Yardbarker: Jamal Crawford

The Gary Payton Guarantee

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:33:10 -0500

Or you can call it the Gary Payton Prediction, whichever you prefer. Gary Payton raised the 12th Man flag on Sunday and has boldly predicted that the city of Seattle will have an NBA franchise by 2011. For those of you that are bad at math that is in four years.

Is this simply about Gary Payton's ego wanting to raise something other than the 12th man flag and raising his own number to be retired in Seattle? Is that necessarily a bad thing? The guy is a freaking sports saint in this town so whatever his motivation is, if he wants the NBA in Seattle, then I'll back him 100%.

What's his plan?

Mr. Payton is getting together with James Donaldson, a fellow former Sonic who conveniently is planning to run for a spot on the Seattle City Council. Along with Donaldson, Payton plans to get a group of NBA players that want to start a movement to get a team in Seattle. Who's in this group? Out of current NBA players I would put these guys on the spot for wanting the NBA in Seattle:

Spencer Hawes-Sacramento Kings
Brandon Roy- Portland Trailblazers
Nate Robinson- New York Knicks
Jamal Crawford- New York Knicks

I'm probably forgetting a lot of others but those four are probably guarantees. I could definetly imagine Payton working with Shawn Kemp and other Sonic Legends as well including Xavier McDaniel. If Payton is able to rally a group together to get the NBA back in Seattle I think David Stern will be defenseless. When current and retired players get together to petition their godly employer, something must be up.

Now you can start to fire up the rumor mills because Payton stated he's "inside" with the NBA and believes there are a lot of teams that "want" to move. Two teams that have a possibility of moving are the New Orleans Hornets and the Charlotte Bobcats. There has also been whisperings about the Memphis Grizzlies but for now, all of this is less than credible speculation...

Now you can look at Mr. Payton and regard his statement as foolish one that provides false hope for an already disgruntled Seattle sports scene. Or you could trust the man that is a Seattle sports icon. For me, I'm going with the carefully optimistic approach. If there is a physical team with uniforms that say Supersonics on them by the year 2011, we'll all know who to thank, Number 20, Gary Payton.

photo source: [frontiernet]

Four Guard Monty

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:38:41 -0500

Maybe we should take Marbury at his word that he's NY to the bone, a trick that, I myself, have fallen for before.I just have no idea how happy he'll be being the 4th guard in the rotation.

Seatowning 10-3, Go Rays!

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:03:56 -0500

Seahawks

+So..now the Seahawks have too many Wideouts..who will be the odd man out? [ESPN]

+Could it be Engram? Because he still wants a better contract [ProFootballTalk]

+Even more reason to admire Brandon Mebane..he can do the splits [Seattle Times]

+An interview with Timmy Ruskell [Seahawks Insider]

Local

+[Supersonicsoul] Hall of Fame Inductee: Lenny Wilkins

+Talking with Jason Terry and Jamal Crawford [Dime]

+Talking with Jon Brockman [GoHuskies]

+Dan Dickau = Golden State Warrior [NBA]

+Winning at Losing. Go Rays! [USS Mariner]

National

+10 reasons to root for the Tampa Bay Rays. Go Rays! [Babes Love Baseball]

+It probably sucks to be a Cougar football players, probably even worse to be Paul Wulff [SportsbyBrooks]

+Ms. Andrews, can I crush breakfast with you? [Busted Coverage]

+Dr.Z's guide to Week 5 [SI]

+Tim Duncan loves yogurt. Brent Barry wants to be a mango. [NESW]

Kicks...anyone?

+Marcus Jordans' PE's..inventeriffic [Nice Kicks]

photo source: [baseballreference]

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Drafting for Three Pointers

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:57:26 -0500

Which Fantasy Basketball Draft players are guaranteed to help you in your 3 pointers category? Are there any sleepers available in late rounds?

