The NBA and Its New Replay Problem

          The first two rounds of the NBA postseason so far have been some of the most exciting and memorable playoff games in recent memory. The first round saw five of its eight matchups go to seven games, eight games go to overtime, and a series clinching three pointer at the buzzer by last year's Rookie of the Year Damian Lillard. However, the last two nights have been marred by an replay problem the NBA needs to address in the offseason that involves the power of the officials to review out of bounds plays with two minutes or less left in the 4th quarter and all of overtime.

Ranking the Nicknames from the Heat/Nets Game

The NBA seems to be experimenting a lot with jerseys this season in a sad and obvious scheme to try and make more money. First it was the awful retina-burning, short-sleeved Christmas Day jerseys and now the NBA is experimenting with nicknames in lieu of last names on the back of players’ jerseys. I think I speak for everyone when I say that this idea, like the new basketball they tried to use in 2006, should be quickly shelved. However, there were some bright spots on the back of jerseys last night. Here are my rankings of the best NBA nicknames used from last night’s Miami Heat/Brooklyn Nets game.

2013-2014 NBA Preview: Atlantic Division

Boston Celtics

2012-2013 Record: 41-40 (7th in East)

Key Additions: Kelly Olynyk, MarShon Brooks, Kris Humphries, Gerald Wallace

Key Losses: Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Jason Terry

Projected Starting Lineup: Rajon Rondo, Courtney Lee, Gerald Wallace, Brandon Bass, Vitor Faverani

The Celtics have gone head first into rebuilding mode, the team has been almost completely stripped down and sold for parts. Future Hall of Famers Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett were traded within the division to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for mostly expiring contracts and draft picks. Coach Doc Rivers

2013-2014 NBA Preview: Central Division

Chicago Bulls

2012-2013 Record: 45-37 (5th in East)

Key Additions: Mike Dunleavy, Mike James, Tony Snell

Key Losses: Marco Belinelli, Richard Hamilton, Nate Robinson

Projected Starting Lineup: Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, Luol Deng, Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah

Did you hear that? There it is again. That was the sound of every single person in Chicago holding their breath. Every time Derrick Rose hits the ground after jumping high up in the air, nobody in Bulls territory is going to move until he gets back up, praying that he does in fact get back up. The biggest addition to the Chicago Bulls roster this season is not someone they signed in free agency or traded for but rather their former MVP coming back from injury. Rose, Chicago’s superstar point guard, is coming off of a torn ACL suffered in the first round of the 2012 playoffs that caused him to miss all of last season. Rose will

2013-2014 NBA Preview: Southeast Division

Atlanta Hawks

2012-2013 Record: 44-38 (6th in East)

Key Additions: Paul Millsap, Elton Brand, Gustavo Ayon, Dennis Schroeder, DeMarre Carroll

Key Losses: Josh Smith, Devin Harris, Zaza Pachulia, DeShawn Stevenson, Ivan Johnson

Projected Starting Lineup: Jeff Teague, Lou Williams, Kyle Korver,                                                                           Paul Millsap, Al Horford

The problem with Al Horford over the last couple of years has been that Horford, a natural power forward, has been forced to play more down low as a center because of the lack of much rebounding on the Hawks. With the additions of Paul Millsap and Gustavo Ayon, Horford can take more of an active role outside the paint, showing off more of his midrange shot. Millsap and Ayon bring plenty of energy and rebounding ability to a team that lost big men Zaza Pachulia and Ivan Johnson this summer. A move for Horford

2013-2014 NBA Preview: Southwest Division

Dallas Mavericks

2012-2013 Record: 41-41 (10th in West)

Key Additions: Jose Calderon, Samuel Dalembert, Monta Ellis, Devin Harris, DeJuan Blair, Shane Larkin, Wayne Ellington, Fab Melo

Key Losses: Darren Collison, O.J. Mayo, Chris Kamen, Mike James, Elton Brand

Projected Starting Lineup: Jose Calderon, Monta Ellis, Shawn Marion, Dirk Nowitzki, Samuel Dalembert

Dirk Nowitzki and Shawn Marion. Those are the only two players left on the Dallas Mavericks from their 2010-2011 championship season. The team has seen almost a complete turnover in the last two seasons. With Nowitzki, 35, coming to the end of his career, the Mavs hope to make one final run to the Finals with him as the centerpiece. The main players who are hoping to help the team make a playoff run behind Nowitzki are relatively playoff inexperienced. Newly acquired Jose Calderon and Monta Ellis will compose the starting backcourt that hopes to keep Nowitzki rested until playoff time. The two guards, in a combined 16 years in the NBA, have only made the

2013-2014 NBA Preview: Northwest Division

Denver Nuggets

2012-2013 Record: 57-25 (3rd in West)

Key Additions: Nate Robinson, J.J. Hickson, Randy Foye, Darrell Arthur

Key Losses: Andre Iguodala, Corey Brewer, Kosta Koufas

Projected Starting Lineup: Ty Lawson, Randy Foye, Danilo Gallinari, Kenneth Faried, JaVale McGee

