LATEST STORIES FROM WALTON'S WISDOM
Blazer Analysis
This has been a tumultuous offseason for the Portland Trailblazers. Whether you're pumped or baffled about the moves and the direction of the franchise, you have to agree to that much. Living in Portland, my 45 min morning commute is comprised of 35 min of Blazer analysis on the radio. After digesting the reaction of callers and radio hosts, there are a few points I'd like...
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August 02, 2009
Discuss
Trades Out-Hype the Draft
It is fitting that the draft commonly thought of as the weakest in years was outdone by trades. When Orlando and Cleveland met in the Eastern Conference Finals, Orlando walked away with the last laugh. On draft night, Orlando laughed last again by countering Cleveland's Shaq acquisition with their Vince Carter pickup. Coincidence? I think not.Clearly, O'Neal and Carter are...
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June 26, 2009
Trades Out-Hype the Draft
It is fitting that the draft commonly thought of as the weakest in years was outdone by trades. When Orlando and Cleveland met in the Eastern Conference Finals, Orlando walked away with the last laugh. On draft night, Orlando laughed last again by countering Cleveland's Shaq acquisition with their Vince Carter pickup. Coincidence? I think not.Clearly, O'Neal and Carter are...
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June 26, 2009
Picking Apart the Top Picks
Admittedly, it's all speculation at this point. . . but this year's draft class seems pretty weak.Browsing the sports cyber-world, I came across NBA.com's consensus mock draft, and was shocked by how many players with glaring weaknesses were projected as lottery picks. In fact, every player not named Blake Griffin (and potentially James Harden) seems destined to underwhelm...
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June 24, 2009
Memorable Draft-Day Moves: LA Lakers
Now that the season is over, draft talk is in full swing. While this year's class bores me overall (although I contemplated a piece on Ricky Efron-Rubio), years past have provided all kinds of intriguing moments. Franchises have been built by ingenius picks and destroyed by negligent picks. Over the years, the Lakers have been a model of consistent success. So what moves have...
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June 19, 2009
Live Game 4 Blog
Keep in mind, this is coming from a Laker fan. Thus, the below observations are completely biased.1st Quarter:- Kobe line-drives an 18-footer. 78 seconds in, we get our first teeth-clenching moment.- Gotta give it to Courtney Lee, he's got an awful lot of confidence for a rookie who blew a game-winning layup and missed two wide open threes to start the game.- Bynum picks up the...
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June 11, 2009
The 5 Most Polarizing Athletes of this Era
Polarize (v) - "To cause to concentrate about two conflicting or contrasting positions."In my previous post about Kobe Bryant, I called him the most polarizing figure in sports. With some inspiration from Knee Jerk, I put a little more thought into this claim, identifying the professional athletes who have elicited the most bipartisan reactions from fans in recent years...
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June 10, 2009
In Winning, the Magic Proved They Have No Chance
The Magic played nearly flawless basketball, shooting an astounding 63% from the floor. Five Magic players scored at least 18 points, and Rafer Alston looked like he was a legitimate player (for once). Pietrus went French M.J. on a few shots, and most of the bounces went the way of the home team. A normally cash money Kobe missed five of his ten free throw attempts, and the Lakers...
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June 10, 2009
Kobe Bryant and His Coat of Many Colors
As Kobe hones in on title #4, his supporters are applying the tanning oil in preparation of basking in his glory. It has been seven long years since title #3, and the non-stop chatter about his failure to win a championship without big brother can finally come to an end. To rest can go the argument that his supposed me-first attitude would preclude his teams from winning the ultimate...
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June 08, 2009
The Magic Threw Away Game Two... and the Series.
Sorry, Cinderella... the shoe doesn't fit this time. Just got done with the most anticlimactic 3 hours of back-and-forth basketball I've ever been exposed to. I'm a Laker fan, the Lakers won an overtime game, and there were something like 21 lead changes in the fourth quarter & overtime combined. That's the type of stuff instant classics are made of, right? Not...
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June 08, 2009
How the Magic can Win this Series
SVG's Game One Surprise: Tony Battie?Game One ReactionAfter last night's bludgeoning, few have given the Magic a chance to win this series. Sure, the commentators have gone out of their way to remind us that this is just "one game," and that more often than not a beatdown does not carry over to the next game. To me, this is a clever way of promoting the series...
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June 05, 2009
Game One is Here!
Game one has finally arrived, and I couldn't be more excited. Even though the Magic wrapped up their series with the Cavs just 5 short days ago, it feels like it's been months since the last NBA telecast. So long, in fact, that I felt compelled to pick up the pencils and create some artwork of the Finals' two best players (see above).For game one, I'll keep the...
