So, last week I got 10/20 picks right. 8/10 on the over under and 2/10 on the spread. This is the second time that's happened. If this continues, I think I might just do the opposite of my intuition for the spread ;-)
Tonight's a BIG basketball night. New Years day is one of the few days in the season where NO team plays. Random trivia... the other days being Christmas Eve, the Monday after the all-star break, and the night of the NCAA championship game. Before this year, Thanksgiving night was also one of those days.
Anyhoo, considering nobody played yesterday, tonight, all 30 teams are playing. 15 game, 30 picks. Here we go...
Friday, January 2, 2009
Friday, December 26, 2008
Crappy Christmas
Suns lost, Lakers won, Portland lost... for it being Christmas and all, yesterday was a pretty disappointing day for me. It's like the worst three outcomes possible of any NBA games. At least I didn't have any money riding on any of those, 'else I'd be really sad ;-)
Speaking of money, here's my predictions for tonight...
And here's a Youtube goodie... Andrew Bogut giving props to himself.
Speaking of money, here's my predictions for tonight...
| Chicago | 5.5 | +198.5 |
| Miami | -5.5 | -198.5 |
| Minnesota | 6.5 | +215 |
| New York | -6.5 | -215 |
| Charlotte | 4.5 | +192.5 |
| New Jersey | -4.5 | -192.5 |
| Indiana | 1 | +205 |
| Memphis | -1 | -205 |
| Houston | 1.5 | +184.5 |
| New Orleans | -1.5 | -184.5 |
| OKC | 10 | +197.5 |
| Detroit | -10 | -197.5 |
| Dallas | 2.5 | +194 |
| Utah | -2.5 | -194 |
| Phila. | 6.5 | +197.5 |
| Denver | -6.5 | -197.5 |
| Toronto | -2.5 | +200 |
| Sacramento | 2.5 | -200 |
| Boston | -10.5 | +210.5 |
| Golden State | 10.5 | -210.5 |
And here's a Youtube goodie... Andrew Bogut giving props to himself.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Posting from the airport
So, I made 24 predictions last Friday. Ended up 10 right, 1 push, 13 wrong. 8/10 of my wins were on the spread, just 2 on the over/under. 6/12 games actually went under, I bet on 7/12 to go under, but I just picked all the wrong ones. Ah wells. I'll get it right eventually... hopefully... sigh.
Also, the Lakers dropped two games over the weekend. YAY!!! Maybe they're not on the same tier as Cleveland and Boston. Props to Miami and Orlando for beating up on the Lakers.
And a shot out for the little guy. Aaron Brooks, the 6 ft, 2nd year PG grabbed 10 boards against Minnesota on Saturday night. Meanwhile, Yao (all 7-6 of him) got a measly 4 rebs in the same game. Seriously, what's wrong with all the big men today that don't rebound? There's is absolutely no excuse why guys like Yao (9.2 career rpg) or Amare (9.0 career rpg) don't avg. at LEAST 10 rebounds. Speaking of little guys, here's a clip of a Nate Robinson dunk against the Celts over the weekend.
I don't got much else to post... I'm traveling for the holidays so I don't have as much time to hit up the bball sites. But, here's a Nash funny before I go. In case I don't post again before the big day, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!
Also, the Lakers dropped two games over the weekend. YAY!!! Maybe they're not on the same tier as Cleveland and Boston. Props to Miami and Orlando for beating up on the Lakers.
And a shot out for the little guy. Aaron Brooks, the 6 ft, 2nd year PG grabbed 10 boards against Minnesota on Saturday night. Meanwhile, Yao (all 7-6 of him) got a measly 4 rebs in the same game. Seriously, what's wrong with all the big men today that don't rebound? There's is absolutely no excuse why guys like Yao (9.2 career rpg) or Amare (9.0 career rpg) don't avg. at LEAST 10 rebounds. Speaking of little guys, here's a clip of a Nate Robinson dunk against the Celts over the weekend.
I don't got much else to post... I'm traveling for the holidays so I don't have as much time to hit up the bball sites. But, here's a Nash funny before I go. In case I don't post again before the big day, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!
