ESPN has impeccable design sensibility

Only reason ESPN did this was so all the pictures would match and everything would be symmetrical.  This IS NOT the way the actual MVP voting is going to go.

Credit: New Beantown Butt Boy

Breaking News: I agree with LeBron James

In what may be a sign that the end of the world is imminent, I agree with LeBron James' assessment of D. Wade's new, self-proclaimed nickname, WOW, which stands for 'Way of Wade'.  James said in reference to the nickname and slogan for the fashionista's Li-Ning shoes, "I think it's corny."

Hopefully this is the first and last time I agree with a LeBron statement because I much prefer hating him to liking him.

D. Wade is a pro at being a dick sack and he has stayed the course with this move.  Nothing, not even LeBron James' hairline, is worse than someone who anoints their own nickname.

D. Wade May Not Be The Worst, But He's Pretty Bad

I can't put into words how much I despise Dwyane Wade.  Here he is being a little bitch and getting a fan kicked out that probably paid $500+ to sit courtside to watch him PLAY BASKETBALL.  $500.  To watch a BASKETBALL GAME.  If you think the fashionista would be grateful, you'd be thinking wrong.  I'd say $500 entitles you to do a little bit of heckling, but that's just me.

I think the thing that is really grinding my gears is that D. Wade is having the 2nd worst season of his career statistically (the worst since his rookie campaign), yet he is the leading vote getter among guards in the East and is a virtual lock to start the All-Star game.  All the while, Jrue Holiday is having a career year and sits at 8th in voting behind 2 guys that have been injured for long stretches (Irving and Felton), 2 guys that are having down years (Wade and Williams), a guy that is a proven loser (Ellis) and a skeleton (Allen).  The only guy ahead of Jrue that I can even begin to agree with is Rondo, but even then, Rondo is not as important to his team as Jrue is to the Sixers.  Without Jrue, the Sixers went 0-4 losing by an average of 13 points.  Without Rondo, the Celtics are 2-3.  Jrue is 14th in the league in scoring and 4th in the league in assists.  How can fans not notice the brilliant season he is putting together????

Larry already said it but having the fans vote for the starters is fucking stupid.  I get that the All-Star game is just a money maker in the NBA's eyes, but the show that they could put on by actually having the best players that season compete in the All-Star game would be incredible.

From NBA.com, current All-Star voting results below.

2013 NBA ALL-STAR BALLOTING PRESENTED BY SPRINT EASTERN CONFERENCE
Frontcourt: LeBron James (Mia) 1,151,304, Carmelo Anthony (NYK) 1,054,099, Kevin Garnett (Bos) 390,751, Chris Bosh (Mia) 362,973, Tyson Chandler (NYK) 315,752, Paul Pierce (Bos) 205,096, Joakim Noah (Chi) 158,743, Josh Smith (Atl) 131,508, Anderson Varejao (Cle) 116,166, Shane Battier (Mia) 107,190, Amar'e Stoudemire (NYK) 104,109, Andrew Bynum (Phi) 93,611, Luol Deng (Chi) 90,736, Brook Lopez (BKN) 76,695, Jeff Green (Bos) 62,367
Backcourt: Dwyane Wade (Mia) 765,077, Rajon Rondo (Bos) 675,822, Deron Williams (BKN) 350,618, Kyrie Irving (Cle) 308,878, Ray Allen (Mia) 232,441, Monta Ellis (Mil) 84,609, Raymond Felton (NYK) 77,123, Jrue Holiday (Phi) 66,514, Jason Terry (Bos) 62,189, Brandon Jennings (Mil) 56,826

2013 NBA ALL-STAR BALLOTING PRESENTED BY SPRINT WESTERN CONFERENCE
Frontcourt: Kevin Durant (OKC) 1,088,797, Dwight Howard (LAL) 716,671, Blake Griffin (LAC) 593,024, Tim Duncan (SA) 352,534, Pau Gasol (LAL) 239,440, Kevin Love (Min) 221,291, Omer Asik (Hou) 160,935, Rudy Gay (Mem) 140,864, Serge Ibaka (OKC) 134,172, Marc Gasol (Mem) 114,465, LaMarcus Aldridge (Por) 111,156, Zach Randolph (Mem) 111,046, Dirk Nowitzki (Dal) 106,623, Metta World Peace (LAL) 106,025, Chandler Parsons (Hou) 93,057
Backcourt: Kobe Bryant (LAL) 1,177,456, Chris Paul (LAC) 651,893, Jeremy Lin (Hou) 605,624, James Harden (Hou) 337,585, Russell Westbrook (OKC) 268,558, Steve Nash (LAL) 202,274, Tony Parker (SA) 128,966, Ricky Rubio (Min) 112,352, Stephen Curry (GS) 97,761, Manu Ginobili (SA) 84,564

Best & Worst from the Association

Happy 2013 to all those visiting the Club, hope your NYE celebration was as long and champagne soaked as it was here in the VIP lounge.

With 2012 moving into the rear-view mirror, 2013 brings a new year and a fresh outlook at the association.



Top 5:
1. Miami Heat
2. Los Angeles Clippers
3. Oklahoma City Thunder
4. San Antonio Spurs
5. Memphis Grizzlies

The Heat remain top dogs and backed it up with a gritty Christmas day win over OKC. However, the Thunder and Clippers appear to be legitimate contenders to dethrone LeBron & Co. down in South Beach. Was tough to pick which of these two are better, but had to take Lob City with their impressive 17 game winning streak only being snapped last night.

Bottom 3:
1. Washington Wizards
2. Charlotte Bobcats
3. Cleveland Cavaliers

The Wizards are playing a pathetic brand of basketball which could leave them ranked last in the rankings each week until eternity, perhaps. All three teams in the bottom are from the East, a much inferior conference to the West thus far in the season. 

Can't miss games this week:
Lob City @ Golden State (Wed, 10:30pm)
Spurs @ Knicks (Thurs, 7:30pm)
76ers @ Thunder (Fri, 8pm)
Lakers @ Clippers (Fri, 1030pm).

Games I'd prefer to be water boarded over having to watch:
Sacramento @ Cleveland (Wed, 7pm)
Cleveland @ Charlotte (Fri, 7pm)

Kobe Just Don't Care

Kobe was feeling frisky last night before the Lakers' exhibition game with the Blazers.  Check out his quote about his 2005/2006 squad.

"I almost won an MVP with Smush Parker and Kwame Brown on my team. I was shooting 45 times a game. What was I supposed to do? Pass it to Chris Mihm or Kwame Brown?"  Then he got a bit more involved with Smush: "the worst. He shouldn't have been in the NBA but we were too cheap to pay for a point guard. So we let him walk on."

Kobe's 05-06  Lakers' roster also included Brian Cook, Stanislav Medvedenko and Devean George.


Kobe is at the point in his career where you can liken what he says to the nonsensical ramblings that come out of your 95 year old grandma when she refers to her neighborhood getting "dark" in ear shot of her new, African-American neighbors.  You look at her cross eyed and shake your head, as does her new neighbor, but ultimately she gets away with it because she is 95 years old and can say what she pleases.

I'm excited to see what other golden nuggets Kobe bestows on us in the next two years.

A little background on this video.  In '05, the Lakers' starters were just pulled because they were up 20+ points midway through the 4th.  Kobe was laughing because Smush was close to his career high in points and wanted to go back in in the game.  Kobe told him Phil Jackson wanted him to go back into the game so Smush went to the scorer's table.  As soon as he got to the scorer's table, Jackson told Smush to sit back down. 

PS Smush was probably bad, but I don't think he was quiiiiiiiiiite the worst....