Karma: Could the signing of Baron Davis been to the detriment of the Los Angeles Clippers?

Six days ago, Yardbarker blogger Baron “DB” Davis posted for the first time as a Los Angeles Clipper and 306 replies later—the public’s perception of him is…well…divided.

And that is putting it very lightly.

Much has been talked about Davis’ evoking his right to opt out of his current contract with the Golden State Warriors in the 11th hour (leaving a cool $17.8 million greenback on the table) as well as the resulting alleged collusion with fellow free agent Elton “EB” Brand and the Los Angeles Clippers.

Brand, fresh from watching the Boston Celtics capture their 17th World Championship, was said to have seen the logic in bringing together great and talented individuals who are willing to work towards a common goal—an NBA Championship.

But…things change.

The tune of $90 million dollars by way of Golden State (possible retribution for luring their franchise player Davis away?) and $82 million courtesy of some recent maneuverings by the Philadelphia 76ers has the potential to sway even the most idealistic minds.

So much for the “EB” and “BD” one-two punch combination.

What about the Clippers other unrestricted free agent and longest tenured player Corey Maggette?

Well, the Clippers can’t go down that road anymore with reports that he has agreed to accept a five-year contract worth around $50 million from the Golden State Warriors.

Fortunes once looked bright this uptown LA squad.

Karma anyone?

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Now playing: Jack Johnson - Sitting, Waiting, Wishing
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Kidd's total hits 94

With 15 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists last night against the Golden State Warriors; New Jersey Nets point guard Jason Kidd has already recorded his seventh triple-double (94th for his career) in only the second month of the young 07'-08' NBA season.

And it's not even Christmas.

Wow.

In Kidd's most productive triple-double season (The 06'-07' NBA season with 12), he didn't register his 7th triple-double until the 11th of January 2007.

When asked about his exceptional rebounding skills, Kidd said, "I'm just getting better with age."

Yahoo Sports also added that Kidd is in line to surpass his idol Earvin "Magic" Johnson in career rebounds as Kidd needs only to add 21 rebounds to his career total of 6,538.

This would place him in "fourth place career among NBA guards in rebounds."

If Magic is currently fourth and J-Kidd fifth.

Who then is one, two, and three on that list?

My money is on Oscar and Elgin Baylor.

What do you guys think?

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Now playing: Fergie - Glamorous (Featuring Gwen Stefani)
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Head coaches behind the microphone...can they ever be themselves?

With the NBA "trying something new" (An unprecedented move in the regular season--but not in past during NBA All-Star games--wherein mics have been placed on several players.) in terms of broadcasting their live games...

The question has being posed: How will the NBA head coaches react to this invasion of privacy?

Answer: To date, a number of coaches have not welcomed the proposition with a smile and open arms (based on the a number of negative sentiments of the matter), but they will do it anyway because the NBA and their "superiors" would "demand" it from them.


AP Sports Writer Greg Beacham wrote:

"Phil Jackson and Don Nelson became the latest reluctant NBA coaches to wear microphones on the sideline for the television broadcast. While Jackson had done it before, Nelson didn't relish his first time under the mike. "It's going to be hard to be yourself, for sure," Nelson said before the game. "You end up being an artificial person ... (but) my superiors demanded that I do it, so we'll do the best we can. Since four-letter words are about all I know, it's really cutting into my vocabulary."

I just love the candor of Coach Nelson. Don't you?

What if, in the heat of the moment, he blurt out expletives left and right? He loses his cool and engages the referee in a not so pleasant "conversation?" What then? Man, if it says "Parental Guidance" or "Parental Advisory" on the bottom right hand of your television screens, then you will now know why.

But seriously, teams...coaches for that matter have only a minute during a full timeout and a third of that time during 20 second timeouts to consolidate their thoughts and devise a game plan for their next defensive or offensive set.

Will they spend half that time thinking of politically correct terms? Grammar?

I don't think so. This, I believe, was the message that Coach Nelson was attempting to convey when he said, "you end up being and artificial person."

It would be interesting situation though...

Very interesting indeed...

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Now playing: Boyz II Men - All Around The World
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NBA Gems (This early into the NBA 07'-08' Season)

The Scintillating Six:

1) Brendan Haywood (Wizards) - With the exit of his arch rival (Etan Thomas) due to open heart surgery, the center spot of the Washington Wizards belongs solely to Haywood and he hasn't disappointed by coming up with the first three game double-double of his career. Brendan is currently averaging 10 markers, 13.7 boards, and 3 rejections per game.

2) John Salmons (Kings)- With Mike Bibby out with an injured thumb and Ron Artest serving a seven game suspension, someone had to step up. Enter John Salmons and his 21 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists. Now I know why he turned down that deal with the Raptors to sign with the Kings last year :)

3) Kelenna Azubuike (Warriors) - Hard surname to spell but his game is everywhere with 20 points and 1.7 3's per game. Golden State coach Don Nelson loves Azubuike's work ethic and this bodes well for Kelenna, especially when Stephen Jackson returns from his seven game suspension (that was imposed by the NBA following his guilty plea to a felony charge of criminal recklessness for firing a gun into the air outside an Indianapolis club).

4) Carlos Delfino (Raptors) - Finally free of the Motor City's overcrowded backcourt, this native of Santa Fe, Argentina is making Toronto Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo an early candidate for GM of the Year with averages of 7.7 points, 5 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 2 steals, and 1.7 3 pointers made per contest.

