Don’t Start Thinking About CJ

This is James’s second post we are putting up, enjoy.  There will be one more coming later today, as well as a new Benchcast that Andy and I did last night which is pretty terrible, but oh well.  I also have a couple new posts today too.

my quick response to a thought-provoking post from Utah Jazz 360's Nick Knows All:

i’ve given this a little thought as well, and i’m not sure that i agree, nick. andrei carries an enormous negative stigma because of his paycheck, and i think that reveals itself often with this kind of thought process.

consider some numbers from the two players (CJ/AK):
rebounds – 3.2/5.1
assists – 1.7/2.8
steals – .97/1.17
blocks – .43/1.22
fouls – 2.6/1.8

now look at those numbers and assume that every whole number in a given category results in a basket by the opposing team or the jazz based on where the ball ends up (i’m being purely hypothetical here, simply for the sake of argument). that means that AK adds an additional 3.8 points per game based on rebounds, 2.2 ppg based on assists, 0.4 ppg from steals, 1.58 ppg from blocks, and costs the jazz 1.6 ppg less, when you compared to CJ’s performance. granted, CJ’s numbers are based on 9.6 fewer minutes per game. but that still leaves AK with an additional (potential) 9.58 points per game versus CJ.

and consider that CJ’s foul numbers would increase half again if we extrapolate him and AK switching minutes played – that puts him at 3.9 personal fouls per game. and AK, assuming he moves from 32.3 minutes per game (where he is now) to 22.7 mpg (where CJ is now), would only be scoring around 8 points per game. CJ’s scoring goes up to 17.5 ppg: CJ starting gives the jazz a 6 point advantage running the numbers out, but he also costs us almost two more fouls each contest – possibly for four points, dragging his effectiveness at starter to only two more points per game.

on top of that, the jazz would go from having an off-the-bench scoring threat that puts up almost 12 points a game to AK bringing that estimated 8 points.

CJ needs to stay on the bench. the fact of the matter is that AK and Raja need to step up their game a bit – along with the entire rest of the team – if the jazz are going to make it out of the first round come april.

Slick City Round Up

This is one of our newest columns that I’ve been promising for months, but now that it’s finally above 20 F for the first time in about 3 weeks, mostly because it’s going to snow and rain for the next 5 days, and I’m slightly less busy at work I’m writing again.  Also, Uj and Ron finally have internet and new iPads so maybe they will start writing some things too.  We also are going to start pulling some stuff from James’s blog, since he actually writes.

So on to Slick City Round Up where we pull from local sports blogs and give them a little pub on this site, as if people actually read this pile of crap.

First is Salt City Hoops one of the 3 or 4 independent Jazz blogs out there.  This article is specifically a re-cap of last night’s Jazz win over the Knicks 131-125.  But what made it so great was the line “It was nice of the Knicks to agree to play church ball with the Jazz”  A very Utah reference to shooting lots of 3s as a reference to the popular Mormon church sponsored basketball leagues that cover the state.  And really that’s what local sports commentary is all about, extremely obscure parochial references.

The other blog that I wanted to highlight is my buddy James’s blog Harpringer of Doom another ostensibly Jazz blog.  Everyone should check his stuff out either over there or at this site since we are going to start dual posting all his articles over here.  Great stuff and he actually writes, so isn’t that wonderful.

We are recording a new podcast tonight so get ready for that to be up tomorrow.  Good night and don’t eat the mussels.

The Hangover

The Hangover is where we bring you all the weekend action every Monday for you to stew over.  Of course we don’t talk about the NFL or much NASCAR, or, well it’s pretty much College Football actually.

In college football another #1 school went down, not a real #1 school, but the BCS #1 when Mizz beat Oklahoma this Saturday.  Since Oregon was #1 in all the polls I think this is just another example of how insanely shitty the BCS ranking system is.

In other news the fraud that is LSU was finally exposed and actually lost this time which launches Auburn past Oregon in the BCS rankings, but not the actual polls so that next week people on ESPN can all clamor about another #1 going down.  Thanks.

