UNC Tarheels

   So ole Roy finally decided to start his best player PJ Hairston and Carolina promptly goes 2-1 with 2 blowouts wins, a road win, and the only loss coming on the road @ #2 Duke.  It only took him 4 months and 8 losses to figure this out.  In just 3 starts PJ has scored 62 points and is averaging 20 ppg.  If he's doing this in games I can only imagine what was going on in practice everyday.  My question is this, what the hell took Roy so long to figure this out and make the change?  Check out my blog back in November when I first said PJ should be starting.  In my opinion Roy cost this team 4 losses by being so stubborn and not making the change when it became obvious PJ should be starting and playing more minutes. The Butler game, Virginia, the Miami game at home when they were only down 1 w/ 4 mins left, and no way in hell they lose that game to sorry as Texas.   In college basketball you got to play your best 5 players and not worry about position and there is no way in hell Roy didn't see that PJ was one of his 5 best players.  I still think he needs to play Brice Johnson more because it's obvious that he is there best offense post play.  One of the best things that happen to them was Joel James getting hurt and removed from the rotation because that boy is not ready.  I swear the travel every-time he catch the ball outside the paint and when he catch it inside the paint the double comes and he turn the ball over.  He probably would've been better off redshirting because he is not ready.  A lot of fans been complaining about this team not being as talented as previous Carolina teams, but what has been frustrating to me is Roy not playing the best players that he does have.  I'm just glad he figured it out or stop being stubborn long enough to make the change and not waist a whole season. 

NC State Fans

   NCSU fans are happy about beating Carolina and Duke this year.  And Carolina fans expected to beat State and were surprised when they lost?  Why?  State was suppose to beat Carolina and Duke this year.  They are the more talented team and they were at home.  State is currently undefeated in the ACC at home, but they are (as they lose to Virginia as I'm writing this blog) now 1-3 on the road.  State is the most talented team in the ACC this year other than maybe Miami.  They should be undefeated or only have one loss (Virginia) at best in the league so far this year. There was no reason to lose to a inferior Wake Forest when you're up by 16pts and if Scoot Wood can hit a wide open jump-shot, once in two tries, they beat Maryland.  Let me just say that I'm not like most UNC Fans, I'm from Raleigh and I pull for State unless they playing Carolina. But State fans love to hate Carolina.  If yall wanna be the best in the ACC you got to learn to win on the road.  No reason for this State team to not to be at least 7-1 in the ACC.  To be they are underachieving.  If Zo Brown play as aggressive as he did against UNC and the bigs can stay out of foul trouble, it's no reason this team shouldn't go to the final four this year and win the ACC like they were predicted to do in the preseason and like the Tarheels have done the past two seasons.  But State fans are only concerned about beating Carolina and Duke and not seeing the real potential in this team.  And for the State fans only concerned about Carolina and Duke, they still gotta play both of those teams on the road, where they have yet to prove that they can win at and is now just 1-3 in ACC play.

