BasslineSpin.com

 

March 28, 2006 ...Ron Artest said his first certifiably koo koo thing after the Kings loss tonight to the Wizards at ARCO Arena. Artest said to gathered reporters twice that he was “a player like Kobe, Tim Duncan, and Michael Jordan.” He continued that the Kings should live with his bad shots because the teams of Kobe, Tim Duncan and Michael Jordan lived with theirs. It is great that Artest has self confidence. His defensive game is on par with those guys but his offensive game isn’t anywhere near the zip code of any of the Hall of Fame players he mentioned. Jordan shot 49% from the field for his career. Our boy Ron Ron? 41.8% for his career. Kobe shoots 43%, which is still higher than Artest, and Kobe is the leader in points per minute in the NBA. Duncan is having his worst year in ages and he still shoots 48% from the field. TD ranks 32nd in the NBA in points per minute. Artest is ranked 75th. I could go on and on with the scientific proof that Artest is not in the category offensively as Duncan, Kobe, or MJ. Perhaps Artest is just frustrated because the Kings have lost two straight at home. They don’t have a shot blocker on their roster and their offense has become stagnant with a lack of perimeter shooting. Without Kevin Martin (injured) Sacramento gets zero easy baskets. I don’t have an answer other than to encourage movement, and sharing. ...Bonzi Wells is basically a power forward offensively. ...Mike Bibby is playing hurt right now. ...Shareef Abdur-Rahim needs to play in the low post to be effective. 

 

March 27, 2006 ...Craig Ferguson’s Late Late Show bit spoofing SportsCenter UK was hilarious. I hope you all see it sometime. ...I wouldn’t mess with Udonis Haslim even if I were Jermaine O’Neal. ...I tried to tell you about Tyrus Thomas. I tried to tell you about Joakim Noah. I tried to tell you about Jason Kidd—post All-Star snub. You don’t hear me though do you? I am not on ESPN. And if ESPN doesn’t say so it ain’t so. ...How do I nicely say that I think the NBA Fast Break show on ESPN could be so much better? ESPN should be all over Rick Kamla of NBA TV. He crushes other studio hosts with his knowledge of the game. I am not even sure I believe some of the ESPN hosts enjoy pro basketball. If they do—I don’t see or hear it. Kamla could carry a weak analyst. ...Did we not hip you to Spero Dedes while he was on NBA-TV? The L.A. Lakers made him their new radio guy.

 

March 24, 2006 ...1:00 AM exactly. If I am right—Adam Morrison crying in the wake of the unfathomable loss to UCLA will be a topic on shows like Pardon the Interruption, and Around the Horn. Jim Rome may have take on it. But hopefully if there is any class, and compassion left in the world folks will see Morrison as a warrior /competitor who wants it so bad—he could not control his overwhelming emotions. What I am afraid of—is hearing Morrison be labeled a “baby”. I have not heard anyone say it yet so in a pre-emptive strike—I say give the kid some slack. You could see the anguish in Morrison as the reality of the moment hit him. His team was moving on. They were in the Elite Eight. Gonzaga owned UCLA the entire game. The point is—we all want to see a player who has desire. Adam Morrison has desire like a MF. Let’s not skewer him for being human. ...By the way—I like PTI, and Around the Horn. Many of the brightest talent in television is on the air daily on these ESPN shows. Tony Riali—the Around the Horn host is among the best young sports guys I’ve seen. His smarts and quickness show up on each program. Among the regular guests on Around the Horn, Michael Smith stands out as a sports writer with a knack for common sense and a deep base of history. ...I am a huge fan of Tony Kornheiser. I don’t always agree with him but I can never be mad at him. Michael Wilbon is one of the rare soulful voices in sports. ...While on the topic - I again applaud Len Elmore for his basketball analyst work. I maintain he would be a great coach due to his communication skills. ...Jay Bilas has become more likable and I have appreciated all of his work on college hoops. He loves the game, the players, the coaches, and his job. It shows. ...I am a fan of Reece Davis as the best studio host in college hoops. He is not afraid to question an old coach. ...I am not a fan of the contrived gimmick “buttons” that CBS rolls onto their set for Seth Davis and Clark Kellog to fiddle with. Davis and Kellog are both good enough to carry their weight without props that reduce the show to child’s play. ...I love Dick Enberg and respect him mightily but he would not be my choice for play-by-play of NCAA Sweet 16 games. He simply doesn’t have the knowledge of the college players in today’s game to pull it off. Thankfully—the CBS brass has teamed Enberg with Bilas. ...At the SportsCenter desk my favorites at present are Scott Van Pelt, and Jon Anderson. Brian Kenny is incredibly knowledgeable and fair handling a wide variety of interviews on ESPNews. ...Former Duke point guard Jay Williams has caught  my attention as  well as a hoops analyst worth listening to. ...You know I still love Bill Raftery.

 

March 22, 2006 Check out the BasslineSpin.com Sweet 16 players to watch.

 

March 14, 2006 The Kings beat the Lakers tonight at ARCO. The building was alive like the old days when the Kings were rolling to regular season success with Vlade, Webber, and Christie.  It was fun to watch. Sacramento is playing great ball but I still say they have to beat San Antonio, Detroit, Miami, and even Phoenix before I am ready to think they can reach the Western Finals— which was discussed on the post-game radio show.  ...On the surface—many may think it is simply Ron Artest that has changed things in Sac. Certainly he deserves most of the credit. But I also heap a ton of credit to Rick Adelman and his staff for wise moves that have made the Kings a better team. Jason Hart was simply not getting it done as a backup point guard during the entire first half of the season. In benching Hart, I’m not sure many coaches would have turned to a rookie shooting guard (Francisco Garcia) to bring the ball up when Mike Bibby is out of the game. Adelman did just that—and the result is a much more efficient offense in the few minutes per contest when Bibby has to rest. ...The Kings have also been doing a really good job of attacking the opponents weakest defender(s), and holding the opponents best player to an average night at best. Against the Lakers Kwame Brown and Luke Walton were punished by the Kings offense. Meanwhile Artest is so good defensively he held Kobe Bryant in check, and dared anyone else to beat the Kings.