Both of today's videos are courtesy of Jimmy Kimmel Live, where Jimmy gets famous people to read not-so-nice tweets from random anonymous Internet trolls (he says from his blog). The 1st clip is from the 1st time Kimmel worked this bit into his monologue back in May, and the 2nd clip is last night's rendition.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
YouTube Fri...Umm I Mean Thursday: Celebrities Taking Part In Their Own Twitter Abuse On Jimmy Kimmel Live
It’s “government Friday” again, which means that I’m far too lazy to come up with a semi-original thought today. What that usually leads to is me re-posting something from somewhere else that I found to be awesome…it’s kind of like stealing, but it’s also a free plug for whatever I’m posting, so I guess it kind of cancels out in the end.
Both of today's videos are courtesy of Jimmy Kimmel Live, where Jimmy gets famous people to read not-so-nice tweets from random anonymous Internet trolls (he says from his blog). The 1st clip is from the 1st time Kimmel worked this bit into his monologue back in May, and the 2nd clip is last night's rendition.
Both of today's videos are courtesy of Jimmy Kimmel Live, where Jimmy gets famous people to read not-so-nice tweets from random anonymous Internet trolls (he says from his blog). The 1st clip is from the 1st time Kimmel worked this bit into his monologue back in May, and the 2nd clip is last night's rendition.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Nats-Mets: Making Something Out Of Nothing
It’s been so long since I’ve rooted for a legitimate 1st place baseball team (the O’s teams that have been atop the AL East in April and May only to finish 20 games under 0.500 the past several years don’t count) that it’s easy to forget how much fun it can be. Baseball is a quirky sport, where the better team doesn’t always win day in and day out. In fact, a crappy team has a pretty good shot at beating a great team on any given night, and the best teams in the majors usually win only about 60% of their games (that would be considered slightly better than mediocre in basketball and football).
But the better baseball teams still usually prove themselves out by the end of the season, which might require the ability to dig themselves out of some of the games that are mentioned above. Take this year’s Washington Nationals and their game last night in New York…the Nats had 2 runs on only 4 hits through 9 innings last night. In the 1st inning, Steve Lombardozzi reached on an infield single, and Bryce Harper brought him home with a 2-run blast to center. Those were the 1st 2 batters of the game...Danny Espinosa had a 2 out single later that inning, which means the Mets held Washington to 1 hit over the course of the next 8 innings. Yikes…
The top of the 10th started almost as inauspiciously. Roger Bernadina led off with a single, but it looked like it would be wasted by an ugly at bat by catcher Sandy Leon. Trying to move the runner to 2nd, Leon pitifully bunted 2 pitches foul, then weakly grounded the ball back to the pitcher. Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada bobbled the exchange at 2nd though, and everyone was safe. It still looked like the Nats would try to spoil their own good fortune with another s***ty bunt attempt, this time by Mark DeRosa, who’s bunt went straight back to the pitcher allowing for a force play at 3rd.
However, the normally light hitting Lombardozzi singled again to load the bases…and the kid followed him to deliver the go-ahead RBI single. Then, after not being able to hit their way out of a paper bag for most of the night, the flood gates suddenly opened. Ryan Zimmerman rocketed a bases-clearing double, and Michael Morse brought Zimmerman home with a beer league softball-esque missile beyond the centerfield wall.
It was a fun inning to watch given the previous 8. The Nats looked inept, got a stroke of good luck, looked as if they would squander their luck with more ineptitude, and then had their 3 biggest bats wake up all of the sudden. It was like they were finally able to get out of their own way long enough to let their talent take over…but then again, that’s what happens with a 1st place team I suppose.
