Trev is back at it over at Hoops Addict, stealing my ideas and making them far better and thorough. This time he makes the call to action for the NBA to change the voting for the All-Star Game…popularity does not reflect quality, and though there is no perfect alternative, the system needs changing.
Posted February 6th, 2009 by Trev Smith
Posted February 4th, 2009 by Blake Murphy
Derrick Rose has been phenomenal so far in 2008-09. He has surpassed all expectations for a rookie point guard. It is, after all, the most difficult thing for a rookie to do, to come in and run a team fresh from college. His averages of 16.7-3.5-6.3 are essentially the new gold standard for rookie point guards.
And the basketball world has taken notice. In fact, when mid-season award articles came out, Rose was a near unanimous choice for Rookie of the Year. Many, including his own coach Vinny Del Negro, went as far as to say Rose already had the award locked up, he had done such a good job.
Well, despite the glowing introduction, I have to contend that Rose does not have the Rookie of the Year trophy locked up, not by any stretch of the imagination.
More after the jump!
Posted February 3rd, 2009 by Trev Smith
“Consistency is the last resort of the unimaginative” – Oscar Wilde
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. With the rebirth of The ODC, The Imaginary Player was supposed to be transformed. The Return was meant to embrace the unfamiliar, or at least the contemporaneous.
I did not want to fall back on old habits and worn-out topics of interest. This was supposed to be a fresh start. In the spirit of all things Obama, this was going to be about change.
This was supposed to be about Andrew Bynum’s knee and its impact on the NBA landscape. This was meant to discuss Santonio Holmes’ presence and composure on sports’ grandest stage (as well as his shout out to LeBron). But it’s not about those things.
I did not want to rehash a fray position about a sporting immortal that I have covered so many times before. I had every intention of paying no heed to those whose excellence and mastery I have broadcast at length.
I had meant to write about the independently asinine and collectively ridiculous All-Star snubs of Al Jefferson and Kevin Durant. I had hoped to present the case for Kurt Warren’s spot in the Hall of Fame, or confer the staggering superiority of GSP.
But Kobe Bryant won’t let me.
More after the jump!
Posted February 3rd, 2009 by Blake Murphy
Before deciding to revive The ODC, the sports writing bug appeared to be taking me down a different path. I was planning to write for Hoops Addict, hopefully latch on to a legitimate baseball site, and throw the in-between stuff up for my boys Austin and Chris over at The Good Point. What I had planned to do was keep all of my personal writing on my own website, but with no promotion or fanfare – it would strictly be an archive for my work.
Obviously, things didn’t go down that way. However, had that site been hatched, it would have been named R3sports.com. That’s R-to-the-power-of-3 Sports (.com). What the hell, you’re probably asking? Fair enough. But to explain, I must first take you to RashadMcCants1.com.
If The On Deck Circle is the unofficial home of Real Talk, then RashadMcCants1.com is it’s summer home or downtown apartment, because it certainly spends a lot of time there. R3 (Real Recognize Real) is an axiom I had only heard a few times before (usually as ‘game recognize game’) but am now in love with. Non-sensical athlete crushes will do that to you.
More after the jump!
Posted February 2nd, 2009 by Blake Murphy
Chris Bosh is going to break our hearts.
I am not a pessimistic person. I like everyone, I’m easy to please, and I’m forward thinking enough to see most silver linings.
A silver lining this hath not.
Chris Bosh…is 16 months away from breaking our hearts. And it hurts already.
We should see this coming by now. I listen to enough punk-bordering-emo music to know that you don’t get the girl in the end. I listen to enough R&B music to know that there’s always another man waiting. We’ve bore witness to this same situation elsewhere in sports, in life. We see it coming, and there’s nothing we can do to stop it.
More after the jump!
Posted February 1st, 2009 by Rob Shaw
1) I would sign Darius Miles
Why not? You sign him to a 10-day contract and play him in garbage time and all of a sudden the Portland Trailblazers don’t have cap space this summer. Is this a jerk move? Yes, but the NBA is a cutthroat competition so why wouldn’t you cut your competitions throat when you have the chance? Good on Memphis.
2) With oil prices down the Diesel is back
Many panned the Shaq for Marion trade, but this year Shaq has shown that he still has some life in his legs. Shaq is averaging 18.2 points 9.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per games. He has produced 18 double-doubles and posted highs of 35 points and 17 rebounds. With Miami now scouring the NBA for big men – with Marion as the bait – I’m sure they’d like to go back in time and reverse their trade with Phoenix.
Posted January 28th, 2009 by Blake Murphy
I re-debuted over at Hoops Addict too! An article on how it’s a little rougher cheering for a team with high expectations unmet (Chicago, Toronto) than a normal bad team (Clippers 1940-Present). Check it out!
Posted January 27th, 2009 by Trev Smith
Trev has had enough of the culture of stop-gap rationalizations and copping-out that exists in professional sports. He is calling for executives, and not just coaches, to start taking some blame for struggles. Check it out.
Posted January 20th, 2009 by Rob Shaw
In 2000, the Toronto Raptors were the NBA’s up and coming team led by Vince Carter and his cousin Tracy McGrady. People were expecting big things from this dynamic duo, even paying them the ultimate compliment of comparing them to the legendary duo of Jordan and Pippen. Unfortunately for Raptors fans, McGrady spurned Toronto choosing to sign a long term contract with the Orlando Magic and play Pippen to Grant Hill’s Jordan.
More after the jump!
Posted January 20th, 2009 by Trev Smith
Ok, I can openly admit that I love Trev’s writing, my writer profile is not a joke. That said, this is, without question, Trev’s best piece of work in recent memory, maybe ever. The biggest Kobe fan I know examines the difference between Kobe and LeBron, what they mean to the sport, and what they mean to the world. Definitely worth a read.
