The Links

Links: SLAM 128 Cover Shoot Video

CHN — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:20:19 -0400

by Lang Whitaker
You might remember the day in December when, apropos of nothing, I popped up in Barcelona to file game notes from the match between Ricky Rubio and Brandon Jennings? Well, as is often the case with SLAM, there was a little more going on than meets the eye. I was actually in Barcelona because we did a cover shoot the evening before with the two best point guards in the world who aren’t in the NBA: Ricky Rubio and Brandon Jennings.
The most amazing thing — by far — to me about this cover was that SLAM was the only media outlet not only at the game, but also the only outlet that cared enough about basketball to even ask about doing a photo shoot with Ricky and Brandon. We asked Ricky and Brandon if they’d give us the time, and surprisingly, they both agreed to, rather graciously. We obviously don’t have the limitless resources of SI or ESPN, but when this came together I hopped on a flight to Barcelona to be in the casa for it.
We shot this in a studio in the shadow of La Sagrada Familia, the perpetually under construction cathedral in Barcelona. Brandon was in town with Roma, and he showed up in a taxi. Ricky’s parents brought him (Ricky didn’t have his driver’s license yet but was taking lessons). They’d never met before, and Ricky’s English is good enough that they were able to talk and hang out. We were at the studio ntil after 11:00 p.m., doing the photos and the interviews. And Ricky’s parents are so nice — when they heard we hadn’t bought tickets to see Ricky and Brandon play yet on for the following night, they demanded we go with them and sit with them.
The point I tried to make in the story was that as basketball fans, we’re living in a totally new world. Because for the first time ever, if you wanted to see the two best NBA point guard prospects in the world, you couldn’t do it on ESPN or CBS. You needed YouTube and a Euroleague subscription and Google alerts. Brandon changed the game for US players, and Ricky’s changing it for European players.
Obviously, the cover line says Ricky and Brandon are ready to rock the NBA. And they both are. I can promise you that. I know whenever we mentioned either of them in a post, a lot of you guys start saying there’s no way these kids will make it, they’re not that good, etc. To which I say, you are wrong. I respect your right to have an opinion, but you’re not correct if you think Ricky and Brandon won’t be NBA stars.
We’ll find out soon enough. Brandon is definitely in the Draft this year. (When I asked him if he was going to enter the Draft, he not only said yes immediately but he also mentioned the date of the Draft off the top of his head.)
But is Ricky going to be in the Draft this year? Well, I don’t have a concrete answer for you. When I asked Ricky if he was going to be in the Draft, he said this:
SLAM: Do you want to play in the NBA next year, or I mean what’s your…?
RR: At the moment I only thinking Euro[pe]—
SLAM: Next year, yeah.
RR: ACB. So I don’t thinking NBA. Yeah, I think—
SLAM: Eventually—
RR: I watch NBA. I think NBA. But no, at the moment, no.
Since then, I’ve heard many rumors. I’ve heard that Ricky’s contract buyout is so big (the number I heard was about $10 million) that he might not be able to buy it out and would have to wait until the contract expires next summer. I’ve heard a rumor that his team in Spain, DKV Joventut, could use the cash and would be willing to take less to let Ricky out of his deal. And I’ve heard most recently that negotiations are underway as I type this to get Ricky out of his contract.
I don’t know where the truth resides in this equation, but I will say this: I would not be surprised to see Ricky and Brandon both in the NBA next season. In the meantime, if you want to see them or hear from them, pick up the new SLAM, on newsstands everywhere next week. Copies are on the way to the Rubios as I type this, and Brandon got his copy yesterday and sent me an email that said, “Thanks for writing a great story, for the new SLAM on Me and Ricky. The COVER is HOT.”
Agreed. Here’s a little video I shot at the shoot, and it includes a few clips of each guy doing his thing. You can see it on YouTube here.
And we don’t stop…

