eric Bledsoe is great and needs to play. He's lightning, he's tough and a pretty good passer. He's been great so far when he's gotten starts, albeit on a crappy team. Cousins and Favors are going to be great although I haven't seen much of either, only highlights. 2 guys that have been great that I watched in Portsmouth are Landry Field and Ishmael Smith. Wow, great stuff. Fields is a blender who can really play well in Dantoni's free flow. He's in great shape and is active everywhere. Ish Smith is another surprise. He's gotten some burn with the Aaron Brooks injury. Hopefully he takes advantage.

Until next week...

Willing to work harder,

JC

My Staples Center Debut (Clippers Version)

Kevin Durant was in town on Wednesday.....

And him and his sorry team got blown out by the freaking Clippers....

As luck had it, I checked out what the Clipper's upcoming games were on Tuesday morning. I was excited when I saw OKC on the docket for Wednesday night. Good catch by me. I made a couple calls and I was all set. I got a great set at center court four rows up. I was practically on the floor. It was money.

I thought Staples Center was nice. It's a little different than it appears on TV. Obviously it had a much different vibe than a Lakers game because the Clippers don't get the Laker lights. They keep all the lights on for the Clips. So I didn't get the full ambience. It has 3 levels of suites. They are a little higher up than the first level of suites at the Q. There is so much commerce inside the building. Restaurants. McDonalds. Tons of food stations. It's intense.

Notable Pseudo Celebrity Spots: Coco Crisp, Penny Marshall, Bill Simmons, Jeff Ross, Aaron Goodwin

Onto the game.

OKC Thunder: I am going to try to stay away from sweeping allegations of fraud. I know they are a good team, maybe the 2nd of 3rd team to beat in the West when they are clicking. But in brief, they looked like they were working on grasping some new offensive sets and trying to get on the same page with their defensive sets. But big picture, they are missing 2 guys. They are a couple guys away from really competing for a NBA title. They are missing a wing player who can get his own shot, get into the key, and make a 3 pointer when he's open. A Rip Hamilton type guy. I had another guard in mind that I can't think of. They are also missing a post defender and rebounder. A gritty guy whose been through battles. A communicator whose not afraid to stick his nose in the action. Think Marcus Camby type. Both these guy's that they are missing need to be boisterous and be veterans in my opinion. Mo Pete is gonna help when he comes off the injured list. But the 3 headed monster of Nenad Kristic, Serge Ibaka, and Cole Aldrich isn't enough. There are holes to fill. By the way there was a Cole Aldrich sighting in the game last night.

There is a good commraderie between the guys on the Thunder. They seem to enjoy each other. They have a lot of handshakes and pre-game stuff. Lot of smiles in warmups. Similar type stuff to what the Cavs did, which kind of gave them a bad rap. But it's more tame and understated though.

Kevin Durant, the first guy I went to see, if you didn't check played his worst game in probably his last 60 games. 6-24 from the field from a guy whose always around 50% from the field. Missed probably 7 3's off the front rim. Really had no energy. He had a play in the 2nd quarter--a miss that came high off the rim that he flew in and tip dunked with two hands that I thought might get him going but it never did. He lacked energy in his movement without the ball and in his runs down the wing on the break. He just got out of sorts really early in the game. He had a loose ball come to him underneath the basket that should have been an easy bunny to get him going and he missed it. It was bad from that point forward. He's still the man. I know it was a tough night. For me, this quiets the thoughts of KD35 as a top 3 player. He's solidly in the top 10. But that's as far as I'll go. Not to say that other guys, Bron, Dirk, etc. have off nights. It's more than that.

Blake Griffin, the second guy I went to see, was impressive to a point. The guy is just a PHENOMENAL athlete. He's freaky to see in person. He has so many fast twitch fibers in his legs it's scary. It's amazing that he doesnt just bounce 5 inches into the air just when he's walking. His second jump is so fast and he finds where the ball is going to go off rebounds and loose balls so fast that guys playing against him are just constantly in his way and they don't even know it. He goes and gets the ball where ever it is. He does a lot of this too: he catches the ball off like a roll to the basket and he just elevates as high as he can to the rim. He holds the ball and shoots the layup on the way down, misses a lot of them, and just lands of goes back up quicker than anyone to find his own miss then lays it in again. It's a little weird. He did it 4-5 times. But I think my main point is that he's kind of a weird player. He's a tweener. They never get him the ball in a good spot. He was reluctant to isolate and make a one on one move. He was much more apt to pick and roll and sit on the baseline waiting for a dish. He's a little shaky on the line. He had 2 monstrous dunks that were great. I left the game without a clear understanding of how he can play effectively aside from just being relentless on the offensive glass.

Jeff Green and Russ Westbrook, jury is still out on these guys. I dunno about them. They both had a tough night, I realize that. They are impressive guys standing alone, but when they were playing I felt like they weren't making the impact that they should be making. Russ is in constant attack mode. It was impressive. He goes all out to the rim, all day. Once he gets downhill, he's going. And he did plenty of that through the first quarter and a half. He had a little finishing problem. My biggest beef with his effort last night was just his refusal to throw the ball forward and take a risk. There were many instances in which he could have thrown the ball forward for what then would be easy buckets but failed to do so. Out of fear of a turnover, or maybe it just wasn't there, I dunno. But opportunities kept piling up in my eyes. For Greene, I just think he's limited offensively. He can't make NBA 3's. He's inconsistent with his jumper. He doesn't have a dominant go to move. He gets stuck. And he has to pick up his dribble and make a crappy bail out pass out to someone. He's only strong out on the break.


The Clips: For what it's worth: I am pro Vinny Del Negro. Yea, he's not in the upper echelon of his profession today. But I think he's much much better than people credit him for. I think he is good with players. Players play hard for him. He gets guys to play hard. His players like and respect him. He got a terrible deal in Chicago. Terrible deal. His bad coaching decisions were a small part of the equation that drove him out of Chicago. DON'T GET ME WRONG, he's not a modern day Greg Popovich. I just think he's gotten a bad rap. Bottom line, he was a great professional player, guys like him, guys play hard for him. Him and his assistants had a great game plan defensively last night. You can tell they were grinding to get their first win. They bracketed Durant well and made him settle for non rhythm 3's. It was a nice win for Vin and his staff.

Eric Bledsoe: Coming out party last night for EBled. Somewhere his agent Rich Paul was smiling. Bledsoe is gonna be a pretty good player. He's speedy. He took the matchup with Russ West seriously, and to be honest he won the matchup handily. He made some unbelievable passes, some were too good because guys weren't ready for them. He went rim to rim a couple times. He had a good night against guys who all had a bad night. So take it with a grain of salt. He's a little careful with the ball, afraid of getting pulled for turnovers. Wasn't as active in passing lanes defensively as I thought he would be.

Other Guys: Ryan Gomes and Craig Smith are fan favorites. Both are professional players that come to play each night. They do their job. Gomes, checked Durant very well. They had a good plan for Durant, but I thought Gomes was above average. Craig Smith, the Rhino, is a fan favorite. He finishes the plays he should and rebounds the ball everywhere. Guys are afraid of him out there. Fans openly boo'd Chris Kaman. Al Farouq Aminu played an encouraging game.



Willing to work harder,

JC

STREETBALL: MANHATTAN BEACH

I was gonna go into a whole thing about the debacle that was the Mike Conley Jr. contract extension. But I just read that it's a little more reasonable. It's not 9 million a year. It's about 7.5 at its maximum and there are many incentives that can get it to 9. In order for it to get to 9, he's gotta put up elite level stats and the team has to go deep in the playoffs. So, it's a little easier to stomach now that I have read that. Had he not been extended, he probably would have got at least 6 per on the open market. He's right about a 4 per type guy for me. 4 year 16million would have been my ceiling as a GM.



Last night I walked up to the local outdoor courts in MB. I had no expectations. I just wanted to shoot and practice for a half hour and then move along to my crossfit workout. Luckily for me though, the courts quickly filled up and I was suddenly in the middle of a 2.5 hour 5 on 5 pickup session, with a cast of characters that made the night entertaining.

I think this was a pretty regular game. Guys showed up at 5:30. Most of them knew each other. I laid low and shot on the other court until they called me over. I made 9, and then some scrub showed up and we were on.

The captain of my team was a guy named Don. This was the classic, almost 60 year old guy, recspex who for some reason is still convinced that he can play. I hate to kill him because I have no doubt in my mind that I might be him someday. But I hope when I do it I can do some things to help a team win. All this guy was doing was getting murdered defensively and throwing up shots off the backboard with his foot on the 3 point line. We lost the first game 11-5. I had 5.

But let's go through the rosters here. That's what I enjoyed the most. Having not played in about a month and a half, it was very refreshing to be running with 9 other guys. It was nice not to be playing against the same Lakewood Y guys that I play against every session.

Caesar: 6'4, 215--Good player, I could tell he was probably a so so high school player who thought he was screwed by the coach so he's been playing serious pickup ever since. Caesar was the guy who gets to the court and isn't on the court ready to play for another 20 minutes. He had to change into his shorts, take off his jewelry, put 2 pairs of socks on, ankle braces, shoes, puts the wifebeater on, then the cutoff over the wifebeater. Check. But now he's ready to play and he means business. He's out there and he's out there to get his numbers. He's the guy who would post hard, catch in the midpost area, square up and jab 5 times then shoot a shot thats short 80 percent of the time. Expletives on every miss. He goes hard to the offensive glass and runs the floor. And he'll express disgust if he's not rewarded for running. He says And 1 after every layup. I checked him pretty much the whole time. He was a little out of sorts. He's used to being able to get his offense. Not tonight.

