Archive for August, 2008
SAN ANTONIO (AP)—San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili, who helped lead Argentina to a bronze medal in the Beijing Olympics, will need surgery to repair a ligament injury in his left ankle.
The Spurs said Friday that Ginobili will have surgery next week. The team will announce a timeline for his return after the surgery.
Ginobili said an MRI of his ankle showed no improvement from a previous exam two months ago. He led the Spurs in scoring last season (19.5 points) and won the league’s sixth man award.
“They’re going to operate on me,” the 31-year-old Ginobili told Argentina’s La Nacion newspaper Friday. “It’s not worse, which is important. Now, the thing is, it’s not better either, and it seems like the only way to repair it completely is arthroscopic surgery.”
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had urged Ginobili not to compete in the Olympics unless the injury improved. But he was cleared to play and not only competed in the games, he carried the flag for Argentina at the Opening Ceremonies in Beijing.
Ginobili hobbled off the court during Argentina’s loss to the eventual gold-medal winner United States in the semifinal game. He did not play in Argentina’s bronze-medal win over Lithuania.
“My plan was to be part of the Olympic games, and I knew that if I suffered from pain they would have to operate,” Ginobili told the newspaper. “This isn’t something that took me by surprise.”
The injury hobbled Ginobili during the NBA playoffs, particularly during the Western Conference finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, when his signature explosiveness was visibly absent.
At the end of the season, Ginobili had an injection in the ankle. Ginobili wore a walking boot for several weeks starting in June after an MRI showed a ligament to be five times the size of the one in his other foot.
Once again, the Warriors looked like they could possibly make some noise this season… or maybe I’m just being nice. Once again, they have another set back. After an off-season that included having to deal with the loss of B-Diddy, and also losing out on the Elton Brand sweepstakes, they’ve now lost Monte Ellis for at least the first month of the season.
I would HATE to be Chris Mullin right now.
Ellis just a $66 mil, 6 year contract too. My take is that he’ll come back to full strength once the ankle heals up. But for a player like him that uses his quickness and athleticism to exploit matchups, it’s going to be tough not to re-injure that ankle again. Anyone that has played basketball has had at least one ankle injury that just kept coming back. Let’s just hope this kid doesn’t catch whatever disease Laker’s Center Chris Mihm got the last few years.
First, Kevin Duckworth passed away of unknown causes, then this morning I open up Yahoo Sports to see that Wayman Tisdale had a leg amputated. Anyone else notice that both players were 44 years old? Must be a bad year. Hopefully everything goes well for Tisdale. He had been fighting bone cancer and decided that this would be the best way to prevent the cancer from spreading or coming back.
Best wishes to his family, and hopefully he find joy in the other things in his life.
Hot Wives is BACK! This time with a hot (and desperate) housewife. How Mr. Bean managed to bag this one, I’ll never know. Then there were rumors that DURING the wedding, he was already cheating on her. Those rumors went away, but COME ON FRENCHIE!
His son was found dead in their house this morning at 20 years old. Causes still unknown.
This is one of the greatest progression of photos I’ve seen in a while. Found this one while looking at the Slanch Report.
Becks likes booty.
The last few pictures are classic. Posh Spice doesn’t look too happy.
This is a great post from Kelly Dywer over at Ball Don’t Lie regarding Kevin Duckworth. I was only only 5 when Duckworth began his career, so I can’t remember seeing him play a whole lot. But hopefully this article sums it up for everyone.
This is truly unfortunate.
Kevin Duckworth died yesterday. The former Trail Blazer center was 44, we’ve no idea as to the cause of his passing, and it hardly matters. That’s way too early. For anyone, much less this good a guy.
Duckworth was a pretty solid back to the basket big man, boasting the sort of skills that would easily make him a starting caliber big man today. He could play, he had to endure some smirking asides as to his abilities and toughness, but Duckworth was an enviably-good scorer with long arms and good hands who contributed to some downright dominant Blazer teams.
Those Portland teams were brilliant. I’m having a hard time coming up with a recent team that played as well without actually ending the season with the crown, because modern almost-there’s like the Suns and Mavericks weren’t even in Portland’s league.
From 1990 to 1992, this was the best team in the Western Conference. Though the Bulls had a year for the ages in 1992 (when the Bulls downed Portland in six games), they weren’t anywhere near Portland’s level in 1990 and were probably on par in 1991, when it took a fluke win in the Conference Finals for Portland to miss the Finals. Portland was so good, so deep, and that team really deserves more of our attention.