Links: Free Stuff

CHN — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:34:21 -0400

by Lang Whitaker
First of all, I need to say a brief word to our friends here at KING magazine. You may or may not have heard that KING magazine ceased to exist yesterday, yet another in a seemingly endless list of publications hit hard by the current economy (or lack of an economy). Regardless of what you may have felt about the content in KING, it always sucks to see a lot of good people suddenly out of work. Hang in there, KING folk.
Now, on to the NCAA Tournament. I know, I know, I’ve historically been against the NCAA Tournament. Someone recently asked me on Twitter who I was picking for the Final Four, and I said the Lakers, Spurs, Cavs and Celtics. That’s my Final Four. I understand the excitement of the games and the allure of cheering for your favorite schools, but I mostly watch college basketball as a scouting device. (If my college, the University of Georgia, had anything even loosely resembling a consistently competitive basketball program, I’d probably be more into college hoops. But they don’t, so I’m not.) And the NCAA Tournament is a great way to see most of the best NBA prospects in a short timeframe. I finally saw the guys who’ve been rumored to drafted high all year. I watched James Harden (unimpressed) and Dajuan Blair (Tractor Traylor II?) and BJ Mullens (who just declared for the Draft, which could be an epic fail on his part). All in all, I was really disappointed with the level of talent in college basketball, and I agree with the pundits who say the Draft will be down this year. The one guy I really liked? Toney Douglas from Florida State. He’s 6-2, can play the point, can shoot from the outside, can shoot off screens, can create his own shot, gets to the foul line, defends the ball (he was the ACC Defensive Player of the Year). “He’s my favorite non-Duke player in the country,” Coach K said after Duke beat FSU in in the ACC Tourney final. “I love that guy. I talk about him a lot to our guys. They’re probably mad at me. He’s as good as there is in college.”
And yet Douglas, for some reason, isn’t considered a top NBA prospect. NBADraft.net has him going mid-second round, DraftExpress has him ranked 67th out of all seniors, and Chad Ford doesn’t even have him in the Top 100 prospects.
Why? I have no idea. Either my eyes were lying to me or I’m a worse talent evaluator than I thought.
Anyway, with the economy the way it is and everything, I thought maybe we should give away some free stuff. Because who doesn’t like free stuff?
Our friends at Original Retro Brand have just come out with a very cool line of classic NCAA Tournament t-shirts, which not only have the classic Final Four logos on the front but a patch from the winning school on the sleeve (you can check that line out here). And with the Final Four about to tip-off this weekend, the guys at Original Retro Brand came to us with some shirts for a giveaway.
So, we have four shirts, one from each Final Four school (UNC, MSU, UConn and Villanova). In the comments section below, tell us which school’s shirt you’d want and then tell us why you should win that shirt. What makes you your school’s biggest fan?
We’ll pick four winners, one for each school. You’ve got until the games start on Friday night, at which point I’m turning off the comments. One t-shirt per person (so don’t enter multiple times or for multiple schools).
That’s it. Let’s go…

Links: MVP Overload

CHN — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:49:50 -0400

by Lang Whitaker
While I was glad to see so many of you chime in on the MVP post I wrote the other day, I didn’t expect there to be over 400 responses. Man. So I fired up one of the new Radiohead remix CDs and read through your comments…all 409 of them (as I went to type). And I want to read and react here.
Before we get into that, though, I should say that yesterday afternoon I watched both the Cavs/Mavs and Hawks/Lakers game, and one thought that jumped out at me is that while Kobe Bryant is probably the best offensive player in the NBA, LeBron, at least yesterday, seems like the most versatile player.
(And just after I typed that sentence, my official awards ballot arrived! Is that a sign?)
Anyway, here’s a few comments and emails…
Co Co wrote…
Look Lang, don’t try to be some go against the grain type of guy. The award is LeBron’s. It was his to lose and he hasn’t lost it. Just fall in line and vote for the King.
I’m assuming that was written with tongue firmly planted in cheek. Either way, the reason I’m trying to make this a dialogue is because I don’t want to just fall in line like everyone else. It’s my vote, but it’s also SLAM’s vote, and it’s also your vote, because without you guys, our readers, we don’t get a vote. And I don’t want to be one of those columnists/writers who is always telling you what you should be thinking. So I’m listening. Next!

