White Chocolate Has Melted

The Jason Williams era is officially over.

For the first couple years of his career, J-Will seemed destined to join the great distributors of all-time. But, for whatever reason he just never got much better. I looked at his stats, and I couldn't believe that he shot under 40% for his career. It's hard to believe that a guy could be a starting NBA point guard for the majority of his career despite his inept shooting and suspect defense, but hey... he had a longer NBA career than I had, I guess.

I will say this, though: if we were playing a game on the blacktop, he would definitely be my point guard. His numbers were never stellar, but he gets bonus points for renewing interest from one of the NBA's most important demographics: young white teenagers. Racist or not, it is what it is. A ton of white players--especially guards--wouldn't be playing basketball right now if it wasn't for this man. He was what they aspired to be: the white boy with flavor on the basketball court.

You will be missed J-Will. Courtesy of that old show NBA Action, here are some highlights.

Nice passes in there, but this one might be his sickest (even the foreign guy commentating the game gave him props).

SLAMONLINE

My comments are "still awaiting moderation" (I remember they deleted one of my comments because I was blatantly promoting my blog without saying anything pertinent to the story once), but SLAMONLINE, one of my favorite basketball website for almost a decade, had two posts today worth commenting on.

The first one, about the Jason Kidd trade, irked me slightly, not neccesarily because of the story, but because of the comments. Everybody and their mother is writing the Mavericks off! While they didn't make any earth-shattering changes, DeSagana Diop gives the Mavs more depth at center and Gerald Green could potentially be a nice sparkplug off the bench. Add that to the fact that I'd take Dirk, Jet, J-Ho and Kidd over ANY FOURSOME IN THE LEAGUE (no bias), and I just can't understand how Dallas doesn't win at least as many as they did last year. Haters!

The second one I'm not as adamant about, but it still surprises me how Juan Dixon has to fight for a job. Granted, he is a niche player, but as I said in my comments just in case they haven't been "moderated" yet, I compare him favorably to Eddie House, and last I checked, House has a ring and not just from sitting on the bench waving a towel. I just don't know.

Next post I lobby for former Towson University great Gary Neal as the next starting two guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The List Every Ball Player Wishes They Were On

It's the off-season for me. Everyday I try to fish for material to keep me motivated to write, because let's face it: when it comes to posting, I'm about as consistent as Jason Kidd in a dimly lit gym (sizzling Olympic performance not withstanding).

So, in an effort to regain my zest for basketball after three long months of endless baseball highlights on Sportscenter, I'm using this post to remind me why I love basketball so much, and more specifically remember my favorite players from inception into basketball folklore (circa 1989ish) to now.

In no particular order, ten guys who are responsible for my love of basketball. In regards to era, the players might have played longer, but in this instance I'm labeling it in terms of biggest impact.

Penny Hardaway

Era: Mid to Late '90s

If you're my age, or even around my age, and you liked basketball in the mid 90's, chances are you probably have a Penny jersey. Before he got hurt, he was easily one of the smoothest players to ever step onto a basketball court. To this day I truly believe that had that freak injury where he bumped knees with Grant Hill not occured (funny how that turned out), he would have eclipsed Magic as the best tall format point guard of all-time. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, he had to settle for a solid, yet injury-riddled, career. Overlooked in all of this: in a small, miniscule way, he helped launch Chris Rock's career.

Chris Herren

Era: Late '90s

His career kind of played out like a former child actor's, the basketball version of Cory Feldman or something akin. He was the subject of Bill Reynolds' Fall River Dreams as a high school junior, where he was one of the hottest recruits the state of Massachusetts had ever seen. The story was cool, and when it said that he had gone to Fresno State University to play with Jerry Tarkanian, I figured I'd check him out. I immediately fell in love with the way he played. I've seen very few play with the same passion that he displayed; hell, he made me want to chest bump the person I was sitting next to (which was awkward on dates). I think the Celtics shot his NBA dreams down far too early, because really in his prime I thought he compared favorably to new Clippers' back-up Jason Williams. Of course, sometimes our own demons get in the way, and it's a shame his name is back in the news for the wrong reasons.

Jalen Rose

Era: Early 90's to mid 2000s

Back-to-back book influences. I realize now after some of Mitch Albom's "ethical conflicts" that maybe Fab Five wasn't the most--how can I put this delicately--true work of non-fiction ever, but I have to admit that the guy can write, and he helped me fall in love with Rose. Even watching the Fab Five on TV growing up, I remember how analysts used to dog Michigan for all their trash-talk and what not, and Rose was without a doubt their No.1 target. Even when he struggled early in his career, in typical Jalen fashion, I would tell all my friends in my high-pitched voice, "Watch out, J-Rose is gonna blow up. Just watch." Hate to say I told you so, but... you know the rest. Boggles my mind how he never played in an all-star game, though.

