The Rich Get Richer

Yesterday, Kobe Bryant signed a 2 year extension with the Los Angeles Lakers for a whopping $48.5 million. That is nearly $25 million a year! By all accounts, this is a win for Kobe Bryant. Speaking of the extension, Bryant told reporters that "This was easy…This wasn’t a negotiation. The Lakers made their offer with cap and building a great team in mind while still taking care of me as a player. I simply agreed to the offer."

For Laker fans, this news makes them exceedingly disappointed in Kobe Bryant.  Laker fans expected a huge hometown discount to maximize his chances of winning another ring at age 36. While Kobe did take a slight discount by clearing about 8.5 million off the cap, it was expected that his paycut would be much more steep. 

Other Laker fans were quietly whispering that the Lakers should have sat Kobe Bryant for the entire year and tried to position themselves to draft Andrew Wiggins next year.  This would be the same strategy the Boston Celtics are pursing. There reasoning for this position falls somewhere along the lines of "What is the point of having a mediocre season, likely finishing 8th or 7th, in the Western Conference and being bounced out of the first or second round?"

But for the Lakers, this is a huge risk. Coming off a torn Achilles, there is no telling how Kobe Bryant will perform this year. To give Kobe an extension on his contract when he has yet to return could be a huge mistake.  With the recent injury to Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls, some fear that Kobe Bryant will face a similar fate.  I remind you that Dominique Wilkins is the only NBA player to return to All-Star status from a reattached Achilles tendon. However, Wilkins was 3 years younger than Kobe is now and played 27,000 fewer minutes; There's a lot of wear and tear on Kobe's body.  So can the Black Mamba overcome the greatest challenge of his career?  Time will tell.

Perhaps the only thing that should reassure Laker fans that Kobe will not re-injure himself is that his game is drastically different than Rose's. Bryant is much more fundamentally sound. There are, perhaps, only a handful of players in the league that can play relaying solely on their basketball skills(Tim Duncan, Zach Randolph, Kobe Bryant, Pau & Marc Gasol)  

Here is why Laker fans should be optimistic about the future.

Even with the large amount of money the Lakers will be paying Kobe over the next 2 years, Kobe still has cleared the way for one more max contract player.  If the rumors are true that Carmelo will opt out of his contract with the Knicks and sign with the Lakers, then the Lakers will be in a position to make some noise next year. Since Kobe & Melo are reportedly good friends, the rumors may have some merit. All that is left to do is for Kobe to leverage his friendship with Pau to get him to resign with the Lakers for dirt cheap and for the Lakers to clean up Lamar Odom so he can return to the Lakers in good health.   Meanwhile, sit back and watch Kobe return to greatness this season.

BKN has 99 Problems and the KIDD is ONE!

     In 2012 the Los Angeles Lakers were 0-5 to start the regular season  and 0-8 if you count the preseason.  Rather than sit around and wait for things to get better, the Los Angeles Lakers decided to cut ties with their head coach Mike Brown.  The Brooklyn Nets need to follow the example set forth by the Lakers and fire Jason Kidd.  Brooklyn is off to a 3-7 start with a offense and defense both ranked in the bottom 10. 

     In addition to the poor start to the season, there have been poor reviews of Kidd's performance as a head coach this season.  Howard Beck, a journalist at the Bleacher Report, reports that

"A veteran scout, interviewed earlier in the day and speaking on the condition of anonymity, called Kidd’s bench comportment “terrible,” observing that the play-calling has fallen mostly to his top assistants, Lawrence Frank and John Welch.

“He doesn’t do anything,” said the scout, who has watched the Nets several times. “He doesn’t make calls. John Welch does all the offense. Lawrence does all the defense. … I don’t know what Kidd does. I don’t think you can grade him and say he’s bad. You can give him an incomplete.”

The same scout said he had counted only 15 plays run by the Nets in the games he has watched."

These comments should worry Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov and the Nets' fans alike.  It is now or never for the Brooklyn Nets.  The reasons for firing Kidd are numerous: 

1. -At most, they will have 2 years to contend for a title. 
2. -Prokhorov will be paying clost to $190 million in luxury-tax penalites this season. 
3. -Paul Pierce is 36 years old. 
4. -Kevin Garnett is 37 years old. 
5. -The Brooklyn Nets have lost 5 of their last 7 games.