A1 commented…
I agree that the race is a close one, but I dispute your premise that the East is a “much weaker conference.” Respectfully, I think you’re stuck in last season on that one. Without question the East has 3 of the 4 best teams. The West clearly has a lot more teams that will finish with 50 wins. The East has a 226-208 record (.521) in inter-conference games. It seems pretty hard to navigate those facts in any way that makes either conference “much stronger” or “much weaker.” Since you were writing about the relative challenges facing the Cavs and Lakers, however, it might be instructive to look at those teams’ comparative records against the West and the East. The Cavs are 35-9 (.795) against the East and 25-4 (.862) against the West. The Lakers are 20-8 (.714) against the East and 38-7 (.844) against the West. It is pretty clear that as between those two teams, both of which are utterly dominant against Western Conference opponents, it is the Lakers that have an advantage playing more games against the “weaker” conference. Good luck deciding on your vote!
You know why I say the East is a much weaker Conference? Because the Hawks, MY Hawks, are solidly in fourth place in the Eastern Conference. HOWEVA!, if they were in the West, they’d be battling for the 8th seed. Both Conferences have a lot of flotsam and jetsam at the bottom of the standings, but look at the BETcats — seven games under .500 but only two games out of the Playoffs in the East. Maybe the West has a more clearly defined top and bottom than the East, but to me the East has a lot more mediocre teams.

The Seed wrote…
I feel Kobe is the MVP, because his team will have the best record and he has taken a back seat to help the team win. Just wait until playoffs start and Kobe like last year, increase his scoring per game and assists and rebs. People wait up and see we are going to give a player who fundamentals suck, playing with just brute force an MVP award. Whats wrong with America.
Well, we’re not voting on the Playoffs. We’re voting on regular season.

Rue Morgue Avenue wrote…
Just want to start by saying I’m a lifelong Laker fan, but also a fan of the NBA in general. Obviously, I’m gonna try to convince you to vote for Kobe as MVP. For me the biggest argument in his favor is that the Lakers play in the tougher Western Conference, where they have to play teams like the Spurs, Rockets, Jazz, Blazers, Hornets, etc. on a regular basis multiple times a year. Over in the Eastern Conference, LeBron and his Cavs get to beat up on the likes of the Knicks, Pistons, Pacers, Bucks, Bulls, Nets, etc. on a nightly basis. I know that there are some awful teams in the West like the Kings and the Clippers, but the difference is that there are still the other eight good teams fighting for playoff spots, while the teams I mentioned from the East are all sub .500 teams that are fighting for the last 2 playoff spots in the East. LeBron does have a weaker supporting cast in general, but the Lakers bench is a bit overrated as of recently. While they’re going through their slumps, while Lamar Odom is going through his moments, while Andrew Bynum is injured, Kobe (and Gasol, but more on him in a sec) is the guy that’s got them winning games. Also, Kobe makes the guys around him significantly better too. I’m not too familiar with Gasol’s career with the Grizzlies, but he’s putting up all-NBA caliber numbers this year. Playing with Kobe has made guys like Ariza, Farmar, Walton, Vujacic, and Powell improve significantly…both because playing with him leaves them with great looking shots and because his work ethic rubs off on them. LeBron has been playing great as well…he’s a freak of nature and it pains me to stay that at some point he’ll probably overtake Kobe as the best in the game today, but I don’t think he’s there yet. Also, don’t forget the Lakers are the only team to beat the Cavaliers at home, at the end of a long road trip, about a week after Bynum went down, two or three days after an emotionally draining battle with the Celtics in Boston. I think that ought to count for something.
Hey, tell that to The Seed. Good point about the head-to-head match-ups.
Darksaber wrote…
my two cents Lang? Don’t overthink it, oh great thinker. You have scaled both awards down to 2-3 candidates each. Even have your arguments, and are still unsure. So, who do you like watchingthe most. Who makes you leave your seat during games? Who is the most awe inspiring? The big 3 are all mvp candidates for different reasons. So who is Whitaker down with? And ROY is quite clearcut no? Rose.
No, not quite clearcut. Getting clearer, though. And thanks for recognizing my great thinking ability.

