Maybe the day you sit out practice with a sore lower back isn’t the best time to go in and demand a trade.
There’s no official confirmation from anyone on the “ask for a trade” portion, but sources are saying that’s exactly what Seventy-Sixers forward Max Veeber has done.
This apparently took place late Wednesday in a meeting between Veeber and GM Billy King.
The last words from Max himself are as follows, wherein he is both mysterious and optimistic, with a touch of fantasy role-playing.
“I’m not going to keep playing like this. I don’t like this role. So you can take that however you want.”
“It’s built a lot of character,” Webber said then of his time in Philadelphia. “And I’m not a quitter… . I know this is where I’m supposed to be right now… . The tougher it is right now, the better the story will be if we win. It’ll be like a movie. So that’s what I’m looking for, some type of movie ending.”
Like a movie where you ask for a trade? Isn’t that how Finding Nemo ended?
No – wait. That’s how Back to the Future Part II ended.
Hang on – we meant that other movie about a time-travelling, smart aleck teen – Timecop.
If you haven’t guessed, we’re out of things to say about this – the Seventy-Sixers are 4-3. Chris Webber is old, overpaid, and slow. Nobody will trade for him, so he better learn to be smiley, which he’s quite good at when he wants to be.
FADE OUT.
NOTE: Webber isn’t the only high-profile power forward who’s pissy at the moment. Jermaine O’Neal got in an argument with Larry Bird and Rick Carlisle after the Pacers lost to the Celtics Wednesday.
NOTE 2: In retrospect, this post should’ve been about Jermaine O’Neal getting in an argument with Larry Bird and Rick Carlisle after the Pacers lost to the Celtics Wednesday.
Sorry about the headline – don’t get all worked up.
This isn’t happening like, immediately. Sooner than we’d all like to think, though.
Last night during the TNT showing of Bulls v Rockets, Tracy McGrady stated that he plans to retire when his current contract is up.
That’s three years from now, when he’ll be only 30 years old.
Why walk from the HOU, especially with Yao there? He’s the only non-declining center in the NBA with any true impact. The two of them should have the Rockets contending every year, even though it hasn’t happened yet.
Who knows what he’s thinking, but the problem so far this year , despite their record, is they’re continually giving up big leads, as they did again to CHI last night. The Bulls almost came all the way back from 21 down to steal one on the road.
The retiree…analyzes.
“I’m not happy, despite the win,” McGrady said. “I’m not happy at all because I know this is an ongoing process. To be in the game like that, you have to be happy about the win, but the overall picture is not good.
“We know those games can slip away, and have slipped away. It’s not new to us,” McGrady said.
There’s a lot to be read into that, and it doesn’t take much to do so:
1) “I’m not happy”. This is nothing new. See: Toronto, Orlando, last year’s All-Star Game.
2) “I’m not happy at all because I know this is an ongoing process.” Yeah, things suck when it’s not just handed to you complete, don’t they? See: Toronto, Orlando.
We were gonna do a “3)”, but a combo of not having anything to put there and a general apathy toward Tracy McGrady nixed it.
Here’s a thought for T-Mac – maybe if you didn’t state your intentions to quit on the team in the middle of your prime years, the troops could rally around you a little more and such and such. Be a team and stuff.
We’re not one to deny someone their desire to spend more time with their family, or to grow their hair into that little puffy thing Tracy has on his head, but we also decided we don’t really like the show Lost anymore, which is really disappointing.
NOTE: Assuming his spine hasn’t deteriated completely by then, Tracy would probably be leaving another max deal on the table, so that’s something significant. (In some way we haven’t determined yet.)
NOTE 2: Put T-Mac on that list of guys who would retire instantly upon having microfracture surgery.
(This pic has nothing to do with the post, but we had to do it. This title for the “Making of” doc just smacked us as appropriate for reasons that will be clear on the DVD.)
We talked a bit last week (or maybe this week – who knows) about how Players Association head Billy Hunter can tend to be a bit [insert word synonymous with inept], but that he was going on the offensive against David Stern.