But the better baseball teams still usually prove themselves out by the end of the season, which might require the ability to dig themselves out of some of the games that are mentioned above. Take this year’s Washington Nationals and their game last night in New York…the Nats had 2 runs on only 4 hits through 9 innings last night. In the 1st inning, Steve Lombardozzi reached on an infield single, and Bryce Harper brought him home with a 2-run blast to center. Those were the 1st 2 batters of the game...Danny Espinosa had a 2 out single later that inning, which means the Mets held Washington to 1 hit over the course of the next 8 innings. Yikes…
The top of the 10th started almost as inauspiciously. Roger Bernadina led off with a single, but it looked like it would be wasted by an ugly at bat by catcher Sandy Leon. Trying to move the runner to 2nd, Leon pitifully bunted 2 pitches foul, then weakly grounded the ball back to the pitcher. Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada bobbled the exchange at 2nd though, and everyone was safe. It still looked like the Nats would try to spoil their own good fortune with another s***ty bunt attempt, this time by Mark DeRosa, who’s bunt went straight back to the pitcher allowing for a force play at 3rd.
However, the normally light hitting Lombardozzi singled again to load the bases…and the kid followed him to deliver the go-ahead RBI single. Then, after not being able to hit their way out of a paper bag for most of the night, the flood gates suddenly opened. Ryan Zimmerman rocketed a bases-clearing double, and Michael Morse brought Zimmerman home with a beer league softball-esque missile beyond the centerfield wall.
It was a fun inning to watch given the previous 8. The Nats looked inept, got a stroke of good luck, looked as if they would squander their luck with more ineptitude, and then had their 3 biggest bats wake up all of the sudden. It was like they were finally able to get out of their own way long enough to let their talent take over…but then again, that’s what happens with a 1st place team I suppose.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Taking A Trip Down Dawson's Creek
Ahhh, summertime…when us sports fans shift our attention to NBA free agency, fantasy football pre-draft analysis, and (if all else fails) baseball. Similar to the sports front, primetime TV can be slim pickings when it comes to the dog days of summer. There are some hidden gems out there, but for the most part the summer months are none too kind to the ol’ DVR queue. Your best option is probably to turn to Netflix in this case, which can be dangerous in its own right…if you’re not careful, your wife will make you sit through old episodes of Dawson’s Creek.
Having made the mistake of telling Krissy that I never really watched it during its run on the WB (now the CW), she thought it would be a good idea to binge-watch our way through all 6 seasons. In all actuality, this has its pluses and minuses. On the 1 hand, if you don’t like the particular show (even if you do, really), binge-watching is like repeatedly bludgeoning yourself in the head with a hammer. On the other hand, you can burn through several seasons in the span of only a couple weeks, allowing you to forget the experience almost as quickly as it came into your life in the 1st place.
Additionally, having followed the show religiously during its initial run, Krissy had no need or desire to watch every show in its entirety. We watched just about all of seasons 1 and 2, mostly due to my “anal-ness,” I will admit. Around the beginning of season 3, I stopped caring so much, and let Krissy pick and choose the episodes of her liking. These usually involved some aspect of the Joey-Pacey love angle, which was by far her favorite aspect of Dawson’s Creek. While I wasn’t loving the show, I had still found myself somewhat invested though, and our skipping around left me asking, “Why are they doing that?” or, “What are they talking about?” multiple times per episode. Common sense usually overruled my anal-ness though, and I was able to let it go. By season 4, I didn’t care at all anymore, and I think we watched all of 3 episodes combined from seasons 5 and 6. For that reason alone, it was a relatively painless couple of weeks.
Watching Dawson’s Creek now I couldn’t help but think how dated the show seems. It’s been less than a decade since it went off the air, but to say it didn’t age well is an understatement. Most, if not all, of the cockamamie schemes the teens from Capeside, MA, get into would be solved with cell phones now, and the amount of dudes wearing the plaid button-down/cargo shorts/Airwalks combo is remarkable. The other offputting thing about the show is that all the characters are a little too wordy and verbose for their own good…although I should probably steer clear of that argument given my ability to turn a 2 sentence blurb into an epic rant. Even amongst teen melodramas though, Dawson’s Creek makes you wonder how it stayed on the air for 6 years…but then you realize that the niche audience that is adolescent girls can keep a show alive for a long time…just look at One Tree Hill (9 seasons) as exhibit A.
If you guys only knew then what you know now.
Having made the mistake of telling Krissy that I never really watched it during its run on the WB (now the CW), she thought it would be a good idea to binge-watch our way through all 6 seasons. In all actuality, this has its pluses and minuses. On the 1 hand, if you don’t like the particular show (even if you do, really), binge-watching is like repeatedly bludgeoning yourself in the head with a hammer. On the other hand, you can burn through several seasons in the span of only a couple weeks, allowing you to forget the experience almost as quickly as it came into your life in the 1st place.
