NBA Week 6

Peace, Sam.

Since the story of Sam’s firing has already been exhausted in the media over the past week, I’ll keep it relatively simple; It was gonna happen at some point or another anyways, so whatever. When Colangelo took over as President and GM of the Raps, he inherited Mitchell as head coach so it’s safe to say Mitchell wasn’t HIS choice to begin with. When Mitchell won coach of the year, all it did was delay his inevitable exit, and although I personally liked Sam, the players just weren’t responding to him for one reason or another. 41-41 last year, 8-11 this year (8-9 when Sam got the axe)…something had to change. In terms of where the Raps go from here, a major identity swap is going to have to take place in order for them to move forward, and as of right now, it’s Triano’s job to lose. If Triano has a solid year, it will undoubtedly buy him a little more time on the sidelines but if not, there are some quality coaches out there that are available. From a defensive standpoint, Avery Johnson could be a solid pick and then you also have Flip Saunders who’s currently without a job. Either way, the Raps need to break away from the impasse culture that started to form during Sam’s tenure and I think it’ll all start at the defensive end.
Last week I said that the Lakers were #1 in the L and the Celts were number 2 but after a tough Laker loss in Indiana last week, coupled with some big Boston W’s against Portland and Orlando, the Celts are the team to beat.
KG has always had swagger, but now that he’s added a ring to his Hall Of Fame resume, he’s on another planet.
The C’s normally reliable bench let Portland get back into the game (kinda…) on Friday night, so Doc called a timeout, put KG back in the game…an alley-oop and a block later and all serenity was re-established. However, KG let Big Baby Davis hear all about it.

Who’s hot?
D-Wade and the Heat.

Who’s not?
The Raps.

The Heat won all 3 of their games last week behind big performances by Mr. Wade. Wade averaged almost 33 chips/game last week in just under 36 mins. a game. He also won player of the week honours and has moved into #1 on the NBA scoring list.
The Heat could certainly end up anywhere between 5-8th in the East but they need guys to step up. Marion is still giving you nearly 10 boards a night but his 12.9 ppg is his lowest since his rookie campaign back in 99/00 and well below his career average (about 19 ppg).
Michael Beasley is another cat who I think could be contributing a little more. Although his 14/15 ppg are solid for a rook, he’s averaging a just hair over 5 boards a night which is unacceptable for a guy who is 6-9 and 245 lbs. If Jason Kidd can snatch up 7 a game, there’s no excuse why Beasley shouldn’t be grabbing AT LEAST 7 a night.

The Raps on the other hand have lost 4 in a row and looked disinterested and disheartened for the better part of the week. They got their shit pushed in against Denver and Utah and then blew an early 16-point lead in a loss to the Blazers. The sked ahead doesn’t get any easier with matchups against Cleveland, New Orleans and their arch-nemesis VC this week.

The ‘What The Fuck Were You Thinking’ award of the week goes to none other than Corie Blount who was found with 29 lbs. of piff, over $20,000 cash and 3 firearms. For those of you who don’t know him or remember him, I don’t blame you. Blount was a suitcase for most of his career, playing for 7 different teams over his 17 year career and averaging about 3 ppg for his career.

This throwback clip of the week goes out to my man Slick Wats and also my man D, who loves Chambers’ flow…Ladies and gents, I present Tom Chambers…

Gilbert Arenas should be back in the Wizards line-up in a few weeks and they could certainly use him. However, even though the Wiz (3-15) will be happy to have him back (who wouldn’t be happy getting their franchise player back?), he still won’t be able to remedy the Wizards’ biggest issue; perimeter defense. In the Wizards last two losses against the Bulls and the Lakers, both squads shot better than 50% from the land beyond and with Gil having a history of being a sub-par defender, it could still be a long grindful season in Washington.
The dunk of the week has to belong to either Ron Artest or Joey Graham. Who do y’all like?

Joey on Joel:

Ron-Ron takes Ronny Turiaf to the spa

That’s it for this week heathens, but I’ll check back into the game next Monday.

I’m out like Sam.

-Gliz