Questions About the Lineup Will Start to Come into Focus

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 14:56:07 -0500

The guard situation is tricky, being that if Marbury is here he has to play. He's a better player than Duhon, but he's proven that he can't share the backcourt with Crawford. They are an awful defensive pair. There's something to be said about that as Marbury couldn't share a backcourt with Steve Francis, come to think of it, besides Kerry Kittles can anyone name a two-guard who actually had a shred of success playing with Steph?

media day

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:59:32 -0500

Live Blog from the Knicks training facility in Greenburgh, NY. ....Steph is next and as you can imagine is being mobbed. His tatoo is pretty cool. He seems a little touchy. He doesn't seem real happy to be here and I can't say I blame him He just wants to play, we'll see where soon enough.....

My first NBA game at Madison Square Garden

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 13:43:39 -0500

January 21, 2008.

Thirteen games on deck in the NBA calendar.

But for me, none more important than the one here in New York City.

My first game at Madison Square Garden.

The 13-27 New York Knicks versus the 32-6 Boston Celtics.

Their records predict the most likely outcome. But then again, the Knicks had won 4 of their last 5 (against Detroit, Washington, New Jersey, and the equally hapless Miami respectively).

Maybe the Knicks could make a game out of it? Well, there was that hope.

But I was there to cheer on the Celtics anyway.

Even sported my Mitchell & Ness Larry Bird road jersey.

Truly, there is no such thing as a live experience.

Especially from my great seat. My vantage point.

Some of the highlights:

• With Kanye West's single, "Stronger" being used as the Knicks starting lineup theme music, he is probably raking in the Benjamin's during every home game at MSG.

• Malik Rose comes out into center court prior to the start of the Knicks and Celtics match up to pay tribute to Dr. King on his birthday. He also appeared on the Jumbo Tron. I assumed that was the extent of his participation that afternoon. Any you know what? I was right! These public appearances and pep talks. At least Malik his earning his paycheck.

• Kendrick Perkins was practically pitching a tent or setting up his apartment in the paint during the first quarter scoring on six straight field goals and finishing with 15. Perkins 15 – Knicks 23 after one. He ended up having a career scoring night with 24.

• The Eddy Curry line: Curry is certainly massive but not as tall as Kevin "KG" Garnett who towered above everyone on the court. Eddy takes up a lot of real estate and there was a point in the game when I thought he was going to land on all of the flat screen monitors in the reporters' row. Scary moment!

• Knicks Head Coach (for how much longer? He was thoroughly booed during the introductions.) Isiah Thomas was right on the money when he described the Boston Celtics after the game: Thomas said, "Shit, they got Kevin Garnett." In the contest, KG was awesome. Poetry in motion. From his footwork to his post moves—it seemed like he was running rings around whoever Isiah put on him: Zach Randolph, Eddy Curry, David Lee, Jared Jeffries, and Renaldo Balkman (who guarded KG in the two minutes that he did get to play in the game). Later on, I found out that Garnett finished with his 18th double-double of the season with 20 markers, 13 caroms, and 7 dimes.

• As for Walter "Ray-Ray" Allen, he started slow but finished with 17 points and 8 rebounds (I saw him sneak in a steal a couple from KG). Ray hit two threes and an acrobatic lay-up which I really enjoyed. I'm really hoping that he eventually becomes the all-time leader in the former category.

• Rajon Rondo hit a buzzer-beater to end the half and Boston led by as much as 20 at one point. I was really hoping that the Knicks would make a game out of it and not lose by 45 again like they did up in Boston last November 29 (104-59; It was the Knicks third-worst loss in team history and their second-worst scoring performance of the shot-clock era). Now it wasn't because I am a Knicks fan. But like one fan said behind me, "We didn't pay to see you ref!" If the game ended up well out of hand (and eventually it did with the Celtics winning by 16), KG, Pierce, and Allen would have sat out the fourth—with these tickets, that's not even an option.