Additionally, having followed the show religiously during its initial run, Krissy had no need or desire to watch every show in its entirety. We watched just about all of seasons 1 and 2, mostly due to my “anal-ness,” I will admit. Around the beginning of season 3, I stopped caring so much, and let Krissy pick and choose the episodes of her liking. These usually involved some aspect of the Joey-Pacey love angle, which was by far her favorite aspect of Dawson’s Creek. While I wasn’t loving the show, I had still found myself somewhat invested though, and our skipping around left me asking, “Why are they doing that?” or, “What are they talking about?” multiple times per episode. Common sense usually overruled my anal-ness though, and I was able to let it go. By season 4, I didn’t care at all anymore, and I think we watched all of 3 episodes combined from seasons 5 and 6. For that reason alone, it was a relatively painless couple of weeks.
No Joey-Pacey love scenes were skipped over in the making of this blog.
Watching Dawson’s Creek now I couldn’t help but think how dated the show seems. It’s been less than a decade since it went off the air, but to say it didn’t age well is an understatement. Most, if not all, of the cockamamie schemes the teens from Capeside, MA, get into would be solved with cell phones now, and the amount of dudes wearing the plaid button-down/cargo shorts/Airwalks combo is remarkable. The other offputting thing about the show is that all the characters are a little too wordy and verbose for their own good…although I should probably steer clear of that argument given my ability to turn a 2 sentence blurb into an epic rant. Even amongst teen melodramas though, Dawson’s Creek makes you wonder how it stayed on the air for 6 years…but then you realize that the niche audience that is adolescent girls can keep a show alive for a long time…just look at One Tree Hill (9 seasons) as exhibit A.
Friday, July 20, 2012
The Rain
I can’t stand the rain against my window…
It’s only a 5 minute drive from our apartment to my office, but on this drizzly morning it was enough time for Missy Elliott’s “The Rain” to pop into my head. Even with the rain connotation, it’s such a random song to enter my consciousness…and it wasn’t the 1st time that’s happened either. The rhythm, melody, and lyrics are just so goofy though: beep, beep, who got the keys to my jeep? Vroom…
For nostalgia’s sake, the 1st thing I did this morning when I got to my desk was look up the music video on YouTube. It was a reminder of just how much I miss Misdemeanor…not so much for her music, which for my taste was just a’ight.
Her music videos were pretty legendary though in my opinion. They were creative, offbeat, and weirdly entertaining. More than that, they were completely different than anything else from that time period (or ever really). The images forever burned onto my brain for the video for “The Rain” are the scenes where she’s wearing something that looks to be part sumo suit, part inflated garbage bag while dancing in front of a funhouse camera lens…looking like 1 of those goofy inflatable mascots that every sports team has now.
For s***s and giggles, I also looked up the album that I 1st heard “The Rain” on: a mix album called Party Over Here 98. To say it wasn’t something you would find in most people’s music catalogue is a huge understatement. If I recall correctly, it was the 2nd or 3rd CD I ever bought as a kid. At 1st glance, it seems like a dubious choice, but I think when skimming through the CD collection at Best Buy it was the only hip-hop album I could find that didn’t have a “parental advisory” label on it…a big plus for a 13 year old kid who’s Mom was waiting for him in the checkout line.
In retrospect, it wasn’t a terrible choice…yes, all the songs were clean (which for some reason was always a bummer…like hearing all the “f***s” and “s***s somehow made it better), but the track list included Missy’s “The Rain,” Mark Morrison’s “Return Of The Mack,” Blackstreet’s all-time great “No Diggity,” and Busta Rhyme’s “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See.” (Everyone has a favorite rapper from when they were growing up...Busta was who I latched onto as my guy.)
So while I miss Missy, I have to say I disagree with her sentiment about the rain…it’s not so bad after all.