Friday, December 19, 2008
Friday Postings
Interesting game last night. Pretty sad that the Suns lost, but it was entertaining nonetheless. Roy was just incredible. And while the Sun's perimeter D was partly to blame for that... I just want to remind any naysayers about the Richardson trade that even with Raja, Harris and Wade both hung season highs on the Suns too. The Sun's perimeter defense is pathetic as a team effort, even with Raja it wouldn't have mattered.
I'll probably rant more about the Suns in the coming games, but I'll reserve my judgment for now. I really want to see who they are planning to pick up. Hopefully, it's somebody that Porter trusts... because his use/trust of our bench is abysmal. Barbosa and Amundson are actually doing okay but they're still getting very limited minutes. I'm just not sure what's Porter's problem with them. One of the biggest complaints about D'Antoni (besides defense) was his underutlization of the bench and tiring our against starters. Porter at least started the season on the right track... often playing 10 deep and keeping Shaq and Nash ~30 minutes or less, but in the last 5-10 games, he's been worse than D'A. Shrinking his rotationto 6, barely 7, and running Shaq and Nash 35+ minutes.
In case you missed Inside the NBA after the game last night, here's a funny gif of some Portland fans celebrating, courtesy of TrueHoop...
And oh yeah, and here's my predictions for tonight.
I'll probably rant more about the Suns in the coming games, but I'll reserve my judgment for now. I really want to see who they are planning to pick up. Hopefully, it's somebody that Porter trusts... because his use/trust of our bench is abysmal. Barbosa and Amundson are actually doing okay but they're still getting very limited minutes. I'm just not sure what's Porter's problem with them. One of the biggest complaints about D'Antoni (besides defense) was his underutlization of the bench and tiring our against starters. Porter at least started the season on the right track... often playing 10 deep and keeping Shaq and Nash ~30 minutes or less, but in the last 5-10 games, he's been worse than D'A. Shrinking his rotationto 6, barely 7, and running Shaq and Nash 35+ minutes.
In case you missed Inside the NBA after the game last night, here's a funny gif of some Portland fans celebrating, courtesy of TrueHoop...
And oh yeah, and here's my predictions for tonight.
| LA Clippers | 2.5 | +207 |
| Indiana | -2.5 | -207 |
| Phila. | -1.5 | +193.5 |
| Washington | 1.5 | -193.5 |
| Golden State | 10.5 | +217 |
| Atlanta | -10.5 | -217 |
| Chicago | 12.5 | +196 |
| Boston | -12.5 | -196 |
| Dallas | -3.5 | +199 |
| New Jersey | 3.5 | -199 |
| Milwaukee | 4.5 | +215.5 |
| New York | -4.5 | -215.5 |
| Utah | 3.5 | +191 |
| Detroit | -3.5 | -191 |
| Charlotte | 3.5 | +182.5 |
| Memphis | -3.5 | -182.5 |
| LA Lakers | -8 | +203 |
| Miami | 8 | -203 |
| Toronto | -6.5 | +199.5 |
| Oklahoma City | 6.5 | -199.5 |
| Sacramento | 12.5 | +203 |
| Houston | -12.5 | -203 |
| Cleveland | 0 | +198.5 |
| Denver | 0 | -198.5 |
Monday, December 15, 2008
Delayed Reaction
Okay, this is like five days late... but let me get my thoughts about the Charlotte trade out before the first real game with Jason Richardson and the Suns tonight.
My initial reaction was a B+ for the Suns. Richardson is definately better than Raja or Diaw (1-on-1) and gives our offense a LOT more firepower. He's a career 18.8 ppg scorer. With Shaq, Amare, and Nash... now we can play like the old Suns... with 4 players capable of going off for 20-25 pts on any given night. With Porter's Shaq-centric half court offense, J-Rich can also assume the Penny/Kobe/Wade role of the slashing athletic SG who can finish with contact. I expect to start seeing that entry pass, backdoor cut with J-Rich. J-Rich from the elbow into Shaq, cut baseline behind Shaq. Shaq either takes his man, hands off to J-Rich for a layup/dunk, or swing opposite corner for a spot up 3 (Barnes?). Awesome!
Defense wise we'll slack a bit (but then Raja is a half step slower now too) and we still have Barnes , who imho, is just about as good a defender as Raja now.
