February 18, 2006 ...The NBA Dunk Contest—for the second year in a row was marred by missed dunks. The repeated attempts to do difficult dunks made every good dunk an anti-climax.  The NBA must have some sort of penalty for a missed dunk attempt. Have the judges rank the made dunk as normal but tax the total score with a 5 point penalty for each missed attempt. The competition is a joke when Nate Robinson can make one of 14 dunks and win the championship. I was embarrassed for the sport watching the dunk contest tonight. I also want bigger fields. I want eight dunkers –not four. I want eight three-point contestants as well. ...My alternative idea—which is brilliant—is to have the best in-game dunks of the first half of the NBA season be the basis for the contest. Eight players would ‘play’ video of their best five dunks of the year in a round by round competition. Fans would vote - or judges—whatever. Some strategy would come into whether to ‘save your best dunk’, etc… Imagine the player at a huge ‘sports-machine’ type prop—hitting the play button on his in-game dunk highlight. You allot so much time to each video presentation. The video includes the natural unedited game footage of the dunk. The video cannot be manipulated. The stars would all compete because there would be no added wear and tear on their tired bodies. Picture— in round one—Vince Carter goes to his deep library of dunks—and he pulls out the facial of Alonzo Mourning as his first round dunk. He sets the scene and hits play—the arena reacts to the devastating dunk—and the vote is tallied. Next up in round one is Lebron James. You get the picture. Suddenly your dunk contest has Vinsanity, Lebron, Desmond Mason, Dwyane Wade, Gerald Wallace, Jason Richardson, Josh Smith, and say Andre Iguodala. Maybe we go deeper and include Carmelo Anthony, Richard Jefferson, Maurice Evans, Morris Peterson, Kirk Snyder, Shawn Marion, Dwight Howard, and Kenyon Martin. 

 

February 16, 2006 ...NBA All-Star Break is here—so away we go with first-half thoughts. ...My MVP for the season to date is not an easy choice at all. I can make cases for Dwyane Wade, Lebron James, and Kevin Garnett based on their outstanding individual play. I like Chauncey Billups and Dirk Nowitzki as two guys who are the best players on the teams with the best records in the East and West. Ultimately—I go with Wade. He is the best guard in the NBA in my opinion. ...Most Improved Player is easy for me. Boris Diaw is like a totally different guy in Phoenix. ...Rookie of the Year is equally easy. Chris Paul is running away with this award. He should have been named to the West All-Star team. ...Coach of the Year. I like Flip Saunders who didn’t screw it up in Detroit. He actually may have made the Pistons better. My All-Rookie Team so far would be Paul, Salim Stoudamire, James Singleton, Channing Frye, and Andrew Bogut. All-NBA? First team: Steve Nash,  Wade, Lebron, Garnett, and Tim Duncan. Second team: Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, Dirk, Elton Brand, Shaquille O’Neal. Third team: Billups, Paul Pierce, Vince Carter, Shawn Marion, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Defensive Player of the Year: Marion.

 

February 14, 2006 ...Caught Paul Millsap vs. Nick Fazekas last night on ESPN2. Fazekas—the Nevada star, does not move his legs well for a big man but he does have a load of skill and hand-eye coordination. He won the game for the Wolfpack on a heady offensive rebound with seven-tenths of a second remaining. ...Millsap is a legit NBA rebounder with great strength and ability. I like him lots. However, so far—I’d have to say that my early take on the 2006 NBA draft is that it is weaker than normal. I see Shelden Williams as a good pro for years but no player excites me the way recent ballers like Dwyane Wade or Lebron or someone like that did. ...The Villanova win over Connecticut was impressive. Randy Foye is hard to not like. He has a low center of gravity and unlimited range on his jumper. He competes. Kyle Lowry—the sophomore point guard is a pick-and-roll prospect. He explodes through any daylight.  The Kansas at Oklahoma St. match up allowed me to see the great Kansas freshman trio again. Julian Wright, Mario Chalmers, and Brandon Rush are three prospects worth keeping an eye on. ...Oral Roberts University has two players you all should be aware of. Caleb Green, and Larry Owens are NBA prospects. ...A couple nights back I saw the Kings rip up the Hawks. Atlanta has plenty of talent but they need a point guard-leader in a bad way. I think Josh Smith could play Center in a small lineup situation. Doing so might allow Mike Woodson to get one more outside shooter into his lineup. Smith was the only shot blocking presence the Hawks could offer and once he was in foul trouble the Kings went to the hoop and the rout was on. ... Joe Johnson and Josh Childress are nice players playing the same two-guard spot. Al Harrington is an improved shooter which makes him a valuable small forward.  ZaZa Pachulia is more of a four than a five. And he should be a backup four in the NBA at this stage of his career. Royal Ivey has improved but the Hawks are not good enough to play Ivey and Esteban Batista and expect to have a chance to win with consistency.

 

February 13, 2006 ... These fictional teams list the players on our radar that we dig the most at this point of our preparation for upcoming NBA drafts.