Archive for the ‘Players’ Category

The big free agency period that anyone who has even a slight interest in basketball is finally here. Why should we wait any long? Honestly, this wait is pissing me off. I want LeBron James to finally commit to a team, whether that is his hometown Cavs or any other suitor out there. Just sign already!

I do realize that this is easier said than done, for LeBron that is. Other top free agents should sign with a team and force James’ hand. Maybe this would make the decision making process easier for LeBron.

Let’s say that Chris Bosh signs with the Nets (obviously I want him to sign with the Nets because there is no way he is remaining with the Raptors), wouldn’t Bosh’s decision incline James to sign, even a tiny bit, with the Nets? Same goes if Bosh signs with the Knicks.

If Dwyane Wade wants to sign with the Heat, he should get that over with and in the same manner as Bosh force James to decided if he wants to play alongside him.

It’s becoming abundantly clear that the chances of James, Bosh and Wade signing on to play on the same team are almost down to zero. It’s wishful thinking, but the reality is that none of them would take a pay cut and be the defacto 2nd or 3rd option to James.

Most ironic would be the pairing of Wade and Bosh, leaving James alone to go back to Ohio or to sign with the Knicks just for the money. But that won’t happen, will it?

As NBA teams wait until July 8^th so they can start signing free agents, all that is left is hopeful pondering. Yes, even I wonder if James will sign with the Nets, enticed by Mikhail Prokhorov and Jay-Z. Still, I hope!

What does every NBA fan have to look forward to until July 8th? Speculation, speculation and more speculation. This might be the most exciting free agency time ever in the history of basketball. As well as the the time when the most nonsense and the least amount of facts are being discussed by the guru’s of basketball.

What else is there to talk about?

However, don’t sleep on the overlooked free agents such as David Lee. He, and other like him, could become an important part on an already strong team and prove to be the missing piece of a championship contender. Would LeBron’s wait have been worth then?

Seriously, LeBron has to keep in mind the implications of signing to a team with a max salary free agent and how the salaries would impact the teams ability to fill out the rest of the roster. How good can a team be if it has two great players but the rest wish much to be desired.

It would be AWESOME if the New Jersey Nets are able to land Chris Bosh by the trading deadline and if they are able to land him earlier then it would be so much more AWESOME. They might even make the playoffs. Well, I don’t know about that.

Still, getting Chris Bosh would not only transform Nets this season, but it will also set them up for next season…yep, LeBron sweepstakes!

Although I doubt that Nets will be able to get Bosh on the cheap (look so far that only Brook Lopez is the only untradeable player on the team), acquiring the unhappy Raptor is likely to convince LeBron if he ever chose not to resign with Cleveland.

Considering that Bosh wants to play for a contender, what are the chances that Bosh would want to come over to a team that so far only won only three games this season?

(I really, really, really hope that he does)

I just hope that Nets can lure Bosh with the promise of getting better as a team and that playing in New York (soon the Nets are going to move to Brooklyn…finally) is a better payoff than playing anywhere else (Knicks better not swoop in on Bosh).

After learning in the morning that Gilbert Arenas had been suspended indefinitely by the NBA (what I mean is getting suspended by David Stern) me and Mike Brown the REMIX came up with a perfect stat for Gilbert Arenas, one that would have him lead the league: Guns-Per-Player-Locker. Gil leads the league with a whopping 4 per.

What’s worse? Arenas tries to make light of the situation during the Wizards pre-game dance on Tuesdays night in Philadelphia and this drew the ire of the all-mighty David Stern.

Now, I’m starting to think that ‘Hibachi’ might have some mental problems. Haven’t there been enough gun related stories in the news in the past year? You’d think that Arenas might have heard of someone like Plaxico Burress. But as things look now, it doesn’t look like Arenas was keeping up with the news. If he did, he might have known that shooting yourself will probably get you in as much trouble if you brandished a gun, no less put it in someone’s face to settle a gambling debt or even as a joke, as been reported by the media.

Now ‘Agent 0’ is on in limbo over the amount of time he will spend away from basketball and even worse, Wizards are considering their options on whether or not to void the rest of Arenas’ $110 million contract that he signed in 2008.

Not only is Arenas looking at a possibly jail sentence, but also he stands to lose the means of supporting himself if Wizards are able to successfully void his contract. What will Arenas do then? The chances of him getting another max contract after the dust settles (and that’s nowhere in sight at this point) are slim to none.

An indefinite suspension in all likelihood means that Arenas is not going to play this season and lose millions and millions of dollars (each missed game will cost Arenas $147,208).

Instead of trying to keep the whole situation from blowing out of proportion, Arenas didn’t exactly help his cause by trying to make light of the situation by drawing pseudo guns during a pre-game celebration with his teammates (which can be seen in the above picture) and some being fines afterwards for their participation in the festivities.

That sent Stern fuming and pushed the button on Arenas’ suspension. And this is not like we haven’t seen Arenas act out before. Check out the video of him dunking during a time out of the 2007 All-Star Game:

What if Arenas injured himself? This would’ve sent the Wizards franchise spiraling and they would still probably have to pay arenas for his negligence.

Maybe this is the time when Arenas will learn his lesson. Maybe now Arenas will realize his potential and responsibility.

The time has come. Allen Iverson could possibly be out of the NBA. Memphis Grizzlies experiment hasn’t worked out as well as everyone has hoped. Well, at least not as Iverson wanted it to be.

Relegated to coming of the bench, Iverson adjusted well to a reserve role that was never a part of his repertoire. Could a player such as Iverson ever really accept an unselfish role and be a real team player? Definitely not.

Larry Brown appeared to be the only basketball entity that was able to curtail Iverson’s whims. Thus, Iverson was able to reach the NBA Finals (eventually losing to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Iverson was loved in Philly, he gave the city of brotherly love his all, but apparently that was not enough. In the end he could not give himself to the city. In a city that would have lauded him as its greatest hero, maybe even greater than Rocky Marciano, Iverson could never mend himself in order to mesh with a personality that rivaled his own.

Chris Webber and Iverson could’ve taken the 76ers to the top.

Who in their right mind would want to play with Iverson? Did he solidify the Detroit Pistons? They probably wanted to trade him soon after he arrived in the Motor City.

Iverson, a player that pushes himself harder than anyone else can push themselves, is not the kind of player that demands respect and emulation. He is the prototypical ball-hog that so many of us have encountered playing on the playgrounds, the kind of player that no one wants to play with.

Iverson will probably make it into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, but he is not truly deserving of that honor. Being inducted into the Hall of fame should signify a player’s greatness. Great players are not judged solely on the stats that they accumulate over their careers. They are judged on the merit of their accomplishments and how positively they impacted the game. What positive impact did Iverson have?

Great players are supposed to make the people around them better. How many people can call themselves Iverson’s teammates? How many more can say that they were better of playing with Iverson?

Great players don’t always win a championship during their careers. In that way life is cruel in the way that it would play a sick joke on someone not deserving of that honor. If Iverson never wins an NBA championship throughout his illustrious (sic) career, that wouldn’t faze even one bit. But, if somehow an opportunity presents it self so that Iverson’s is close to one to that elusive dream, then failure would be a fitting joke that life can ever play on a man.