Melo

I'm not sure if I agree with your assessment of Carmelo. No doubt his play in this series has not matched his skill or potential, but there are many reasons for this:
(1) He was just a little behind on realizing how much he is supposed to step his game up in the playoffs, and how difficult that is. I know he won an NCAA championship, but he was definitely the best player on the floor then. Plus, the fact that he won a championship to me means he will eventually figure out how much harder he has to work;
(2) With the Olympics and the Billups trade, he finally is asserting himself on D, which is a big difference;
(3) I also think Denver has done a terrible job getting him the ball in scoring situations late in the game. In game 5, there was the string of possessions where they went from being up 7 to down 11, and that basically happened when Carmelo stopped getting the ball. How many times did Martin shoot silly 12-foot standing floaters or J.R. jack up ridiculously contested and/or off-balance 3s? Carmelo isn't good at being the primary ballhandler, and needs to be given the ball on the wing where he still has his dribble, so he can't go get the ball like LeBron or just as much Kobe, whose offense has now turned into just high pick-n-rolls with Pau;
(4) His coach is not one of the top offensive minds in the game. George Karl just seems to get blessed with having great players on his teams. You or I could have coached those Sonics teams to the Finals, and then he couldn't ever get those Bucks teams with Big Dog, Jesus Shuttlesworth and an actually good Sam Cassell there. The Denver offense has succeeded because Karl just basically says "Go out there, and make something happen." Maybe there's something to that, because of the way NBA players psyches are, but at the end of games, as we've seen time and time again in the '09 playoffs, you have to run plays and have good offensive execution in half-court sets late, or you're going to lose. It wasn't until they got Billups and finally had a floor general to direct people before they started winning close games. They only score on plays that are (a) a Billups 3 at beginning of shot clock, (b) a Smith 3 at the end of the shot clock, or (c) whenever someone decides to go to the basket. Luckily this postseason, that has been often. Carmelo is especially good at taking his man off the dribble, and does it regularly, that's why he's a good player. He's not good when he shoots 18-footers all day, which has plagued him at times during his 6 years in the league; and
(5) Hate to use this excuse, but he has been sick and has a sprained ankle.

In my opinion, he is on his way to that stratosphere with the best in the game (LeBron, Kobe, DWade, CP3). But, if there is a reason why he doesn't join that list, I think it will be because of the fact that he can't or doesn't realize he needs to or chooses not to go get the ball.

When are we gonna talk about hockey?

Lakers Game

I ended up watching the last quarter of the lakers game tonight and I really think that if Lebron had the team Kobe does he would not lose a game ever.  I mean lets match up the teams here.

PG-Lakers-fischer

Cavs-Williams

advantage-cavs

SG-Lakers-Bryant

Cavs-West

advantage-lakers

SF-Lakers-Ariza

Cavs-James

advantage-cavs

PF-Lakers-Odom

Cavs-Varejao

advantage-lakers

C-Lakers-Gasol/Bynum

Cavs-Ilgauskas/wallace

advantage-lakers

The lakers have such a huge advantage when it comes to those other positions it makes me sick to think about what Lebron would do with that group.  I really don't get how that team has those players and loses games.  

Also Carmelo is a great 2nd option but he is not a true superstar option.  Just saying.

I could fight. maybe

First I need to point out that G pops made his last post at 6:30 in the fricken morning!!!  Wow that shows some real dedication to this blog.  When it comes to fighting in basketball I agree with everything you said.  But the NBA is a multi million dollar corporation and they have a right to run their company any way they would like.  I just feel the way they are running it will take them to a place of less profitability.  Every sport knows to become more successful you need to widen your fan base, through more markets or a broader fan following.  I know I don't want to go watch and 1 mix tapes every night.  I like that Lebron wears a nice suit to work and does his job with integrity and talent.  I don't like when Dwight Howard complains and flexes all night long.  

Lets think about this as well.  Would some college football players who couldn't make the team as the starting right tackle just go over to the basketball team and start a reputation as a bruiser specifically to get a job in the NBA as a goon.  If that NBA was here, I would not even watch a game all year.  Basketball is a finesse game and yes it does have physical play but to an extent.  I am going back and forth in my head about this topic and the more I think about it the more I just want to go watch HOCKEY.  

