Links To The Present: January 28th, 2010
2010-01-28
-Shaq on JJ Hickson’s career-high night: “You could be Cedric Ceballos.” Interesting.
-Stat guru Jon Nichols, writing for the New York Times, points out that LeBron’s stats decrease across the board when Shaq is in the game, particularly his foul drawing rate. There are some lurking variables in there, and the Cavs seem to be getting better and better with Shaq on the floor. Still worth a look, though.
-Yahoo! Sports has an early look at the all-star reserves. No Cavs, which is about what I thought.
-LeBron’s first McDonald’s ad will air during the Super Bowl.
-The latest Amare rumors post lists six possible destinations for him. The Cavaliers are not one of those destinations. Alas.
-Alright, until later.
-UPDATE: Via Windhorst’s Twitter, Delonte West’s trial date has been pushed back from Febuary 18th to April 26th.
I think the delonte case may be unprecedented (a statement that I base on no evidence and have done no research to back up) in that he has a mental disorder that he has been seeking professional help/medication for. I’m not sure of the legality concerning punishing someone who has actually pursued help for a personality disorder. However, the nba circumvents laws all the time, in that they are effectively a monopoly and also allow people (who are mostly minorities) to be traded around by rich white people (something we kind of settled in the civil war) against their will.… Read more »
Has everyone seen Hollinger’s take on the Celtics Magic game? http://espn.go.com/nba/dailydime/_/page/dime-100128/daily-dime
He’s ringing the death knell on Garnett, Wallace and Carter. If he’s right (and he think he is) things are looking good for the Cavs in the East.
One other random thought. John, do you get the feeling that Bron is too fond of Hickson to let him be traded? He treats the guy like his son out there, and I have a feeling that’s why Ferry is being so conservative with his offers. I really get the vibe that the Cavs will miss out on any strong trade possibilities, just like they did with S Jax, just to hang on to JJ. I see us getting a Troy Murphy salary dump at best. Agree?
I hate the notion that good players from great teams must be recognized. When I was a kid, the All-Star game was by far the best of the three majors because they featured the giants of the game…awesome players that you didn’t get to see with the limited broadcast schedule. The best of the best. Even if your team sucks, you can still play oustanding as an individual as team success requires a whole lot of variables to break right. Mo isn’t among the best of the best, lets be realistic folks. Neither is Rajon”I hide among HOF’s” Rondo. All-Star… Read more »
Another thing in Delonte’s favor is the fact that he didn’t bring the guns onto team property. When they interviewed Stern, he sounded concerned about the Arenas situation because of the fact that the guns were IN the locker room. His reasoning for suspending him that long was more because of where Arenas had the guns, rather than his actual holding them.
Two other things help Delonte, I think: (1) He’s never done anything in the aftermath to make light of the situation or “show up” David Stern, the way Arenas did with his Twitter comments and pre-game “six-shooter” gestures; and (2) generally, I think everyone suspects that what Delonte did had something do with his bi-polar disorder or depression, and the league is probably a little more reluctant to “punish” him preemptively because of that. Although, ironically, Gil’s “issues” (tough childhood, abandoned by his mother, etc.), could just as easily be cited as a reason why he acts out so much.
Rich, this whole Gilbert Arenas thing puts a little more pressure on Stern to suspend him, too. However, I think at this point he will wait to act until after the trial to see what the ruling is. I think it was Shoals who recently pointed out that Stern is less quick to suspend players when what they do happens outside of the realm of the NBA. He’s more prone to calibrate his punishment to the court’s ruling in those cases.
So hopefully they can push the trial to after the playoffs.
Good stuff Brian. All of that said, I think Stern reserves the right to suspend Delonte at any time, including the playoffs. Carrying a bunch of loaded guns….just not good and should be punished.
Re: Delonte — I strongly suspect there will be at least one more adjournment request. I practice civil litigation, not criminal, so I’m hardly an expert; but my impression is it’s ultimately the defendant’s right to a speedy trial that drives the need to keep things moving quickly in a criminal case. So if the defendant himself (not the prosecution) is asking for more time, and the request seems reasonable, the judge will probably go along, to a point. I’m sure Delonte and his lawyers are acutely aware of the timing issue in relation to the playoffs, and probably just… Read more »
Hey John,
How do you think the trial date movement ends up affecting his role in the playoffs? Would Stern really suspend him that late in the year, when the playoffs have already begun??
Really John? I care because I recognize it is important to a player individually. Guys get snubbed because of a bad spot being taken (A.I) and it might be there only real shot at ever playing, and it’s a big honor. Basically it would be like if you were a possible candidate for a Pulitzer Prize because of some amazing, life altering article, and instead someone else gets it because their article had a purple background (just picking something arbitrary). I feel for a guy like Kendrick Perkins who gets left out for Al Horford (Iverson really). Realistically, this might… Read more »
Thanks, Jon. I think my advantage in this regard is that I honestly cannot bring myself to care about who makes the all-star team, no matter how hard I try.
Great, Delonte’s trial is right before the playoffs, hopefully it gets pushed back again
Every member of the basketball media has been tweeting non-stop about All-Star”snubs.” Look, if the fans didn’t vote in A.I. and T-mac we woudlnt have so many deserving players left out. Its not a snub by the league, but by the fans. Fans are notoriously dumb, to figure that out one would simply have to glance at most popular websites’ ignorantly hostile comment section. For the record, this site’s content and comment section are a step up from a lot of news/sports sites.
So keep up the good work.
He would also be the best player that LeBron has ever played with by a signficant margin and he wasn’t killing the Suns when they were consistently winning 60 games year in and year out.
His defense still sucks, though. Although, I can’t think of a logical reason why he can’t, at least, be a solid help defender.
Aside from desire to do so.
Who wants Amare? He’s a sulking team killer who plays no defense, and whose starts are over-inflated because of the team/system he plays in.