• At one point in the game, $60 million dollar man Jared Jeffries (5-year $30 million dollar deal for him; $30 million dollar luxury tax hit for the Knicks—Go Isiah!) seems to have a clear path to the basket for a dunk or lay-up (his choice) after a botched Allen-to-Garnett alley oop play. He flubbed it. BAD! Which resulted in a Garnett dunk on the ensuing play. Jeffries heard it from the crowd. But he was not alone as there were several other occasions wherein the Garden faithful made their displeasure known to the Knicks. Going back to Jeffries, he played 24 minutes and missed all five of his shot attempts. Come to think about it, all he seemed to do on the court is foul and receive the inbounds pass, pivot, and give the leather to a guard.

• I'm a basketball guy. Not a football guy. So when Aaron Ross, Steve Smith, R.W. McQuarters and Plaxico Burress showed up on the Jumbo Tron during breaks in the game, the Garden's atmosphere certainly changed. I'm pretty sure the Knicks wish they had that kind of support.

• Towards the end of the third quarter, I caught a glimpse of Knicks' John Starks making his way to the exits. I was a fan of his back in his Knicks days and it was certainly nice to see him. It was also great to see 73 year-old Celtics legend Tommy Heinsohn who did the game for the C's.
• Nate Robinson's break away dunk looks a lot better live than it did in the Jumbo Tron replays. It didn't even make it to ESPN's SportsCenter's top 10 plays of the day.

• Defensive play of the afternoon? Midway through the third quarter, Quentin Richardson takes out Paul Pierce in the span of 2 ½ minutes via disqualification resulting from double technicals. Pierce has 10 points and 7 dimes which Richardson had a big fat zero after his name in the box scores. ESPN.com's Chris Sheridan has more on that matter.

• Offensive play of the afternoon? After the Knicks kept on going consistently to their two-man game/isolation plays for either the perimeter player (Usually Jamal Crawford) or post players (Either Eddy Curry of Zach Randolph who almost always went to his left). Talk about no imagination! However, there was one particular play wherein all the aforementioned players were on the right side of the court. Randolph had position some 13 feet from the basket and flashed to the three-point area wherein he received the ball from Crawford (who was also hovering around the three point area), pivoted, and lobed the ball to a cutting Curry. Now that was there the whole game. Why didn't Isiah and the Knicks go to it more often?

• With the win, Boston Celtics Head Coach Glenn "Doc" Rivers is officially the Eastern Conference's head coach for the All-Star game in New Orleans next month.

• It just occurred to me. At 13-28 (41 games), the Knicks have now reached the midway point of their NBA schedule.

• Funny moment: While watching ESPN SportsCenter the next day, there was footage of Kevin Garnett celebrating as he was heading to the Celtics bench after a time out. KG handed out high-fives and low-fives to coaches and teammates. By the time he reached the end of the line, he realized that he had someone's gold watch in his right hand as its strap had broken off. It belonged to one of the Celtics assistant coaches.

• Finally, Memorable moment: My Hon and I are seen amongst the crowd in the Jumbo Tron during a break in the fourth quarter.

That was my adventure on this cold January day.

Thanks Hon for making this happen.

Dreams do come true.

----------------
Now playing: The Moldy Peaches - Anyone Else But You
via FoxyTunes

2008 Fantasy Hoops Rankings: Point Guards

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 22:57:35 -0500

FIO and TalkHoops.net staff writer Zach Harper breaks down the Top 25 point guards heading into fantasy basketball drafts this season, including in-depth analysis about the Top 10 and some notes about the remaining players on the list.

Can the Knicks turn into the 2004-05 Suns?