Skinny Tattoo'd Guy: 6'1, 180--also good player, Tats all over. Ran the point for Caesar's team. Always calling for the pick and roll. Very painful and annoying to be around. To give some color to this guy: this is the skinny kid on the public school high school team who hates the catholic school kids. And he immediately starts talking shit 2 minutes into the game and throughout the game. This is the kid who didn't lift weights with his high school team because he thought it would mess up his game and he had better things to do like try to convince the ugliest girl on his block to give him a handjob after school. He gets into the game and he's shocked that he's missing 3's, he's shocked that the guy he's guarding is scoring on him. He's always got the explanation that he "thought you were rolling or cutting on that" when he throws a no look onto the other court. BUT, like many of the skinny public high school guys, he has the ability to make a good play every once in a while. And this guy did so twice with a huge game winner one game and a coast to coast layup.

Jose: 5'7, 180--role player, shooter. It was very clear that Jose watches his fair share of NBA. Because every time he made a basketball action he would refer to an NBA player known for those actions. Every steal or strip (brutal hacks for the most part) would be followed with RONDO! Pullups would be KOBE midrange! Passes on the break would be followed with CP3. You all know the guy. I love guys who love the NBA, but it was a little over the top. Combine that with his coach on the floor lectures every possession and it quickly became a tired act. He was a good pickup game player though. He could stick the jumper. In good games and bad games. He wasn't afraid to shoot it.

Carl Winslow look alike 5'8 225--Perhaps the nicest guy on the floor. Yet you can tell everyone was SO tired of him. Tired of his awful shots, his poor defense, his most of the time not making it past half court. He was the classic 45 year old pickup player. The guy you don't want making his first shot. And guess what, he made his first 3--off the glass. He convinced himself that he was hot and what followed was an hour and a half of bricks and awful plays. But bottom line, nice guy. Out there for the right reasons. Didn't help that he went with the Boston Celtics shorts and T-shirt. But in his defense I think he travels a lot. So that might be a destination of his.

Chuck--6' 200 real good player--Chuck was good. We never played with each other. But if we did we would have ran Caesar Tat guy and Jose out of the gym. Chuck had a good game, made 3s, passed the ball and finished layups. He like myself, willed his team of misfits to a couple wins. He was a good guy. Definitely a Cali guy tho. Not real friendly. Little full of himself and his game.

Don--5'9--58 years old, sweats and sweatshirt while playing--Don was a good guy. Basketball purist. Pass first in the half court. Made a couple shots. When he was off he changed into a diffrerent sweatshirt and shot free throws on the other court. He was a coach on the floor.

SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS:

We lost a game when I was playing with Carl Winslow, Don and a couple bums. The next team needed 1. I shot a 3 and made. Carl banked. Don swished. I miss the next one and then Carl and Don went on with a 8 minute shoot a thon to see who would be the 5th. This is my number 1 pet peeve of pickup mens hoops. It's always the biggest bums in the gym who make the free throws or in this case the 3s. These are the last guys who would be picked if the next team could just pick. It drives me crazy. And on top of that it killed like 8 minutes because they both made and both missed. Ridiculous.

Caesar double dribbles at 8-7 their lead. I call it during the play and mayhem breaks loose. Expletives. I think he may even have thrown the ball. Jose gets into it. Tattoo is throwing his two cents in. But I stand my ground. My voice is loud and authoritative as I argue. I demonstrate it 2 times. I build concensus with the rest of the players. One rational 38 year old dad on the other team accepts my case and we move to the other end of the court. We win the game. They go nuts after the fact.

I call 4 fouls in a row during 1 half court possession. 3 were fouls. The 4th one was tic tac where I messed up and bailed myself out cause I got some contact from Jose. It was a critical part of the game. I had a team of guys I was playing hard for I didn't want to let them down. I called it on Jose, and he goes into this heated debate about how all the fouls have been bullshit. I stand my ground again. We end up winning the game but I forced a 3 on that ensuing restart of the possession.

I throw a heat of the moment tantrum at Carl Winslow for giving up a walk in game winning layup to the 5th best offensive player on the other team. It was no coincidence that CW was guarding the 5th best guy. I made it a point to get that matchup set. We were going for 4 wins in a row. I was invested in the game. 10-10 game. I repeat 10 to fricking 10. Guy walks in for the layup. The other team celebrates. I scream at Carl "You let that walk in like that on game point are you frickin serious?" He stares at me blankly. He goes: what? I say again "You gotta make that bucket a little harder man! Geese." He embarrassingly goes, "Naw man, I'm 41 years old, I don't run through picks. I mumbled a couple other things and then dropped it. I picked up my ball and went home, embarassed that I laid a guy out for a 2 minutes in front of people. It was not my finest moment of the day.


But all things considered it was a fun run. I quickly established myself as a guy. I was focused. I got buckets. I made NBA 3s. I cleaned the glass. I offensive rebounded. I didn't get hurt. It was a win win. Until next week...


Willing to work harder,

JC

Grading LeBron's New Commercial

Here's a link to LeBron's new Nike Commercial campaign:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdtejCR413c

I gotta hand it to Nike and their creative team. This was very well done. It might not have been a home run, but this was was a rocket to the left-center gap. It was smart. It took aim a lot of different targets and posed a lot of good rhetorical questions that you can ask yourself.

If you're a nerd like me, FYI the guy who was in charge of the campaign is named Taylor Twist. He's in charge of Bron and Kobe and has a lot of other solid work on his resume.

Unfortunately for Twist and LeBron, there work has just started. That was a good first effort, but it is going to take a couple more of those efforts, followed by a towering home run throughout this year.

It's funny though. The media and marketing damage control: social media, commercials, public comments, that go into LeBron's image reconstruction is such an important part of our world in 2010. But I think we can all agree that a lot of this venomous hatred is gonna start to dissipate tomorrow night when he puts a 28p 11r 11a 4s 4b game on the board. Once he starts playing and the Heat are 18-2, things will get easier and the media campaigns will only get stronger.

Willing to work harder,

JC

TOP 40-- #38 Kevin Love

I got Kevin Love pencilled in here at 38. He had a great summer. Really played well at the World Championships. That's why I feel like he fits the bill and should be on this list. I am well aware that the FIBA game is A LOT different than the NBA game. And if you look at Kevin's NBA resume thus far, it's lacking a lot of bullet points that make him a strong candidate for this list. Basically it looks like my resume when I walk into an interview room at any legitimate firm or company.

Nevertheless, I think K Love is a valuable commodity and is poised to have a really good year this year. Year 3 is usually the year for a lot of these guys. They start to get it. Their mental game get a little quicker. They are used to the travel. They know how to pace themselves and get their bodies in shape and learn how to deal with injuries. Plus their offensive skill sets are better tailored to what they can and can't do in the NBA.

Kevin is one of the 5 best rebounders in the league. There is no arguing that. He has the gift. He has a nose for the ball and reads the ball off the glass better than almost everyone in the game. Every rebound is his. He's a guy who cares about winning and does the little things that don't show up on that stat sheet. But he's a very well rounded player. He's a talented passer. He knows when to kick the ball out to the perimeter and finds guys on the weakside for open shots. We all know how gifted an outlet passer he is. And although that makes a lot of people chuckle, it's no joke. It's incredible how good he is at throwing long passes.

What I think we'll see this year, at least I hope is Love burying jump shots. Shot corner J's. Just outside the elbows. And also I think we'll see him taking and making NBA 3's. He's got a great stroke. If he stays healthy and gets into a rhythm where he's playing consistent minutes which he should get, I think we'll see a 16 and 12 guy.

I think it's easy to overrate some of these guys that played well at the FIBA games this August. We're all still starstruck about Kevin Durant's monster effort that's for sure. But I watched those games closely and guys like Love and Stephen Curry and Eric Gordon weren't just good--they were really good. So stay tuned. Barring another injury, Kevin Love is gonna be a nice player this season.

Willing to work harder,

JC

2010 FANTASY HOOPS RULE #1: NO LEBRON

My buddy Bub offered a great rule and policy this morning talking about our upcoming fantasy hoops draft. Plain and simple: no one is allowed to draft LeBron. Period. Can't draft him. Can't pick him up off waivers or in free agency. DONE and DONE. Exactly the way it should be. I expect all of you to do the same in your leagues. Let's create a huge sweep of leagues who aren't playing with LeBron. It could even become an ESPN story. "Bron fantasy ownership down to 79% across 900,000 ESPN Leagues" Let's make it happen.

TOP 40 Breakdown--#39 Tyreke Evans

Moving right along here to number 39. Ty Evans ladies and gents. Your 2009 NBA Rookie of the Year. 20 points 5 boards and 5 assists with almost two steals a contest. Not a bad way to start your career. Injected some life into the Kings for the first two months of last season, as they were the surprise team of the first half. This run was highlighted by some MONSTERRRR games by Tyreke, including a game winner or two.

I was pretty critical of a couple things about Tyreke when I wrote about him in my draft prospect blog before he was drafted. I very much understood that because he is so physically dominant, he was going to be able to come right in and have an impact. He was going to get his numbers and be a productive player a lot sooner than some of his peers. My question marks dealt mostly with attitude and field goal percentage. Was he selfish all the time or would he be receptive to learning how to share the ball? Was he going to be able to find spots where he can make jumpers at a high percentage or was he going to be a 10-23 from the field guy? Could he really play the 1 or was a hybrid 2/small forward? Does he have to dominate the ball to play well? Does he want to win or does he want his numbers and his check every month?