Dirk Nowitzki

Era: Late '90s to present

I've probably said this far too often in this blog, but the Dallas Mavericks are the reason why I'm still an NBA fan. I know Steve Nash made them exciting, but I'd just never seen a player like Dirk before. Sure, Kevin Garnett may have started the revolution towards the offensively versatile big man, but Dirk added ridiculous three-point touch. I may catch flack for this, but I believe he may be the best pure shooter in the NBA. I know his career three-point percentage is only above average, and he's only shot over 50 percent once in his career, but the degree of difficulty on his shots rivals only Kobe and D-Wade in my opinion. As a fan, I really hope he finally breaks through and gets that elusive championship, but if his career ended today, it would have made quite an impression on me.

Rafer Alston

Era: Late '90s to present

Out of all the ridiculously bold basketball predictions I've made over the years, I think I'm most proud of the assertion I made in 2000. I told all my friends that despite the fact that he was stuck to the Milwaukee Bucks bench, the streetball legend would end up as a solid starting point guard one day. I stuck to my guns and I was right. A true testament to my love for Skip: my AOL screen name has been Rafer11 for almost ten years. Every now and then you see a little Rucker Park from him, but the fact that he can play the game BOTH ways just tells you how far Alston has come.

Damon Stoudamire

Era: Mid '90s to Early 2000s

"Mighty Mouse." I was mainly a fan of him in the early days, when even as a kid I couldn't believe Toronto could get away with putting a dinosaur on a jersey. His handle was absolutely ridiculous. I remember one week in like his second season--and I already looked it up on YouTube I couldn't find it--he made Tim Hardaway and Ron Harper fall on consecutive nights. To this day I have no idea why he never became a top flight point guard; maybe he peaked too early, maybe he had too much "two" in him. I definitely still have my Stoudamire jersey somewhere in my closet, and--aside from my Penny because I had to wear that--it will go down as my favorite jersey.

Kerry Kittles

Era: Mid '90s to Early 2000s

I had this strange infatuation with Villanova back in the day, an infatuation that re-surfaced in '06 and '07 when the 'Cats had that four guard line-up. He was the "other" Big East guard that came out of the 1996 draft, Ray Allen and Allen Iverson being the more prominent names. Honestly, I guess it wasn't really his game that excited me. I just liked his style. You see somebody wearing one sock up by the knee cap and the other one down by the ankle? Kittles was the first player I remember doing that. An injury kind of cut his career short, but even though I don't rock his style anymore, at least it made me consider that there was a style element to basketball.

Allen Iverson

Era: Mid '90s to present

I'm not the hugest Iverson fan, but it'd be blasphemy not to put him on this list. Say what you will about him, but be honest: even if you hate him with all your guts, hate everything he stands for, wish someone would just flick the right analog stick next time he was in mid-air (that was for the Madden heads), you'd be lying if you said you didn't think his crossover was the coolest thing ever. I remember reading Hoop magazine one day, and mid-way through they had this cut-out poster on how to do "the move". Step by step. I'm not kidding, I was out in the driveway trying to perfect it for at least six hours that night (funny how that dedication didn't translate into a D-I career, huh?). Still hating? Okay, fine. I didn't want to have to bring it out, but, since you're still hating... I present to you Exhibit A.

Reggie Miller

Era: Early '90s to 2005

If you've ever seen me play for five minutes, I bet you were wondering, "When is he gonna get to Reg on this list?" Our games are so similar that if I was 6'7" we'd be twins. I can attribute much of how I play today from intently watching Miller over the years. I don't think there was ever a player who moved as well without the ball as #31 for the Pacers. Oh, and aside from Michael Jordan and maybe Kobe Bryant, there hasn't been another player from my "era" with a penchant for coming up huge in the biggest of moments. Every movie needs a montage. Man, if you don't get goosebumps from watching some of the stuff he does in that clip... you have no soul.

