Bleacher Report - Articles by Ralph isaac

Yao Ming: Chinese Government Killed His Career

Ralph isaac — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:07:33 -0400

From the start the Chinese government planned to use Yao Ming as a propaganda tool. They treated their best athlete like an instrument to remind the world of China's greatness.

It practically mirrors the communist ideology where there's no place for the individual; every action a citizen takes is supposed to be for the improvement of the country. This ideology is programmed into Chinese kids from elementary stage and by the time these kids near adulthood, it becomes the norm to think of nationalism as the way of life.

You can't really blame Yao Ming for wanting to play for his country year after year. The pressure of being the best Chinese basketball player ever to enter the NBA was immense. If he had tried to take summers off after going through a grueling NBA season, Chinese everywhere would have criticized him for it. The government might have even gone as far as revoking his visa because of it.

The Rockets organization deserve some the blame too because they never once expressed their concern to the Chinese government. It almost seemed like they were scared to approach them on the subject. They quietly pocketed the merchandise sales they were getting as a result of Yao being a Rocket. They kept their mouth shut for fear of losing those dollars.

They sat back and let the Chinese government force Yao to play back to back world competitions following serious injuries. In both cases, Yao wasn't fully healed. Jeff Van Gundy was one of the few who publicly voiced his concerns over it.

Now word out of Houston is that the injury Yao suffered in the playoffs might force him to miss the entire coming season and might potentially be career threatening. We all saw this was coming. The Rockets and the Chinese government got nobody to blame but themselves. The only real loser in this are the fans (Chinese and rockets).

Phil Jackson at Front of Lakers' Head Coaching Dilemma

Ralph isaac — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:27:56 -0400

I understand Phil Jackson's health is a concern, but the Lakers should refrain from making Kurt Rambis their head coach.

I know he is knowledgeable on the triangle; he knows the Laker players well. But there's a big difference between being an assistant coach and a head coach.

Leadership is a major requirement to be a head coach—a characteristic which I believe Kurt Rambis lacks.

He was disastrous in his first stint as an NBA head coach. I don't think he has the mental toughness to command Kobe's respect. Without Kobe's respect he certainly won't last long.

Players like Kobe Bryant are sharks; once they smell blood in the water they feast upon their prey.

Does Kurt Rambis have anything he can teach Kobe that Kobe doesn't already know? Phil always had something new to show his players.

Rambis was the one who orchestrated that Laker defense in the beginning of the year. This was the same defense that was easily figured out by opposing teams 10-15 games into the season. He never adjusted to what opponents did. Several Laker players commented on that fact.

Greg Popovich is not leaving the Spurs, Pat Riley is too old, and Hubie Brown is also long in the tooth. The only thing Kurt Rambis has going for him is his familiarity with the triangle.

The two other choices for the Lakers would be Coach K or Jeff Van Gundy. I prefer coach K. In my opinion Jeff Van Gundy is a little too overbearing.

Bill Russell: Not Deserving of Top Five of All Time

Ralph isaac — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:04:56 -0400

Bill Rusell should not be put in the Pantheon of basketball.

He played in a time where the league only had eight teams. That is why I think putting him in top five is his consolation prize for winning 11 championships.

He was a really poor shooter, 44 percent from the field for a center is atrocious. The only thing he did great was rebounding ball.

Kareem, Dream, Wilt are all superior players. He shot over 45 percent only four times in his 13 year NBA career.

Being an great defender doesn't warrant him being in every top five all time list.

Right now he is being billed as a great person but people forget how Bill Russell once punched Ray Felix unconscious. Or how he refused to sign Heinsohn's cousin autograph because he didn't like the fact that Heinsohn was named Rookie of the Year in 1957.

He was only selected to All-NBA 1st team three times in his whole career and eight times to the All-NBA 2nd team.

For all the 11 times he won the NBA championship, he was never the best player on his team in the NBA finals. The only thing he did better than anybody else was rebound the ball.

But then again Dennis Rodman did that too when he used to play, that doesn't make him better than Michael or Scottie now does it?

Isn't it also amazing the first time the Finals MVP was introduced, it went to the best player on the opposing-losing team?

That is why i have a problem with people saying Bill Russell deserves top five nomination just because he was winner and rebounded the ball well. Not once was he considered the best center (or best player) in the league during his 13 year career.

Now let me ask you this question: How is it possible that a player can be considered a top five all time great when he wasn't even the best player in his era?

