Kobe Bryant-LeBron James: The dream NBA finals that might never happen

The NBA, Nike and their TV partners (ABC and TNT) have been selling this dream finals ever since LeBron was drafted number one overall.

Everything has been done by these two franchises to see this dream final comes to pass, a Kobe-LeBron finals will be a blockbuster series in every way possible and in these hard times-the league and its partners really needs it.

So, what have they done so far to make this dream a reality?

Kobe and LeBron has arguably the first and second best teams in the NBA, Kobe is a part of maybe the best ran sports franchise in America and they have once again put together a cast of talent that can continue winning championships for the next two to three years.

LeBron on the other hand has an organization faced with the presence of a once in a generation talent  and just like the Chicago Bulls in the late 80’s, they are working tirelessly to ensure they are able to get the best result possible out of this talent.

The Cleveland Cavalier’s are faced with the possibility of losing LeBron to a big market franchise and have thus put together a squad built to win a championship today.

Now, let’s talk reality.

The Los Angelis Lakers and the Cleveland Cavaliers face some very tough challenges this year in the playoffs.

From the article Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in a World of Trouble (Berber-shop Conversations):

In two previous seasons the Lakers have always played their best basketball at the end of the regular season and roar into the playoffs, this season they literally crawled into the playoffs.

Kobe had been carry this team all season long and it’s continuing again in the playoffs. In game two of the first round playoffs series against the Oklahoma Thunder, no one on the Lakers team was willing to take a shot and the best closer in the game today essentially grabbed the ball and said stop me, scoring 15 fourth-quarter points, including six consecutive after the Lakers fell behind.

That has become the mantra of this Lakers team; Derek Fisher just looks tired, Bynum can’t stay healthy, Artest can’t seem to pick up the triangle offense, Lamar and Gasol though solid on some nights are still performing disappearing acts most nights.

The Lakers bench the main reason they won last year seems to be more than content with the ring they already won.  This team has become so dependent on Kobe that Phil Jackson played the 14 year veteran an average of 40 minutes a game this season. Click here to read the complete article.

In the second round series between the Los Angelis Lakers and the Utah Jazz this trend continues, in game one the black mamba had to take over the game again in the fourth quarter while everyone else just sat back from the best seats in the arena and watch Kobe win another game for them.

Yes, the rest of he’s cast came around and helped out in game two with Bynum, Gasol and Odom posting double-doubles and crushing the spirit of the Utah jazz in the fourth quarter.

And like I said above, this has become the major issue with the Lakers. Kobe’s supporting cast not consistent and though they are the best team in the league talent wise, they don’t play like it on most nights.

The West has some of the NBA’s best talents as evident in the The NBA’s Best Players 2009-2010 A-List Edition with the West having more players ranked than the East teams. Click here to see the complete list.

NBA History say experience will always beat talent and with the west boosting some of the best talents and experience, the Lakers inconsistencies might have worked well to eliminate the young and inexperienced Oklahoma Thunder and might be good enough to eliminate the shorthanded Jazz.

But, the second Western conference semi final has two of the most consistent and experienced teams still left in the playoffs in San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns.

From the article Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in a World of Trouble (Berber-shop Conversations): San Antonio by virtue of the talent and experience on the team are the Lakers true threat if they ever meet. The other true contender is the Phoenix Suns.

Steve Nash who in the article The NBA’s Best Players 2009-2010 was ranked number two by the A-List team and deservingly so is playing at a different level, no matter which players are removed or added to this team the Phoenix Suns never miss a beat.

The Suns have the personal to match up well against the Lakers and have the experience needed too.

The Spurs and the Suns unlike the Lakers are playing the best basketball of any team right now and everyone on the squad contributes equally helping the stars on the teams to play more relaxed basketball.

If the Lakers don’t start playing consistent basketball, look for the Spurs or the Suns in the NBA Finals.

Unlike Kobe who is playing for arguably the best coach in the game today in Phil Jackson, LeBron James biggest problem in my opinion is he’s coach.

While Mike Brown seems to be a very good defensive coach… he has no idea has to run an offense.

A team with Daniel Gibson, Delonte West and Mo Williams all good point guards in some respects-and yet LeBron James runs the offense while everyone else stands around. Mike Browns strategy: give the ball to LeBron and hope for the best.

Last year’s Eastern conference Finals, Mike Brown was out coached by Van Gundy and his excuse: we couldn’t stop Dwight Howard. Ok, now they have Shaquille O’Neal and in the three games this year against the Orlando Magic Dwight was completely subdued. So I guess that took care of that. So now we await this year’s excuse.

From the article LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers a runaway Freight Train The Cleveland Cavalier are the deepest and the most complete team in East, with the addition of Antawn Jamison and Shaquille O’Neal the Cavs are a match-up nightmare for the best in the League and that’s where the problem begins for the rest of the East.

Boston, Orlando and the Atlanta Hawks are the other good teams in the east and each team has its own major issues.

In a team with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo has become the super star, as the other stars on the team continue to struggle while Rondo has been as steady as a rock and the main reason they are still competitive. With stats like PPG: 13.7 RPG: 4.40 APG: 9.8 Rondo is ranked 12th on  The NBA’s Best Players 2009-2010 by the A-List and is the only Boston Celtic on the top 15. Click here to see the complete List.

But, experience will always beat talent, hence pedigree says that, by virtue of the championship rings that litter their starting lineup — the Celtics are the only team in the East with Championship experience. From the article LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers a runaway Freight Train. Click here to read the complete article.

Everyone seems to have written off the Boston Celtics as old and tired and already placed LeBron and the Cavs in the NBA Finals. The only problem with that is: the Celtics might be old but you can be rest assured, they are not tired.

This is a championship caliber group of guys and just like the San Antonio Spurs in the west, these guys know how to win it all.

The Orlando Magic on the other hand looked like they are ready to make a run again at the NBA finals with a very impressive beat down of the Atlanta Hawks in game one of the Eastern Conference semi finals.

Again from the article LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers a runaway Freight Train: The Magic are the biggest disappointment in my book and Van Gundy is up to his old tricks. In Miami he was unable to include Shaq into his offense; Pat Riley took over and won a championship.

Then for some dumb reason the Orlando Magic with a younger version of Shaq in Dwight Howard hired a coach who does not know how to use big men in his offensive strategies.

Dwight Howard is not a part of the offense, he makes his baskets from rebounds or a pass to him after all other options has been exhausted. A team like this cannot be a threat to a team like the Cavs or the Celtics.

So, will the Cavs meet the Lakers in the Finals? Or better still, are we going to have a LeBron-Kobe Final?

A consistent Lakers team and a change in Mike Brown’s strategy is what is needed to have that dream come true this year.

We don’t know how many good years Kobe really has in him.

So if it doesn’t happen this year, it might never happen again.



Kobe Bryant-LeBron James: The dream NBA finals that might never happen is a post from: AroDrive

This freight train is on a wild ride and taking down everything in its path.

The Bulls went down in four, ok, so they won a game. But, I guess anyone can win a game in front of a home crowd especially if you have Derrick Rose taking over games to the point that James decides he needs to guard him down the stretch.

While the west is entangled in a virtue dog fight with Kobe and the Lakers facing all sorts of troubles, LeBron James is having a party in the East-kicking ass and taking no prisoners. For more on Kobe Bryant and the Lakers troubles in the West-read: Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in a World of Trouble (Berber-shop Conversations)

The Cleveland Cavalier are the deepest and the most complete team in East, with the addition of Antawn Jamison and Shaquille O’Neal the Cavs are a match-up nightmare for the best in the League and that’s where the problem begins for the rest of the East.

Boston, Orlando and the Atlanta Hawks are the other good teams in the east and each team has its own major issues.

In a team with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo has become the super star, as the other stars on the team continue to struggle while Rondo has been as steady as a rock and the main reason they are still competitive. With stats like PPG: 13.7 RPG: 4.40 APG: 9.8 Rondo is ranked 12th on  The NBA’s Best Players 2009-2010 by the A-List and is the only Boston Celtic on the top 15. Click here to see the complete List.

In the off season Boston added Rashid Wallace and so far, that has been a bust.

The Celtics might still have the same personnel on the squad but they are in no way the same squad that won a championship two seasons ago. For some reason they can’t seem to find that magic touch again.

Ok, here’s the funny part: With all the above issues with the Celtics-they are still the Cavaliers biggest threat in the East.

Experience will always beat talent, hence pedigree says that, by virtue of the championship rings that litter their starting lineup — the Celtics are the only team in the East with Championship experience. From the article Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in a World of Trouble (Berber-shop Conversations) Click here to read the complete article.

Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks are both young and still looking for their identity and are in no way a threat to the charging Cavs.

The Magic are the biggest disappointment in my book as Van Gundy is up to his old tricks. In Miami he was unable to include Shaq into his offense; Pat Riley took over and won a championship.

Then for some dumb reason the Orlando Magic with a younger version of Shaq in Dwight Howard hired a coach who does not know how to utilize big men in his offensive strategies.

But, Van Gundy is not all to blame. From the article Shaq is Superman and Dwight Howard?: Howard stands about 7 feet and yet he finds it hard to dominate around the basket, mostly because he’s fundamentals are flawed – for a big man he has yet to master the art of keeping the ball high above he’s shoulders when he catches or rebounds the ball.

He also lacks the know how to make a layup around the basket without bouncing the ball first and that’s the main reasons he’s easily stripped by 6 feet guards and why he turns the ball over so much under the basket. Click here to read the complete article. Howard is ranked 5th on the The NBA’s Best Players 2009-2010.

The Cavs have done everything to ensure that LeBron has enough help and now they boost a team that can easily defeat an all star team from around the league.

Having issues with Dwight Howard from last years conference finals, so they got Shaq.

Can’t get enough scoring from Mo William? so they got Jamison and so far everything has worked out like a charm.

It’s worked out so much that the old Shaq annihilated Dwight in all three meetings this year. So, who is Superman now? I guess LeBron as he’s Ranked at the top of the pie in The NBA’s Best Players 2009-2010.

The freight train has no threats in the East, so who can stop the Cavs from the West?

Read: Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in a World of Trouble (Berber-shop Conversations)

LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers a runaway Freight Train is a post from: AroDrive

LeBron James scored 15 of his 40-point haul in a spectacular fourth quarter display as the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Chicago Bulls 112-102 on Monday to seize a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference playoff series.

James added eight rebounds and eight assists in helping the Cavs retain homecourt advantage in the best-of-seven first round series over a determined Bulls team.

“(The Bulls) kept scrapping and every time they would do that (we) would hit a big shot,” James told reporters after making 16-of-23 shots from the field.

“In Game One, I was feeling out the defense too much and they were giving me the jump shot. I had to take it.”

The score was tied 77-77 at the end of the third quarter before the Cavaliers scored five unanswered points at the start of the fourth.

The Bulls twice pulled within three points in the final few minutes but Cleveland responded with three-pointers from James and Jamario Moon, who finished with 12 points.

The Cavaliers were strong from long range the entire game and shot 56 percent from the field while making 10-of-20 three pointers.

Joakim Noah scored 25 points and made 13 rebounds for Chicago, while Derrick Rose scored 23 and made eight assists.

Game Three is in Chicago on Thursday.

LeBron James shuts up Joakim Noah and the Bulls with 40 points is a post from: AroDrive

Everyone is making a big deal of the Joakim Noah comments with regards Cleveland and Kevin Garnett. The Cleveland comments were not really that interesting or surprising, so we focus on the Garnett comments.

First of all, Noah is right about Garnett, he’s very dirty player and that’s just how he plays. Rodman was a dirty player too and yet maybe the best defensive player of all time.

I know Noah have no right to be talking about another series especially because he’s series with the Cavs is beginning to look like a sweep. Notwithstanding, he’s absolutely right and with he’s team facing a sweep he might as well enjoy watching the games like the rest of us.

After the Bulls’ Game 1 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday, Noah said he watched the other three Game 1s later that day and had some interesting commentary on the heated game between the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat.

“That was unbelievable yesterday, that Boston-Miami game,” Noah said Sunday following the Bulls’ workout at Quicken Loans Arena. “He’s unbelievable, that guy. I’m gonna say it: He’s a dirty player, man. That’s messed up.”

The dirty player in question is Boston’s Kevin Garnett, who was ejected for hitting Miami’ Quentin Richardson with an elbow during a stoppage. After his unsolicited condemnation of Garnett, Noah was asked if the Celtics All-Star should be suspended for Game 2.

“I don’t make the decisions, but he’s always swinging elbows, man,” Noah said. “I’m hurting right now because of an elbow he threw. It’s unbelievable, man. He’s a dirty player. I mean, it’s one thing to be competitive and compete and all that, but don’t be a dirty player. He’s a dirty player.

“He knows what he’s doing is wrong. And then afterward he says … I shouldn’t even be talking about this stuff. It’s crazy.”

And for the record, Paul Pierce really, really needs to stop being a drama queen.

Joakim Noah: Kevin Garnett dirty, Paul Pierce a drama queen is a post from: AroDrive

The Bulls saw the all new lean and mean Shaquille O’Neal who returned to the Cavs lineup after missing the team’s final 23 regular season games with a thumb injury which he underwent surgery on and had a solid outing with 12 points on 5-9 shooting, five rebounds, four assists and three blocks in 25 minutes.

Thanks to the brilliant play from the big man the Cavs didn’t even need a legendary game from LeBron James to handle the Chicago Bulls 96-83 Saturday afternoon at the Q in Cleveland.

Mo Williams is working hard to put last year’s miserable playoff performance behind him as he scored 19 points on 8-14 shooting and a career playoff-high 10 assists in 38 minutes, as the Cavs got off to a fast start, outscoring the Bulls 32-18 in the first quarter and never looked back.

Just like in the Lakers V Thunder game, the Cavs just lost interest in the game down the stretch and let the bulls back into the game. What happened to sticking it to a team when they are down and sending a message that they don’t stand a chance in the series?

Bulls guard Derrick Rose had a double-double with a game-high 28 points on 13-28 (.464) shooting, 10 assists and seven rebounds in 43 minutes. Joakim Noah tallied 10 points on 4-9 (.444) shooting, eight rebounds, three assists, a postseason career-best three steals and three blocks in 35 minutes.

Hopefully game two will be a blowout?

LeBron James and Shaq’s return too much for Derick Rose and the Bulls is a post from: AroDrive

For years, people have been asking what the Cleveland Cavaliers could do for LeBron James.

Now, if you’ll pardon a less than presidential paraphrase, it’s time to ask what LeBron can do for the Cavs.

That’s not to say he hasn’t done a lot already. In late spring 2007, James delivered the franchise to a place it had never been, before or since – the NBA Finals. Looking back, one is well-advised to recall Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals in which James scored the Cavaliers’ last 25 points in a 109-107, double-overtime win in Detroit.

Never mind that the Pistons made their rep on defense; no one had ever scored as many consecutive points in a playoff game. It announced James as a player whose game might actually match his hype. Almost a decade after Michael Jordan’s last appearance in the Finals, James seemed a legitimate heir, a possible successor even, to Jordan’s “best-ever” title.

But three intervening seasons now feel like three decades, as evidenced by the fact Cleveland’s opponents in the 2007 playoffs included the New Jersey Nets (yes, just what I thought, those very same Nets who had already spent years blathering about the move to Brooklyn). As it happened, San Antonio swept Cleveland in the Finals. Still, that shouldn’t diminish James’ accomplishment, as I cannot recall a weaker supporting cast making it to the championship round.

It is generally accepted that the least talented ensemble ever to win a title were the 1975 Golden State Warriors, who, after Rick Barry, started Jamaal Wilkes, Clifford Ray, Butch Beard and Charles Johnson. By contrast, Cleveland started James, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Drew Gooden, Sasha Pavlovic and the inestimable Boobie Gibson in the Finals.

Looking back, it’s a wonder San Antonio didn’t sweep them in three.

Of course, people like me have spent the years since insisting that James – now in his seventh pro season – has absolutely nothing around him.

Meanwhile, the general manager, Danny Ferry, keeps adding players. Once the coach, Mike Brown, puts recently acquired Antawn Jamison in the starting lineup, James’ fellow starters will include Shaquille O’Neal, Jamison, Mo Williams and Anthony Parker – a future Hall of Famer and two other former All-Stars. Delonte West and Anderson Varejao come off the bench. Leon Powe will soon come back from injury. And Ilgauskas is expected to return from salary cap limbo. Not only does this roster give the Cavaliers more of a defensive presence than ever, but they’re also excellent from long distance, trailing the league’s best three-point shooting team, Phoenix, by just two-tenths of a percent.

In other words, this one, this season, is on LeBron James.

I’m not arguing his legacy depends on the Cavs beating a team I presume to be the Lakers. But I am saying he needs to come away from the Finals with three or four wins. If not, what was all the fuss about?

This is the most intensely coveted player of all time. Teams like the Knicks have devoted almost three seasons to the sole purpose of freeing cap space to woo James. It’s an embarrassing state of affairs for the league. Still, you wonder: Who gives him a better chance to win than his hometown Cavaliers?

