First Pick Blog

It’s funny how short our memories are. The NBA, on the verge of collapse just over three and a half months ago, has roared to the front of the sports spotlight, only the amazingly popular NFL ahead of it in sports news across the country. How has it rebounded so quickly?
Last Season
Last season the NBA rebounded from over a decade of declining interest in the league after the glory years of the early 80’s to the mid 90’s. Slumping TV ratings, the lack of the superstar power of the previous two decades, as well as the lack of big time teams in many of the big time markets, didn’t help the NBA in its post-Jordan hangover. Last season changed all that. With the greatest free agent class in recent memory before last season, as well as much of the great talent in the big markets, the hype before last season was absolutely incredible. The season (and postseason as well) were a classic that will go down as one the greatest seasons ever. TV ratings were through the roof the entire season, as anxious fans (new and old) watched the new look Heat, Bulls, Knicks, etc. almost every weekend to the some of the highest TV ratings ever. There was no way that even a lockout (short of a whole season gone) could have stopped that momentum.
CP3

Admit it. You were hooked onto the NBA season before it began all because of the Chris Paul saga. The best true (and oft-injured) point guard in the league became the subject of immense controversy when it looked like the NBA-owned and run Hornets had traded him to the Lakers in a blockbuster deal that got the Lakers the (young) point guard they needed to win ring #6 for Kobe. However, David Stern shot down the trade setting off a media firestorm. Paul would end up in LA though, albeit to the normally hapless Clippers. It is now “Hip to be Clip” unlike any time in their history. Paul is a top 5 MVP candidate and has transformed the Clippers into “Lob City” along with Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.
Dwight Howard

As big as the Chris Paul trade, Dwight Howard’s potential trade may be even bigger. For the entire season, Dwight Howard rumors for potential landing spots have also helped the NBA out of its short slump. From talks of him joining the Nets, Lakers, Clippers, etc. fans of the league have been intrigued by all the possibilities that a Dwight Howard trade brings. For GMs and fans, bringing the best big man in the league to your city will almost certainly help the franchises prospects, adding the perennial defensive player of the year will never hurt. Orlando is in a tough situation though. They probably want to trade him after the All-Star game, considering they are hosting it this year. They wouldn’t want a man who would easily be an All-Star in either league coming back to Orlando as a member of another team. Talk about bad PR…
Superstars
Not too much to analyze here, as this year has seen amazing production out LeBron, Kobe, Durant, etc. With so many star players playing up to their potential, this year has been about as smooth transition form a lockout as any. But one special superstar has stolen our hearts this year and become the NBA’s version, of well… I don’t know if we have even seen anything like this in nearly any other sport…

Jeremy Lin
Seriously, look all over all forms of media. My analysis wouldn’t bring anything new to the table. Heck he even made the cover of Time.

Jeremy Lin

By Zach Altschuler

Big ups to the NBA for making this year’s Rising Stars Challenge actually exciting. Two coaches: Charles Barkley and Shaq, each drafting their respective teams to face off in the game. The two chose from a pool of 20 Rookie and Sophomore candidates (thankfully the NBA added Jeremy Lin in there). Here are the two rosters:

Shaq’s Superstars                             Chuck’s Young Bucks

-Blake Griffin(Clippers)               -DeMarcus Cousins(Kings)

-Greg Monroe(Pistons)               -Derrick Williams(T-Wolves)

-Markieff Morris(Suns)               -Paul George(Pacers)

-Ricky Rubio(T-Wolves)               -Kyrie Irving(Cavs)

-Jeremy Lin(Knicks)                    -MarShon Brooks(Nets)

-Kemba Walker(Bobcats)             -John Wall(Wizards)

-Norris Cole(Heat)                             -Gordon Hayward(Jazz)

-Brandon Knight(Pistons0           -Tiago Splitter(Spurs)

-Landry Fields(Knicks)                   -Evan Turner(Sixers)

-Tristan Thompson(Cavs)            -Kawhi Leonard(Spurs)

Photo: zap2it.com

ESPN is at it again! A brand sports “hero” has arisen and once again they are giving it too much thought.

A few days after Knicks guard Jeremy Lin took the NBA by storm ESPN began comparing him to Tim Tebow. How DARE you, ESPN! I have a couple of problems with this…

Tim Tebow was EXPECTED to do what he did! Are you seriously trying to tell me, ESPN, that you had NO idea that Tim Tebow was capable of playing like a top notch running quarterback? Hello! Did you forget about what he accomplished at the University of Florida? Tim Tebow was a FIRST ROUND draft pick! You don’t just pick a scrub in the first round of the NFL draft. How can you be so surprised when a STARTING quarterback begins winning football games? Is that not what he gets paid millions of dollars a year to do? Is it the fact the he is religious that attracted you to him? I think so! I can almost GAURUNTEE that every single player in the NFL prays before taking the field. What makes him so special?

