Monday, May 26, 2014

It's not Durant, It's IBLOCKA!

Don't act like you weren't impressed with him Sunday, you knew he was the REAL MVP in Game 3.

In fact, I'll take it a step further, he DEFINES what an MVP actually is.

Most VALUABLE Player. Not the best player, the most valuable.

The definition needs to change after watching that game on Sunday night because if it wasn't for Ibaka's impact on the court, the Thunder would have found themselves in a 3-0 hole heading into Tuesday.

Kevin Durant, yes he had 25 points and played a solid game, but he clearly doesn't impact this series and hasn't been the ultimate dictator of this series . The previous 2 games, the Spurs had 120 points in the paint. Game 3, they had 40. Last time I checked, KD doesn't impact that portion of the stat sheet.

You know as a Spurs fan, I'm going to generically say that we lost on Sunday because we couldn't make shots... well why do you think that is? It wasn't because of KD. 

Now, I love Durant and have nothing against him, but do you think he truly makes his entire team better? How come Durant and Carmelo Anthony can't win MVP's? Because they don't impact their teams in other phases of the game outside of putting the ball in the hoop themselves! They are unbelievable scoring options and they can create space for themselves and provide options for other teammates to score because of their ability to attract double teams, but outside of scoring, what do they really offer?

Durant was so amazing this year that we had to hand him the MVP because if we didn't, it would be a travesty to sports and all of it's entirety and I agree he deserved the award.

Let me ask the internet something, do you think Melo could do the same thing? I believe he can and eventually will when he goes to Chicago this off-season. 

Melo is a 30-7-4 (Points-Rebounds-Assists) guy too, he just can't find a team to provide the spark that fortunately KD has had the past 4-5 years. Do those numbers make Melo an "MVP" candidate? Does that make him valuable? No, that makes him a fantastic option, and an option so good this past season we had to give him the best player of the year award which unfortunately is misnamed for that very reason. Melo does the same thing, but he's just looked at as a scorer who can't impact his team in any other facets.

The NBA needs to make a new award, plain and simple. Look at players who have won the award in the past: LeBron, Nash, Duncan, & Shaq. Those players were the definition of MVP's because they provided roles that molded around what the team truly needed because without those players, there is no way their teams get to the postseason or at least have a chance at competing with the elite teams. Guys who have won it like Kobe, Rose, Garnett, and Dirk all won the award because they were the best players in the league in the given years they won the MVP. That didn't mean their impact was necessarily needed to win ballgames at an exponential level like the other guys listed.

You can say that for KD this season with the injuries to Russell Westbrook and all the other issues the team had that he deserved the MVP, (and again it's completely fair to round those issues up to giving KD the MVP for 2013-2014 which I'm not saying he doesn't deserve) but just look at how this series has gone and don't tell me KD is the MVP after these first three games because Ibaka has clearly been the MVP of this team for all three games (playing or not).

Maybe instead of just saying they need to make a new award, they just need to make a Playoff MVP and give Ibaka the award, because clearly Durant has been acting MVP-less in this Western Conference Finals to this point and his impact to this point has been relatively unimportant.

See you next week.

Monday, May 19, 2014

Can I Coach in the NBA?


I mean this seriously has to stop.

When I saw the money thrown at Steve Kerr this week, I had to find a way to react and what a better place than my free, google, BlogSpot format to leap from. I might as well dig a hole and jump from below sea level because it’s the same type of platform.

5 years/ 25 million dollars and he has no coaching experience. You might as well hire the bum on the side of the street who has a fantastic voice to take over Steve Kerr’s current position at TNT because it’s the same scenario with what Steve Kerr is doing going to Golden State.

Good for Steve Kerr, seriously. He won the lottery when it comes to becoming a head coach. He did play by play for years, and now he’s getting a multi-million dollar deal to do something completely different. Only in America right?

We can think up all of the analogies in the world to describe the ridiculousness of this deal and how it compares to coaches who have proven themselves over decades of assisting, scouting, working with players individually, watching tape, finding roles for players, and dealing with issues that the media knows nothing about when it comes to how the players work within the organization. He knows nothing about doing this.

