10 sports predictions for the weekend. Apirl 1 posted by john howard

Here are my 10 sports predictions for the weekend of April 2.  I'll try and keep track thoughout the year and reply with yours as well :)

1)  Michigan State will beat Butler.  Izzo and company has been here many times before.

2) Duke over West Virginia.  WVU is a great story, but so is Duke.

3) Charlotte over Milwaukee  friday

4) Boston over Houston Friday

5) Cleveland over Atlanta Friday

6) Atlanta over Detroit Sat

7) Portland over Sacramento Sat

8)  Denver over the Clippers Sat

9) Washington over New Jersey sun

10)OKC over Minn Sun

Portland makes the first move. Clippers--what are you thinking??? posted by john howard

In the first big move of the tradeseason, Portland acquired Marcus Camby from the Los Angelos Clippers for Steve Blake and Travis Outlaw.  This was a great move for the Trailblazers.  They have had a huge hole vacated by injuries to Joel Pryzbilla and Greg Oden.  Juwon Howard has filled in very well and Camby gives them the second best rebounder in the game inside.  Losing Blake will hurt some, but not as much as they gain from Camby.  Andre Miller has played very well at point guard and youngser Bayliss has shown he can be an effective backup.  They won't miss Outlaw.  He has been out since November with a broken foot and is to return soon.  Portland holds the 8th sot in the playoffs.  Camby is in his last year of his contract and will likely leave after this season since Oden and Pryzbilla will be back.

What boggles the mind is why the Clippers did it.  They are going to play 1.5 mil of the 2 mil in incentives Camby is due to make.  So, they save themselves hal fa mil, but that doesn't make since.  They don't gain anything in Blake or Outlaw. They really aren't in position to make a playoff run and all players involved are free agents after the season.  So, they give of the 2nd best rebounder in the NBA for nothing.  It wasn't even a salary loading deal. Camby was leaving anyway.  There were no future pieces acquired. This is why the Clippers watch the playoffs every year instead of being watched.  I wonder which rookie they will draft that is going to get injured this year????

Portland A+   Clippers F

Welcome! The Lakers pinky problem, awesome rookies and other thoughts around the league posted by Zach Beckmann

Welcome!  This is my inaugural post on NBABasketballonline.  I will not spend too much time initially on who I am, but will get into my thoughts and love for the NBA.  In due course you should develop a clear indication of who I am and where I am coming from. 

To make things clear right away though I am a Lakers fan.  But beyond the Lakers I am a fan of the league.  There exists no other medium where you can watch the most naturally gifted athletes battle night in and night out (well in the playoffs at least).  The majority of my time is spent rooting for the Lake Show, but by no means does that mean I do not appreciate or any less fascinated with the supreme prowess of Tim Duncan or the fierce competitiveness of KG or the ridiculous all around offensive talents of Melo.  I could comprise my entire initial blog with these adjective laden statements respecting the talents the NBA’s elite, but for our reading pleasure I will delve into more significant opinions I deem worth sharing with others. 

As far as the Lakers are concerned they are the best team in the league.  The Celtics are close, but I can’t still see a healthy Celtics beating a healthy Lakers team in a 7 game series.  The combination of the miles on the C’s legs (even though KG has surpassed all expectations from me at least this year) are just too much to hold up through June, Sheed’s refusal to do anything but throw up bricks from the outside, and the fact that I honestly can not see Paul Pierce dominating Kobe again like he did two years ago leads me to believe the Lakers win that series in five (Game 1 in Boston and games 3,4,5 in LA for those of you keeping score).

posted by Andy Charles

Allen Iverson’s sometime glittering career in the NBA could just be over after he left the Memphis Grizzlies early into his tenure with the franchise.

Although Iverson was given permission ‘to leave to attend to personal business’ late last week, his time in Memphis had already started to become a sideshow with more talk about him being asked to come off the bench than anything else.

Iverson had only played three times for the Grizzlies before leaving ahead of Saturday’s clash with the Los Angeles Clippers, and had not played badly in averaging 12.3 points and 3.7 assists despite his displeasure at not being in the starting line-up as Memphis preferred to start Mike Conley and O.J. Mayo in the backcourt.

The 34-year-old also complained at a lack of communication with coach Lionel Hollins, as he revealed: “It’s probably going to always be hard for me and him to see eye-to-eye, because we’ve never even talked to each other. Obviously that’s what you do if you’re trying to accomplish the same goal.”

Hollins was non-committal about Iverson returning to the team, issuing a ‘no comment’ and admitting he had no idea if he would be back in the short or even the long-term.

Memphis had been anticipated as one of the league’s improvers this season but have started the campaign just as in most recent years with their 1-6 record the joint worst in the Western Conference and better than only the injury-hit New Jersey Nets overall.

But it is Iverson’s future dominating the sports pages, with retirement the latest word to rear its ugly head despite comments from owner Michael Heisley that Iverson had not intimated to him that he was thinking about calling it a day.