It’s only a 5 minute drive from our apartment to my office, but on this drizzly morning it was enough time for Missy Elliott’s “The Rain” to pop into my head. Even with the rain connotation, it’s such a random song to enter my consciousness…and it wasn’t the 1st time that’s happened either. The rhythm, melody, and lyrics are just so goofy though: beep, beep, who got the keys to my jeep? Vroom…
For nostalgia’s sake, the 1st thing I did this morning when I got to my desk was look up the music video on YouTube. It was a reminder of just how much I miss Misdemeanor…not so much for her music, which for my taste was just a’ight.
Her music videos were pretty legendary though in my opinion. They were creative, offbeat, and weirdly entertaining. More than that, they were completely different than anything else from that time period (or ever really). The images forever burned onto my brain for the video for “The Rain” are the scenes where she’s wearing something that looks to be part sumo suit, part inflated garbage bag while dancing in front of a funhouse camera lens…looking like 1 of those goofy inflatable mascots that every sports team has now.
Awwwww, those guys are so hype!
For s***s and giggles, I also looked up the album that I 1st heard “The Rain” on: a mix album called Party Over Here 98. To say it wasn’t something you would find in most people’s music catalogue is a huge understatement. If I recall correctly, it was the 2nd or 3rd CD I ever bought as a kid. At 1st glance, it seems like a dubious choice, but I think when skimming through the CD collection at Best Buy it was the only hip-hop album I could find that didn’t have a “parental advisory” label on it…a big plus for a 13 year old kid who’s Mom was waiting for him in the checkout line.
The s***.
In retrospect, it wasn’t a terrible choice…yes, all the songs were clean (which for some reason was always a bummer…like hearing all the “f***s” and “s***s somehow made it better), but the track list included Missy’s “The Rain,” Mark Morrison’s “Return Of The Mack,” Blackstreet’s all-time great “No Diggity,” and Busta Rhyme’s “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See.” (Everyone has a favorite rapper from when they were growing up...Busta was who I latched onto as my guy.)
So while I miss Missy, I have to say I disagree with her sentiment about the rain…it’s not so bad after all.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
A Mixed Bag Of Sorts: Hopsin 5 And Streetballers
Just a couple of quick-hitters today…came across an interesting song the other day…well, a music video actually. I think the song’s called “Ill Mind of Hopsin 5.” (I know, big reach considering that’s the title of the video.) The video itself is a little ehhh, I don’t love the guy’s voice, he is a little too preachy for me, and for some reason Hopsin looks like the hip-hop version of the black dude from “Community.” Those sound like a lot of reasons not to watch the clip, but I found the lyrics smart and interesting none of the less. Give it a shot.
Fun bad movie to watch of the week: Streetballers. Why is it that all of these “good” bad movies that I bring up are sports movies? I guess it’s pretty easy to build a story with sports as a backdrop…anyway, there were actually parts of the movie that were not terrible. The storyline is better than you’d expect, the movie is shot in an interesting (almost music video-ish) sort of way, and the actual basketball scenes are decent (for a s***ty movie at least). The acting is just so bad though…so, so bad. It’s not hard to figure out why. After scrolling through the list of cast members, you’ll see few (if any) other credits from any other film work. One thing that killed the movie for me was the continual use of this ghost neighborhood kid, and our 1st lead, John, constantly speaking to him like a crazy person. It would have been ok if he showed up like twice, but after the eighth ghost kid scene you wish John would get outed by his girlfriend and admitted to a mental hospital…end of movie. Also, there are 2 sex scenes and 1 other semi-sex scene that are so porno-ish and out of place that it’s comical.
The 1 other interesting tidbit is that the other lead character, Jacob, is played by a dude that actual played ball at Missouri and got some run playing professionally overseas (according to his Wikipedia page at least)…so at least there’s that. Anyway, if you find yourself scrolling through Netflix, and you can’t seem to locate anything decent to watch that you haven’t already seen, give Streetballers a look…you will at least get a couple of laughs out of the sex scene dialogue if nothing else.
