http://www.yardbarker.com/blog/hoopsonhoops/home Recent hoopsonhoops Posts en-us Hello Reader, HoopsOnHoops.com is now it's own entity, and has launched! All future blog posts will be hosted there!Thanks for your loyalty! Mon, 04 Feb 2013 13:04:44 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/blog/hoopsonhoops/article/weve_moved/12833104 http://www.yardbarker.com/blog/hoopsonhoops/article/weve_moved/12833104 We've Moved! http://www.yardbarker.com/blog/hoopsonhoops/article/weve_moved/12833104 http://www.yardbarker.com/images/yb_logo_square_grey.png With the NBA Trade Deadline approaching in just over a month, many potential buyers and sellers are itching at the opportunity to swing some cash, players, picks, and wins. For every deadline brilliant move (Wallace, R. in 2004), there is a astoundingly moronic move (Wallace, G. in 2012), and for every one of the others, there is a move that doesn't move the needle in the slightest (Wallace, J. in 1996). Not all big moves are trades at the deadlines, but because of these trades, there are often contract buyouts that lead to talented players being cut from bad teams, only interested in the player's expiring contract (like Troy Murphy last year). It seems that every year, one team makes a brilliant move that leads to a championship within a year or two. We're going to evaluate the move that every eventual champion over the last ten Finals made near or around the deadline that pushed them over the championship edge, and occasionally, a move that set the runner up back a bit, costing them a potentia Fri, 11 Jan 2013 12:16:06 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/blog/hoopsonhoops/article/a_time_to_deal/12633877 http://www.yardbarker.com/blog/hoopsonhoops/article/a_time_to_deal/12633877 A Time To Deal http://www.yardbarker.com/blog/hoopsonhoops/article/a_time_to_deal/12633877 http://www.yardbarker.com/images/yb_logo_square_grey.png Go Lakers. For now. Let me explain. I don't update this blog often, and this will be a short one, but when I do, it's to alert my beloved Cavs fans of things beneath the surface. If you are an NBA junkie like myself, go ahead and turn the page/change the channel, because you already know all this. If not, know this: I love the NBA Draft, and I love scenarios. The Cleveland Cavaliers seem to have one of the more interesting draft scenarios in probably all of my years covering (a ramped up version of "watching") the league. Their picks are as follows:   1. Their own pick, which currently sits at #2 pre-lottery. If the season ended today, the Cavs' pick would be as high as #1, and as low as #6. 2. The Sacramento Kings' Top-13 protected pick from the blockbuster trade that sent J.J. Hickson to Sacramento for enough time to grab lunch and a plane to Portland; and Omri Casspi (now requesting a trade) to the Cavaliers. This pick will almost certainly be shelved another year and becom Mon, 07 Jan 2013 13:52:30 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/blog/hoopsonhoops/article/go_lakerskinda_a_cleveland_cavaliers_psa/12598159 http://www.yardbarker.com/blog/hoopsonhoops/article/go_lakerskinda_a_cleveland_cavaliers_psa/12598159 GO LAKERS...KINDA: A CLEVELAND CAVALIERS PSA http://www.yardbarker.com/blog/hoopsonhoops/article/go_lakerskinda_a_cleveland_cavaliers_psa/12598159 http://www.yardbarker.com/images/yb_logo_square_grey.png Imagine a world where Vince Carter was just a slasher with a slightly above average jumpshooter, and where Dr. J was known for his up and under layup - and nothing else. In this world, Dwight Howard's athleticism would provide him an advantage on the defensive end only, and his dunk titles would have been traded in for numerous more 30+ rebound games. "But chicks dig rebounds, Hoops! What's wrong with that?" Find me a chick who digs rebounds, and if she's pretty, she wouldn't be open for long. As long as we're talking the same kind of rebound. Also, yes, I just referred to myself as Hoops. Nothing wrong with a little shameless branding, right? Anywho. If you thought a little bit about the title of this entry, your first thought was probably that it was going to go down the lines of "White Men Can't Jump." Well, while a viable conclusion, and an easy thing to defer, the NCAA's ban on dunking from 1967-1976 was not incredibly white only because of Mon, 01 Oct 2012 13:16:37 -0400 http://www.yardbarker.com/blog/hoopsonhoops/article/dunk_prohibition_the_whitest_thing_of_all_time/11854618 