“We’re a no-excuse team,” he said after a controversial non-call three years ago in the Detroit series. He said the same thing leading up to the 2008 Olympics, “We got to be a ‘no-excuse’ team.” The theme doesn’t change now.

For the first time in a couple of seasons, the Cavs have lost three in a row. Obviously, this has more to do with integrating Jamison than with James, who’s only averaging 33 points, 8 boards and 10 assists through this same stretch. The Cavs, now tied in the loss column with the Lakers, still have the league’s best record.

Then again, they won a league-best 66 games last year – only to be upset by Orlando in the conference finals. Even with the return of point guard Jameer Nelson, I don’t think the Magic is as good as last year. I like an offense that goes through Hedo Turkoglu more than an offense with Vince Carter.

Either way, by adding Parker, Powe, Shaq and Jamison, Cleveland has done more than Orlando. It takes time to blend talent, especially when it’s acquired right before the trading deadline. But time is one commodity the NBA season grants in abundance.

What’s more, Cleveland has another advantage in James. It’s his ball, his team and his responsibility. Michael Jordan won a title in his seventh season. It’s not too much to ask James for a few games in June.

No more excuses LeBron James, time to WIN a Championship is a post from: AroDrive

“Don’t compare me to nobody,” O’Neal said, borrowing a line from Jay-Z. “I’d rather not be mentioned. I’m offended.”

These were Shaq’s words after the game against Orlando Magic (February 12, 2010) in response to comparing him to Dwight Howard who is also called Superman.

Shaq made no secret of the fact that he wanted to be remembered as the most dominant big man in the history of the NBA and I will place him in a close 2^nd or 3^rd behind  Wilt “the Stilt” Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Every team Shaq went immediate became contenders and the Lakers were no different… (From the article: Greatest Lakers of all time. Click here to read more)

Shaquille O’Neal is not just the most dominant Big man of he’s era, he’s one of the most dominant big man of all time and the first of he’s kind, no one before him was like him – not even Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabber or Bill Russell.

The NBA had to radically change the rules of the game to help teams defend him, yet for the best part of the last 2 decades he completely dominated the game even with the new rules and looked super human while he did it, hence the term: Superman.

For years – teams searched in vain to find the kryptonite to at least slow him down, but, at 37, age has become the elusive kryptonite the rest of the league has been looking for.

Dwight Howard puts on a cape in the slam dunk contest and all of a sudden he’s Superman?

Howard is an elite big man in today’s NBA that’s all, he’s as good as the other elite big men in the game i.e.: Andrew Bynum.

He also lacks the know how to make a layup around the basket without bouncing the ball first and that’s the main reasons he’s easily stripped by 6 feet guards and why he turns the ball over so much under the basket.

When he arrived in Cleveland, Shaquille O’Neal made it clear there would be no more double-teaming Orlando’s Dwight Howard.

Last year, the Cavaliers lost to the Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals. With no way to stop self-proclaimed “Superman” Dwight Howard without double-teaming him, the Magic presented a pick-your-poison threat. Double-team Howard, and it left the perimiter open for their shooters. Leave him one-on-one, and he would do his damage in the paint.

Enter, Shaquille O’Neal, or as he is known by one of his many nicknames: “Superman”. With Shaq on the floor for the majority of the time Howard is on the floor, the Cavs have no need to double-team Howard, thus allowing them to play the rest of the floor straight-up. If you need any proof of what Shaq’s effect on Howard, you need look to only the final minutes of last Thursday’s game. In a game that was tied at 96 with under six minutes remaining, Howard was a non-factor with O’Neal on the floor for the rest of the game, and in fact was held scoreless for the final seven and a half minutes. (From the article: LeBron James and Shaq NBA Finals bound after 13 straight? Click here to read more)

This is the guy that’s been compared to Shaq or better still been called today’s Shaq – Superman.

“I don’t really consider it manning up until you play me straight up,” O’Neal said. “I’ve never doubled anybody. So you tell me who the real Superman is?”

O’Neal might have really been offended by Howard’s recent commercial using the “Superman” something he takes credit for creating upon entering the league. Even James acknowledged the nickname battle has stung his teammate.

“The whole Superman thing kind of bothers him,” James said. “That’s definitely his nickname.”

If Dwight Howard is Superman, then Shaq is Superman’s kryptonite.

For more on LeBron James and Shaq journey to the NBA Finals, Read: LeBron James and Shaq NBA Finals bound after 13 straight?

Shaq is Superman and Dwight Howard? is a post from: AroDrive

Kobe seats alone atop the Lakers scoring plateau and this has lead to a tsunami of chatter on the internet, water coolers and the ever re-inventive mass media about he’s place in Lakers’ history books.

It was a monumental achievement in an organization where greatness is an expectation, and there are more championship rings than fingers. It was a third-quarter fastbreak dunk that provided first an exclamation point, then a question.

Does this make Kobe Bryant the greatest Laker ever?

This is a very subjective question and one that’s even tougher to answer with an active player.

In my article – Kobe Bryant vs. LeBron James: Is Bryant Better Overall? I wrote; I believe in comparing athletes on finished products. A good example of finished product comparison would be Jordan v Magic, Hakeem v David Robinson or even Wilt Chamberlin v Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

Kobe still has a couple of years (maybe 4 or 5!) on those legs of he’s before he calls it a career.

He might never win another championship, he might win 3 more, till then is going to be hard to tell where exactly he’s career is going to rank amongst the Lakers greats. But for the sake of argument how does one decide what makes a player greatest of all time of a franchise or even in the game?

I would think this will be a combination of individual performances, championships, leadership, clutch play, toughness, resiliency and many other variables are a part of the “best ever” equation.

However, the question is how much weight do you give to each variable?  This is where subjectivity and allegiances take over.  And that’s not even factoring in the challenge that comparing across eras presents.

Let’s be sincere here, Bryant is without question the best basketball player in the world (if anyone knows of someone better in Europe or anywhere else, please do share) today when considering all factors.  Say what you want about the physical talent of Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James, the undeniable ability of Miami HEAT guard Dwyane Wade, and the intensity of Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett; all are great players, but none are as accomplished in all areas as Bryant is at this very moment.

Many of you are in love with stats and the stats in this case are irrefutable – Kobe Bryant holds the Lakers record for scoring in a career, single season, and for one game. He also leads the Lakers in career three-point field goals made. Bryant is a 12-time all star, 2-time scoring champion, 7-time all-NBA first team selection, and 7-time all-NBA defensive team selection. He has also won 4 NBA Championships, and been named both Finals MVP and regular season MVP….

Even with all those super human stats, if he decided to call it a quits today he will not even be considered the best player in he’s generation. We’re still having heated conversations on Kobe Bryant vs. LeBron James: who is better? And some have even pointed out that the only reason Kobe is overhyped (Yes, Kobe is Called Overhyped) is because he got lucky and was drafted into one of the most respected franchises in American sports.

So why is there so much hatred on Kobe? Because as beloved as the Lakers are by their fans, they are equally despised by virtually everyone else and Kobe in recent times have become the face of the franchise resulting in a hatred of Bryant that runs deep for many non-Lakers fans.

What’s there to like about a guy who always seems to bury your favorite team and does so with the sense of downright ruthlessness that Bryant always seems to!

Is there anyone in the NBA who scares you more with the ball in his hands late in a basketball game than Kobe?

But we all know the hatred of Kobe is not subjected to he’s play on the court alone but more towards he’s on court antics towards refs during games, years of been known as a bad team mate, ball hug, allegations of tanking games in the 2004 NBA Finals, troubles with Shaq and Phil (and Phil Jackson’s book really didn’t help) and let’s not forget he’s escapades in the mile high city.

Even the press (who are known to hold grudges long enough to last two lifetime) who for years never liked him found a way to make the grand moment (passing West to become the Lakers all time point leader) a point of controversy.

“I’m proud of him, I congratulate him,” Pau Gasol said. “Now we can focus on winning games again.”

Gasol was just getting started.

“Obviously we’re not making a conscious effort on pounding the ball inside,” Gasol said. “So we settled a little bit too much.”

A day later, with Bryant not available for comment, both Gasol and Derek Fisher reiterated the idea that sometimes even the greats can try to be too great.

Gasol talked about getting more players involved, and Fisher even invoked exact statistics from the previous night, saying that one player taking 38% of the shots is just too much.

“This is a tough one for me, guys,” Fisher said. “But winning is what it comes down to.”

This was an ESPN.com report about the milestone.

This was complete inappropriate coverage of a milestone.

All I can say to Kobe’s Lakers teammates; you want the rings? You want him to have the energy and attention required to make those last-second shots? Then you put up with all the earlier ones too.

Kobe probably might be the only NBA star who is equally loved and hated at the same time by he’s club’s fans and as it might seem; teammates.

While it seems like he has completely reinvented himself to become the model athlete, he now faces allegations of being a phony.

This is why is going to be difficult for him to scale the mount Rushmore-like figures of the Lakers land (Magic and West), Bryant will never be completely embraced like Magic, or completely revered like West, because what makes him so great is what makes everyone else so unnerved.

His killer instinct can be unsettling. His serious demeanor can be intimidating which is bad for he’s opponents and makes him a force to reckon with, but his past will always define him.

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Greatest Lakers of all time (A-List Edition)

We all know who the Lakers greats are; Magic Johnson, Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain and more, the question now is where does Kobe Bryant rank amongst these giants? The A-List team breaks down the careers of the Greatest Lakers of all time and ranks them. (Click here for more)

Kobe Bryant, greatest Laker ever? Not even close? is a post from: AroDrive

With Kobe Bryant becoming the All-Time Lakers point leader the question of the greatest Laker of All-Time arises.

Greatest of All-Time?

How does one determine who should be the greatest of all-time? I wrote in my article – Kobe Bryant, greatest Laker ever? Not even close?: I would think this will be a combination of individual performances, championships, leadership, clutch play, toughness, resiliency and many other variables are a part of the “best ever” equation.

I believe the above criteria should be key to determining the answer to this question. Many people are trying to use other factors i.e. contribution to the teams community, likability, pretty much everything but performance on the court.

I believe off the court activities should be considered too but shouldn’t hold much weight, these are athletes and we are picking who was the greatest and not who was more like mother Teresa.

We all know who the Lakers greats are; Magic Johnson, Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain and more, the question now is where does Kobe Bryant rank amongst these giants?

Here at A-List we have decided to judge Kobe Bryant 14 year’s stats as he’s final body of work as I only believe in comparing finished products. So Kobe might actually rise on this list when it’s all said and done.

And just to reiterate, our ranking is based on a combination of individual performances, championships, leadership, clutch play, toughness, resiliency and many other variables. But above all else, we are only considering their career when they were Lakers.

Here are the top 5 Lakers of All-Time (A-List Edition)

Before we start with the top five I have to mention these two Legends who couldn’t make the list but were amazing ball player. i added the reason these two legends were not in the top five.

Wilt Chamberlain – (Only played five seasons with the Lakers towards the end of he’s career and is responsible for bringing the first NBA Title to the Franchise. In my book the best center in NBA history)

Though Wilt “the Stilt” Chamberlain is best known for his time as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers, this most dominant of all NBA big men spent the final 5 seasons of his legendary career with the Los Angeles Lakers, and his accomplishments while he was there were enough to earn him a spot as one of the top 10 greatest L.A. Lakers. Though his numbers weren’t quite as impressive as those he put up earlier in his career, Chamberlain was still putting points on the board, and he led the NBA in rebounding in 4 of the 5 seasons he was there. He captured his 2nd career NBA championship with the club in 1972, the first for the L.A. Lakers, with Chamberlain taking home NBA Finals MVP honors that season.

Elgin Baylor – (One of the greatest scorers in NBA history, but was unable to bring a title to the franchise but will rank above Chamberlain in any Lakers list as Elgin Baylor personified what it meant to be a for many years)

This Lakers’ legend was around before the team even arrived in Los Angeles, drafted by the Minneapolis Lakers with the number 1 pick in the 1958 draft. He wasted no time justifying his high drafting, averaging 24.9 points and 15 rebounds a game in his rookie campaign. He also poured in 55 points in a single game that year, the 3rd highest total in NBA history at that point. These achievements made him a no-brainer for rookie of the year that season, but he was just getting started.

He averaged well over 30 points a game for the next 3 seasons, including 38.3 ppg in the 1961-62 season, the highest season scoring average in history by anyone not named Wilt Chamberlain. He upped his 55 single game point mark with an incredible 71 point performance in 1960, setting an NBA record in the process, and his 61 point performance in the 1962 NBA finals remains the greatest single game total in NBA finals history.

Over his career he scored more than 23,000 points and pulled down over 11,000 rebounds, and those numbers might have been much higher had his career not been derailed by injuries. Sadly for Baylor he never achieved NBA championship glory, as the Lakers finally won it all the same season Baylor retired. Though he has that hole on his resume, his other achievements earn him a deserving spot at number 4 on the list of the top 10 Los Angeles Lakers of all time.

Our top 5

5 – Jerry West

This Los Angeles Laker legend is an automatic for a high spot on the list of the top 5 Los Angeles Lakers of all time. When the Lakers moved to Los Angeles in 1960, West was their first ever draft pick, taken 2nd overall that year, and his career numbers give testament that the team made a wise choice in selecting him that year. West is the 2^nd leading scorer  in the L.A. Lakers’ franchise  with 25,192 career points .

His incredible 27.0 points-per-game career scoring average is 4th best in NBA history, and he was even more clutch in the playoffs with a 29.1 career ppg average, second all time behind some guy named Michael Jordan. He made the All-star game in all 14 of the seasons he played, won an NBA championship, and has an NBA Finals MVP award on his resume as well.

Truly one of the greatest L.A. Lakers ever, the Logo: Jerry West.

Kobe v West – They both managed to score 25,000 points in their 14th seasons with the Lakers, but Bryant has three more titles than West, in addition to winning an MVP award, something West was never able to accomplish.

4 – Shaquille O’Neal

Shaq made no secret of the fact that he wanted to be remembered as the most dominant big man in the history of the NBA and I will place him in a close 2^nd or 3^rd behind  Wilt “the Stilt” Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Every team Shaq went immediate became contenders and the Lakers were no different as he arrived in town coincidentally with the arrival of Kobe Bryant and the rest is history.

Shaq and his Lakers teammates would enjoy great regular season success for the next few years, but it took a few years for these gifted athletes to mesh together, but when they finally got it figured out, the Lakers led by Shaq’s dominant presence at center, achieved the rare Three-peat, winning back-to-back-to-back championships between 2000 & 2002. O’Neal finished his time in L.A. as one of the leading scorers in franchise history, amassing almost 14,000 points, very few of them from free throws, in his 8 seasons with the club.

3 – Kobe Bryant

Sorry Shaq fans, but Kobe has done more for LA Lakers. Bryant and O’Neal arrived in L.A. at the same time, and for a while there it looked as though Shaq would be remembered as the more dominant of the two, but while Shaq’s star is fading fast Kobe is just reaching his peak, leading his young Lakers’ team to another NBA Championship.

Kobe Bryant holds the Lakers record for scoring in a career, single season, and for one game. He also leads the Lakers in career three-point field goals made. Bryant is a 12-time all star, 2-time scoring champion, 7-time all-NBA first team selection, and 7-time all-NBA defensive team selection. He has also won 4 NBA Championships, and been named both Finals MVP and regular season MVP….

Even with all those super human stats, if he decided to call it a quits today he will not even be considered the best player in he’s generation. (Click here to read more)

2 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

This towering, lanky center is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, and a huge reason the Lakers won 5 NBA Championships in the 1980s. Teamed with Magic Johnson, Kareem was simply unstoppable, pouring in huge points with his signature skyhook shot.

He had an immediate impact when he arrived in Los Angeles in the 1975-76 seasons, leading the team in scoring that year, and for the 10 seasons following as well. He was also defensive presence in the center for almost 20 seasons with the Lakers as he ranks 2nd in NBA history in blocked shots and 4th all time in rebounds, his 6 NBA MVP awards are the most in league history.

It’s next to impossible for Kobe to ever surpass this giant in any NBA ranking.

1 – Magic Johnson

Few players in the history of any sport have been more adept at making their teammates better than Magic Johnson. His incredible creativity, athleticism and vision on the court were truly a marvel to behold as he routinely “Went Globetrotter” on his opponents setting up his teammates with circus-style plays.

He was the key component in the Lakers offense during their dynastic years in the 1980s, leading the NBA in assists 5 times during that span. He had 24 assists in a single game on 3 separate occasions, including once in a playoff game (an NBA record). He won 3 MVP awards and 5 NBA Championships, and added over 17,000 points and 10,000 assists during his career.

These numbers would have been much higher if he didn’t retire at the prime of he’s career because of he’s discovery he was HIV. He was called Magic for a reason. He is simply the greatest Los Angeles Laker of all time.

Kobe v Magic – Magic reigns supreme in the championship department, trumping Kobe’s ring total by one, and truthfully, even if Bryant were able to surpass Magic in the title category he would probably still not be recognized as Lakers numero uno.