Fun bad movie to watch of the week: Streetballers. Why is it that all of these “good” bad movies that I bring up are sports movies? I guess it’s pretty easy to build a story with sports as a backdrop…anyway, there were actually parts of the movie that were not terrible. The storyline is better than you’d expect, the movie is shot in an interesting (almost music video-ish) sort of way, and the actual basketball scenes are decent (for a s***ty movie at least). The acting is just so bad though…so, so bad. It’s not hard to figure out why. After scrolling through the list of cast members, you’ll see few (if any) other credits from any other film work. One thing that killed the movie for me was the continual use of this ghost neighborhood kid, and our 1st lead, John, constantly speaking to him like a crazy person. It would have been ok if he showed up like twice, but after the eighth ghost kid scene you wish John would get outed by his girlfriend and admitted to a mental hospital…end of movie. Also, there are 2 sex scenes and 1 other semi-sex scene that are so porno-ish and out of place that it’s comical.
Here we go again.
The 1 other interesting tidbit is that the other lead character, Jacob, is played by a dude that actual played ball at Missouri and got some run playing professionally overseas (according to his Wikipedia page at least)…so at least there’s that. Anyway, if you find yourself scrolling through Netflix, and you can’t seem to locate anything decent to watch that you haven’t already seen, give Streetballers a look…you will at least get a couple of laughs out of the sex scene dialogue if nothing else.
McKinney would probably get a lot of s*** from his German teammates if they ever saw this movie...good thing they probably don't even know it exists.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
ESPN Cliffnotes, 7/18/2012
I can’t think of a clever name for what I’m about to do, but I’m basically going to go through all the stories I read on ESPN.com this morning that I had some kind of reaction to. Think of it as my ESPN cliffnotes or something. Here…we…go!
I had a 7 game winning streak going in Streak for Cash up until yesterday. Whenever I build a streak past 5 in a row, I always talk myself into somehow having a shot at winning that month’s prize…and then for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to try to pick some UEFA Champions League qualifying match between 2 teams that I had never heard of before. As the kids say, f*** my life.
Mike Miller is apparently leaning towards rehabbing his back and returning to the Miami Heat next year instead of having surgery and retiring. Miller, Shane Battier, and James Jones will all likely not be expected to carry the respective loads that they had last year with the additions of Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis, but since they didn’t acquire a big man of any consequence it looks like the Heat are fully intent on employing the strategy of spreading the floor with shooters so LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh have more room to do their thing.
The Washington Wizards completed the trifecta of cleaning out their knucklehead closet yesterday in amnestying Andray Blatche. (The Wiz were able to rid themselves of Nick Young and Javale McGee through trades earlier this year.) When you consider Washington unloaded Gilbert Arenas and Rashard Lewis in the recent past as well, it makes you wonder how GM Ernie Grunfeld still can hold a job when he made so many terrible personnel decisions to begin with.
In a little beltway baseball recap, the seasons of the Nationals and the Orioles continue to go in opposite directions. Washington beat the Mets in walk-off fashion last night to improve their NL East lead to 3.5 games, as they continue to have the best record in the National League. The O’s on the other hand continued their annual slide, losing again to the Twins. Baltimore has lost 5 of 6 since the All-Star break, which finally allowed Tampa Bay to overtake them for 2nd place in the division.
In the last bit of DC sports news (as if there was any doubt that he would eventually sign), RG3 inked his rookie deal with the Washington Redskins today. Now, can we get our $36 mil in cap space that you cheated us out of back sometime, Mr. Goodell?
I don’t know who could have possibly foreseen this (*cough*), but the LA Lakers have positioned themselves back into the trade picture for Dwight Howard. Like the potential deal(s) with the Nets, it seems like the logistics of this trade are going to be a lot more complicated than simply moving Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum. Because of that, third party teams are going to most likely have to be brought in to make any deal work, and that makes any move tougher to complete, but LA seemed like the most logical D-12 destination from the start…even if a trade doesn’t get done, that still seems like the most likely landing spot for Howard once the dust settles.
I had a 7 game winning streak going in Streak for Cash up until yesterday. Whenever I build a streak past 5 in a row, I always talk myself into somehow having a shot at winning that month’s prize…and then for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to try to pick some UEFA Champions League qualifying match between 2 teams that I had never heard of before. As the kids say, f*** my life.