Duckworth was a big part of that team, they didn’t run many plays for him, but Duck still managed to throw in double-figures most every night even in limited minutes. He wasn’t the best (or, OK, a “good”) rebounder, but Portland had plenty of guys for that. He was on the cover of Tecmo NBA Basketball, and hung around the NBA until 1996-97, helping fill in for the late Bison Dele as a Los Angeles Clipper pickup.
Keep it civil, keep it tactful, and tell us about any memories of the big man you might have in the comments section.
Last night was by far one of the best basketball games I’ve seen in a long time. I somehow managed to stay up until 3AM just to watch the entire game along with the medal presentations. The look on these players’ faces told the entire story about how grateful they were to be playing for their country. The intensity and fire that some of the players showed will most likely never be seen again, not even from Kobe, arguably the fiercest competitor in the NBA. This picture says it all after he put the dagger in the heart of the Spanish team.
Kobe with a 4 point play to seal the game for the US.
YES SIR!!! That was the scream you could hear coming from the players after bringing the Gold back to the US after a 118-107 win against Spain. This was by far the toughest game for the Americans. Forget about the pool play game a week prior when the Americans demolished Spain by 37 points. Forget that Jose Calderon, Spain’s starting PG, was out with and injury. Forget that several players on both teams are banged up after playing full NBA seasons, then going directly to the Olympics. Forget that Pau Gasol and Kobe and teammates on the Lakers. Kobe ran Pau over as Gasol tried to set a screen. Instead of helping him up, Kobe understood that Pau was on the other team and walked away.
Some people might call him arrogant or a punk-ass for walking away from someone that was on the ground. Come on, it’s the Olympics. It’s focus. This was the biggest game on the biggest stage. This was the most important game many of these players will ever play. Dwayne Wade and Kobe, both NBA champions had their most amazing games of the Olympics. Kobe had been quiet throughout the game because of foul trouble… until the 4th quarter. He had his hand in 15 straight points right after a timeout from Coach K. Wade just couldn’t be stopped. 27 points on layups, dunks, and… jumpers? At one point, Wade was 7-7 from the field and didn’t seem like he would ever miss. Without these 2 stars, the gold most likely would have gone to Spain.
For those who couldn’t stay awake to watch the game, search every inch of the internet and watch every highlight you can on YouTube. In the meantime, here are a few shots from the game and the medal ceremony.
Kobe, Lebron, and Wade awaiting their medals
Wade glides in for the Reverse.
Is this really gold?
Alright, so this week’s hot wife was a little tougher to track down, even though you would think that being a former-Miss Turkey, she would have all sorts of modeling pictures online. Well, being that I love y’all so much, and since I couldn’t find a whole lot on (of all people), Mehmet Okur’s wife, Yeliz Okur, I’ve got a second one for you.
How about Richard Jefferson’s ex, Teresa Lourenco? Apparently she’s been linked to bunch of people since her and RJ broke up. She’s a bit on and off though. In some pics, she looks amazing, and in others she has somethin weird going on. Here are the good ones.
So Fox Sports released the 5 most overrated list. Publicity stunt? Or are they really just that stupid over there?
Overrated lists are terrible to begin with, but this one is mind bogglingly amazing. According to FoxSports.com, the top five overrated players in the league are: Wade, Robert Horry, Yao, Marion and Shane Battier. My favorite explanation: “… Yao has been the victim of unparalleled hype. That being said, he is grossly overrated. Didn’t the Rockets play their best ball while he was out of the lineup? He doesn’t make his team worse, it’s just that the Rockets continued to improve during his absence.” You know, sub LeBron and Kobe in for Horry and Shane and this list is dead on. Wow.
Gotta love that sarcastic last line from J.E. Skeets… at least I hope it’s sarcastic. He’s made come questionable hater-type comments about Kobe before, so you never know. But honestly, I don’t think anyone on that list should be there.
Wade? Come on. Have you bastards ever seen him play?
Horry? Please. It’s tough to say that there’s been a more consistently clutch player in recent history. Before Kobe trusted his teammates, he trusted Horry.
Yao? No contest. He’s easily one of the top centers in the league. It’s not his fault that he has as many followers as he does.