Los Angeles Lakers' Achilles Heel: "Lack Of Leadership!"

Ralph isaac — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 09:04:49 -0500

Leadership is not a skill. You can't learn it. Leadership is grown into. Anybody has the potential to a great leader should events in childhood and adolescence shape them so.

Which goes back to our current Los Angeles Lakers team and its obvious lack of leadership.

I know everybody (basketball analysts and writers) would like us to think that Kobe is the leader of the Lakers and everything good they do is under the guidance of Kobe's leadership.

It's one of the many open lies of the NBA. Do not confuse "leading by example" with vocal leadership. You need to be vocal to control a locker room and to get a group of equally arrogant sports players to follow you. Kobe lacks this particular skill. Look no further to the past Olympics.

Pundits say that Boston won the championship because they were better and hungrier. This is another open secret-lie! The real reason Boston won the championship was because of leadership.

Look no further than Game 4 when Doc Rivers talked to his players in the huddle during every timeout. How did the Lakers' leadership respond? There were none.

Not from Kobe, not from Phil. Watch Kobe's body language during the timeouts. He said nothing. As a matter of fact, Kobe started walking toward the locker room even before that game ended.

Fast forward to this year, the Lakers are supposed to be best and most talented team in basketball. Yet, the more I watch these Lakers play the more I start seeing the eerie resemblance between this team and the 2007 Dallas Mavericks who lost to Golden State.

A few of other people I know made the same remark. The lack of leadership is even more blatant now than it was a year ago.

Phil Jackson is back to his old habit of letting players figure things out on their own and refusing to call timeouts during crucial stretches while forgetting he's got young players; Derek Fisher is taking contested shots and routinely turning the ball over by driving for layups when he's not wide open (Jeff Van Gundy made the same remark); the bench is routinely getting out of their role (i.e., KG vs. Glen "Big Baby" Davis); Andrew looks lost out there sometimes; Kobe refuses to guard his man past the three point line and just stands under the basket to rebound the ball should his opponent misses so he can race down the other end of the court, and Lamar Odom's moody nonchalant attitude is more prominent this year than it ever has.

A leader would have fixed these issues. I know some of you guys might say Fisher is the leader of the team but he doesn't have power.

Yes, he has the vocal skills but he lacks the game to match it to really get the locker room under his control. Kobe, on the other hand, has the respect to his game but he lacks the vocal skills.

Any of you who have listen to Kobe talk, you'll know what I mean. You wouldn't follow him either!! My question is: Where is Phil Jackson in this, because he seems content to just ignore these issues which will definitely resurface come playoffs time should they stay unsolved.

As a matter of fact when asked about Fisher, here's what Jordan Farmar said: "Derek is a great leader, he doesn't go around saying he's a leader, he just is!"

Lebron's World Domination Halted By Kobe

Ralph isaac — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:17:23 -0400

No this article is not a knock on Lebron. It's not an article to denigrate anything he has done neither. He's one of the best players in the league. It's not another who's better than the other article. This is about how "word of mouth and first hand account" will always be more effective than the corporate hype known as Nike and network TV.

Lebron had a plain for china: "world domination". Everything was set over here in the states, he had a Time Magazine cover which states that Lebron was the number one athlete to watch for in Beijing; he had a prime interview slot from CNN talking about Team USA on how he was going to lead it and put the United States back on top of the basketball world.

He had a commercial with Yao Ming, china's most popular athlete. With the stars aligned for him, world domination was all but guaranteed.

As always, something always go wrong with these "100% success plans". And that was Kobe bean Bryant. The same athlete Time Magazine had ranked as No. 29 on its "athletes to watch for" list.

You mean to tell me Lebron's people or his connects didn't have anything to do with that? He's a competitor too, there's no way he'd have Kobe near him in a "athletes to watch" list.

He is also a top 20 celebrity, so don't lecture me on thinking too much on how much leverage he had with Time Magazine. I'm not the only one who called bluff on that list, numerous national sports show and credible writers thought it was weird that Kobe was twenty-nine on the list. They had athletes you'd never heard before ahead of him on it.

But Lebron was in for a rude awakening the moment they set foot in China. He found out that Kobe was big outside the U.S., even bigger than Yao Ming himself. There are some news reports that some fans cry after meeting Kobe or receiving an autograph from him. Some of his teammates compare it to the Beatles.

