Daily Basketball
NBA and NCAA blogging on an occasionally daily basis
Archive for October, 2006
October 30, 2006 at 4:07 pm · Filed under NBA
To meet the league-maximum of 15 players on each NBA rosters, teams have announced many cuts today — some players which are more notable than others. Jalen Rose has been waived, since the New York Knicks were able to acquire Jared Jeffries and Renaldo Balkman to play the small forward position.
Luke Schenser of the Chicago Bulls and Darvin Ham (New Jersey Nets) are both likely candidates to start the season at home, after their respective teams waived them. Generally, though, the other players released were long-shots to make the team, with no surprises in exception for a few players earning a partially guaranteed contract.
NBA coaching legend Arnold “Red” Auerbach died a few days ago, now making Phil Jackson the most successful living coach. Jackson and Auerbach have each won nine titles: Jackson with the Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls, while Auerbach earned his with the great Bill Russell teams of the 1960s.
Chris Kaman finally signed his gigantic extension with the Clippers. Kaman, largely underrated because of his villainous appearance, will be earning about $10 million a year for the Clippers, which means that team owner Don Sterling won’t be able to re-sign another player for at least three playoff droughts.
Saer Sene will be starting his first NBA game when the season begins. After Robert Swift suffered a year-ending knee injury, the lanky shotblocker will play about fifteen minutes a night while competing for the jump ball.
Kobe Bryant may have reached the climax of his career since he has struggled to get his knee to full strength. Not to assume that Bryant’s play is going to drop off to any embarrassing standard, but Bryant is less than optimistic about his return. Bryant told reporters than his has little trust in his knee, and seems unlikely to play in the season opener.
October 24, 2006 at 2:51 pm · Filed under NBA
Though originally rumored several months ago, the Seattle Sonics (along with WNBA companion Seattle Storm) have been sold to a Oklahoma City-based investment group. The deal will be completed on Halloween, and this upcoming season will celebrate the 40th birthday of the franchise. It’s unknown whether the group plans to have the team remain in Seattle, or if a relocation to Oklahoma City is imminent once the Hornets return back to New Orleans.
The new baby Shaq has been named, or rather, three top candidates for the big man of the league have been presented. Yao Ming, Dwight Howard, and Amare Stoudemire have each been name a potential successor to the Big Aristotle. Our pick would have been Stoudemire, but if we doesn’t recover fully Dwight Howard’s our pick for the future big man of the league.
The Boston Celtics would like to make a trade sometime in the next week. The three players on the brink of elimination are Michael Olowokandi, Luke Jackson, and rookie Allan Ray. The Celtics just acquired Jackson, but he seems to have the highest chance of getting sent off.
Bonzi Wells took a few practices off for “personal reasons”. Wells got his tenure with the Houston Rockets off to a great start by missing team practice for the last four days before joining the team today. Well explained his missing practice as such, “It wouldn’t be personal if I told you, would it?”
David Stern has made it official that the new hated synthetic basketball will stay in the NBA, at least for this year. Stern and Spaulding definitely don’t want to end their merchandising deal for the ball, which costs $99.
A contract extension isn’t in the works for Kirk Hinrich, and if the guard signs an extension with the Chicago Bulls it will be next summer. The Milwaukee Bucks will definitely go after the point guard next year, when the team will have $14 million in cap room.
A portion of the list of training camp casualties:
- Atlanta Hawks: Lionel Chalmers, Kaniel Dickens
- Houston Rockets: Kelenna Azuibuke
- Cleveland Cavaliers: Steven Graham, likely Ondrej Statosta
- Miami Heat: Antonio Burks, Daniel Horton
October 23, 2006 at 1:20 pm · Filed under Other
The first annual Daily Basketball fantasy league will be starting soon, but you still have time to join in the next couple days. The league is hosted by Yahoo!, and the league information is as follows:
League ID: 95883
Password: dbfantasy
Make sure you set your pre-draft rankings soon.
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We’d love to have our readers help get our forums growing. Please take a second to join, and begin debating with other NBA fans! The site currently doesn’t have much activity, so we’re also looking for some moderators once things get going. One thing to talk about may be our list of the Top 10 blogs, which has brought some interest and debate between basketball bloggers.
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If anybody out there would like to help write for Daily Basketball, leave a comment or send an e-mail to cchadmin (at) gmail.com. We’re looking for some people to compile links and write features, but if you’ve got something else to offer that works too.
October 21, 2006 at 8:45 pm · Filed under Other
Taking a page from The Nugg Doctor’s blog, we’ve added “Bark It Up!” buttons to the end of each post. If you haven’t visited YardBarker, it’s a great place to read news from blogs of all sports.
This will give us a chance to rate for your favorite Daily Basketball posts, and share them with others. YardBarker allows you to vote for the top sports content out there, so please vote often and help us move up the rankings.
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October 20, 2006 at 5:04 pm · Filed under NBA, Other
For those of our readers who haven’t been around much of the basketblogosphere, there are several blogs which which you should be making daily visits to. While their aren’t any clear-cut rankings, some bloggers continue to lead when it’s time to bring you the latest news and rumors, team-by-team and around the league.
