Seattle Sonics's Seattle Sonics friend's fan blogs

Have you looked at the league leaders yet this season?

There are some familiar faces atop some of the big categories. Kobe leads the league in scoring. Nash leads the league in assists. Rondo leads the league in steals.

You almost expect to see those guys near the top of those categories.

But have you taken a look at the league leaders in rebounds? It’s not exactly a who’s who of NBA big men over the past few years.

Here’s the top ten:

1. Gerald Wallace 13.8

2. Marc Gasol 11.9

T3. Chris Bosh 11.6

T3. Carlos Boozer 11.6

5. Dwight Howard 11.1

6. Joakim Noah 11.0

T7. Brendan Haywood 10.7

T7. Al Horford 10.7

T7. Zach Randolph 10.7

10. Emeka Okafor 10.5

Continue reading "New Era of NBA Bigs?"

I wrote a short blog last week about Allen Iverson being unhappy with his role in Memphis, and I predicted that by March 1st the Grizzlies would send him home.

I mean, it was obvious that it was a marriage that was doomed from the start.

But not even I could see this coming. Just three games into his Grizzlies career, Iverson has taken an indefinite leave of absence from the team, and sources are reporting it’s doubtful that he’ll play again for Memphis.

To me, it looks like his career is done. Iverson had a hard enough time finding a team this offseason because of all the baggage that comes along with signing Allen Iverson, but taking a leave of absence less than two weeks into the season just reaffirms that he is too much of a cancer to take on anymore.

Continue reading "Who is Allen Iverson?"

Last week in “Fun With Box Scores” I took a look at about ten different things that jumped out from the previous week’s box scores.

It was the initial plan to roll out ten more fun little facts that I discovered while rummaging through the box scores this week, but I came across one box score that was so unique that I don’t feel like any other stat line from the week is worthy of being in the same post as this one.

Therefore, this week’s “Fun With Box Scores” is just one box score.

It comes from Wednesday night’s Lakers-Rockets game.

The stat line looks like this:

D. Fisher 35 minutes, 0-5 from the field, 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists.

You read that correctly. In 35 minutes of play, Derek Fisher was unable to accumulate a single point, rebound, or assist in the Lakers overtime win over the Rockets.

Continue reading "Fun With Box Scores"

LeBron James makes his only trip to Madison Square Garden tonight.

For the past two seasons there has been plenty of talk about LeBron bolting his hometown of Cleveland for the bright lights of New York City.

In his career, LeBron has been fantastic at the Garden. He’s averaged 30.1 points, 6.6 assists, 5.6 rebounds and 2.3 steals in ten trips to The Garden. In his last two trips to the Mecca of Basketball, he’s had a 52-10-9 game and a 50-10-8 game.

Needless to say, all eyes will be on LeBron tonight to see if he can put on another show on Broadway.

Also on tap for tonight, the undefeated Nuggets make their only trip to Miami to take on Dwyane Wade and the Heat; the Pistons look to continue their dominance over the Magic in Orlando; and the Suns try to outrun the Celtics in Boston.

Continue reading "LeBron Makes His Only Trip to "The Garden" Tonight"

He fooled me yet again.

We’ve seen this act before. Andrew Bynum, through the first five games, is averaging over 20-10, yet again.

It’s nothing new. For the third straight season, the young, potential stud, center for the Los Angeles Lakers has hit the ground running and has shown flashes of being an all-star caliber center in the NBA.

And, for the third straight season, Bynum’s great start may be overshadowed by, yet another, major injury.

With 24.7 seconds left in the Lakers overtime win over the Rockets last night, Kobe Bryant dished a perfect pass to Bynum under the hoop and he was fouled as he tried to convert the lay-up. It wasn’t an obscenely hard foul, but certainly one in which the Rockets were making it clear they weren’t about to allow Bynum to score without heading to the free throw line.

Continue reading "Andrew Bynum: The Oldest 22-Year-Old in the NBA"

From the who-didn’t-see-this-coming-department, Allen Iverson is not happy with his role after his first game in with the Memphis Grizzlies.

After coming off the bench and playing just 18 minutes in the Grizzlies 127-116 overtime loss to the Sacramento Kings last night, Iverson dropped this gem to reporters after the game:

 “Go look at my resume and that will show you that I’m not a sixth man,” Iverson said. “I don’t think it has anything to do with me being selfish. It’s just who I am. I don’t want to change what gave me all the success that I’ve had since I’ve been in this league.” 

First of all, what did Iverson expect? He barely played in the preseason and then missed the first three regular season games with a partially torn hamstring. Even superstars would be eased back into the rotation after something like that. Iverson is far from a superstar these days. 

Continue reading "Allen Iverson Is Unhappy (again)"

In the NBA these days, it seems like there is a stat for everything. We’ve got PER, offensive efficiency ratings, defensive efficiency rating, and so on and so on.

It seems like every team in the league now employs their own stat guru. And while I’m not one to question the use of all these new statistics to evaluate NBA players (I actually kinda like them), I’m old school.

To me, all the new stats in the world can’t tell the story of an NBA game as well as the good, old fashioned box score.

Therefore, I’m starting a new feature today called “Fun With Box Scores”.

Every Monday, I’ll be posting some of the more interesting things that jumped out at me from the previous week’s box scores.

Continue reading "Fun With Box Scores"

The NBA season is officially underway (unless you live in Chicago or Milwaukee).

After several hours parked in front of the NBA League Pass for the past two days, it’s time for some first impressions.

The Good

Ty Lawson

How good was he last night? I predicted the Denver Nuggets to be the third best team in the West this season, and that was assuming that Ty Lawson would play like a rookie point guard.

But his 17 points, six assists, and four rebounds, plus very solid fourth quarter minutes in a close game against a decent Utah team, shows that he may be a real X factor for this team moving forward.

Brook Lopez

Lopez was a monster last night, finishing with 27 points, 15 rebounds, five blocks, and four assists. Of course, the Nets lost, mainly because they couldn’t hold off the mighty T’Wolves down the stretch, but it certainly wasn’t because of Lopez.

Continue reading "First Impressions"

Happy New Year!

With the new NBA season set to tip off with four games tonight, here are some of the things I’ll be watching for in tonight’s action.

Boston @ Cleveland, 7:30pm

I can’t wait to see LeBron again this season. Last year, coming off the Olympics, you could see that his focus was on improving defensively. Now, without a summer in the spotlight, I’m curious to see if he’s made any improvements to his already unreal game. Is this the year we finally see LeBron use his Karl Malone-like body to beast on people inside?

Also, I’m curious to see what kind of pregame theatrics the Cavs come up with. You know Shaq can’t stand to be out of the spotlight, I wouldn’t be surprised if he tries to one-up LeBron’s chalk thing with something of his own.

Continue reading "NBA Opening Night Quick Thoughts"

Disappointing news for NBA fans everywhere, courtesy of yahoo:

"LOS ANGELES (AP)—Blake Griffin’s (notes) NBA debut has been pushed back indefinitely after the Los Angeles Clippers revealed late Monday night that their No. 1 overall draft pick has a broken left kneecap.

The stress fracture could sideline the Oklahoma star for six weeks, the team announced, promising further information Tuesday."

What a disappointment this news is. Watching Blake Griffin debut on Tuesday night was going to be the highlight of the TV schedule for me. The Lakers, Cavs, and Celtics are all going to be good this year, we already know that.

And while it’s always fun to watch really good teams play, one of the best parts of the new season is getting to watch high profile rookies make the transition to the NBA game.

Continue reading "Disappointing First Impression of Blake Griffin"