His intention was to stand up to the man – make sure the NBA couldn’t keep instating rules without clearing it with the union.
Well, the war is on.
Yes, Billy Hunter has fired the first shot, and that shot is discounted protein shakes for NBA Players. The union has signed a deal with EAS, the nutritional supplement giant.
And yep – he did it (gasp!) without asking permission.
EAS signed a similar deal with the NFL and its players’ association in 2004. However, the deal to provide energy bars and protein shakes to NBA players did not involve the league.
“I didn’t really see there was a need to do that,” union director Billy Hunter told the Times.
“A lot of [the new rules have] been precipitated by the league, the moves that the commissioner has decided to make and implement – many we feel are beyond scope of the collective bargaining agreement,” Hunter said. “At a minimum, we should have been consulted. As a result, maybe I feel less compelled to consult them on things.”
Wow.
Never before has such a bold move been made, and we missed that second part of the deal.
Free protein shakes AND energy bars?
The man has gone mad with power. He’s out of control. Looks like David Stern has finally met his match, and that match will be fueled by synthetic nutrition purchased at a 50% discount.
As the Cavaliers rolled over the Trailblazers last night and continued their “best record in the East” thing, we periodically checked the score of Pistons v Hornets, just to make sure we could wake up this morning and still say “we told you so”.
Detroit loses at home to NO/OKC, and looks disjointed and uninspired doing so.
We said it as far back as July when Ben Wallace went to CHI – that DET team was the epitome of “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”.
You take Ben away, and it’s all gonna fall apart. Even point guard Chauncey Billups and his 543 Finals MVP trophies is a little shaken up and unsure.
(Along with our friends at Detroit Bad Boys (who saw this post coming!) and Need4Sheed.)
Anyway…the Chaunce.
“It’s early but it’s late enough where you can get tired of this,” said Chauncey Billups. “It’s just focus, that’s the only thing I can pin it on. We make changes and like, two guys are doing one thing and three guys are doing something different. It’s just focus.”
Now, we’re sure our new myspace friend Boney is cracking his knuckes and getting ready to talk about how good Detroit was in 2003 or something, but this concerns us not.
No, what concerns us is that Rasheed Wallace may implode on the team too early. We were projecting December 12th for some reason, but at this point, it’s looking like late November.
With back-to-backs against Washington and Houston coming up and the Bad Boys having major Flip Saunders defensive problems, these dudes could be 3-7 by the end of the week.
Well, we could do this all day, but we’re busy staring at the standings, watching the new Rocky Balboa trailer over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over, and doing pushups.
How funny would it be if, amidst all the current articles bemoaning this year’s rookie class, one man emerged…unveiled himself…grasped his destiny…and saved them all?
And what if that man was oft-criticized New York Knicks rookie Renaldo Balkman?
With everyone on Earth saying “play the kids, play the kids” to NYK coach Isiah Thomas, last night he did. Guess what?
Renaldo goes for 18 and the Knickerbockers beat the Wizards, getting their first home win of the season. (Albeit before an announced crowd of only 14K or so.)
“I just had to sit back and wait my turn,” Balkman said. “I had a chance to shine tonight. My teammates said, ‘Welcome to the NBA.’ [I] can’t wait for everybody to come around talking to me. I’m shocked everyone’s around now.”
“You know Nate, Lee and I…that’s all we do,” Balkman said. “We just play as a team and just try and outrun everybody and get the other team tired.”
Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis continued to struggle… [snip; ed note: tee-hee]
Let’s do Renaldo first, then come back to that snippered (new word!) portion.
Dude seems refreshing and likable; eager and refreshing. Refreshing and big-nosed.
As much as we were dumbfounded by the pick, we’ve always maintained he’d be a popular player in NYC if he’d been picked in round 2. He’s all hustle and nose – people like that. With the other rookies sucking so bad (outside of Brandon Roy (injured) and maybe Marcus Williams), Renaldo may be okay as is. He could even thrive.
We’ve received some comment and email criticism lately of our “Renaldo: Holy Shit” t-shirts, but the magical thing about those shirts – they totally still work. Just change the context of your “Holy Shit”. It’s good instead of bad – simple.
