| 26 March 2010
Linkovich Chomofsky was our daily links for a while on this site. Going to try to make an effort to bring it back with the podcasts and some extended links writing from now until the end of the season and through the playoffs. So here is a GINOURMOUS edition of the Linkovich Chomofsky to get you through the weekend:
- Daniel Orton and Eric Bledsoe of Kentucky discuss the idea of declaring for the draft after their freshman years. Bledsoe said "it's a good possibility" while Orton gave a bit of a different take on it while basically saying what most young players are never direct enough to admit:
"More than anything, it's money," he said. "In this world, there's only one color that matters, and that's green."
Orton's a good player but I have to agree with him here. He's going to have to sell high on his stock more than most big men. Think of Samaki Walker and Sharone Wright. Look great in college but probably don't have the entire package to be a difference-maker in the NBA. If he can have a solid tournament and trick GMs into guaranteeing him a lottery spot, he would be dumb to pass that up. Clearly, it would have to be more than he's making at Kentucky though...
- Your friend and mine, Mookie from A Stern Warning, has a video of Tracy McGrady from high school when he was hashing out his decision to go pro and forego college.
More links after the jump.
- Go ahead and throw Momma There Goes That Man into your RSS Reader or bookmarks at the top of this browser. Former Talkhoops scribe and current Forum Blue and Gold contributor, Phillip Barnett, is on there and he's got something to say about John Salmons.
- Budding internet star, Dan Devine over at Ball Don't Lie, reviewed Open Court: A Year With The New York Knicks. It chronicles the happenings of the Knicks during the end of the Larry Brown era and well into Zeke's time running the team on the court:
"The day-by-day, game-story-heavy approach fails to compensate for a fundamental flaw that Buro admits in the book's prologue: While he 'witnessed nearly 80 games' from November 2006" through the summer of '08, he didn't travel with the Knicks at all. It's hard to kill Buro for that — he was covering the team for small local outlets (like The Wave, a weekly community paper based in the Rockaways) that probably couldn't afford to detail a reporter for 41 road games — but it puts the book in a major hole from Jump Street. We know the author had major limits on both his time with and exposure to the players, making it less likely that we'll get the kind of nitty-gritty inside info that we've come to expect from reporters who spend every day with the team. But that doesn't mean the book has to suck."
Dan doesn't pull any punches with reviewing this book. The book actually gets a pretty bad review from Dan but I still want to read. The review of the book is probably better than the book itself because 1) Dan is really good at reviewing things and 2) Dan is REALLY good at reviewing things.
- Shoals at Free Darko discusses the nickname "King James." Put your thinking caps on because Shoals is really smart, all over the place and capable of confusing you if you take a paragraph off.
- Both Teams Played Hard gives us this video from the Phoenix Suns. Click through for the write-up.
- Everything you'd ever want to know about Larry Bird Rights from the master of the CBA, Larry Coon.
- Knicks Fanatic Blog has an amazing write-up and breakdown on the prospect of Jordan Hill. Here's an excerpt:
What if I were to tell you that the Knicks selection of Jordan Hill with the 8th pick in the 2009 draft, made plenty of prospective sense. With a front-court in the midst of uncertainty from the power forward to center position (Eddy Curry's weight and injuries, trade scenarios to expedite Jared Jefferies' contract, and David Lee's expiring contract status) Hill's acquisition in a point guard heavy draft was an attempt to fill a prospective void. Hill's acquisition, was also intended to provide the Knicks with a young, athletic, mobile forward with a jump shop suited to coach D'Antoni's style of play. In that context, the Knicks selected Hill. Yet, Hills selection transpired without much ado, as Knicks' fans forlorning was cast at some of the draft's more highly touted names- such as Stephen Curry, Ricky Rubio and Brandon Jennings to name but a few.
I was never big on the prospects of Jordan Hill. I generally try to avoid Pac-10 big men unless they're related to the Beach Boys. I got burned with Ed O'Bannon and decided to be cautious ever since. Normally, a guy like Jordan Hill would get a few years to prosper in a place like New York. Unfortunately, Brandon Jennings set the world on fire in November, highlighted by that 55-point game, and Knicks fans went ape-sh*t. Hill was never given a proper chance by his coach early on because he made mistakes. Oddly enough, there was a lot of pressure on Mike D'Antoni early on to produce something worthwhile, even though the season was a throw-away.
By the time, D'Antoni should have given in and trusted him, Hill was dealt to Houston and has shown more flashes in a short time there than in his months in New York. Now, Knicks fans have to hope that 1) they get legit prizes in the summer's free agent class and 2) Hill doesn't become a really good player in this league. Definitely click through and read the entire piece at Knicks Fanatic Blog. Here's the link again. It's a thorough breakdown.
- And finally, Jared Wade gets a double dip on the return of Linkovich with this letter to Wizards fans from a Pacers fan over at Eight Points, Nine Seconds.
The Gilbert Arenas ordeal will forever tarnish the team. There is no coming back from that. For the rest of your life, your favorite NBA squad will be the team whose captain illegally brought guns into the city then brought said guns into the locker room then got caught doing all that and then thought it was funny. For those who think the NBA is a league full of thugs, the incident will go down as the last straw. (Although, personally, I think we should reserve that moniker for Caron’s 2/24/10 game with Dallas vs. the Lakers). Others will just call it FINGA GUNZ.
Regardless of how high of a moral soapbox the observer has, however, Gilbert’s guns will now be brought up ad nauseum whenever an analyst, writer or just some drunk guy at the bar discusses the worst moments in NBA history.
You will hear about it forever.
Trust me.
This is a hilarious and still depressing letter from one ravaged fan base to another. I did a similar thing over at Raptors Republic the other day. You've got to feel for the Wizards fans on this one. They had an entertaining star that people loved to absorb and could take over games. Now? They have Andray Blatche and Al Thornton as the best players on the team.
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