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 23:09:31 -0500

There are more than a few eerie coincidences in this scenario. Mike D'Antoni, in his first full year with a sub-30 win team, inherits a roster full of swingmen. There were 7 players on that Suns team between 6'6" and 6'9' just like the current Knicks roster. The team will most likely start a point guard whose old team chose not to resign him because they felt they had a better chance to win without him, having a younger, flashier point (Jason Terry, meet Derrick Rose). Quentin Richardson. Stephon Marbury. The starting team is what matters on a D'Antoni team, so let's take a look-see. We will probably get a backcourt of Chris Duhon and Jamal Crawford. Duhon playing like Steve Nash is a stretch, I know, but let's say that he has a great season. Just for purposes of comparison. Jamal Crawford can put up similar numbers as Joe Johnson, but he has to work on his 3-pointer. If he's smart, he started working on it the moment he heard D'Antoni was coming to the Knicks. At small forward we have ... Quentin Richardson! Q-Rich was productive under D'Antoni, and he's still a 35% 3-pt shooter. He was banged up last season, but there's no indication he won't start the season fully healthy. Now the dilemma: Can Zach Randolph and Eddy Curry match Amare Stoudamire? The obvious answer is of course not. but what if? Actually, Zach's offensive numbers last year weren't far off Marion's from 04-05. Z-Bo (07-08): 17.6 ppg, 10.3 rpg Marion (04-05): 19.4 ppg, 11.3 rpg But defensively, it's night and day. Marion could play better defense drunk than Randolph could on 'roids. Eddy Curry? He won't get Amare's 26 points per game, and even his 8.9 rebounds per game is stretching it. Defensively, Amare and Shawn combined for 3.1 blocks per game. Nobody on the Knicks last year averaged more than one per game. So what needs to happen? 1. Cut Stephon Marbury. Getting rid of Marbury worked with the Suns, didn't it? Since Starbury switched teams the Knicks haven't made the playoffs, and the Suns haven't missed it. Seriously though, just pay him off and get rid of him. You paid off everybody else, and if you're saying it's time to get serious, this has to be your first move. 2. Hit the gym and work on the three-pointer. This one should be self-explanatory. 3. Find a way to resolve the center position. This is obviously easier said than done. Maybe by tracking down the trade-exception you can steal an unhappy big man off a losing team. Andrew Bogut, Emeka Okafor and Weird Al Jefferson come to mind. Actually, Emeka's new mondo contract and Charlotte's love of swingmen, maybe that could be a good fit. 4. Get Steve Nash a Chris Duhon costume, and then fake his death. 5. Trade your entire bench for Marcus Camby and Al Thornton. Seriously, I think this could work. Al Thornton may be one or two years away from being a 20 and 10 guy, and Marcus is still the best defensive center as long as KG is sticking with the I'm-a-power-forward shtick. You then have Duhon, Crawford, Q-Rich, Thornton and Camby. Sign a couple of scrubs, and you make the playoffs for sure in the East. 6. Capture a leprechaun and force it to take you to its pot of gold. Then use the gold to bribe a magician into hypnotizing a genie. While hypnotized, get him to grant you unlimited wishes. And then start wishing, baby, cause it'll never happen!

Team Preview #26: New York Knicks

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 05:48:58 -0500

What can you expect in New York this season?

Weekly Fix Episode 19 - Fantasy Basketball Preview Pt. 1

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:00:04 -0500

In Part 1 of the Weekly Fix Fantasy Basketball Preview, this trio of fantasy experts discuss who should be ranked higher, who should be ranked lower, who will do better and who should be a sleeper for multiple positions. The positions they discuss in the Part 1 of this Fantasy Preview are : 1. Fantasy Point Guards - Deron Williams or Steve Nash? Is Jason Kidd still relevant? Will Baron Davis' numbers suffer in a slower system? Does Andy know how to say Ramon Sessions' name? Are the Knicks a hotbed for fantasy production at this position? 2. Fantasy Shooting Guards - Is Dwyane Wade close to Kobe Bryant? Andre Iguodala or Joe Johnson? How good can O.J. Mayo be? Will Kevin Martin explode into the Top 5? Is Michael Redd still good enough to draft? 3. Fantasy Centers - Marcus Camby or Dwight Howard? How many games will Yao Ming play? Is Zach the only person dumb enough to mortgage the draft on Greg Oden early?

