random bamboo

Jump to Comments

- Chris Webber can’t do any good for the Warriors.  He’s too slow to keep up with the team when they run, and he’s a liability in terms of defense and rebounding.  He can help facilitate and distribute within the half-court offense, but his detraction from the defensive end is more significant.  He’s not an upgrade over Al Harrington on either end of the floor, and if he takes minutes away from Andris Biedrins, the Warriors lose their only interior defender and rebounder.  Biedrins provides an excellent pick-and-roll game for the Warriors, and his athleticism and size down low are an important part of the Warriors success.

- Jason Kidd is absolutely right in his assessment of the New Jersey Nets’ future.  Vince Carter is not a winning player.  He contributes nothing defensively, takes bad shots instead of attacking the rim, and can’t create opportunities for his teammates.  Richard Jefferson is a scorer.  Nothing more.  Nenad Krstic can’t stay healthy, and the two young big men (Josh Boone and Sean Williams) are too raw to be effective, championship-type players at this early point in their careers.  Factor in Jason Collins, and you just don’t have a viable contender.  As Kidd approaches the end of his career, he knows he only has a few more years to be a valuable contributor to a championship run.  He doesn’t want to ride the bench as a 40 year old backup to get a ring.  He wants to be part of the team that wins it.  Can’t blame him.

- Look for the New England Patriots to crush the New York Giants.  Since the temperature will be perfect and the wind a non-factor (the stadium’s roof can close), the Patriots won’t have any problems with the passing game.  They’ll be free to burn the Giants deep and turn short passes into long runs after the catch.  Tom Brady will win his fourth Super Bowl and the perfect season will be complete.  The only question left is what will the Patriots do with San Francisco’s draft pick…

-  The NHL’s All-Star weekend passed by with little attention or fanfare outside the increasingly smaller hockey world.  Versus is horrible for the NHL as few cable subscribers even get the channel, and fewer even know it exists.  The NHL need to get back on ESPN at bare minimum, and the league needs to vastly improve the marketing of the game and the players.  Many have argued that the personalities are too dull to excite fans, but most of the younger up-and-coming players have dynamic identities.  For all of his talent, Sidney Crosby alone isn’t enough.  He doesn’t effectively display the genuine excitement and joy that energizes fans.  Give Alexander Ovechkin a bigger share of the stage.  Having another Jeremy Roenick type to stir up some controversy wouldn’t hurt, but there are plenty of players who have a unique story and experience to share with the fans.  Aside from the rare hockey highlights on SportsCenter, there is no hockey programming outside of the games.  If the games were broadcast on ESPN, then ESPN would make sure to subtly hype up and advertise the matchups by having more dedicated segments to hockey on SportsCenter, and they would likely bring back NHL2Night as a highlight and analysis show, exclusively for hockey.  Most importantly the league needs to re-establish the connection between the fans and the players.  The teams need to have more fan-player interaction and events.

1 Comment

Filed under random bamboo

Tags: andris biedrins, basketball, chris webber, football, golden state warriors, hockey, jason kidd, nba, new england patriots, new jersey nets, nfl, nhl, NHL all-star game, NHL all-star weekend, random bamboo, super bowl