This page will disseminate opinions on topics from music, to televison, to movies, to sports, to whatever may be of interest to me at that moment in time. These opinions will absolutely be short-sighted, ill-informed, reactionary, exaggerated, or just flat out wrong. But they will absolutely be my opinions.

25.2.12

An Ode to the ATLiens: How Outkast Made Me A Hip-Hop Head

http://www.sohh.com/img/outkast-300x300-2009-03-20.jpg

Yesterday, Friday February 24th, it was revealed in a GQ interview with Andre 3000 that contrary to many rumors, he is not currently working on a 7th OutKast album, and has no plans on recording another OutKast record.  While this is not an official “breakup”, with Andre’s many interests and general apathy towards Rap in recent years, the writing is pretty clearly on the wall.  This event was the impetus for my following post.

23.2.12

The Tools of Ignorance: Why Moving Buster Posey To First Base Would Be A Bad Idea


Buster better not be taking that gear off anytime soon.

In Baseball, not all numbers are created equal.  A random players stat line, read alone may not properly tell you how good that ball player is.  Context is needed, most importantly in the form of what position the athlete in question plays.

Just for Fun, lets go with a Pepsi Challenge right now, here are two unnamed players stat-lines from 2011.

Player A: .273 AVG, .332 OBP, .460 SLG, .792 OPS
Player B: .276 AVG, .326 OBP, .466 SLG, .791 OPS

Two players, two nearly identical stat-lines, two different positions, and two different perceptions. Player A is Asdrubal Cabrera, the starting shortstop for the Cleveland Indians, AL All-Star Starter, and one of the 5 best offensive shortstops in the MLB.

Player B is the immortal Mike Carp, first baseman for the Seattle Mariners.  Among first basemen, his On-Base plus Slugging Percentages (OPS) ranked 22nd in 2011, among the bottom 3rd of first basemen in the league.

Two almost identical stat lines, yet the shortstop is an All-Star, and the first basemen is well below average for his position.

In a nutshell, this is why the San Francisco Giants need to play Buster Posey at Catcher, and continue to play him there until he’s completely run into the ground.

15.2.12

The Increasingly Blurry Line Between“Underground” & "Mainstream” + Jan/Feb Rap Roundup

 Spotlight – “Big Beast” Killer Mike Feat. Bun B & T.I.(Produced by El-P)

 
For the last few years, the internet has helped blur the lines between “Underground” and “Mainstream” Rap.  Thanks to Youtube, the most underground artist is one viral hit away from being everywhere (eg. Kreayshawn.  Thanks to social media like twitter and facebook, aspiring rappers now have a free, easy way to get their material out to the masses and cultivate a fanbase.  The result of all this is that artists can now be profitable without any promotion from traditional outlets.  Nipsey Hussle makes $10k a show without a record deal or radio play.  Mac Miller’s debut album topped the charts last November, despite no major label backing, no big single, and no TV or radio promotion.  The “Major Label Record Deal”, if not quite obsolete, is no longer a necessity for fame or financial success.

10.2.12

A Guest Breakdown of the Dubs Backcourt + an Addendum to "Blowin' Up The Spot"

Before I get to the "guest post", I guess you can call it, there is one point I didn't make in my last post that I'd like to clear up here.  I believe all 3 of the players I called out can be productive players on a winning basketball team, but in a reduced roll.  Monta's ability to score, Curry's shooting, Lee's pick and roll ability and mid-range game, they can all be used to help put a contender over the top.  My opinion is that these players are best used in small doses and in certain situations, the better to hide the many flaws in each of their games.  Monta Ellis is built to be the perfect 6th man.  If he was in the Jason Terry role of coming off the bench and providing a scoring punch - coincidentally like he did with the "We Believe" Warriors - he would be immensely valuable.  Curry is like a better Steve Kerr or John Paxon. On a team that has a Non-PG as their primary ballhandler and playmaker, Curry would be deadly.  Curry playing off the ball with the Heat or the Lakers?  He could average an easy 15 a game and shoot something like 60% from 3 with all the open looks he'd get.