As for Steph and Stevie…as we stated: tee-hee. More for the former than the latter, but the “tee” and the “hee” work for both the poor lads. The only question remaining is how long until the citizens of Lakersground.net start suggesting trade scenarios.
NOTE: Anyone else feel like the Knicks are the biggest enigma of a team in the history of basketball? We have no idea on a minute to minute basis whether to root for or against them; whether we like them or hate them. They have both the most likable guys and the least likeable. And then there’s Isiah, who we’ve covered in-depth, of course.
NOTE 2: Yes, Jones, we all know you’ve said they’re gonna make the playoffs. And yes, “Tony Parker”, we all know you hate (insert anything) and think (insert something negative about the author that implies average writing ability and/or concept generation).
After a big win over the Clippers last night, the Utah Jazz is sitting nicely atop the NBA with its best record.
Both teams came into the game with only one loss, and the laws of math says the Jazz are the only ones still in that position.
Seven and one, baby – and they did it without Andrei Kirilenko, one of the staples of their defense.
Who stepped up in his place? None other than rookie Paul Millsap, who not only doesn’t sound like an NBA player, but does sound like a character in a badly written Jim Carrey movie from 1997 or so.
“I don’t understand how a young guy like Paul Millsap gets his hands on the ball as much as he did,” Sloan said. “I’ve been around this game a long time … and that’s more (deflections) than ordinary guys who’ve been in the league. He was all over the place.”
“Young guys should be able to compete their guts out every night starting out there in the ballgame,” 64-year-old Sloan said. “I understand there’s a learning process, and all that. But if you dreamed about playing in the NBA, and you get a chance to play, then you should be alive.”
Are you listening, [insert name of your favorite veteran New York Knicks here]?
There’s something to be said for simply working hard. Dennis Rodman made at least the basketball part of his career out of it.
Not speaking of Dennis Rodman, how good would the Knicks be if Jerry Sloan were their coach? 5-2 instead of 2-5? Possibly. He probably would’ve just punched Starbury in the face by now, and Eddy Curry would be sitting in the locker room …expanding the caloric storage of his fat cells.
As for the Clippers, despite the loss, they’re off to a great start and certainly one of the more stable teams in the NBA at the moment. Sometime during the 2013 season that should stop sounding odd.
Sometimes dreams do come true, and sometimes they don’t.
Other times they come halfway true, which is why you shoot for the moon.
Somewhere among those scenarios is Portland Trailblazer forward Darius Miles finding out he’s had the dreaded microfracture knee surgery.
If the wording of that seems a little strange, it’s not because of our rapidly diminishing typing skills. Read the following from the Blazer press release.
During Darius Miles’ previously scheduled arthroscopic procedure today, doctors uncovered the need for microfracture surgery.
If you’re following along, you realize that he went under expecting a simple scope, and woke up out for the year and forever damaged.
In Miles’s case, this is probably retirement, yes?
Microfracture recovery requires extensive therapy and rehab to become even a fraction of the player you once were, and Darius Miles, by our observation, has not bothered to attempt to improve AT ALL since he was drafted six years ago.
For this lack of effort he’ll now sit back, do nothing (we’re quite sure of this), claim the knee “just isn’t coming back”, and make well over $50,000,000 in his career.
And that brings us back to the dreaming thing – can you imagine the look on Darius’s face when he realized his career can be totally over and he can get his money if he plays this the right way? This is like everything he’s ever hoped for…and more.
He totally can get one of those medical marijuana deals now. (Not that we think he smokes pot – that’d be like a total shocker.)
NOTE: In what world is Zach Randolph a sympathetic and engaging figure? (New/old sexual assault lawsuit aside.)
NOTE 2: After we finished this, we came up with a list of the top ten guys who would unnecessarily retire rather than complete microfracture rehab. Can you guess them? Here’s a start – Darius Miles, Michael Olowakandi…
Sometimes we like to look at the games on a given night’s schedule, and then go down the list of games, and then look at each game, and then analyze each game in our head, and then make a list of our own about the various games, and then pick one to watch.
