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Headlines to Watch: Pacific Division

Brett EdwardsPosted Oct 6th 2008 10:00AM by Brett Edwards (author feed)
Filed under: Clippers, Kings, Lakers, Suns, Warriors


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A season ago, the Pacific Division was able to send just two of its teams to the playoffs, but one of them went all the way to the Finals. And while that's not likely to change this season -- at least the part about the two playoff teams -- each club definitely has its share of intriguing story lines.

Let's start off in Los Angeles, where the Lakers' playoff run last season took place with one of the team's key components on the sidelines. There are always many stories in Laker-land, but a lot of the team's fans seem to be most interested in this one: With the return of Andrew Bynum, do the Lakers have a shot to win 70 games?

Despite the recent flood of positive Andrew Bynum stories hitting the L.A. papers lately (seriously, his P.R. machine is working overtime), I'm not convinced that his addition to the lineup automatically makes the Lakers unstoppable. There's the whole thing about figuring out how to co-exist with Pau Gasol, and how Lamar Odom will perform (likely) playing further away from the basket. When you add in the fact that even if the team was capable of winning 70 games, there's really no motivation to do so, unless someone else is on the same ridiculous pace and it would mean home court advantage.
Continue Reading Headlines to Watch: Pacific Division

NBA Essentials: New York Press Freedom

Tom ZillerPosted Oct 1st 2008 9:04AM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Celtics, Heat, Kings, Knicks, Pistons, Rockets

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. Posting and Toasting. The Knicks have given Seth from Posting and Toasting great access to training camp, and Seth is making the most of it.

2. NBA.com. Miami's Erik Spoelstra put the Heat playbook on iPods for the team.

3. You Been Blinded. Download Ron Artest's mixtape. It's inspirational, man.

4. MLive.com, via DBB. The renewed Pistons are knocking each other the [blank] out in Michael Curry's practices.

5. Boston Globe. Don't look now, but Darius Miles had, reportedly, a great first practice. So much for that 2009 free agent class, eh Portland?

6. Sacramento Bee. Spencer Hawes has refused to take the Kings' wind-sprint conditioning test. ... I'll be in the closet, with a plastic bag.

Hardwood Pundits: NBA Players Weigh In On Obama vs. McCain

Elie SeckbachPosted Aug 29th 2008 1:00PM by Elie Seckbach (author feed)
Filed under: FanHouse TV, The Word

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded NBA Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

In this exclusive video NBA players like Grant Hill, Derek Fisher and Carmelo Anthony talk about who would they want to see in the White House, Barack Obama or John McCain. We also hang out with Sacramento's Spencer Hawes, one of the biggest political enthusiasts in the NBA. Hawes, who is originally from Seattle, tells us how he became a Republican and why he won't watch CNN.

AOL Video link. Youtube link.

Hardwood Pundits: NBA Players Weigh In On Obama vs. McCain

EliePosted Aug 29th 2008 1:00PM by Elie (author feed)
Filed under: Hawks, Heat, Kings, Lakers, Nuggets, Rockets, NBA Videos

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded NBA Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

In this exclusive video NBA players like Grant Hill, Derek Fisher and Carmelo Anthony talk about who would they want to see in the White House, Barack Obama or John McCain. We also hang out with Sacramento's Spencer Hawes, one of the biggest political enthusiasts in the NBA. Hawes, who is originally from Seattle, tells us how he became a Republican and why he won't watch CNN.

AOL Video link. Youtube link.

Refs Need Summer League Experience, Too

Matt WatsonPosted Jul 18th 2008 8:25AM by Matt Watson (author feed)
Filed under: NBA Referees, Summer League

Notes from a trip to the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

The NBA couldn't have picked a more appropriate setting than Las Vegas for the Summer League. You know how when you're in a casino it's impossible to tell what time of day it is? That's exactly the feeling you get when sitting in the Cox Pavilion or Thomas & Mack Center all day. From the opening tip at 1pm until the last game tips at 7:30pm, it's one game after another, with barely 10 minutes between each contest to catch your breath.

Since my plane touched down on Wednesday morning, I've already seen the better part of seven games the last two days. My head is spinning, and yet I still feel like I've missed out for not seeing more. So what have I seen? For one, a helluva lot of fouls.

Some of the blame can be attributed to the players -- everybody is playing at max effort knowing that, at most, there are only one or two available spots per team. But really, the same can also be said for the refs.
Continue Reading Refs Need Summer League Experience, Too

Ron Artest Wants to Interview the Beer Tossing Guy from the Palace Brawl

Will BrinsonPosted Jun 4th 2008 1:15AM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Filed under: Pacers, Kings, NBA Media Watch, NBA Rumors, NBA Videos

It should not have taken this long to give Ron Artest creative control over a camera. So big ups to BDSSP for getting him on the hook for his interview with John Green, the guy who threw beer all over Artest in the Garden and sparked the downfall of the entire Pacers organization one of the most memorable fights in sports history. (Via DBB)
As the continuing radio career of the Kings small forward continues, Artest is now hoping to interview the infamous John Green of the 2004 "Malice at the Palace" brawl. The Pistons fan is the one who hurled a plastic cup of beer at Artest as he rested on press row on that Nov. 19 in Detroit, sparking the bolt into the stands and yadda yadda yadda.

You know that story well, but this is something new and so very American if it comes to fruition. Apparently, Green has already been tracked down and appears to be on board with the plan.
Wow, wow and more wow. And great call by Sam Amick -- this is by definition "so very American". It is also so very combustable, but you also have to figure that FOX will have Artest heavily medicated on his best behavior.