So far I think you have to say that he's proved me wrong. I don't care what your weaknesses are, if you're doing 20, 5 and 5 you're a heck of a player. No doubt, he slowed down as the advanced scouting caught up to him. But to dominate physically and be that productive speaks to how big of a beast this guy is. And to work your way through the rookie wall and still keep up that number clip for a whole season was sweet. He's a guy that you can build around. He's a guy that you can be excited about.

Year 2 will be interesting to watch. They are building around him as the center piece and hit the lottery when DeMarcus Cousins fell to them at 5 in this past draft. They have a good young nucleus in the works. Landry. Jason Thompson. Beno Udrih is still effective. If only they can find a guy who can sit in a corner and bury 3s.

Tyreke has got to be on this list because of what a monster he is physically. He has a lot of LeBron in him, in the way he just storms into the paint like a running back. He's a force. At the same time, he also has Bron like shooting question marks. Is that J ever gonna be consistent or is it gonna be a night to night streaky stroke? That's a big question, and one he'll have to answer this season as teams try to wall up and try to contain his penetration and make him throw it in from the perimeter.

I look forward to keeping tabs on TE. I like him on this top 40 list. Not sure if he's on it, too high or low or just on the outside looking in, but I think we're safe to have him on. We'll continue the countdown soon.


Willing to work harder,

John Curran

TOP 40 NBA BREAKDOWN--#40: DAVID LEE

Alright well here we go. Number 40. You gotta start somewhere right? As I have been doing this, I have learned that it's hard to try to slot all these guys correctly. Especially these guys who are going to be 40-16. The top 15 I think I have under control. But then again who knows. So were going to start with D Lee, the GS Warriors new power forward.

So what's this guy got other than he's a good guy who fits into almost every locker room? That's a good question. His last two seasons he's averaged 16 and 12 and 20 and 12 respectively. Those are two good years. Not many 20 and 10 guys running around this league. Not many double-double guys in this league for that manner. That'll get you paid for sure. But even more than that, D Lee has improved every year since he's been in the league in almost every statistical category. He shoots a high percentage from the field. He's very efficient. He knocks down free throws at about 80 percent. He's a guy whose taken advantage of his time on the floor.

I like D Lee cause he's a blender. He doesn't take anything off the table. You never have to run a set for him. He screens and rolls hard. He's unselfish and competes night in and night out. He's never gonna be a first or second option. But he's durable guy whose gonna show up and get after it. And point blank, the kid just hunts rebounds. He's a rebound monster. That's gonna be a theme in this top 40. Rebound hunters are my favorite kind of player. So expect a lot of guys in this list to be guys who clean glass at a high rate. There hasn't been many 20 point and 20 rebound games in the NBA over the last couple years, but I would bet that he has the majority of them.

There's no question that Lee struggles defensively. You're preaching to the choir there. He'd have a tough time staying in front of guys in most rec leagues. And that's too bad. And that might change a little bit in GS. Keith Smart is going to hold these guys a little more accountable on defense, at least until the season starts to play out. Being in an uptempo system has also helped him offensively.

Also fair to say D Lee hasn't been a winner, or at least expressed that he wants to win. Because he hasn't. But I think the way he plays is evidence enough that he likes to compete and wants to win. He's in the trenches rebounding and playing against guys every night that are bigger and stronger. And he still gets the best of the majority of players. He out-hustles and out-smarts.

So there's David Lee our 40th best guy on the list. Rebounder. Efficient offensively. Good chemistry guy. Makes free throws. We'll continue to count down players as we move closer to NBA tip off.


Willing to work harder,

JC

HINKEL, REDHAWKS ON RISE

The question isn't who is going to let me. It's who is going to stop me. -Howard Roark, The Fountainhead


I am going to lead off another strong week with a little dap for one of my very best friends Pat Hinkel and his Miami Redhawks. They moved to 3-0 in the MAC on Saturday, making quick work of Central Michigan. The solid road win puts them alone atop the MAC East standings. They have another big one at home this week against OU. Life in the MAC conference is a lot like the SEC conference, as well as the OAC conference in basketball: never a night off.

Year two under Mike Haywood has brought about solid improvement in all areas of the program. The guy might be a jerk most days, but his no non-sense, fast, mean and physical approach has created a grittier culture. And that hunger and grit has been a big part in the maturation process, and allowed them to start to learn how to win games. They have been spearheaded by a nasty D and an ball control offense that moves the football efficiently. That Florida game the first week of the season was not a fluke. That was 60 guys who were tougher and stronger than they were last year, wearing the same uniform ready to get busy. Ready to fly around and compete against the Gators. No fear.

There is a pretty good player and leader in that secondary. And he goes by Patty H. It's not a coincidence that the Miami D has played very well since Pat was named the starting safety. Pat ability to come from level three and make plays at the line of scrimmage has given the front seven another steady tackler. His instincts and ability to read the play have gotten him two picks, with a couple more on the way. And I am sure everyone remembers his scoop and score against Fla--ah well, we'll wait to the holidays to joke with him about that. But more than anything, aside from his tangible skills, Pat's just a winner. His track record speaks for itself. He's a guy that you wanna go to battle with. You're not winning shit, I don't care what sport we're discussing unless you have a handful of guys like Pat on your team. For everyone that knows Patty, knows that he leads by example. And his actions speak loudly and contribute to W's.

Takeaways: the life blood of good football teams and defenses. Miami is the best in the MAC. They are also the best defense in the red area, another significant trait of great teams. Couple those two things with a offense that eats up the clock and throws the ball efficiently, and an ice cold field goal kicker and you're going to be in a position to win every week.

So here we are, just a little past the half way mark of the college football season. Let's hope the Redhawks team can continue to grow as a program. Rest assured though that the defensive unit is in good hands and will only get stronger and more cohesive with Patty H in charge.


Willing to work harder,

JC

Terminator 2: The Return

Blake Griffin.

You'll be hearing from this kid throughout the season. I call him the Terminator. The really original nickname came to me watching him play in a game during his last year at Oklahoma. Three plays in particular in one game: 1. a 90 foot sprint to violently pin block a weakling's layup attempt, 2. an awful lob setup by a crappy teammate where Blake went up to the top of the box vulernable and ended up getting high-lowed and fell almost completely on his back, 3. a stray ball pinging toward the score's table, where Blake proceeded to do an all out head first dive over the scores table onto the cement steps. This wasn't one of those pre-meditated, I know exactly where I am going to land on my feet and the crowd will appreciate me effort dives into the stands this was an all out head first I might be paralyzed dives. And the guy popped back up like nothing happened. All three plays, Blake was just business as usual stone-faced.

I expect Blake to be a dominant player this year, albeit on a bad team. Well, hold on not necessarily a bad team. They'll need Baron to stay healthy and be invested. Hopefully Vinny Del Negro will be able to get the ball to Eric Gordon in spots where he can be effective. Build the offense around Blake mid post square ups, and loops where Eric Gordon will have driving lanes with little or late help from other defenders.

But Blake is gonna be 16 and 9 minimum. Well on his way to 21 and 11. I just hope he stays healthy. He just such a monster in there. I hope he learns not to lay himself out and be so vulnerable. The way he jumps and second jumps in there, he's always a land on somebodys foot and roll an ankle for 4 weeks candidate. But nevertheless, Blake's a bad dude and I am excited to watch him when I can.

And since I am in LA, maybe I can fall into some good Clips seats every once in a while.


Willing to work harder,

JC

The Top 40 NBA Players List

Hard to believe, but one of the the most heavily anticipated seasons in the history of The Association is a little more than two weeks away.

I have been meaning to write and rank who I think are the top 40 guys running in the NBA. I have taken a few stabs at it just on a piece of scrap paper over the last few weeks. I am gonna give it a go on the blog here shortly.

The challenge I think in the assembly of the list is just the criteria that I want to work with and evaluate players with. That's been the challenge that has delayed this list. Points? Playing on a good team? Charges taken? Basketball IQ? Just being a good guy?

I have been thinking about it, and have decided to just wing it. There's gonna be no consistent criteria. I am an NBA dork. I just know the guys when I see the guys. This is going to be a bias list. I am gonna pick the guys that I think are the most valuable and best players in the league. Guys that are winners. Guys that I would like to play with.

I will try to write about a couple players each day. Hopefully the top 5 will come right about during the opening week.

Willing to work harder,

JC

BRON IN THE POST? COMICAL!

"Improvement and advancement do not exist in isolation."

I have only caught bits and pieces of the Heat preseason games. Been some twitter buzz and some article attention discussing how LeBron is catching the ball in the post a lot more so far during the preseason. Great. That's just great. It's comical really. Just another jab to the stomach of Cleveland fans.

He's only 4 years too late with this revelation. How novel an idea, for an athlete unlike any other athlete to ever play in the league to want to be closer to the basket in order score more effectively. God forbid that was ever something he put a priority on when he was with the Cavs. It's just a tad better alternative to the 17 dribble posssessions 26 feet away that took up the majority of the Cavs offensive trips. This new post committment with the Heat just points again to how immature and misguided he was in Cleveland (and let's not kid ourselves, he still is). Also points to the players and the coaching staff that surrounded him during his tenure in Cleveland. No player or coach ever had the balls to get in his face and tell him to put his butt in the post for hours in the summer and during the regular season. I doubt he would have listened anyway. It was a losing battle.