The clock is ticking.  It's no wonder that Jay-Z sold his ownership stake in the Brooklyn Nets shortly after the hiring of Jason Kidd.  It is time to get rid of Kidd and bring in a coach who can immediately put together a system that will allow this very talented team to max out its full potential.  I hear Phil Jackson is available.  

       Over the past 5 weeks, I have been trying to avoid this question.  But given Philadelphia Eagles' quarterback Nick Foles' performance this season, I have to ask;  Is Nick Foles quietly the best quarterback in the NFL right now?  Let's take a look at his stats from the previous 5 weeks:

DATE	OPP	RESULT	CMP	ATT	YDS	CMP%	AVG	LNG	TD	INT	QBR	RAT
Sun 11/17	vs WSH	W 24-16	17	26	298	65.4	11.46	49	0	0	71.1	104.3
Sun 11/10	@ GB	W 27-13	12	18	228	66.7	12.67	55	3	0	91.8	149.3
Sun 11/3	@ OAK	W 49-20	22	28	406	78.6	14.50	63	7	0	99.1	158.3
Sun 10/20	vs DAL	L 3-17	11	29	80	37.9	2.76	16	0	0	7.5	46.2
Sun 10/13	@ TB	W 31-20	22	31	296	71.0	9.55	47	3	0	89.8	133.3

       Even though Foles failed to throw a TD in 2 out of the 5 weeks listed, that still adds up to 16 TDs and 0 INTs!  With numbers like these, Foles now has the best quarterback rating in the league!  These are Aaron Rodgers type of numbers being put up by Mr. Foles.  Even during his horrible performance against Dallas, because of a concussion, Foles was still able to avoid turning the ball over. 

Riley Cooper seems to have more chemistry with Foles than Vick

       Another impressive accomplishment I have noticed since Foles has taken over is the sudden emergence of Riley Cooper as a viable wide receiver.  Prior to playing with Foles, Cooper has been terrible this season.  Given that Nick Foles has turned Riley Cooper into a premier receiver over the past few weeks, I'd have to say that Nick Foles is definitely playing the best football at the quarterback position right now.  With the Philadelphia Eagles heading into their BYE week atop the NFC East with a 6-5 record, we'll see if Foles is able to keep up this pace against better quality opponents as the season progresses.

STILL not convinced? Check out this article from USA TODAY:

            The following is from a Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports article:

Here are seven facts that show how unconscious Nick Foles has been in the 2013 season.

1. Even though Peyton Manning remains on pace to break the major single-season passing records in 2013 (5715 yards and 54 TDs), he’s no longer the NFL leader in passing efficiency. That title currently belongs to Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles, who has now thrown enough passes to qualify for the QB rating title and currently leads Manning 128.0 to 118.3.

2. If Foles threw interceptions on his next 26 attempts, his passer rating would still be higher than Eli Manning’s. Let that one sink in for a bit.

3. Foles’ 16 touchdowns and zero interceptions to start this season would have tied an NFL record if Peyton Manning hadn’t broken the record earlier in the year. As it stands, Foles needs five more touchdown passes before an INT to break Manning’s new mark of 20.
 
4. Foles had a passer rating of 104.3 in Sunday’s win over the Redskins. It was the second-worst rating of his five starts this season.

5. Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Eli Manning, Robert Griffin III, Jay Cutler, Joe Flacco, Cam Newton and Colin Kaepernick have all completed more passes than Foles has attempted, yet Foles has thrown for more touchdowns than each of those quarterbacks.

6. In Sunday’s game, Foles rushed for three more yards than RG3 (47 to 44).

7. Foles leads the NFL in yards-per-attempt with 9.59. Aaron Rodgers is next with an 8.84 YPA. If he maintains it, Foles’ average would be the third-highest in modern NFL history, behind Kurt Warner’s 9.9 in 2000 and Chris Chandler’s 9.6 for the 1998 Atlanta Falcons. The top four spots in the record book are from seasons prior to 1955.

Mr. Monopoly Pairs the NFL & EA Together

       In 2005, both the NFL and the NFL Players Association gave video game publisher Electronic Arts an exclusive license to use its players' names and likeness.  The NFL license gives the Madden franchise the teams' names, uniforms and symbols, but the NFLPA's license gives it more than 2,000 real world players.  So how did Electronic Arts obtain this agreement?  Electronic Arts pays the National Football League and NFL Players Association $50 million to be the exclusive video game licensee, and the company pays John Madden an additional $2 million for the rights to his name. This effectively gave Electronic Arts a monopoly on football video games.  Competitors like 2K Studios, whose final NFL game entitled ESPN NFL 2K5 was given a 9.4 out of 10 rating by IGN, were no longer able to produce football games with any official NFL teams, players, or logos.

