Empire state of mind

It's amusing how everytime there's a player available for trade or as a free agent, New York Knicks are quick to jump on the bandwagon, to sort of get into the rumors that they are interested in that available player. One has to wonder, what exactly are they thinking would happen in 2010?
Knicks have sucked ever since Ewing retired or when Sprewell/Houston combo was winning games for them.
They have ridiculous contracts (Eddy Curry, a bench warmer is getting paid 10.5 million this season and 11.3 million next season!) yet they continue to sell tickets because of a big city that New York is. No where else in the world would people go buy tickets for a team that has a history of being bad. One can argue, they are buying tickets to support the other team but the games have been so lob sided that anyone coming to play Knicks, knows they are getting an easy win in the mecca of basketball. You can check the Eastern conference standings for the past 5 or so years and will always find Knicks sitting at the bottom. Yet, tickets to MSG are always in demand. If it's not the die hard Knick fans supporting their team in bad times, it's the tourists who want to see the game live. That's why they say, "There's no place in the world like New York City!"

What in the sweet world of David Stern?

Since I last ranted about the NBA, Allen Iverson is back with the 76ers, Grizzlies went on a mini streak of breaking other team's winning streaks (Mavs and Cavs), Knicks have a 4 game winning streak and they are talking about playoffs. Playoffs? Playoffs? as Jim Mora would ask.
That shows that anything is possible in the world of David Stern. Bad teams can beat good teams, Kobe can pass an ally-oop with his left hand and a guy named Gay can score 41 points! (Not that there's anything wrong with that name).

Must read NBA book

Remember the NBA referee "Tim Donaghy"? The one that was punished for "gambling" on games. Well his book Blowing the whistle has been out for a while but some excerpts where published here and it's a must read to see how Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson are really treated in the world of NBA. Shocking? Yes. Unbelievable? N. I've seen NBA games where so many calls are going towards one team that you think you are watching the WWE, where the outcome is already predetermined and the game is obviously rigged.

Bye Bye Iverson

And just like that, Allen Iverson's career in a Grizzly uniform is over. Well, at least Memphis sold some Iverson jerseys and made money off of the ticket sales. There's so much Iverson bashing going on and writers are analyzing what's wrong with him but all I'll say is this, If you think that it's an insult to come off the bench, even though you can help the team, you should continue selling your name branded shirts and arm bands because 29 teams didn't want you before and now 30 NBA teams don't want to do anything with you. (Unless of course, if you are a basketball organization in NYC, you would sign a disgruntled player to a multi-year contract and then try to get rid of them or wish that LBJ will come and save the day for you).

The curse of the Lakers!

The season is tipping off today and the news of an injury is already out of LA. Blake Griffin is going to miss not only the season opener but about 9-10 games! It just goes to prove that there can only be 1 king in a kingdom. For LA, it's the Lakers, as long as Lakers are playing good, Clippers would suck bad. Sorry Clipper fans (Billy Crystal), the Lakers are going to rule again (atleast for the beginning of the season). The Laker fans are pretty happy (Jack Nicholson).
OR
Maybe it's the curse of a rookie. The media hype them up so much, they try to do more then they can and end up hurting themselves. Remember Greg Oden?

NBA fantasy basketball

With 7 days left to the start of the regular NBA season, it's time to draft your fantasy teams. Whether you play the official nba stock exchange game, yahoo fantasy basketball or the first nba.com/espn.com fantasy game, I'll let you know about few sleeper fantasy players.
I think these players will have a good 2009-10 NBA season:
Anthony Morrow (with the disgruntled Stephon Jackson, Morrow might get more time)
Anthony Randolph (he's playing good in the pre-season)
Gilbert Arenas (Looks like he's back to being the old Arenas)
Terrance Williams (if he gets some playing time, he can fill the stat sheet)
Earl Clark (with the departure of Shaq from the suns, he might get some playing time, even though he's still a rookie, he can help with rebounding on deeper leagues)
Yi Jianlin (if he stays healthy, he can put up good numbers)
Stephan Curry (again, a rookie but can put up good numbers, granted Don Nelson gives him enough playing time)
Brook Lopez (he had a solid 08-09 season, his numbers should improve this year)
Courtney Lee (more playing time and a young team with run and gun style of game, he shouldn't have trouble putting up double digit scoring numbers)
Brandon Bass (with Rashard Lewis' 10 game suspension, Bass is going to be a great fantasy sleeper)
Louis Williams (With Andre Miller gone to the Blazers, Williams has been given the responsibility to run the show in Philadelphia. Can he actually fill the void left by Miller? We'll soon find out)
Spencer Hawes (Expect him to continue where he left off last year)
Kevin Love (Once he heals his fractured hand, he should be a double-double leader)
Ron Artest (a surprise triple double machine this season)

NBA - Celeberity look alikes...

T.J. Ford - Tiger Woods

Kyle Korver - Ashton Kutcher

Jason Kapono - Sylvester Stallone

Manu Ginobili - Balki from Perfect Strangers

Chucky Atkins - Kevin Eubanks

Corey Maggette - Xzibit


Sam Cassell - Smeagol from Lord of the Rings

Allen Iverson will be a Grizzly soon.

OK, even though the owner of Memphis Grizzlies is still very cautious when talking about a deal but let's be honest, this is the best deal Iverson can get. There are no other teams with the money or roster space that would work out, not that Grizzlies have the roster spot, they'll need to cut down the playing time of their young guards, specially O.J Mayo but the sole reason for signing Iverson is for the purpose of selling tickets. So I am predicting that Allen Iverson will be in a Grizzlies uniform when pre-season starts.

Birth of a new nba blog

That's right! Another blog covering the USA basketball world known as the NBA. (Although from time to time, I'll go off-topic to rant about other things in life).
Growing up, my favorite team was the Houston Rockets, with Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler running the show. Later on, I started hopping on from team to team (I follow favorite players, instead of favorite team). So now, I like the Orlando Magic and somewhat like the Dallas Mavericks, hence the name "Mavics".