5 Wishes from the Preppy Kid

The NBA season is coming up again so I figured I would make a short list of 5 things I wished happened this off season that could have happened. These are not unrealistic situations, just pipe dreams that I believe would have created a more interesting 07-08 season. Without further ado, and in no particular order ... 1. The Utah Jazz use extra cap space and sign Gerald Wallace as a Free Agent. The Jazz need an athletic swingman to run the break and play defense. Wallace fits both of those molds and still does not get paid as much as he should (by NBA standards). With Fisher pulling a Kaiser Socse and leaving us hanging we had the cap space to be able to do it. Poor move by Utah. It may have been that extra piece they needed. 2. The Suns trade Amare Stoudamire to Atlanta in KG mega deal. Sign Billups as FA. Now I am grateful this didn't happen now that I am in Boston but seeing KG on a real contender would have still made me smile. But the combo of Chauncey Billups at the PG spot, Amare down low and Josh Smith and Joe Johnson running the wing ... I just got goosebumps. In the East that is a scary team so Atlanta should have really pulled the trigger. Phoneix should have taken the chance to get the ring. 3. Lakers Trade Kobe to Phoenix for Barbosa, Marion and stuff. I really wanted this to happen. The Lakers get an All Star back, they get Barbossa who is nasty, and they get rid of Mr. Unhappy. Throw that in with the Suns having Nash, KG and Kobe and the KG, Allen, Pierce threesome doesn't look so good anymore. Either way it would have been interesting to see how both teams handled their business. 4. Greg Oden goes #1 to the Celtics and does not get hurt. This really upsets me because the kid does not deserve this. He is a good guy, a great basketball player and I was anxious to see him play this year. Durrant may be better but this is the guy that was gonna change things. Too bad, now we have to wait until next year and hope he comes back strong. 5. I get season tickets. I meet KG at the mall, hook him up with some hot new jeans, and he gives me season tickets and you and E move to Boston. OK so 4 out of 5 are realistic. Either way I am pumped for this coming season. Your Thoughts?

The Big Ticket in Beantown

I Love This Trade !!! I am a little upset that they don't have more left after the two trades they made. This puts a lot of pressure on Rojon Rondo, Tony Allen and Kendrick Perkins. The East is Weak but it's not that weak. KG automatically becomes the best big man in the East. (Good news for Boston) There is no way you can double team either Pierce or KG because Ray Allen is the best outside shooter in the NBA. They definitely need more size up front to help out KG and they are DONE if an injury hits. Either way ... KG is on the East Coast and I am looking for my "Big Ticket" to one of those games because I will finally see my boy play live. Your Thoughts?

A Tough Break

You know me ... and you know that I L-O-V-E the NBA Draft

The excitement I had that the Jazz would have the possibility of a talent like Brandon Rush fall to them in the mid 20's of the draft was just amazing. We are in the Western Conference Finals and a guy that fills a major void on our team with HUGE UPSIDE (pardon my Hube Brown) would come to my lovely team.

Then ...

Brandon Rush plays a pick up game, tears his ACL, withdraws from the NBA Draft to play at Kansas again next year and will come out after his Junior year and be a possible lottery pick.

I guess I can't complain with the fortune I have had

It's just an ... OUCH

A Touch of Gold

I keep hearing about a USA Basketball Team that is going to win gold in the next Olympics.
I keep hearing about a USA Basketball Team that is going to be put together for the International Game.
I keep hearing about a USA Basketball Team that will be made up of unselfish basketball players who match up well against the International Teams.

WHY?

Was our original Dream Team made up of a team to match up well?
No.
Was our original Dream Team made up of a team due to rules over there?
No.

Our Original Dream Team was made up of the best players in the USA and we steamrolled them because we are just better.

The same could be said for today's talent. The problem is that the world has caught up and learned the game of basketball. Well good for them. The world does not have the talent to beat us like they are. Our problem is that we are taking very talented basketball players and making them play a game of basketball they are not used to. Why aren't we making the International Teams play a game of basketball they are not used to? Why are we changing for them when they should be changing for us? Why are we not playing a physical play from the post muscle you down half court game mixed with a run it down your throat dunk on you fast break? Why are we not "D" ing up and shutting them down because we are so much longer and more athletic than them?

Here is my proposed solution to this mess.

Play our game with the best we have and lets see who is better off in the end. Plain and Simple.

PG - Jason Kidd and Chauncey Billups
SG - Kobe Bryant, Micheal Redd and Ray Allen
SF - LeBron James, Teshawn Prince and Stephen Jackson
PF/C - Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Rasheed Wallace and Shaquille O'Neal

Come Fuck with This

We have veteran leadership and we have outside shooting.
We have great passers and we have incredible interior defense.
We have some head cases but we need to get in their heads.

and we have two trump cards above everything else.

We have Shaq who is the only player on the planet that still intimidates all of the time. There is no other player like him and we have him. He also loves the fact that he will be looked on as the guy who saved USA Basketball ... its right up his alley.

and...

We have Kobe. He is far and away the best offensive player in the world and the guy who wants to be a good guy again. He has his chance and he will make the best of it. He is also the most competitive (except maybe KG) and will not let us lose.