Michael Jordan

Era: Mid '80's to Mid '90's, and whatever the hell that was from 2001-2003

If you're reading this and I went to middle school or high school with you, you'll probably remember me as one of the biggest Jordan haters ever. What most of you probably don't remember--or weren't there to witness, whatever it may be--how much I l-o-v-e-d MJ in elementary school. Our falling out was nothing personal: he won, he left, Penny came, MJ becomes like that old toy you've outgrown... all of which burned me up inside when he murdered Penny's and, later on, Reggie's hopes of winning a championship. But, Airness, I'm all grown up now, and I just wanted to tell you (though you'll never see this unless my new MySpace friend J.A. Adande refers you here) how much I respected your game and the groundwork you've laid for not only the NBA, but for basketball everywhere. I wouldn't be here writing about basketball today if you hadn't gone out of your way to stick out your tongue prior to every defiance of gravity. I thank you, kind sir.

Now please, for the love of God, learn how to draft.

If you're one of my boys (or girls) reading this and you know of players I left off inexplicably, get at me.

Josh Artest

Good lord.

Once upon a time, Josh Howard appeared to be a hard-working basketball player that went about his business with a quiet, unshaken demeanor on the court. Despite being drafted far later than he should have been (29th pick in the first round of '03) and being criticized for having no upside at the time, he improved his numbers every single year. Real stand-up guy: in fact, he declined to play for the 2006 U.S. team in the FIBA Championships because it coincided with his youth basketball camp. Through the first four and a half years of his career, you didn't hear jack about Howard's off-court antics.

Then came the 2008 playoffs.

Right before a must-win Game 3 in their series against the New Orleans Hornets, Howard opened up about smoking pot in the off-season. Okay. I thought the timing on that was weird, but I wasn't about to completely vilify the guy. Remember when Karl Malone said that 70% of the NBA toked up? Illegal as it may be, we all screw up from time to time. Given his past, I gave him a pass (damnit, no pun intended).

Then, after a catastrophic loss in Game 4 of that same series, I believe it was Avery Johnson who called Howard out on his excessive partying during the playoffs or something to that extent (great journalism, I know). I definitely lost some respect for him after that, especially when you compare his numbers during that series to his regular season output. But, hey, he's 28, not 19, Drinking is legal. No one got on pitcher David Wells when he got bombed before a start.

The speeding thing? Okay, so now he not only has gotten into legal trouble, he's also putting his life in danger. Just ask David Wesley how dangerous that can be. Wesley saw one of his teammates, Bobby Phills, die in a drag-racing accident. At this point I was really starting to wonder what had gotten into Howard...

and then...

"Star-Bangled Banner going on right now... I don't even celebrate that [poop]. I'm black, [gosh darnit]."

It's worth saying again. Good lord.

Playing devil's advocate for a minute--someone has to, right--I can understand where he's coming from. If you break it down, maybe it's nothing more than a less politically correct version of what Kanye West said, but on a broader scale spanning generations of mistreatment.

Okay, I'm done. West's reaction was more out of anger than anything else. Howard? Dude was cheesin' the entire time, obviously trying to make a joke that apparently no one found remotely funny. West was voicing his disdain over one person; Howard might as well have said, "F--- America."

Has anyone seen Howard's sanity? If so, please return it to American Airlines Arena in time for the start of the season. I would hate to see such a talented player be remembered more for what he said or did off the court than what he did on the court. I would hate to see a bad four and a half month stretch define his career.

Unfortunately for him, it may be too late.

Is It Basketball Season Yet????

One month until NBA Live '09 comes out. I know that training camps actually open a week or so before that, but to me when Live drops, that's when basketball season starts. Something about Dirk Nowitzki hitting animated step-back, pump fake, pump fake, fade away and flop jumpers gets me excited!

In my time away from basketball season, I've been trying to diversify myself sports' wise (because it's becoming obvious I'll never grow up and care about real issues). For example, obviously I watched football today, as a couple teams (i.e. the Ravens and Falcons) set themselves up for a week of radioheads predicting complete turnarounds. I have to say I was dissappointed Ocho Cinco wasn't allowed to play, and instead some dude named Chad Johnson took his roster spot. In all seriousness, I loved his post game comment when asked about the name change.

"I ain't worried about the name, man. We just lost the game."

That, ladies and gentlemen, might be the most sensible he's ever said.

Believe it or not, I actually caught some tennis this weekend, too. Day Two of Nadal/Murraywas pretty cool, especially for Brit Andy Murray, who will try to become the first of his countrymen to win a major tennis title since his boy Fred Perry did it in 1936.

Oh, and this chick Serena is pretty amazing, too. Seriously, if she decided to one day play with the guys, kind of like Sorenstam used to do on the PGA Tour... I guarantee you she would not be dominated. In fact, I can see her being ranked if she spent a year on tour with the fellas.

See? I'm more than just a one trick pony...












...but seriously, how many days until training camp opens?