A Kite in the Wind

You listen with all the might you have within you to the sound that has been piercing your heart. Its a sound so resound and strong that with it you begin to reminisce of its beginnings. Days and years spent around he and his maker. The two of them so eerily similar that at times you find yourself jealous for you have no comparison. But then with that memory you sit and pull him forward and hold him tightly for he needs you today. You are his countenance and his strength this moment. Time has passed since that moment of change but the pain still lingers. You brave yourself for the power and will to be strong and more than who you've ever been. At this juncture you've become a guide and a tool to his growth and to his moving forward. He is your friend and you two have been placed here for this moment. A moment of remembrance and the struggles of loss. One day you may understand and know full well the importance of loss but as of today you forget meaning and focus on love. There are days when you realize that his pain is yours to bear for one day you will need him to do the same for you. With this you assume his burden, his hardship and his grief and you do this for him because he is your friend. As his tears fall upon your chest, you listen and pray for the strength to be silent and to love. You then proceed to tell him that this is not the end, this is not goodbye.

Untitled

There he is, that young kid so numb and full of love, reeling from the loss he's experienced. His youth and naive soul trembling as the pain hits his heart full bore with nothing but a cry to easy his burden. As the bus rides along, with cheers and dancing around, his eyes well up and look out the frost laden window. Dreams have been had at this juncture before, visions of grandeur and the promises of success all beset his trail. However, this day is not the day for dreaming, for on this day his heart has been broken, his dreams have died and for the first time in his life he's come to understand its reality. As he hurts and waits for something to calm his heart, he starts to draw a picture to remember it all for. He starts to try and find something to hold on to, to lay his dreams upon. With his picture all but lines full of hope and a journey lost, he begins to look up and wonder how such sorrow could have happened. How life could be so cruel to such a young soul. But as his tears continue to flow, he remembers...and that is all he can do now.

With only 30 games left, time for my early predictions

With two thirds of the games played as of today, the 2008/09 NBA season has sure had its fair share of story lines. For starters the Kobe vs LeBron comparisons have certainly raised the level of casual fan interest the league hasn't seen since its glory days of Magic vs Bird. If these two stars can cary their respective teams into the finals, this years grand spectacle will surely bring about a clash for the ages. Having witnessed Kobe go off for 61 at the garden two weeks ago, to having LeBron narrowly missing a triple double of massive proportions two days later, the games and league have to be happy with the play of its two marquee stars. I must mention before I go on that the week of Feb 2nd to the 8th has to go on record as by far the greatest scheduled week ever. Kobe to MSG, LeBron to MSG, Celtics to MSG, Celtics/Lakers to Lakers/Cavs, what a week!!!!!

However, as much as Kobe and LBJ have stolen the spotlight most of the time, there still have been a great number of awesome headlines to be had.

- Firstly has to be the re-emergence of Shaq, what a force, what a player, the guy has played well and re-invigorated his career. It's unfortunate that he's stuck in a lower tier team such as Phoenix. If only that trade to Cleveland had gone through, he'd even be more pumped.

- Charles Barkeley, oh how you've fallen. DUI...nuff said. You'd better behave Chuck, C Webb might slide under the radar and steel your job.

- The emergence of Kevin Durant has certainly been great to watch. How unfortunate for Portland. I feel bad for them and how they succumbed to pressure and hype of Oden, who'll maybe become a poor man's David Robinson. It stands here to say that I doubt it.

However, Durant what a game, the guy can play. I'll go out on a limb here but he's got "it", I see it in his eyes, he's got that "it" quality that Kobe possess, the "I'm not afraid of you quality". In my opinion he's got just as much upside as LeBron basketball wise, even more so. If he could just eat a sandwich I'd say he'll replace Kobe as the games finest in 5 years. Yes you read that, I see more killer in him that I do LeBron. LeBron's just a physical specimen no one's ever seen before, but he ain't no killer.