Magic may be the most complete player the game has ever seen, he was able to competently play all five positions on the court, and he was instrumental in helping to save the game during its bleakest hours.

His duel with Larry Bird’s Boston Celtics renewed interest in a game which had failed to connect with its fans, and was considered an inferior product compared to other professional sports.

His revolutionizing of the assist changed basketball, and his leadership in community business development has changed several inner cities. All this while serving as a worthy pioneer in the battle against the former stigma and shame associated with HIV.

In my personal opinion, Magic Johnson might actually be the greatest player to ever grace an NBA court.

Greatest Lakers of all time (A-List Edition) is a post from: AroDrive

It started with an innocent question from Tom Withers of the Associated Press. He asked Shaq if he wanted to see LeBron take part in the Slam Dunk Contest. Then Shaq rolled out an entire plan complete with a pop culture cause. (For the record, this was not a Shaq original idea. Jay Mariotti of ESPN’s ‘Around the Horn’ actually suggested the idea during the program earlier on that day and then Shaq ran with it).

He said he wanted Vince Carter and Kobe Bryant plus one other star to be named to take part. Then he said he wanted a large cash prize with half of it donated to Haiti. It may sound crazy, but the Charles Barkley vs. Dick Bavetta race raised $50,000 for charity three years ago. This is something that people would actually watch.

This is a very good Idea that will never happen for a simple reason; Kobe and Vince Carter are both nursing multiple injuries and Vince Carter seems to find a way to pull something every time he steps on the court.

The truth is Carter and Kobe already paid their dues when it comes to the Slam Dunk Contest.

Lebron on the other hand has always chickened out and no one had even bothered to call him out because Lebron is more of power dunker which is not a good fit for the Slam Dunk Contest which is more of Stylish Dunk Contest.

And He shoulders the weight of the NBA and doesn’t need the added pressure of an insignificant Slam Dunk Contest.

Then, why all the fuss over him competing in this year’s contest? After Nate Robinson amazing performance in last year’s contest, he made the statement that he was going to dunk and all his friends should join him. He hoped that was the rallying cry, especially when all those guys were sitting courtside.

Then months later Dwyane Wade rolled his eyes. Carmelo Anthony told them to have fun. Dwight Howard, a former champ, and LeBron talked, but Howard didn’t really feel like it any more.

There’s only one solution here that’s also realistic.

Make the slam dunk an exhibition event with a Million dollar bucket and not a contest that pays 35k.

The format; at least 10 to 15 contestant, each contestant dunks once and the judges vote for the top 4 to move to the next round which will also be the final round.

Here each contestant just needs 1 more dunk each and the fans get to vote for the winner.

Let’s face it, the current format is rather long and boring and requires too much creativity from contestants. It’s all been done.

So it’s time to cancel the event again or have it revamped in a way that includes the veterans. No one wants to get injured half way through the season trying to pull off a Dominique Wilkins wind mill dunk.

One dunk in the first round, one in the final round will give each contestant a chance to come out and really have some fun with it.

An event like this will give TNT a spike in the ratings and sponsors will be willing to pour in the cash as big name stars like Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Steven Jackson, Josh Smith and even Lebron will sign on.

A format like this gives the veterans a fighting chance against the young and more athlete guys in the league and a more entertaining event for the fans.

Shaq’s Idea is just a start on how to revamp the NBA Slam Dunk Contest is a post from: AroDrive

Make it three consecutive Mondays atop weekly NBA Power Rankings for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Cavs are the only team in the top 10 these days that can claim reasonably good health and on-the-court consistency, making them an automatic choice to retain the top spot in spite of a Friday slip-up at Denver with the Nuggets missing Carmelo Anthony.

Orlando normally would have fallen further than No. 4 after its recent 0-4 skid — and Dallas and Phoenix likewise moved up more than usual after so-so weeks — because so many teams in the top 10 have hit slumps or been derailed by injuries.

Another interesting jumble can be found in the middle of the pack, where No. 16 Memphis and No. 17 Utah certainly can make cases to be placed a little higher but got shoved down because of the recent surges seen from No. 13 Miami, No. 14 New Orleans and No. 15 Toronto.

Click here to rank the teams yourself, or click here to comment on these rankings.

2009-10 Power Rankings: Week 12
RANK (LAST WK)		TEAM	REC.	COMMENT
	1 (1)	Cavaliers	29-10	Not going to grade them down too much for Friday’s slip at Melo-less Denver. Not when the Cavs have won six of their past seven roadies and when none of their closest pursuers is healthy enough to push ‘em.
	2 (2)	Lakers	29-8	Kobe’s, Pau’s and Artest’s injuries have been legit disruptions, but defensive slippage isn’t so easily dismissed. Not when L.A. allows 100-plus points in eight of 11 after doing so just eight times in its first 26 games.
	3 (4)	Celtics	26-9	An angry KG is ordered to rest his knee and you inevitably wonder whether Boston will ever be healthy enough to make a real run … but also whether the Lakers will wish they did the same with Kobe and his finger.
	4 (3)	Magic	25-12	As the 41-game midpoint approaches and we reflect on the Magic’s recent four-game skid as well as Vince Carter’s latest injury, perhaps it’s a wise time to say that their perfect 8-0 preseason didn’t mean a whole lot.
	5 (6)	Mavericks	25-12	Mike Bacsik isn’t just the lefty who surrendered Barry Bonds’ 756th homer. He’s a rabid Mavs fan who tweeted late Saturday: “It’s the ’90′s all over again. The Cowboys win a playoff game by 20 and the Mavs lose by 20.”
	6 (10)	Suns	23-14	Such are the ups and downs we’re seeing throughout the top 10 that Miami can deal Phoenix its fourth home defeat in eight games — after Phoenix started 10-0 at home — yet the Suns still rise in the rankings.
	7 (5)	Trail Blazers	23-16	The Blazers are tied with Cleveland and Dallas for the most wins in the league — eight — against the rest of the teams residing in our top 11. Which explains why they’re still so high in spite of all those injuries.
	8 (9)	Spurs	22-13	We all know second-half runs are the Spurs’ specialty, but they’re looking at more ground to make up than normal having played just 13 games on the road and sporting a 3-11 record against teams at or above .500.
	9 (7)	Hawks	23-13	Hope this isn’t our fault. Ever since we asked America whether it was time to officially proclaim that the East is home to four elite teams — back when the Hawks were a sparkly 8-2 — Atlanta is an underwhelming 15-11.
	10 (11)	Nuggets	23-14	He’ll never muscle his way to the top of MVP contention, but Friday’s W over our No. 1 team in his comeback game — without Melo — is yet another example of why Denver Chauncey always has to be in the conversation.
	11 (8)	Rockets	21-16	These Rockets have been so good at ignoring injury obstacles that you naturally expect them to grind through the trade rumors, too. Knowing that an easier second-half schedule is forthcoming should help the mood.
	12 (12)	Thunder	20-16	The word for Durant’s past 10 games is ridiculous: 32.7 ppg on 57.4 percent shooting and 47.1 percent on 3s. In related news, OKC has quadrupled its win total from last season’s 5-31 mark at the same point.
	13 (18)	Heat	18-17	Ran up an early 25-point lead on the Hawks. Stole one in Phoenix to improve to 6-2 in games decided by five or fewer points. And found a way to pilfer Rafer Alston from the Nets. Best week of the Heat’s season.
	14 (17)	Hornets	19-16	See what happens when we throw some committee (of one) spotlight on the Hornets’ 2-13 road record? They win three roadies in the span of a week. Who would dare say these rankings don’t mean anything?
	15 (15)	Raptors	19-19	Jim from Chicago wrote in to ask why we haven’t been trotting out our trusty Leastern Conference references. And he certainly has a point when the Raps needed an 8-2 surge just to give the East six .500 teams.
	16 (13)	Grizzlies	18-18	The Griz are back in the Southwest Division basement and awoke Monday as the West’s No. 11 team, but read the fine print. They have to be right there with Houston and Sacramento at the top of the Cinderella Rankings.
	17 (14)	Jazz	20-17	One road pounding of Dallas, impressive as it was, hasn’t stopped the masses from wondering whether Utah plans to keep Boozer and see what it can salvage from this season or keep trying to slice its luxury-tax bill.
	18 (21)	Clippers	17-18	They’ll be patient with Blake Griffin’s debut and trading Marcus Camby in hopes of driving up Camby’s value between now and the trade deadline. Why rush when you’re nearly .500 and just beat the Lakers?
	19 (16)	Bobcats	16-19	You know who’s nervous right now? The Houston Texans. They’ll be the only franchise in North America’s four major sports leagues that hasn’t yet tasted the playoffs if the Jackson-Wallace partnership keeps clicking.
	20 (19)	Kings	15-21	We should probably focus on the recent five-game skid as opposed to our guy Casspi’s run of four straight 20-point games. Or we could just tell you Kevin Martin should be back soon to make the Kings really interesting.
	21 (20)	Knicks	15-21	Grizzlies of the East? Sounds like a slam, but it’s not. The Knicks, you see, endured an even worse start than Memphis — 1-9 compared with 1-8 — but have rebounded with the East’s third-best record (12-7) since Dec. 1.
	22 (22)	Bulls	15-20	For all the early fuss about the Bulls’ annual circus trip, Chicago’s January looks just as rough with eight of this month’s 10 remaining games on the road. (P.S. — We have a lot more to say about the Bulls here.)
	23 (24)	76ers	11-25	It hasn’t eased any pressure on Eddie Jordan or hushed any of the rampant trade speculation in Philly, but the Iverson reunion experiment is sure working for Iverson. Have you looked at All-Star voting lately?
	24 (23)	Bucks	15-19	I had literally just looked up from a mound of rankings research and switched the channel from Cavs-Blazers to Bucks-Lakers right when Michael Redd planted on that left knee … and buckled. Evening ruined.
	25 (26)	Warriors	11-24	The Monta Ellis Show has been in Oaktown for a league-low 14 home games. So maybe Don Nelson isn’t as far from the record for all-time coaching wins — currently 12 shy of Lenny Wilkens’ 1,332 — as it seems.
	26 (29)	Wizards	12-23	The Wiz actually won two games last week, not that anyone noticed. There might be only one outcome that can transport the franchise out of this nightmare, which is winning the draft lottery and rights to John Wall.
	27 (27)	Pacers	11-25	With Granger mercifully back from injury, T.J. Ford banished to the bench and the names of Jeff Foster and Troy Murphy coming up often in trade speculation, Indy is pretty newsy for a team stuck in the bottom five.
	28 (28)	Timberwolves	8-30	Maybe Jefferson and Love can’t work long term as a tag team because neither provides shot-blocking or defensive athleticism. But breaking them up now, after basically a half-season under Rambis, is risky. Thoughts?
	29 (25)	Pistons	11-24	Q: When does a dozen feel like a bigger number than 10 million? A: When Ben Gordon is credited with scoring the NBA’s 10 millionth point in a defeat to Philly that stretches Detroit’s losing streak to (yikes) 12 games.
	30 (30)	Nets	3-34	Can’t be easy to lock in when your team is 0-15 against the West, stuck on a 7-75 pace and stuck waiting for the official arrival of a new owner and summer cap space. But Devin Harris could be doing more. Couldn’t he?

2009-10 NBA Power Rankings: Week 12 (A-List Edition) is a post from: AroDrive

For all the grief Shaq gets about his pick-and-roll D, it hasn’t really hurt the Cavs yet. They’re giving up the league’s fewest points in the paint since bringing Shaq in, and D has fueled Cleveland’s surge to No. 1.

Injury issues have started earlier this season. The list of health worries is a lot longer than last season’s, too. You’re seeing why we came into the season saying Boston’s vulnerabilities worry us more than Orlando’s.

Brings us no joy to rough the Hawks up, but they’ve had two turns in the spotlight: Thanksgiving against Orlando and their home-and-home with the Cavs. The East’s new darlings are 0-3 in those games.

Here’s the complete list;

2009-10 Power Rankings: Week 11
RANK (LAST WK)		TEAM	REC.	COMMENT
	1 (1)	Cavaliers	27-9	For all the grief Shaq gets about his pick-and-roll D, it hasn’t really hurt the Cavs yet. They’re giving up the league’s fewest points in the paint since bringing Shaq in, and D has fueled Cleveland’s surge to No. 1.
	2 (3)	Lakers	27-6	No one’s suggesting it changed the trajectory of the Lakers’ season, but they just haven’t been right since the Christmas Day double whammy of that loss to the Cavs and Artest’s freakish fall. Now Pau’s hurt, too.
	3 (4)	Magic	24-9	The Magic don’t exactly look like the deepest team in the league these days. They’re starting to look like a team that is struggling to keep everyone happy and frustrated by its inability to keep everyone healthy.
	4 (2)	Celtics	24-8	Injury issues have started earlier this season. The list of health worries is a lot longer than last season’s, too. You’re seeing why we came into the season saying Boston’s vulnerabilities worry us more than Orlando’s.
	5 (6)	Trail Blazers	22-13	This ridiculous injury plague hasn’t stopped Portland from gamely winning six of seven somehow, but it’s affecting the committee (of one) personally when it starts messing with our favorite Blazer and soccer bud L. Aldridge.
	6 (7)	Mavericks	23-11	This Power Rankings Monday also marks the 10-year anniversary of Cuban’s agreement to buy the Mavs. We’re granting an anniversary wish by pretending we didn’t see that uncharacteristic road no-show in L.A.
	7 (5)	Hawks	21-11	Brings us no joy to rough the Hawks up, but they’ve had two turns in the spotlight: Thanksgiving against Orlando and their home-and-home with the Cavs. The East’s new darlings are 0-3 in those games.
	8 (8)	Rockets	20-14	If Westphal isn’t your COY so far, it’s got to be Adelman. He’s moved into Sloan territory as one of the best never to win the COY thanks to what these no-name Rockets are doing with the hardest schedule to date.
	9 (11)	Spurs	20-12	We’ll get back to the modest present soon, but the glorious past merits one more mention: San Antonio’s 574 wins in the 2000s are No. 3 all-time for one decade, behind 584 for the ’80s Lakers and 580 for the ’80s Celts.
	10 (10)	Suns	21-13	We repeat: There’s a reason Nash tried to temper expectations when the Suns were 14-3. He knew they had depth/size issues, which is why they were grateful to see the Lakers minus Artest and Boston sans KG/Pierce.
	11 (9)	Nuggets	21-13	Even after beating Utah without Chauncey and Melo, Denver has lost sole possession of first place in the Northwest for the first time since the opening week … to a stubborn Trail Blazers team with injuries galore.
	12 (13)	Thunder	18-15	What excites you most, OKC? Durant’s seven straight 30-point games? That your nearly vet-less team inched past .500? Or how many guys it has stolen (Sefolosha, Krstic and Maynor) thanks to financial flexibility?
	13 (16)	Grizzlies	16-16	If I had said before the season that all but one team in the Southwest would be at .500 or better on the first Monday in January and that the Grizz would not be the sub-.500 team, what odds would you have given?
	14 (12)	Jazz	18-15	How stunned were we that the Jazz lost to Denver by 10 when Chauncey and Melo didn’t dress? Put it this way: Utah now has three home L’s by double digits … compared to two in each of the past three seasons.
	15 (17)	Raptors	17-18	The Raps showed us something by beating the Spurs. No Hedo/Calderon and still they proved momentum from the 5-0 stretch wasn’t lost when they failed to steal one in Boston with Pierce, KG and Rondo all out.
	16 (22)	Bobcats	14-18	A breakthrough in Miami, then an absolute stunner in Cleveland. Larry Brown’s Bobs just tripled their total of road wins in the span of a weekend and are going to make their first trip to the playoffs if this keeps up.
	17 (19)	Hornets	15-16	The Hornets’ season could hinge on this month. They’re as active as anyone on the trade front and have ample opportunity to spruce up that 2-13 road record with 11 of the next 15 games away from home.
	18 (14)	Heat	16-15	It might be time already for Riles to challenge the whole team publicly again. The home loss Saturday to Charlotte was especially costly because the Heat have only five more home games all month. And 11 roadies.
	19 (15)	Kings	14-19	You can dwell on how poorly they handled the final play when Kobe got the most wide-open buzzer 3 he’ll ever see. Or you can focus on how the Kings, without Tyreke, beat Denver and lost to the Lakers by a point.
	20 (20)	Knicks	14-20	Add up David Lee’s still-underrated board work, Nate Rob’s fairy-tale return from exile and New York’s 10-5 spell of decency and suddenly the s-l-o-w countdown to July 1 is bearable, ’cause the team is watchable.
	21 (19)	Clippers	14-18	Kaman refuses to let Zach Randolph roll on unchallenged for the unofficial title of West Big Man Most Egregiously Omitted from the All-Star Ballot. He’s up to 10 20-point, 10-rebound games after just two last season.
	22 (23)	Bulls	14-17	Comeback Coach of the Year? No such award exists, obviously, but don’t we need something after Del Negro did what no one said he could by surviving that 35-point blown lead to Sacramento … and then thriving?
	23 (24)	Bucks	13-18	Jennings knows how to get on the committee’s good side. He heard Bucks fans lobbying via Twitter to break up my all-lefty backcourt by trading Redd for T-Mac’s expiring deal. “THAT IS DUMB!” Jennings tweeted back.
	24 (28)	76ers	10-23	It’s true that every team beaten in this 3-1 revival has been shorthanded. It’s also true that the road rally A) accounts for Philly’s best week all season and B) started when Iverson came back to play on a bad knee.
	25 (21)	Pistons	11-21	How far away from Deeee-troit Bas-ket-ballll have these Pistons strayed? The losing streak has reached a stunning nine defeats in a row and they haven’t even managed to take a second-half lead in the last six games.
	26 (25)	Warriors	9-23	Although the Dubs couldn’t build on huge back-to-back wins over Phoenix and Boston, they’re finally putting proven NBA size on the floor thanks to the returns of Biedrins and Turiaf. And Monta does need the help.
	27 (29)	Pacers	10-23	The Pacers have actually weathered brief Granger absences in the past with near-.500 ball, but that was then. Now? Indy has lost nine of its last 10 games without its All-Star, including five double-digit poundings.
	28 (26)	Timberwolves	7-28	That was even more unpleasant than usual. The Wolves just missed out on a third upset of Utah when they couldn’t finish off a late comeback from 17 down, then got pushed around in Indy.
	29 (27)	Wizards	10-21	Does this sound like someone who’d protest being shipped away from this circus? Caron Butler on his blog: “Every time I was dealt [previously], I had better years with my new team than I had with my old one.”
	30 (30)	Nets	3-30	It took a seven-game homestand and help from the snoozing Knicks, but the Nets finally found the win that kept them away from the record for most losses before a team’s third W. Dallas went 2-39 in 1993-94.