Tonight’s game that resulted from that process is the Dancing With the Stars finale.
If that falls through somehow, we’re gonna step-kick-step Isiah style over to Chicago at Dallas.
Couple reasons for this. First, there’s only one reason. Secondly, these are two hgh-profile, allegedly contending teams trying to find their groove in the new season.
The Mavs seem to be having that post-Finals malaise thing happening. Nobody doubts they’ll pull out of it – just a matter of when.
The Bulls, on the other hand, are exactly what we said they’d be – all hard-working defense and no offense.
Somehow, the addition of All-Star big man Ben Wallace didn’t magically transform them into a team that doesn’t completely depend on whether Ben Gordon is hot from outside or not.
Head coach Scott Skiles knows it, and is considering a change in the line-up tonight – most likely in the form of ben Gordon going back to the sixth man role he made his name in.
”We might change the lineup,” Skiles said. ”I don’t really want to comment on it and give you guys a heads-up on what it is.”
”In Ben’s specific situation, he’s a very talented guy, and the last step for all young players is consistency — having it every night or close to every night,” Skiles said. ”We all have a responsibility to help him get to that stage where he can play [consistently] because he is such a good player.”
All of that is to say this: Ben’s getting benched because one night he scores 37 and the next he scores 2.
You see, if Coach Skiles says that in those exact words, then all the reporters (the mentioned “you guys”) will write a bunch of articles and columns ripping Ben Gordon up and suggesting he get traded.
Those would be the articles and columns that are getting written anyway, including (the linked) 425th time Sam Smith has suggested a Kevin Garnett trade in the past 243 days.
As for us, we feel kinda bad, being that Ben is our myspace friend and all. If you’re not yet our myspace friend, now might be the time to do it – we’re going to start handing out the crowns, vacation prizes, and membership cards next week.
The voting for the Las Vegas All-Star Game is on, and you can go check out the ballot (and vote for LeBron) at NBA.com right now.
As always, there are a few “Huh? For real?” names that have made it onto the list of potential All-Stars, and as always, we’re voting for them.
You’ve always wondered where those .003% of the people who want to see Nenad starting for the East came from, haven’t you?
Right here, yo. Here’s our picks.
EAST
G Steve Francis
G Morris Peterson
F LeBron James
F Hedo Turkoglu
C Nenad Kristic
WEST
G Raja Bell
G Juan Dixon
F Kenyon Martin
F Troy Murphy
C Mark Blount
Now, we know what you’re saying – “No ‘Toine? You left off Antoine Walker??”
Yeah – ‘Toine would take the appointment as an All-Star far too seriously. He’d think he’d really made it. (Raja will think the same thing, but we figure there’s material there if it happened.)
The one heartbreaker was Eddy Curry. We really, really, really wanted to put him on, but we figured there’s no way in hell his knees aren’t shattered by February with all the digested giant-size mall cookies he’s carrying around inside this season.
Anyway – go vote now, and don’t worry about trying to push our picks. We want you to be free thinkers. We want you to expand your minds beyond the simplistic and juvenile tomfoolery we serve up here daily.
We want you to live, people. We want you to live.
(Let us know if that made you cry – we’re bawling here. Holy shit, we’re deep.)
You don’t really want to need 29 points from Damon Jones to do it, but the Cavaliers won their game in NYC last night against Knicks.
The only other thing that really stuck out to us was LeBron meandering his way to 29 points of his own on over 50% shooting, which means we can’t really get angry at him for looking like he was half-assing it for the majority of the game.
Oh yeah – Starbury/Franchise combined for five (5!) points.
Oh, and Eddy Curry looks like he ate a pancake batter factory this summer. In fact, he looks like he ate a pancake batter factory monthly this summer.
Dude is huge.
Knicks are really bad – let’s see that Knicks/Celtics matchup asap. Can you say “94 feet of nonproductive chaos”? (It’s this Saturday – we just checked.)
Not much else to say – ugly game, but a win is a win. We continue to be optimistic, as the Cavaliers do have the best record in the East and have played their best ball (and won) against the good teams.
