Midnight Revelations: The Return

While watching an entertaining Oklahoma City/Los Angeles opener.
Yeah, the NBA (aka the Free Throw Association) still absolutely sucks. HARD.

1) With all due apologies to the 90% legit fans of the two teams, whose bandwagon is full of more absolute posers: Red Sox Nation or Kobe-era Laker fans???

2) Charles Barkley is good for one memorable quote...a minute.
"The rest of the NBA better get their wins against Oklahoma City and Chicago now. Because in a few years, they're gonna be REAL good. Better beat that butt (he used a different word, mind you) now, before you can't in a few years."

Call me a homer (go ahead, you wanna), but this guy can be very good...sooner than later.
Credit: Blog.Newsok.com

3) Eric Maynor is fully capable of being a starting point in the NBA. Russell Westbrook may be a potential rising phenom, but I see Maynor (who Utah idiotically gave up in a far-too-lazy-cap relief move) successfully starting for a team in less than 3 years (i.e. his next contract)...against the likes of Westbrook and the Thunder.

How do you say "boo hoo" in Spanish? Anyone? Anyone?
Credit: Buttheadsports.com

4) Pau Gasol's mannerisms make me want to die. Why pretend to act like you're tough, Pau? Why act like you're too physical (by pounding your chest down the court) for your opponent, when you're clearly not, Pau? We saw what KG did to you in 2008. That tape will never lie. You're incredibly skilled, Pau. And a Spanish fugazi on the court. Only in your facial expressions, of course.

5) They need to end people being rewarded a timeout while rolling around on the floor with the ball in a crowd. Isn't that traveling? The NBA did well to end the Rodman-rule (diving out of bands and calling a timeout). Time to end this nonsense.

Jeff Green needs to get rid of the shakes too when he's 1-on-1.
Credit: DailyThunder.com

Oklahoma City just needs a solid big and some time to develop. And to stay healthy, of course. But they're getting swept this series. Oh well.

NBA Offseason Preview - Seattle Supersonics

Seattle Supersonics
Record: 20-62
2008-2009 Payroll (Source: HoopsHype.com): $48.4M

Draft Picks: #4, #24, #32, #46, #50, #56

While the Sonics were stinking up the courts across the country, one thing become certain as the season reached a close. This is Kevin Durant’s team. With a glut of mediocrity (in other words, the entire roster minus the aforementioned Durant and perhaps Jeff Green) shaped across the Sonics roster, it’s no wonder that they have little to no sense of team identity.

The Sonics are at least two years away from any real talk of the playoffs. Therefore, the goal this season is to get tougher and develop some level of consistency.

Burning Questions: The same question asked about Portland last year will be asked of Seattle this year. With six draft picks, what is the Sonics plan (beyond moving to Oklahoma City)? Also, when will they begin to shed the expiring contracts of veterans who do not figure to be a part of the Sonics' long-term plans? Though unvisited in this post, will the Sonics make a play for a free agent this season (the dumb thing to do) or wait at least another season for Kevin Durant and Jeff Green to mature?

Perceived Needs: C, PF, Backup PG

If I Were GM ... I’d be prepared to offload the likes Chris Wilcox, Robert Swift, Saer Sene, Donyell Marshall and Adrian Griffin who are in contract years (Sene has a team option in 2009-2010) in order to clear the books. Also, I would settle once and for all on who the point guard will be by trading either Luke Ridnour or Earl Watson. Combined, they make $12.7M, but do their statistics amount to that figure? Not unless they are members of the Knicks. With six selections in the draft and three in the top 32, the Sonics can address holes while developing players who are seasons away from the NBA. The Sonics may package one or more of their second-round picks in an effort to offload salaries.

With the 4th selection, the Sonics must hope that the Timberwolves do not married to the idea of drafting Brook Lopez, who would be a dynamic set for PJ Carlesimo. If the Wolves do, the Sonics hold a ticket back into the 1st round at pick #24 (and a quartet of second-round picks) which can facilitate a trade for the Stanford big man. If worse comes to absolute worst, then the Sonics have to evaluate a vital question followed by a corollary. First, they need to determine whether Jerryd Bayless or OJ Mayo are capable of transitioning to the point guard position. If not, the Sonics have to consider trading down in the 1st round for cash or future considerations.

Since the Sonics have only 12 players under contract going into the season and at least 3 who are in the final year of their contract are likely to be used as trade bait, it would not surprise me if as many as four draftees are on the opening night roster.

Durant, Afflalo Go Pro ... Silence on Imus/Rutgers ... and Sanjaya Stays

In the foregone conclusion section of your news yesterday, you probably saw that Texas Longhorns freshman phenom Kevin Durant is declaring himself eligible for the NBA Draft in June. According to most draft projection sites with a conscience, he is slated to go as the second pick overall behind Ohio State's Greg Oden, who has yet to declare. A lot of sites have Durant going as the top pick, but that's difficult to understand because bad teams ( i.e. those drafting in the lottery) usually lack a defensive presence. Why not draft the guy who can alter the most shots, knows how to patrol the lane and has plenty of unrealized offensive upside?

Among the players who were on the fence about declaring was Arron Afflalo, who decided to forgo his final year at UCLA to enter the challenge of competing in the Association. Last spring, Afflalo tested the draft waters but pulled his name out of the bag prior the deadline and returned to Westwood. By rule, Afflalo's decision makes him draft-bound because he has tested the waters once. As for his stock, many of the NBA mock draft outlets are not impressed. In fact, according to five such outlets, he is listed between picks 21 and 34.

NBADraft.net 26
Inside Hoops 24
CollegeHoops.net 21
DraftExpress 34
NBA Wire 25

Although these are just educated projections lacking the knowledge of how teams will rate these players at league-sponsored camps, well-known players from nationally-renowned programs rarely climb the ladder. That's why I fear the worst in terms of draft position for Afflalo. Nevertheless, whichever team drafts Afflalo knows that they're getting a very hungry player, who can score in many different ways, has a good mid-range jumpshot and can play lockdown defense. He just gets penalized because you can watch him every Thursday and Saturday on national television.

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I'll be honest. When I heard Don Imus refer to the Rutgers women basketball team as "nappy-headed hos", my first thought was "another bigot who'll get away with saying something ridiculous and blame it on senility". By now, the same people who have Oden as the first overall pick should he declare ( i.e. having a conscience and a brain) know that "nappy-headed" refers to African Americans and that referring to a woman as a "ho" is misogynistic. The bullish Imus apologized, though many doubt his sincerity.

In short, I'm surprised that the wheels starting turning and that MSNBC (has more letters in name than viewers) pulled the plug on the Imus simulcast. Clearly, this wasn't a moral decision. Key sponsors pulled out. I know I'm beating a dead horse, but people with favorable positions - be they professional football players or hosts of a nationally-syndicated radio talk show - must be accountable for their actions. There are no two ways about it. In these two weeks off, Imus can get lessons in eloquence and class from Rutgers women's head coach C. Vivian Stringer.

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I'll be vilified for this admission, but I've [sorta] watched [parts of] American Idol this season. No, I don't watch every episode. No, I don't attend Idol parties. With that piece of self-incrimination out in the open, it is with great sadness that we say goodbye to the legs of the competition, Haley Scarnato. While overall ratings will remain high, ratings in the "horny male" demographic are bound to drop.

The real reason I'm blogging this evening about a non-sports topic is an analogy for the enigmatic Sanjaya Malakar. In a singing-only competition, he's toast. Stephen A. Smith would've called him "TARRIBLE" [sic] if he had the chance.

In recent weeks, I've noticed a trend more disturbing than awkwardly high number of votes keeping him on the show at the expense of better talent. Lately, he's been judged based on an adjusted scale [because he's an atrocious singer] and America (and India) won't vote him off the show. Let's not get a "not horrible" performance mixed up with an "okay" one. All in all, this is crystal clear to me. This is reminiscent of the 2000 Presidential Election race between then-governor George W. Bush and now-Oscar Award winner Al Gore when political pundits graded Bush on a different scale due to his comparative inability to participate in an actual debate requiring intelligent answers.

While I'm not telling you to vote Sanjaya off (I'm lying), I'm asking everyone to not get it twisted. He's tarrible [sic] and should be graded just like everyone else. That's all.

NCAA Tournament Projections – Version 8.0

(Editor’s Note: In order to adjust for personal bias, I have not allowed myself to project a team over another in a one-bid unless they are within one game of first place.)

This week, North Carolina is back in the top 4, knocking out Wisconsin, who needed a late three-pointer by Kammron Taylor to overcome Michigan State at home. The Heels hopped Kansas, who had a big win versus Texas, but only started their comeback following a brief injury to phenom Kevin Durant.