2009-10 NBA Power Rankings: Week 11 (A-List Edition) is a post from: AroDrive

The Lakers continue to roll on as the Celtics, Magic and Cavs try to catch up.

The Hawks remains on at the number 4 spot and looking to move up as Christmas day games will see some of the big 3 fall.

Here’s the complete list;

2009-10 Power Rankings: Week 10
RANK (LAST WK)		TEAM	REC.	COMMENT
	1 (2)	Lakers	22-4	Did someone say good week? Kobe can’t stop scoring with that broken finger, Pau suddenly has a contract extension even before Kobe does and the Lakers quietly completed their long-awaited first road trip at 4-1.
	2 (1)	Celtics	21-5	This is probably just a coincidence: Boston is 3-4 on Fridays and 17-1 on all other days. This appears to be a legit problem: Rasheed and Perkins have racked up 10 and seven techs already. Suspensions start at 16 T’s.
	3 (3)	Magic	20-7	The good news: Jameer is closing in on reactivation. The bad news: Orlando has to deal with two teams that know how to make you work (Utah and Houston) before the big Christmas Day showdown with Boston.
	4 (4)	Hawks	19-7	Impressive as they’ve been this month, establishing themselves as a top-5 fixture, Atlanta’s uber-athletes could easily be 9-0 in December if not for leads blown Saturday in Chicago and that bad home L to the Knicks.
	5 (8)	Mavericks	20-8	Looking at the Southwest, especially Memphis and the other last-place clubs, Rick Adelman paid a real tribute to the Mavs with this: “They’re the best team in our division and they’re up there in the conference.”
	6 (9)	Suns	18-9	Two more plus points for the only team in the league that hasn’t lost a home game: Amare is starting to get some pop back (three straight 20/10 games) and a league-high 17 road games are in the rearview mirror.
	7 (5)	Cavaliers	20-8	The Cavs haven’t been higher than No. 4 and it’s tough to see that changing in the near future. But count on them to stay at or near the top of the rumor rankings, because they’re looking for trade upgrades. Hard.
	8 (6)	Nuggets	19-9	Didn’t take long, did it? For all of Melo’s brilliance — he just uncorked his fifth 40-point game of the season — Denver’s first two games without the injured Billups stand as reminders of how much he impacts for this crew.
	9 (10)	Rockets	16-11	Only one team out West (Phoenix) has played more roadies than the Rockets. And Houston gets to make an extra trip to Dallas if the league upholds the Mavs’ protest because it already made its two trips to Big D.
	10 (13)	Trail Blazers	17-12	The way Bayless played against Phoenix on TNT helps explain why the Blazers are reluctant to trade him. Less clear after a performance like that is why they’ve been so reluctant to throw him out there more with B-Roy.
	11 (7)	Jazz	16-11	We’re going to pretend we didn’t see the Jazz respond to their Team of the Week nod by losing at home to Minnesota and focus on D-Will’s league-leading eight 20-point/10-assist games … five of them just since Dec. 10.
	12 (11)	Spurs	14-10	For all the fretting about Jefferson’s slow start and the underwhelming 3-6 record on the road, there’s this Spurs counter: Duncan is quietly rolling again, churning out an efficient 20 and 11 in a career-low 32.1 mpg.
	13 (14)	Hornets	12-14	Even though he just missed on a triple-double, CP3′s 30 points, 19 assists and nine boards against Denver make for a historic line. No one has hit those levels in the same game since Magic Johnson and Fat Lever in 1988.
	14 (16)	Grizzlies	12-15	Division leaders Cleveland, Dallas and now Denver are all Grizz victims, but I still can’t seem to stop myself from wondering what we’d be saying if they had drafted a local collegian named Tyreke Evans over Thabeet.
	15 (12)	Thunder	13-13	The shocker is not that the Thunder are a helpless 0-5 when their franchise player is held below 20 points. The shocker is that we just saw it happen twice to young Durant in Oklahoma City’s most recent three games.
	16 (17)	Heat	13-12	Does Riles still got it? After he challenged everyone on the roster, including D-Wade, Miami trounced Orlando by 18 on TNT. But the Heat need a win Wednesday over Utah just to break even on this six-game homestand.
	17 (19)	Kings	12-14	One of my best Hanukkah presents: Casspi has been so good that it’s totally natural to talk about him all the time. Tyreke has been a certifiable stud … but my guy’s coming to Dallas for the Rookie Game, too.
	18 (18)	Knicks	10-17	We’ve all been so wrapped up in the Nate Robinson drama that we almost missed Mike D’Antoni’s Knicks — we repeat: Mike D’Antoni’s Knicks — holding seven straight foes below 100 points in their 7-3 December.
	19 (20)	Raptors	13-17	At least one thing is going according to plan for the Raps: Bosh has racked up a league-leading 13 games with at least 25 points and 10 boards. That’s six more than his closest pursuer: New Jersey’s Brook Lopez.
	20 (15)	Pistons	11-16	Can’t sum up life with the Pistons these days any better than the AP did after Sunday’s lesson from the Lakers. “Three of Detroit’s best players wore sport coats: Richard Hamilton, Ben Gordon and Tayshaun Prince.”
	21 (23)	Clippers	12-14	Just three times all season have teams failed to hold a 20-point lead … with the Clips involved every time. They beat Memphis that way Nov. 29 and lost that way Nov. 13 against Toronto and again Friday in New York.
	22 (21)	Bucks	11-14	Brandon Jennings’ recent perimeter struggles don’t worry the Bucks. Nor does the fact that ‘Reke got the better of the rooks’ first duel. The real crusher is that 1-8 record in games decided by three points or fewer.
	23 (26)	Bulls	10-15	The first Bulls winning streak since mid-November — two wins in a row after they followed up a big rally in New York with an OT home W over surging Atlanta — should bring Del Negro his first sense of relief in weeks.
	24 (22)	Bobcats	10-16	The Bobcats treasure the do-everything versatility of G-Wallace. But responding to a quiet game on the boards for Diaw and Chandler with a quote about heart is presumably not something they wanted him to do.
	25 (24)	Pacers	9-16	The ever-reliable Brian Windhorst reports that Troy Murphy is one of three PFs high on the Cavs’ trade radar. We figured that Pacer People would rather ponder that than the team’s recent Granger-less fortunes.
	26 (29)	76ers	7-20	The Sixers can (probably) live with the loss to the Clips and A.I.’s injury because last week was their best week in ages, thanks to the returns of Lou Williams and Speights and a win in Boston no one saw coming.
	27 (25)	Wizards	8-17	The record-tying run of six consecutive defeats by four points or fewer is finally over. The leaguewide circling of buzzards waiting to see whether the Wiz finally bust up their Arenas-Butler-Jamison core trio only grows.
	28 (27)	Warriors	7-19	This is the month teams down here started consoling themselves with the same two-word draft prayer: John Wall. Even teams like the Warriors, who are awash in guards with Monta and Steph Curry and need a big.
	29 (30)	Timberwolves	5-23	We’d like to think that demoting the Wolves to No. 30 was the inspiration for that stunning win at Utah. We’d also like to explain how the Wolves now have huge divisional road wins at Denver and Utah. But we can’t.
	30 (28)	Nets	2-26	More unwanted milestones: New Jersey is just the seventh team in history to rack up 25 losses in 27 games after Friday’s defeat in Toronto. The last to do so was New Orleans, which also started 2-25 in 2004-05.

2009-10 NBA Power Rankings: Week 10 (A-List Edition) is a post from: AroDrive

There’s no doubt, it was unanimous, Barry Bonds was the Athlete of the Decade.

This was a decade of outstanding consistence performance from lots of athlete worldwide, but none was more feared, hated and respected all at the same by opposing teams like Barry Bond.

He has a record-setting seven Most Valuable Player awards, including a record-setting four consecutive MVPs. He is a fourteen-time All-Star and eight-time Gold Glove-winner. He holds numerous Major League Baseball records, including the all-time Major League Baseball home run record with 762 and the single-season Major League record for home runs with 73 (set in 2001), and is also the all-time career leader in both walks (2,558) and intentional walks (688).

Bonds has led a controversial career, notably as a central figure in baseball’s steroids scandal. In 2007, he was indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice concerning the government investigation of BALCO, and despite DNA evidence linking him to performance-enhancing drugs and the BALCO labs jury selection has been postponed indefinitely.

Steroids or no steroids, Bonds is the best baseball player of all time and the most intimidating athlete of the decade. (If you don’t agree, let us know why, and while you at it suggest someone and make sure you can prove they too didn’t take steroids. It was a level playing field; every major athlete in every sport has or is doing it.)

Here’s a list of the top 10 Athletes of the Decade (1999 – 2009)

#1 Barry Bonds

#2 Tiger Woods

#3 Michael Schumacher

#4 Roger Federer

#5 Zinedine Zidane

#6 Peyton Manning

#7 Shaquille O’neal

#8 Vijay Singh

#9 Lance Armstrong

#10 Tom Brady

Athletes of the Decade from Each Sport.

Baseball

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Barry Bonds

Bonds’ power intimidated opposing teams in a way that led to wholesale changes in managerial philosophy. Of his mountain of records (Bonds won more MVP awards during the first half of this decade than any other player has in a career), perhaps the most telling numbers are from 2004. Bonds set the single season records that year for both walks (232) and intentional walks (120). Some perspective: in their careers, Mickey Mantle recorded 126 intentional walks and Stan Musial had 127. Bonds’ number of free passes in 2004 were just nine shy of numbers two and three on the all-time single season list combined. Who was that? Barry Bonds in 2002 and 2003.

8× Gold Glove Award winner

14× All Star Selections (6x in the decade; 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2007)

12× Silver Slugger Award (5x in the Decade; 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2004)

7× NL MVP (4x in the Decade; 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)

3x NL Hank Aaron Award winner (2001, 2002, 2004)

MLB Records

* 762 career home runs
* 73 home runs in a season
* 2,558 career walks
* 688 career intentional walks

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Others Considered;
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Albert Pujols

Pujols is well-known for his all-around ability as a player to hit for both average and power, plus his base-running and fielding excellence. His consistency over his nine years in the Major Leagues has earned him the reputation as one of the best players in the game today[1][2] and the most feared hitter in baseball, according to a poll of all 30 MLB managers in 2008.[3] Since his MLB debut in 2001, Pujols has been selected as an All-Star eight times, has won the National League Most Valuable Player Award three times, and won a World Series title in 2006.

Derek Jeter

In 2000, Jeter became the only player to win both the All-Star Game MVP Award and the World Series MVP Award in the same year. He has been selected as an All-Star ten times, and he has won the Silver Slugger and Gold Glove awards on four occasions. He is regarded as a consummate professional, by teammates and opponents alike, and has a reputation as a reliable contributor in the postseason.

Basketball

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Shaquille O’neal

After 4 years with the Magic, O’Neal signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Lakers. He won three consecutive championships, playing alongside Kobe Bryant, in 2000, 2001, and 2002. However O’Neal’s relationship with Bryant eventually went downhill, leading to his trade to the Miami Heat in 2004. He won his fourth NBA championship in 2006, but was traded midway through the season just a year later to the Phoenix Suns. After a season-and-a-half with the Suns, O’Neal was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he is playing along side LeBron James in the 2009-10 season.

O’Neal’s individual accolades include the 1999-00 MVP award, the 1992–93 NBA Rookie of the Year award, 15 All-Star game selections, 3 All-Star Game MVPs, 3 Finals MVPs, 2 scoring titles, 14 All-NBA team selections, and 3 NBA All-Defensive Team selections. He currently ranks 5th all-time in points scored, 6th in field goals, 15th in rebounds, and 7th in blocks.

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Others Considered;
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Kobe Bryant

Bryant is the the cornerstone of the Lakers franchise. He led the NBA in scoring during the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons. In 2006, Bryant scored a career high 81 points against the Toronto Raptors, the second highest number of points scored in a single game in NBA history, second only to Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point performance.

Tim Duncan

Duncan is a four-time NBA champion, a three-time NBA Finals Most Valuable Player, and the current captain of the Spurs. He has also won the NBA Rookie of the Year, NBA Most Valuable Player Award twice, and has been voted into 11 NBA All-Star Games, 12 All-NBA Teams, and 12 All-Defensive Teams.

NFL

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Peyton Manning

Manning holds NFL records for consecutive seasons with over 4,000 yards passing and the most total seasons with 4,000 or more yards passing in a career.[3][4] Manning holds the second-highest career passer rating (95.3) among active quarterbacks, and ranks third all-tim behind only Steve Young (96.8), and Tony Romo (95.6). He is the all-time Colts franchise leader in career wins, career passing yards, pass attempts, pass completions, and passing touchdowns,

In 2009, he was listed by The Sporting News as the No. 1 player in the NFL today.

Since the Colts drafted Manning in 1998, the team has the highest conversion rate on 3rd down (44.6%) and 4th down (61.1%) plays in the NFL. While leading the Colts to their Super Bowl XLI victory in 2006, Manning helped the team to an NFL record by converting 56.1% of its 3rd downs.

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Others Considered;
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Tom Brady

He has played in four Super Bowls, winning three of them (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX). He has also won two Super Bowl MVP awards (XXXVI and XXXVIII), has been selected to four Pro Bowls (and invited to five, although he declined the 2006 invitation), and holds the NFL record for most touchdown passes in a single regular season.

Ray Lewis

Lewis has been selected to ten Pro Bowls and been named an Associated Press All-Pro eight times.[1] He won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2000 and 2003; he was the sixth player to win the award multiple times.[2] He was also the second linebacker to win the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Award and the first linebacker to win the award on the winning Super Bowl team.

Racing

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Michael Schumacher

According to the official Formula One website, he is “statistically the greatest driver the sport has ever seen”. He is the only German to win the Formula One World championship,[3] and is credited with popularizing Formula One in Germany. In a 2006 FIA survey, Michael Schumacher was voted the most popular driver of the season among Formula One fans.

After winning two championships with Benetton, Michael Schumacher moved to Scuderia Ferrari in 1996 and won five consecutive drivers’ titles with them from 2000–2004. Schumacher holds many records in Formula One, including most drivers’ championships, race victories, fastest laps, pole positions, points scored and most races won in a single season. Schumacher is the only Formula One driver to have an entire season of podium finishes, a feat he accomplished in 2002. His driving sometimes created controversy: he was twice involved in collisions that determined the outcome of the world championship, most notably his disqualification from the 1997 championship for causing a collision with Jacques Villeneuve. After the 2006 Formula One season Schumacher retired from race driving.

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Others Considered;
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Valentino Rossi

He is one of the most successful motorcycle racers of all time, with 9 Grand Prix World Championships to his name. According to Sports Illustrated, Rossi is one of the highest earning sports personalities in the world, having earned an estimated $34 million in 2007.

Jimmy Johnson

Johnson is the reigning four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion. In 2009 he became the only driver to win four consecutive Sprint Cup Series Championships. In 2009 he became the only driver to win four consecutive Sprint Cup Series Championships

Golf

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Tiger Woods

Currently the World No. 1, he is the highest-paid professional athlete in 2008, having earned an estimated $110 million from winnings and endorsements.