Not that he has been anything short of a superb host -- his interviews with Kobe Bryant (vid post jump) and Spencer Hawes have gone very well. Artest asked Hawes what his reaction to having beer thrown on him would be and got this unbelievable response: "I probably wouldn't go into the stands to go after them. That probably wouldn't be what I'd do. That'd be a tough one."

So there's literally no chance the interview with Green is anything short of unbelievable.
Continue Reading Ron Artest Wants to Interview the Beer Tossing Guy from the Palace Brawl

Kobe Invented the Popped Collar, Apparently

Tom ZillerPosted Mar 10th 2008 11:20AM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Lakers, Kings, Los Angeles



The Kings strode into L.A. last night and edged the Lakers 114-113. You'll be surprised to note Ron Artest didn't play much; in fact, he sat the final 14 minutes of the game. Francisco Garcia defended Kobe Bryant (beautifully) until he (Garcia) fouled out; John Salmons and Mikki Moore doubled Kobe into oblivion on the Lakers' last gasp. And hey, Spencer Hawes was a flippin' beast.

Artest did, of course, guard Kobe for a while. During one third-quarter stretch, the jostling between the two got a bit heavy. But the post-game saw the real fire. After the final buzzer, Artest ran around the Staples floor popping his collar, showing off the team name on the front of his shirt ... which is exactly what Kobe did in ARCO Arena on Tuesday, after his Lakers beat the Kings.

The Sacramento Bee's Sam Amick captured Kobe's reaction to Artest's mocking.
"He's got to get his own material," Bryant said. "Don't be (rapper) Puff Daddy and sample every song. You've got to create your own music sometimes."
NOTE TO FUTURE OPPONENTS: You may not pop your collar if you beat the Lakers in L.A.; that is Kobe's trademarked thing. Some suggestions which Kobe has not trademarked as of yet:
  • The double-armed inverted fist pump.
  • Moonwalk the length of the Lakers bench.
  • Pretend you're riding Penny Marshall like a bronco as she leaves her seat.

Oden for Obama Sparks Superstitious Fears

Tom ZillerPosted Feb 26th 2008 3:00PM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Trail Blazers

Matthew Yglesias, a terrific politics writer who dabbles in basketball, looks at Greg Oden's endorsement of Barack Obama for president and worries a little (and perhaps with a bit of sarcasm tossed in... I hope):
[The Blazers] won the draft lottery, took Oden with the number one pick, and Oden promptly suffered a season-ending injury. So is Obama like the much-hyped prospect who winds up letting your team down? A disturbing thought.
We should note not all NBA endorsements are effective. Brave and noble Kings rookie Spencer Hawes (a devout conservative in every sense, including the 'curses like a sailor an atheist at the refs' sense) 'officially' endorsed Republican Mitt Romney through the Sacramento press ... just two days before Romney dropped out.

Joakim, Big Ben Can't Live Together

Tom ZillerPosted Jan 16th 2008 3:06PM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Bulls, Kings, Chicago

This whole Joakim Noah v The Chicago Bulls battle does not look like it is going away anytime soon. After last weekend's smiting of Jo at the hands of Bulls veterans Ben Wallace and Adrian Griffin, Noah seemed more hurt and confused than remorseful and newly learned. Then as Wallace laughs on the bench in the midst of another bad loss, should we be surprised Noah's emotions turned to anger? From Sam Smith in the Chicago Tribune, via TrueHoop:
Falling to 14-22 and hardly competitive, several Bulls players on the bench late seemed relatively indifferent to the result. It was perhaps a worse message than the events of the evening, which were discouraging as well.

Apparently it led to a dispute in the locker room as rookie Joakim Noah complained about the attitude on the bench and argued with veteran Ben Wallace. One witness said Luol Deng had to step between them to ease the tension.
Wallace is borderline untradeable. Noah is a cheap rookie. Neither seems to be backing down (and I cannot imagine either Deng or Jim Boylan is particularly ecstatic about playing peacekeeper between the two). I wouldn't be surprised if the Bulls traded Noah tomorrow. In fact...

Sacramento was hot and heavy for Noah in June. Chicago considered Spencer Hawes before selecting Jo. With the next pick, Hawes became a King. Hawes has been OK in spurts, same as Noah. Think either team would reject a straight-up trade at this point?

Sacramento Avoids Draft Disaster, For Now

Tom ZillerPosted Oct 11th 2007 11:17AM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Kings, NBA Injuries

A week ago, Mr. Hype warned of Spencer Hawes' possible knee doom. Big Shawes went under the knife Wednesday morning... and everything is just fine. He reportedly walked out of the hospital on his own. And he should be back in a month.

The episode was pretty frightful for Kings fans, though. Everyone's cursed, sure. But few felt good about drafting Shawes in the first place. When he skips the preseason and fans find out for the first time he had microfracture surgery at age 14... panic sets in and you can't blame anyone. Spencer Hawes certainly isn't making nor breaking the Kings season (that sailboat has... sailed); but if the highest pick your team's had in a decade turns into an immediate bust, you're looking at potential years of failure. And this sport like no other, due to the lower figure of players on each roster, relies so much on the correct draft picks.

Luckily, it looks like microfracture is on its way to being solved, so the 13-letter word won't be attached to so much grim grief in years to come. So much of sports is anxiety; injuries to 19-year-olds is definitely the least useful slice of that. I don't know, maybe we should all wear Kneestrong bracelets?
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