http://www.yardbarker.com/blog/hoopsonhoops/article/dunk_prohibition_the_whitest_thing_of_all_time/11854618 Dunk Prohibition: The Whitest Thing of All-Time http://www.yardbarker.com/blog/hoopsonhoops/article/dunk_prohibition_the_whitest_thing_of_all_time/11854618 http://www.yardbarker.com/images/yb_logo_square_grey.png Like certain less-than-important political issues, "flopping" has been force-fed into the basketball fan's vocabulary, making it a hot-button topic that takes away from the more important topics of concern in basketball. There are places where some political issues are more of a priority, and there are places where flopping is more of an issue, i.e. South Beach, anywhere Derek Fisher or Manu Ginobli play, or College Basketball. Specifically the ACC. Specifically North Carolina. Specifically the part between Rt. 70 and Rt. 85. Sorry, sometimes I get off-topic. Let's get this straight - I HATE flopping. I hate anything that takes away from the legitimacy of the most athletic sport in the world, and places a game that is revolved around being a versatile mix of speed, hops, technique, co-ordination and intelligence in the hands of a winded 60's something year-old man who may have gotten to the spot a half second late, or does not understand the laws of physics. Flop-fest at the Rim! Thu, 31 May 2012 15:10:40 -0400 http://www.yardbarker.com/blog/hoopsonhoops/article/fallsbury_basketballs_atlantis/10913348 http://www.yardbarker.com/blog/hoopsonhoops/article/fallsbury_basketballs_atlantis/10913348 Fallsbury - Basketball's Atlantis http://www.yardbarker.com/blog/hoopsonhoops/article/fallsbury_basketballs_atlantis/10913348 http://www.yardbarker.com/images/yb_logo_square_grey.png If you didn't read my last entry, I'll get it out of the way for you right now. The NBA Draft Lottery is rigged. Not always, necessarily, but when it needs to be. That brings us to this year. Will this year be rigged? Is Anthony Davis as big of a prize as Ewing, Shaq, LeBron, Rose and company? Maybe, and probably not, respectively. That being said, as the newly self-proclaimed leader of the "NBA Draft Lottery is Rigged" movement, I am obligated to present you with my oddsmakers' take on who will "win" the 2012 NBA Draft Lottery, AKA the Anthony Davis Sweepstakes, AKA the David Stern Trust Fund Telethon. (Side Note: Notice how Stern is never operating the draft lottery anymore? He's meeting with his accountant.) (Side Note #2: In case my last blog didn't do it for you, you think this thing isn't fixed? Notice how many times the Vancouver/Memphis Grizzlies get the #2 pick, but never #1. Market power...) You're on the way, kid. Alright, let's get righ Tue, 29 May 2012 17:03:35 -0400 http://www.yardbarker.com/blog/hoopsonhoops/article/the_big_set_up_part_ii_2012_edition/10897583 http://www.yardbarker.com/blog/hoopsonhoops/article/the_big_set_up_part_ii_2012_edition/10897583 The Big Set Up: Part II (2012 Edition) http://www.yardbarker.com/blog/hoopsonhoops/article/the_big_set_up_part_ii_2012_edition/10897583 http://www.yardbarker.com/images/yb_logo_square_grey.png I'm not a conspiracy theorist. I don't believe that 9/11 was faked by the government. I don't believe that the moon landing was Hollywood produced. I don't believe in Bigfoot, Nessie, or Shaquille O'Neal's rap career. All of these things are lore, either completely fabricated or vastly embellished by word of mouth. Seventy-five percent of anything people tell you, that you don't already know, is wrong in some way, shape, or form. Unless you're Vinny Gambino, in which case, it's a higher percentage. There are, however, a few widely-discussed conspiracies that I believe in. One, Tupac isn't dead. That one, I believe because I want to. It is something completely insane that I can willingly convince myself of without any real effort, and it sure as hell makes believing in God a lot easier if you think the former. I guess I shouldn't say hell in the same sentence as God, should I? But, I digress. Speaking of God, there is one other conspiracy that I believe Mon, 28 May 2012 22:55:45 -0400 http://www.yardbarker.com/blog/hoopsonhoops/article/the_big_set_up_part_i/10891604 http://www.yardbarker.com/blog/hoopsonhoops/article/the_big_set_up_part_i/10891604 The Big Set Up: Part I http://www.yardbarker.com/blog/hoopsonhoops/article/the_big_set_up_part_i/10891604 http://www.yardbarker.com/images/yb_logo_square_grey.png