Everything has been put in place for Marvin Williams to go down in history as an NBA Draft bust — he’s just been a little too good to let it happen. While the Atlanta Hawks as an organization are still laughed at for bypassing Chris Paul and Deron Williams with the #2 pick in ’05, those jokes hardly ever come at the direct expense of Williams, the UNC-bred small forward taken with that infamous pick. Read More »

You be the judge…

Breaking down Chris Paul‘s 33-point, 10-rebound, 11-assist, 7-steal destruction of the Mavs last night, NBA TV’s Eric Snow brought up a good point: As incredible as CP has been as a pro, he has thrived off the fact that the League’s rule changes on perimeter defense allow players like him to get into the lane and wreak havoc almost untouched.

Snow, once a lock-down defender in his own right, wondered whether Paul would be as effective playing in the days before the rule changes — back when throwback PG’s like Derek Harper, Muggsy Bogues and Gary Payton could keep that hand on his hip and get a lot more physical if he tried to drive past them.

How good do you think Chris Paul would be if he’d come up in the more physical 1990′s version of the NBA?

Unleash the angry Lakers fans — although today they have a right to be whiny. At the end of what was probably the Game of the Year (so far), L.A. was down one with 10.5 seconds left. Kobe had the ball of course, but since he’d been gutting the Spurs throughout the fourth quarter with his scoring and passing, you really had no idea what he might do. When San Antonio brought the trap, Kobe swung it to Trevor Ariza, who took a lot of contact on his way to the basket before being whistled for a travel. Best-case scenario for L.A., the refs could have put Ariza on the line. Worst-case scenario, they might have been able to foul Tim Duncan, who grabbed Ariza’s miss. Either way, the replay showed Ariza didn’t really travel … Before that, though, it was Kobe’s quarter. The Spurs had a double-digit lead before Kobe (29 pts, 10 asts) nailed a corner three that kicked off a 9-0 run to get the Lakers back in it. When he wasn’t feeding Josh Powell, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom for easy buckets, Kobe was shooting Roger Mason‘s eyes out, eventually giving L.A. the lead. Duncan (20 pts, 10 rebs, 8 asts) responded with a miracle hook that wasn’t so much a shot as it was an accident, then Kobe promptly nailed a three in Mason’s grill, breaking out the Big Balls Dance for (we think) the first time in his career … Read More »

Even if the Suns are actively looking forward to a future with Amare as their centerpiece, the reality is that they’ll go only as far as Shaq can take them this season. They’re 8-1 when he’s tallied 20 or more points.

Up until December 9th, the Suns went 12-9 with Shaq in the lineup. During that stretch, the Diesel posted two 20-point outings. But since then, the Big Fella has been the stimulus, scoring 20 points or more in seven of his last eleven games.

“Shaq is playing like the Shaq of old,” Josh Smith said. “And when he is down there making moves … it makes it tough to defend.”

If he’s showing glimpses of his old self, how far can the Suns go?

Source: ESPN.com

You know that this report will be met with some sort of response from Yao Ming denying it, but NBA.com is reporting that the big guy wants the Rockets to trade Tracy McGrady. From the report:

Tracy McGrady has so frequently been out of the lineup that the Rockets are beginning to be fed up with him, and Yao Ming has quietly voiced his displeasure.

“They don’t speak,” an extremely plugged-in person tells David Aldridge. “And Yao wants him out.” Read More »

Since Opening Day, there are 21 NBA players who have been on the roster all season, but have yet to appear in a game. If you take out Gilbert Arenas, Monta Ellis, Speedy Claxton, Brendan Haywood, Raef LaFrentz, Eric Snow, Jason Smith, Sonny Weems, D.J. White and Steven Hunter who have been sidelined all season due to injury, as well as doghouse members Stephon Marbury, Jamaal Tinsley, Steve Francis and Damon Jones, that leaves you with seven.

Whether he’ll admit it or not, player/coach Sam Cassell hasn’t seen the floor yet, trying to pull his best Robert Horry impression and start suiting up come April, so really up for the award of Mr. Irrelevant is six guys: Ian Mahinmi, J.R. Giddens, Nathan Jawai, Mike Wilks, Michael Ruffin and Shavlik Randolph. Read More »

After the Nuggets escaped with the victory last night despite 44 points and 14 boards from Dirk Nowitzki, Mark Cuban sent some interesting e-mails to the Rocky Mountain News early this morning.

Critical of a stray “full-force” J.R. Smith elbow toward the head of Antoine Wright in the final seconds of the first half, Cuban indicated he will file a complaint with the NBA and expects Smith to be suspended.

“I do take exception with players throwing elbows that could have severely injured one of our players,” Cuban wrote. “I was very cordial in letting Mr. Smith know (at halftime) that I will be turning it into the league, and I expected him to be suspended for it.”

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This is one of the craziest stories I’ve heard in years. After reading on the University of Missouri basketball website that freshman Miguel Paul lists Chris Paul as his first cousin, a senior student from Mizzou went to the Hornets’ practice yesterday to do a story on the 6-foot-1, 172-pound point guard.

As the Hornets were completing shooting drills, Paul was asked to talk about his cousin, Miguel. “Who? I never heard of him,” Paul said, before asking teammate James Posey if he had heard of him. As he walked out of the Alario Center after practice, Chris still had no recollection of Miguel.

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From Darius Miles‘ performance last night. This just happens to have been posted by a Blazers fan: