All-Star Voting

I love the NBA and always enjoy watching the All-Star game, and I also like the rookie/sophomore game and the dunk contest they have during All-Star Weekend. In my opinion, the NBA has the most watch-able, fan friendly all-star event of the big 3 sports. However…

I just finished poking holes in about 30 more All-Star ballots and I feel the need to comment on a major flaw in the voting process. There, listed on the ballot was Stephon Marbury. The same Stephon Marbury who has not played a single minute this year. I know the NBA lets fans pretty much choose the All-Star game starters like a popularity contest, but shouldn’t the players fans can choose from be ones who’ve actually played? C’mon!

Also, there is only room for one write-in vote per conference, so I couldn’t write in both Joel Przyabilla and Steve Blake, even they both are putting up pretty elite numbers this year. The only 3 Blazers available are Greg Oden, Brandon Roy, and LaMarcus Aldridge (needless to say I voted for them each time).

The saving grace to the NBA All-Star selection process is that once the starters are chosen by the fans, coaches get to vote in the remainder of the players. That helps get the players who deserve it into the game. That’s how Brandon Roy got in last year and probably how he’ll get in this year too.

So, just FYI, here are my picks:

West
C – Greg Oden (I know he hasn’t earned it but since Joel wasn’t on the ballot…)
F – LaMarcus Aldridge
F – Tim Duncan / Amare Stoudemire (I split my other forward votes between them)
G – Brandon Roy
G – Chris Paul

East
C – Dwight Howard
F – LeBron James
F – Kevin Garnet / Chris Bosh (I split my other forward votes between them)
G – Dwayne Wade
G – Devin Harris / Mo Williams / Joe Johnson / Ray Allen (Lots of choices and none very clear cut except for Dwayne, so I pretty much chose a few of my favorites.

Thunder!!

OK, I’ve been meaning to comment on this for a while because it really irks me…

Firstly, know that I am a big fan of logos and color schemes. Team image is one of the many influences that impacts the fan experience and I am a very visual-minded person. The larger piece of team image, of course, is personnel, because no matter how cool you look, if your team is full of losers then the experience will be forgettable. But say you’ve done your job with that… teams are known visually by their logo and color schemes. It gives them their unique look.

The Sonics had the chance, when they moved to Oklahoma City, to change their look. They chose the name Thunder, and I am OK with that. The logo they chose is pretty weak though, in my opinion. But where I have a problem is-- when they went to choose a color scheme they went with light blue. I say again… light blue. Light blue and orange just doesn’t convey Thunder to me. When I think thunder, I conjure up images of dark and ominous clouds, maybe some steaks of lightning or some hail… the sky reverberating with loud crashes that shake the bowels of men. NOT light blue.

But this is not the only reason why light blue is a terrible color choice. How many teams already have blue in their color scheme? Let’s count them, shall we?!

1. Utah Jazz
2. Denver Nuggets
3. Memphis Grizzlies
4. New Orleans Hornets
5. Orlando Magic
6. Dallas Mavericks
7. Minnesota Timberwolves
8. Detroit Pistons
9. Washington Wizards
10. New Jersey Nets
11. LA Clippers
12. Golden State Warriors
13. Charlotte Bobcats
14. Atlanta Hawks
15. New York Knicks

Exactly one half of the teams in the NBA… already. And 8 or 9 of those are not just blue, but light blue. So the creative geniuses in Oklahoma City chose what color? Did they poll a group of sixth graders for input? I can picture the owner’s wife saying, “Gee, most teams already have light blue… light blue must be the latest shade in Basketball… so let’s go with… light blue!” Way to be original.

Next chance they get (read All-Star break) they should change it to black and purple, with white lightning bolts for trim… something like that. Something thunder-ish. Just not light blue!!! The whole idea makes me long for Sonic green and yellow.

Blazer Update 11-24-08

The Blazers are sitting at 8-6. Very nice. They are off to a much better start than most predicted, including myself. The best news… they are giving it their all and it translates: fun to watch!

A few things to note about the team so far:

Point Guard Play
Blake and Rodriguez are running the point extremely efficiently – The Blazers are one of the best teams so far in the Assist to Turnover ratio. Blake is 10th in the league for players with more than 200 minutes. Also, for players who’ve played more than 200 minutes this year, Sergio’s assist rate (per minute played) is 2nd in the league – Chris Paul is 1st. That’s pretty lofty status. I was pretty quick to dismiss Sergio when he said he wanted to be traded, but I see now that he is good for us. Steve Blake has scored more than 20 points in the last 2 games… he’s on a roll. One of the coolest pictures I’ve ever seen was in the Oregonian the other day – Steve Blake leaning over with blood literally pouring off of his scalp after a collision with a camera. It proved that he is a modern-day warrior.

3 Point Shooting
We are also off to a great start from outside. Even though we lost James Jones and Martell is hurt, we are tops in the league at shooting 3s. Here are some stats (3s per game/ percentage):

Travis Outlaw: 3 @ 51%
Rudy Fernandez: 6 @ 42%
Steve Blake: 5 @ 45%
Nicolas Batum: 2 @ 41%
Brandon Roy: 3 @ 37%
Sergio Rodriguez: 3 @35%

Anything better than 35% is = to shooting 2s at 50%. So we are doing great so far!

Center
Joel Pryzabilla and Greg Oden are tearing it up in the middle. Greg is way up there in blocks per minute… tied with Andrew Bynum and Brian Skinner for 4th in the League (only Ronny Turiaf, Dwight Howard, and Marcus Camby are better). Joel is shooting three 2-pointers per game @ 83%... the best in the league for players over 200 minutes (the next best is Nene with 65%). Seeing how we dominate the middle makes it easier to understand why we are able to be so open for 3-pointers.

Españoles Asombrosos
Otherwise known as Amazing Spaniards. Rudy is flat out fun to watch. Even if he is missing his 3s like he did Saturday against the Suns, he still is like watching a lightning bolt zip around the court. He and Sergio connect on some sweet alley-oops that make your eyes pop out. I knew they kept Sergio around to help Rudy in his transition to the NBA, and the connection they hoped for is realized. They each steal the ball very well, tying for the lead on the Blazers in Steals per minute. Rudy has a real knack for playing the game and is much better defensively than expected.

Defense
While we are doing great as far as blocking shots, rebounding, and stealing, we are letting way too many opposing players get easy baskets. Way too many lay-ins and fast-break points allowed so far. If we can shore up our transition defense and stay with our man we’d be a better defensive team. One problem with being an unselfish team like we are is that sometimes we are too eager to help out and, in doing so, leave an opponent wide open. There are certain players, like Mike Miller of the Timberwolves, who you NEVER want to leave. The minute you do you can count it as three points against you. Travis Outlaw is a bit suspect in this area, he is getting better at stealing and rebounding but still looks a half-step too slow in getting back to his man. Sergio does the same thing sometimes. He’ll go for the steal and leave his man open for the three. Granted, he gets a lot of steals that way but still… part of it is knowing who you should gamble against. NOT Steve Nash.

I have a lot more to talk about since this is the first chance I’ve had to post in a while, but I am out of time for now. Go Blazers!

PS. Get to go to 2 games this week! Tonight with Grady and Austin (vs. Kings) and Wednesday night with Brad (vs. the Heat). Should be fun!!!