The Carolina Tarheels

   Let me start off by saying Preseason polls mean absolutely nothing.  It's just something that's done to get the casual fans excite about their team.  Real basketball heads know you don't know what teams will look like this year until you see them play games against quality competition.  With that being said here are my thoughts on Carolina so far.  I started writing with intentions to included State and Duke, but once I got started on my Tarheels I became long winded so Duke and NC State previews will be in the next blog spot. 
    Carolina got a boat load of issues. I'm a Carolina fan, but I'm a realist. They were ranked way to high to start the season after losing 4 of 5 starters and the only returning player (Reggie Bullock) not even averaging over 10 ppg. Plus he is not a go to player, but only a roll player.  They are relying on 4 freshman and have a freshman starting at the most important position on the floor PG.  I actually think Paige is pretty good and is far from the problem with this team.  The problems are they don't rebound well, they got the wrong people starting at 2 positions, and they lack experience.  Strickland should not be starting a the 2.  The only reason Roy is starting him is because he's a Senior.  If your goal is winning you got to start the best players and not worry about Seniority.  And don't tell me about Strickland defense because Bullock is as good as if not a better defender.  PJ Hairston should be starting at the 2 and Brice Johnson should be starting instead of Hubert.  I don't know why Roy is starting that Hubert.  That boy shouldn't even be in the rotation much less starting.  MacAdoo needs to cut down on his turnovers if he is going to be the go to guy for this team and he's got to rebound better.  No way a big should turn the ball over as much as he does.  I think Roy needs to give the ball to Paige and tell him this his team and he needs to take over.  He is the only player on the team that can create his own shot and set others up to score. When he was aggressive at the start of that Indiana game before he got in foul trouble Carolina was playing them even. After he got in foul trouble and Strickland took over the point the wheels fell off.  Bullock is a catch and shoot guy.  If he's guarded closely and ran off the 3 pt line he becomes ineffective.  He need to develop a 1-2 dribble pull-up that he can go to if teams crowd his jump-shot.  He's got to be more effective on Offensive for this team to be successful.  Period..  PJ Hairston is the same although he has proven to be a little more effective than Bullock at going to the rim.  But he haven't proven he can set others up with penetration when teams run him off the 3pt line either. McDonald is another jump-shooter with not much else to offer if his shot isn't on.  Brice Johnson got the best low-post game out of all of them, but that boy is rail-thin and is getting pushed around easily when trying to rebound.  Joel James got the frame to bang down low but he gotta get tougher.  I have seen when he got the ball in the post guards just come down & double and take the ball from him more than once this season.  This team has gotten blown out twice already and were down by 30pts. That's unacceptable for Carolina. It's time for Roy to make changes and play the guys who give them the best chance to win or it's going to be a long season. 

Thoughts from the 1st Week in the NBA

    A few thoughts from the first week of action in the NBA. Gotta love the NBA league pass especially when the feature game is a blowout like the Heat/Knicks game was last night.  Fist off I think James Harden will win the NBA scoring title this year.  I said he had a change to do this when he first got traded last week, but after watching the first couple games this year I think he will do it.  Not just because he scored 37 and 45 in his first two games because I think its impossible for him to continue on this pace, but more so because of Houston style of play.  They don't have a player they can feed the ball to in the post so their whole offense revolves around pick and roll with Harden or Lin.  This is going to create unlimited scoring opportunities, shot attempts, free throw attempts, and drives to the basket.  Remember where you heard it first and holla at me later.  Second, the 0-3 Lakers will be just fine.  Anytime you have Dwight Howard manning the post on Defense no way that team keeps losing.  Expect the Lakers to win around 55 games this season.  The bobcats snapped a 23 game losing streak.  How bad do you have to be to lose 23 straight games? Congratulations is in order Mike.  Nobody deserves that type of futility. And last I'm not so sure about this small ball the Miami Heat is going to.  Its one thing to go to it in the 4th quarter, but they trying it for the whole game.  I think that is taking a lot out of them defensively with all the rotating and switching and no protector at the rim.  They might want to activate a couple of bigs on their roster.  And when a team is hot from the outside like the Knicks were last night blowouts can be expected.  Also will Lebron suffer from the fat and happy Dirk syndrome. After Dirk Nowitzki won his first title a couple years ago he came into the season saying he lack motivation after getting that monkey off his back and winning the championship.  I wonder if this is maybe happening to Lebron also because he has look lackluster and unimpressive in his first couple of games.  One last thing about the Heat, I notice Dwyane Wade appears to be unwilling to accept his second fiddle Robbin roll.  I've seen a lot of forced action, forced shots, and bad turnovers from Wade who appears to be trying to prove something and is only putting his team in bad spots.  This from someone who is just returning from injury and coming off knee surgery.  Give it up D-Wade you aint got it no more.  Just let Lebron be batman and play the background. 

Is a ring worth $2.5 million

   James Harden was traded late yesterday to the Houston Rockets for rookie Jeremy Lamb, Kelvin Martin, 2 first, and a second round pick.  The reason for the trade was because Harden's contract was set to expire at the end of the season and Oklahoma City couldn't work out an extension with him. They offered him 4yr $55 Million, but James turned it down because he wanted a Max contract.  Here is the irony, the max is worth 4yrs $60 Million.  This is only a $5 Million dollar difference.  I know, I know $5 million is a lot of money.  But Harden is in the 50% tax bracket so that $5 Million is worth more like $2.5 Million.  Harden and the OKC Thunder had a chance to win multiple titles.  In Houston he doesn't stand a chance of winning anything other than maybe a scoring title and multiple All-start appearances.  So I ask the question is $2.5 Million worth a career playing for a losing team, when he was guaranteed multiple playoff appearances, possible NBA championships, and numerous endorsement opportunities while playing for a winner.  All of these things were opportunities to make up the $2.5 Million dollar difference.  I think James Harden made the wrong choice in this situation.  And something tells me a couple years of the losing he will experience in Houston will help him realize this also.  Is $2.5 Million worth a ring?  Just ask Dominique Wilkins, Charles Barkley, John Stockton, Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing, and a host of others this question and see what answer you get.  $2.5 Million is worth a ring when winning that ring means you're an NBA champion and live in immortality forever. 