Woods has won 14 professional major golf championships, the second highest of any male player, and 71 PGA Tour events, third all time. He has more career major wins and career PGA Tour wins than any other active golfer. He is the youngest player to achieve the career Grand Slam, and the youngest and fastest to win 50 tournaments on tour. Additionally, Woods is the second golfer to have achieved a career grand slam three times along with Jack Nicklaus. Woods has won 16 World Golf Championships and has won at least one event each of the 11 years they have been in existence.

Woods has held the number one position in the world rankings for the most consecutive weeks and for the greatest total number of weeks. He has been awarded PGA Player of the Year a record ten times, the Byron Nelson Award for lowest adjusted scoring average a record eight times, and has the record of leading the money list in nine different seasons. He has been named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year a record-tying four times, and is the only person to be named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year more than once.

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Others Considered;
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Vijay Singh

Singh was number one in the Official World Golf Rankings for 32 weeks in 2004 and 2005. He has won three major championships (The Masters in 2000 and the PGA Championship in 1998 and 2004) and was the leading PGA Tour money winner in 2003, 2004 and 2008. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2006. He won the FedEx Cup in 2008.

Phil Mickelson

He has won three major championships and a total of 37 events on the PGA Tour. He has reached a career high world ranking of 2nd in multiple years. He is nicknamed “Lefty” for his left-handed swing, even though he is otherwise right-handed.

Soccer

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Zinedine Zidane

Widely considered one of football’s all-time greats, Zidane played for club teams in France, Italy and Spain, and was a member of the French national team. His career accomplishments include helping France win the 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2000, in addition to winning the 2002 UEFA Champions League as a galactico with Real Madrid. One of only two three-time FIFA World Player of the Year winners along with Ronaldo. He retired from professional football after the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

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Others Considered;
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Ronaldo

Ronaldo became one of the most renowned strikers in the world by winning his first Ballon d’Or as the European Footballer of the Year in 1997 and again in 2002. He is also one of only two men to have won the FIFA Player of the Year award three times, along with French footballer Zinedine Zidane.

Ronaldinho

He is widely regarded as one of the most gifted footballers of his generation.
Prior to his move to Milan, he played for Paris Saint-Germain, and FC Barcelona, with whom he won his first Champions League in 2006. He became a Spanish citizen in January 2007.

Boxing

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Oscar De La Hoya

De La Hoya has defeated 17 world champions and has won 10 world titles in six different weight classes. He has also generated more money than any other boxer in the history of the sport,[3] an estimated $696 million pay-per-view income.

De La Hoya’s amateur career included 223 wins, 163 by knockout, with only 6 losses. He won the United States’ only boxing gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics, a win which he dedicated to his deceased mother. De La Hoya founded Golden Boy Promotions, a combat sport promotional firm. He is the first American of Hispanic descent to own a national boxing promotional firm and one of the few boxers to take on promotional responsibilities while still active.

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Others Considered;
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Roy jones jr.

current NABO and IBC light heavyweight champion. As a professional he has captured IBF championships in the middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight divisions. He also won the WBA heavyweight title in his only fight in this weight class.

Floyd Mayweather

From July 18, 2005 through June 2, 2008 he was rated by The Ring magazine as the number-one pound for pound boxer in the world.[1] Mayweather has won six world boxing championships in five different weight classes; he is the former WBC welterweight champion, a title he vacated upon his retirement. He was named Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year in 1998 and 2007. He is currently ranked number 2 pound for pound fighter.

Tennis

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Roger Federer

Federer has won 15 Grand Slam singles titles, more than any other male player. He is one of six male players to have captured the career Grand Slam. Federer has appeared in an unprecedented 21 career Grand Slam finals, and as of September 2009, has reached the semi-finals or better of the last 22 Grand Slam tournaments, a record streak that spans over five years.

Federer also holds the record of reaching 10 consecutive Grand Slam finals and has appeared in 17 of the last 18. As a result of his successes in tennis, Federer was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for four consecutive years (2005–2008). In 2007, Time magazine named him as one of the 100 most important people in the world.

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Others Considered;
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Rafael Nadal

Nadal currently ranked #2. Nadal has won six Grand Slam singles titles, the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles and also was part of the Spain Davis Cup team that won the finals in 2004 and 2009.

Pete Sampras

This is more titles than any other player except Roger Federer who surpassed this record at Wimbledon in 2009. He had a 204–37 win-loss record over 52 Grand Slam singles tournament appearances. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time.

Other Notable Athletes of the Decade From Each Sport.

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Lance Armstrong (Cycling)

He won the Tour de France a record-breaking seven consecutive years, from 1999 to 2005. He is the only person to win seven times, having broken the previous record of five wins, shared by Miguel Indurain, Bernard Hinault, Eddy Merckx and Jacques Anquetil. He has survived testicular cancer, a tumor that metastasized to his brain and lungs in 1996. His cancer treatments included brain and testicular surgery and extensive chemotherapy, and his prognosis was originally poor.

In 1999, he was named the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year. In 2000 he won the Prince of Asturias Award in Sports.[4] In 2002, Sports Illustrated magazine named him Sportsman of the Year. He was also named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for the years 2002–2005. He received ESPN’s ESPY Award for Best Male Athlete in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006, and won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality Award in 2003. Armstrong retired from racing on July 24, 2005, at the end of the 2005 Tour de France, but returned to competitive cycling in January 2009, finishing third in the 2009 Tour de France.

Ricky Ponting (Cricket)

Ponting made his first-class debut for Tasmania in November 1992, when just 17 years and 337 days old-becoming the youngest Tasmanian to play in a Sheffield Shield match. However he had to wait until 1995 before making his One Day International debut, during a quadrangular tournament in New Zealand in a match against South Africa. His Test debut followed shortly after, when selected for the first Test of the 1995 home series against Sri Lanka in Perth, in which he scored 96. He lost his place in the national team several times in the period before early-1999, due to lack of form and discipline, before becoming One Day International captain in early-2002 and Test captain in early-2004.

After being involved in over 130 Tests and 300 ODIs, Ponting is Australia’s leading run-scorer in Test and ODI cricket, with more than 23,000 international runs as of September 2009. He has scored 38 Test centuries—behind only Indian Sachin Tendulkar (43)—and third for most runs and centuries in ODIs behind Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya.

Richie McCaw (Rugby)

A tireless worker who reads the game well, McCaw was voted as Newcomer of the Year by the International Rugby Players Association in 2002. He had an outstanding 2003 Rugby World Cup despite New Zealand’s semi-final exit and won the New Zealand player of the year award at the 2003 and 2006 Steinlager Rugby Awards. McCaw was sidelined for the middle part of 2004 with a head injury, but came back mid-way through the Air New Zealand NPC to captain the Canterbury side to a stunning final victory over Wellington.

He earned the Air New Zealand NPC Division One Player of the Year for his effort. He was awarded the IRB International Player of the Year award in 2006 after being a finalist in both the International Rugby Players Association and IRB awards in 2003 and again for the IRB in 2005. McCaw led Canterbury to the NPC title in 2004 and then took the Crusaders to back-to-back Super 14 titles in 2005 and 2006 before assuming command of the national team. In 2008, the Crusaders were once again victorious under McCaw’s command.

In November 2009, McCaw was named the 2009 IRB Player of the Year.[2] He was the second player to win the award twice following the lesser known American player Chris Byron, the great hooker from the 1960s. On December 17th 2009, McCaw became the first person to win the New Zealand Player of the Year award three times.

Hicham El Guerrouj (Track and Field)

He is the current holder of the 1500 metres, mile and outdoor 2000 metres world records, as well as a double Olympic gold medalist.

El Guerrouj was named athlete of the year by the IAAF in 2001 and 2002 after remaining unbeaten in more than 20 races, becoming the first man to win the award in consecutive years. He was also named best athlete of the year by the athletics journal Track and Field News in 2002. In 2003, he was elected as a member of the IAAF Athletes Committee.

On September 7, 2004, El Guerrouj was decorated with the “Cordon de Commandeur” by King Mohammed VI of Morocco. In the same year, he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Awards.

Nicklas Lidstrom (NHL)

In his seventeen NHL seasons, Lidström has won four Stanley Cups, six James Norris Memorial Trophies as the league’s best defenceman, and has been voted into ten NHL All-Star Games. To date, he is the only European-born and trained NHL captain to win the Stanley Cup, as well as the first European player to be named playoff MVP.

Representing Sweden, Lidström won the World Championship in 1991. At the 2006 Winter Olympics, Lidström was a major factor in Sweden’s win over Finland in the finals, scoring the gold medal clinching goal, thus earning him a spot on the Olympic All-Star Team. He also became the 17th member of the Triple Gold Club. The Hockey News selected Lidström as the “Best European-trained player ever in the NHL”.[1]Sporting News selected Lidström as the “NHL Player of the Decade”.

A-List – Athletes of the Decade is a post from: AroDrive

Kobe Bryant and the Lakers finally loss a game and Kobe nursing a sprained finger on he’s shooting hand.

The Boston Celtic didn’t waste any time to jump in front and claim the number one position not just on the A-List NBA Power Rankings, but on all NBA Power Ranking across the board.

There’s no doubt the Celtics are the best team in the NFL right now.

Rounding up the top 5; Lakers, Magic, Hawks and Cavs.

The Hawks continue to impress as they have won six games by at least 20 points after combining for just five such wins over the last the last two seasons.

Here’s the complete list

2009-10 Power Rankings: Week 8
RANK (LAST WK)		TEAM	REC.	COMMENT
	1 (3)	Celtics	19-4	It’s true that the list of victims during Boston’s 10-game win streak won’t blow you away. Yet it’s also true that seven of the 10 wins were roadies, which always says something, especially given L.A.’s soft schedule.
	2 (1)	Lakers	18-4	We nearly gave the champs a one-road-loss grace period, but there’s just enough uncertainty about Kobe’s freshly broken finger — combined with L.A.’s shaky start to an overdue stretch of road games — to merit this drop.
	3 (2)	Magic	17-6	Orlando is even more must-see than usual this week after it seemed set for the best start in franchise history, only to unravel in the second half in Utah and then fall in agonizing fashion the next night in Phoenix.
	4 (5)	Hawks	17-6	Milestones: Atlanta is at least 10 games over .500 before Christmas for the first time since 1997-98. And Atlanta has won six games by at least 20 points after combining for just five such wins over the last two seasons.
	5 (4)	Cavaliers	17-7	You can’t forget the 0-2 start or ignore the slip-ups at Washington and Memphis, but you also have to take note that the Cavs — for all the lukewarm reviews so far — are a tidy 7-2 against teams at .500 or better.
	6 (6)	Nuggets	17-7	They still need another need big man, but the Nuggets emerged from the season’s first quarter as the closest thing to a consensus No. 2 out West, with ‘Melo posting four 40-point games after just 10 in his first six seasons.
	7 (10)	Jazz	14-9	Beat the Spurs, Magic and Lakers all in the same week and bring back those old green unis — thumbs up from the committee (of one) — and Team of the Week status is all yours. The Jazz have suddenly won 10 of 13.
	8 (8)	Mavericks	17-7	Focus on what Jason Kidd can no longer do at 36 if you want, but this is all the locals see in Big D with Kidd at the controls: Rick Carlisle’s record as Mavs coach in games decided by five points or fewer is a gaudy 25-6.
	9 (7)	Suns	16-8	The Suns can rationalize an 8-7 mark after an 8-1 start because the schedule has been road-heavy. The part they can’t live with is failing to score 100 points in four of this month’s seven games. That can’t continue.
	10 (9)	Rockets	13-10	If Ariza gets suspended, as expected, for his tangle with Toronto, we’ll have to scratch Houston’s undersized Cinderellas from the list of teams to use the same starting lineup in every game. Boston is the only other team.
	11 (14)	Spurs	12-9	How big was Sunday’s breakthrough in Clipperland? Without it, as Jalen Rose reminded us on NBA Shootaround, San Antone would still be on the list of West teams with only one road win alongside the Clips and Kings.
	12 (12)	Thunder	12-10	OKC didn’t record its 12th victory last season until Feb. 6. The Thunder, though, have too many road games and too many good teams left on their December schedule to too spend much time basking in their progress.
	13 (13)	Trail Blazers	14-11	In the short term, playing without Oden will probably be easier for the likes of B-Roy and Andre Miller (for as long he’s a Blazer). Long term? Portland needed Oden to have any shot of challenging the Lakers and all their size.
	14 (15)	Hornets	10-12	After gamely splitting those eight games without Chris Paul, New Orleans was heading for a 4-0 mark since CP3′s return … until the Hornets surrendered the final eighteen points at home Friday night to the Knicks.
	15 (20)	Pistons	11-12	We were tough on him early when Will Bynum was the Pistons’ most productive guard, so it’s only right to highlight Stuckey’s turnaround: 25 points or more in four straight games to spark this five-game win streak.
	16 (21)	Grizzlies	10-13	Yes: Zach Randolph should have been on the All-Star ballot. Yes: Rudy Gay has the whole league buzzing. Yes: Memphis is 4-1 in December and tempting us to use the R word — riveting — even without Mr. Iverson.
	17 (11)	Heat	11-11	Did someone say long winter? Miami just started a six-game homestand with two lopsided losses and has played fewer road games (nine) than all but three teams: Lakers (five), Spurs (seven) and Clippers (eight).
	18 (23)	Knicks	8-15	It’s still too early for the V word — vindication — but a 5-1 record in December that includes wins over three legit teams (Phoenix, Atlanta and Portland) is best Knicks stretch we can remember in, um, a really long time.
	19 (16)	Kings	10-12	Ten wins already and nine of them at home for Sacramento’s young overachievers. The Kings didn’t get win No. 10 in 2008-09 until Jan. 14 and only won 11 games all season at what was an Arco fortress in the glory days.
	19 (17)	Raptors	11-15	The Raps can only wish that it was easy as this sentence makes it sounds: Toronto is 8-0 when its much-maligned defence (Canadian spelling) finds a way to hold the opposition below 100 points ? and 3-15 otherwise.
	21 (22)	Bucks	11-11	This Twitter exclamation over the weekend from Andrew Bogut — “11-11 baby!” — got us thinking: Is it too soon to start asking how many teams outside the top four in the East are going to wind up with a winning record?
	22 (19)	Bobcats	9-13	Stephen Jackson has clearly given the Bobs more belief, but it still ain’t happening on the road. Charlotte’s away misery includes losing to the 0-18 Nets and an OT crusher that left them 0-11 all-time against the Mavs.
	23 (18)	Clippers	9-13	Is a January comeback for Blake Griffin — assuming we’re actually going to see him next month as promised — too late to force his way into the ROY conversation? We’re asking for your input because we haven’t decided yet.
	24 (27)	Pacers	8-13	Dunleavy’s back at last, Hansbrough just had his first big NBA weekend and the finish against the Wiz couldn’t have been more fortuitous. Not that the Pacers can really celebrate after losing Granger for at least four weeks.
	25 (25)	Wizards	7-14	Ouch, ouch, ouch. As if the Indy ending wasn’t sufficiently excruciating, there’s this: Washington has followed up the presumed promise of a 4-1 stretch with four successive Ls by a combined nine points, three of them at home.
	26 (24)	Bulls	8-14	Can’t see how beating the depleted Dubs gets Vinny out of trouble. Not because of the Bulls’ recent history of firing coaches in December, but because their last four losses include three blowouts and a home loss to the Nets.
	27 (26)	Warriors	7-16	What do Monta Ellis, Michael Finley and Latrell Sprewell have in common? They’re the only three players in the last 35 years to play all 48 minutes at least five times before Christmas ? with Nellie coaching in each case.
	28 (30)	Nets	2-22	Just ruminating out loud: If the Nets could add John Wall in the draft to Devin Harris, Brook Lopez, Jay-Z as minority owner and an eventual move to Brooklyn ? would they have a legitimate shot at landing LeBron then?
	29 (29)	76ers	5-18	Hasn’t exactly been a storybook return, has it? The Sixers are 0-3 with Iverson, didn’t come close to selling out the last two games and sport the league’s longest losing streak at 12 straight Ls while AI tries to shake a knee injury.
	30 (28)	Timberwolves	3-21	Even after that recent stunner in Denver, Minnesota can’t avoid slipping into the cellar. Not when the Wolves have six losses this season by at least 20 points ? or three times as many as New Jersey in that category.

2009-10 NBA Power Rankings: Week 8 (A-List Edition) is a post from: AroDrive

With all of Tigers Woods sex scandal every one is wondering how Big really is mr. Woods. We thought we show you.

The List of the highest paid athletes as compiled by Forbes magazine (Forbes.com) shows you the gap between Tiger woods and every other athlete on the globe. (Though this List highlights income earned from June 2008 to June 2009, Tiger earned $130 million from January to December 2009).

The list of the highest-paid athletes looks at earnings derived from salaries, bonuses, prize money, endorsements and licensing income from June 2008 to June 2009 and does not deduct for taxes or agents’ fees. Overall the top 20 earned $789 million, down 1% from last year. The cut-off to make the list was $30 million.

