Sports Blog

It’s official:  Mark Cuban and Kenyon Martin are two enormous babies who are starting to look more like cast members of The Hills than members of the NBA.

Their childish behavior made me think for a second I was dealing with a couple of kids in high school.  Certainly this couldn’t be the behavior of two well to do adults.  Sadly, it is.  Right down to the reports of back and forth banter, insincere apologies and no actual face to face communication.

What should have ended with a simple apology has turned into a gigantic pissing contest and appears to have no end in sight.  In case you haven’t heard, after game three of the Denver/Dallas series, Cuban made some disparaging comments to Martin’s mother while exiting his seat in the arena.  He later apologized via his blog, which led Martin to call Cuban a coward, according to HoopsHype.com.

The entire ordeal is ridiculous and is only getting worse with each passing day.  With that in mind, here are five reasons why Cuban and Martin need to quit their bickering.

1] I hate to sound like a NBA spokesperson, but their online feud is distracting people from a really good NBA playoffs.  The Eastern and Western Conference finals should be electric and the more time they fight the less attention there will be on the actual games.

2] Cuban made a mistake and needs to own up to it appropriately.  It shouldn’t need to be said, but for Cuban apparently it does — when you heckle someones mom an apology in a blog isn’t enough.  People shouldn’t be yelling at mothers in the first place, but if you do say sorry in person and squash it.

3] Martin is only making the situation worse.  There was a lot of sympathy for him at first, but each word he utters takes some of that away.  Calling Cuban a coward is only adding fuel to the fire.  It is natural to stick up for your mom, yet the best course of action for Martin is to just shut up.

4] If there is one thing I know about the NBA it’s this — you don’t want David Stern to get involved.  Stern has been patient in letting the situation resolve itself but at some point he is going to start dishing out fines.  If Cuban and Martin don’t want to get hit in their pockets they need to end this.

5] Listening to the two of them is funny.  Cuban, who acts awfully tough, isn’t exactly an imposing figure.  And while I wouldn’t say it to his face, it is impossible to take anyone with a pair of lips tattooed on their neck seriously.

Image Source: BlogFinds.com

The first round of the NBA playoffs are barely wrapping up yet rumors are already starting to fly about what players might be switching jerseys this off-season.  With the economy continuing to struggle and the salary cap going down for the first time since its inception, many teams will be looking to get creative when it comes to their roster.

One player possibly heading to a new city is the self proclaimed Most Dominant Ever, aka Shaquille O’Neal.  A lot of people think that his monster contract and diminishing skill set are untradeable, but his resurgent play this year has landed him on a few GM’s radars.  Shaq, through the use of his Twitter account, has made it known he is quite fond of Dallas and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.

NBA sources say, however, the most likely destination for the Big Tweep is New Orleans.  Shaq has a large fan base in the south stemming from his days at LSU and the Hornets let it be known they wanted out of Tyson Chandler’s contract when they traded him earlier this year (only to have it fall through due to health reasons).

The trade could work in both teams favors should it happen.  The Hornets would only carry O’Neal on their books for one season and he would bring proven playoff experience to a team that really needs it.  He would also sell a lot of tickets, which makes the deal interesting from a business perspective.  The Phoenix Suns would get younger and more athletic in their front court, and if healthy, Chandler paired with forward Amare Stoudemire would be one of the most tenacious big-duos in the NBA.

What do you think? Is the Big Aristotle worth the big bucks? Or is the big man a big waste of money at this point in his career?

Image Source: FresnoBeach.com

This week in sports blogs and news:

• The life story of Todd Marinovich - Deadspin
• Chris Paul may become a Maverick - SportsByBrooks
• $800 Million for Citi Field and the water doesn’t work - Larry Brown Sports
• Danny Ainge has a heart attack - Fox Sports
• Adrian Gonzalez… -The Sports Hernia
• Top 7: Non-baseball streaks of the past 20 years -Joe Sports Fan
  

This week on the Smarter Sports Blog we covered:

• “Is it too late to tell the Broncos I’m sorry” 
• Joe Frazier Says God Gave Ali Parkinson’s Disease
• Greg Paulus Works Out for the Green Bay Packers
• Packers, Now the Wolverines: Paulus to Michigan?
• Goodbye: John Madden Retires from Broadcasting

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This week in sports blogs and news:

• San Diego Padres Rookies Dress Up Like Hooter Girls - Sports By Brooks
• Top 7: In-Game Collapses this Decade - Joe Sports Fan
• Just Your Average 80-Year Old Bodybuilder - Yahoo
• A-Rod Reached Divorce Settlement with Wife - NY Daily News
• Mets Minor Leaguer Kills Girlfriend’s Cat Out of Jealous Rage - With Leather
• Tallest College Basketball Player Ever, Out for Season - Deadspin
• Josh Howard Doesn’t Appreciate the National Anthem because He’s…- Larry Brown Sports
• Andy Reid… - The Sports Hernia

This week on the Smarter Sports Blog we covered:

•  “Look! He’s Breakdance Fighting!”
• Week 2 Fantasy Football Stats
• DeSaun Jackson Celebrates Touchdown Before Scoring
• Dog Rips Off Boy’s Ear, Mom Makes Him Play Soccer
• NBA News: Gilbert Arenas Has Knee Surgery No. 3
  

A lot is being made of USA Olympic Basketball Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s decision not to play Jason Kidd in the final minutes of a recent exhibition game against Russia.

