NBA News, Notes, and Observations: Dec. 8, 2008

Another exciting week in the NBA has passed. We saw the Lakers lose to the Pacers on a Troy Murphy tip-in that seemed to bounce around the rim for 20 minutes. There was an exciting game last night between the Celtics and Pacers which the Celtics ground out in overtime. The Pistons dropped to 7-8 with Allen Iverson in the lineup.

There's no use wasting any more of your time. As always, here are my news, notes, and observations (mostly links edition) for December 8, 2008:

But first, this week's trivia...

Question: The Washington Wizards franchise was founded in 1962. In what city was the team born in, and what was their original nickname?

Gotta Love Matt Bonner

There are a few guys in the NBA that it's hard to root against. Matt Bonner is one of them, and anybody who has lived in New Hampshire, Gainesville, Toronto, or San Antonio can attest to it.

I remember reading a story about Bonner riding his bike and taking public transportation to Raptors home games, and I knew I liked the guy. I had a couple friends who shared floor seats to the Clippers when Bonner was a rookie, and they spent the entire first half making fun of him.

Bonner did his best to ignore them but they knew he could hear them because they were too close for him not to have heard.

Finally, Bonner had had enough. He turned to them and politely begged them to stop. My buddies were stunned. They actually felt bad for him and stopped.

But then another great Bonner story appears, and I felt I had to pass it along. It's from Bryan Chu of the San Antonio Express-News. Here's a snippet. It's a story from Brent Barry about how frugal Bonner was when they were on the road and went to eat at Subway:

“Matt had a coupon for half off a sandwich, which said: ‘Valid at participating stores only,'” Barry said. “The owner said we're not ‘participating stores' and Matt was like ‘Well aren't you a Subway? I walk outside and I see the name ‘Subway.'” After 10 minutes, he talked his way to half off a turkey sandwich. He saved like $2.16.”

A lot of the story is about how responsible Bonner is with his money—choosing to save as much of his basketball money now so that he can secure his non-basketball future.

Show This Article To Mom

Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times wrote a cool little piece on how NBA GMs are now using EA Sports' NBA Live franchise to simulate rosters. Rockets GM, Daryl Morey, even cites plugging in Ron Artest onto the Rockets and seeing how the dynamic of the team changes with his addition. She says half of the league's teams are using simulation.

So the next time your mom harps on you for spending too much time playing video games you can tell her you're just getting practice for a future gig as an NBA general manager.

Welcome To the Good Life

I always enjoy reading things about the life of a professional athlete. I get a kick out of stories about rookie hazing, slumpbusting (do a search for slump buster and Mark Grace), Subway coupons, chartered planes, and hotels.

Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star wrote a cool piece comparing the life of an NBA player on the road to that of their European counterparts. With so many Raptors having experience playing in Europe, it's neat to hear their stories.

Kinda makes you wonder why so many guys went to play in Europe last summer.

Perhaps You Chose The Wrong Profession, Shav

One particular subject that we don't read a lot about is air travel in the NBA. I always thought it was a taboo subject being that so many professional athletes have weird superstitions.

We always hear about a plane that was stuck on the runway for hours or a team changing planes, but we never hear what it's like for these guys to travel as often as they do.

Jason Quick, one of the best NBA writers, bloggers, podcasters around, wrote an article in today's Oregonian about Shavlik Randolph and his fear of flying.

Did They At Least Get The Frequent Flier Miles?

Vin Baker and Shawn Kemp seem to be on the same career path, minus the children, of course. It's a funny coincidence that both men were part of a three-team trade back in 1997 that saw Baker end up with Seattle, Kemp in Cleveland, and Terrell Brandon in Milwaukee.

Kemp attempted a comeback in Italy a couple of months ago with Montegranaro Premiata. After Hurricane Ike hit Houston, Kemp returned to the states to check on his home and then decided not to go back to Italy.

Just last week, it looked as if Baker was ready for a comeback in China with the Liaoning Pan Pan Hunters (my new favorite team name—is Little Caesar's a sponsor?).

After a two-day tryout, the Hunters cut Baker because of his poor conditioning.