Penguins v. Red Wings this season AGAIN!  I like it.  If only the NHL was on a network that wasn't known for bull riding and UFC training shows.  The NHL should be on ESPN and that is not debatable.  ESPN is the only place that makes a sport relevant again.  If you are not on ESPN you are nowhere.  The NHL is such a better game than it was a couple years ago and they have some really marketable players like Crosby, Ovechkin, Cheechoo(I just like the name, but good player too) and Parise(childhood friend of mine).  I want the NHL on ESPN if only for the 5 more hockey highlights a night and the 5 less slam dunks by Chris Bosh and Dwight Howard.  Also why does college basketball have highlights on Sportscenter but college hockey or college baseball doesn't yet both of the baseball and hockey national championships are played on ESPN but the final four is definitely not on ESPN(its on CBS). Unbelievable East coast bias.

I think I had like 5 different topics in that post.  I was watching around the horn while writing and felt the need to change topics for fear of Tony Reality(his new name in my mind) docking me points and cutting me like I was Woody Paige.  Cant wait for PTI up next.  HORN

Fighting

No way am I saying that I would want to get hit with a Boogaard hook, but I think it is important that the fans believe that at the end of the day, the fight will eventually be controlled. The glass in hockey is a big reason fighting is fine in the NHL and not in the NBA.

NBA players definitely take everything personally - they are pretty much hoping that somebody does something, which will allow them to take out their angst. This probably all goes back to the fact that they can't let that out on the court. The fouler provokes the foulee with a slap on the arm or other hard foul, but then the foulee can't retaliate for fear of getting a flagrant, technical, etc., and it all gets pent up inside. I'm no psychiatrist, but a lot of the NBA's players already come from difficult upbringings, some with mental and emotional issues that have to be kept inward.

Case in point - Dwight Howard drives to the basket last night past Varejao, but the Cavs have instituted a strict no-dunk policy with him, so Brazilian Sideshow Bob manhandles and bearhugs Superman like a long lost friend he hasn't seen in years. Howard somehow still is able to get the ball over and into the basket and then flexes in the general area of Varejao, and they call a technical.

They call a technical because the NBA is deathly afraid of the players pulling anything similar to the Artest scenario. It's no small coincidence that soon after that happened, the NBA instituted a dress code. Its just one more way that the NBA wants the public to not view its players as what the average American does - gangsters and thugs with 19 tats. I'm not saying all NBA players are, or even a majority, but that's the perception.

I think its such a difficult switch to flip when you go from the hip-hop culture and streetball mentality (where you are encouraged to try to make others look silly and incite them and talk about how you are #1) to the clean-cut NBA where you have to be courteous and civil to the very people you are hyping up to be your enemies.

Wheelhouse???

Well I really like that this topic is right in my bread and butter of sports knowledge.  Lets be honest, I really can fight with the best of em.  First, I need to really direct Greg to www.hockeyfights.com and watch some of the "classics" like Probert v. Domi or Probert v. anyone really.  I would not characterize them as weak or not real fighting.  I do not want to get hit in the face by Derek Boogard and his hand(which is the size of a large SUV).  

When it comes to basketball I do feel that it has become a joke the way they hand out flagrant fouls or fouls in general.  Basketball players feel that any contact is an attack on them personally and they will not hesitate to tell you about it(minus the king).  From what I hear this was not always the case.  In the past players routinely went into the lane and made contact without a whistle being blown.

AHHHHHHH as Im writing this Lebron had to make two free throws to tie the game in the eastern conference finals.  He is unbelievable!!!   I don't care that I am completely changing subjects because I am witnessing greatness night in and night out.  He is unbelievable and I dont think it is even arguable that he isn't.  He should end up with 7 or 8 MVP's by the time its all said and done.  Also Dwight Howard is OVERRATED.  He should be dominating like Patrick Chewing(his coach no less) or Hakeem.  He is a pre-Madonna and I am not going to give him respect until he turns his game into something respectable.  

Back to Lebron, he made both free throws and the game is going into overtime.  Clutch is another attribute Lebron has that others don't.  Physically he has the advantage on 90% of the league and mentally he has the advantage on 99% of the league.  He knows what his team needs and when it needs it.  When its all over he will be one of the top 3 players of all time.  