NBK wrote…
The only reasonable argument anyone can possibly have to why Kobe would be MVP has not even been said yet, Kobe is the only player who has not lost to the top teams in the league this year. He beat Cleveland twice and is the only team to beat them in Cleveland (to my knowledge), and they beat Boston twice. If anything Kobe’s MVP argument hinges on him beating his championship competition.
Dude above made a similar point, but the more I think about, the more I think we should make clear that we’re not voting for best team. We’re trying to pick the one player who has the most value to his team.

Tommy from over at Hoopsworld emailed to say…
per your recent post - I don’t think CP3 get enough love. I wrote about it here. The premise: “While intangibles such as leadership and nebulous concepts such as “making your teammates better” are difficult to measure, the one thing we can clearly quantify is the statistical bottom line.”
Sure. And I love CP3. But he’s not the most valuable player in the NBA.
Finally, Dr. Brent Brossman sent this thesis along…
The attachment below is a detailed analysis of your question and (I think) proves conclusively that LeBron James is your MVP. I’ve attached a Word version as well, which may be easier to read and also has links to the relevant articles.
This is new to me. I follow basketball closely, but I don’t write to voters or columnists. However, since you asked for input, I’ll gladly provide it. I hope you will take the time to read it, because I put a lot of thought into answering what I perceive to be a legitimate question on your part. I think I can conclusively prove that LeBron James is the MVP.
You start with the assumption that it’s a three man race between Kobe, Dwyane and LeBron. I’ll agree to limit the debate to those three guys. Additionally, I’ll argue for the use of statistics for determining which one is best because they cut through the personal biases of watching (or rooting for) some players more than others.
There are several statistics that I believe are the most important because they measure specific things. First, there is John Hollinger’s PER. Hollinger claims it “sums up all a player’s positive accomplishments, subtracts the negative accomplishments, and returns a per-minute rating of a player’s performance.” It appears to be the best evaluation of a player’s overall contribution to his team. It does not take into account the intangibles like leadership, but I think we’ll all concede that LeBron, Kobe and Dwyane are great leaders for their teams. It doesn’t take into account some defense (which is still subjective), but there seems to be a general consensus that all three of these guys belong on the first team All Defensive Team. Additionally, it does account for rebounds, blocks, steals, etc. So, what do they do in the rest of the game?
According to PER, the top 5 players – in order, are LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant. It assumes that an average player who is worthy of 500+ minutes per year is valued at 15. On that scale, Kobe is 24.77, while LeBron James is 31.67 and Dwyane Wade is 30.34 In other words, while LeBron and Wade are close, Kobe isn’t. In fact, if Tim Duncan were .10 better this year, Kobe wouldn’t be in your top 5.
Those numbers replicate themselves in more traditional stats as well. Kobe is behind LeBron and Dwyane in scoring, assists, rebounds, steals, blocks, etc. He’s great; but not as good as the other two.
Now, I know your answer is, “but Kobe plays in the tougher conference.” Except, he doesn’t. In years past that was true, but now the East is the tougher conference. I know it doesn’t look like that given that the East has two teams with losing records in the top 8 and the West will have a team at close to a 60% win-loss record who doesn’t make the playoffs. However, it is the teams below that that artificially inflate the West. The worst team in the NBA (Sacramento) and 6 of the 7 worst teams overall play in the West. Assuming you play a team 3.5 times a season (you play all teams in your conference EITHER 3 or 4 times; 2 if they are in the other conference), that’s 23 games against the worst teams in the NBA if you are in the West, but only 15 or 16 if you are in the East. That 7-8 game difference makes a huge impact in the standings.