- The wear and tear of KG. His intensity is still there, his passion hasn't left him but oh boy have those 40+ minutes a game carrying that brutal 'Sota team worn him down. Take into account his lack of injuries and 1000 + games and you can understand his dropoff this season. Watch him and Duncan and you can see why Popovich has kept Duncan's minutes low for the past few seasons, the man hasn't aged. KG's newest injury might come as a blessing in disguise for the Celtics.

- Stephon Marbury + 20 million + sit on your ass = UNFAIR Stupid Isaih!!!

- So the league is hurting financially and well I'm going to take a page out of Charley Rosen's book and suggest that David Stern and company consider downsizing the league 4 or 5 teams. Yeah those cities will go ape shit over this proposal but if its for the betterment of the league than I say do it. It will save the league tons of cash while also helping to increase team competitivity. Goodbye Sacramento, Golden State, Memphis, Minnesota, New Orleans and the Clippers. I'd also include the Nets, Raptors and Thunder but those teams do have a couple things going for them. The Nets and Raptors have great money markets and the Thunder just received their team so with that I give them a pass for now.

much much more but I'll do that later.

Now on to those predictions:

Rookie: O.J. Mayo - I'd give it to Rose, but Mayo's been more flashy and voters tend to go with that
MIP: Devin Harris - He has this by a landslide, the kid has taken quite well to Frank's system
Sixth: Richard Hamilton - Jason Terry or Ginobili would win this in a cake walk, but due to their injuries, I'm going with Hamilton. To be honest I actually couldn't come up with another player.
Defensive: Dwight Howard - This award in my opinion is a crock of shit, Howard is a horrible defender but however, due to his size the man can block shots and rebound. In my opinion Duncan or Kobe should win this thing every year. Kobe's the best man defender in the game, and Duncan is the best man and help defender for big men. The fact that either has never won the award is crap.
Coach: Phil Jackson - Best team, best coach. He may have Kobe, but he certainly deserves credit for developing Farmar, Vujacic, Bynum, Ariza and to an extent Odom.
Executive: Mitch Kupchak - Has put together a cohesive group of veterans, youth and talented players. This group is young and could be a force for some time to come. Excellent drafting as well.
MVP: Kobe Bryant - Not his most dominating statistical season, but by far his finest. 28, 5, 5, 1.5, 48%, 87%, 35% and zero games missed are great achievements. But what separates him from LBJ is his leadership, his ability to control a game and his experience. Could he easily put up bigger numbers? Sure, but he doesn't need to, stats don't tell the whole story. Also his team swept Boston and Cleveland and his matchups with LBJ have been landslide victories. Kobe checked and guarded LBJ to the point of some of his worst games of the season. LBJ has been great and he's vastly improved, but where he needs to grow vs Kobe is his overall understanding of the game and until he does this Kobe will still be the man. However, all the pleas and points I make still wont garner Kobe his second MVP, LeBron is gonna win this thing due to the fact that writers have since the beginning of the season picked him to win the thing. They made up their minds back then and there's nothing Kobe can do about it. I guarantee that once LBJ wins the award this year, next year they'll be like "well now it's Wade's turn". Fucking bs. Let me point this out again, that Shaq has ONE MVP, Kobe has ONE MVP and Nash has TWO. WTF????????????????

All NBA 1st: Paul, Kobe, LBJ, Duncan, Garnett
All NBA 2nd: Williams, Wade, Pierce, Gasol, Howard
All NBA 3rd: Nash, Granger, Durant, Nowitzki, Yao

All NBA Defensive 1st: Paul, Kobe, Prince, Duncan, Garnett
All NBA Defensive 2nd: Wade, Ariza, Pierce, Camby, Howard

Finals: Los Angeles vs Cleveland = La in 7 (homecourt proves to be important)
Finals MVP = Kobe

later.