Back to basketball and hockey.  Simmons talked about a possible "penalty box" for basketball like in hockey except you wouldn't lose a player on the court you would just not be able to play a guy for a half or quarter or whatever based on the infraction that occurred.  I like this idea but it needs to be thought out more and developed so that teams don't take advantage of it with goons and idiots.

Either way something needs to change so that the NBA doesn't become the patsy of the sports world.  Now hockey is another conversation and the changes it needs to make could be our next 7 or 17 posts.  Now to watch Lebron.

-The Wise Guy

Down to Business

Now that we've got the obligatory pleasantries out of the way, let's get started.

First order of business: Fouls and Physicality in Basketball

Since the NBA is the league with the most attention paid to it right now (no real apologies to the NHL, you did it to yourself), let's talk about an issue that has gotten some attention in the basketball blogosphere (namely ESPN.com's The Sports Guy, a Blogopolis fav) - fighting, fouling and physicality in basketball.

The Sports Guy, Bill Simmons, recently wrote an article in ESPN The Magazine about how the NBA should take a cue from the NHL about fighting. One of my roommate's biggest complaints about basketball hits on this issue in that it is the natural inclination of big, strong men to foul and be physical, yet the current rules try to inhibit those instinctual actions. I recently had a conversation with said roommate (who will forever be part of the fabric of the Sports Blogopolis, namely as "The Consultant Who Knew Too Little") - please find our debate below:

(This discussion began with an excerpt from an article in ESPN The Magazine (The Sports Guy - "I love this game! (Surprise -- I'm talking about the NHL.)", Simmons, Bill)

G-Pops

The article is about how hockey is back because of fighting, and the NBA can learn from it. This is exactly what you have been saying all along:

"Know what else helped [hockey return to semi-relevantness in the American sports world]? Our country swung back toward the traits that make hockey hum. In the 1990s, we made great strides in the areas of racial equality, gender discrimination, gay rights, animal abuse, domestic violence, recycling, safe sex, drunken driving, name it. Americans grew more sophisticated and socially engaged. But we became undeniably uptight in the process. Something as innocent as a hockey fight suddenly became a bad example for the children. And no handshake line could undo the "damage."
Mercifully, we have swung the other way in the new millennium. The UFC made fighting profitable and acceptable. The Internet made it seem okay to attack anyone with words and hide behind the cloak of anonymity. Anyone could steal content -- songs, jokes, highlights -- and post it online, and everything was fine. Female celebs used sexuality to advance careers; soon teens were grinding on shows like Gossip Girl and nobody cared. Reality TV had no rules at all -- you couldn't do anything they wouldn't show.
Call it a lawlessness of sorts. I'm not defending it, just pointing it out. It's been great for hockey -- and terrible for basketball. The NBA suddenly seems like one of those late-1960s dads freaking out because his son has returned from college with long hair. "Wait, you can't shove him after the whistle like that! This game might get competitive! Flagrant-2!" Robbed of the ability to police one another, today's NBA players have no idea how to act when an opponent angers them. It's like watching two young siblings play -- wrestling unsuccessfully because Mom keeps screaming hysterically, "Careful! Careful! Careful!"
Can you play a fluid sport like basketball at its highest level without bodies banging, penetrating players getting clobbered and the occasional testiness? Of course you can't. The NBA pretends you can, though, putting the playoffs in the hands of (mostly incompetent) refs who overreact to each shove and stare. It drives me crazy."

The Consultant

Totally true. It’s a naturally aggressive game and anything that the league does to work against this will hurt the game. I’m obviously no pro, but I would definitely be more interested in watching it if they let the players play the game.

G-Pops

I think the league is worried about the players getting out of control, and either having another Kermit Washington incident (at about the 1:50 mark on youTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgqUZ1IAA_8&feature=PlayList&p=DA37CCDFE6D29FF3&index=0&playnext=1) or something similar to when Ron Artest went in the stands.