I don't expect this post emphasis to stick. Bron is who he is. He doesn't have the confidence or belief to stick it out and actually improve in the post. For every patient and solid post score, there will be 6 bad ones. He'll run and hide to his comfort zone, pounding the rock at the NBA 3 for 11 dribbles until Wade comes and gets it and makes a good play.

But leave it to LeBron to continue to pile on Cavs fans. Obviously he'll become a modern day Karl Malone now in the post and short corner post. We'll just have to smile and shake our heads.

West Coast Swing

I am in Manhattan Beach, California. I don't when I am coming back. If ever. This is a pretty cool place to spend some time. This is my first time in California. Pretty large culture shock and adjustment. But it's a fun adjustment. The weather has been unreal. The perplexing thing so far is just the time difference. Couple of my buddies that live out here say they still aren't used to it. And they've been out here for a year. I haven't been to In and Out Burger yet. I'm going to get there a couple times this week. I was in downtown Hollywood last night for the first time with a couple friends. Pretty sweet stuff. Just a melting pot of different people. Lotta beautiful women. It was quite a scene on the streets when the bars let out at 2:30.

I plan to write a lot just about the types of things I am seeing in California and the NBA.

So stay tuned. Hope everyone is doing great.

MY MONEYBALL-ORIENTED FIXES FOR US SOCCER GOING FORWARD

Unfortunately, the World Cup has been characterized by terrible officiating that has shifted the emotional momentum of games, and worse cost teams games, indefensible flopping, and bringing out the stretcher after guys get tripped. The icing on the cake however is just watching these guys writhe in agony, as if they got shot only to be followed by them playing at top speed a minute and a half after they remove themselves from the stretcher that carried them off. It's comical.

I was sad to see the US team's 2010 campaign come to an end. They played hard. They have some good pieces, but are still a long way off from competing with those elite teams. I have assembled some observations and tactics that the US soccer program should consider going forward. Now these aren't all the way serious suggestions but they aren't tongue and cheek either. I know that at this high of a level, there is a certain elite style of play. BUT at the same time, the United States has proven that they can't play at the level they need to playing the way the rest of the world plays. It's time to reevaluate a few things, and these suggestions are meant to help.

1. WE NEED GUYS WHO CAN CARRY THE BALL THROUGH TRAFFIC: For a non-soccer guy, I think this is the biggest frustration. Why won't these guys be more aggressive and just try to dribble through people? Why are they always trying to be cute with little dinky passes and lobbing it into the middle? Those are fair questions. I realize that at the elite level, the best teams are passing technicians who make great vertical runs for goals. It's very systematic. Nobody touches the ball more than twice. Two touches and it's gone. It's pretty. And that's how the game is played. But I would like to see what happens if we had 5-6 guys who sacrificed a little fitness for power, and just worked to dribble through players with power with a high level of foot skill. There are so many times the non-soccer guy can point to examples when guys decide to carry and dribble the ball a little longer than they should, when they can look for easy passes, but don't and continue to dribble and draw a foul and free kick. That's more like it to me. Carry the ball, be strong, draw fouls. Which brings me into my next point.

2. AMERICAN FOOTBALL-LIKE SET PIECES RUN TO PERFECTION: This is another factor in a the game that I think is undervalued. That United States goal that was disallowed in the Slovenia game was run to perfection. Perfect ball. Perfect timing. Perfect spacing. We have to be much more advanced in the way we run these set pieces. We need to work hard to create situations that lead to free kicks. And think outside the box on how we can create formations that teams haven't seen. We basically need to bring in Josh McDaniel and Andy Reid. OR maybe Doc Rivers or Mike D'Antoni would be more appropriate. Have them create formations and sets in which all the guys on the field have an assignment. If they run it right, guys should come wide open. Some guys are screeners, some are cutters, etc. While I think there is a method to their madness, as evidenced by Maurice Edu's great goal that was disallowed, there is definite room for improvement. It requires new spacing, assignments, screening and picking legally, cutting to the goal hard, and perfect serving passes.

3. FOUL EVERY POSSESSION: Every time the opponent has the ball, he should be getting hit. We have to be as physical as possible, fouling with our legs and hips and butt. Every play. If you foul every play, they cannot call it every single time. If you make yellow card degree fouls every play, they can't call it every play. It's simple. Sure, we're gonna lose guys to 2 yellow cards sometimes. But as we get better at it, we'll learn to avoid making fouls that garner yellows. But when you're playing against teams with better players, you gotta be as physical as possible.

4. NEVER EVER FLOP ON OFFENSE: This is what amazes me. It nauseates me to watch these guys just flop and flop. These guys are without a doubt the biggest pussies in the world. I don't care how much money they make and how many girls are chasing them. It's unbelievable. But, no question, it gets rewarded. As we have seen throughout the Cup. My fix is to never ever flop. UNTIL it's the perfect moment. UNTIL the whole team hasn't flopped the entire game, and we get a run in the box where we're not gonna score but it looks like might. THEN FLOP. Flopping has to be timed perfectly. It has to be used only when we have a prime opportunity to create a penalty kick. If we haven't flopped the entire game, and have been playing through guys fouling us, the referee will be much more apt to believe us and reward us if we flop in a goal scoring situation. This goes back to being stronger and more powerful.

5. GOALIE OUTLET PASSES/PLAYS: Landon Donovan's game winning goal was spurred by an unbelievable outlet. You can argue that Algeria was out of position, tired, and that that doesn't happen often, but it created a great scoring opportunity. We need goalies who can throw the ball on time and on target to guys who can carry the ball and make something happen. The goalie has to be like a quarterback out there or like Kevin Love throwing outlet passes to Johnny Flynn. A great outlet pass can create positive momentum going at the goal.

6. LOCKDOWN BEASTLY DEFENDERS: If we are going to have guys carrying the ball through traffic more, and committing a lot of men to set pieces, we are no doubt gonna be caught in bad situations. So we need to put a premium of physical defenders who can ride guys out, steal the ball, and hold down the fort until we get more guys back. This is a pivotal ingredient.

That's just a couple things. Obviously, there are some problems and difficulties that arise with the suggestions. The simple and pretty way: two-touch, serving it into the middle, vertical runs, etc. is a beautiful way to play. No question about. But as team USA, we gotta think outside the box. We gotta use unique tactics. Cause we don't have any good players. Just something for USA Soccer to think about.

JC's MOCK LOTTERY

We are approximately 36 hours away from one of my favorite sporting events of the year. I love the NBA draft. Not as much as I love the NFL Draft, but it's close. I love the evaluation process, and how it continues to evolve and become more and more scientific and complex. Yet every year, the majority of the league misfires on their guys, and it's often those under the radar guys that end up ruling the day 2-3 years down the line.

As I writing this, a blurb came across the bottom line saying the Bucks traded for Corey Maggette, sending Chuck Bell amongst another player and a pick. In my best Harry Doyle voice, "obviously Jon Hammond's thinking, well I don't know what the hell he's thinking." That's the last guy in the history of this world that I would be trading for. Maggette is the biggest cancer walking around this league right now. He's a selfish offensive player, who dominates the rock and takes teams outta their flow. This is the kind of move that will contribute to the demise of Scott Skiles. Skiles is so tough and so hard core, Belichickian. He gets his teams to cut hard as hell, defend, screen, be unselfish, and play their butts off every night. And he's successful at it. Then the team adds a couple Corey Maggette's and his teams go south cause they refuse to practice or play hard. And Skiles get sent home. I just don't understand the move. I agree that Salmons isn't your long term guy, but Corey frickkin Maggette?

Also getting a little buzz that the Blazers might try to get in and trade for Mo Williams. HOW SOON CAN WE MAKE THIS HAPPEN? I'll pack his bags and sell his house for him?

Alright well here's my mock first round. I have done my best to stay away from looking at any mocks. This is just my careful evaluation and film study. This is also considering that everyone stays where they are. Lotta buzz about Minny moving down. By the way, is Chad Ford the most important writer at ESPN. Why is all his stuff Insider? Is his stuff that good? Why does he get that distinction? Why isn't Simmons insider? Or Buster Olney? I know he's always got good buzz, but I mean c'mon. It's the frickkin NBA. Not many people care about it.

Washington Wizards: John Wall
Done and done. Obviously a no-brainer here. Special athlete. Electric with the ball in his hands. Gonna be a dominant high ball screen and iso player. It seems like he takes winning pretty seriously. He's a pretty serious dude when he's between the lines. What I love about him is he's gets you the ball right on frickkin time almost always, especially on the break. You see a lot of these guys who are late passers: meaning they try to get their shot right until they can't and throw it to guys in bad spots, off target, 1.5-2 seconds late. Wall did very little of that when I watched him. If you ran out on that break with him, he gave it up. He gave it to you on time on target, so your footwork was easy. As nasty as he's gonna be, he'll have his bad nights. Might be a little slow mentally picking up the intricacies of how teams will play him defensively on ball screens and other situations. His jumper has to improve and will. But he's a guy.