No. 17 Ronaldinho (Tie)

$30 million

Ronaldinho’s successful five-year run with FC Barcelona ended last summer when AC Milan paid a transfer fee of $33 million for the rights to sign the two-time FIFA Player of the Year to a three-year contract. He signed a deal worth $9 million annually. His bigger payday comes from his off-the-field work where he retains lucrative endorsement deals with Nike, Pepsi and EA Sports.

No. 17 Derek Jeter (Tie)

$30 million

Jeter continues to be the most marketable player in baseball with annual endorsement earnings of $9 million from the likes of Ford, Gatorade, Gillette and Nike. Jeter will earn $21 million next season, which is the final year of the 10-year, $189 million contract he signed in 2001.

No. 17 Jeff Gordon (Tie)

$30 million

Gordon won the Samsung 500 in April breaking a 47-race winless streak, the longest in the career of the four-time Cup champion. He currently sits second in the Sprint Cup Series standings after finishing a disappointing 10th last year. Gordon is a co-owner of the No. 48 car driven by Jimmie Johnson who has won three straight Cup titles

No. 17 Kevin Garnett (Tie)

$30 million

Garnett was the highest-paid player in the NBA this season with a salary of $24.8 million from the Boston Celtics. Garnett’s historic six-year, $126 million contract signed in 1997 was widely seen as the impetus for the NBA lockout the following season and the player salary caps that came as a result. Garnett remains a popular pitchman for the likes of Adidas and Gatorade.

No. 16 Vijay Singh

$31 million

Singh had a monster 2008 season winning $17 million in prize money thanks to the $10 million bonus that goes to the FedEx Cup winner. At the start of this year, Singh signed an $8 million a year endorsement deal with Stanford Financial that looks doomed as a result of the allegations that Stanford was running a “massive Ponzi scheme.”

No. 13 Alex Rodriguez (Tie)

$32 million

A-Rod earns little off the field these days but makes the cut thanks to his historic 10-year, $275 million contract he signed with the Yankees after the 2007 season. The deal paid A-Rod $27 million last year and is worth $32 million this season. He also got $1 million in January as part of the $10 million signing bonus in the deal.

No. 13 Lewis Hamilton (Tie)

$32 million

Hamilton is often compared to Tiger Woods for his breakout performance at an early age as a black athlete in a predominantly white sport. Hamilton won the 2008 Formula One World Championship by a single point and became the youngest driver to win the title at 23. Last summer, Reebok inked Hamilton to a multimillion-dollar deal to be a “global brand ambassador.”

No. 13 Oscar De La Hoya (Tie)

$32 million

Boxing’s Golden Boy hung up his gloves after one last mega-fight in December against Manny Pacquiao that earned De La Hoya $30 million. He retires with the record for all-time pay-per-view buys of 14.1 million and PPV revenue of $696 million.

No. 11 Shaquille O’Neal (Tie)

$33 million

Shaq experienced a renaissance on the court this year returning to the All-Star game where he shared the MVP Award with former teammate and nemesis Kobe Bryant. Off-the-court Shaq continues to pile up sales of his low-cost Shaq and Dunkman brands of shoes, which now top 75 million pairs since he launched the first line in 1996. Shaq has reached a new audience through Twitter where he has 1.2 million followers.

No. 11 Roger Federer (Tie)

$33 million

Federer cemented his position as the greatest tennis player ever when he won his 14th Grand Slam title and completed a career Grand Slam by winning the French Open this month. Federer also passed Pete Sampras in October to become the all-time leader in career prize money and has earned $48 million since turning pro in 1998.

No. 10 Dale Earnhardt Jr.

$34 million

Earnhardt was chosen as Nascar’s most popular driver for a sixth straight year in 2008 despite winning only one race during the past two seasons. His merchandise sales were twice the total of any other driver. Earnhardt’s biggest personal sponsorship deals are with Adidas, Chevrolet, Polaris, Wrangler and Nationwide Insurance, which he added this year.

No. 9 Valentino Rossi

$35 million

The Doctor won his eighth World Championship in 2008 after two straight years of falling short of the title. The biggest star in motorcycle racing earns $16 million annually from his contract to ride for Yamaha and his earnings more than double when you count licensing income, bonuses and endorsement deals with the likes of energy drink Monster.

No. 6 Manny Pacquiao (Tie)

$40 million

Pac-Man hogged the boxing spotlight over the past year with victories in two blockbuster fights against Oscar De La Hoya in December and Ricky Hatton in March that combined generated more than $100 million in pay-per-view revenue in the U.S. A member of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, Pacquiao plans to run for political office when his days in the ring are over.

No. 6 Phil Mickelson (Tie)

$40 million

Playing second fiddle to Tiger Woods has proven very lucrative for the world’s second-ranked player. His most lucrative deal is with Callaway, which signed Mickelson to a five-year extension this year. Other sponsors include Barclay’s, Exxon, KPMG and Rolex. Mickelson has won $54 million in prize money during his career, third all-time behind Woods and Vijay Singh.

No. 6 LeBron James (Tie)

$40 million

The NBA’s MVP led the Cleveland Cavaliers to the league’s best record and had a playoff performance for the ages this year, but his team was bounced from the playoffs by the Orlando Magic in the Conference Finals. His free agency next summer has teams maneuvering to get under the salary cap in hopes of signing King James. The Cavs can offer the biggest contract under NBA salary rules, but James might go in search of a bigger market.

No. 5 David Beckham

$42 million

Becks is far from the best player on the pitch, but he is still the most famous which is why companies like Adidas, Giorgio Armani and Motorola pay him millions for his endorsement. Beckham spent five months on loan this year playing for AC Milan before his planned return to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy in July when the MLS season is half over.

No. 2 Kimi Raikkonen (Tie)

$45 million

Formula One’s highest-paid driver finished a disappointing third in the World Championship standings last year after winning the title in 2007. This year has been even worse for the Iceman who sits in 10th place in the current standings. Ferrari resigned Raikkonen in September to a one-year contract extension keeping the Finn behind the wheel for Ferrari through 2010.

No. 2 Michael Jordan (Tie)

$45 million

MJ retired as a player for the third and presumably final time six years ago, but he is still the most famous athlete in the United States. The Jordan Brand is approaching $1 billion in sales for Nike which turned Jordan into a marketing phenomenon. Jordan is on the short list of potential buyers for the Charlotte Bobcats where he is head of basketball operations and a minority owner.

No. 2 Kobe Bryant (Tie)

$45 million

Bryant secured his place among the NBA’s all-time greats when he won his fourth NBA title with the Los Angeles Lakers in June. The Black Mamba’s popularity is at its zenith as his No. 24 jersey is the top seller in the U.S., Europe and China. Bryant pads his $21 million Lakers salary through endorsement deals with Nike, Upper Deck, Activision and VitaminWater.

No. 1 Tiger Woods

$110 million

Woods has earned almost $1 Billion in prize money, endorsements and appearance fees during his 13-year professional golf career and next year is poised to become the first athlete to earn $1 billion during a career. Woods racked up more than twice the earnings of any other athlete over the past 12 months despite being sidelined for eight months after knee surgery thanks to lucrative endorsement deals with Accenture, Gillette and Nike as well as a thriving golf course design business.

Highest Paid Athletes 2009 is a post from: AroDrive

The lakers are undeniably the King of the NBA, they are healthy and Kobe Bryant as usual is having a wonderful season.

Though most of their wins so far has been at home, but this team has proved year after year that they are road warriors, so we can expect thesame this year.

Just below the Lakers numbers 2 to 5 is becoming more difficult to figure out as teams are becoming evenly matched. The Magic, Celtics and Cavs all look really good and each had impressive victories this this week.

The hawks are starting to rally back again and I very much expect them to be in the top 3 next week.

Here’s the rest of the List;

2009-10 Power Rankings: Week 7
RANK (LAST WK)		TEAM	REC.	COMMENT
	1 (1)	Lakers	16-3	Are these guys Artest-proof? They sure have been since Gasol came back, playing through Ron-Ron’s “Jimmy Kimmel” appearance in his boxers and then his Hennessy stories like almost no one saw or heard a thing.
	2 (3)	Magic	16-4	They’ve won seven in a row on the road. They’ve gone 8-1 since losing Jameer. They’ve won biggies at Boston and Atlanta and sit one disputed Miami basket away from an 11-game win streak. They’ve got to be No. 2.
	3 (6)	Celtics	16-4	It’s not this seven-game win streak that moved Boston up. Or a 9-1 road record that leads the league. It’s how the Celts took it up a notch in back-to-back smotherings of San Antonio and OKC in their away green.
	4 (4)	Cavaliers	15-5	It’s not easy to move up because of the way our top three are rolling, but the Cavs have also brought some normalcy to the upper reaches of the rankings thanks to that 12-0 record when they get to 100 points.
	5 (5)	Hawks	14-6	The good news: Atlanta is a tidy 8-2 against teams at or above .500 after pulling out a W in Big D on Saturday. The bad news: Atlanta is just 6-4 against teams with losing records … and 3-4 overall since its 11-2 start.
	6 (8)	Nuggets	15-5	Does a win in San Antonio sufficiently atone for a streak-ending loss at home to the 1-15 Wolves? And when Melo cracks 30 points for the 12th time in his 20 games this season? We’re actually inclined to say not quite.
	7 (2)	Suns	15-6	First real crisis for the Suns or an inevitable gas shortage after 15 of the first 21 games were roadies? Miffed as we are about that MSG showing right after we shot them up to No. 2, we’re going with the latter.
	8 (7)	Mavericks	14-7	Just 82 points Friday night in a road L to Memphis. Just 75 points Saturday night in a home L to Atlanta. The Mavs can only hope losing two games in a row for the first time this season was just a really bad weekend.
	9 (9)	Rockets	11-9	Lil’ Aaron Brooks is generally seen as the offensive face of this scrappy incarnation of the Rockets. Just don’t forget Carl Landry and his nine 20-point games … after just four in his previous two seasons.
	10 (10)	Jazz	11-8	Boozer just had his first 30-point game since March ’08. Sloan just agreed to extend his contract for a 23rd season as Jazz coach. So why can’t we stop fixating on Utah’s latest eyebrow-raising L on Saturday in Sota?
	11 (14)	Heat	11-9	The Heat were due to lose a heartbreaker after winning this season’s first three one-point games, but that still doesn’t explain that prayer Kobe banked in Friday. If it rims out, Miami goes 3-1 on a tough trip.
	12 (13)	Thunder	10-9	As if Blazermaniacs weren’t suffering enough after Oden’s latest setback, this haunting tidbit circulated late Friday: Durant just became the second-youngest player in history to get to 4,000 points, behind LeBron.
	13 (11)	Trail Blazers	13-8	They say Portland weather can be gloomy, but it’s nothing compared to what’s suddenly hanging over the Blazers, given the afflictions that have stricken Batum, Outlaw and now Oden, along with their coach and owner.
	14 (12)	Spurs	9-8	This is the only team widely pegged for contention back in October that can’t get near the top five. The other culprit besides injuries: San Antonio is 2-7 against teams over .500 after home L’s to Boston and Denver.
	15 (20)	Hornets	8-11	The Hornets are 5-5 under Jeff Bower because they somehow went 4-4 after CP3 hurt his ankle in Bower’s first game. We frankly expected none of that … especially those home wins over Phoenix and Atlanta.
	16 (16)	Kings	9-10	Can’t quibble with the 14-3 record posted by Alvin Gentry in November, but you could easily say Paul Westphal’s 8-8 mark was also worthy of the season’s first Western Conference coach of the month award.
	17 (21)	Raptors	9-13	Who says team meetings are a waste of time? The previously defenseless Raps just swept a back-to-back on the road in Washington and Chicago after a behind-closed-doors airing of (mostly defense-related) grievances.
	18 (18)	Clippers	9-11	The Clips have won five of their past seven … and no longer have a share of the NBA’s worst start ever thanks to the Nets’ plummet to 0-18. So life’s not too bad, even if they have to wait until January for Blake Griffin.
	19 (19)	Bobcats	8-11	Twitterdom can be a cruel place. Check out this crack from our pal BergerSphere late in the loss that ended the Nets’ 0-18 start: “Larry Brown is going to quit with 30 seconds left and take the Fordham job.”
	20 (22)	Pistons	8-12	Bigger surprise: Jonas Jerebko starts 17 of his first 18 NBA games … or Ben Wallace turns back the clock at 35 to flirt with a double-digit rebound average for the first time since his first season in Chicago in 2006-07?
	21 (25)	Grizzlies	8-12	Do you realize that the Grizz — who now have three straight wins over Dallas after losing the previous 13 — would be on an 8-3 roll if they had just finished off the Clips when they had ‘em down by 22 in the fourth?
	22 (15)	Bucks	9-10	Jennings busted out of his first pro freeze with 24 points in a home loss to Cleveland, but the chill lasted long enough — 30 percent shooting during a 1-6 skid — to hush any suggestion that the ROY race is already over.
	23 (29)	Knicks	6-15	Maybe it’s a tad early to start throwing around the V word — vindication — but the Knicks have been hard to second-guess since electing not to finalize their intended signing of A.I. As Phoenix or Atlanta could tell you.
	24 (17)	Bulls	7-11	How high is Vinny Del Negro on your Coaches Under Pressure list? The Bulls’ no-show at home Saturday against the teetering Raptors had to move him up some, no matter how shorthanded the Bulls might be.
	25 (26)	Wizards	7-12	That’s twice that the Wiz blew one at home just when they looked like they might start something. The first was a shaky L to Charlotte after two wins. This time? Two wins in a row again, then an OT loss to the Raps.
	26 (23)	Warriors	6-13	The Warriors have allowed 120 points or more an NBA-worst six times. So you could do a lot worse than seeing your team hook up with Golden State if that’s the only shot you get all season to see a game in person.
	27 (24)	Pacers	6-12	The banged-up Pacers are in a 1-9 funk and just went 0-4 on a trip that included three of the West’s more inviting stops, which sounds bad until you get to the worst part: Granger is going in for more tests on his heel.
	28 (27)	Timberwolves	3-17	Kevin Love returned from a broken hand with a flourish, but that was just the second-best thing to happen to the Wolves last week. No. 1: They’re suddenly on pace for a record-avoiding 12 wins after a win over Utah.
	29 (28)	76ers	5-15	The Sixers have lost nine in a row, 13 of 15 overall, and feared losing both Andre Iguodala (ankle) and prized rookie Jrue Holiday (shoulder) to injuries. So we ask again: What momentum is Iverson going to derail?
	30 (30)	Nets	1-19	Kiki Vandeweghe on the congratulatory messages he received after winning his first game to become the first coach in NBA history to halt an 18-game losing streak: “Most of them said you should retire right now.”

2009-10 NBA Power Rankings: Week 7 (A-List Edition) is a post from: AroDrive

Why the NBA does it’s best to sell its younger talents like Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Dwight Howard and Chris Paul, the real king of the NBA remains the Black Mamba – Kobe Bryant.

In a game hyped by the best sports hype machine in the world; ESPN, the Miami Heat vs Los Angelis Lakers Friday game (December 4th) lived up to the billing.
Both super starts came to play, but only one was able to close the game out at the buzzer.

Normally a Kobe Bryant buzzer beater would be ho-hum. Haven’t we seen that before? Don’t we expect it to happen? The talk of the NBA should’ve the Nets actually winning a game. Now that’s a rare event.

Except this shot — this off-one-leg, swaying-to-the-left, three-point bank shot at the buzzer to beat Miami — was so ridiculous that it had his NBA peers firing off astounded tweets (“@rudygay22 Are you kidding me Kobe!”) and even Bryant had a hard time believing it. He called it “the luckiest shot I’ve made by far.”

“I released the ball, I was kind of like, ‘No effing way. No way this ball’s going in,’” Bryant said. “It felt good, I just didn’t think I was going to make that shot. I’d like my chances if I had squared up and got the shot I’d wanted to.”

Call it luck, call it skill, call it guts, the fact of the matter is, this was a heck of a shot from the Best Player in the Game right now.
The NBA is lagging in the ratings again this year, and the reason is because they are working hard to sell stars like Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Dirk Nowitzki and other guys in the league that might be good, but not great.
Don’t get me wrong, these guys are star worthy, but, to be great, consistency most be the name of the game. No one has been more consistent in the last 10 years in the league than Kobe Bryant even during the terrible years after the departure Shaquille O’Neal.

Kobe is head and shoulders above any star in the NBA today (including Lebron James) and he plays in the most complete team the NBA has to offer. If the NBA plans to boost ratings, then market the guy that is sure to be in the mix in June winning another NBA championship.

The NBA is missing out on marketing Gold in Kobe Bryant is a post from: AroDrive

The Boston Celtics, Cleveland Caveliers and Orlando Magic all share one thing in common — and it’s not their love of dance theatre — but, rather they are all looking up at the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference standings.

In an age where young guns have transformed into seasoned veterans and baby birds have learned to fly, one team has dared challenge the East’s natural pecking order.