Fun With Box Scores posted by Scott Shepherd

In the NBA these days, it seems like there is a stat for everything. We’ve got PER, offensive efficiency ratings, defensive efficiency rating, and so on and so on.

It seems like every team in the league now employs their own stat guru. And while I’m not one to question the use of all these new statistics to evaluate NBA players (I actually kinda like them), I’m old school.

To me, all the new stats in the world can’t tell the story of an NBA game as well as the good, old fashioned box score.

Therefore, I’m starting a new feature today called “Fun With Box Scores”.

Every Monday, I’ll be posting some of the more interesting things that jumped out at me from the previous week’s box scores.

This week, they are, in no particular order:

The Cavs were +38 when LeBron was on the floor this week. They were -27 when he wasn’t.

Meanwhile, the Cavs were -3 when Shaq was on the floor and +19 when he wasn’t.

Rasheed Wallace took 8 shots on Wednesday…all three pointers. For the week, ‘Sheed attempted 36 shots. 25 of them were three pointers.

Danilo Gallinari was 8-16 from deep on Saturday. He was 1-6 on two-point shots. For the week he was 18-36 on three-point shots and 4-11 on two-point attempts.

Carmelo Anthony had 113 points in 116 minutes this week.

Greg Oden had 26 points in 99 minutes. He also had 19 fouls.

Speaking of fouls, Hasheem Thabeet had 8 in 24 minutes of play this week. In his defense, he did have four blocks, giving him a nice one block for every two fouls ratio.

NBA Opening Night Quick Thoughts posted by Scott Shepherd

Happy New Year!

With the new NBA season set to tip off with four games tonight, here are some of the things I’ll be watching for in tonight’s action.

Boston @ Cleveland, 7:30pm

I can’t wait to see LeBron again this season. Last year, coming off the Olympics, you could see that his focus was on improving defensively. Now, without a summer in the spotlight, I’m curious to see if he’s made any improvements to his already unreal game. Is this the year we finally see LeBron use his Karl Malone-like body to beast on people inside?

Also, I’m curious to see what kind of pregame theatrics the Cavs come up with. You know Shaq can’t stand to be out of the spotlight, I wouldn’t be surprised if he tries to one-up LeBron’s chalk thing with something of his own.

As for Boston, I really want to see how Rondo responds to not getting a contract extension. Last year he was a triple-double waiting to happen in the playoffs, but at the same time, Boston was not a threat.

Are we going to see the more subdued Rondo that won the title in ’08, or will it be the ’09 version that was the centerpiece of that team?

And of course, I’m looking forward to seeing Rasheed Wallace’s giant new cornrows. Those would have been ugly 4 years ago. Nice throwback hairstyle, 'Sheed.

Washington @ Dallas, 8:30pm

Curious to see the return of the former Agent Zero. I wrote last season that he could be this decade’s Grant Hill, and not in a good way. Three knee surgeries in 17 months is a terrible route to take to NBA superstardom. It’s nearly impossible to bounce back from that.

Disappointing First Impression of Blake Griffin posted by Scott Shepherd

Disappointing news for NBA fans everywhere, courtesy of yahoo:

"LOS ANGELES (AP)—Blake Griffin’s (notes) NBA debut has been pushed back indefinitely after the Los Angeles Clippers revealed late Monday night that their No. 1 overall draft pick has a broken left kneecap.

The stress fracture could sideline the Oklahoma star for six weeks, the team announced, promising further information Tuesday."

What a disappointment this news is. Watching Blake Griffin debut on Tuesday night was going to be the highlight of the TV schedule for me. The Lakers, Cavs, and Celtics are all going to be good this year, we already know that.

And while it’s always fun to watch really good teams play, one of the best parts of the new season is getting to watch high profile rookies make the transition to the NBA game.

With Blake Griffin, no one really knows what he’s going to be yet. He could be the in the rare breed of NBA-ready rookies, or he could be a total work in progress. We were finally going to find out on Tuesday night. He was going to make his first impression on the NBA world.

Unfortunately, Griffin made his first impression on Monday night instead. Any hope of seeing the number one overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft hit the ground running was lost in Monday night’s announcement of a broken kneecap.

When he does finally debut six weeks from now, it’ll be unceremonious, and he’ll have to be worked back into game shape.

You only get to make one first impression, and my first impression of Blake Griffin, through no fault of his own, is one of total disappointment.

Griffin news boosts Clippers posted by Andy Charles

It looks as if Los Angeles Clippers fans can breathe a sigh of relief after doctors cleared No 1 pick Blake Griffin to work out with the team after a shoulder injury had threatened to rule him out of the start of the season next month.

The Clippers must have been, as usual, feeling a little snake bitten when Griffin, the big body they needed so badly, strained his shoulder back in July playing in the Las Vegas Summer League.

But Griffin did more than enough in summer action to show exactly what he is going to bring to the Clips, who have suffered as Los Angeles’ second team just about forever – sure they will again this season but the shoots of optimism might just begin to sprout by the end of 2010.