2. Philly 76ers: Evan Turner (DeMarcus Cousins)
See this isn't gonna happen. But it should. I know the pick is Evan Turner here. By the way, did anyone see Jrue Holiday at the draft lottery show. Did you see his face when the Wizards got the first pick and the Sixers got the second? It was awesome. Like a kid on Christmas. The "thank God, John Wall isn't gonna bury me on the bench until they move me to another team face." I like Cousins here. I think he's the second best guy and they should suck it up and take him. No question. And he's a great fit for the Doug Collins' 76ers. They just moved Sammy Dalembert, and now have Andres Nocioni and Spencer Hawes. Both of those guys are great rotation guys, Andres being a good blender playing physical inside and outside, and Hawes being a better than average big. You need a front line starter. I know Evan Turner is great, but they have a better Evan Turner in Andre Iguodala. They have Thad Young, who plays inside out, mostly on the wing. They 2 up and coming slashers in Lou Williams and Jrue Holiday. Just make it simple. Don't create an alpha dog battle between Iggy and Turner. Draft a mean, beastly 6-11 monster. Put him on the block and let him play. Doug Collins is a perfect coach for Cousins. He'll be able to speak his language and coexist with him. Get the 20 and 10 guy. But for Evan Turner, he's gonna be a good pro. He can control a game, get to the free throw line at will, and find open guys. Plays with a big chip on his shoulder. He's a matchup problem. I think he's gonna do well. His personality is a bit off tho. He could have some run ins with teammates and coaches.

3. New Jersey Nets: Wes Johnson
This is a simple and solid pick. No frills. Just a really good kid who can really play. Came on like a freight train the first 15 games this season, as Cuse got off to a great start and was number 1 in the country for a while. I remember seeing Cuse highlights early in the year and seeing this light skinned wing just dominate. I remember thinking and saying to myself as I saw him create a steal, run the wing on the break and catch an alley oop at the top of the box: what is Shawn Marion doing playing for Syracuse? He was that kinda presence. He's not as long as the Matrix, but he does similar things. Great offensive player. Pretty polished, can drive and shoot. Good technique on his jumper, so should be able to improve range and hit corner NBA threes. He's just an active player. You gotta account for him. He sticks his nose in there and gets offensive and defensive rebounds. He seems to be a great guy. Teams are raving about his interviews and maturity. This is a good safe pick for Avery Johnson and Rod Thorn. Cousins should be the pick, but I doubt Avery and Rod Thorn want that headache. Favors is another guy here, but I dunno if Avery Johnson sees it in Derrick Favors. I think they'll error on the side of caution and take a good wing. They could go Cousins here. They might be taking Wes J cause Minny wants him and they'll make Minny come pay for the pick.

4. Minny Timberwolves: Derrick Favors
Again, this a no-brainer here for me. Cousins should go here. But as we have seen here before, David Kahn, Wolves GM, is a fucking moron. And he'll find a way to mess this up. He'll probably trade this pick. He'll probably trade Johnny Flynn, who he drafted in the top 10 a year ago. Minny's gonna make someone else's season at the expense of their own I am sure, and you can thank David Kahn. Derrick Favors: same measurements as Dwight Howard. Number 2 guy coming outta high school behind Avery Bradley and John Wall. An unbelievable specimen. Lotta positives. Lotta question marks. If you watched 10 of his games this season, you were shaking your head at 8.5 of them. Didn't play with a lot of effort. Kinda glided around, not much activity. Go get a rebound. Go foul somebody. Set an illegal screen, do anything man. They would throw it into him, the big defending him would push him off the box and he'd kick it back out to a shitty guard. Doesn't have a go to move or a counter to when you stop his go to move. Very tenative and uncomfortable when its 1 on 1 in the post and he's supposed to score. Kind of a slouch. On his good days though, he was a beast. Double-double by halftime. Shot a high percentage. Made his free throws. Was active defensively, coming off the weak side to block shots. Momentum shifting dunks. So a lot of good here, just might have to wait 3.5 seasons to see it.

5. Sacramento Kings: DeMarcus Cousins
Finally, the second best player in the draft comes off the board. And the Maloofs and Geoff Petrie laugh all the way to hopefully the 7th or 8th seed in the west next season. Cousins is a potential 20 and 10 guy. Not many of those guys just walking around the neighborhood. Makes his free throws. Dominant rebounder. Hunts the ball on the offensive glass. Really comfortable on the block in a 1 on 1 situation. Has a couple go to moves. Capable shooter outside 15 feet. Definitely not where you want him to be, but can knock it down. Runs the floor very well for a guy weighing 280 pounds. And he's out there to play. He's not out there to see what it feels like to sweat. He has some anger issues. He's gonna get some technicals. He's gonna pout. But I don't see it being a problem at all. He's gonna be fine when he's playing. He's much more Rasheed Wallace than Ron "Queensbridge" Artest. The big question mark is what is he gonna do in the offseasons, when he has his boys with him and suddenly has 2.5 million in his bank account to play around with. But I think he's the second best guy, and the Kings will have some big time players. They gotta find a 2 who can shoot threes and play.

6. Golden State Warriors: Greg Monroe
Dear Greg,
Here's a list of assignments: Pass us the ball. Don't even think about shooting. Offensive rebound and kick it to us. Set good screens. Actually don't set good screens, just sit right on the base line in the short corner. Outlet the ball to us. We'll take it from here. Thanks.

Signed, Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry

Not crazy about Greg Monroe. Soft. Kind of a glider out there. Not physical. Thin and not strong. Little light in the butt. He's left handed tho, which can be deceiving, and he showed that he can go on good runs and score and dominate the game. Gonna need to prove he can bang in the post on a night to night basis. I feel bad for whoever goes here. Whether it's him, Ed Davis, Epke Odoh, whoever. Warriors are terribly dysfunctional, with no plan. And on top of all that, this is the worst place to be in this draft. It goes downhill after 5.

7. Detroit Pistons: Ekpe Udoh
This guy is a good player. Plays hard. Still growing into the game. Doesn't have a great feel for the offensive flow. Natural shot blocker. He's got better upside than Ed Davis. That's basically where I am going here. He's heavier and more athletic. He's plenty long. The Stones need a couple guys to play hard and do the dirty work. There's a role here for Udoh if he keeps progressing.


8. LA Clippers: Al Farouq Aminu
One of my least favorite guys in the draft. Big risk/reward guy. Lotta talent. Good offensive tools. Scores in different ways. Just highly questionable effort level and consistency. Rail thin, will have a hard time playing through the bumps and physical nights in the league. Aminu likes to be a jump shooter. He settles all day for crappy shots, and he goes from there. If he knocks down a three ball early, he gets in a good flow and he'll give you 24 and 10. If he's cold he goes more on the 2-12 track and mails it in defensively. The latter outweighed the former at Wake. If he plays harder, maybe their coach survives. Very similar to Favors: congrats guys, you're potential has made you lottery picks, but let's start to be pros and earn the money. Play with some energy and effort please.

9. Utah Jazz: Luke Babbit
Dis frickkin guy has soared up the draft board. Only seen him play a couple games. Both times, the defense was quick to double and rotate on him and he had a hard time getting loose. This guy shoots the shit outta the ball. That's his meal ticket. He's Mr. King of the mid-range. He's very good at putting it on the floor for a couple dribbles either way and elevating into a j. That's a big part of his rise I would assume. I am sure he's been killing these workouts cause these guys running them expect him to be a catch and shoot guy but he's blazing the nets on the shots off the dribble as well. I am not sold. I dunno if he has the ability to get space against these NBA defenders. He's thick and strong, but I dunno if he is quick enough. He's a good fit for the Jazz here. If he works hard enough he can produce in that system. He's got a little more game and versatility than Kyle Korver. He needs to hang around Matt Harpring for a bit.

10. Indy Pacers: Xavier Henry
Value pick here. I think Henry is a high ceiling guy. Really polished shooter. Hard not to take him here if he's still on the board. He's a big guard. He can defend 2's and 3's while at the same time those same guards would have a hard time checking him with his bulk. He's a knockdown shooter. Good mechanics on his j. Hasn't really had to put it on the floor much. KU was dominant enough to where he was a catch and shoot player and a catch and dunk in transition player. He's a high character coachable kid. His question mark is can he get space when he puts it on the floor. Can he lose his guy off the dribble? We'll see. I think this guy is a player. He'll translate better in the pro game than he did in his one year in college.

11. New Orleans Hornets: Ed Davis
The Hornets need a lot of help, and I dunno if Davis is the guy to do it, but if he's still on the board you might have to take him here. Ed Davis should have come out last year in a bad draft. He would have gone in the top 5. Now he's kind of exposed himself as a questionable athlete whose injury prone. He got fat off the 5 pros he played with as a freshman, and was the benefactor of Ty Lawson and Tyler Hansborough drawing 5 guys to them. Davis for was there for drive and dish dunks. He had a little trouble scoring when he got the lion share of the touches early in the year. He's young though and that's hard for anyone, especially when you have every team in the country gunning to beat you. Davis is squirmy though on the offensive boards. He knows where to find the ball. He's left handed which helps him and has a solid hook shot over his right shoulder. I think he's two years away from helping a team, but he's a good guy to have.

12. Memphis Grizzles:: Paul George
Under the radar guy who is rising fast. Played at Fresno and I haven't seen much of him. Definitely a high ceiling sleeper type guy. Tall skinny wing, who has the tools to be a guy. Lotta T-Mac comparisons so take that for what it's worth.

13. Toronto Raptors : Avery Bradley
I see a lot of Russell Westbrook in Bradley. And we all know how that's working out. Guy's a monster. Bradley is definitely in that category of better in the pro game than the college game. He's quick and explosive, and he'll benefit from a more spread open court, where he has more 1 on 1 opportunities. He's great in transition and can play well in the half court. Pesky defender who looks to gamble and get in the passing lanes. Saw him take a make a lot of mid range jumpers. Texas and Rick Barnes had a tough time figuring it out last season. They had a lot of good guys, lotta injuries, so they didn't maximize Bradley. When they were playing well earlier in the year, he was a catalyst. A very hard guy to stop. Then they hit a wall and his minutes declined. But like I said, I think this is a guy who can thrive in a more wide open 1 on 1 game. I like him to come off the board earlier than people expect.