The Hawks, a team universally considered to finish no better than fourth in the conference and second in their own division, have gotten off to a blazing start to begin the season 10-2 and forced the league to take notice. They sit atop NBA.com’s and ESPN.com’s weekly power rankings.

The national media descended upon Atlanta on Wednesday night to watch the Hawks dispatch their latest victims, the Miami Heat (7-4), at Philips Arena by a final of 105 – 90. It provided Atlanta with its sixth straight victory, and fourth consecutive game in which they held an opponent to under 100 points.

“Guys have figured out that when we play defense at a high level we’re tough to beat,” said forward Marvin Williams, now in his fifth season with Atlanta.

Tough defense, indeed. And it has started with the team’s top two players, all-star guard Joe Johnson and starting power forward Josh Smith.

In recording his second straight 30-point performance, Joe Johnson has had a hand in limiting his All-Star counterparts, Brandon Roy and Dwayne Wade, to only 17 and 15 points in consecutive victories over the Portland Trail Blazers and Miami Heat.

“Atlanta forces me to be more of a jump shooter,” said Heat guard Dwayne Wade after a frustrating night in which he shot only 6-of-18 from the floor and didn’t take his first free throw attempts until the game’s final quarter of play.

“They did a good job of forcing me out of the paint. You have to be smart when you play them, because they are a very athletic team and they will meet you at the rim.”

Josh Smith has been just as effective energizing both the team and the crowd with his dazzling array of high-flying jams and jaw-dropping blocks. He has pleased many a fantasy owner, filling up the stat sheets and offering plenty of material for the highlight reels.

Now, although Smith may still take the occasional ill-advised jumper, reminiscent of one from a six-year old at a local carnival, by and large, his play has been under much better control.

Watching from the bench, rookie point guard Jeff Teague gets one of the better views in the house.

“He plays so hard,” Teague said in a postgame interview. “The things he [does] on the floor, like blocking shots and rebounding and [other] things he doesn’t get credit for … I always try to pump him up when he comes off the floor to let him know that somebody’s seeing what he’s done and that we appreciate it.”

Said Johnson about the stellar play of his teammate, “We’re a tough team to beat when he’s playing like that. When he’s rebounding, playing defense and diving down in the paint for dunks and layups, it makes the defense collapse. That’s leaving guys like me and Mike [Bibby] open for shots.”

With Wednesday night’s 16-point, 14-rebound, seven-assist and two-block performance, Smith recorded his second consecutive double-double, and fourth in the last five games.

The accolades are coming from far and wide, and for longtime Hawks’ fans, this may take some getting used to.

Said Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra after last night’s contest, “Against an athletic team like this, you have to really keep your turnovers down. Otherwise, they will capitalize on it. They have long athletic defenders that do a good job of defending the paint.”

It’s not easy to forget just how far these Hawks have come. Three starters (Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, Marvin Williams) and the head coach (Mike Woodson) still remain from the team that won only 13 games all season five years ago.

“I’ll never forget those 13 wins,” said Woodson. “I’ll never forget walking into the locker room and seeing those faces, knowing we couldn’t win many games.”

Oh, how things have changed.

After wins in Boston, at home and on the road against Portland, an early season rout of Denver, and most recently, the Miami Heat, this team realizes that it has a great chance to win every night it takes the floor. Through trial and error, they have learned how to play basketball.

They are no longer just an “athletic and talented” band of misfits. With the additions of veterans like Mike Bibby, Jamal Crawford and Joe Smith, and the natural process of their own maturation for players like Josh Smith, Al Horford and Williams, this team is as deep and well-rounded as any you’ll find in the league.

Said Crawford when asked about what he’s witnessed as an outside observer from afar, “They’ve grown. They’ve gotten better [as individuals] these last couple of years, and they’ve put some pretty good pieces around them.”

In their 10 victories this season, the Hawks have used a lethal combination of energy, athleticism and effort to outscore and frustrate their opponents.

“I can’t ask for anything better,” said Woodson. “I couldn’t be more proud of a group of guys that made a commitment when they came into camp this year.”

We are far from knowing who really is the best team in the East, and the sudden emergence of the Atlanta Hawks only complicated the matter. But we should all take notice that they have, at the very least, entered the conversation.

Will they stay there, is what remains to be seen.

By ATLien

Atlanta Hawks flying high and Beating down the competition is a post from: AroDrive

Cleveland Cavaliers has the biggest challenge of this coming off season and that’s  convincing Lebron James to forget the big lights and the heavy endorsement that will come with the move to the empire state, or tell him he can win enough championships in Cleveland than going down to south beach and joining he’s pal Dwayne Wade.

Right now the biggest issue the Cavs are facing is the issue of scoring and giving Lebron a break from all the double teams he faces. Mo Williams and then Shaq were both brought in to take this role and so far that has not worked out.

While Mo Williams has done a really fine job both last year and so far this season, he can be and most often short down by a good defender and does not need double teams.

Shaq, we all can agree he’s still a big obstacle in the middle on the defensive end but, he’s offensive abilities have really depreciated and does not need double teaming any more, though some stupid coaches still find it necessary to do that any way.

Allen Iverson no question is a tough guy to insert into any offense, because while he can easy get shots for him self some how he finds it difficult to get shots for others.

That said, Iverson is still one of the best offensive players this league has ever seen and he’s career stats speaks for it’s self: 27.0 PPG, 2.2 SPG, 6.2 APG these are stats that rank up there with guys like Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson and Isiah Thomas (lets not forget 4 time scoring titles and MVP of the regular season and all Star game) and he has played for almost 16 straight seasons, I don’t know how many of you out there knows what it takes to go out night after night (82 games) putting up numbers like these, this guy can ball and under a good coach (Larry Brown and George Karl) he has proven he can be a team player and win games.

If the Cavs really want to win this year and they really want to keep Lebron in Cleveland for the foreseeable future Allen Iverson is the ‘Answer’ to all their questions.

The positives

Iverson is a scoring threat even when he’s having a bad scoring night, opposing coaches have faced him for years and they know he can go 3 for 27 in 4 quarters and with less than a minute to go in the game score 8 straight points.

So with him and Lebron on the court at the same time you can be rest assured Lebron will never command a double team.

Mo Williams game will improve considerably, because now he has a hall of famer cutting into he’s playing time and we all know that leads to guys playing even harder.

By the way: Iverson must start.

And most importantly, Iverson is a very cheap hire.

A one year veteran’s minimum for the talent he brings is a big upside for the Cavalier’s balance sheet and if it doesn’t work out as planned not much would have been lost.

Iverson is a lot of things; locker room divider is not one of them.

Iverson proved in he’s short term with George Karl and the Denver Nuggets that he’s ready to make what ever sacrifice needed of him to ensure team success, and that attitude he will bring with him to Cleveland.

How do I know? Iverson like every other veteran that has been in the league for this long knows an NBA Championship is the most important thing on their resume and will do what ever it takes to get one. And, if you saw any of he’s games in Memphis (or just the one) you’ll know he still got it.

The negatives

If you don’t start him, we might have a problem.

If you think am missing any other negatives let me know.

Iverson + Lebron = Championships:-)

The Allen Iverson – Lebron James combo is a winner is a post from: AroDrive

Steve Nash is showing form of why he is a 2 time MVP of the League, Nash and the Suns are flying high over the competition and making ease of it all.

Five of Suns’ seven games have been on the road in their remarkable 6-1 season opening, who made Boston look like a bad defensive team.

The Celtics were one place down to second with a 7-1 record. Playing eight games in 12 days. Tired legs affected the defense and the three-point shooting.

The Lakers were one place up to third with Kobe Bryant leading the league in scoring again. Lakers are surviving without Pau Gasol, needing overtimes to win in Oklahoma and Houston this week.

The heat also climbed one place up, joining the Nuggets on the list of teams we didn’t think could have a better season than they did last year. But they’ve got a top-five defense and Dwyane Wade hasn’t had to carry as big of a load.

From fifth to tenth are Orlando Magics, Atlanta Hawks, Denver Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks, Portland Blazers and Houston Rockets, who jumped three places to reach top ten.

	TEAM (LAST WEEK)	REC.	BREAKDOWN
1	Phoenix (7)	6-1	Pace: 100.6 (2), Off: 109.1 (5), Def: 103.8 (15) Most impressive about the Suns’ start is that five of their seven games have been on the road. In handing the Celtics their first loss on Friday, they made Boston look like a bad defensive team. Then the Suns got defensive themselves in Washington.
2	Boston (1)	7-1	Pace: 92.8 (25), Off: 106.2 (10), Def: 90.9 (2) Playing eight games in 12 days took a toll, as the Celtics finished the span with narrow escapes in Minnesota and New Jersey, sandwiching a home loss to the Suns. Tired legs affected the defense and their 3-point shooting (10-for-47 in the three games).
3	L.A. Lakers (4)	6-1	Pace: 95.0 (15), Off: 104.9 (14), Def: 99.5 (10) With Kobe Bryant leading the league in scoring again, L.A. is surviving without Pau Gasol, needing OT to win in OKC and Houston this week. Three days off might allow Gasol and/or Andrew Bynum get back for Thursday’s game against the Suns.
4	Miami (5)	5-1	Pace: 94.5 (20), Off: 104.2 (15), Def: 95.9 (5) The Heat join the Nuggets on the list of teams we didn’t think could have a better season than they did last year. But they’ve got a top-five defense and (with the exception of Wednesday’s win in Washington) Dwyane Wade hasn’t had to carry as big of a load.
5	Orlando (2)	5-2	Pace: 93.7 (21), Off: 110.7 (3), Def: 106.3 (22) The Magic were missing Vince Carter, Ryan Anderson and Rashard Lewis when they got smoked by the Thunder on Sunday, but you know Stan Van Gundy didn’t care. He called his squad “a white-collar team” afterward. Carter may be back Tuesday.
6	Atlanta (9)	5-2	Pace: 97.6 (8), Off: 109.4 (4), Def: 104.6 (18) A 20-point loss to the Bobcats followed by a 25-point win over the Nuggets? Oh, those wacky Hawks! Jamal Crawford (averaging 18.1 points off the bench) has made their offense more potent, but consistency will only come when the defense improves.
7	Denver (3)	5-2	Pace: 98.5 (5), Off: 111.0 (2), Def: 105.9 (20) You would expect the Nuggets’ defense to suffer without Kenyon Martin, but their 3-point shooting? They shot just 4-for-23 as they fell in Miami and Atlanta over the weekend. J.R. Smith returns from suspension for the final two games of their six-game trip.
8	Dallas (6)	4-2	Pace: 94.8 (18), Off: 105.5 (13), Def: 97.8 (7) The Mavs couldn’t stop Chris Paul on Wednesday, but Josh Howard returned on Saturday and they had their best offensive game of the season in a win over Toronto. They shot a scorching 63 percent from the field and turned the ball over just nine times.
9	Portland (12)	4-3	Pace: 92.4 (28), Off: 105.6 (12), Def: 99.4 (9) Andre Miller became a starter just six games into the season, but as part of a three-guard lineup with Steve Blake and Brandon Roy. It worked, as the Blazers stifled the Spurs on Friday and crushed the Wolves on Sunday. Now, they hit the road for a five-game trip.
10	Houston (13)	4-2	Pace: 96.2 (10), Off: 106.6 (8), Def: 102.7 (14) Much has been made about second-round steal DeJuan Blair in San Antonio, but what about Chase Budinger? The Rockets’ rook was taken seven picks after Blair and is averaging 10.6 points per game on 53 percent shooting off the bench.
	TEAM (LAST WEEK)	REC.	BREAKDOWN
11	Cleveland (15)	4-3	Pace: 93.2 (24), Off: 101.3 (20), Def: 96.4 (6) Mike Brown admits that he’s still experimenting with his lineups, looking for the right combinations. The Shaq/Ilgauskas twin-towers frontcourt is even (+0) in 33 minutes of floor time, but Shaq and LeBron are a -11 in 122 minutes together. They need time.
12	Chicago (17)	4-2	Pace: 93.4 (23), Off: 94.8 (26), Def: 98.9 (8) The Bulls won three games by a total of six points this week, getting key stops down the stretch in each. Luol Deng is not only leading the Bulls in scoring and averaging a double-double, but he’s made them a top-ten defensive squad.
13	Milwaukee (18)	3-2	Pace: 95.9 (12), Off: 94.3 (28), Def: 88.9 (1) Brandon Jennings has grabbed the headlines, but it’s been the league’s best defense that has the Bucks above .500, despite the absence of Michael Redd, for the first time since they had the same record at this point last season.
14	San Antonio (8)	2-3	Pace: 92.5 (27), Off: 106.8 (7), Def: 106.1 (21) For the second straight year, the Spurs have begun the season as a bad defensive team. And for the second straight year, Tony Parker sprained his left ankle in the fifth game. Fortunately, 12 of their next 15 games are at home and Parker shouldn’t be out long.
15	Oklahoma City (16)	3-3	Pace: 92.6 (26), Off: 99.3 (23), Def: 94.7 (4) Tuesday’s OT loss to the Lakers was a heartbreaker for the Thunder, but they made up for it with Sunday’s blowout of the Magic. The next two weeks will be telling, as they play seven of their next nine on the road, where they were 8-33 last season.
16	L.A. Clippers (22)	3-4	Pace: 98.6 (4), Off: 102.1 (18), Def: 101.7 (12) As expected, the Clippers turned things around thanks to a soft schedule, and their next six games are very winnable as well. With the Hornets and Jazz floundering, this could be a playoff team, especially if Baron Davis gets his act together.
17	Toronto (20)	3-3	Pace: 94.9 (17), Off: 112.7 (1), Def: 114.0 (29) With Chris Bosh averaging 28.5 points per game and Andrea Bargnani shooting the lights out, the Raptors have the best offense in the league thus far. But their defense is just awful, as evidenced by Dallas’ 129 points on Saturday.
18	Detroit (21)	3-4	Pace: 89.9 (30), Off: 101.6 (19), Def: 102.0 (13) The Pistons’ defense missed Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince in their losses to the Raptors and Magic, but Ben Wallace’s seven offensive boards helped Detroit rack up 27 second-chance points in Sunday’s win over the Sixers.
19	Philadelphia (11)	3-3	Pace: 94.7 (19), Off: 103.4 (16), Def: 107.2 (23) The Sixers just seem destined to hover around .500 for the entire season. Somehow, they’ve got to get Elton Brand going. The $82 million man has just 20 total points on 9-for-23 shooting over the last three games, yet to find his spots in the Princeton.
20	Utah (14)	2-4	Pace: 95.6 (13), Off: 106.1 (11), Def: 108.7 (25) If the Jazz can’t beat the Kings (without Kevin Martin) at home, how are they going to do on their four-game trip this week? The Knicks will be happy to get a shot at the worst 3-point defense (opponents are shooting 46 percent) in the league on Monday.
	TEAM (LAST WEEK)	REC.	BREAKDOWN
21	Indiana (27)	2-3	Pace: 99.9 (3), Off: 97.7 (25), Def: 100.5 (11) The Pacers’ two-game winning streak has been sparked by … defense? Yes. They held the Knicks and Wizards to just 39 percent shooting, helping them overcome their own offensive struggles. Tyler Hansbrough had an impressive debut on Friday.
22	Washington (10)	2-5	Pace: 95.3 (14), Off: 100.3 (21), Def: 104.0 (16) Antawn Jamison and Mike Miller are out, but are the Wizards just not as improved as we thought they’d be? They shot less than 40 percent in each of their four losses this week, with Jamison going on a locker-room rant after Friday’s loss in Indiana.
23	Charlotte (25)	3-3	Pace: 91.0 (29), Off: 90.6 (30), Def: 93.1 (3) The Bobcats’ offense exploded for 103 points in Friday’s win over the Hawks, but came back down to earth the next night in Chicago. Gerald Wallace’s 13.8 rebounds per game have helped them become a much-improved team in the boards.
24	Sacramento (30)	3-4	Pace: 96.0 (11), Off: 107.2 (6), Def: 109.6 (26) Kevin Martin’s going to be on the shelf for a couple of months, but the Kings are doing just fine without him … so far. Tyreke Evans averaged 27.5 points in a pair of blowout wins over the weekend, including Saturday’s shocker in Utah.
25	New Orleans (19)	2-5	Pace: 93.4 (22), Off: 102.9 (17), Def: 111.1 (28) Chris Paul scored 32 points and dished out 13 assists in New York on Monday, and then had 21 and 18 against the Raptors on Friday. The Hornets lost both games. Did the defense disappear with the departure of Tyson Chandler?
26	Golden State (24)	1-4	Pace: 103.6 (1), Off: 100.0 (22), Def: 110.8 (27) With Wednesday’s win over the Grizzlies, the Warriors somehow proved to be the less dysfunctional of the two teams. Then they restored their reputation with blowout losses to the Clippers and Kings over the weekend.
27	Memphis (23)	1-6	Pace: 98.0 (7), Off: 106.4 (9), Def: 115.3 (30) Yeah, it would have been a great story if Allen Iverson accepted a bench role and became a veteran leader on a team that desperately needed one. But it can’t be a shock that just the opposite has gone down. A leopard can’t change his spots.
28	Minnesota (26)	1-6	Pace: 96.7 (9), Off: 94.4 (27), Def: 104.2 (17) The Timberwolves gave the Celtics a real scare on Wednesday, but then the ball ended up in Corey Brewer’s hands when they needed a bucket on the final possession. What? Brian Cardinal wasn’t open?
29	New York (28)	1-6	Pace: 98.4 (6), Off: 97.8 (24), Def: 107.2 (24) In just seven games, the Knicks have lost the first quarter by 15 points or more four times already, including two games this weekend when they gave up 40 first-quarter points to both the Cavs and Bucks. Thursday’s players-only meeting didn’t help.
30	New Jersey (29)	0-7	Pace: 95.0 (16), Off: 92.3 (29), Def: 104.8 (19) Moral victories aren’t worth much when you haven’t won a game yet, but with seven guys out (including four starters), the Nets led the Celtics after three quarters on Saturday. Their best shot at getting off the schneid comes Wednesday vs. Philly.