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June 04, 2009
Rashard Lewis and the Importance of #2
Continuing in my quest to chronicle role players, I turn to the opposition. Sure, it's hard to argue that a player with two all-star berths and multiple 20 ppg seasons is a "role player," but Rashard Lewis is still a player that is often overlooked. This is partially due to the fact he has never played in a large market, but is also due to his demeanor and style of...
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June 03, 2009
Player Profile: Derek Fisher
Derek Fisher doesn't get much publicity. He's rarely asked to take the podium for postgame interviews, hasn't had his name etched into the Hollywood walk of fame, and his house hasn't been featured on "Cribs." On the national scene, Fisher is just "that" guy, capable of keeping a job but incapable of selling jerseys. Even amongst the NBA'...
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June 03, 2009
2009 NBA Finals Preview
I am about to step into the realm of NBA blogger redundancy. Over the next few days, every armchair expert in the blogosphere will be detailing his/her failproof assessment of how the Finals will be won and lost. Nevertheless, I'll add to the e-pile of meaningless analyses by giving my own two cents. Here goes, position by position (Note: with the way the NBA is played today...
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June 01, 2009
No Conspiracy Here!
The age-old story of playoff fandom revolves around bellyaching about the officials. The NBA, more than any other professional sport, has been littered with "conspiracy theories," theories propagated by the fans of losing teams from smaller markets. These theories have been fueled by the reigning supremacy of large-market franchises from Chicago, Boston, and Los Angeles...
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May 29, 2009
Player Profile: J.R. Smith
Over the past few months, I've been especially intrigued by the skillsets and personalities of complementary players on playoff teams. More so than the stars, I've spent some time analyzing the games and court behavior of players like J.R. Smith, Luis Scola, Derek Fisher, and Courtney Lee. This inspired me to log my thoughts and observations, and in the coming days I will...
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May 14, 2009
Playoffs? Don't talk about playoffs! Playoffs?
This year's NBA playoffs have taught us a number of things:1) This is NOT your father's NBA. In fact, this ain't even your sister's WNBA. It's a shame these refs weren't around for the early stages of Enron, because their whistle-blowing would have saved public investors millions. A tongue flap gets a T, a hip check gets a flagrant-1, and an "Artest"...
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May 12, 2009
2009 Free Agents
With the much-anticipated summer of 2010 still more than a year away, I did a little research on who would be available this summer. Below are my picks for the top five UNRESTRICTED free agents (in no particular order): - BEN GORDON:The positives - We all know what B.G. can do: score. And he does it well. Unlike many big-time scorers, however, Gordon seems to save it for when it...
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May 11, 2009
Manny struck out, who's next?
The last twelve months have been a circus. Hence, my contributions to the blogosphere have been, shall we say, lacking. So to my four regular readers, I apologize. Now that I've gotten that off my plate, let's get back to talking sports.Manny, Manny, Manny... why hast thou disappointed me? I thought that if there was one natural, one "clean," player in the game...
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May 11, 2009
Derrick Rose is a Freak
Even though I listed Rose as my #1 in my mock draft post, I never realized how athletic he was... this video is pretty ridiculous:
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March 11, 2009
Why not send the NBA's best team to the Olympics?
Quite frankly, I'm concerned for this summer's Team U.S.A. Based upon Colangelo & Co's selections, it is quite obvious that they completely abandoned building the best "chemistry" team and instead offered invitations to the best available players, regardless of position. This is going to put our country's team into a precarious position in the International...
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March 11, 2009
Just for Fun
I took an art class as a college elective and decided I would draw a bunch of nba players for my final project. I forgot how much I liked doing it until last night when out of boredom I decided to pick up the pencil. As a tribute to my hometown Blazers, this is what I came up with:I'm certainly no pro and I won't be quitting my day job any time soon, but it's fun nonetheless...
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March 11, 2009
Draft Grades - Western Conference
Here's my take on how all the teams in the West fared on Thursday:Minnesota: A-McHale made no bones about his "love" for Love. There was some talk that he might take him with #3, but for the first time in his tenure as GM, McHale outsmarted someone. He managed to get Love and a perenially underrated Mike Miller. In the process, he also dumped an unhappy Marco Jaric...
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March 11, 2009
Draft Grades -- Eastern Conference
Here are my unqualified draft grades for all the Eastern Conference teams...Chicago: B-Whenever you pick at #1, you inevitably end up picking who everyone else tells you to pick. It's just too big of a risk as a GM to take a shot in the dark with so many chips on the table. That said, Rose was clearly the best prospect in this draft. Hinrich was miserable last season and isn...
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March 11, 2009
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