Mike Miller is apparently leaning towards rehabbing his back and returning to the Miami Heat next year instead of having surgery and retiring. Miller, Shane Battier, and James Jones will all likely not be expected to carry the respective loads that they had last year with the additions of Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis, but since they didn’t acquire a big man of any consequence it looks like the Heat are fully intent on employing the strategy of spreading the floor with shooters so LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh have more room to do their thing.
The Washington Wizards completed the trifecta of cleaning out their knucklehead closet yesterday in amnestying Andray Blatche. (The Wiz were able to rid themselves of Nick Young and Javale McGee through trades earlier this year.) When you consider Washington unloaded Gilbert Arenas and Rashard Lewis in the recent past as well, it makes you wonder how GM Ernie Grunfeld still can hold a job when he made so many terrible personnel decisions to begin with.
In a little beltway baseball recap, the seasons of the Nationals and the Orioles continue to go in opposite directions. Washington beat the Mets in walk-off fashion last night to improve their NL East lead to 3.5 games, as they continue to have the best record in the National League. The O’s on the other hand continued their annual slide, losing again to the Twins. Baltimore has lost 5 of 6 since the All-Star break, which finally allowed Tampa Bay to overtake them for 2nd place in the division.
In the last bit of DC sports news (as if there was any doubt that he would eventually sign), RG3 inked his rookie deal with the Washington Redskins today. Now, can we get our $36 mil in cap space that you cheated us out of back sometime, Mr. Goodell?
I don’t know who could have possibly foreseen this (*cough*), but the LA Lakers have positioned themselves back into the trade picture for Dwight Howard. Like the potential deal(s) with the Nets, it seems like the logistics of this trade are going to be a lot more complicated than simply moving Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum. Because of that, third party teams are going to most likely have to be brought in to make any deal work, and that makes any move tougher to complete, but LA seemed like the most logical D-12 destination from the start…even if a trade doesn’t get done, that still seems like the most likely landing spot for Howard once the dust settles.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
No Sleep Till Brooklyn: The Problem With The Nets
Interesting read on Grantland today arguing that the Brooklyn Nets have utterly failed in building their roster for the upcoming season. Even though I classified the Nets’ offseason as a success in a post last week, I am inclined to agree with that sentiment. This may seem asinine on every level, but hear my out for a second…on paper, Brooklyn did everything right short of landing Dwight Howard. This might seem like a rather substantial caveat, but once it was clear that the Howard deal was dead (for now) you could argue the Nets made all the right decisions, retaining both Brook Lopez and Kris Humphries. To get D-12, the Nets would likely have had to part with both Lopez and Humphries as well as young talent MarShon Brooks, a truckload of draft picks, and likely a few other players to boot. On paper (there’s that pesky phrase once again), the Nets appear to have at least 7 legitimate NBA players in those 3 guys, Gerald Wallace, CJ Watson, Deron Williams, and Joe Johnson. How those pieces will actually mesh on the court is another question entirely.
1 of the things the Grantland column did a great job of pointing out is that teams who are attempting to rebuild always talk about acquiring assets, but over the past few years Brooklyn maybe did this more literally than any basketball team in NBA history. Their roster has been made up of perfectly fine players who no doubt would make another team better by fulfilling a specific need through a trade. This was partially how they got Williams and how they planned on getting Howard. (Johnson was more of a case of another team trying to shed salary to start their own rebuilding era, and the Nets being a willing partner.)
Without Howard, the Nets should be a deeper team in theory. That’s even considering the facts that Wallace is overpaid and Lopez seems to be injury-prone. In terms of actual basketball (even if their skills of some are declining), Brooklyn’s role players should all be serviceable though. The real questions lie in the superstars themselves.
“Superstar,” much like “asset,” is probably a word that gets thrown around too often these days. There’s a generation of ultra-talented players carrying around the superstar tag who have basically done nothing in their careers up to this point. Even prior to this past season Dwyane Wade had been the best player on a team that won a championship, and LeBron James had won 2 MVP’s, been to 2 NBA Finals, and 2 other Conference Finals series. What exactly have any of the players on this list done: Williams, Johnson, Howard, Chris Paul, and Carmelo Anthony? The correct answer is “nothing.”