Kobe might have kept quiet on this to his teammates but a year or two ago, Kobe had police people stop him on his way out of his jet, to ask him an autograph, it was at the request of a high government Chinese official.

I'm not gonna ask nor try to create conspiracies because I know If i was in Lebron's shoes, I'd be pissed too. I had everything arranged and Kobe came and messed it up.

In fact, one can argue that china has helped Kobe more than Lebron. Rush Limbaugh defended and praised Kobe! I didn't make a mistake, "Rush Limbaugh"! You have CNN and other major news channel also requesting interviews.

That's like trying to get with a girl, you badmouth a guy who might be competition. You go and pick the girl up, you find out that the same bad guy you badmouthed is already there living with the girl. To make matters worse, they are engaged to be married...Ain't that a B****?

Elton Brand "boozered" The Clippers: "I Smell a Rat"

Ralph isaac — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:22:16 -0400

Like my man T.O said: "If it talks like a duck, walk like a duck, then by golly it is a duck."

That about sums it up for the whole Elton Brand to the 76ers. I know all those people who believed Elton Brand was a stand up are disappointed. Well they should be! Because Elton turned out to be just as much a diva as the next guy.

I don't believe any of those words that came out of Brand's mouth yesterday after the signing and countless other radio interviews. The most telling fact was that his agent was the one speaking for him at the press conference. When was the last time you saw an agent speaking for a player after a major signing??

Then I did some research on his agent David Falk. I found out that he used to be a power agent who used to managed Michael Jordan. He also resented Mike Dunleavy for not picking Mike Bibby (his client at the time) during the draft. It looks like he used Elton Brand to get back at the Clippers, all the while helping his status as an agent.

What broke the Camel's back you ask? Word out of Los Angeles is that Brand wanted a no-trade clause and an opt-out clause. I don't blame the Clippers for refusing to give out a no-trade clause, because after the Kobe Bryant saga, executives around the league took notice and vowed to never give out no trade clauses.

"Who the f*** is Elton Brand to demand a no-trade clause?" He's not a superstar, he's not a leader. He's a quiet dude that puts out good numbers. But he doesn't impact a team's win/lost record in anyway. Is it a coincidence that the Clippers only successful season was with a 35+ year old Cassel as its leader?

First he says it's not about the money. But they used the Warriors and Sixers offer for the Clippers to up their offer. Didn't Brand himself say that he'd take less money so that they could go after a top free-agent?

They did just that with Baron Davis. And Davis is the one who will have to pay for Brand's divaness. Ain't that a b**ch?

Sasha Vujacic: The Machine-Slovenian Pest

Ralph isaac — Sat, 24 May 2008 05:59:38 -0400

Sasha Vujacic is known to get under his opponents' skin. Ask Carmelo, Eduardo Najara, jr Smith, Ginobili, Bowen, and Kyle Korver whom all took cheap shots at him.

The latest culprits were Bruce Bowen and Manu Ginobili who gave him an elbow to the neck and shoved him to floor respectively.

What makes him a valuable player is that he can flat stroke the ball from anywhere from the floor, and he can defend just as good.

He's practically the third best Lakers’ defender behind Trevor Ariza and Kobe Bryant.

On some night, he looks like the best defender on the floor. Go ask Kyle Korver how Sasha denied him a shot and run the floor and knock a jumper in his (korver) face.

This guy can easily average 15-20 PPG if he gets starter minutes and enough shots. He can run around a screen at full speed, catch a pass, and still pull up for a jump shot with no problem.

And the fact that he's the second best guard/defender on a team with Kobe Bryant makes him even more valuable.

I won’t be surprised if the Lakers opt to trade Odom for salary relief and move Sasha to the starting lineup and put Kobe at small forward.

But the chance of this happening is slim to none because Odom is that valuable to the team.

The bad news for the Lakers is that his stock rises with each playoff game. He's even starting to gain some national press.

I'm sure that after this series is over, win or lose, the Spurs will come knocking with a fat paycheck thrown his way. And the Lakers will have to part with Luke Walton, Radmanovich, or Chris Mihm to re-sign him.

And if I'm the Lakers, I put re-signing Sasha at the top of my list since we have an extra year to negotiate a contract with either Andrew B. or Jordan F. because guys like Sasha (shooter/passer/defender) are hard to find.

Suns-Spurs: Steve Nash's Weaknesses Amplified Without Shawn Marion

Ralph isaac — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:18:52 -0400

What was Shawn Marion's main reason for demanding to be traded? The Suns organization, from management down to the players, didn't appreciate him enough.