My Top 10 NBA Trade Value

As I listen to Bill Simmons debate his 9th annual Top 40 NBA Trade Value, I feel it is my duty as an avid NBA fan and blogger to write and do my own list (a shortened version mind you) since a Top 40 would just take too long. This list however, does follow Bill's rules for which I have cut and pasted for you below (okay so I'm being lazy tonight)

1. Salaries matter. Over this season and the next three, would you rather pay David West $37.9 million or Andrei Kirilenko $63.3 million?
2. Age matters. Would you rather have Rasheed Wallace for the next four seasons or Al Horford for the next 12?
3. Pretend the league passed the following rule: For 24 hours, any player can be traded without cap ramifications. So if Team A tells Team B, "We'll trade you Player X for Player Y," would Team B make the deal or not?
4. Concentrate on degrees. For instance, neither San Antonio nor Orlando would make a Howard-Duncan trade. But at the very least, the Spurs would say, "Wow, Dwight Howard's available?" while the Magic would say, "There's no frickin' way we're trading Dwight Howard." That counts in the big scheme of things.
5. The list runs in reverse order (Nos. 50 to 1). So if Carmelo comes in at No. 14, players 1 through 13 are all players about whom the Nuggets would probably say, "We hate giving up 'Melo, but we definitely have to consider this deal." And they wouldn't trade him straight-up for any player listed between Nos. 15 and 50.


Now on to my list:

10. Brandon Roy
Awesome player who can score, defend and lead. His Blazers are playing well, they're young, athletic and growing fast, with Roy undoubtedly at the center of it all. Plus paying him 3, 4 and 5 mil respectively for the next 3 seasons has to be a plus as well.
9. Derrick Rose
Fastest player in the league by far, with a huge ceiling for growth. Come next season that CP3/DWill "who's the best pg in the league" comparison will certainly need to be including him in it. And I'll be the first to say it here, good luck picking the starting pg for the 2012 Olympics. Good luck!!!
8. Deron Williams
What kind of tear has he been on lately and he isn't on the All Star team? No All Star for he and Melo? Garbage in my opinion. The guy can flat out play.
7. Kevin Durant
The best pure scorer in the league next to Kobe, LeBron and Melo. Will challenge for the best player in the league soon, has a huge upside.
6. Dwayne Wade
Has raised his game considerably since recovering from his injuries. Unfortunately for him his team blows and looks to be average for a few more seasons. His situation reminds me of where Kobe was 4 seasons ago. Let's hope he can stay healthy! Needs to improve his outside shooting or he'll run down soon.
5. Chris Paul
Pure assassin! Takes over a game so effortlessly. He's Isiah re-incarnate.
4. Tim Duncan
Not much else to be said, unless one of the top 3 is offered there is no way he's moving.
3. Kobe Bryant
Would be No. 2 if he were a tad younger, but he's now in his 30's with over 1000 games behind him. He may be the best in the league now and for the next 5 seasons but if Howard or LeBron were available I find it hard to imagine LA saying no, especially with LBJ being 24 and Howard being 23.
2. Dwight Howard
If he can continue to develop offensively and maintain his focus defensively he will become unstoppable. My only thing with him is "does he have the right focus and killer attitude to lead a team to championship" sometimes I not so sure on that one. He has too much of a David Robinson vibe for me to be comfortable with. But still with his size and age him being number 2 is about as low as I can put him.
1. LeBron James
Did you really expect anyone else? Could go down as the best ever but I highly doubt that he will. I just don't see him loving the game as much as Jordan and Kobe. Like I've pointed out before, LBJ and Shaq have by far the highest ceilings of any player in history. Shaq's going to go down as one of the best, top 5 for sure but man could he have dominated had he tried a little harder, for some reason I see that same thing for LBJ. Will go down in the top 5, but as number 1, not so sure.

later.

The Mecca takes a hit as Kobe and LeBron come to town

As a fan of basketball you couldn't ask for more when it comes to great performances this week. With Kobe draining in a very efficient 61 on monday and LeBron killing it tonight in a 52/11/10 game you have to hand it to the leagues two brightest stars for delivering on the games biggest stage. What is it with MSG and these picturesque performances? Is it Spike Lee's face courtside that gets the boys all fired up? Not sure, but hey who cares, with performances likes these I'll certainly keep my questions to a minimum. As for the boys themselves well...what can I say except WTF???