My only reservations was the thinning of our bench. We sent out Diaw and Singletary, but did not return any bigs or PGs. That means our bench big and PG would just be Robin Lopez and Goran Dragic (Tragic), which is HORRIBLE in terms of depth. We also got Jared Dudley in the trade, but he's more of a SF than a true big, and he's still pretty raw that we shouldn't be expecting any major contributions this year. This trade puts us at just 12 players though and the league requires a minimum of 13 players on the roster. So we definately HAVE to sign/trade for another player... so hopefully that new player will shore up our bench a bit as well. Btw, we have two weeks to fill that last roster spot.
...
So that was my initial reactions. After a few days of thought and some media coverage, I'm ready to up my initial assessment and give the Suns and A on the trade.
First of all, Raja and Diaw clearly weren't happy with the new Sun's system. Apparently, Raja actually asked for a trade a couple weeks ago, and Diaw had some cheap parting shots for Suns after the trade. Phoenix GM Steve Kerr has gotten a lot of flack for senting mixed messages by bringing in the same type of players that would work best in the Run & Gun system rather than defensive orientated half court players. A lot of critics are saying why ruin a good thing? Why trade for the same players just to leave your mark on the team? My take on that is even if Kerr is just playing shuffling with the talents, (Barnes, J-Rich). At least these new players are players that have never played under D'Antoni and won't be consciously/subconsciously trying to sabotage the new coach.
I kept saying stuff like "I don't understand..." in regards to the PHX offense in the early season. Like why coudn't they selectively run off turnovers and long rebounds, or why can't they move to get open shots when Shaq is drawing double teams.
Well, if they weren't happy and were pining for the old, then maybe Diaw and Bell weren't really trying their hardest. Like they heard what Porter wanted (speed it up, but also play under control) and they were just fighting the system. Like, "oh, you want slow, I'll be slow". If you don't really want to learn something, you won't do you best at it. And we need everybody trying their best.
And Jason Richardson clearly wants to be here. He's only been to the playoffs once in seven seasons and was stuck on the frigid Bobcats (on pace to win just 25 games this year) until now. Now he'll have the chance to play in a winning system and for a playoff seed and with all-star teammates in warm Phoenix Arizona.
And in his first game as a Sun, Richardson came off the bench and had a couple highlight dunks that really excited the crowd. Overall, he scored 21 points on a very efficient 8/16 shooting. One other thing I noted was that he can actually play with our 2nd unit. One of my initial reservations was the thinning of our bench. But since Richardson can create shots for himself, if he's in with the second unit, that takes the pressure off of needing Barbosa or Dragic to be a playmaking guard.
So yeah, that's basically my take on the trade for the Suns. An A for Kerr and the organization. Since I like to make predictions, I say Richardson helps us win at least an extra 2-3 games this year and we get a top four seed. I'll be sure to gloat in April if I'm right ;-)
As for Charlotte... I have really no idea why they did the trade. Maybe just cuz Diaw and Raja are supposedly Larry Brown types who play hard and make the extra pass? But that's pretty crappy reasoning to trade away your leading scorer. Now CHA will be lucky to hit 85 on most nights. If it wasn't for a 30 point 4th quarter, CHA would have been lucky to break 80 last Saturday. They had just 13 after the 1st, 33 at the half, and 56 after 3 quarters.
Like I mentioned before, Raja has been noticeably a step slower for over a year now. The Suns with Raja were abusely terribly by Tony Parker last year in the playoffs and were lit up by Wade (43 pts) and Harris (47 pts) this season. In his first game with the Bobcats, he let Stuckey, Iverson, and Hamilton all shoot 46+% from the field. Diaw on the other hand can be brillant 1 game but terribly passive the next two games, and while he might "play the right way", his inconsistency is gonna drive Brown and CHA fans crazy. The only way this is a passable deal for the Bobcats is if they were getting the '05-'06 Raja and Diaw. I don't know. Maybe this trade lights a fire under them and they revert back to their old forms. If they do, great for the 'Cats, but they clearly weren't going to under the Suns.
...
And regarding last Saturday's prediction post. 10 games, 20 bets. I got 9 right, pushed on one (DEN/GS score), and lost 10. Funny thing though, last week I mentioned that I needed to be more conservative with my over/unders, so this week, I picked 6 unders... ended up 5 right and push on 1. Actually, I only lost ONE out of 10 over/unders. That's pretty good imho. Of course, I also lost NINE out 10 spreads. LOL. I have no idea how they figure out these odds, but it's damn impressive how it always ends up close to 50/50. Ah well, more tweaking/strategizing this week and I'll try again next Friday.