Williams and Paul are numbers 1 and 2 in some order on everyone’s list of the best point guards in the league, but by my count they have only 2 Conference Finals appearances between them. D-Will put up great numbers in 2011-2012, and yet he couldn’t keep them from losing 2 out of every 3 of their games. Does that sound like a superstar to you? And by now most savvy basketball people know that Johnson’s hype is mainly a function of his playing in Phoenix’s run-and-shoot system alongside Steve Nash during his formative years.
The most interesting case is Howard, who is capable of putting up monster numbers (23 points, 14 boards, and nearly 2.5 blocks a game 2 seasons ago) despite not really knowing how to score or shoot a free throw. A few years ago, he was only a couple games from an NBA title, but that still seems fishy to me…yes, he was their best player, but I could argue that Orlando’s system and ability to shoot 3’s was an even greater factor in their success…and yet you can’t play that style to begin with without Howard manning the paint.
With Howard, the Nets would have been the ultimate video game team next year. I can envision playing NBA 2K13 slashing and creating with Williams while Johnson is spotting up behind the 3 point line knocking down wide open jumpers, and Howard cleaning up all the misses and protecting the rim at the other end. Even without Howard, Brooklyn still has a lot of “assets,” and all this speculation might turn out looking foolish…either that, or the Nets will merely be the best fantasy basketball team of all time.
Without Howard, the Nets are now basically a team full of "assets."
1 of the things the Grantland column did a great job of pointing out is that teams who are attempting to rebuild always talk about acquiring assets, but over the past few years Brooklyn maybe did this more literally than any basketball team in NBA history. Their roster has been made up of perfectly fine players who no doubt would make another team better by fulfilling a specific need through a trade. This was partially how they got Williams and how they planned on getting Howard. (Johnson was more of a case of another team trying to shed salary to start their own rebuilding era, and the Nets being a willing partner.)
Without Howard, the Nets should be a deeper team in theory. That’s even considering the facts that Wallace is overpaid and Lopez seems to be injury-prone. In terms of actual basketball (even if their skills of some are declining), Brooklyn’s role players should all be serviceable though. The real questions lie in the superstars themselves.
“Superstar,” much like “asset,” is probably a word that gets thrown around too often these days. There’s a generation of ultra-talented players carrying around the superstar tag who have basically done nothing in their careers up to this point. Even prior to this past season Dwyane Wade had been the best player on a team that won a championship, and LeBron James had won 2 MVP’s, been to 2 NBA Finals, and 2 other Conference Finals series. What exactly have any of the players on this list done: Williams, Johnson, Howard, Chris Paul, and Carmelo Anthony? The correct answer is “nothing.”
Williams may have a world of talent, but his teams don't have much to show for it as of right now.
Williams and Paul are numbers 1 and 2 in some order on everyone’s list of the best point guards in the league, but by my count they have only 2 Conference Finals appearances between them. D-Will put up great numbers in 2011-2012, and yet he couldn’t keep them from losing 2 out of every 3 of their games. Does that sound like a superstar to you? And by now most savvy basketball people know that Johnson’s hype is mainly a function of his playing in Phoenix’s run-and-shoot system alongside Steve Nash during his formative years.
I wonder if Johnson would ever admit that he made a mistake leaving the Suns for the money and the chance to be the lead dog.
The most interesting case is Howard, who is capable of putting up monster numbers (23 points, 14 boards, and nearly 2.5 blocks a game 2 seasons ago) despite not really knowing how to score or shoot a free throw. A few years ago, he was only a couple games from an NBA title, but that still seems fishy to me…yes, he was their best player, but I could argue that Orlando’s system and ability to shoot 3’s was an even greater factor in their success…and yet you can’t play that style to begin with without Howard manning the paint.
With Howard, the Nets would have been the ultimate video game team next year. I can envision playing NBA 2K13 slashing and creating with Williams while Johnson is spotting up behind the 3 point line knocking down wide open jumpers, and Howard cleaning up all the misses and protecting the rim at the other end. Even without Howard, Brooklyn still has a lot of “assets,” and all this speculation might turn out looking foolish…either that, or the Nets will merely be the best fantasy basketball team of all time.
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