Monday, February 23, 2009, by Isaac Merwin
Is the Future of the NBA in Jeopardy?
It may be, according to David Falk, one of the league’s most influential agents. This time, in the New York Times article, he warns against the players greed and proposes radical measures:
- Eliminate salary cap for the superstars
- Abolish the midlevel exception which enables role players to sign $30 million contracts
- Raise the age limit to 20 or 21
He also believes there will be a standoff in 2011, when the collective bargaining agreement expires, and says:
“I think it’s going to be very, very extreme,” Falk said, “because I think that the times are extreme.”
How extreme? Falk said he believed Stern, the commissioner, would push for a hard salary cap, shorter contracts, a higher age limit on incoming players, elimination of the midlevel cap exception and an overall reduction in the players’ percentage of revenue. And, Falk said, Stern will probably get what he wants.
“The owners have the economic wherewithal to shut the thing down for two years, whatever it takes, to get a system that will work long term,” he said in an extensive interview to discuss his new book. “The players do not have the economic wherewithal to sit out one year.”
Read the whole article here…
Friday, February 13, 2009, by Isaac Merwin
180 Shooter
n. a player whose combined free throw percentage, 2-point field goal percentage and 3-point field goal percentage equals 180%.
In 2007-08, only five NBA players shot 180%: Steve Nash, Jose Calderon, Kyle Korver, Jason Kapono and Peja Stojakovic.
Saturday, February 7, 2009, by euro_baller93
Boston vs. LA or Cleveland vs. LA?
This past Thursday, the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Boston Celtics in Boston, 110-109. In yet another Finals rematch, the Lakers avenged their dismal performance in Game 6, beating the Celtics where they could not beat them last season. Looking ahead to Sunday, the Lakers are visiting another contender in Cleveland, who are riding high with an undefeated (23-0) mark at home. It is another duel between the world’s two greatest players, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. The question remains, however, which of these teams (Boston or Cleveland) will face LA in June, when these games truly matter. My answer, barring any major injuries, is the Cleveland Cavaliers.
First of all, comparing the lineups of the two Eastern Conference teams, the Cavaliers have a clear advantage in depth. Daniel Gibson, Wally Szczerbiak, Aleksandar Pavlovic, J.J. Hickson, and Anderson Varejao are the key reserves and their biggest advantage compared to the Celtics’ reserves is that they can back up the starters in all facets of the game. Gibson provides solid point guard play, Szczerbiak and Pavlovic provide scoring (both from behind the arc and in the paint), Hickson provides athleticism and energy, and Varejao provides defense, rebounding, and hustle. Boston, however, has Eddie House, Tony Allen, Brian Scalabrine, Leon Powe, and Glen Davis. The two aspects that are missing in this reserve group are obviously point guard play (handling the ball in pressure situations) and size in the paint. Powe and “Big Baby” Davis are undersized and cannot match up with opposing big men on the block. Read more ->
Friday, February 6, 2009, by Isaac Merwin
Kobe vs. LeBron in Madison Square Garden
Kobe’s 61 on February 2nd, 2009 at the Madison Square Garden in the Lakers win over the Knicks 126-117.
LeBron’s 52 and a triple-double on February 4th, 2009 at the Madison Square Garden in the Cavs win over the Knicks 107-102
Some comparisons between two classic performances:
Thursday, February 5, 2009, by Fyodor Karpinsky
Partizan Gets Their First Win, Cibona Loses Big
Partizan 84 – Lottomatica 76
Partizan won their first game in the Top 16 this year by beating Lottomatica Roma. After first five minutes, the game was never really in question. Partizan was carried to victory on the wings of an excellent game by Novica Velickovic who scored 19 points and added 10 rebounds. He was active the whole night and he also had 3 assists and 1 block. The guards did their part, too. Tripkovic’s shooting was sharp last night and Tepic added 4 assists to his 9 points. The whole game, Partizan was playing off the energy of some 7,000 fans, who never stopped chanting and singing. This is a very important win for the Belgrade team. Panathinaikos defeated Unicaja in Malaga, keeping the group wide open. Most likely, Partizan will be contending for one of two spots that leads to Top 8 with Unicaja Malaga. They play Unicaja in Belgrade next week and after that game it will be clearer who has an upper hand in the fight to the next round.
A side note: Partizan has been in financial troubles for years. Every year around Christmas, these problems resurface when the arena Pionir shuts down the heat during practice (actually, they don’t shut it down completely, just turn it down to 16C, which is roughly 60F). This year is no different. Partizan management blames the city and state governments for not helping one of the premier clubs in the country. The government says that there are many segments of the society more deserving of help. The fans are frustrated, some are asking where’s the money from all the players sold in the previous years to wealthy European clubs while others are offering to send checks to the Partizan’s bank account. It counts as almost incredible that Partizan remains competitive year after year, mostly on ther home-grown talent.
CSKA 87 – Cibona 61
Cibona didn’t expect to win in Moscow, but they did expect not to be blown out. Losing by 26 points can only ruin their hard-won confidence, and almost wipe away the momentum that the great win from last week gave them. CSKA had evenly distributed scoring, with Trajan Langdon’s 18 points leading the stat sheet. For Cibona, Anderson had a decent game, with 15 points and some rebounds and assists. The veteran Prkacin added 10 points, while Calloway scored only 6 points. The most surprising stat is Davor Kus’ 0 points, and I’ll say it again: zero. Not that he didn’t play much, he was there for full 24 minutes (which is about as much as you can get in European basketball). Kus was supposed to be the leader of this team, and with this kind of leadership they won’t go very far.
The good thing is this was a sort of throw-away game for Cibona. The next game is a must win (they are playing Fenerbahce, a not particularly strong Turkish squad). Cibona has to win consistently at home and steal at list one game away. For their last game, they may play it in the newly built Zagreb Arena, especially if they are close to making it to the next round. Who knows, in front of 16,000 fans they may even give CSKA a game.