What we need from you: Jamal Crawford

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:45:48 -0500

No more excuses. You've heard them, and right atop the list sits, "He's never been coached right. He's had too many coaches in his career." Everyone remembers Crawford playing well under Larry Brown, but that was just on the offensive end. I maintain that offensively the ball sticks to his hands too much and he settles for too many tough jumpers and defensively, well… But we'll be positive here. Jamal, we need you to elevate your game and become a complete player. Complete players harass people defensively, and in addition to scoring from the floor, they also get to the line,

Isiah Thomas and Fresh Prince....Typical Day for Isiah....

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:05:29 -0500

Mr. Rogers in the Neighborhood kept it cool and calm. Isiah really is cool and calm but their is something about him that makes everyone wonder whats going on in that cranium of his. From pathetic moves like the signing of Jerome James, Jarred Jeffries, Zach Randolph and his bone head predictions on KNicks making playoffs, to assaulting associates this guy was full of surprises...Would make celebs coming out the closet predictable with the charades and shenanigans hes done in the past 6-8 years,,,...Now that he isnt a coach and most likely selling popcorn at MSG here is a typical day in the neighborhood for former Ex Knicks coach Isiah Thomas...Courtesy Slam Magazine.... Isiah has been out of the news lately, deposed but not forgotten. We can merely speculate—or in this case fantasize—about his day-to-day activities. So with apologies to the late Mr. Solzhenitsyn, I present One Day in the Life of Isiah Thomas: 9:14 a.m. Alarm goes off. 9:17 a.m. Hits snooze. 9:27 a.m. Alarm goes off. 9:29 a.m. Gets up. 9:33 a.m. Places blocked call to Marbury residence. Gets machine. Adopts high-pitched voice. "Hey Steph, nice head tattoo. Is that your IQ?" Hangs up. Giggles. 9:36 a.m. Takes shower. 9:43 a.m. Makes breakfast. 9:44 a.m. Ruins breakfast. 9:45 a.m. Sexually harasses toaster. 10:06 a.m. Falls asleep on couch. 10:27 a.m. Dreams of trading Eddy Curry, David Lee, Wilson Chandler and eight first-round picks for Shaquille O'Neal, Boris Diaw and Steve Nash. Phone hand twitches. 10:49 a.m. Dreams of f*cking a marketing executive b*tch. 11:46 a.m. Wakes up in cold sweat screaming "DON'T EAT HIM, JEROME, HE'S GOT A GUARANTEED CONTRACT!" 12:01 p.m. Sexually harasses television. 12:14 p.m. Heads into city for lunch. 1:38 p.m. Spends entire midlevel exception on meal. Calls Jim Dolan ("the whiskered one") to officially make it a business lunch. No one picks up—of course, it's before 7 p.m. Bills Knicks anyway. 1:52 p.m. Drives by Madison Square Garden. Yells "FIRE ISIAH" out window just to see if anyone notices. They don't. 2:27 p.m. Runs out of gas three miles from house. 2:36 p.m. Arrives home. 2:43 p.m. Makes popcorn. 2:44 p.m. Burns popcorn. 2:45 p.m. Sexually harasses popcorn maker. 3:13 p.m. Puts in highlight DVD of Knicks tenure. 3:17 p.m. Finishes watching entire DVD. 3:24 p.m. Hires 12-year-old neighborhood kid to mow lawn for next three summers. Agrees to pay him $3.2 million. *3:27 p.m.: Sends Marbury text message that reads, "the D in Duhon stands for Defense." 3:37 p.m. Stands and watches with lips pursed as kid mows over flowers, newspaper, cat. Gets rid of him after paying him the full amount. Since the newspaper still contained the sports section, this is a business expense. Bills Knicks. 3:46 p.m. Receives response from Marbury: "What the f*ck is a Chris Duhon?" 3:58 p.m. Edits Wikipedia entry on "bitch." 