How do we know that it is the bottom dwellers pushing records up and not the better teams forcing the lower teams down? The statistics prove that again. In head to head competition, the East and West have played 430 games against each other including the games of March 27. The EAST leads the season 223-207 for a .519 winning percentage. I don’t see how the West can be better if the East is winning the head to head games. However, there is additional evidence.
There are clearly 4 elite teams this year – Cleveland, Los Angeles, Boston and Orlando. Their records are in a different stratosphere than the other teams. But, that also means they are driving down the win-lose records of their opponents. Eastern teams have to play those 4 teams an average of 13-14 times, while the West plays them 9-10 times. That’s another 4 game swing in the standings. Given that three of those teams are in the East, they have a disproportionate impact on the standings, making the East look worse than it is.
And, how do those teams do against the other conference? Through March 27’s games:
Team           East W    East L    East %    West W    West L    West %
Cleveland          35       9   .796    24     4      .857
Los Angeles      38           7           .844    20     7      .740
Orlando             33      11           .750           21      7      .750
Boston               35      10    .778 20 9    .690
Of the four, only Boston has a better record against the East. Both Cleveland and Los Angeles are SIGNIFICANTLY better against the West. So, I do not accept your argument that “Bron also plays in a much weaker conference.” LeBron plays in the stronger conference.
Given that, there is no real case to be made for Kobe this year unless it’s the “best player on the best team” philosophy. Even then, the Cavaliers have the best record in the NBA at the moment; although the Lakers could easily have that by the time the season is over. Still, in a world in which those two teams will clearly have the best records, and those records will be significantly better than any other team and very close to each other, there is no justification for giving the award to Bryant over James.
As for James v. Wade, the debate is more interesting. Wade actually leads LeBron in both scoring and assists, the first time Wade has led James in any of the “big three” categories in their careers. Wade has been an unstoppable force, and has almost single-handedly kept his team respectable. However, you were right-on in your argument that Wade’s team is only 4 games over .500. That doesn’t deserve MVP honors. It would certainly be unfair to change the criteria and award it to Wade this year after LeBron should have won a year ago and Kobe two years ago if we used that standard.
However, even by that standard, Wade doesn’t win. It’s easy to say that Wade is obviously more important to the Heat than James is to the Cavs, but the statistics don’t support that either. The obvious statistic to use is EWA – an assessment of the estimated number of wins each player is responsible for. Wade does amazingly well with an Estimated Wins of 27.0.   In other words, without Wade, we could expect the Heat to drop from 38 and 34 to a lowly 11 and 51. Clearly, Wade is ESSENTIAL to the Heat. But, James’ Estimated Wins is even better – a league high 28.8. So, even in this category, NOBODY is more important to a team’s success than LeBron James. For comparison, Kobe’s EWA is 18.6.
And even in the traditional statistics, Wade is second to James. First, while Wade does have more points and assists (barely in both counts), they are only two of the many statistical categories in basketball. PER balances those two statistics with rebounds, steals, blocks, turnovers, etc., and demonstrates that LeBron is the better player by a significant margin – although Wade’s PER is 2nd in the league. How good is LeBron? He’s having the second best season ever since the advent of the modern statistics in basketball; second only to Michael Jordan’s best year (31.89 to 31.67). Hollinger has an important two-part series as to why LeBron is clearly the MVP.
LeBron James is your MVP. Hope I helped. Thanks for reading.

Links: Who’s The MVP?