There are big differences between hockey and basketball:
(1) There is a general understanding, a fight etiquette if you will, in hockey, with almost exclusively 1-on-1 fighting and the refs there to immediately break it up, whereas in basketball usually because of the players' backgrounds it turns into a street fight with errant haymakers thrown all over the place;
(2) hockey separates itself from the fans with the boards, but in basketball quite often fans and members of the media are part of the action;
(3) the players are limited in their fighting ability anyway because of skates and pads and other gear, whereas in basketball you are uninhibited and can make contact with a guy pretty much anywhere; and
(4) basketball players are even bigger than hockey players - for example, everyone talks about Zdeno Chara, a 6'9" defenseman for the Bruins, and how intimidating and how huge a force he is because of his size - the average player in the NBA is almost that tall, what if you are dealing with 2,3 or 4 guys that size, how do you break that up with 3 typically septuagenerian referees who are half their size?

I think the solution the NBA needs to realize is to get larger referees who can actually break up potential fights. There's a classic video of a New York-Miami fight from the late 90s when the Knicks coach tries to hold back his 7-footer by holding onto his leg, as the guy drags him along. In the new NBA, this will be no more - the new refs will have to go through strength and agility tests, and then be required to maintain that will training and yearly physicals. In UFC and other extreme contact sports, as the combatants get bigger, so do the referees. I think the NBA realizes that its players are garguntuan, modern-day giants amongst us, and get some referees that can compare physically. In turn, this also helps the ability of the referees to make calls when it won't be 70 year old eyes trying to determine which way the foul goes on a bang-bang play.

I still will watch the NBA regardless of whether they go through with this.

The Consultant -

Haymakers?!? That’s a stretch. Besides that Kermit Washington punch any one I’ve even seen thrown is more of a bitch slap than a punch (Carmelo Anthony case in point.)

Your points make sense, and you clearly know more about this than I. Bigger refs would help, but by no means am I arguing for fights. What bothers me is a whistle for an "actual" or "timely" slap on the wrist when a player takes a shot. When you drive the lane contact HAS to happen otherwise it’s way too easy – think women’s lacrosse – anyone with the guts to drive the lane will either make a basket or draw a foul (Lebron.)

(1) Fights will happen either way, etiquette would develop
(2) Good point
(3) Hockey players typically fight with gloves off punching for the face, not really sure why that is that much different than what could happen in basketball
(4) More aggressive style will call for faster, more compact players, I would hypothesize that the size would come down, or shift to closer to a football style with bigger players in certain positions

Regardless it’s not going to change, but it’s interesting to think about

G-Pops

Yes, I can see Carmelo now, running backwards basically before the punch is even thrown. But I know you've seen the footage from the Artest fiasco. Jermaine O'Neal. Stephen Jackson. Simply laying out normal human beings left and right. Those were haymakers. The announcers that night were even calling them that.

The key is not necessarily haymakers or not, but the public's perception of the fight, and that in basketball, those street fights could frighten people because they look and feel out of control, and they are scared something major might happen. Everyone in hockey knows eventually its going to stop and then the two guys will skate off to the box for 5 minutes.

My point around hockey gear, especially the aspect of skates, is that you can't get a running start, you don't have your own two feet to really generate a lot of force, plus hockey fights are usually each guy holding the others sweater neck with one hand, and rarely do they do much damage before the refs jump in. This is the weakest of my points, and with limited experience in skates, could be somewhat unfounded.

Your thoughts Wise Guy?

First Post!

I also felt the need to post a standard greeting to the blogging world.  I am so excited to begin this journey into the world of "blogging".  I know that this is a forum for us to discuss and debate any topics we deem necessary ( mainly regarding sporting culture and events) but I also look at it as an opportunity to continue a meaningful friendship with a great guy.  So as we look to the future in this new world I will leave you with a quote from an idol of mine.

"You find that you have peace of mind and can enjoy yourself, get more sleep, and rest when you know that it was a one-hundred percent effort that you gave - win or lose."

-Gordie Howe

1st Ever Post

1st!!!

I felt I had to start out the new blog with the classic cliche first post. Regardless, this is the blog of two friends (TheWiseGuy and G-Pops) whose symptoms of their sports addiction finally developed into a full-blown need for an outlet. I hope that everyone will find it informative, thought-provoking, and especially entertaining, but we're not gonna promise anything.