1. True Hoop (http://www.truehoop.com)
Henry Abbott has created a currently advertisement-free blog that was named “Best of the Web” by Forbes in the summer of 2005. Every day, readers including many of the other top bloggers check out what Abbott has to say. Abbott is hardly an amateur sportswriter, his work being featured in Hoop and Inside Stuff magazines and he has had the chance to interview the top players in the game.
2. Slam Online (http://slamonline.com/online/)
So what if these guys get paid to write their stuff, while most bloggers get paid through AdSense and other affiliate deals? Slam magazine is still of the most read basketball publications in print and on the web. Slam Online, seemingly written mostly by Sam Rubenstein and Marcel Mutoni (the writer of Bench Renaldo), feature a “Kick of the Day” and they are currently counting down the top 50 players in the league.
3. Hoops Addict (http://hoopsaddict.com/blog/)
Aside from hosting a popular NBA podcast, Ryan McNeill’s posts include a Dunk of the Day (who doesn’t like watching superstars’ high school highlights or Shaquille O’Neal pulling down the backboard?) along with game recaps, team-by-team discussion, and a summary a highlights from around the league.
4. CelticsBlog.com (http://celticsblog.com)
As one of the most posted on blogs around the NBA, CelticsBlog.com has in-depth and insightful posts about the Boston Celtics. All blogs, especially those focusing on one team, should try to have impressively thorough posts like Jeff Clark does. Everyday, Clark manages to find new rumors and current news to fuel the active forums accompanying his site.
5. Need4Sheed (http://need4sheed.com/)
Though she’s one of the few female basketball bloggers out there, Natalie does an impressive job maintaining Need4Sheed. The Detroit Pistons blog is the top Bad Boys blog out there, though she occasionally takes the chance to discuss other matters in the league or the Detroit Tigers.
6. Golden State of Mind (http://goldenstateofmind.com/)
The top blog for NBA teams in California isn’t about the Los Angeles Lakers, Clippers, or even the Sacramento Kings (though we give props to Sactown Royalty). Golden Mind of State holds the title for their Golden State Warriors blog. The blog held the America’s Next Biggest Warriors Fan Contest, all for a Warriors mascot doll. Make sure you read GSoM to follow the Warriors quest to the playoffs after the return of coach Don Nelson.
7. The Nugg Doctor (http://nuggdoctor.blogspot.com/)
No prescription is needed to enjoy the Nugg Doctor’s blog. Read the Doctor’s daily disection of the Denver Nuggets‘ roster and game play. And though its a little heavy on links and advertisements, you don’t have to be a Nuggets fan to enjoy this blog.
8. NBA Basketball and Other Unrelatedness (http://thehype.wordpress.com/)
Sure, the valuable content on Howie “the Hype”’s blog gets a little scarce, but daily doodles take a humorous side to the NBA scene. Also, check out of his development as a rec-league ref (the journery begins here).
9. Blog Maverick (http://blogmaverick.com)
Mark Cuban’s blog is probably visited more than any other on this list, and would be a strong bet for #1 if the owner of the Dallas Mavericks didn’t blog mostly about business. Still, who doesn’t enjoy reading about a multi-billionaire NBA owner trash-talk the refs and bring up proposals for the improvement of the league.
10. Daily Basketball (http://dailybasketball.com)
Okay, so maybe it’s a little bit of stretch…but feel free to bookmark this site and watch as we hopefully grow to the size of the other top NBA blogs listed above.
October 14, 2006 at 1:52 pm · Filed under NBA
Kevin Garnett, now an NBA veteran among the Minnesota Timberwolves, doesn’t support the league’s new anti-whining policy put in place by the referees. “To the fact that you can’t really speak to the refs, the refs don’t want to hear it. That’s almost like Communism. That’s like Castro.” Quite obviously an exaggeration, but not totally off-course. On a related note, through NBA preseason play so far, you can see a rise in fouls being called. Glancing down box scores, you can see many players with substantially higher foul counts.
Before their preseason game, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics exchanged a couple players. The Cavaliers acquired big man Dwayne Jones and a trade exception for Luke Jackson and some cash.
Josh Howard isn’t getting the Tayshaun Prince-like contract extension he’s after. Although the Dallas Mavericks offered an extension for five years, the deal is close to $20 million short of what he was hoping for.
As a former #1 draft pick, earning a roster spot shouldn’t be a problem. After multiple surgeries, that wasn’t the case for Michael Olowokandi. According to Paul Pierce, the Kandi Man has been working hard to earn a contract with the Boston Celtics, and the team has hinted that he’ll beat out the other big men in training camp for roster spot.
Jay Williams has hardly shined while playing with the New Jersey Nets, but he may make the team after guard Eddie House was told he would need to have surgery on his left meniscus. Williams has acknowledged that he is slower than he was before the motorcycle accident, but hopes he’s a smarter player…
Adonal Foyle may be relegated to a role similar to that of Greg Ostertag. Extremely overpaid already, Foyle is being forced into the realization that he may end up at the end of the bench under new coach Don Nelson. “As a player, you want everything sweet and nice,” Foyle said. “But that’s not the real world.”
The Los Angeles Lakers are in ongoing negotiations to sign Brian Cook to a contract extension. The team would like to keep Cook, since he is one of the rare big shooters in the NBA. The deadline for signing an extension is October 31st.
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