Let’s turn to Jeremy Lin. Jeremy Lin was an undrafted player from Harvard. He absolutely came out of left field. Before he became the Knicks next super star, he slept on his brothers couch in Manhattan. Nobody had ever heard of him. The Knicks signed simply because they needed another guard. Do you honestly think that the Knicks organization thought that Lin would explode like he has? They certainly did not.

Why can’t we just appreciate everything that Lin has fought through? He went from sleeping on his brothers couch and coming close to giving up his dream of playing in the NBA to a super star in no time flat! What was your adversity Tebow? Oh that’s right! “They said I couldn’t do it.” What do you think Lin heard? “You’ll probably be better than Michael Jordan”? I’m thinking no, Timmy.

The mere thought that ESPN can compare Jeremy Lin to Tim Tebow is sickening and down right disrespectful. Rarely do we get to witness a player at the professional level do what he did. He got his opportunity and made the most of it. Nobody expected him to be that good (if you did…you’re lying). He is humbling doing what he does best…play basketball.

This is no Tim Tebow story, ESPN. The Jeremy Lin story is real. Tim Tebow was expected to play up to the level that he did. I will even venture to say that Tebow was nearly a BUST (that’s right! I said it!). Jeremy Lin was not even a thought when this NBA season got started. Did you see and number 17s at Madison Square Garden when the season got started? No. Did you even see them in the shops?! No! What about number 15s in Denver? You betcha! They were everywhere well before he even got his first start.

My point is, we are witnessing something that we may only get to see once in our lifetime. Why does ESPN have to blow it up and compare him to somebody else? Can we please just sit back and enjoy this for once, ESPN? We have a legitimate Linderella…I mean…Cinderella story in sports for once. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

By Brian Skinnell

Little-used Milwaukee Bucks forward Jon Brockman showcases his trick shot talents. If he can’t cut it in the NBA maybe the Globetrotters have a position available?

Funny Jeremy Lin video pointed out to me by FPB staffer Mujtaba Elgoodah

Well the 2012 Slam Dunk Contest participants were announced.

Defending champion Blake Griffin passed on returning, leaving a lackluster field of New York’s Iman Shumpert, Paul George of Indiana, rookie Derrick Williams of Minnesota and Houston’s Chase Budinger.

The league announced Thursday that there no longer will be judges in the event, which also will be reduced to one round. Each contestant will execute three dunks. Fans will determine the champion by voting on NBA.com, Twitter or through text messaging.

The format in recent years was two rounds, with a panel of judges voting on the first round before fan voting in the second.

So in honor of Chase Budinger, I bring to you the all-time slam dunk contest whiteys! BTW I know guys like Doug Christie were in it, just going to put full 100% white guys in here, mixed fellows are going to fall under the black dunker category.

First my mission is to find the first white guy to ever participate. Hellooo Wikipedia. The most difficult part of this is the names I don’t know…is it racist to go through the process of saying, “Well, that name sounds white” and google-ing it? Yes, it probably is. Wiki keep things in alphabetical order on the list so will I, starting with Chris Anderson!

      Chris was in it 04 and 05. In 2004 Chris put on a show, a nice tribute to white dunkers everwhere, all while looking like mad max. In 2005 the man formally known as Christ Anderson, now Birdman fell quite short. Taking numerous attempts to just dunk the basketball, Anderson was never seen or heard from again.

Next! Ladies and Gentlemen I give to you: Mr. Brent Barry!    Warm up jacket and all, Barry dominated the 1996 dunk contest, winning it all

Now back to 1987 and Tom Chambers, here’s a video of Chambers posterizing Mark Jackson. Sadly Chambers was up against Jordan that year….

Here’s Rex Chapman who was in it 1990 and 1991. Not bad at all. 

For a more recent participant, look no further than Rudy Fernandez in 2009. Not technically white but i’m counting it. 

After going through many names..I finally reach Bob Sura! 1997 slam dunk participant! Sura finished 5th, but bleached hair and all lost to Kobe, skip to 1:40 in the video to watch Sura. 

And that’s the list! Now here’s Chase Budinger with his dunks, enjoy! 