5) Ronnie Brewer (Jazz) - A first-round pick of the Utah Jazz a season ago (he went 14th), Brewer has supplanted Gordan Giricek as the team's starting SG to the tune of 16 points and 2.8 steals through four games.

6) Al Horford (Hawks) - Taken with the 3rd pick in the 07' Draft that featured Oden and Durant. Florida's Al Horford needs to early shake off foul trouble (4 fouls in less than 4 minutes into the second half of their opening night game against the Dallas Mavericks) and make the most of his minutes on the floor while Atlanta Hawks center--Zaza Pachulia--is out (until mid-November with a sprained knee).

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Now playing: Fergie - Glamorous (Featuring Ludacris)
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Drills to improve your Ball-Handling

I took this off an old NBA Inside Stuff magazine in a bookstore somewhere in Hong Kong a couple of years ago. I believe this basketball tip is by former Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings head coach Eric Musselman.


Musselman's Ball-Handling Drill

1) Get two tennis balls. Dribbling these balls is a lot harder than dribbling basketballs--and they can teach you hard lessons about fingertip control in a hurry. (Steve Nash used to do this while walking around the campus at Santa Clara....A LOT! - Tedi31)

2) Stand facing the X (high on wall) on the wall, about 8 feet away.

3) Dribble one of the tennis balls with your right hand.

4) With your left hand, pass the other ball at the X on the wall (low on wall) and catch it again.

5) Try to keep this up for as long as possible, then switch hands and keep going.

A good reason to sign an NBA player to a multi-million dollar deal

Gone are the days where National Basketball Association (NBA) players were able to sign outlandish contracts such as that of the Los Angeles Lakers star Earvin "Magic" Johnson's nonsensical 1984 deal that proposed to pay him "a million dollars a year for next 25 years" to a pair of astronomical 1993 rookie deals that gave then Golden State Warriors' forward/center Chris Webber a 15-year $74.4 million dollar contract and then Orlando Magic guard Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway a "100% guaranteed" 13-year $68 million dollar contract.

These days, the most "stars" can get is a 5 to 6 year deal depending on several factors. But not everyone can get a great deal and that's where this story begins.

Mercury News sports writer and blogger Tim Kawakami has been watching the NBA Golden State Warriors for quite some time. In this particular entry, Kawakami described a really funny story involving several of the Warriors' international players, forward/center Andris Biedrins (now GSW's starting center) and forward Nikoloz Tskitishvili (out of the NBA).

"Best story with Andris is when I asked him a couple years ago if the Warriors should pay Tskitishvili to stick around. "Yes!" Biedrins said immediately. Why? "Because he's COOL!" Biedrins said. That's worth what? I said. "Millions," Biedrins said. "Come on, being cool is worth a couple million." And damn, he almost convinced me. Didn't convince the Warriors, though."

Hehehe...now if only life were that easy we would all be cool and millionaires to boot :)

John Starks: My Life (Hardcover)

Category: Books
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Author: John Starks and Dan Markowitz

Outside of Patrick Ewing, former CBA veteran John Starks is probably one of the most recognizable figures in New York sports during the 90's. In his book, Starks talks about his humble beginnings--moving from four different college academic programs to making it to the New York Knicks on a technicality (as injured players can't be cut from their teams, John attempted to dunk of Patrick Ewing during the pre-season in 88' and got hurt in the process).

Through his words, Starks shares the will, desire, and tenacity which made him one of the most exciting and controversial players to ever play in the NBA. Starks shares stories that made him the most decorated guard to ever come out of the CBA with accolades such as the winning a spot on the NBA All-Star team and the 6th Man of the year award. He also talks about his horrible game 7 performance in the 1994 NBA finals as well as the trials and tribulations which he and a number of his family members had to go through.

If your a fan of the NBA, this is certainly one ride you wouldn't want to miss! Get your copy today!

The Sun Has Set On The Dallas Mavericks

May 3, 2007. No matter how much Mavericks owner Mark Cuban downplays his team's first round exit against the 8th seed Golden State Warriors, this date stands as a day of infamy for the Dallas Mavericks. After garnering the best overall record (67 wins and 15 losses) in 06'-07' season--which guaranteed them home court advantage throughout the playoffs--the Mavs were still unable to upstage the up-and-coming Warriors who seemed to have had their number over the last two years.

TNT Analyst Steve Kerr put it best when he likened the slumping Mavericks to last year’s Detroit Pistons. Kerr mentioned a conversation that he had with Pistons Head Coach Flip Saunders wherein Saunders talked about his team “losing their edge” entering that year’s NBA Playoffs due to a number of lackluster games in the tail end of their regular season schedule.

The Mavericks made NBA history as being the first number one seed to lose a best-of-seven first round series to an eight seed (The previous two occasions were best-of-five affairs wherein the 94’ Denver Nuggets upset the favored Seattle Supersonics and the 99’ New York Knicks which bested the Miami Heat on an Allan Houston runner at the buzzer). Despite winning 67 games (which tied them for 6th best overall record all-time); having three ten-game winning streaks (with a high of 17 straight games (they were unable to extend it to 18 as they lost to the Warriors in their next game)); having the best home record; best road record; and winning the southwest division title, it just wasn’t enough to best the Golden State Warriors who played their hearts out despite having an injured and inferior lineup to that of the Dallas Mavericks.

Then again, it’s pretty hard to win a basketball series or game for that matter when your star player—German native Dirk Nowitzki—in not so many words, conceded the series should the Warriors win Game 4. (Which they did! It also gave the Warriors a seemingly insurmountable 3-1 lead in the series).