       This past year, Electronic Arts lost its exclusive licensing rights with the NCAA.  As a result of this, Electronic Arts opted not to produce a NCAA Football game for next year.  NCAA Football 2014 will likely be the final installment in the franchise.  Down the road, this may lead to better quality NCAA Football games from multiple video game publishers, but for now there is a possibility that there may not be a viable NCAA football game for a few years. 

       So is the fate of Electronic Arts' NCAA Football franchise any indicator as to what will happen with their NFL Madden franchise?  Will we see a restoration of competition with, now dead, NFL franchises such as NFL 2K and NFL Gameday?  Or will the NFL & the NFL players' union simply extend their contract with EA?

       The real question here is: How much money is EA willing to pay in order to remain as the one and only NFL video game publisher?

       Let's not kid ourselves, the contract may expire this year, but that doesn't mean it's up for debate as to who will get a new one for several more years to come. EA doesn't sell that many Madden games because they are the best quality NFL simulation games available; rather, they sell because there is no competitors who are legally able to compete.  The sad truth is that Electronic Art's NFL video game monopoly is not likely going away. The "Madden" deal ends this year, but the NFL Players Association representatives have all but promised they'll continue to deal with one company.

       From a business standpoint, Electronic Arts has sold over 100 million copies of Madden games life to date, generating over $4 billion in revenue.   What company wouldn't do everything in their power to keep their cash cow flowing?  As an avid sports gamer myself, I would love to see the revival of the previous NFL franchises.  I think it would benefit the gamer, as all the studios would have to ensure they were putting out a high-quality product.  Sadly, the businessman in me sees the writing on the wall;  Electronic Arts will extend its NFL exclusive license and we'll continue to see new additions of NFL Madden year after year which will amount to nothing but annual roster updates.

Now for those of you who don't know me, I bleed green. I have a passion for all sports New England but I have always felt a special connection to the Celtics. However I don't let this passion blind me, I am an informed viewer and it is because of this that I had only slight resignations with trading KG and Pierce, the cornerstone of our organization since I was 8 years old.

I know keeping them would have kept us in NBA purgatory as a middle of the pack team so we did what we had to do and got the most for them that we could before they became useless, this isn't my problem. And neither is the hiring of Brad Stevens who I think with some time will be one of the top coaches in the league.

My issue is and always has been with Danny Ainge. He's the type of GM to make one or 2 good moves every 5 years with a lot of very questionable decisions in between. One of the biggest mistakes I thought he made in recent years was drafting Marshon Brooks just to trade him to the Nets for JaJuan Johnson. Marshon looked like a perfect complimentary player coming off the bench to spell Pierce and Ray Allen playing in front of the same crowd he dazzled for the previous 4 years while playing at Providence College. He then landed in the doghouse in Jersey and fell into obscurity as they added Joe Johnson and Gerald Wallace trying to make their push for a championship.

All the while JaJuan Johnson has done literally nothing in the NBA over the course of his career. His highlight is being sent away for Courtney Lee, which is another move by Ainge that has not panned out. But Brooks got a second chance, much like Jeff Green to return to the team that drafted him as he was a throw in for the Pierce deal, and what do they do... They don't let him play. I would understand if the team had a winning chemistry and he was just at the bottom of the depth chart behind some superstars but thats not the case. The people perched in front of him are Avery Bradley, the aforementioned Courtney Lee, Jordan Crawford, and Keith Bogans. Really? Those 4 guys are who you want in the game when you absolutely need a basket... guys with below average offensive games and a tendency to turn it over when the games on the line?

Brooks is a bonafide scorer as proven by his entire collegiate career, so why not let him play. Whats the worst that could happen, you keep losing? The guy can light it up for a team that has a lot of guys too willing to pass up the shot. And for the life of me if Ainge trades Rondo or doesn't give that man a max contract I might have to switch teams. The man can ball, point blank. He is a stat machine and a damn near top 3 point guard in the NBA... DONT TRY TO SAY WESTBROOK IS BETTER.