The big shock (to me) is Virginia Tech as a 4 seed. In my opinion, they have nowhere to go but down following their defeat at home to Clemson. They’re riding on their 6-2 record against the top 6 teams (not including them) in the ACC. If they do not impress in Tampa next weekend, they can easily fall to a 7 or 8 seed. In fact, the quality margin between 16 and 28 overall is razor-thin.

In the Valley, Creighton overcame two regular season losses to Southern Illinois by defeating them to take the automatic bid. In the CAA, craziness set forth as George Mason has beaten Hofstra and at-large candidate Old Dominion. Tonight, they seek to complete an improbable sweep of the conference’s top three teams after being 0-5 against these teams in the regular season. The theme of retribution resurfaces as they face off against rival Virginia Commonwealth in Richmond.

One of the most shocking yet little-spoken upsets of the weekend was Arkansas’ victory at Vanderbilt. It catapulted the Razorbacks to the final spot in the field. Clemson and Florida St. also had good weeks, which puts them within reach of an at-large bid. Meanwhile, Drexel remains in the field due to their strong road/neutral court record as well as their quality wins. Losing to VCU in Richmond is no small crime, but Drexel will likely become victim to teams on the outside who surge their way into the tournament.

For your information, the teams in bold represent automatic bids and the parentheses surrounding the regions indicate the overall seed of the top team in that region. The teams who are officially in the tournament are in bold italics. As always, if you have any comments or questions, drop a line in the comment box.

Seed	East (4)	South (3)	Midwest (2)	West (1)
1	North Carolina	Florida	Ohio St.	UCLA
2	Kansas	Wisconsin	Texas A&M	Georgetown
3	Washington St.	Maryland	Memphis	Southern Illinois
4	Pittsburgh	Oregon	Tennessee	Virginia Tech
5	Arizona	Marquette	Duke	Vanderbilt
6	UNLV	Nevada	Virginia	Texas
7	Georgia Tech	Louisville	BYU	Kentucky
8	Indiana	Texas Tech	Creighton	Villanova
9	Butler	Xavier	Notre Dame	Michigan St.
10	Winthrop	Air Force	USC	Boston College
11	Syracuse	Missouri St.	Old Dominion	Stanford
12	Virginia Commonwealth	Davidson	Akron	Gonzaga
13	Arkansas	Purdue	Holy Cross	Drexel
14	Pennsylvania	Vermont	Oral Roberts	Long Beach St.
15	Texas A&M - CC	Siena	Belmont	Western Kentucky
16	Weber St.	Jackson St./Central Connecticut St.	Eastern Kentucky	Delaware St.

In: Virginia Commonwealth, Purdue, Arkansas, Texas A&M-CC, Siena, Belmont (in), Eastern Kentucky (in)
Out: Illinois, Georgia, Appalachian St., Sam Houston St., Marist, E. Tennesee St., Austin Peay

Seedings
1s: UCLA, Ohio St., Florida, North Carolina
2s: Kansas, Wisconsin, Texas A&M, Georgetown
3s: Southern Illinois, Memphis, Maryland, Washington St.
4s: Pittsburgh, Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia Tech
5s: Duke, Arizona, Marquette, Vanderbilt
6s: UNLV, Nevada, Texas, Virginia
7s: Kentucky, BYU, Louisville, Georgia Tech
8s: Indiana, Creighton, Texas Tech, Villanova
9s: Notre Dame, Michigan St., Xavier, Butler
10s: USC, Winthrop, Air Force, Boston College
11s: Syracuse, Stanford, Missouri St., Old Dominion
12s: Virginia Commonwealth, Gonzaga, Davidson, Akron
13s: Purdue, Drexel, Holy Cross, Arkansas
14s: Penn, Oral Roberts, Long Beach St., Vermont
15s: Western Kentucky, Siena, Texas A&M –CC, Belmont
16s: Eastern Kentucky, Weber St., Delaware St., Central Connecticut St., Jackson St.

Last Four In: Old Dominion, Purdue, Drexel, Arkansas
Last Four Out: Florida St., UMass, Clemson, Illinois
Next Four Out: Bradley, Georgia, Kansas St., West Virginia

Summary
ACC: 7
Big East: 7
PAC-10: 6
Big Ten: 5
SEC: 5
Big 12: 4
Missouri Valley: 3
Mountain West: 3
Colonial: 3