The Nuggets did the unthinkable this offseason, and I am not talking about letting go of All-Star Andre Iguodala. On May 2, 2013 the Denver Nuggets, the 3rd seed in the West, lost Game 6 of their opening round matchup against the 6th seeded Golden State Warriors and were bounced from the 2013 playoffs. Six days later Nuggets coach George Karl earned his first ever NBA Coach of the Year award after a regular season that saw

2013-2014 NBA Preview: Pacific Division

Golden State Warriors

2012-2013 Record: 47-35 (6th in West)

Key Additions: Andre Iguodala, Toney Douglas, Jermaine O’Neal

Key Losses: Jarrett Jack, Carl Landry

Projected Starting Lineup: Stephen Curry, Klay Thomspon, Andre Iguodala, David Lee, Andrew Bogut

If everyone can stay healthy, a tough order to fill for injury prone center and former number one overall pick Andrew Bogut, the Warriors can sport one of the best starting lineups in the league this year. The addition of Andre Iguodala takes this team to potential conference finalist, a label they almost fulfilled last year in a surprising run to the second round of the playoffs. ‘Dala, a very underrated defender, comes in with a defensive presence that

2013 NBA Draft Recap

Knicks Pick a Rival

As a recent University of Wisconsin graduate (wow, still not used to that), I am horrified at the thought of watching a Michigan man wear a Knicks jersey. As a Knicks fan, I am very happy with Tim Hardaway Jr. as the 24^th pick in the 2013 NBA draft. As a Badger, I was able to watch Hardaway Jr. play many times throughout his career at Michigan and I think he fits in very well with the Knicks. Hardaway Jr. seemed to drop in this draft because he was overshadowed this past year by his Wolverine teammate Trey Burke, the national player of the year, but Hardaway Jr. is a very good player who clearly has no problem deferring to a better player (something he will have to do as a teammate of Carmelo Anthony).

NBA Free Agency Madness (Paul-Howard Edition)

The Trade(s) that Wasn’t

When free agency began on December 9 many people speculated where future free agent Chris Paul would go. The Lakers and Hornets agreed to a trade that, with a third team being the Houston Rockets, would have sent Chris Paul to the Lakers from the Hornets; Pau Gasol to the Houston Rockets from the Lakers; Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, Goran Dragic, and a 2012 first round pick to the Hornets from the Rockets; and Lamar Odom going from the Lakers to the Hornets.

Mavs Win 2011 NBA Finals

Dirk

          That’s all he needs, one name and now you’ll recognize it forever. The greatest European players to ever play in the NBA has now proven himself by finally winning his first NBA title. I could have started this article out with how much I hate LeBron, as you may have seen in my past articles, and how he continually choked in the 4th quarter but that would not give enough credit to the great Dirk. That would not be fair to Dirk nor the Mavs, so I am starting with the NBA Finals MVP. Dirk carried this team throughout the playoffs and finally gets the recognition he deserves.

          Up until winning it all, all Dirk was known for was losing the 2006 NBA Finals to the Heat after the Mavs took a two games to zero lead and being named 2007 NBA MVP after having his top seeded Mavs bow out in the 1st

2011 NBA Draft Lottery

Past Mistakes

Let me start by saying that I am about to embark on eating my big plate of crow. In a past article that I posted just after the hectic NBA trade deadline, I was very critical of the Cleveland Cavaliers for sending Jamario Moon and Mo Williams to the Clippers for Baron Davis and a 1st round pick. Well, I was wrong. I figured that that pick would be at best a mid-lottery pick in a not so talented draft and the Cavs would have to absorb Davis’ sour contract and attitude. That wasn’t the case at all, however, as that Clippers pick, which had a 2.8% chance of winning that #1 pick, was the last pick announced and thus the Cavs got the first pick in the draft.

2011 NBA Trade Deadline

          The NBA trade deadline ended Thursday February 24 at 3:00 PM ET. It seemed like a lot of teams waited until then or pretty close to make trades and change up their roster before it was too late. The last few minutes were so busy that I had trouble taking notes in my classes, I was so focused on refreshing my page and waiting for breaking news as the countdown came to an end. This year more than ever, trades came down to the last minute and even after the deadline passed, news still trickled in regarding major transactions and power shifting moves. The NBA saw many of these power swings as players changed teams, not only among divisions but among conferences. Teams that were stranded in no-man’s-land suddenly become threats to make the finals while potential finals contenders slid down a few notches. Here are the major trades that took place at or around the deadline and analysis and grades of each one.

No Suspension for Kevin Garnett After a Cheap Shot

The Low Blow

In a game between the Boston Celtics and Phoenix Suns, Celtics’ forward Kevin Garnett got whistled for a foul and ejected from the game after hitting Suns’ forward Channing Frye in the groin on a 3-point attempt. Frye obviously took offense to this and got in Garnett’s face. The hit can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV-iGBfTkD0&feature=related. After watching the replay and considering Garnett’s reputation, it seemed like disciplinary actions would occur. However, instead of suspending Garnett for the cheap shot, the NBA decided to do nothing. Now one may question the decision for the league not to punish Garnett for an unnecessary shot to the man region, but once

NBA’s New Technical Foul Rule

          The NBA has added to it’s list of technical foul violations that referees can call. Now, refs are allowed to blow the whistle for the reactions of players to a call. Before this year, a player’s instant reaction to a call was allowed to be overlooked by the refs, but anything excessive would be called. This year, those instant reactions are no longer allowed.