Who are the biggest losers in all of this? We are, the basketball-loving public who will now be deprived of hilarious and grainy YouTube videos of Kemp and Baker trying to relive their glory days halfway around the world.

Maybe Oliver Miller can sign a 10-day with a team in Lithuania. We could all use the laughs.

Whose The Odd Man Out?

With another year of experience under their belt, the return of Greg Oden, and the addition of Jerryd Bayless, nobody is surprised that the Blazers are competing for a playoff spot.

In fact, everyone predicted it. But while most predicted the Blazers would be replacing the Nuggets from the teams that made the playoffs last season, the Nuggets have changed those plans—thanks to their brilliant trade for Chauncey Billups.

So who of last year's playoff teams looks like they could be on the outside looking in this time around? Would you believe its the Phoenix Suns?

Early on it seemed like the Mavericks were the next obvious choice but they've found new life, thanks to the improved play of JJ Barea. I've watched Barea play about five times over the last three weeks, and I love his game. He's been knocking down threes, creating havoc for opposing defenses, and he's managed to co-exist in the backcourt with Jason Kidd.

Whatever renewed sense of hope that exists in Dallas is due to the improved Barea and the suddenly-consistent, Jason Terry.

The Suns, on the other hand, appear to be in shambles. It might just be a matter of minutes before the entire team is walking on egg shells. Steve Kerr might have no choice but to make a move to save their season. They have lost six of their last 10 games and are only 5-5 at home this season.

Another loss to the Lakers this Wednesday might jump start a tinkering of the team.

How About Some Pacing for Indiana?

The NBA schedule-makers didn't do the Pacers any favors by giving them the league's most difficult schedule so far this season.

In the last nine days, the Pacers have played the Magic in Orlando, the Lakers, the Cavs in Cleveland, and the Celtics at home and in Boston. Now they've got road games with the Raptors and Pistons coming up with two more road games with Milwaukee and Washington before returning home.

Brutal.

Thank You, Luc

Bleacher Report Co-Community Leader, Michael Whittenberg, did a roundtable before the season started. One of the questions he asked us was about which teams we felt were due for a surprise season. I mentioned the Bucks, considering the mess that former GM, Larry Harris, left the team in and the quick moves that new GM, John Hammond, did to help correct them.

I mentioned that second-round pick, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, could turn out to be the steal of the draft, and Luc is doing nothing to make me look bad. It's actually quite the opposite.

Mbah a Moute might be the league's best and brightest young defender. Last night against the Lakers he did as good of a job guarding Kobe Bryant as I've seen from any young player since Andrei Kirilenko broke into the league.

He has exceptional footwork and never bit on Kobe's numerous head fakes. He kept his feet grounded at all times and did his best to disrupt and pester the league's reigning MVP.

On the season, Mbah a Moute is averaging close to nine points and seven rebounds a game. Not bad for the 37th player picked in the draft.

Speaking of the Bruins

We all know about the players from UCLA who have been picked in the first round of recent NBA Drafts. Baron Davis, Jordan Farmar, Aron Afflalo, Kevin Love, and Russell Westbrook.

But the number of Bruins in the league who were either picked in the second round or went undrafted is astonishing when you consider how few second-round picks survive in the NBA.

Trevor Ariza, Earl Watson, Jason Kapono, Matt Barnes, Ryan Hollins, Mbah a Moute and Dan Gadzuric have all had decent NBA careers.

Mbah a Moute is the only one who played for Ben Howland. The rest all played for Steve Lavin. I'm not sure if their success is a testament to Lavin's ability to groom players for the NBA or if it just shows what a lousy coach Lavin was, considering the talent he had.

I'm going to opt for the latter since Lavin hasn't even had a sniff at another job since leaving UCLA.

Trivia Answer: The Chicago Packers.

They became the Chicago Zephyrs the following season. They moved to Baltimore and became the Baltimore Bullets in 1964. In 1974, they were renamed the Capital Bullets but that didn't last long since they were renamed the following season as the Washington Bullets. In 1998, they changed the name to the Washington Wizards.

The name change came about because they felt the nickname Bullets had violent undertones in a city with one of the nation's highest homicide rates.

The name Wizards was picked in a contest. The other candidates were the Dragons, Express, Stallions, and Sea Dogs.