This was illustrated when Amare Stoudemire phoned his owner saying that he wanted Shaq in a Suns uniform. Nash, who benefited the most from Shawn's presence, approved the trade.

This is the same Shawn Marion who helped Nash gain his second MVP trophy and reach the Western Conference Finals when Stoudemire was out for the whole season that year with knee injury.

Whenever there was trade talk, Shawn Marion was the first one to be shopped around. Why? because Suns brass valued Stoudemire's talent more than they valued Shawn's all-around game.

Phoenix was dumb not to shop Stoudemire more aggressively in the summer to get a Top Five lottery pick so they could trade for Kevin Garnett.

With Garnett, the Suns would have had a three- to four-year window to win the championship.

But what did the Suns do? They traded Kurt Thomas so they could save money. To make matters worse, they traded two first-round picks along with him.

Here comes Steve Kerr, the new general manager/fanboy to save the day. What did he do to improve the Suns? He traded Shawn Marion, the Suns best defender, for 35-year-old Shaquille O'Neal. That's a move only a fan would make.

Take a page out of the Lakers' book. They were badly in need of a big man, so they signed Mbenga instead of the more well-known Webber, who flamed out badly in Golden State.

You think Suns couldn't have gotten a better big man than Shaq for Marion?

My guess is, Mike D'Antoni reluctantly agreed to the O'Neal trade. Shouldn't Steve Kerr have known better than anyone that Shaq is one of the worst pick-and-roll defenders in the league? Why would you couple him with Stoudemire, who's equally as bad?

Also, with Marion gone, Nash's defense would be exposed. Isn't that a disaster waiting to happen?

This is exactly how the Spurs are beating the Suns: pick-and-rolls, Hack a Shaq, and Parker going through Nash like a knife through butter.

P.S: Notice I didn't even mention Ginobili.

I wonder if Shawn Marion is somewhere down in Miami right now, with his shades on, with a big grin on his face, saying, "I told you so!"

Dirk Nowitzki Needs a New Pair of Cojones!!!!

Ralph isaac — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:45:04 -0400

Like most other media pundits out there, I predicted that the Dallas Mavericks would win this series in six games because I think they are the superior team. I think Dallas' lineup is equal or even superior to the Hornets:

Dallas

PG:Kidd ; SG:Howard; SF: Bass ; PF: Nowitzki; C: Dampier

New Orleans

PG:Paul ; SG: Peterson; SF: Peja ; PF:West ; C:Chandler

But one thing stood out to me during the Mavericks-Hornets game : David West repeatedly poked Nowitzki's jaw with his finger after an unintentional elbow by Dirk. And Nowitzki just stood there, didn't do anything, showed no kind of emotion nor did he even attempt to push down David West's hand. And the other telling part was that none of Dirk's teammates came to his defense neither.

A day later a similar incident happened with Kobe: Anthony Carter shoved Kobe Bryant after an unintentional elbow by Bryant. Kobe reacted, he screamed at Carter's way and his teammates came and pulled him away from the scene. Same thing happened with LeBron who also had the same reaction as Kb after Haywood stood over him. What happened later? the Cavs and Lakers both pummeled their opponents(Wizards and Nuggets respectively)

In the NBA, mental toughness, heart and confidence really matter and any lack in either one will be your downfall. It's even worse when it is your best player-leader that lacks one of these components. And Dirk lacks heart, which is why the Dallas Mavericks have a hard time succeeding.

Dallas Mavericks: The Cowardly Lion

Ralph isaac — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 08:10:56 -0400

Around the league among officials and players alike, the Dallas Mavericks are known as a soft and easily rattled team.

So far, they have done nothing to contradict this belief, from losing in the Finals to the less talented Miami Heat to downright withering in front of the Golden State Warriors.

Like the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz, the Mavs are tragically flawed. In fact, they lack the most essential component of a championship team:

Heart.

The Mavs remind me of the Sacramento Kings—an extremely talented team that seemed to choke in every big game. Maybe that's because their two best players aren't top notch No. 1 one options.

Dirk Nowitzki can dominate a game offensively, but he gets easily bothered by smaller defenders who body him and push him around. This was evidenced when little Sasha Vujacic (Laker guard) prevented him from getting into the paint, and when Stephen Jackson did that to him for a whole series.

What's more, his defense is paltry to nonexistent.