4:02 p.m. Flips past Brazilian soccer match on Fox Soccer. Satisfies international scouting duty for week. 4:04 p.m. Sexually harasses couch. 4:14 p.m. Calls Joe Dumars. No answer. 4:16 p.m. Calls Rick Mahorn. No answer. 4:18 p.m. Calls Bill Laimbeer. No answer. 4:20 p.m. Calls John Salley. No answer. 4:22 p.m. Calls Vinnie Johnson. No answer. 4:24 p.m. Calls Chuck Nevitt. Hangs up after one ring. 4:26 p.m. Picks up Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success 4:27 p.m. Puts down Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success 4:28 p.m. Picks up dictionary, looks up "pyramid". 4:36 p.m. Drives to Costco. 4:48 p.m. Looks in vain for "Bulk Max Contracts." 4:52 p.m. Sexually harasses shopping cart. 5:06 p.m. Buys 67-inch flatscreen, Playstation 3, NBA Live 2009, case of Cool Ranch Doritos. 5:47 p.m. Hooks up PS3. Undoes Renaldo Balkman trade, swaps Gallinari for D.J. White, trades Marbury for Jermaine O'Neal. Plays game against Celtics, loses 168-3. Blames Sony. *6:12 p.m. Forges letter to David Lee, in which he, as Donnie Walsh, threatens to make Lee a "space year compensation" player and blast him into orbit. 6:36 p.m. Updates resume. Submits to Monster. 7:10 p.m. Heads back to city for dinner. 8:12 p.m. Goes to Waverly Inn, gets booed. 9:33 p.m. Drives to practice facility by mistake. 10:17 p.m. Arrives home. 10:42 p.m. Attempts to prank call Michael Jordan. Realizes Jordan gave him wrong number. Hangs up. 10:44 p.m. Looks at own Basketball Reference page. 10:46 p.m. Sexually harasses computer. 11:13 p.m. Pours glass of water. 11:14 p.m. Spills glass of water. 11:15 p.m. Blames someone else. 11:26 p.m. Brushes teeth. 11:30 p.m. Checks smile in mirror. 11:33 p.m. Sexually harasses self. 11:34 p.m. Breaks gaze away. 11:35 p.m. Looks back. 11:48 p.m. Picks out suit for next day. 11:52 p.m. Realizes he doesn't need to wear suit anymore. 12:06 a.m. Turns on Home Shopping Network. 12:12 a.m. Orders $36,000 worth of Bad Boys Pistons memorabilia. Bills Knicks. 12:21 a.m. Calls Spike Lee to pitch movie on Knicks tenure.. No answer. 12:23 a.m. Calls Woody Allen to pitch movie on Knicks tenure. Allen agrees only if he can cast Scarlett Johannson as Anucha Browne Sanders. Thomas agrees only if he can be cast as himself. Allen hangs up. 12:31 a.m. Calls Michael Bay to pitch movie on Knicks tenure. Makes multi-million dollar deal. 12:33 a.m. Calls Fred Jones. Signs him to multi-million dollar personal service contract. 12:37 a.m. Goes to sleep fully content. He'd had many strokes of luck that day. (http://slamonline.com/online/2008/08/one-day-in-the-life-of-isiah-thomas/)

The Big Questions in August

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:57:41 -0500

Big questions about the knicks that need answers....TKB explains.

30 Team Previews in 30 Days

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 06:43:13 -0500

To get ready for the upcoming NBA season, I am going to preview all 30 teams in just 30 days. After a brief rundown of last season and a look at their offseason moves, I will break down each team's rotation and suggest how how their minutes might be divvied up in '08-09. For fantasy purposes, I will mention at least one player to not sleep on as well as one player to be careful of for each team. I will also give you my early season projections on where each key player should be drafted. Use this as a guide to get ready for '08-09, but keep in mind that it's still only August. For certain cases, I will also analyze recent management decisions and predict how their team will fare in the future. Since there tend to be more question marks and position battles over the summer surrounding the worst teams in the league, I will start with last season's best record and work my way down. Enjoy!