CHN — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 11:50:13 -0400

by Lang Whitaker
A few weeks ago, I saw a note on the video screen on the elevator here at work that some person had passed away, and that this person was known as one of the world’s greatest thinkers. Ever since reading that, I’ve realized I need to step my thinking game up. Sure, I can produce words on a screen, I can tweet, I can write stories, whatever. But I wondered: Why can’t I be a great thinker? Because thinking is on some other ish. You can think anywhere. You can think everywhere. You can think while doing other things. And best of all, you can say you’re thinking even if you aren’t, and nobody can tell the difference.
So I dedicated myself to becoming one of the world’s great thinkers. And, if I do say so myself, I think it’s worked out pretty well. I’ve been thinking like crazy lately. I mean, I’ve had some incredibly complex thoughts, things you’d never think I’d thought, I think.
And lately, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the NBA’s post-season awards bonanza. I was recently told that I will, for the second year in a row, be asked to vote in the NBA’s official post-season awards show, no doubt because of my amazing thinking ability. (How did David Stern know I’m a great thinker? Because he’s David Stern. And you’re not.) And I already got an email this morning from a team PR person lobbying me to vote for one of his guys in a particular category.
I haven’t even gotten around to considering most of the awards, but two of them have me vexed right now: MVP and Rookie of the Year. The two leading candidates in my mind for ROY are Derrick Rose and OJ Mayo, and I’ll get into that debate at a later date.
As far as the MVP’s go, however, well, it’s gonna be a doozy. To me there are three obvious candidates: Kobe, Bron and Wade. I read a post on True Hoop the other day about the race, where a Lakers blogger said he felt LeBron would get the award because it’s “his turn.” Well, I don’t know who’s “turn” it is, and I don’t really care. I just want to vote for the person who deserves it the most.
And right now, I swear to you, I’m not sure who that person is. I think Dwyane Wade has been unbelievable this season, but the Heat, even with him, are only four games over .500. Without him, they’d definitely be way under .500, but how much of a difference does he really make? Then there’s Kobe, who is as amazing as always, but he still plays in what I think is one of the most dangerous systems in the NBA with one of the best coaches of all time who gets Kobe the ball in the best situations possible. And then there’s LeBron, who is surrounded by less talent than Kobe and has the Cavs battling for the best record in the League, but Bron also plays in a much weaker conference. And what about Dwight Howard? Tim Duncan? Joe Johnson? (OK, forget that last one. Sorry.)
Anyway, I thought I’d see what you guys had to say about this MVP vote. I’m looking for advice, for input, for your opinions. I’m your Super Delegate — this is your chance to have a say in how the MVP vote plays out.
I just looked at last year’s ballot and they asked for a top five. So who’s in your five?
Let me know what you think…

Links: Tweeting around the NBA

CHN — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:26:25 -0400

by Lang Whitaker
OK, so I’ve been away for a minute. Last week, after we finished SLAM issue 128, I took off for Orlando, Florida, where I haunted Braves’ Spring Training for a few days. Not for fun, though it was kinda fun, but I was there because I have a little extra work to do. Besides, I just wrote another SLAM cover story for 128, which means I’ve done 3 of the last 5 cover stories, and I needed a little break from things.
From Orlando and my magnificent room at the Marriott Generica, I loaded up my rental car and drove to Miami, where I spent the last three days watching random NCAA tournament games while typing up notes from my Spring Training adventure. And doing a little (or a lot) of this:

During my break, I did not post anything on SLAMonline.com, obvs, but I did write a couple of things on my Twitter account. (Hey, if I could post to The Links with my phone, I’d be all over it.)
I use Twitter not only to interact with you guys, but also to share thoughts and ideas, and to keep up with NBA beat writers (like the NYT’s Howard Beck) and NBA coaches (Alvin Gentry in the house). And, of course, NBA players. Last week I was emailing with SI.com’s links guru, Jimmy Traina, about NBA players who have Twitter accounts. Jimmy asked if there was a reliable list of guys who post on Twitter.
Because for a while there it was like the Wild West. Everyone thought Nate Robinson was on Twitter, until Jones On The NBA got after him. And then the New York Times’ Howard Beck and I asked Nate if he was on Twitter one night at a Knicks game and he’d obviously never heard of it. (”Tweets? Twister? What are you talking about?”) So not everybody is into Twitter — this story
in the OC Register about Twitter refers to the site as “Tweeter” — but I’m into it. And a lot of NBA guys are into it.Not only does it allow them to speak directly to their fans, but it allows us, fans of the NBA, to see what they’re up to away from the court.
So here are the guys we know are real…
• The granddaddy of all NBA twitter users is Shaq, who has not only famously given away tickets through Twitter and had lunch with fans thanks to Twitter. Shaq’s currently approaching a mind-boggling 1,000 tweets.
• Kobe Bryant has nearly 5,000 followers but, and this probably shouldn’t come as a surprise, he doesn’t follow anyone. That includes his teammate Derek Fisher, who’s been Twittering for a month, albeit infrequently. And his teammate Sasha Vujacic, who’s only done 10 updates, though with increasing frequency.
• Baron Davis is a recent convert but is obviously enjoying his Twitter experience, even if I had to explain how @replies work to him…
@Baron_Davis
Can anyone out there hear me
9:00 PM Mar 12th from TwitterBerry
@langwhitaker
BD! Get Chad to show you how to look at your @replies. I’m willing to bet you’ve got a few messages in there from ppl.
9:55 PM Mar 12th from twidroid in reply to Baron_Davis
@Baron_Davis
Ok good I’m glad yall can hear me. This is new to me, I need some suggestions on what yall wanna hear from me? Lang wut up
10:31 PM Mar 12th from TwitterBerry
• Chris Bosh is also a very regular tweeter, though he’s mostly used Twitter to promote projects he’s working on. Though not always…
Having the team over my house for dinner. My mom and folks threw down!
• Charlie Villanueva tweeted at halftime last week. But he also talks about trips to the grocery store…
Got back a while back, but I took a little nap. Whole Foods came thru. I always thought it was spelled with an ‘S’ at the end of Whole.
…and more recently started tweeting game at Kat DeLuna…
@KatDeLuna Dimelo migente, lets get this Dominican connect going. I got some summer projects you’ll like. Palante! A quién contacto? Send DM
• Tyson Chandler is well worth following. He not only tweeted throughout the trade deadline, when he was sent to Oklahoma City and then sent back, but he also gives little details from his personal life that are pretty funny….
So my wife bought 2 Britney Spears tix the only 1’s available were the V.I.P experiment …So guess who had 2 go? I’m standing in line …
• Jason Richardson signed up right before All-Star Weekend. Which, unfortunately, meant one of his first tweets came just after getting arrested for allegedly driving 90 mph in a 35 mph zone. Which meant on Feb. 15, he posted…
Glad allstar coming to an end. A lil tired from all the events, but it was cool to see the fans. Amare Matt n I having a party 2night
And then on Feb. 18, in his first update after the incident, he wrote a sobering tweet…
Thanks for all the love and support thru this tought time I’m goin thru. God Bless.
• Over a month ago, Shaq tweeted that he was trying to get Steve Nash to sign up on Twitter. I guess he did, because Nash signed up. He mainly uses Twitter, however, to promote stuff he’s working on or involved with, like his VitaminWater ads or his kids foundation.
• Troy Murphy signed up before the All-Star Break, but he didn’t fully utilize his account until the last few days, when he’s gone crazy tweeting green…
if you’re asking seriously am I into the environemnt the answer is YES and learning more every day
Can we call him Captain Planet from now on?
• Murph’s teammate Danny Granger was also way into Twitter…and then he wasn’t — no updates since All-Star Weekend.