Josh Howard, meanwhile, is probably the Mavs' most talented player at both ends of the floor. But he lacks a major superstar quality:

The will to dominate his opponent.

The most damning weakness comes at the head coaching position. Avery Johnson has little to no faith in his team—from moving the team's shootaround from Miami to Ft. Lauderdale during the Finals to changing his lineup in the first round against the Warriors to calling timeouts almost every time the team makes a mistake.

Nobody would deny that he's a good coach, but Avery needs to change his style—or he risks being the most successful coach to get fired three years after being hired.

As is, his tendency to over-coach is sucking the life out of his team.

Mark Cuban better search for his own Wizard of Oz—because his Dallas Mavericks might forever be compared to the "cowardly lion."

New York Knicks: Donnie Walsh In, Isiah Thomas Out

Ralph isaac — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 09:11:07 -0400

I could hear Knicks fan screaming right now : "What took you so ******* long?". Yes, and that's pretty much the reaction of every NBA and non-NBA fans alike. The rarity known as Isiah Thomas has made bad decisions after bad decisions. He's turned the Knicks from a marquee franchise to a retirement home for NBA players looking to spend their money without any real effort on the court.

Saying that Isiah Thomas mismanaged the Knicks would be an understatement...His tenure there has been a colossal failure. While others might disagree with me, I say his biggest mistake was firing Larry Brown while keeping Stephon Marbury. He picked Marbury, a player who refused to play for the Wolves because he felt they disrespected him by offering him a $68 million contract compared to KG's $100 million contract. And that's the same player who threatened to air Isiah's dirty laundry out if Isiah suspended him. Not to mention, every single player in the Knicks locker room, couldn't stand Marbury. I could go on about his weird interview on live TV last summer, but that's a story for another day.

He gave players like Quentin Richardson a $50 million contract. And how did Quentin repay Isiah?? He gained 25 pounds and forgot how to play basketball. And still today, I lament on how stupid it was of him to sign Richardson instead of Joe Johnson who was a better scorer and a better shooter than Richardson in both 2 and 3 point field goals.

I give him credit for turning Eddy Curry into an offensive force down low and how does he repay him? He trades for notorious locker room killer Zach Randolph, whose game is a mirror image of Curry's. And Randolph didn't disappoint neither. Here's an account of a particular play: "Nate Robinson dribbles between his leg the passes to Randolph(PF) who was at the top of the key, he tries to emulate Robinson and the ball flies out of his hand, he runs after it and avoided a back-court violation. he then proceeds to dribble between his leg and hoist up a 3........ AIR-BALL! ball goes out of bounds and turnover on Knicks!"

I still think it was wrong for him to fire Larry Brown who I think figured out what type of situation he was in once his team practiced for the first time. Marbury didn't want to play the way Brown wanted him to. Yes, the same way Billups and Iverson had before. Ask Iverson and Billups who was the best coach he ever played for, they'd answer Larry Brown without any hesitation.

And it says a lot when your 2 best players are Nate Robinson(21st pick) and David Lee(30th pick), two players who would bench players on any good teams around the league. I'll say this, Isaiah Thomas has a good eye for drafting talent but his decisions on acquisitions through free agency and trade, are downright criminal. It took him 4 years to destroy what was built in 57 years... You need talent to be able to pull that off....

Kobe Bryant: Not a Leader

Ralph isaac — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:44:28 -0400

I'll admit, I'm pissed at the fact that we just lost to Charlotte Bobcats, one of the worst road team in the NBA. But after watching this game, I find myself doubting whether Kobe Bean Bryant, who got himself ejected with three minutes left against the Bobcats, is a leader or not. And I'm starting to lean more on the "not" part.

How about we start with the problem here: the technicals. Kobe got fifteen of them. Having that many technical fouls for a season indicate that one cannot control his emotions. One more and Kobe will be suspended for one game, and any additional technicals will mean additional suspension from this point on.

Having a leader, on a team contending for a championship, who can't control his emotions is a disaster waiting to happen. Just ask the Pistons what it felt to watch Rasheed Wallace melt down last playoffs against the Cavs.

Second, Kobe whining for fouls on every single play is starting to piss me off. It's disturbing to watch, real talk! I don't know if it's arrogance or the fact that he thinks the refs should call a foul in his favor every time he drives to the basket. Sometimes, there isn't even a foul-even with replay as proof, and Kobe still argues for a foul. Why would a player of this caliber resort to crying for fouls??