I wouldn’t consider Marion overrated either. He’s star caliber, but just an ugly looking game. Apparently being a regular 1st round pick in most fantasy basketball leagues makes you overrated? Dumbasses.
Battier may be the closest thing to overrated on this list, but really, he’s not that highly regarded and no one has ever called his a star, let alone a super-star.
The fact that he was asked to represent the USA as one of the best 15 players is reason enough to call him the most overrated player in the game.
Get your facts straight morons. Over the last few years, Coach K and Colangelo have worked to build a team that plays well together and has stars as well as role players. Are you gonna start criticizing Redd, Prince, and Boozer too since they’re role players that were brought in? Yeah Battier doesn’t have a great game, but yes, he’s solid. Good defender, decent shooter. Thats pretty much always been his game.
Fox Sports, you have officially created one of the worst lists ever posted. Congratulations.
Apparently, Iggy just wants to be called ‘Dre.
Via Sixersoul, Phil Jasner at the Philadelphia Daily News reports that new $80 million dollar man Andre Iguodola would like you to stop calling him ‘Iggy,’ thanks. “In 4 years, he has been called ‘A.I.2,’ ‘Iggy’ and ‘The Other A.I.’ “I don’t like ‘Iggy,’ I don’t mind ‘The Other A.I.,’” he said. “It just shows the fans are watching basketball and know what I do. I want to be ‘Dre, that’s it. ‘The A.I. thing, it’s about Allen, always being in his shadow. He’s a different player, brings a different element. It’s like Kobe and Michael Jordan. Everybody says, ‘Who’s the next M.J?’ You never want to be compared to another player [that way]. I just want to be me.’” Manuel “don’t call me Manny” Lee feels ‘Dre’s pain.
Man, quit being a baby. It’s a freakin nickname. Just get over it man. Be glad that people actually know your name. Be glad your name isn’t Boniface N’Dong. So he’s OK with being called A.I. 2.0, but not Iggy? Come on, Iggy. Get over yourself.
One last comment before I go. IGGY, IGGY, IGGY, IGGY, IGGY, IGGY, IGGY, IGGY!
After beating the rest of the pool fairly easily, the US simply pounded on Germany. 106 - 57? Ummm Dirk? Mr. former MVP? Where’d you go? Oh and what about Chris Kaman? So this is the guy that went and got German citizenship, just to play in the Olympics. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want to play for the German team again. Time to try to get citizenship somewhere else, Chris.
I love the following quote from the Yahoo article. Even though I’m a huge Kobe and Lakers fan, how do you blow 2 dunks?
Bryant hit the side of the rim on another slam attempt early in the third quarter, so he backed up 20 feet and tossed in back-to-back 3s for a 62-29 cushion.
Next up is Australia. There’s been a bunch of hype just because in the warm-up games, the Australians weren’t blown out. I still don’t see any reason to worry. The way this team is playing, they’re getting better by the game. They still make mistakes just like any other team, but the US has the depth and talent to play through pretty much anything. I’m voting that we should give them a 20 point lead and see if we can come back. Whose with me? It’ll just make the games a bit more interesting.
Apparently, David Stern still hasn’t gotten the message. Something needs to be done to keep these players in the US.
Jannero Pargo has agreed to a $4 million one-year deal to play in Moscow.
Check out the report by J.E. Skeets of the remaining free agent Guards. How many of these players are going to sign a one-year qualifier and how many more are we going to lose to European teams?
Here are a few names that stick out on that list:
Ben Gordon (Restricted Free Agent)
It might be a plant from Chicago’s front office, but then again Gordon’s camp has done little to dissuade people from believing that the rumor of the Bulls offer of six-years and 59-million dollar deal is true. If it is true, then your first and second instincts are correct. Gordon should have signed on the dotted line yesterday…
Decent to solid game. Basically an undersized SG with a streaky shot. But come on, how many teams out there can’t use a SG that can light it up? He’ll get offers from Europe, but not sure if he’ll get the ridiculous amount of money he wants.
Delonte West (RFA)
Cleveland is telling the press that they still want West back, even after taking on Mo Williams and his contract this week, and you’d like to believe them. After all, Williams has played more than 68 games in a season just once in a five-year career, Eric Snow is in bed most nights before 8:30, and West can act as a minutes sponge.