• Same story with Dwight Howard — he tweeted throughout All-Star then dropped off the face of the internets.
• Andrew Bogut has embraced Twitter, and does a lot of back-and-forth with his fans, particularly his legions in Australia. He has also revealed a deep love for cars. As he updated late Monday night:
Relaxing and doing what? Checkin out some cars online…What else.
• I love following Fabricio Oberto, who constantly tweets and responds to people. He’s also got an ill background image of himself playing the electric guitar. It’s been interesting to see Oberto’s grasp of American culture improve as he uses Twitter, as well as his musical awareness as he trades music tips with fellow Twitter users…
I like almost all music, any kind or style, oasis is really good one of my favs
• Mark Madsen is a regular Twitter updater, though he somehow has fewer followers than I do (then again, I don’t play on the L-Wolves). He says he likes “basketball, cooking, whole wheat bread,” and he is attempting to raise his political profile…
@SenJohnMcCain Met you on an elevator in Philadelphia before the primaries…..thanks for the updates
His teammate Rashad McCants is also on there, though his status is locked so we can’t see what he’s Tweeting about.
• Michael Finley just signed up but has already given us a gem:
Just sawSteve Nash stick a banana in a vitamin water bottle… Didn’t hear commercial, … just imagining what he said..lol
• Sticking in San Antonio, Bruce Bowen not only Tweets, he does it in several languages…
now it’s time for comida cubano! Si se puedes!
• Portland’s Jerryd Bayless recently opened an account and has done a total of about 10 words in posts. But because he plays for Portland he has about 500 computer nerds following him already.
• Brian Cardinal has an account. His “Bio” section is oddly reflective…
I play basketball for a living, yet basketball does not define me…
You can say that again. Love the picture of himself at a Wrigley Field night game.
• Another L-Wolf, Randy Foye, is also on Twitter. Looking through his tweets, I was surprised to learn that he’s got an assistant. Maybe it’s Kevin McHale?
• Joe Alexander used Twitter to try and get in the dunk contest. Alas, being an early adopter didn’t work out for Joe.
• I’m noticing a trend here: Bad teams have more guys on Twitter. The Kings have two players, Donte Greene and Jason Thompson, who is fastidious about telling us where he eats.
• The only NBA coach on Twitter appears to be Alvin Gentry, who occasionally posts three and four post groupings about things he’s going through…
does anyone have advice on how to turn off my brain and get some sleep. all i can think of is what do we have to do to beat the jazz.
One word for you coach: Defense!
And it’s not a real account, but there’s a fake Jerry Sloan who’s hilarious.
• There’s some dispute as to whether or not Kyle Korver is actually on Twitter. A Kyle Korver account continues to be updated, though Korver says it’s not actually him (see toward the bottom here).
• And even though neither of them are actually in the NBA right now, both Marcus Williams and my main man Josh Childress are tweeting away.
I think that’s it for now. I’m going to keep this post updated, so if more guys get online I’ll add them here with a date of when we updated it. If you guys see anyone else, let me know.

Links: Only Weeks Away…

CHN — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:42:47 -0400

by Lang Whitaker
I just got chills watching this. Playoffs start April 18. I’m just saying…

h/t peachtreehoops

Links: Quick, Suck In!

CHN — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 01:47:06 -0400

by Lang Whitaker
Was watching highlights tonight of the Sixers/Heat game and noticed a shot of Donyell Marshall checking into the game. Donyell’s making $1.2 million this year but has played just 14 games all season, so perhaps we shouldn’t expect him to be in terrific shape. But still…my man looks like he could work in a few crunches. Then again, he came off the bench to score 10 in the fourth and lead the Sixers to the 85-77 win.
“He was well rested,” noted Philly coach Tony DiLeo. Well, apparently.

Links: Sexy Pics!

CHN — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 12:31:00 -0400

by Lang Whitaker
This has nothing to do with hoops but I had to share. Spent about an hour looking at photos last night. This site is a total tour de force.The ’80s and ’90s were some weird times.
Found via Andrew Sullivan.