Whistles While You Watch

With this extra technical foul rule, the games are going to be filled with whistles. Because the instantaneous reactions are so uncontrollable, they are very difficult to control and therefore, many players will break this new rule. If the refs follow the letter of the law, then this will lead to many more whistles during the game which will ultimately result in

The Worst Story a Knicks Fan Can Hear

WHY????!!????

It’s been more than 2 years and almost all signs of the Isiah Thomas era in New York have been wiped away. Just as things are starting to look good for the Knicks and the expectations are as high as they’ve been in a decade, James Dolan brings back the one person guaranteed to ruin everything. The Knicks re-hired Isiah Thomas as a consultant.

There is absolutely NO reason for this to happen. The only way one can look at this optimistically is that he is consulting on draft picks for the Knicks. The one thing right that he did in his reign of terror was make good draft picks low in the draft. In the 2004 Draft he selected Trevor Ariza with the 43rd pick. In 2005 he drafted Channing Frye (8th overall), David Lee (30th), and traded 

NBA Draft Lottery System

The Lottery

Since the NBA Draft Lottery was last week and the Nets (worst team) got the #3 pick, the T-Wolves (2nd worst team) got the #4 pick, and the Kings (3rd worst team) got the #5 pick, the argument has opened once again about whether or not to get rid of the lottery completely. As it is now, the NBA Draft Lottery works as follows: It is essentially for the top 3 picks in the draft involving the non-playoff teams. Each team has a certain percentage of winning each of the top 3 picks. The worse your record, the better your chances (the worst record has a 25% chance of getting the #1 pick). The first 3 picks are randomly drawn and picks 4-14 are in descending order of record based on the teams remaining. For example: New Jersey had the worst record in the NBA this year. This means that they can do no worse than #4 because if they don’t get top 3, they have the worst record out of the teams remaining. Conversely, the Houston Rockets, who had the best record out of the non-playoff teams, either get a top 3 pick or the #14 pick, nothing in between, 

The Summer of LeBron

Eliminated!

          Lebron James has been knocked out of the 2010 NBA Playoffs so now is a perfect time to say...Told ya so!!! This just strengthens my position that Lebron is not a closer and chokes under pressure. The “best player in the league” has been knocked out of the 2nd round of the playoffs. What does this mean? It means that Lebron James can’t handle the spotlight and do what great players like Jordan and Kobe can do, and that is finish you off. The two players just mentioned will get you on the ground and step on your throat, Lebron can’t do that and has proven it time and time again. Yes, Lebron had a triple double last night in the Game 6 at Boston (27 points, 19 rebounds, 10 assists) but, and that is a big but, he shot 8-21 from the field (38%) and had 9 turnovers. 9 TURNOVERS!!!???? In an elimination game??? That’s at least 18 possible points the Cavs could have scored, which would have definitely the pace of the game considering the Cavs lost by 9. If you consider the points that he had 9 turnovers shooting 38% in a loss in an elimination game, in addition to going 3-14 with 15 points in Game 5, the triple double really doesn’t seem that great. Free agency for Lebron officially starts now.

Jeremy Tyler Quits Maccabi Haifa

         In April 2010 high school junior Jeremy Tyler announced that he would be skipping his senior of high school and play professional basketball in Europe for two years before entering the NBA Draft in 2011. In August of the same year, he announced his signing with Israeli team Maccabi Haifa. Tyler played only 10 games for Maccabi Haifa, averaging a mere 2.1 PPG in only 7.6 MPG. On Thursday March 18, 2010 Tyler declared that he will leave his professional team and return to his home in San Diego, California.

Brandon Jennings

One year removed from the Brandon Jennings experiment, Jeremy Tyler decided to take it one step further. While Jennings circumvented the NBA age minimum of 19 by joining Lottomatica Roma, a professional team in Italy, Tyler decided to skip both his freshman year of college AND his senior year of high school. Instead of going into

Possibility of NBA Retiring Michael Jordan’s 23

          Everyone knows that Michael Jordan is more than likely the best player in NBA history. If you don’t agree with that, since there is no definitive list, you should agree that he is definitely top 2, but definitely reconsider your stance on who is number 1. However, as great as Jordan was on the court, can you mention him and someone like Jackie Robinson in the same sentence? Probably not, but Lebron James seems to try to.

The Thought

We may not know if Lebron James is going to have a new team for the 2010-2011 season, but we do know that he will have a new jersey number. James said he filed paperwork to change his number for next season from #23 to #6, the number he wore for Team USA during the Summer Olympics. James has been enthusiastic about his beliefs that the NBA should retire