As of today, I fully annoint these two the best players on the planet now and for at least the next 5 years (barring no major injuries). So to all you crazy folk out there clamoring on about how DWade and CP3 deserve mention in this dubious category because in my opinion you can shut the Fuck up! There's no doubt about their greatness, Kobe and LeBron are in their own categories all together, the same one's as Magic and Bird, Magic and Michael, Russel and Wilt, y'know the greatest of all time and by far the best of this generation. Personally I view them as Kobe being a more crisp version of Michael and LeBron being a cross of Magic and Dominique.

And to think they square off against one another on Sunday, Yeah!!

What a week. Gotta love it!

later.

New City, New home, Same old Kobe.

A couple of days back the most anticipated game of the season (at least for me that is) took place between the Lake show and the Cavs @ Staples. As an avid NBA fan I sure love when I'm right. I knew right from the get go back in late October that Kobe vs LBJ would wind up being the best match up the NBA has seen since Bulls vs Knicks in the early 90's. By far the best two players on the two best teams, not much else I could ask for. However, having to watch the game in the confines of a friendly downtown Vancouver sports bar sure added to fun. This being my 5th day here in the pacific north west city, my girl and I have had to endure life without certain amenities, no tv, no toaster (oh how I miss you), no microwave, no bed and so on as we await our home life stuff to arrive from Saskatoon. But no Laker game? Fuck that! That wasn't something I was going to wait for. All day long I abounded with joy at how the nights game would be nothing short of a thriller. Here therefore are a few notes that caught my eye from the Lakers romp.


- Kobe is one tough SOB: Dislocates his finger and still manages to defend LeBron marvelously. 20/12/9 is a pretty damn good game, especially against the leagues best defense.


- Kobe is the best defender in the league: Held LeBron to 36% shooting, 23 pts, but most importantly to a game where he wasn't that involved. For me that is the mark of a true MVP, a guy whose willing to check the other teams best player and sacrifice his stats for the betterment of the team. I totally understand why he's been All NBA First Team Defense 7 times.


- LeBron is one bad ass mofo: The guy is Magic with Dominique's power, he is fucking fast, strong and fucking hard to guard. He has by far the highest ceiling of any player in the league now and in history, well except for Shaq. If only he had more intelligence and a stronger mindset of the game, plus a better defensive approach and more crisp shooting he could go down as the best ever. At 24 he still has time to develop, it only remains to be seen whether a summer in the gym vs a summer of celebrity can be coaxed into him. This to me is what separates he and Shaq from being the best ever, they both lack the killer "I"m going to die trying to be the best" attitude that MJ and Kobe both exude. It remains to be seen here that if the results had been flipped to where LBJ suffered that injury if he would have stayed in the game. Something tells me no. But hey that's me.


- When LA's bench plays the way they can, they're unstoppable: Odom, Ariza, Farmar, Vujacic and Radmanovic all could start for most teams in the league, and when they're on boy can they fucking play. The verdict is still out on Odom and Radmanovic, I still would trade them and get a Paul Millsap type player to back up Gasol and Bynum, but as it stands this bench can play. They move the ball well, run even better and they all can shoot. If they catch a good head of steam, I say look out.


- Cleveland is still one player away from a championship: I say ship Wally out and go get someone now who can contribute in the post season. Whether it be Marion, Carter or even some blue chippers I say why wait, this team needs some size, Varajeo and Wallace are to soft and old to combat the taller teams and Illgauskas shouldn't be counted on too much at this stage of his career. They'll still be in the East championships and maybe the finals, but I say why risk it, go for it and package Wally's expiring for something now. With that D and LBJ this team could beat LA if the right player came by.

Not much else to say on this. later.

Rick Kamla you're a biased idiot!