A team takes the characteristics of its leader, good or bad. At times Kobe stay on the other end arguing for fouls and leaving his teammates on the other end to play four on five which against good teams usually result in a two or three point loss. Other players have started to do the same trend as Kobe.

From the refusing to shoot because he was criticized, to allegedly snitching on Shaq, to allegedly forcing Shaq out, to demanding a trade (not being able to control himself), to throwing his teammates under the bus, and to making his teammates and the organization's life miserable during training camp, Kobe risks having his leadership revoked.

Not to mention that he felt that he didn't deserve any blame for the Laker situation last season. And had Kobe not create that turmoil, KG might be have been in LA right now, though that's a story for another day.

It's more telling how the Laker players talk of Fisher as being a leader. Odom: "Fish doesn't try to be or say he's a leader, he just is!". Farmar has dished out similar praise toward Fisher. And none of them has ever said that about Kobe!

LeBron James Vogue Cover: Why Jemele Hill Is Wrong

Ralph isaac — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:02:11 -0400

Jemele Hill wrote an article about the now infamous Vogue cover with LeBron James and Giselle Bündchen, saying that it had undertones reminiscent of King Kong and a frail white woman.

Although prejudice, stereotypes, and racism still exist today, this cover was from far from it—that's coming from a person who's also black and has experienced racism, stereotyping, and prejudice first-hand.

I applaud Skip Bayless, although I don't like him, for bringing up to Hill whether she was mad because LeBron is on the cover with a white woman.

She denied it! It couldn't be further from the truth.

Black women, as do white men, hate seeing black men with white women. I've also experienced this first-hand and any brother out there who's been there can co-sign me on this one.

I'm not trying to be purposely critical; I'm just stating the facts. I've had the dirty looks, the bad attitude, and everything you can think thrown my way as a result of dating out of my race.

Why are we always trying to create prejudice or stereotyping where there's none?

For somebody as careful with his image as LeBron, I doubt that he didn't have a say with how he'd appeared on the cover. Not to mention that all athletes do that "roar" during the games.

What's the problem with doing it on a cover of a magazine? Not to mention the photographer who doesn't come off as a bigot. Who knows!

Maybe this is the result of longtime oppression that create this thought where every little insinuation albeit here non-existent, into a stereotype or prejudice.

I think that Jemele Hill is a great writer, as she wouldn't be on ESPN if she wasn't, but I think she and other writers are reaching on this one.

Cry wolf anyone?

Derek Fisher, Luke Walton: Achilles' Heels of the Los Angeles Lakers

Ralph isaac — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 05:10:36 -0400

I've been watching Lakers' games closely for the past month, and every time two glaring weaknesses show up: Derek Fisher and Luke "Fluke" Walton.

Derek Fisher

Not to take anything from away from Fish, he is a great leader (and everybody knows that), but it looks like age has caught up with him.

Derek Fisher routinely gets worked by opposing point guards. His offense used to offset that weakness a little bit, but as of late, even that has been pretty much non-existent.

He's missing open shot after open shot. I know people would like me soften up on him a bit because of the situation with his daughter, but there is no excuse for poor play.

It would be generous to call Fisher's ball handling skills average. He routinely drives to the basket and turns the ball over as he did last night in a crucial moment in the last minute of the fourth quarter.

Luckily for him, Lamar Odom was there to grab the offensive rebound. I could go on even further about his court vision, but I'll just leave it be for now.

Luke Walton

Luke Walton has some of the best court vision in the NBA, but nothing else to offer.

He has become Kwame Brown 2.0: whenever he gets the ball, you cross your fingers, praying he doesn't turn the ball over or hoist up a bad shot.

Last night with Kobe on the bench, Luke nearly won the game for the Mavericks. He continually made bad decisions.

It took the Mavericks shrinking the Lakers' lead from 25 points to five, for Phil Jackson to substitute Radmanovich for Luke.

I don't see him sticking around much longer since he has fallen out of favor with Phil, who said the only reason Luke is playing so many minutes is because Ariza is out.

He said that Luke is not capable of playing over 25 minutes per game. I say the Lakers trade him for a second round pick during the draft.

Memo to Phil Jackson

Stop waiting until opposing teams considerably shrink your lead to call a timeout.

You don't have veterans guys like Grant, Harper, Fox, and Horry out there. You have a bunch of young kids whose confidence can go from high to all-time low in the blink of an eye.