Suns Flying High: 2009-10 NBA Power Rankings: Week 2 (A-List Edition) is a post from: AroDrive

The Tip off week has been more of a disappointment than any thing else: Cleveland just like the Suns last year can’t seem to find a way to utilize Shaq, any one could have seen that coming (Shaq and Lebron pairing not the solution for a Cleveland Title) The Lakers as we reported earlier (The Lakers will Repeat as NBA Championship) but they are still having some chemistry issues, yet they find a way to win hence, I believe the Lakers will get it together long before the Cavs will.

Don’t know about you but it seem like no NBA team came into this season ready to play Basketball, there are a few bright spots: the Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic and Denver Nuggets  looks really good hence they claim the top 3 spots on the A-List Power Rankings for week 2. A few players have also shown they are here to do work: Gilbert Arenas, Dirk Nowitzki, Carmelo Anthony, Joe Johnson and forever young Steve Nash and they have their teams fired up too.

Here are the NBA Power Rankings: Week 2:

2009-10 Power Rankings: Week 1
RANK (LAST WK)		TEAM	REC.	COMMENT
	1 (4)	Celtics	4-0	If the Rondo contract extension saga has been a distraction, imagine what kind of D we’ll see from the C’s when they’re focused. They held the Hornets to 87 on Sunday and at times you were asking: “What’s wrong?”
	2 (2)	Magic	3-0	Can a team make a statement with a road win at Toronto in the third game of the season? If so, this is what Orlando announced Sunday with Rashard, Vinsanity and Pietrus all missing: Deepest Team in the League!
	4 (9)	Nuggets	3-0	He has logged 117 minutes. And he has rung up 113 points. Anyone else get the feeling that Carmelo Anthony isn’t particularly pleased with all this one-hit wonder stuff people have been saying about the Nuggets?
	3 (1)	Lakers	2-1	Is it just us or has Pau’s absence illuminated a lack of dependable depth for the reigning champs compared to what, say, Orlando or Boston has assembled? Conclusions are ill-advised so early, but it’s worth discussing.
	5 (7)	Mavericks	2-1	A long-awaited road win over the Lakers, Josh Howard’s potential return in a week’s time and the bounce in Marion’s step have almost made the Mavs forget how flat they looked on opening night against the Wiz. Almost.
	6 (2)	Spurs	2-1	I think it’s fair to say we wanted to see a little more juice from the Spurs on Thursday at Chicago in their first back-to-back set of the season after all the talk about how much deeper they got over the summer. Agreed?
	7 (5)	Cavaliers	2-2	Don’t want to blow an 0-2 start out of proportion, because the early schedule was no gimme, but facts is facts: 15 teams have won 65 games or more and Elias says only one (these Cavs) started the next season 0-2.
	8 (11)	Hawks	2-1	You know who has not been impressed by a couple decent wins at home (over Indy and Washington) and one pounding inflicted by the Lakers? Joe Johnson. Said JJ after L.A. ran up a huge lead Sunday: “We’re too soft.”
	9 (8)	Trail Blazers	2-2	Opening Night ’08 was way worse, when the Lakers humbled Portland on national TV and Oden went down. But this start has been no treat: Roy’s shot is off, Aldridge has a bruised knee and Andre Miller isn’t helping much.
	10 (15)	Suns	3-0	The weak comp in Week 1 will overshadow G-Hill’s rebounding and Frye’s 3s for some naysayers, but the Suns aren’t apologizing. Not with J-Rich suspended for the first two games and a five-game East trip looming.
	11 (13)	Heat	3-0	Easy schedule or not, Miami impressed us almost as much in Week 1 as its more feared Florida neighbors. No one had D-Wade and his razor-thin crew sweeping their first three games by an average win margin of 14.3 ppg.
	12 (6)	Wizards	2-1	Andray Blatche cracked the 20-point plateau three times last year. He’s done it twice this year filling in for Jamison. That math should explain why we’re pubbing Blatche here instead of more deserved raves for Arenas.
	13 (10)	Jazz	1-1	One week in and all of last season’s talking points have already been revived: Injuries (Korver and Okur), defense (very little displayed until the fourth quarter against the Clips) and, of course, uncertain futures (Boozer).
	14 (19)	Bulls	1-2	Don’t want to make too much of a three-game sample, so let’s just say that Ben Gordon’s absence has been somewhat noticeable so far, given that the Bulls have clanked 36 of the 43 triples they’ve hoisted.
	15 (16)	76ers	2-1	Sixers optimists would tell you that it took them until January last season to look as cohesive as they look already. We’ll keep an open mind but can’t ignore that the cohesiveness came against two lottery-bound teams.
	16 (25)	Raptors	1-2	The Raps might rank as the toughest team to rate, with results — home win over the Cavs, losses in Memphis and at home to depleted Orlando — all over the board even with Bosh and Bargnani clearly ready to go.
	17 (14)	Rockets	2-1	That they’ve won twice already shouldn’t surprise you. You knew going in about the gutty little Rockets, no matter who’s in the lineup. The shocker, if you’re looking for one, is Ariza averaging 29.0 ppg in those wins.
	18 (12)	Hornets	1-2	Two games is way too soon to talk about coaching changes. Even in the hyper-speculative NBA. But I still wouldn’t have wanted to be Byron Scott if the Hornets didn’t pull out that home opener against the Kings’ kiddies.
	19 (21)	Thunder	2-1	We repeat: Give ‘em time. A 2-0 launch was nice, especially when it includes a 1-0 road record, but Sunday’s home test against Portland was an early reminder that the NW Division’s young darlings are still evolving.
	20 (18)	Pistons	1-2	Latest examples of how Twitter has changed the game: Villanueva responds to back-to-back Ls with a plea to fans to “NOT PRESS THE PANIC BUTTON” and a promise that “WE WILL BE MORE THAN ALL RIGHT.”
	21 (22)	Bobcats	1-2	It took exactly one game for Charlotte to make its own case that signing A.I. would have helped. They’ve always had trouble scoring, but even the Bobs had never scored fewer than 73 … until Boston held them to 59.
	22 (17)	Clippers	0-4	The gloom generated by Blake Griffin’s knee injury has been replaced by plain old gloom after the Clips went scoreless for the final 4:42 of a home L to Dallas … with Baron on the bench for all but 19 seconds of the fourth.
	23 (28)	Bucks	1-1	Fun Bucks factoid to digest when you’re not ripping yourself for underrating Brandon Jennings: Milwaukee has opened on the road for 25 seasons in a row! No one else in history has done so for more than 14 straight seasons.
	24 (27)	Grizzlies	1-2	Considering they got drubbed at home in their opener by Detroit — setting an unwanted NBA record with their ninth straight opening-night defeat — all the offense we’ve seen since from the Grizz is pretty eye-catching.
	25 (20)	Pacers	0-2	Tyler Hansbrough’s rookie debut is still on hold thanks to a shin problem. Mike Dunleavy’s return from a long-term knee injury remains uncertain. And Team Granger is not nearly deep enough to cope well without them.
	26 (29)	Timberwolves	1-2	The comeback win over Jersey was nice, but nothing at this stage matters more than the recovery of Al Jefferson, who looked a little more like himself in Phoenix with 21 points … after totaling 21 in the first two games.
	27 (26)	Warriors	0-2	As if the Dubs don’t have enough going on, they’re still smarting from the one-point home L to Houston. Good thing their next four games (Grizz, Clips, Wolves at home and Sac-Town away) offer four chances to atone.
	28 (23)	Knicks	0-3	Knicks fans have suffered so much for so long that we’ve made the benevolent decision to focus on a glimmer of positivity — Gallinari’s electric start — as opposed to everything excruciating we’ve already seen.
	29 (24)	Nets	0-3	The Nets are painfully thin and young (and counting down the days to 2010 free agency) even when Devin Harris is healthy. So we might as well keep talking about the incoming Russian billionaire if Harris is out injured.
	30 (30)	Kings	0-3	As much as we’d like to dissect/dwell on Casspi’s debut, we can’t ignore the reality that any and all rookie discussion in Sacramento will focus on Tyreke Evans’ recovery from a twisted ankle. Until Evans is back.

2009-10 NBA Power Rankings: Week 1 (A-List Edition) is a post from: AroDrive

The NBA was full of big moves this off-season, and with Lamar Odom recently agreeing to re-sign with the Los Angeles Lakers, it appears as if the biggest moves of the off-season have been made—for now. So which teams made moves that considerably changed the landscape of the entire NBA? Let’s look at the top 10 off-season moves of the 2009 NBA offseason.

10.Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic to Phoenix giving the suns the big athletic bodies to compliment Amare in the back court.

9.Randy Foye and Mike Miller to the Washington Wizards for the Number 5 pick of the Draft (Ricky Rubio), Etan Thomas, Darius Songaila, and Oleksiy Pecherov
This move set the tone for the NBA’s frantic offseason. With Foye, the Wizards now have four talented perimeter players. And the T-Wolves got the rights to Ricky Rubio, although he could be in Spain for the foreseeable future.

8.Quentin Richardson to the Memphis Grizzlies for Zach Randolph
Memphis landed the only 20-10 guy in the NBA nobody wants. But the trio of Z-Bo, Hasheem Thabeet, and Marc Gasol does give the Grizzlies a loaded frontcourt. With Mike Conley, O.J. Mayo, and Rudy Gay on the perimeter, you never know…

7,Trevor Ariza. Yao’s likely out for the year, Artest left for the Lakers, and T-Mac hasn’t been healthy in years. Looks like Ariza should get plenty of shots in H-Town this fall.

6. Richard Jefferson traded to the San Antonio Spurs – The Spurs were headed on their way out of NBA Title contention for the first time a long time. But instead of fading off into the sunset, the Spurs elected to make one more big splash during the Tim Duncan era and bring in a basketball player in Richard Jefferson who can bring some explosiveness to the front court. Jefferson’s arrival allows the Spurs to put out a very dangerous squad in the closing minutes of games, with Jefferson, Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili the newly acquired Antonio McDyess. Look, I’m not the biggest Jefferson fan, but the man can put the ball in the hole, and last season he shot the ball very well from the corners, where the Spurs love to spot up their shooters.

5. Shaquille O’Neal to the Cleveland Cavaliers – Who would have thought that two of the biggest NBA stars of the past decade would end up in the mistake by the lake? Well, believe it our not, Shaq is bringing his star to Cleveland to pair up with King James for what just might be a 1-year title run. Shaq gives the Cavaliers a force inside that should counter anything and everything Dwight Howard is able to do in the paint. That said, the move by the following team may make Cleveland’s objective of beating Orlando irrelevant.

4. Rasheed Wallace signs with the Boston Celtics – Yes, a move that really wasn’t all that hard to make and involved a mid-level exception makes the cut at #2. Wallace’s arrival in Boston gives them a front-court that just can’t be reckoned with. Sure Orlando has the size, but they can’t really put Rashard Lewis on Rasheed in the post. And now the Celtics can easily pull Howard out of the lane by having whomever he is guarding (either Rasheed or Kevin Garnett) stand outside on the perimeter. Getting Rasheed was a move of grand proportions, and it’s a move that may have just made Boston the team to beat in the Eastern Conference.

3. Lamar Odom signs with the Lakers – As I hinted at earlier, Artest is actually a better player than Lamar Odom, but the timing of Odom’s signing, and the fact that he almost went to another contender, makes his re-signing more influential than any new acquisition that occurred this summer. To put it plainly, Odom’s return to LA makes them the favorite to win it all…again! Because with Odom coming off the bench, the Lakers just might have the best bench in the entire league. And now they have an insurance policy for both Artest and Andrew Bynum, leaving them a contender regardless of any unforeseen injuries—that is unless of course that unforeseen injury is to Kobe. Hell, Lamar ain’t that good.

2.Vince Carter With All-Star Jameer Nelson running the point, All-Star Rasheed Lewis filling a forward slot and All-Star center Dwight Howard manning the post, Bass can serve as a legitimate power forward option (as Lewis tends to play more like a SF in a PF’s body, preferring the 3-point line to the foul-line) and Carter fills in the starting SG gap.
Despite the loss of Turkoglu, the Magic had a great offseason and put themselves in a fantastic position to be back in the Eastern Conference Finals.

1. Ron Artest Signs with the Los Angeles Lakers – This actually was a very big move in the grand scheme of things, and perhaps it was only its timing that takes away from it. Nonetheless, the arrival of Artest in Los Angeles assures us that we as NBA fans will not have to wonder which Lakers teams is going to show up throughout the playoffs. You can be assured that when Ron-Ron steps on the court, its full go every time, and that will certainly rub off on his teammates. With Trevor Ariza going to Houston, Artest is an upgrade at the small forward spot, and he should bring some all-around talent to the Lakers’ 3-position.

The Top 10 offseason moves in the NBA is a post from: AroDrive

CLEVELAND — The LeBron and Shaq Show is off and running.

NBA icons, All-Stars and A-plus-list celebrities LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal made their debut as Cleveland teammates on Tuesday night in the Cavaliers’ 92-87 preseason-opening victory over the Charlotte Bobcats.

The two are hoping to end this city’s pro sports championship drought stretching to 1964, and while they are as much as nine months away from accomplishing that goal, it’s already clear their pairing will be fun to watch.

James, wearing a pink pair of his signature Nikes for breast cancer awareness month, scored 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting in 14 minutes. O’Neal, who said his goal is to “win a ring for the King” in Cleveland, scored six points and added three rebounds and a block in 15 minutes. Neither played in the second half.

D.J. Augustin, whose third-year option was exercised before the game, scored 12 for the Bobcats. Charlotte was without injured starters Tyson Chandler (ankle surgery) and Boris Diaw (ankle sprain). Bobcats coach Larry Brown was called for a technical foul by official Ben Taylor, one of three replacement referees being used while the regular refs are locked out. Brown spent most of the night chirping at the refs.

Everything James and O’Neal do together will get added attention this season, and it won’t be limited to their on-court moves. The Cavaliers’ pregame introductions, which already ranked among the league’s splashiest before Shaq’s arrival, could rival Broadway productions.

The Cavs didn’t provide any sneak preview, as James and O’Neal simply slapped hands and saluted each other when they were introduced.

While the James-O’Neal pairing seems ideal, some are wondering if their personalities will mesh and if the arranged marriage will work.

“I don’t see why not,” Brown said. “LeBron’s gotten better every second he’s been in the league. To get a quality player like Shaq, who’s been special his whole career, without giving up anything, it’s phenomenal.”

Cavaliers guard Delonte West, battling mental sickness and legal troubles, had been expected to play 15 to 20 minutes but didn’t leave Cleveland’s locker room. He warmed up 90 minutes before tip-off and sat in his cubicle before the game, but never joined his teammates on the bench.

West, who has bipolar disorder, was arrested last month on weapons charges in Maryland after police found him carrying three loaded guns while riding a three-wheel motorcycle. He faces a likely league suspension pending the resolution of his criminal case. West didn’t show up for team’s first four practices of training camp last week, absences the team termed unexcused.

The Cavs have been taking a one-day-at-a-time approach with West, who has been their second-best player in the past two postseasons. For now, the team is content to give West space and time.

O’Neal has missed more than 5,000 free throws during his career, a flaw that led to the birth of Hack-A-Shaq, a late-game strategy teams have used against the big man for years.

O’Neal scored the game’s first point from the line, drawing a huge ovation from Cavs fans hoping its an omen of made free throws to come.

LeBron, Shaq this might work is a post from: AroDrive

Cleveland Cavaliers center Shaquille O’Neal finally won something on his show Shaq Vs. O’Neal competed against Olympic champion Michael Phelps.

In the final episode of the show, O’Neal took on Phelps in three swim races (best 2 out of 3 wins). O’Neal won the first race. Phelps swam 50 yards freestyle (with a five second head start) and Shaq swam only 25 yards.

Phelps won the next two races.

Shaq Finally won a Contest! Beats Phelps in the Pool. is a post from: AroDrive