Okay so that title isn't very flattering towards the NBA's number one Fantasy guru, but hey I only speak my mind when I know I'm right. In case you've never heard or read anything from Rick, he's the NBA's top guy when it comes to rating fantasy numbers for fantasy leagues. He also helps host NBA TV from time to time. Any who, judging from his credentials and experience, the man does know the game, I will give him that but when it comes to offering his opinion and such, well I find him a little hard to believe seeing as he tends to favor his favorite players. Here's the thing, my view of NBA analysts and such is that you should hold some sort middle ground when it comes to players. Favoring one and not the other gives the impression to fans that you are unable to put your views/biases aside while reporting the game and player mentioned. What I mean is, if you hate player X and love player Y and will do whatever you can to promote player Y and demean player X than in my opinion you are unfit at judging/reporting or even commenting as an analyst for the NBA.


Over the years I've watched Kamla rant at how he hates Kobe, how he's too selfish and yada yada yada, saying that he doesn't involve his teammates enough, he shoots too much, he's a poor leader, etc... Which in fairness might have been true 5 years ago when he was just learning how to be a leader sans Shaq. He may have shot a lot, but when Kwame Brown and Luke Walton are your 2nd and 3rd options well I would too. But on the flip side if you watch any laker games now, Kobe shoots less, involves more and leads constantly.


My opinion on this and anyone who has views towards someone at one point in time should also factor in that people change, evolve and with hard work find a way to get better. Is Kamla right in comparing Kobe and LeBron? Sure, why not, it's fun to do so. They are clearly the two best players in the league, both supreme leaders on championship caliber ball clubs. But to say that LeBron is head and shoulders better than Kobe is way off base. In Kamla's assessment he does have a point that LeBron at his age now of 24, he is better than was Kobe was at 24, the man is a freak and only getting better. But to say he's better now, I don't think so.


Who's a better shooter? Kobe by a landslide, he's clutch, a better free throw shooter, he's got an amazing mid range game, a consistent three, and he can bary big time shots when the game matters. LeBron has great touch, but he does show inconsistency, and his free throw shooting is awful for a player of his dominance. Big advantage to Kobe.


Who's a better defender? Well Kobe's been all league defense what 7 or 8 times, he's probably the best man on man lock down defender in the game, he's quick, has great instincts and very intelligent on help defense. With the Lakers he plays more of a free safety so he has to roam more than he'd like, but when it comes to his defense, I'm confident he's proven himself by now. As for LeBron well I must admit he's a lot better, more adept, he's improved on help defense and his steals have steadily improved this season. His man defense still needs work but he should get there. Still advantage to Kobe.


Rebounding, Passing? Well they both excel at their positions. LeBron wins in both categories statistically, but you need to take into account a few factors. One is LeBron's size, he's 6'8" 250, while Kobe is 6'7" 210, so when it comes to rebounding LeBron should win, and he does but not by much, so I call it even, a rebound more per isn't anything to go bragging about. As for passing, well both dominate the ball so much that finding the open teammate has become second hat for both. I will admit that up until this season LeBron was doing most of the point guard duties in Cleveland so him having higher assist totals that Kobe is rather mute, he should have more. Whereas in the triangle Kobe tends to play the wing or 3 position getting the ball more in transition, plus the triangle was never meant to use a point, it's a team offense, so having one person getting all the is rather difficult. But nonetheless I call this a tie.


As for leadership? Well how do you quantify that, both of their teams are winning, their records are identical and both lead in different ways. I like to compare these two to Michael and Magic, two players with very different games but with similar results, they both win. Michael like Kobe was a killer, a "do it right" type of leader, he leads by example and hard work. Whereas, Magic like LeBron led more with his mouth and overall showmanship. Kobe vs LeBron is quite the undertaking but the way I see it Kobe has more overall experience, more sound fundamentals and an overall better sense of the game than LeBron does at this stage of his career. LeBron no doubt can put up the big numbers and his team is winning but until he wins his first ring he's still going to be second fiddle to Kobe. Also try comparing Howard to Duncan. Howards numbers are better and both their teams are doing well, so then ask yourself who's the better player now, Duncan or Howard? I shouldn't have to answer that by the way. To me that's how the whole Kobe and LeBron comparisons should be, easy and simple. Ah Kobe you get no respect.


later.