West, aka Herpes face, is a damn solid guard. He should have been able to find a job quickly. Cleveland would be foolish not to resign him. Eric Snow needs to go away. He’s a useless piece of garbage.
Go to any message board on any site for any team on the interweb, and you’re bound to find a “Shaun Livingston???” thread. I promise.
He might be the most sought-after free agent in the NBA, at least by people with More Cowbell .gifs as avatars. Livingston hasn’t even begun to play five-on-five yet.
This guy is a gamble considering his injury situation, but hopefully he’ll get back up to speed soon. Great game, solid playmaker. The injury is the only thing holding him back. I don’t see any problems with him even signing a one-year deal somewhere just to show the league that he’s healed up and ready to ball.
Another strange one. Ross can play, he’s athletic, he’s long, he can stick that corner jumper and defends like mad. And yet, crickets. Everywhere. Noisy buggers.
Long, active defender that can hit corner 3s. What’s not to like? Most teams would normally love to have a guy like this coming off the bench. What the hell is going on this year?
David Stern and his lackeys as well as NBC as being a bunch of douches and has removed this video of Wade’s sick pass to Kobe for the alley-oop in the Olympics. Suck me, Stern.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGEc-ayOsjs&hl=en&fs=1]
Due up this week: Aleka Kamila… WHO?
Surprisingly enough, she’s Peja Stojakovic’s wife. Former Greek Model. Amazingly hot NBA wife #3. Don’t forget, the most positive comments for any of the NBA wives will win her the title of NBA wife of the month. Enjoy!
So my uncle and I are having a discussion over email which started because he asked why I haven’t mentioned on here that Kobe is sucking hug donkey balls in the Olympics (reminder: My family is full of die hard Laker fans).
I was giving Kobe an out since he’s trying to focus on being the defensive stopper rather than the scorer, but that still doesn’t excuse him from 1-15 shooting from 3 point range.
Here’s his rebuttal:
Kobe ALWAYS gets the benefit of the doubt. It’s not just his shooting that’s been shitty. It’s that he continues to fire away, about 5 feet behind the International 3-pt line. Maybe he wouldn’t be 1-15 if he tried not to shoot from half court. Also, what other “great” player gets a pass for playing only one side of the ball? If he doesn’t play D it’s because he has to focus on offense. When he sucks on offense it’s because he’s the designated defender.Did anyone watch the NBA Finals? He was “guarding” Rajon Rondo for the most part, which basically gave him a free pass to go off on offense. That didn’t turn out so well. He scored lots of points, but he was killing us at the end of games when Boston clogged the paint. Then when he tried to play the role of “lockdown defender” when Pierce got hot, Kobe got his ass busted. Which isn’t to say that the entire team didn’t suck ass in the 2nd half of Game 4, but in the last 5 minutes of that game, Kobe tried to pull a “Jordan” and flat out failed.I really thought Kobe was going to show his complete game in the Olympics since the explanation for his somewhat selfish play has always been “his teammates aren’t very good.” Can’t say that on this team. I mean, he’s getting outplayed by Duwaennyeee (or whatever the fuck) Wade. WTF man? I just don’t know if dude is ever going to “get it.” He may be the best player on the planet, but he’s never reaching his full potential until he learns how to be a better teammate. And I ain’t talking about giving his teammates watches that he probably got for free in the first place.
So last week, Kelly Dwyer from Ball Don’t Lie said that AI 2.0 didn’t deserve $50 mil. Apparently Philly thought differently. According to ESPN, both side have agreed on a 6 year $80 million deal. They NEEDED to keep Iggy, but that’s a huge contract. I figured that between 9-10 mil/year would have kept him, but I guess Philly felt generous. I guess they’re just glad they didn’t lose him to some crazy Euro team with way too much money.
Damn the Americans are looking strong. After watching Russia in the warm-up games, I thought one of the weaknesses of the team would be that the slowed down, half-court game would be an issue. The other problem would be a zone defense. Deron Williams has since gotten to the basket fairly easily, Lebron is simply a beast, and any rebounds apparently lead to a Dwayne Wade highlight rim-rocker.
2 games in, the Americans haven’t looked as dominant as the scoreboard shows, though. They’ve played well, don’t get me wrong. My issue when watching these games is that it shows that Dwight Howard is showing more and more that he needs to work on his game. I’ve always loved his bruising, dunk-on-everyone style. But with the zone that is allowed in International play, he doesn’t get the alley-oops and put back dunks that he’s used to. Once that is taken away, he looks lost out on the court. He looked impressive last night, but that was the first time since the start of the warm-up games, that he has had what I would consider a SOLID game.