Stop teaching your guards to leave their man open and telling them to double any driving player. That's the reason why you lost to the Houston Rockets.

It was atrocious watching Kobe shut down T-Mac and seeing your point guards repeatedly leave Rockets wide open for threes.

Upgrades and Downgrades

Fisher as PG is an upgrade over Smush Parker, but with the Lakers knocking on the "elite door," it has become apparent the Lakers need a better point guard.

Fisher cannot play over 25 minutes anymore.

Kwame Brown sucked so badly that he made other Lakers' weaknesses look minimal. But with him out, Luke Walton is now the Lakers worst player.

Who would have thought that Sasha "the machine" Vujacic would have surpassed Walton as a better defensive and offensive player?

Vladdy is a deadly three-point shooter, Ariza is our second-best perimeter defender and vicious slasher, Turiaf is a valuable post defender and underrated scorer.

Heck, even Coby Karl might be better than Luke.

No, I'm not being greedy.

But championship teams cannot have blatant chinks in their armor. It's best Mitch Kupchak hashes them out before it's too late.

-Ralph Isaac, bleacherreport.com

Andrew Bynum: "Most promising center in the NBA!"

Ralph isaac — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 01:54:07 -0400

Some will call me a homer, others will tell me that I'm downright crazy. So I'll say it again, Andrew Bynum is the most promising young center in the NBA.

I will even go further—he might be the most complete center we have in the NBA today.

"What about Yao, Dwight Howard, Greg Oden, Amare Stoudemire or Tyson Chandler?" one might ask. And I'll answer them this: "Each of these guys have some type of weakness!"

1. Dwight Howard: He's like a young David Robinson without the jumper. He's a freak of nature with an unparalleled athleticism for a big man. And that's all he is when you think about it. He's not a great passer—although he plays with his back to basket, it's rare to see him consistently hit a hook shot. His most lethal weapon is his raw power and incredible footwork.

That still doesn't take away from him being the best young center in the league but soon he'll be overtaken by none other than Andrew Bynum.

2. Amare Stoudemire: He's made the most successful comeback from micro-fracture surgery to date. He seems more concerned with offense then defense. And he's one of the worst post defenders out there.

It says a lot when one can say that Kwame "bust" Brown is a better defender than you. But as far as scoring goes, He's at the top of the list when it comes to post players.

3. Greg Oden: Forgive me for this, but I don't think too highly of this guy. I see him as a more injury-prone Marcus Camby. Don't get me wrong, anybody that gets compared to Marcus Camby should feel honored since the guy he's the reigning defensive player of the year. But I don't seem him being a great center.

Making matters worse, is the amount of injuries this guy has sustained throughout his basketball career or health alarms raised: broken wrist, buldging disk in his back, his hip alignment is off, one leg is longer than the other, knees which had microscopic surgery performed on. There was also an unrelated rumor—which did not show up in the Orlando physical—that another team expressed concern about the long-term health of Oden's knees (according to SI.com). Second coming of Sam Bowie anyone?

4. Yao Ming: Yao is more a face up center than a post up one. He is more comfortable shooting the 10-15 ft jumper. Or sometimes he goes for the turnaround J. The most glaring weakness of this guy, is that he is too soft for his size. Any 7'5 center who gets blocked by 5'9 Nate Robinson, then knocked down to the floor, is soft. I don't care what you say, Yao Ming is soft!!

But what's hurting this guy the most is China, who's practically running his pro career to the ground. They force him to play every single basketball tournament the country is in, even the regional ones where the teams don't really pose a threat to China sans Yao.

He's broken his foot twice in the last two years. What's more depressing is that even with Yao, the Chinese basketball team doesn't stand a chance against the international competition. With the drills they make their national team participate in, I don't see Yao's career lasting more than five more years. It's a damn shame, ain't it?

5. Tyson Chandler: He's a really good defensive post player, but Andrew flat did anything he wanted in their last meeting. You can clearly see that Tyson was overmatched, he said it himself that it was really tough to guard Andrew.

He doesn't have much of an offensive game. I've seen him hit a few hook shots here and there, but not consistently. Most of his points come from Chris Paul feeding him. I think he's reached his ceiling already. That shouldn't take anything away from him being of our best young centers, just ask chicago!!

6. As for Andrew, his game continues to grow and from the look of it, he can do pretty much everything else. So far, he defends the pick and roll the best out of the players on this least. He's the classic five, that plays with his back to the basket, can finish with either hand and his wingspan is just otherworldly. The way he responded to the criticism over the summer makes him even more surprising. If he continues to improve his game, he'll soon go from most promising to best center overall in the league.

