Weekly Hodgepodge: Dirk Steps Down

The Big Choke:

If you took a person totally unfamiliar with the NBA, forced them watch the Mavs/Warriors series, and then made them guess which player was the league regular season MVP, here's what the guess list would look like:

1.    Baron Davis
2.    Stephen Jackson
3.    Josh Howard
4.    Jason Terry
5.    Jason Richardson
6.    DeSagana Diop or Dirk Nowitzi — tie

And what have we learned: Dirk Nowitzki is the worst MVP in league history. Period.  Mark Stein and all of the other Dirk cronies are in their own heads.

Dirk isn't even head over heels the best player on his own team. Josh Howard, because of his defensive prowess, is worth more to the Mavericks.

Baron Davis is the best basketball player in the world right now, btw. He looked like an NBA-JAM player last night.


Outstanding Playoff Series Predictions:

First Round:

Rockets over Jazz (7)
Warriors over Mavs (6)
Cavs over Wizards (4)
Nets over Raptors (6)
Suns over Lakers (5)
Spurs over Nuggets (6)

Conference Semis:

Warriors over Rockets (6)
Cavs over Nets (6)
Suns over Spurs (7)
Bulls over Pistons (7)

Conference Finals:

Suns over Warriors (6)
Bulls over Cavs (7)

Finals:

Suns over Bulls (6)


Another Bad weekend for Notre Dame:

Lost amidst the Brady Quinn cliff dive was the fact that both Darius Walker and Rhema McKnight went undrafted.

I can —kind of— understand the McKnight thing. He has trouble getting separation of the ball, he can't catch the quick slant, and he's a tad injury prone. That being said, at times during the season he was just as impressive as Smardzija, who was projected as a first round draft pick. Not even worth a sixth or seventh round pick?

But Walker—give me a break. Great vision plus great hands plus average speed = playing time. He'll be productive somewhere.


Next Great MLB Pitcher:

Giant's prospect Tim Lincecum pitched six more scoreless innings last night, giving up 3 hits while striking out 14. Through 31 innings in 2007, Lincecum has a 0.31 ERA through 31 innings at Triple-A Fresno with roughly 45 K's.

Note to Russ Ortiz: you are pitching for your life.


The Budweiser Hot Seat:

I've stood by too long and done nothing. The Budweiser Hot Seat is THE WORST running gig EVER conceived not to mention featured on ESPN. The combination of one un-intimidating question with one short un-revealing and un-insightful answer is just really awkward. This promo adds absolutely zero value to anyone except Budweiser.