Chris Bosh on the other hand, has shown that he can be effective with his back to the basket, but can also face up and hit a mid range jumper. He’s been the guy that has impressed me the most so far. Yes Lebron, Kobe, Wade, and Melo look like they can score at will, but no one expected Bosh to step up to the level of play that he’s showing us right now.
Next up is Greece… that could be dangerous, but I still smell another 30 point win. I don’t see any team other than Spain that can put up that tough of a fight. Bring home the gold, boys.
So Yahoo! reported that the Clips have signed FA PG Jason Williams aka White Chocolate. I couldn’t find any details about the terms of the deal, but either way that’s not a bad signing. Now you have a solid back up for Baron Davis. I actually wouldn’t mind seeing a small lineup of Williams at PG and Davis at SG and the other Davis (Ricky) at SF. That’s a hell of a scoring lineup. Not sure how much juice J. Williams has in the tank, but I’m sure Dunleavy can figure out a way to use him. I’m thinking that this spells a little bit less time for Mobley, but not a whole lot. Mobley has been playing well in recent years as a scorer off the bench for Dunleavy, so I don’t see why that would change this year.
Another occurrence around the league is that there is news floating around that Josh Smith has signed an offer sheet from Memphis. I’m not sure why he would want to go live in Memphis, though. Maybe he’s a big Elvis fan? Think about it though. Memphis is actually looking like a 10th or 11th place team in the Western Conference. They have a very solid squad on paper, but still a lot of inexperience. Their most experienced player may be Marc Gasol, Pau’s brother, just because he has experience playing at a high level in Europe.
Imagine Conley and Mayo being able to take their pick of tossing lobs to Gay, Smith or Gasol. They are actually starting to sound like a fun team to watch this coming year. Then you have Lowry and J. Critt coming off the bench (if they aren’t traded away).
Here’s to hoping that Josh Smith doesn’t have to suffer through another year in Atlanta. One week to go before he can celebrate leaving the Hawks in the rear view.
Edit: Atlanta matched the offer from Memphis for Josh Smith at $58 million over 5 years. Great, 5 more years of him being on a shitty team. Yeah the made the playoffs last year… with a 37-45 record in the sucky ass East. Yeah they actually made it a series against Boston, but come on, it’s the ATL. A joke is always gonna be a joke.
There was some news coming out of San Antonio that they are going after Jannero Pargo, ex-Hornets backup. Solid player, but I can’t stand the idea of him getting some big deal like all of the other players that had one break out playoff performance (James Posey ring a bell?). Pargo is going to be a lifetime back-up, a solid one, but still a back-up. I’ll keep you all posted of anything new around the league. Peace!
Edit: How did I forget about the best signing? Sun Yue, a second round pick of the Lakers last year, was finally signed. Good bye Coby Karl. There’s some mixed reviews about this kid, but I personally think its a great signing. Check out the vid below for some highlights. He’s played in the ABA and in China, so he’s got decent experience. Good size, might need to put on some more muscle. He’s 6′9″ 215lbs with a 32″ standing vertical and 34.5″ vertical with a running start. Nothing great, but not bad for a guy his height. Even though he’s a little bit slow, he has the length to bother a lot of point guards and play the passing lanes. He’s what the Lakers needed, a PG that can bring the ball up, pass, and finish at the rim, as well as block some shots in transition D. Can’t wait to see more of this guy when the US team plays against China in the Olympics.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8NXJ8jW8JE&hl=en&fs=1]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNoe6Cc_dIM&hl=en&fs=1]
Alright, so back by popular demand is the Hot wives of the NBA post. Today we have something a little different. This one is no longer a wife of an NBA player. Actually, he ex husband isn’t even in the NBA anymore, but she’s definitely hot enough to be on this list. I introduce you to the former Mrs. Rony Seikaly, Elsa Benitez! Don’t forget, the most positive comments for any of the NBA wives will win her the title of NBA wife of the month. Enjoy!
Link to Hot wives of the NBA #1
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Just some thoughts on happenings around the league, responses to the media and other bloggers, and just a good place for you to spend time instead of actually working.
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