*Ralph Isaac, BleacherReport.com

Improving the NBA: New Blood In, David Stern Out

Ralph isaac — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 07:34:31 -0400

It was 1984 when a young lawyer took control of the NBA. He brilliantly improved the league's net worth and marketing. He banished the image of the NBA as a drug-infested league. He secretly suspended—I'll believe what I want—Michael Jordan for two years because of his gambling issues.

At the time, Michael was the league's biggest star, and if that scandal had gotten out of hand, it would definitely have hurt the NBA. And when the thug persona, wannabe-rap stars took control of the NBA, he instituted the dress code, which was a brilliant move.

But as all other great men, David Stern's greed as taken ahold of him. And I think as a result, the owners should bring in some young blood to come and take over the NBA. Hold on a second, before you start telling me I'm crazy for saying this, think about this:

1. Whenever the NBA adds an expansion team, it increases the value of the NBA. It doesn't matter if the team is terrible for the next 10 years. The more teams, the more money the networks like the four-letter network will pay for rights.

2. I hear David Stern saying with his own mouth: "You want a team in your city, sign me that 300 million dollar check". Yes, ladies and gentleman, that's what Bob Johnson paid to get the Bobcats. I know the NBA wanted to be the first league with a black owner—I'm black myself—but it was a bad decision. Why couldn't Bob Johnson just have purchased a pre-existing struggling franchise?

This is not the NFL, where teams can build themselves through the draft in a short time. The talent in the NBA draft is not as abundant as the NFL. So it's one more franchise that will be at the bottom of the Leastern Conference and dragging the NBA down.

3. Stern now wants to add five European expansion teams to the league. And yes, you guessed it—the unreported fact is that David Stern would receive $1.5 billion immediately from those five european owners collectively.

He don't seem to care as long as the money is right. But it'd be five more teams dragging the NBA down, all for the dollar bills—or in this case, euros.

And don't believe the hype: there is not enough young talent in the NBA. Why do you think there's only four good teams in the East? Five more teams would only stretch that talent thinner.

4. Do you know what the effect of scarce talent is? A lot of players are getting overpaid for their services. And when a player sees a guy with lesser talent than him getting paid max money, he's going to want max money also. It's a ripple effect.

This explains why guys like Emeka Okafur, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, and Andre Iguodala turn down $50 million deals. They aren't even franchise players, yet they want franchise player money. All these guys are second or third options.

As a matter of fact, I'd even go as far as saying Gilbert Arenas is a second option—besides scoring, he can't do much else. he's not even a great shooter but thats a discussion for another day.

5. One way to increase talent would be to add another round to the draft, and guarantee the contracts of half of the second round draftees. The NBA should also raise the age limit, to two years out of high school. This way, the players drafted would have more knowledge about the game and be less mistake-prone.

Why not use the NBDL? Create a rule where teams can sign players D-league team and not have them count against the number of players allowed per team.

6. The NBA should tone down the player marketing a bit. The superstar-making machine is creating a lot of fake stars. In my opinion, there are only two true superstars in the NBA: Kobe Bryant and Lebron James. These guys have it all: the superstar game and the superstar fame. If I was the NBA, I'd shoot a bunch of commercials with these two guys featured in them, and leave the rest alone.

7. The NBA should negotiate non-guaranteed contracts into the NBA. These shouldn't be as bad as the NFL's but they should be non-guaranteed nonetheless. At least 60 percent of the contracts would be guaranteed, and players would receive part of that guaranteed money as a signing bonus, with the amount of the signing bonus depending on the team.

Since there would be non-guaranteed money, we'd need a hard cap to prevent teams from going over the cap and keep it the playing field level. And think about it—if it was like this, the debacle with the Knicks would never happen. Guaranteed contracts are killing the small-market teams. If most small-market teams had great teams, the NBA's value would increase exponentially.

8. The NBA should do like baseball: If the East wins the All star game, then the team from the East that makes it to the NBA finals will have home court advantage and vice-versa. It would make the NBA All-star game and MVP, a more valuable game and award.

I don't think David Stern will do any of the above, because he now can only see one thing: GREEN. His ego has become has fat as he as. So as a diehard fan, I'm pleading with the owners to hire new blood, that's as hungry as Stern used to be, without confusing hunger with greed.