By Ben Simpson

After a promising game the night before, the Washington Wizards lost last night in LA to the Clippers by a score of 102-84. Don’t let the score fool you though. The Wizards were down only three at the half and had plenty of chances in the second half to take control of the game. DC had a lead with just under five minutes in the 3rd quarter on a Nick Young three-pointer. The Clippers ended the 3rd on a 8-0 run though and led 74-66 heading into the 4th. What ensued was the Clippers outscoring the Wizards by 10 points in that quarter and winning by 18.

The score looks a lot worse than the actual game though and there are some positives to take. This is the same Clippers team that ran the Wizards out of the Verizon Center just a few weeks before. The Wizards came out this game and played very competitive for most of the game despite just shooting 5-22 for three point land and 39.5% from the field. John Wall led the Wiz Kids with 18 points and 12 assists. JaVale McGee dropped 18 points including some high flying jams. Blake Griffin lead LA with 23 points and 15 boards and former Wizard Caron Butler had 21 points.

Next up for the Wizards is a matchup with Gordon Hayward and the Jazz on Friday in Utah at 9pm EST.

By Ian Holleran

Super Lintendo. Mr. Lincredible. Qui-Gon Lin.

Whatever you want to call him, Jeremy Lin is gaining more media coverage right now than Tebowing and the Kardashian family combined. I’ll admit that I’m a fan of what the kid is doing. And if you aren’t, there is something wrong with you. Who doesn’t love an underdog story? America is an underdog country founded by underdog patriots who put together an underdog government and overcame tremendous odds to force it’s way as a super power in the global scheme of things. If Jeremy Lin’s story doesn’t touch you in some way your probably a robot (or even worse: a communist).

However, I will admit that with the amount of air time Linsanity gets on my favorite network, ESPN, I am definitely starting to get tired of seeing his face and listening to roundtable discussions about whether his play will continue or whether he will be able to coexist with Melo’ or whether the Knicks can make a playoff run. Seeing so many close ups of Landry Fields, Amare Stoudamire’s stubble patches, and Mike D’Antoni’s mustache have made me more disgusted with my screen than the swarms of people that paid to see “Man On a Ledge” in theaters. Ironically, these close-ups were my inspiration for this article.

One morning several days ago I found myself staring intently into the face of the “Italian stallion” that is D’Antoni and found myself wondering, “how in the world does this man keep his mustache so finely trimmed?” One would believe his wife lovingly purchased him a Philips Norelco or Conair hair trimmer for his birthday or Christmas or something but, seriously it is one of the finest mustaches in recent memory. Seriously, see for yourself. 

Not only is it a great stache’, but it eerily resembles the grey stache’/hair combo sported by one William Daniels, or through the eyes of any 90s born teenager, a character named George Feeny from ABC’s sitcom “Boy Meets World”.

As soon as my train of thought brought me to this conclusion, my mind began to wander, “I wonder if the stallion is any good at acting”, and then to, “How funny would it be to see him in a pair of thin brimmed glasses mentoring the likes of Corey and Shawn from the other side of the fence in the Matthews’ yard”.

Then it dawned on me, especially with all this attention being place on Lin, it would not be THAT crazy to place each of Lin’s teammates beside him in an animated sitcom that could air on ESPN in their 4:30 time slot instead of Dan Lebatard’s 30 minute disaster that he is currently running in place on Jim Rome with his Hispanic father.

Seriously how hilarious would that be? Imagine a cartoon montage of Jeremy Lin traveling around New York City in a rickshaw taking pictures in front of the Empire State Building, or surfing down the Statue of Liberty, or even climbing Trump Tower in a gorilla costume. Tell me that you would not take time out of your day to watch that show especially if they cast real voices and actually had hilarious plot lines. Sure as hell would be funnier than the “the Cleveland Show”. I even thought of characteristics for each character:

Jeremy: The shows protagonist who is soft spoken yet, incredibly charismatic. He puts up with the antics of the New York media and he is constantly antagonized by Spike Lee and feels bad when he says no to his ridiculous requests and gifts.

Landry Fields: Jeremy’s best friend and alcoholic who occasionally gets too wasted and makes unnecessary passes at what he thinks are attractive women and makes poor choices (I imagine an episode or two where he tries to hookup with Lebron or D-Rose accidentally or calls David Stern to tell him “how he really feels” about his management styles). He claims that Jeremy and himself make Batman and Robin despite underachieving significantly.

Melo’: The selfish superstar who is constantly jealous of Jeremy no matter what he does. He consistently attempts to get back at him for stealing the spotlight in New York and wants nothing more than to get rid Jeremy and his followers. And did I mention he’s also incredibly overweight.