Kidd was supposed to be a leader of the team, who after suffering crushing defeats in the 2004 Olympics in Athens and not winning a major international tournament since 2000, is clearly in need of something. That something was supposed to be Kidd, whose experience and leadership was supposed to help transform the Redeem Team into something closer to the glory days of the Dream Team.

However, the emergence of Chris Paul and Deron Williams has at the very least made Krzyzewski and company question who will receive the bulk of the minutes and how to best integrate the other two into the lineup. What it got me thinking was who the best point guards in the league are.

So I asked myself if I had to start the next season with any point guard; who would it be? Assuming that it was for one year only and the only goal was to win a NBA championship this year, here is my list for the top four.

4] Steve Nash: Nash is difficult to peg because while he has led one of the most prolific offenses this decade, there are some questions about his defense and age. A couple years ago he would have been a lock to be number one on this list, but at age 34 the decision is complicated.

He was second in assists per game last season and has averaged at least 10 since arriving in Phoenix, but his numbers in Dallas weren’t nearly as strong. This makes one wonder how effective he will be in a more traditional offense, like the one he looks to have next year with Shaq.

3] Tony Parker: It is hard to argue against Parker’s resume. Since being drafted 28^th overall by San Antonio in 2001, Parker has won three NBA championships and was the NBA Finals MVP in 2007. He works the pick and roll as well as anybody in the league and is deadly around the basket.

One could argue that he has the benefit of playing alongside Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, but you don’t see the point guards that play with Yao Ming, Kevin Garnett or Dwight Howard on here.

2] Deron Williams: Williams is in a difficult situation. He plays for a franchise that housed one of the all-time greats in John Stockton and Williams was drafted one spot higher than Chris Paul in 2005. As a result, he will be compared to Paul his entire career, but maybe that isn’t such a bad thing.

He only scored about two points less than Paul a game last season and shot slightly better than Paul from the field and from behind the arc. The greatest thing you can say about Williams at this point: it isn’t crazy to argue that one day he ends up with more hardware on his fingers and in his trophy case than Paul.

1] Chris Paul: Even with the high upside of Williams, in the last year no player in the NBA has had their stock rise higher than Paul. He’s played a huge part in reinvigorating not only the Hornets, but the city of New Orleans.

Paul was the biggest reason the Hornets secured a number two seed in the mighty western conference last year and has turned Tyson Chandler into the player the Chicago Bulls hoped he would be. If that wasn’t amazing enough, among point guards last year Paul was a statistical powerhouse – second in scoring, first in steals and first in assists (on a per/game average).

That’s good enough to be number one on my list – and if Team USA wants to bring home the gold – Krzyzewski better have Paul as first on his.

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It’s just the first game right?

We shouldn’t base the first game on how they will help their new teams in the long run, right?

Well, if that’s the case, then there still is some hope for the Phoenix Suns and the Dallas Mavericks as both teams lost with their new additions, but there was some promising stats.

Shaquille O’Neal showed that he could last in the high octane Suns offense, although it’s not known for how long. He put up some decent numbers, finishing with 15 points and 9 rebounds, but the Suns couldn’t stop Kobe and the Lakers, losing 130-124.

As for Jason Kidd, the Mavericks didn’t give up as much points, but the result was still the same. Kidd finished with 8 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists, but he also had 6 turnovers while the Mavs lost to the Hornets 104-93.

In defense of both players, they had to go up against two top opponents in their debuts, and in more defense for Shaq, this was his first game back in over a month.

Here’s to an interesting second half in the West.

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Of all of the people to delay the Jason Kidd trade to the Dallas Mavericks, it was Devean George.

Because of some little loop hole in the Mavericks forward’s contract, the deal that would have brought Jason Kidd from the New Jersey Nets to the Mavericks is now on hold. In addition to Kidd, the Mavericks would get Malik Allen and Antoine Wright in exchange for George, Jerry Stackhouse, Devin Harris, DeSagana Diop and Maurice Ager.

How did George show the Mavericks that he was worth keeping? Oh, by only going 0-for-11 from the field last night in 33 minutes. Oh yea, those numbers show that he’s worth more than a hall of fame point guard alright.

I’m all about team unity and standing by your teammate, but something tells me that George can’t be the most popular player in Dallas right now.

The trade deadline is February 21st, so George still has some time to change his mind and keep some friends and fans in Dallas.

Source: Sports Illustrated

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