Is Dirk going off on this team? Nope
Is Peja going off on this team? Nope
Is Manu going off on this team? Nope
Is Yao gong off on this team? Nope

We won before because we had a team that they were intimidated by. This team intimidates. Sending over nice guys to give them a chance and the occasional 3rd team All NBA guy doesn't do that. And the studs we do send are young.

I'm not taking anything away from the teams in Europe, but we cant play Euroball. But they sure as hell cant play USA Ball. We wont dominate like we did in 92 and 96. But we sure as hell will win.

Time to take our Gold back.

Right Now...

I have dry eyes and sneezing like crazy due to allergy's.

and...

I had Jack/Ten suited with spades. The flop comes out and Jack, Five, Four come out. All mixed suits. I raise a measly $100 and Jeff goes all in. I call his bluff and the mother fucker has pocket Jacks. The only way I can win is with two spades coming out. 4th street is 8 of spades and I scream my ass off. The river is 8 of hearts, I get nothing and Hammer walks away with a full boat.

I Hate Poker (until next Tuesday)

Just a Quick Response

OK,

I know I am getting ahead of myself a lot and I will surely be struck down by lightning but if Utah wins Saturday night against Houston they will move on to the second round against Golden State who doesn't match up well with them and if they beat them they will most likely move on to the West finals against San Antonio who Utah beat 3 out of 4 times this year. Just worth mentioning.

Second, I really am not gonna mail it in on Dirk just yet but if he doesn't pull out one hell of a season next year and play with that angry sneer all year long I will start to have doubts.

I was looking at Chad Fords mock draft yesterday and the guys he has going in the 22 - 27 range (where Utah falls at #25) don't look like late first round talents, I am very excited. Also about the draft ... if Atlanta doesn't get a top 3 pick Phoenix ends up with 3 first round picks this year. Talk about the rich getting richer.

** That Timbaland song with Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake, HOT**

And now for my random Fantasy Baseball question of the day.

Goldman sent me a trade yesterday. He wants Vernon Wells and Brandon Phillips from me for Lance Berkman, Dan Uggla and Ervin Santana.
Now, I wouldn't mind Santana cause you can always use a quality starter. Also I only have Phillips on loan right now until Howie Kendrick comes back from the DL anyways. The real question comes down to is Lance Berkman gonna break out and is he going to out produce Vernon Wells this season? I like that Berkman has 1B availability as well as OF but he is slumping right now and I'm not sure I should take the risk. Let me know what you think.

Cant wait to see you Saturday Night

LETS GO DE LA HOYA ... FUCK A MAYWHEATHER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday...

NBA
Yeah, the playoffs have been very entertaining thus far:

• Yeah, I picked the Heat... usually, I ride the champ until they lose. And in this case, I was VERY wrong. Chicago really had the antidote for Shaq and Flash. Something tells me that we're going to see some wholesale changes down in Miami.
• Toronto has a shot. But they're going to have to get it done in NJ on Friday night or it's curtains for the Raptors.
• I think we saw the sweeps coming (to a certain extent) for both Detroit and Cleveland.
• Utah is going to have break through on the road, but if they continue to hold serve at home it's going 7.
• Golden State better not blow this... hahahahaha

On to your points:

1. Dirk: his problems are more mental than anything. But yes: he's getting exposed right now. I still think that when you're a 7 footer, you should be posting up. Especially when you're as versatile and athletic as Dirk is, you know? He should be using the post-up game to free everyone else up. And then he can float and start burying jumpers. Just my opinion.
2. He was never 'bad', but yes: he's looking scary good right now.
3. Matt Barnes' neck tat scares me. The faux-mohawk scares me. The funny thing is that homeboy was really clean cut when he played at UCLA. What happened? (Stephen Jackson happened...)

NFL Draft
I'm not too high on JaMarcus either, but:

• They HAD to get this kid. He's bigger than Quinn, can get out of the pocket, has a cannon for an arm... it's tough to say that that they should have taken someone else when they have a ton of holes to fill already. QB is a hole they had to fill, and they took one of the two best QBs available. Can't be mad at that.
• They couldn't take Calvin because they wouldn't have had anyone to THROW to Calvin.

Personally, I think Quinn dropping had less to do with him, and more to do with what teams thought they needed. I think Minnesota and Miami made a mistake though: they should have drafted him when he was staring them in the face. Kudos to Cleveland for getting a lineman (which any team needs) and then rolling the dice to get back into the 1st round to get the QB they wanted all along. Shrewd thinking. Cause had they taken Quinn originally, they weren't drafting the guy they wanted on the line as well.

Lastly, if the Pats weren't the favorites last week, I would have wondered what rock you were living under. This week? If they win less that 13 games in the regular season, something has gone horribly wrong.

Commercials/Randoms

• Jessica Alba is an attractive young lady who should be commended for her acting talents. :)
• That Wade/Chuckster/'sexxxy' commercial is hilarious too.
• That Subway 'thunder thighs and a badonkadonk butt' is off the hook too.
• Hip Hip, Jorge! Hip Hip, Jorge! (yes, I do like the Posada/Papi one as well) The best one to me is Ladainian sorting through mail... or maybe even Big Ben rescuing people out of the buidling when it's only a fire drill lol

One!