My other issue is even if we do lose the most games this season, which it really looks like we might, that doesn't guarantee us anything more then a ticket into the Andrew Wiggins Raffle. The NBA lottery system is a joke that always seems to be marred by controversy and hardly ever gives the worst team the top pick. Not that I condone tanking but if it works in the NFL NHL and MLB why not use it in the NBA. We saw this all to similar story in 2007 when we won 24 which was worst in the East and only better then the Memphis Grizzlies yet we got stuck with the #5 pick taking us right out of the Kevin Durant sweepstakes. Granted a higher pick would have never resulted in the trades for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, but who's to say we wouldn't be even better with a combination of Rondo Durant and Paul Pierce.

The NBA has a flawed system that is very easily manipulated, as seen by the Cavaliers getting 2 picks in the top 4 after seeing Lebron take home his 2nd championship since leaving Cleveland. I can give up thousands of conspiracy theories on how David Stern caters to certain teams while turning a blind eye to others but that would be just that, theories. Luckily Stern is gone in a few months so he wont have his fingers over another championship for whichever star he is favoring at the time.

Either way, basketball season is upon us and its a joyous time for everyone, unless you don't like Lebron in which case I'd suggest you stay away from Sportscenter

Retrieved from nba.jp.co

NBAのオーナーらは現地23日、NBAファイナルの開催フォーマット変更について投票を行い、2-3-2から2-2-1-1-1に戻すことを全会一致で可決した。2014年から採用される。

　NBAは1985年に、昨シーズンまでの2-3-2方式を採用。これは当時、NBAコミッショナーとして初シーズンを迎えたデイビッド・スターン氏（来年2月に退任予定）が取り入れたもので、最後の3試合でアメリカ国土の東西を行ったり来たりすることを避ける狙いがあったが、下位シードのチームに有利との指摘もあった。

　今シーズンに29年ぶりに復活する2-2-1-1-1のフォーマットでは、第1、2、5、7戦を上位シードの本拠地で行い、第3、4、6戦を下位シードの本拠地で行う。また、第6戦と第7戦の中日を1日増やすことも投票により可決された。

　これまでの2-3-2では、上位シードのチームは最初の2戦がホーム、その後の3連戦がロードという日程。そのため、第4戦が終わった時点でシリーズ2勝2敗だった場合、上位シードのチームは重要な第5戦をロードで戦わなければならないため、不利になる場合もあるとみなされていた。

　なお、NBAプレイオフではファイナルを除いたすべてのラウンドで、2-2-1-1-1のフォーマットを採用している。（STATS-AP）

Poor Rajon

       My favorite time of the year is upon us, as another NBA season has just tipped off.  The off season saw a lot of big trades and free agent signings which has created greater parity in the NBA.  Though the NBA has a number of teams that have improved since last season, some NBA teams have also significantly downgraded.  As a result of the Boston Celtics letting Doc Rivers go to the Los Angeles Clippers, letting go of Jason Terry, and trading away Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnet, one of my favorite players will be stuck to run a team that will finish at .500 this season at best.

       For all of his accomplishments, Rajon Rondo is one of the most underrated NBA players in the league right now.  Hell, this website's name is inspired by AJ's description of Rondo; STEEZE.  Rondo is the Steeziest player in the NBA.  He is quietly placing his name amongst the all-time greats in the record books.  Did you know that Rondo has the 4th most triple-doubles in NBA playoff history?  That's more than Wilt Chamberlain, Lebron James, & Oscar Robertson have; some of the greatest NBA players of all time. He only needs one more triple double to move into a 2nd place tie. He recently recorded a career high of 24 assists in ONE game!  The most assist ever dished out in a single game in NBA history is 30 by Scott Skiles. He also set the NBA record for most assists through four games (67) previously held by John Stockton and Magic Johnson (65)

"...Steeze..."

        Still not impressed?  What if I told you that Rondo became the first player in more than two decades to record a 30-15-10 triple-double with 10 FG’s and 10 FT’s in a non-overtime game joining Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon and Larry Bird as the only players to accomplish that feat since 1980?  But wait, there's more;  Rondo became the first player since Wilt Chamberlain to have a triple double with 18 points, 20 assists and 17 rebounds.  Rondo is a threat to have a triple-double nearly every game.

       So what's next for Rajon Rondo?  With a premier point guard, I doubt the Boston Celtics would trade Rondo this season.  In an ideal world, the Indiana Pacers would offer the Celtics Danny Granger and a 1st Round Pick for Rondo.  Indiana would be a good fit for Rondo since they're a real contender this season that is in need of a point guard.  For now though, it seems that Rajon Pierre Rondo will be stuck in basketball purgatory through this season and beyond as the Boston Celtics look to win the Andrew Wiggins sweepstakes.