The NBA wrapped up their meaningless pre-season with another Miami injury, this time to “key piece” Brad Miller, so that’s going on.  And in more personally exciting news I did my fantasy draft.  Go Warren Al Jeffersons!

In F1 which I know only I care about Ferrari had a 1,3 finish to pull closer to both McLaren and Red Bull in the Team Standings while Alonso’s win puts him further in first place.  Now with two Asian Grand Pre events maybe Uji will start to care.

Finally, to finish things up with some more Euro motorsport news, Sebastion Loeb’s dirty French ass won the Rally of Spain in his stupid Citroen.  I have no real reason to hate Loeb or Citroen, but I hate them both and I can’t help but think most Americans do too.  Also with only Ford and Citroen competing this year WRC has gotten pretty pathetic.

Evil Pushy Agents Try to get Melo What he wants

It’s like comics writers are some strange people stuck in 1964

Adrian Woknarowski, who I think is one of the best NBA reporters today wrote a column over at Yahoo! Sports last week about Carmelo’s desire to be traded from the Nuggets during his current contract year.  There has been lots of talk about this and it’s obviously not new news.  Frankly as a Jazz fan I would love to see him go, preferably someplace far away on the east coast where we wouldn’t have to see him very often, either that or let the Jazz pick him up.

It’s not that I don’t like Melo, I actually do like him unlike many Jazz fans, he’s clearly one of the premier scorers in the NBA and I think would be great with D-Will.  It’s the Nuggets that I hate.  For years they were the also-rans of the whichever division the Jazz were in.  They were bottom of the barrel, almost every year, which made them that team, at least when they had the Skyline Jersey, the crappy team with the awesome Jersey that you could sport without caring they were a “rival”.  Golden State has for years been that team on the west coast.  But since moving to the baby blue and picking up Melo and forming this latest team, they have moved to contenders for the Northwest Division almost every year.  They are like your little brother that has finally gotten big enough that he can hit back and pull girls almost as hot as you can. Of course they fizzle every year and loose to the Jazz in the playoffs and obviously loosing Melo and whomever else they will have to dump will put them back into the rebuilding phase, which I can’t wait for.

But enough of my little schadenfreude variety hour.  What I wanted to address here was the very negative light that the Polish Penman (hoping that nickname will stick for Woj, little play on Jaws and the Polish Rifle, my favorite ethnic nickname ever) displayed Melo’s agents in.  There is obviously a distaste for agents among fans and media members that try to approach from a fan perspective.  A distaste that I cannot understand.

The structure of the NBA and all professional sports in the US that have been unionized and work off a CBA absolutely need an agent.  It is the agent that fights both the owner and, although it is never talked about, the union to get an individual player the most value for their work.  I think it’s hard for your average fan to relate to a guy that wants $17 million instead of $15 million, they are both huge amounts of money, but it does matter.  The other issue is the one at hand here, deciding where you get to work.  I think this one irks fans even more, mostly because they feel a loyalty to players and don’t like them to leave, like it’s a personal affront.

But just think about your job for a minute, how many of you are locked into a long term contract with your employer that can not be terminated from your side?  How many of you even have to give more than 2 weeks notice before you can move on to something better?  Let’s say you work at a bank, Chase for example, you can’t leave for 6 years, and at any moment they can send you off to work for Wells Fargo across the country.  It’s a very unusual work circumstance that most of us can’t even relate to.

So when you are sick of being a waiter at the Olive Garden, you throw down a plate of All You Can Eat Pasta Spectacular, tell your boss to go fuck himself, make a semi racist comment about those stupid commercials with the 3 white couples and the one white couple that happens to have skin that looks kinda black and storm out to get a job at Fluffinuggers Pizza and Beer next week.  Well Melo has to do the same thing, but using a bunch of agents and their PR people and the news paper and get traded to another place.  He is a resource with market value, it’s just that he can’t make use of that value because he is locked into a contract.

I have said for years that the CBA and the unions in sports need to be blown up.  I don’t think that sports leagues are monopolies, and by the actual definition of monopolies they are not.  But until the talent is free to choose their contracts as they see fit, this is the only way to go about things.  The only thing a players owes a team is to maximize their playing performance while they are under contract, not to extend that contract, not to be satisfied with that contract and not to stay in a place for the duration of that contract.

Dr. Dunkenstein on SportsBeat Sunday

 

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

So this week on Sports Beat Sunday for those of you who may not be from Utah or watch local sports is just that, a local sports show.  So they had on Derrell Griffith, former Jazz swingman and holder of my all time favorite NBA nickname.

Unfortunately on the website they only mention Hot Rod calling his Golden Griff, which like all Rod’s nicknames sounds like it was in the Tacoma Star Republican Trib from 1897.  I wish the Jazz would pick up another 2 or 3 that would throw down like that, they need some Dunkensteining back in the mix, or a crazy assistant coach that yells, “It’s Dunkensteen!”

On the Google Machine

So even though I promised months ago a regular link dump or web round up, or some other euphemism for your mom’s behavior in high school, here we are right now with the first ever DNP-CD: On the Google Machine.  So let’s see what’s floating around the web today.
Off Season Winners and Losers
The Basketball Jones as is their Canadian style has come out with another great video from the great white north about the NBA off season.  Gives a little run down of the winners and losers with an off handed, but sort of interesting take on the Jazz worth reading.
Dell Demps likes to lie
Over at Yahoo Sports they have an AP story quoting Dell Demps the GM of the Hornets that Chris Paul did not request a trade in their meeting today and that he will be with the team for years to come as they move in a new direction.  So with that news I’m going to put the over under on Paul being traded at 3 days.
Back to Winners and Losers
David Aldridge, who may be my favorite NBA writer and courtside reporter even if he isn’t the best has another take on who the winners and losers have been in free agency.  Some major differences of opinion with the Jones on a couple teams including the Jazz.
More NBA more Yahoo
Since this seems like an all NBA linkdump today might as well continue the theme. Marc Spears over at Yahoo has a little write up about Al Jefferson for all of you Jazz fans to check out, I’m sure you’ll love what he has to say and maybe if you’re lucky I’ll give my two cents on it later today.  Or maybe I’ll just drink a whiskey neat and watch yesterday’s Mad Men again.

The Meaning of Lebron as Cowards

There were lots of better pictures out there that were representative of the idea of Lebron as coward, but I couldn’t resist trying to rub it in these guys’ faces one last time.
Frankly not very many people have actually called Lebron a coward, but while only one or two commentators have actually used those words, pretty much anyone that has negatively commented on the movement of Lebron to Miami has spoken in metaphors or synonyms to coward.
But why do we hear these kinds of sentiments when the idea of coward, something that is inextricably linked to an almost dead idea of honor is still used in professional sports.  We never see these ideas used in school or in our work place or pretty much anywhere else.  When was the last time someone described anyone you know as a coward, or someone’s behavior as dishonorable?
It seems to me that sports is the last refuge of these old ideas of honor in American culture, it’s still where specifically men challenge each other on “the battle field” and find superiority by defeating their opponent.  With all the discussion of “how” someone plays the game, their “attitude” and how they interact with their team mates these ideas are still prevalent.
So what many have seen with Lebron, including or should I say especially former players like Sir Chuck and Jordan is someone that instead of rising to the challenge of trying to overcome or defeat another player, Wade in this case, he has chosen to join him.  The equivalent of an American soldier saying that this island hopping shit is just too much and joining the Japanese side.
This has clearly tainted the Heat as an organization too, as they have suddenly become evil in the minds of many, a place that harbors cowards and traitors, like a pirate ship.  Even Chris Bosh whom no one blames for leaving the Raptors is now covered in the stink of this deal.  He is routinely described as a third wheel, the toady that follows the bully around doing his dirty work, the sycophant.
I think it will be very interesting to see how this narrative plays out over the coming years, if these ideas can even be sustained in sports or if the new age of “best friend” players will destroy these last vestiges of the honor culture even in sports.
Sorry this post was completely lacking in humor, maybe I’ll change the motto of the site to “The blog that used to get hand jobs from your older sister in the garage” just so everything ends on a light note.