14. Houston Rockets: Cole Aldrich
Not really sure where Daryl Morey and his statistical models will head with this pick. I think Gordon Hayward is good enough to pick here, but I think they need more a guy with an athlete or a big here. Chase Budinger makes Hayward a little less appetizing. Aldrich makes sense here. He has a lot of good little derivatives that Morey and his computers look for. Great defender both, on ball and off. Can guard 4's or 5's. Runs the floor. Shoots a high percentage from the field and line. KU involved him in a ton of ball screens on the wing and at the top of key, so that should be a smooth tranisition/strength for him. Aldrich is pretty safe. Pretty good at everything. Hard pick to gauge cause Morey keeps his guys real close to the vest. And his track record has been great. So we'll see here. Wouldn't be surprised if he goes Dominque Jones here. Or even Daniel Orton

Non-Lottery Guys I Love:
Dominque Jones
Gordon Hayward
Larry Sanders
Darington Hobson
Stanley Robinson
Luke Harangody
Eric Bledsoe
Mikhail Torrance
Terrico White
Willy Warren
Marquis Blakeley
Jerome Randle
Quincy Pontdexter


Non-Lottery Guys I Like:
Jordan Crawford
Raymar Morgan
Ben Ozoh
Solomon Alabi
Trevor Booker
Grevis Vasquez
Elliot Williams

Deep Sleepers:
Ryan Thompson
Tyren Johnson
Ryan Wittman

JC's PRE-JUNE NBA DRAFT BIG BOARD

1. John Wall
2. DeMarcus Cousins
3. Evan Turner
4. Al-Farouq Aminu
5. Derrick Favors
6. Wes Johnson
7. Epke Odoh
8. Xavier Henry
9. Hassan Whiteside
10. Greg Monroe
11. Cole Aldrich
12. Dominique Jones
13. Solomon Alabi
14. Gordon Hayward
15. Avery Bradley

GREAT MOVE FOR FRED HOIBERG

I woke up today to see the news that Fred Hoiberg had agreed to become the new Iowa State Cyclones head hoop coach. I think that's a very nice move for him, really smart. He's a hometown guy, a beloved alum, and one of the greatest players in Iowa St. history.

I had the chance to meet and talk to him a couple weeks ago at the Portsmouth Invitational. Before last night, he was working for the Minnesota Timberwolves. He has been the director of player personnel, assistant GM, third GM, advisor and so on. His role has been defined and re-defined, and he was passed over to become the official GM last season. The Wolves owner, whoever he is, decided to turn the reins over to some schmuck named David Kahn. And Kahn has done a bang-up job, using his experience as a Hollywood talent scout to draft absolutely horribly, try to trade Al Jefferson his best player during the season, and cultivate the worst team in the league with no role identification and a bunch of guys who do the exact same things. So, just looking at it from a distance with not much information, it was a good move for Fred.

But after meeting and talking to him at Portsmouth it seems even better. Because the guy looked like a zombie. He looked like he was on autopilot, and had been on autopilot for the last 8 months. He was Peter Gibbons from Office Space. He was barely paying attention to the games, wasn't saying a peep to other NBA team brass or agents. Just looking at him in the eye, he had that get me outta here look.

So now he's got a new gig. A new challenge. He's never coached, but I am sure he will be ready. I wish him luck in building and developing his program. Hopefully, he can use his NBA playing career pedigree to attract a bunch of pros to play for him.

COACH HOLMGREN: TRADE THE HOUSE FOR BIG BEN

I think the title says enough to suffice as a write-up. It's pretty simple. If he is really available, I would be trying to get this done. I would send the 7th pick, a 3rd, and a 2nd in 2011. I would send the 7th, a 2nd and a 2nd in 2011. There is no equal value for him, so I would be willing to do whatever it's gonna take. If they want players, they can have everyone aside from Joe Thomas and Josh Cribbs.

It's a World Cup Summer, But It's a Gus Johnson Spring

I had a great time in Las Vegas. It was my first time there, first time to the west coast; so it was an eye opening experience. It's a big world out there

I plan to write about some of my thoughts on America's Playground soon. I am still digesting a couple things, and trying to put my thoughts together.

For now, How F'ING good is Gus Johnson? He's so awesome. I can't believe he's not doing every game in every sport. The NCAA games he called were outstanding, with the Kansas St.-Xavier game being the highlight of the tournament. It was fitting that the best game was on Gus' watch. I was lucky to have stayed up to watch that whole game. It was vintage Gus. He had some amazing lines and explosions. What an awesome dude.

As excited as I am about the World Cup this June, I have come up with what I think is a cool idea. I would like all the Gus Johnson enthusiasts to try to do their part in my idea. The game is as follows: Incorporate and use Gus Johnson sayings all day everyday in your daily life. I posted a link on my Facebook account to a great Gus soundboard. Check it out. It's the best thing I have ever found on the internet. It's filled with unbelievable stuff. I can't say enough about this guy.

When you have a few minutes, go through them all and pick out some that you think fit you and friends the best. I know I have my favorites already. There are so many good ones, and all of them can be used in a bunch of funny inside your friends circle situations. WHEN THEY NEED BASKETS, THEY GO TO HIM! RISE AND FIRE!

There is my Tuesday good idea. Here is the link if you need it: www.gusjohnsongetsbuckets.com

Packing for Vegas

Checklist:

Balls
Wits
Nerves
Confidence
Alligator Blood
Alcohol Tolerance
2 Decent Pickup Lines
Pool/Beach Body (checkkkkkkk)
A Bag for All the Money

MIT Sports Analytics Conference

I was in Boston last weekend for Daryl Morey's MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference at the Boston Convention Center. It was a really cool thing to be a part of. It was a great event. I met a lot of cool people, got to see what some of these guys are like up close, and got a lot out of the topics and discussions that were held throughout the course of the day. It was a very well run event.

Just to backtrack a bit, this conference is about the discussion of the emerging presence of analytics in sports. In English, to give a few examples, it's looking at little things like Rashard Lewis' 3 point percentage in the right side corner when he's unguarded, or the amount of deflections Trevor Ariza makes during a game. Same goes for baseball and football. Looking at small things like the ground Grady Sizemore can cover coming in on a ball, or Joe Thomas' matchup on the Browns bread and butter run play on 2nd and 9. Analytics is aimed at trying to find new and different measurements and statistics that can create value and advantages for a team. And they hope to transcend those advantages to encompass much more than the night to night happenings of a game. They can be used to evaluate personnel decsions, drafting players, measuring a certain lineups effectiveness, etc. I'm losing my point here, let's move on.

Guys I Met at the Conference (shook their hand and had a meaningful 1-2 minute talk with them)

Bill Simmons, The Sports Guy

Steve Kerr, GM Phoenix Suns

Daryl Morey, Host, GM of the Houston Rockets

Ric Bucher, NBA Writer, ESPN.com

Mark Stein (Steiny Mo), NBA Writer, ESPN.com

Henry Abbot, NBA Writer, TrueHoop, ESPN.com

Bill Polian, President, Indianapolis Colts

John Hollinger, NBA Writer, ESPN.com

Mike Zarren, Assistant GM, Boston Celtics

Brent Barry, Former NBA player

Aaron Shatz, Editor, Football Outsiders

Brian Kenny, ESPN Sportscenter Anchor

David Thorpe, NBA Player Skill Developer

Guys Hands I Shook at the Conference (Just a quick "what's up)

Mark Cuban, Owner, Dallas Mavericks

Avery Johnson, Former NBA Coach

Michael Lewis, Author, Moneyball, The Blind Side

Kevin Pritchard, GM Portland Trail Blazers

Darren Rovell, CNBC Sports Business

Dean Oliver, Denver Nuggets Analytics Guy

Buck Showalter, Former MLB Skipper

A GREAT IDEA FOR YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS

HAPPY FRIDAY PEEPS. I am getting ready to go to the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston. It should be an interesting event. I am excited to see what happens. For those of you who don't know, this is a sports conference hosted by Daryl Morey, the GM of the Houston Rockets. He's in my top 3 favorite GMs in the NBA. Smart guy. He's an MIT guy, who started working for Bill James in the late 80s early 90s at STATS INC. And he has kinda brought the moneyball type thinking that Bill James revolutionized baseball with to the NBA. And now, it has kind of taken a life of its own, with almost every team devoting some man power to dissecting and analyzing small unorthodox statistics looking for that secret sauce. And that's what this MIT Sports Analytics Conference is all about: it's a forum to discuss the increasing role of statistical analytics in sports, and brings together some of the leaders of the movement for a great discussion.

BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT I HAVE FOR YOU TODAY. Today I have a great idea. A useful idea. An idea that you can use with your buddies. An idea that you can use with women.

With all the fuss in NFL Free Agency, and the pending NBA Summer of 2010 Free Agent class, the idea of using NBA and NFL contracts to talk about girls just popped into my head driving home yesterday. I sent a weird text to a couple of my buddies to see whether the idea had any validity. All of them signed off. I feel like you can use this in a lot of ways. Here it is.

Let's say you meet a girl tonight. You too hit it off. Good energy is happening. You report back to your group of friends who have been watching intently. They ask you about it. You say, "Ehh yea I feel like she's a candidate for a 10 day contract."