Alrighty... that's all I got for now. Here's a funny/inappropriate pic from the Laker game last night. Courtesy of BDL. Who else thinks Miller's hands are just a little too low for a "friendly hug"?
My initial reaction was a B+ for the Suns. Richardson is definately better than Raja or Diaw (1-on-1) and gives our offense a LOT more firepower. He's a career 18.8 ppg scorer. With Shaq, Amare, and Nash... now we can play like the old Suns... with 4 players capable of going off for 20-25 pts on any given night. With Porter's Shaq-centric half court offense, J-Rich can also assume the Penny/Kobe/Wade role of the slashing athletic SG who can finish with contact. I expect to start seeing that entry pass, backdoor cut with J-Rich. J-Rich from the elbow into Shaq, cut baseline behind Shaq. Shaq either takes his man, hands off to J-Rich for a layup/dunk, or swing opposite corner for a spot up 3 (Barnes?). Awesome!
Defense wise we'll slack a bit (but then Raja is a half step slower now too) and we still have Barnes , who imho, is just about as good a defender as Raja now.
My only reservations was the thinning of our bench. We sent out Diaw and Singletary, but did not return any bigs or PGs. That means our bench big and PG would just be Robin Lopez and Goran Dragic (Tragic), which is HORRIBLE in terms of depth. We also got Jared Dudley in the trade, but he's more of a SF than a true big, and he's still pretty raw that we shouldn't be expecting any major contributions this year. This trade puts us at just 12 players though and the league requires a minimum of 13 players on the roster. So we definately HAVE to sign/trade for another player... so hopefully that new player will shore up our bench a bit as well. Btw, we have two weeks to fill that last roster spot.
...
So that was my initial reactions. After a few days of thought and some media coverage, I'm ready to up my initial assessment and give the Suns and A on the trade.
First of all, Raja and Diaw clearly weren't happy with the new Sun's system. Apparently, Raja actually asked for a trade a couple weeks ago, and Diaw had some cheap parting shots for Suns after the trade. Phoenix GM Steve Kerr has gotten a lot of flack for senting mixed messages by bringing in the same type of players that would work best in the Run & Gun system rather than defensive orientated half court players. A lot of critics are saying why ruin a good thing? Why trade for the same players just to leave your mark on the team? My take on that is even if Kerr is just playing shuffling with the talents, (Barnes, J-Rich). At least these new players are players that have never played under D'Antoni and won't be consciously/subconsciously trying to sabotage the new coach.
I kept saying stuff like "I don't understand..." in regards to the PHX offense in the early season. Like why coudn't they selectively run off turnovers and long rebounds, or why can't they move to get open shots when Shaq is drawing double teams.
Well, if they weren't happy and were pining for the old, then maybe Diaw and Bell weren't really trying their hardest. Like they heard what Porter wanted (speed it up, but also play under control) and they were just fighting the system. Like, "oh, you want slow, I'll be slow". If you don't really want to learn something, you won't do you best at it. And we need everybody trying their best.
And Jason Richardson clearly wants to be here. He's only been to the playoffs once in seven seasons and was stuck on the frigid Bobcats (on pace to win just 25 games this year) until now. Now he'll have the chance to play in a winning system and for a playoff seed and with all-star teammates in warm Phoenix Arizona.
And in his first game as a Sun, Richardson came off the bench and had a couple highlight dunks that really excited the crowd. Overall, he scored 21 points on a very efficient 8/16 shooting. One other thing I noted was that he can actually play with our 2nd unit. One of my initial reservations was the thinning of our bench. But since Richardson can create shots for himself, if he's in with the second unit, that takes the pressure off of needing Barbosa or Dragic to be a playmaking guard.
So yeah, that's basically my take on the trade for the Suns. An A for Kerr and the organization. Since I like to make predictions, I say Richardson helps us win at least an extra 2-3 games this year and we get a top four seed. I'll be sure to gloat in April if I'm right ;-)
As for Charlotte... I have really no idea why they did the trade. Maybe just cuz Diaw and Raja are supposedly Larry Brown types who play hard and make the extra pass? But that's pretty crappy reasoning to trade away your leading scorer. Now CHA will be lucky to hit 85 on most nights. If it wasn't for a 30 point 4th quarter, CHA would have been lucky to break 80 last Saturday. They had just 13 after the 1st, 33 at the half, and 56 after 3 quarters.