Ur Carolina Panthers

  I usually only blog about all things basketball b/c it's what I do, and what I know best.  But sitting on my coach watching this be-foolery I couldn't help myself.  The Carolina Panthers sorry as hell.  Have been sorry as hell for a while, and their off to a great start at being sorry as hell this year.  If you lose often and all the damn time, and have a chance to win the game you gotta go for it.  You up 1pt with 1:41 to go in the game, you got the ball on the Atlanta side of the 50, and you only need 1 yd to win the game b/c the Falcons are out of time-out, you gotta go for it.  Coach Rivera probably gone get fired by the end of next season anyway.  Show some balls and go for the win instead of playing not to lose.  You can't win in the NFL playing that way.  Even thou the Panthers Defense played well this game, they have been horrible this year.  I'm sitting here thinking if they punt this ball they gone lose because the Falcons only need a FG to win.  Even when they downed the ball on the 1 yd line I still said out loud they gone lose this game.  My thing is your 1-2, if you can't get a yard you deserve to lose anyway.  You got a 250lb QB in Cam Netwon, J.Steward and M.Tolbert big ass.  Somebody should be able to get 1 yd and win the game.  Instead they chose to punt and low and behold the Falcons when down and got a field goal and won the game.  Like Coach Herm Edwards famously said "You play to win the Game."  The Panthers Coach Ron Rivera didn't, hey made the decision they were playing not to lose as soon as they punted that ball, and that's exactly what they did.... Loss!! 

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Melo vs. Durant

    A couple of weeks ago I ask a couple of my boyz who was better Melo or Durant?  The fact that the response I got was a 50/50 split is why I knew it was make a good debate.  In the London Olympics the two took turns being the leading scorer for USA each draining 10 3pters in 1 game.  This could be a debate all in itself as to which one is the better shooter.  I think they both prove they are the best 2 elite shooters, scorers, and offensive players in the NBA. Kevin Durant has led the league in scoring the last 3 seasons topping out at 30.1 in 2010. Carmelo Anthony has been long viewed as the best pure scorer in the league topping out at 28.9 in 2007 with his sweet shooting stroke and his bully-ball post-up game. I would give the edge to Durant when it comes to shooting because he owns a better shooting % (49.6 to 43.0 for Melo), 3pt% (38.7 to 33.5 for Melo), and FT% (86 to 80.4 for Melo). I give the edge to Melo when it comes to low-post game as Durant has yet to develop any kind of post game.  They both lack Defense and could benefit by improving on that size of the ball.  This is another reason this topic is so debatable because they both excel in the same areas and struggle defensively.  But the reason I give Durant the edge overall and think he is the better player is because he has proven that he is clutch and can be counted on when the pressure is on.  The most recent prof of this is the Gold Metal game against Spain when he dropped 30 pts and forced the Spain coaching staff to go to a trick defense box-in-1 to try and stop him.  This even with the likes of Lebron James and Kobe Bryant on the court with him.  He single handedly kept USA in the league in that game hitting big shot after big shot. More prof of Durant's clutch-jean is when he scored 17 pts in the 4th quarter of game 1 in the NBA finals, 18pts in the last 7 mins of game 4 in the Western Conference Finals, and hitting the game winning 3 against the Lakers all in this years playoff.  Melo meanwhile struggled with his shot going 3-9 in the first real test team USA faced, and have only made it pass the first round of the playoffs once.  I think you got to go with any player that proves capable of stepping up big and making plays when the game is on the line and in the most crucial of games. This is why I say Kevin Durant is the better player and after thinking thru my argument, I'm not sure it's as close as it first seemed.