You meet a 10 downtown at lunch. She's babe-zilla, has it all working. You shoot a text to a couple of your buddies: I THINK I JUST MET A MAX PLAYER! I THINK SHE'S WORTH RASHARD LEWIS TYPE MONEY!

You get the picture. If things are going well with your new lady, maybe you sign her to the vaunted second 10 day contract. Maybe you've been with a girl for a month and you're trying to figure out what the future holds. Is she worth a first and third rounder tender? Are trade talks off the table? Can you work out a sign and trade with one of her friends? Can you extend her for the summer? What if you're in with a girl that you can't get rid of: I CAN'T GET OUT OF THIS CONTRACT, IT'S LIKE BRIAN CARDINAL OR JERMAINE O'NEAL!

There is just a lot of funny ways you can use this. Whether you have a girl playing for the mid-level exception due this summer, or you terminate a contract because she violated the character clauses set forth in her contract. Or even worse, maybe she has not hit the bed room incentives part of her contract, it's all gravy and great chatter for you and your buddies. Maybe you have a lady friend and you find yourself buying her crap all the time: THIS CHICK IS PUTTING ME OVER THE LUXURY TAX!

I think you can attack a girl with this at a bar too. I think you can really put a girl on her toes with it. You can go in directly for the kill with: "I would like to sign you to a one night contract." You can temporarily disqualify them with: "I think you're great but I don't think you're worth a top 10 money yet. What else do you have going for you?" You have to tread lightly with it, but if you can disqualify them and make them qualify themselves back to you with reasons why they deserve a lucrative contract, it could be something new and interesting that they appreciate.

Happy Friday. Go out and find that max player.

NFL COMBINE HYPNOSIS

I love the NFL Combine. It's one of my favorite events to watch and monitor. Over the years, it has taken on a life of its own. The NFL Network takes you inside of it and lets you see everything. I really enjoy watching it. I monitored it all weekend, with periods of being in a hypnotic trance and watching it for long periods of time. For something so simple and systematic, it can be really entertaining.

For the sake of argument, I am going to put myself through the combine drills throughout this week. I want to know where I stack up with some of the prospects in this year's draft class. I will report back my test results as soon as I can. I am trying to figure out how I am going to measure vertical. Other than that I should be in good shape to get them all done.

THE BIGGEST UNDERSTATEMENT OF 2010

THERE'S A LOT OF PRESSURE ON MIKE BROWN.

Questions and Considerations

Happy Friday--

I would like to share some of the questions, statements, and considerations I have written down that are sitting on or around my desk at the moment. Some of the stuff are my own questions, but it's mostly from stuff I read. I change this stuff up all the time. I like to keep it fresh. I hope some of these can be helpful to you in any individual way you use them.

Think critically.

Question assumptions.

Adopt different perspectives.

See Potential.

You can handle it. Compared to what others have been through, you're fortunate.

WHAT'S WORKING WELL RIGHT NOW AND HOW CAN I DO MORE OF IT?

You have no power to act yesterday or tomorrow.

What if I had to do this in 15 minutes??

SWEAT EQUITY.

OUTPUT.

Are you inventing things to do to avoid the important??

Is this an interesting and passionate life I am inviting women into?

NO FACEBOOK.

Introducing yourself is a presentation.

FUNNY, COOL AND POPULAR ARE NOT JOB SKILLS.

BEAT THE GUY YOU WERE LAST WEEK!

Get 2 phone numbers a day from beautiful women.

Only dead fish go with the flow.

Eye contact, body language, tonality. Focused eyes speak.

You gotta get up to show up. If you show up you might win. If you don't show up, you lose.

JC'S NBA MIDSEASON AWARDS

Here's my take on some mid-season awards in the association. Bear with me here. I haven't seen any midseason award articles yet. I imagine most of them will come to some of the same conclusions. I hope they don't. I hope mine are different.

Rookie of the Year: Ty Evans, Sac Kings---Pretty much the easiest award to give out at this point. He saved Geoff Petrie's job. He's reinvigorated the Maloof brothers, who have since sold their beer business, which should free up some cash to get some positive things going for the Kings. Evans is a full back. He's just so hard to handle with a head of steam going to the rim. I was critical of him in my pre-draft writing. I wasn't crazy about his upside. I thought he was a guy who was gonna do well right away because of his body and the style of play in the NBA. I thought he would have great stats on one of the worst teams in the NBA. But to carry a team like the Kings to a .500 record for a long stretch was impressive. He's slowed down of late, probably has some bumps and bruises, shooting a lower percentage, but we all know how that goes. He's been a very good player, and I hope he continues to grow and finds a way to knock down that jumper at a little higher clip.

Runners Up: Brandon Jennings, Omri Casspi, Taj Gibson,
2nd Half Sleepers: Darren Collison, James Harden

Coach of the Year: Lionnel Hollins, Memphis Grizzles--Starting off with the easy ones. They mailed it in last night against the Cavs, but that notwithstanding. To have a team with as many "toxic" guys as they have on their roster at 26-22 is a nice accomplishment. Not only that, but these guys are playing HARD AS HELL. Hollins has gotten these guys to share the ball on a night to night basis with a consistentcy that has led to some very nice wins. Rudy Gay, I understand he's playing for a contract, but he's bringing it every night. And Zach Randolph has shown that he's growing up, and his maturation has led to an All Star campaign rich with 25 and 15 nights, nights that only 3-4 guys in this league can duplicate. We still have a long way to go, and a lot can happen, but at the midpoint I think Coach Hollins is the guy here. When these guys beat the Cavs at Memphis I was actually cheering for them. They won me over for a night, and Rudy Gay and OJ put daggers into the Cavs. But let's see if these guys can keep it together and make the playoffs. The smart money is probably against them.

Runners Up: Scotty Brooks, Paul Westfaul, Mike Woodson
2nd Half Sleepers: Rick Adelman, Mike Brown

Defensive Player of the Year: Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic--I think this is still D12's award. LeBron is batting down his door though. This is just a question of total impact I think. He's sitting at almost 3 blocks per game. He leads the league in rebounding. His Magic team, despite some inconsistent effort, are still the Eastern conference champs and the team to beat. I think it's easy to get on this guy, and rightly so. He takes a lot of games off. But you can't argue with the numbers he puts up most nights, and his presence in that key has a very large impact on all phases of the game when you play Orlando. He makes you think twice before getting into that key, and the shots you made last night might not fly when guys are steering you right into Dwight Howard.

Runners Up: LeBron James, Joakim Noah, Gerald Wallace

6th Man Award: Carl Landry, Houston Rockets--One of my favorite guys in the league. Very efficient player, who has gotten better every year. He needs to play well for the Rockets to stay in the hunt. So his award hinges on the Rockets going on a couple nice .700 streaks in the second half of the season. But there's a lot to like about this kid. Plays hard. Rebounds the ball. Doesn't need the ball all the time. Goes to the glass to eat. Not bad for a fringe 2nd rounder. On a side note, I need his efficient game to supplment my fantasy team in the next couple weeks. Carl--BE SELFISH!

Most Improved Player: Aaron Brooks, Houston Rockets--Tough to pick here. Had it down to him and my favorite player in the league, Jo Noah. Obviously I think both are deserving. Jo Noah has been a warrior. 2nd in the league in rebounding. Unbelievable motor night to night. Screens. Deflects passes. Great 1 on 1 defender when he's on an island. And his offensive game is progressing well. But I think this award goes to A. Brooks. Brooks has been carrying this Rockets team. He's quickly become the leader of that team. And he's lead them to be overachieving winners, who have a good chance of making the playoffs. I think he's still qualified to win this award because he wasn't a big part of that equation last season until late in the year. Skip to My Lou was still running the show there until he got traded and swung the Magic Cavs series. But even when Skip got dealt it was still Kyle Lowry sharing minutes with AB. Everything changed in that Lakers series though. Brooks terrorized the Lakers, wore an unbelievable red sport coat in the post game interviews, showed he was a really cool guy and hasn't looked back since. This year he's had huge explosions, with a couple 40 and high 30 point games. He's gotta keep those coming in the 2nd half. He's on my short list of fave guys to watch.

Executive of the Year: TBD--Let's see whose got the balls to make a great move at the deadline to position their team to win a championship. This is an award for winners, not salary cap freeing losers.

Most Valuable Player:

5. Carmelo Anthony, Denver Nuggets--Chuck Barkley says it all the time: Best Scorer in the NBA. Leads the league in PPG. This has been an important season for Melo. It has gotten him BACK in the discussion when we talk about the best in the game. When we talked best in the game over the last few seasons, he was on the outside looking in. Now, he's in talks with Bron, Kobe, Wade, PP.

4.Jamal Crawford, Atlanta Hawks--He's been the difference. Period. This Hawks team is great. And they have been great for the last couple years. But they have never been a threat until Jamal Crawford signed with them. Now, I think there is a general feeling that the Hawks could win a series against the Cavs/Magic/Celts. And that's something they couldn't do without him. But he's been electric, whether it's the 3 game winning shots he's hit to his nightly come off the bench point explosions. There's not many guys in the league who can get as hot as Crawford. He's been a leader for them, and will continue to be the straw that stirs the drink in the Atl.