Like I mentioned before, Raja has been noticeably a step slower for over a year now. The Suns with Raja were abusely terribly by Tony Parker last year in the playoffs and were lit up by Wade (43 pts) and Harris (47 pts) this season. In his first game with the Bobcats, he let Stuckey, Iverson, and Hamilton all shoot 46+% from the field. Diaw on the other hand can be brillant 1 game but terribly passive the next two games, and while he might "play the right way", his inconsistency is gonna drive Brown and CHA fans crazy. The only way this is a passable deal for the Bobcats is if they were getting the '05-'06 Raja and Diaw. I don't know. Maybe this trade lights a fire under them and they revert back to their old forms. If they do, great for the 'Cats, but they clearly weren't going to under the Suns.
...
And regarding last Saturday's prediction post. 10 games, 20 bets. I got 9 right, pushed on one (DEN/GS score), and lost 10. Funny thing though, last week I mentioned that I needed to be more conservative with my over/unders, so this week, I picked 6 unders... ended up 5 right and push on 1. Actually, I only lost ONE out of 10 over/unders. That's pretty good imho. Of course, I also lost NINE out 10 spreads. LOL. I have no idea how they figure out these odds, but it's damn impressive how it always ends up close to 50/50. Ah well, more tweaking/strategizing this week and I'll try again next Friday.
Alrighty... that's all I got for now. Here's a funny/inappropriate pic from the Laker game last night. Courtesy of BDL. Who else thinks Miller's hands are just a little too low for a "friendly hug"?
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Saturday Musings
There goes Mo. Cheeks. That's the fifth coach fired this year, 1/6 of all NBA coaches. Though admittedly, the 76ers are probably the most disappointing team this season. I mean everybody knew the Thunder and Wizards were gonna suck, the people (myself included) had high hopes for the 76ers. They made the playoffs last year after closing the season on an 18-5 run. In the playoffs, they played a very inspired series as they pushed the Pistons to six games when most expected them to be swept. And then this summer they add Elton Brand while losing nobody of value. I think everyone just assumed they would get a top 4 seed. Instead, right now they're in 11th place in the east and 3 games back from the 8th seed. I got Iggy and Miller in lots of leagues based on my post-season fantasy strategy and both have been underwhelming so far this season. Hopefully this change of coaches can shake the players/team out of their funk. I'll need it.
And now onto my picks for tonight. I missed my prediction post yesterday, so this is the makeup for it.
And now onto my picks for tonight. I missed my prediction post yesterday, so this is the makeup for it.
| Cleveland | -5 | +187.5 |
| Atlanta | +5 | -187.5 |
| Detroit | -1.5 | +184 |
| Charlotte | +1.5 | -184 |
| Washington | +6 | +195.5 |
| Phila. | -6 | -195.5 |
| New Jersey | +4 | +205.5 |
| Chicago | -4 | -205.5 |
| Indiana | +4.5 | +206.5 |
| Milwaukee | -4.5 | -206.5 |
| OKC | +12.5 | +205.5 |
| Dallas | -12.5 | -205.5 |
| Orlando | +5.5 | +200.5 |
| Utah | -5.5 | -200.5 |
| G. State | +15.5 | +228 |
| Denver | -15.5 | -228 |
| New York | +1 | +218.5 |
| Sacramento | -1 | -218.5 |
| Houston | -4.5 | +191.5 |
| LA Clippers | +4.5 | -191.5 |
Friday, December 12, 2008
Quickie Post
Been really busy lately... Missed my Friday Vegas prediction post too. Ah wells, I'll do it tomorrow for sure. I have/had a lot of stuff I wanted to post about the Richardson trade too, but since I already missed my chance for an immediate reaction post, I'll hold it for a more analytical post later. Richardson is playing tonight... but Monday will be the real evaluation. Shaq will be playing, Richardson should have shook the jitters off, and the team would have had a full practice. The fact that all eyes will be on D'Antoni's first return to PHX will be really interesting too.
Anyhoo... quickie post. If you were gonna click just ONE of my youtube links, click THIS one. Trust me, LOL!
Anyhoo... quickie post. If you were gonna click just ONE of my youtube links, click THIS one. Trust me, LOL!
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