He may know a little bit from the perspective he took as the Suns GM a little while back, but can we be honest in saying his efforts were poor? The team did nothing when he was in that position and how does that warrant his ability to run the organization from a player personal perspective by being the frontline guy who leads the troops into battle? He was a three point specialist and occasional role player off the bench, the only positive spin I could see him having is helping the already shooter friendly back court in the Splash Brothers, outside of that, I don’t see how he can contribute to the effect of a 5 million dollar a year contract.

Jason Kidd received a job offer as quickly as he did and he was a newly retired former player. Maybe this hiring of a long time, broadcaster and former arc specialist is the new wave of branching out to reach for coaching prospects in the NBA instead of pulling guys from assistant coaching positions who have earned their stripes. I guess as a GM (when I eventually become one; not) I have to just watch a ton of TN, pull Charles Barkley out of the studio, and pay him millions of dollars to sound good in front of multimillion dollar athletes. That’ll sell season tickets right?

See you next week.

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Hot Air Express; NFL Draft 2014

Did you get your fill?


I mean there was about 3 months of overwhelming hype to get prepared for this 7 round merry go round where us imposter draft experts think we know where everybody is going to go and why. Let's be honest though, we can't really grade this draft till 2016.


I'm going to take a moment to think about all the people who said anything about how these players are going to perform in the NFL.


....


Here's my next question, how do you know that?


I don't talk about the outcome of the draft and how players will turn out anymore especially with how the Super Bowl Champions this year had countless undrafted free agents help take a championship to Seattle. So why speculate when you can sit back and wait to see what happens?


I find it fascinating with all the intrigue going into the draft every single year and a year later, there is no talk of the previous draft. I don't remember who went #1 in 2013. Some OL that went to the Chiefs? Ok. It's all hype and zero substance for a majority of the 7 rounds presented by Radio City Music Hall.


Let's be honest for a quick second, the only real thing that Radio City Music Hall hosts when it comes to sports, is when the NCAA hands out the Heisman Trophy in December. Outside of that, they host a litany of college football players with their names being read off of cards of where they will go.


I will say that the first round is relatively entertaining, but if you actually sat around and watched day 2 & 3 of the draft, I have to question your dedication to life because I'm a Vikings fan and that should tell you something.


It's all hot air, and the express line started the week after the Super Bowl, thank god it's over and I can finally watch sports shows revolving around day baseball and the NBA Playoffs.


See you next week!

Monday, May 5, 2014

Cinco De Mayweather

What a weekend. This was probably one of the greatest weekends in sports history with the running of the Kentucky Derby as the favorite won, the best fighter of this generation as the favorite won, and there were five game 7’s on Saturday and Sunday where (personally all the teams I picked to win) all the favorites won. It was one of my favorite weekends ever, and considering a drastic change in the weather made me feel like crap so I could stay home on Saturday to watch it all, it was pretty sweet.

The only real question I have now is who will Floyd Mayweather fight next. He has 3 more left on his plate when it comes to the countdown of his career and one of those needs to be Manny Pacquiao. It’s the age old question at this point because we all know it needs to happen, but it needs to happen for reasons now more than ever. We all know Mayweather is all about the Money, but if he really wants to go out as being known as “the greatest” he needs to face another great competitor of his era. He can’t be in the same class as guys like Frazier, Ali, Foreman, or even Tyson if he doesn’t have the balls to face the best. I know Manny is old, but so is Floyd, and with now Ali calling out Floyd to face Pacquiao, he needs to abide to even be considered in that discussion of the all-time greats.

I could see Mayweather agreeing to rematch with Maidana because the fight truly was that close and entertaining, but do you really think he wants to go through that hell again? He may face him, but the likelihood is very low and he’ll probably face another guy on the up and up but not quite mentally tough enough to hang making Floyd look defensively unstoppable once again. We all know Floyd is all about the money, but he does have a legacy to sew up here in the final year and a half and if he wants to face a bunch of scrubs to finish out his career, you won’t here me beeping my horn and tooting the my new booty for the greatness that Floyd possesses. 

Floyd may as well be the Wichita State Shockers of 2013-14… Playing a bunch of tomato cans throughout his career, except he’s the one that set them up that way. The only way he can change that is the hand out invitations to Manny Pacquiao to fight at the MGM grand within the next 3 match-ups.


See you all next week.