Ron Artest has returned

I'm pleased Ron Artest has replaced Metta World Peace in the Lakers lineup. MWP has played in a funk all season long tossing up bricks at times during the course of games. Many in Laker nation would cringe every time he even looked at the basket hoping and pleading for to not shot the ball. His numbers, 7.6 points per game, .395 field goal percentage and his free-throw percentage was Shaq-like. Over the last 10 games MWP was replaced in the lineup by Ron Artest. During these 10 games Artest is scoring at a 15.2 clip per game and .496 from the floor, in addition he's playing lockdown defense. To be fair a portion of the resurgence of Artest (MWP) can be attributed to Kobe's shin injury. Laker broadcasters have stated "he (MWP) wasn't in good shape at the start of the season. In addition he lost 10-15 pounds, whatever the case I think all Laker fans are enjoying his play again.

 

Windy City Wonder

And the surrounding suburbs have certainly produced a large share of basketball talent over the years, we can add the name of Jabari Parker to the list. Parker joins Doc Rivers, Derrick Rose, Kevin Garnett and Dwayne Wade just to name a few the Chicago area has produced. Parker is a 6-8 225 pound small forward who plays for Simeon Career Academy in Chicago. Parker was selected 2012 Gatorade Player of the Year despite being a junior. This Class of 2013 athlete was selected ahead of Muhammad, Noel and others which certainly makes a statement. Over the next year Parker will mull over offers from 10 school. The usual suspects are in place, Ohio State, Kansas, Kentucky and Duke. Of course I was pleased to discover Mizzou had an offer on the table for Parker. This is another case of the son possibly having a brighter career than the father, Sonny Parker had a brief but serviceable NBA career.

 

Why do I allow myself to be baited

Our good friends at ESPN have done it again, every time I allow my view of LeBron James to ebb they provide me with conflict. The dot.com side of ESPN once again prints another story attempting to proclaim James the greatest ever. Their 5-on-5 LeBron James vs. the field column on April 18 bothers me at least in at least one area. Item 4. LeBron vs. the field: Best player of his generation (2003-12). In other words we completely discount the works of Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant? Duncan and Bryant are on the downhill side of their careers but doesn't their body of work at least equal what James has done to date. That generation thing bothered me so I double-checked dictionary.com to ensure I had the proper definition for the term generation, these are but two: 1. the entire body of individuals born and living at about the same time. 3. a group of individuals, most of whom are the same approximate age. Duncan at 35 and Kobe at age 33 share a generational link with the 27-year old LeBron James. (dictionary.com)

 

They are really bad

The Bobcats are a blip on the radar screen for most NBA fans, how much of a blip? An ESPN crawl forced me to search the record books, I did not realize how bad this team is. Like most my attention has been focused on the achieving NBA teams, that certainly doesn't fit Michael Jordan's team. The futility of the Bobcats will not establish a record for wins and losses we have a Lockout 66-game season this year. For students of the game and those in general the 1972-73 76ers set the record finishing that season with a 9-73 record. After 60 games the Bobcats are 7-53, and we are short 16 games of an 82 game regular season. In any event as bad as this team is I suspect fans might be attending games wearing brown paper sacks, they might not want anyone to witness them at a Bobcats games.

 

Who do we choose

The NBA draft is not held until June 28th so I pose a question, who do you chose? Unlike football or baseball a successful NBA draft can allow an above average team to become an NBA champion. Although I mention the sports are different the Tom Landry/Tex Schramm Cowboys drafted the best athlete available. Didn't matter if they had an all-pro tackle and an adequate backup, if there was tackle they deemed above average they drafted him. The Cowboys belief "we can trade this pick to fill a position we are lacking a starter or depth." This has not been the history of most NBA teams, you draft a player you develop him with the following exception. Often draft night players rights (not the player) are traded, as an example Scottie Pippen might have spent his entire career with the Seattle Sonics if not for his rights being traded to the Bulls. Oftentimes there is debate who is going to be drafted first, in June we'll be shocked if it's someone other than Kentucky's Anthony Davis. You cannot project injuries on draft night, the Blazers debating whether to chose Greg Oden or Kevin Durant chose the 7-1 Oden. The Sonics (Thunder) chose Durant whose had a stellar career as for Oden! Try this sometime, look at the NBA draft from 4-5 years prior, see if you can figure out where a number of even first round choices are playing.