The reason I believe they need to be traded away is because these players wouldn't be able to accept those reduced roles with the Warriors.  Even if the Warriors had talented enough players to relegate Steph and Monta to secondary roles, there is no chance they would happily accept those roles.  Monta has been hailed as a potential all-star and face of the franchise for about 4 years now, and was mad that they even drafted Curry in the first place.  There is not a chance he ever accepts a 6th man role, especially with this team.  He'd treat it like a demotion.  Curry, by the same token has been hyped so much by the organization as the future, as an untouchable trade chip, and a potential Steve Nash, that if relegated to the Steve Kerr role, he'd be gone at the first opportunity.  Hell, he's already dropped hints about leaving for his hometown Bobcats in the future.

That's why they need to cut ties with both players.  Neither will accept a reduced role, and thats because the Warriors marketing department sold these guys as All-Stars and "The Future" so well, that they even believed it themselves.

And btw, if anybody think that Monta's 48-point explosion from the other night proves he's a star and an elite player, all-time greats like Dana Barros, Tracy Murray, Damon Stoudamire, and Tony Delk have all broken the 50-point barrier.  There is more to basketball than scoring points.


Ok now for the real reason for this post.  After my last post, my father, who has been a basketball coach for 17 years, felt the need to comment. What he wrote was so good, I felt compelled to repost it in its entirety.  While I disagree with the statement that David Lee is an "overachiever", I agree with the sentiment on the whole, and frankly its so well written it makes me wonder why he isn't the one with the blog.  Alright, enough rambling, here we go"

"In the past, in a time of less sensitivity people would sometimes refer to autistic children as idiot savants because of the tendency of some of these children to have one great talent but be non-functional in society overall. While it is a cruel way to refer to children suffering an unfortunate condition it is disturbingly apropos in describing this backcourt.

Monta's great talent is explosive speed and the ability to finish while moving at a blur. However, he constantly gets in the wrong position on offense and defense and seems mystified by what to do next. It usually winds up a turnover on offense and a basket allowed on defense.

Steph's great talent is his shooting. The only elite point guard skill he consistently shows is the half-court lob in transition. He has a marginally better grasp of the game than Monta. But, he is not as physically gifted as most guards so he has trouble penetrating and getting penetrated on. The worst part is the indifference in his game. How many times is he going to make a lazy one-handed pass to the opposition before Mark Jackson straps him to a chair and blowtorches his short-hairs to get some fire and focus from him?

David Lee is like over-achieving, good-teammate players at all levels. He just happens to do it at the NBA level. As soon as he goes up against better talent he is stymied because he is missing an edge. Another way I look at it is that he has some similarity to Chris Mullin in his lack of athleticism and great overall understanding of the game but Chris had an assassin's eye and a toughness to take it right to superior athletes and outfox them. I don't see that in David.

I like all of these players to a point but they're all complementary players; there is not a worthy alpha-dog in the bunch. You need an alpha-dog to win big. Unfortunately, we are probably not getting an alpha-dog with this core gumming up the works, so yeah, blow up at least two of them. And if the two are both backcourt players, oh well. Treat some other fan base to clueless end-of-game dysfunction and furious mouth-guard chewing. I'll settle for growing pains with real promise."

5.2.12

Blowin’ Up The Spot: The Warriors, The Mediocrity Treadmill, And Why The Roster Needs To Go “Boom!”



David Lee in a familiar spot: out of position and about to give up a bucket.



Tonight, February 4, 2012, the Warriors lost to the Sacramento Kings.  For the 2nd time in 3 games, the Warriors starting 5 was so ineffective, that coach Mark Jackson went the entirety of crunch time with his second unit.  When your crunch time lineup starts to regularly consist of not a single starting player, there are serious issues with the core of your team.  The more often this happens, the clearer the answer becomes to the biggest question hanging over this franchise.


The answer to “Which Guard do you keep for the future?” Isn’t Steph. Or Monta. It’s neither, and if you can find a way to send David Lee packing as well, all the better.