Amare: The astoundingly dimwitted oaf who provides nothing but, comedic relief. Seriously what other role could he play?

Tyson: The swag machine. I imagine him speaking similarly to Barry White and wearing lavish clothing at peculiar times. His vocabulary expands as far as Randy Jackson’s does and he is the ultimate ladies man

Bill Walker/Mike Bibby/Iman Shumpert/Toney Douglas/Jared Jefferies/etc: Bow to Lin every time they are in his presence. They see Jeremy as Elvis and treat him accordingly. They give him shotgun, first in the cafeteria line, offer up their girlfriends, and refer to him as sir no matter what the circumstances are.

D’Antoni: The wise man/ mentor. The oracle. He provides wisdom to Jeremy on top of a mountain that I envision having many stairs somewhere in the Himalayas.

Baron Davis: See above.

Spike Lee: The over enthusiastic suck-up who claims to have had faith in Jeremy ever since he was in high school. He goes out of his way to befriend Jeremy and offers him trips abroad, expensive dinners, invites to exclusive parties, and even buys him a car just so Jeremy shows him respect.His height is exaggerated as well and his glasses are bigger than his head.

Tell me I’m not crazy. If I pitched this idea to ESPN’s headquarters in Los Angeles or in Bristol they could develop it and actually make it work. They have never tackled the field of animation I think this would be great way to start. I think it would get a better following than any Tebow movie or tv show. Besides it would give them more time to talk about Peyton Manning’s future with the Colts, Andrew Luck’s draft potential, Blake Griffins dunking ability, or the most recent alley-oop from the Miami Heat, the things that apparently all of America’s sports fans care about…

If you have any ideas for this sitcom which I am currently in the process of patenting, please comment below or shoot us an email.

By Matt Fehr

Prior to the start of this season, former Washington Wizards head basketball coach Flip Saunders chose Andray Blatche to be the captain of his team.  Yes,  that Andray Blatche who’s name was used in a promotion for “Lap Dance Tuesdays” at a strip club in Miami.  The same Andray Blatche who was benched (albeit briefly) last season for insubordination.  The same Andray Blatche who had the honor of having his shoe defecated in by former teammate Gilbert Arenas (ok that last one’s more of a knock on Arenas than Blatche but you get the point).

Well, things didn’t turn out well for Saunders, as he was fired after the Wizards won only 2 of their first 17 games.  This came as a surprise to no one, except for maybe Wizards GM Ernie Grunfeld who, in 2010 signed Blatche to a 5 year, $35million contract extension.  For years Grunfeld and the rest of the Wizards brass have pointed to Blatche’s ability to finish the season strongly as an excuse to keep trotting him out there on a nightly basis.  In 2011 Blatche posted career bests in points (16.8/gm), rebounds (8.3) and assists (2.3).  This is a byproduct two things, the first one being that Blatche would come into the season out of shape, and started the season very slowly, eventually working his way into playing shape by the end.  But the most important thing to keep in mind when looking at Blatche’s stats is that he played on a team who’s roster could be beaten by Paul VI High School.  Aside from John Wall, there was no one else on the team who was a legitimate scoring threat, nor was there anyone who commanded the ball nearly as much as Blatche did.

The start to this season was no different than the others for Blatche.  After the first game, a 90-84 loss to the New Jersey Nets, “Dray” took to twitter to vent his frustrations, telling fans who were critical of him to “shut up.”  The next 20 games weren’t the nicest to Dray either, where the Wizards captain only had one game which he score more than 20 points, and only three games where he grabbed 10 or more rebounds.

Then, seemingly by the grace of God himself, Andray strained his calf, preventing him from playing for 3-5 weeks.  One would think that the loss of their leader would be such a burden on the Wizards that they would never play a competitive game, but in fact it was quite the opposite.  In the 22 games Blatche played, the Wizards’ winning percentage was 0.133%, whereas a Blatche-less Wizards team has now won 3 out of 8 games, resulting in a winning percentage of 0.385%.  In layman’s terms, the Wiz’ winning percentage has nearly tripled in Dray’s absence.

Normally I am not one to root for players to get injured, but in this case I can make an exception.

By Ricky Bassett

For supplemental reading check out http://www.andrayblatchesucks.com/

Here are the six participants in this year’s NBA Three-point shootout.

Anthony Morrow

Ryan Anderson

Joe Johnson

Kevin Love

Mario Chalmers

Defending Champ James Jones