3. Stephen Jackson, Charlotte Bobcats--Captain Jack, what more can you say? You gotta give the Bobcats credit. They gambled to get this guy, took a leap of faith that he would fit in and be invested, and they are reaping the benefits. He's been an unbelievable player and leader for them, and don't look now, but they are a legitimate sleeper in the east. Cavs fans, you realize these guys have beat you twice, home and away right? Keep that in mind. I have written at length about Jackson. He has been the number 1 guy I have wanted the Cavs to get over the last couple seasons. And his impact is bearing out. He's a guy you want in your corner when the going gets tough. He's fearless and he's gonna fight for you. Literally and figuratively.

2. LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers--He's having another off the charts season. We see him every night, and we see just constant focus and attention and energy. We see relentless effort and hunger. We see his weaknesses. We see his bad habits. We see his blind spots. We see his focus on WINNING, and doing whatever it takes to win (last night 15 assists). You CANNOT argue with the fact that LeBron keeps getting better and better and better. That's a fact. You can argue that he's not getting better in the areas that are the most urgent and important: i.e. dictating the game from the post rather than pouding the ball 25 feet out until the clock hits 8 and then creating/scoring. But at the end of the day, he's just the best. And I look forward to seeing him try his hardest to get the Cavs over the hump and back to the NBA finals.

1. Kevin Durant, OK Thunder-- 22 straight games of 25+ points. In January: 15 games, 32ppg, 51.9FG%, 52.3P%, 90FT%, 8RPG, 3APG. That's just incredible efficiency. I dunno if we have ever seen that kind of scoring. 32 on 52, 52, and 90? Is that a misprint? The Thunder are 27-21, and in the playoff hunt in the west. KD is carrying this team and to be honest, I dunno where his help is coming from. This seems like a one man mission to me. Russ Westbrook and Jeff Green are good fantasy players, but night to night these guys stink. I am sorry. But these guys play 1.5 good games a week. James Harden does his best skinny Rick Ross impression and sits in the corner waiting for 3s. Kristic and Collison are role players past their prime. My point being that teams are batting down the hatches to stop Kevin Durant. And he's still scoring at this unspeakable clip and efficiency. It's amazing. He's the guy in the league that I would pay to go see right now. O and here's a fun fact. HE JUST TURNED 21!

Villanova Hoops

"LISTEN, HERE'S THE THING: IF YOU CAN'T SPOT THE SUCKER, IN YOUR FIRST 5 MINUTES AT THE TABLE, THEN YOU ARE THE SUCKER." -ROUNDERS

"WEAKNESS OF ATTITUDE BECOMES WEAKNESS OF CHARACTER." -ALBERT EINSTEIN

I watch in absolute fascination every time Villanova is on a TV. They are incredibly good. They play such a clean and fun style of hoop. Their guys play with a huge amount of confidence, and it shows in every facet of the game. They attack and lean on you for 40 minutes. They got 7-8 guys, and they all play hard as hell. They know their roles and they get a better feel for how to play them every game. And at 18-1, 8-0 in the Big East, they are quietly moving along on a path to Indy for a second straight Final Four appearance. Their unique ability to create matchup problems, like we saw last year and in the past make them a tough out in any tournament. Say what you want about Jay Wright, but from where I am sitting, there isn't many coaches walking around that possess his unique ability to build a team and design a style of play that maximizes his guy's strengths and hides their weaknesses. He gets plenty of steam for his snappy suits, but not enough for his innovative approach to dominating Big East hoops.

The best guy on the team, as many of you can attest is Scottie Reynolds. I probably enjoy watching him play more than anyone in college hoops, maybe even more than John Wall. He's just one of those players that plays in such an interesting way that it makes guys who have played the game at high levels envy him. He has an unbelievable ability to ALWAYS play at his own pace. There is never anything hurried about the way he plays. He's not lightning quick, but he's always a step and a half ahead of defenders. He doesn't have a quick release, but he always gets any shot he wants. He always makes the right pass on time, on target. He's unbelievable when he fills the lane on a brake. He carefully gambles on defense and disrupts offenses, whether they are in man to man or the variety of zone pressures they use. He's just cool. And most importantly, HE'S A BIG GAME PLAYER. That's the best way to describe him. He does whatever he wants. He plays at the pace of two old friends getting together for a couple beers, and no one can seem to stay in front of him. I think he's far and away the Big East Player of the Year at this point, and should get some consideration of NCAA POY.

Sunday Picks

I nailed the two wild card games yesterday. "The Sanchize" lives. My favorite player Tony Romo finally gets off the snide. Boom. 2-0.

No rest for the weary. 2 more GREAT games today. I am excited. Wild Card weekend excites me.

I like the Packers in a game that I think is still a "PICK'EM." Dominique Rogers Cromartie is nicked. Boldin is hurt. I don't think the Cards are gonna have enough. Aaron Rogers is playing with a lot of confidence. The conditions are gonna be ideal for offense. I think this game goes over the total.

The Ravens might not win this game, but they are going to cover this 4 point spread. So I like them. I like Joe Cool to finally play a good game in his sophomore season. I like Ray Rice and Derrick Mason to show up, with a guest appearance with Willis MaGahee and gamer Todd Heap.

I love what the Patriots have done the last 4 weeks, especially with their running game. The Wes Welker injury is a big hit though. The one thing you can count on is the Pats are gonna make you beat them left handed. They aren't gonna let Ray Rice play well, they are gonna make Joe Flacco beat them.

So, the Packers (PK) in a shootout. The Ravens (+4) in a cold battle of wills.

Under the Radar Hoop Players That You Need to Watch

"Most modern calendars mar the sweet simplicity of our lives by reminding us that each day that passes is the anniversary of some perfectly uninteresting event --Oscar Wilde

"Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit at home and think about it. Go out there and get busy." -Dale Carnegie

HEY, here's a couple guys I have seen a couple times this season and liked a lot. Solid players that are a little under the radar unless you're really dorky like me.

Ashton Gibbs, Pitt--This guy's a sophomore. Played a nice limited role on their great team last year. Led the Big East in 3p% last year. Played on the under-19 USA team this summer. I like the kid. He's very business like. No flash. He comes off screens and motion and shoots. Doesn't have a machine like jump shot, but the thing find the bottom of the net constantly. He's very efficient. Scores a lot of points without taking a lot of shots. Defends and handles. Had 25 in the dome at Syracuse on Saturday, to knock Cuse from the undefeated ranks. As Big Monday's start to get going, I imagine Pitt will be on TV a little more frequently. So keep an eye on this guy as the season progresses. But he's the kind of guy I like to watch. Efficient and tough. A guy who is out there to win.

Klay Thompson, Washington State--Coach Tony Bennet left for greener pastures at UVA, where he gets to his butt handed to him every night in the ACC, and lose out to every high level recruit but it hasn't hurt Thompson. This kid can get up and down. He's long and athletic and shoots the rock from deep. He might be leading the nation in scoring for all I know. All I know is I have watched him twice this season and liked what he does. He's a bit of glider and floater at times, meaning he checks out until he gets the ball in a position where he can score. But Washington State has been surprisingly resilient, and they are off to a good start. But Klay Thompson has a solid game. He's big enough to shoot over most guys. He'll stick the 3's that he needs to make. And he's not afraid to get into the key and knock some guys around. In a crummy PAC-10 year, he should shine.

Wesley Johnson, Syracuse--Get used to seeing this guy. He's gonna be playing in the NBA next year. This guy is nasty. I saw him early in the season and asked my buddy why Shawn Marion was playing for Syracuse. I immediately saw him and thought "very Matrix like." I still haven't seen enough of him to totally gush about him. But he can fill a lane. Finishes at the top of the box. Gets in passing lines. Block shots. Plays pretty hard from what I have seen. We'll see if he can keep up his current pace. Big East season is a grind. But this guy is one of those big time guys I think. Watch him a couple times, so when he goes 4th in the lottery this June, you'll be up to date on what he brings to a team.

Rotnei Clarke, Arkansas--This guy's making a run for my favorite player. He's trying to de-thrown Gordon Hayward. I watched this guy last night play Texas. I watched him a couple times last year as a freshmen and thought he was only okay. I was wrong because this guy is a player. He's a tremendous scorer and plays with a lot of guts. PURE SHOOTER. He shoots the crap out of it and doesn't hesitate to throw his body around. He plays with a lot of energy and isn't afraid to take the big shot. He's definitely worth your time. He's gonna be a good player for a couple more years.

Gordon Hayward, Butler--The reigning "JC's favorite player," he's picked up where he left off from last year pretty well. He has a great feel for the game. Plays hard and lets the game come to him. Would like to see him be more aggressive. Great scorer. Great rebounder. Great team defender. Winner. As much as I like him, it's hard to buy stock in him at the next level. Despite tremendous feel, and decent size, his athleticism is gonna be a major question mark. He definitely will be evaluated though. But for now, check him out. He's a great player to watch. Moves without the ball. Active.

Jimmer Fredette, BYU--Another guy whose raising up the charts of my favorite players. As a matter of fact, he might be number 1 right now. This guy can PLAY. Wow. I watched that BYU-Arizona game where he put 49 on Sean Miller's guys. That was spectacular. I wish I was there. That was a game. I have never seen anyone shoot the rock like this guy. When I first saw him shoot, I was like "holy crap that's like Mark Price and Larry Bird!" He's got this great stroke. And he was pouring them in from all over the court. Most were barely hitting the net. This guy is a BIG TIME scorer. He might be leading the nation along with Klay Thompson for all I know. But I am gonna keep tabs on this guy, because unlike Hayward, I think this guy can play in the pros. I think he is a little better than Redick. Jimmer is a 2, but I think he's got enough handle to be a 1 in the pros. Always a tough task but. This guy is nasty. Watch him.