He averaged 19.2 points and 10.8 rebounds and showed against some fringe NBA players from next season that he should be able to bash the boards as he did to such effect at Oklahoma last season.

The Clippers’ off-season moves, getting rid of the utterly useless (in terms of work-rate and anything but scoring) Zach Randolph, cleared Griffin to become part of what could be a tough to beat inside trio along with Chris Kaman and Marcus Camby.

But, sadly for future projections, all three of them have the same problem – durability. Griffin has already been hurt since coming out of the college game and both Kaman and Camby are well known for missing stretches of time throughout their career.

If, and it’s a big if, all three can stay fit then there is even a chance they could make up some of the 29 games that they were out of the playoff hunt last season because, if their application matches their talent level, they should be a contender.
Continue reading "Griffin news boosts Clippers"

Richardson traded again. This time to Minnesota posted by john howard

Quentin Richardson has traveled from New York to Memphis to Los Angelos, and now to Minnesota.  He takes with him $9mil for one year.  Last season he earned 3 wins for the New York Knicks (a Howard Sports statistic).  In return, the Clippers get Sebastian Telfair (3 wins), Craig Smith (2 wins), and Mark Madsen (0 wins). So, it was a good trade for the Clippers.  They gained a backup to Baron Davis.  Minnesota meanwhile gets to unload a huge salary after this season.  Richardson also fills a void that was created when Foye was traded to Washington.  Also, Ricky Rubio doesn't appear to coming soon.  After the terrific play of Flynn this summer in Las Vegas, Telfair became expendable.

Clippers send Randolph to Memphis posted by john howard

The Los Angelos Clippers sent Zach Randolph to the Memphis Grizzlies for Quentin Richardson.  A move that was needed after having a surplus of inside talent with newly drafted Blake Griffin.  Griffin has been sensastional in summer league and will likely start for the Clippers.  Using the Howard Sports winning system, Randolph earned 2 wins while Richardson earned 3.  So, it's a pretty even swap.  The Grizzlies acquired Richardson from the Knicks for Darko Milicic this summer.  So, Richardson never played a game for Memphis.

Here is the Lineup for the Clippers with last years wins earned by players using according to Howard Sports

PG  Baron Davis--3 the worst year of his career.  Usually a 6 to 8 game winner

SG Eric Gordon--3  A young star continuing to improve.

SF Al Thornton--2 Another young improving player

PF Blake Griffin--7 The first pick averages 7 wins their first year.

C C Kaman--1 an injury filled year still a quality player

Quentin Richardson--3  Marcus Camby--2  8 others with one win.

This team could be a playoff team.  They have a good starting lineup with lots of good pieces on the bench.  It's just a matter of putting them together.

Memphis

PG M Conley--3  improving, but not sure he is the answer

SG OJ Mayo--4  Will be an all star one day

SF R Gay--4 a very good player that is getting better

PF  Z Randolph--2  Can score!

C M Gasol--3  another pleasant surprise

H Thabett--6, last year's 2nd pick earned 6 wins.  I don't Thabeet will do that.  He just doesn't score.

Clippers re-sign free-agent F Butler (AP)

The Los Angeles Clippers have re-signed free agent forward Rasual Butler. He averaged a career-high 11.9 points, 2.9 rebounds and 33 minutes in 82 games with the team last season. Butler hit 41 percent from the floor, and set a franchise record with 145 3-pointers. "I'm so happy to be back with the Clippers so much unfinished business!" Butler tweeted Wednesday. [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Clippers sign draft picks Aminu, Bledsoe (AP)

The Los Angeles Clippers have signed draft picks Al-Farouq Aminu of Wake Forest and Eric Bledsoe of Kentucky. The signings were announced Saturday. Aminu, a forward, was the eighth overall pick in last month's NBA draft. Bledsoe, a guard, was the 18th pick whom the Clippers acquired in a draft day trade after he was originally chosen by Oklahoma City. [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Lakers sign G Steve Blake (AP)

Guard Steve Blake has signed with the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers announced the deal Thursday after agreeing to terms with the veteran guard last week. Blake got a four-year contract worth $16 million from the two-time defending NBA champions. Blake finished last season with the Los Angeles Clippers after arriving in February in a trade with Portland. [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Clippers introduce Del Negro as coach (AP)

The Los Angeles Clippers have introduced Vinny Del Negro as their coach, two months after he was fired by the Chicago Bulls. He takes over a Clippers team that went 29-53 last season and missed the playoffs for the 15th time in 17 years. Del Negro on Wednesday replaced Kim Hughes, who finished the season as interim coach after Mike Dunleavy stepped aside in February to focus on his GM duties before... [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Del Negro agrees to coach Clippers (AP)

The Los Angeles Clippers reached an agreement in principle with Vinny Del Negro to become the team's head coach. The team said Tuesday night in an e-mail that more details would be announced Wednesday. Del Negro was fired by the Chicago Bulls in May after going 82-82 in two seasons and making two postseason appearances. [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports