Happy Birthday, Blog!

Yep, this here blog is one year old. The first posts went up on Jan. 18, 2007. Every month since then, the blog has featured at least one new post. Thanks for a memorable year and for checking out the site.

Now let's cut the cake!

Craziness

Craziness, madness, locura, lío, whatever other synonym you want to use. This is what it has been like lately getting ready for the wedding. Too many things to worry about--wedding, reception, honeymoon, Christmas, invitations, video, pictures, music, catering, cake, clothes, apartment, furniture, utilities, electronics and electronic services. There's more, of course, but I will spare you the details. The bottom line is...

WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!
So Patricia and I are very happy about that. It's all going down on Dec. 29...

NBA Individual Awards (Besides MVP)

Who will win the awards besides the MVP? Let's take a look:

Rookie of the Year

Contenders: Kevin Durant, Seattle; Al Horford, Atlanta; Yi Jianlian, Milwaukee; Juan Carlos Navarro, Memphis; Luis Scola, Houston
And the winner will be...Durant. KD will get as many shots as he likes in Seattle. He is currently averaging about 20 ppg, but shooting less than 40% from the field. He still will win the award, although Horford, a threat to average a double-double, will give him a challenge.

Defensive Player of the Year

Contenders: Josh Smith, Atlanta; Kevin Garnett, Boston; Tim Duncan, San Antonio; Bruce Bowen, San Antonio; Marcus Camby, Denver; Andrei Kirilenko, Utah; Dwight Howard, Orlando; Gerald Wallace, Charlotte; Ron Artest, Sacramento
And the winner will be...Smith. While I have not seen enough of Smith to know if he is a good one-on-one defender, he runs all over the place to swat shots. The total of blocks and steals he amasses this season may be too much to overlook. If someone else wins the award, I would pick Kirilenko or Bowen. Bruce never winning this award seems about as wrong as Jerry Sloan never being voted Coach of the Year. Believe it or not, The only previous winners on this list are Camby and Artest-not Duncan, Bowen or Kirilenko.

Sixth Man of the Year

Contenders: Manu Ginobili, San Antonio; Leandro Barbosa, Phoenix; Jason Terry, Dallas
And the winner will be...Ginobili. The other contenders are great, but in the early part of this season, Manu has been phenomenal. He has even inspired copycats around the league as Dallas has brought one of its big three, Terry, off the bench many times, and even perennial All-Star Vince Carter has played the sixth man role for New Jersey in some games. Still, Ginobili's biggest opposition for the award may be the threat of Coach Pop returning the Argentine to the starting lineup.



Most Improved Player

Contenders: Kelenna Azubuike, Golden State; Ronnie Brewer, Utah; LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland
And the winner will be...Brewer. The son of former NBA player Ron Brewer, Jr.'s big preseason performance helped him gain a spot in the Jazz's starting lineup. The increase in playing time will also mean an increase in other stats.

Coach of the Year

Contenders: Stan Van Gundy, Orlando; Gregg Popovich, San Antonio; Jerry Sloan, Utah; Phil Jackson, LA Lakers; Mike Woodson, Atlanta; Doc Rivers, Boston; Jim O'Brien, Indiana; Byron Scott, New Orleans
And the winner will be...Van Gundy. This award is based on overachieving, which will make it difficult for Popovich, Sloan and coaches of other elite teams with high expectations, such as the Suns' Mike D'Antoni, to win COY. In the early going, the Magic have been the best of the overachieving teams. Boston will have the biggest improvement in wins from last year, but the additions of KG and Ray-Ray will have more to do with that. Just ask Boston sports nut/columnist Bill Simmons (aka The Sports Guy) what he thinks of Rivers. Jackson and and Scott have a chance if their teams win about 50 games; O'Brien and Woodson will be contenders if their teams sneak into the playoffs.

NBA Individual Awards: MVP

I got worn out doing the playoffs/individual award winners post, decided it was to long, cut out the MVP predictions and put them here. I thought I would continue with some more awards, but that will be another post ('Cuz this one is already long enought to scare people off).

On to the MVP Award:

MVP
The Contenders
Kevin Garnett, Celtics - Reasons he could win: Of all NBA teams, the C's will have the biggest improvement in wins from last year to this year. And he's an all-around stat machine.
Reasons he may not win: If Garnett and Ray Allen are added to a team with Paul Pierce, shouldn't they be expected to win a lot?
Steve Nash, Suns - Reasons he could win: The two-time MVP-and last year's runner up-is a real contender. The Suns don't run the same without their floor general.
Reasons he may not win: I don't know. Maybe all of the big perimeter scorers like LeBron, Kobe, T-Mac, et al. One factor might be the difficulty both the Suns and Nash will have in exceeding expectations.
LeBron James, Cavaliers - Reasons he could win: The stats will be off the charts. A combination of points, rebounds and assists perhaps not seen since the days of Oscar Robertson.
Reasons he may not win: The team might not win enough. I would say the benchmark would be about 50 wins, or else no award for Bron-Bron.
Kobe Bryant, Lakers - Reasons he could win: This scoring machine lead the league in ppg the last two seasons and even dropped 81 points in a single game in 2006.
Reasons he may not win: Lack of team success. See the reasoning for LeBron not winning it.
Tim Duncan, Spurs - Reasons he could win: The Big Fundamental actually won two of these a few years back. Few players are as important to their teams as Duncan is to his.
Reasons he may not win: When it comes to the MVP award, Duncan has generally been a bridesmaid in recent years. He's usually in the top 5, but Timmy's days winning that trophy are done. Parker and Ginobili will carry a good portion of the offensive load, reducing Duncan's stats, but helping the Spurs win. TimVP wouldn't have it any other way.
Dwight Howard, Magic - Reasons he could win: He's an absolute monster inside. I wouldn't be surprised if he led the league in rebounding and/or field goal %, and he should be among the leaders in scoring and shot blocking. If I would have written this at the start of the season, he would have been a darkhorse. Now, he's a legit candidate.
Reasons he may not win: If the Magic don't continue their winning ways, Howard has no chance. Orlando is a young team; we'll see how they hold up through April.
Carlos Boozer, Jazz - Reasons he could win: The man known in Cleveland as Carlos Loozer is a nightly double-double. He has some of the best scoring and rebounding numbers around, and the Jazz are one of the top teams in the L.
Reasons he may not win: He kind of flies under the radar and is hidden in a remote outpost some call Utah. Plus, there are plenty of other worthy candidates.
Dirk Nowtizki, Mavericks - Reasons he could win: How many 7-footers in NBA history can knock down shots from the outiside like Dirk? His true shot % is usually off the charts. Last year, he was the only player to make at least 50% from the floor, 40% from 3, and 90% from the stripe (Steve Nash was mighty close, just missing with an .899 FT%). Plus, Dallas figures to be one of the winningest teams again.
Reasons he may not win: Quite simply, there is no way on earth D-No wins this award again this year. He embarassed the voters last year, when he and the Mavs petered out in the first round of the playoffs.
Tracy McGrady, Rockets - Reasons he could win: Pretty much can win games single-handedly when he catches fire.
Reasons he may not win: The injury bug is always threatening to bite T-Mac's bad back, and the Rockets have been a little slow out of the gates in 2007-08.
Yao Ming, Rockets - Reasons he could win: The dude is like what, 7'6"? That's TALL. Pundits had him as the replacement for Shaq as the league's best center, although Dwight Howard is suddenly changing some people's minds about that.
Reasons he may not win: see the comments on Tracy McGrady.

Darkhorses: 'Melo, D-Will, CP3, Amare, The Truth, Manu, Baron, CB4, Parker, J-Kidd, D-Wade, Chauncey and A.I.

My pick?

NBA Playoff Picks

Here is the other part of my NBA preview--more than a month into the season.

I am going to predict the playoffs based on the matchups I predicted from the start of the season. That means Chicago will be in as the #1 seed in the East (I feel stupid), the Magic will be 7th and the Heat will be the top team in its division (I wish I could have those picks back!). In other words, the Bulls will be pitted against the No. 8 team in the East, and I will try to make my predictions as close as possible to what they would have been in the preseason, but of course I will let myself be biased by hindsight.

I have no idea what all that means.

First Round
East
(1) Chicago defeats (8) Toronto, 4-2
(5) Cleveland over (4) Miami, 4-3
(2) Detroit defeats (7) Orlando, 4-2
(3) Boston beats (6) New Jersey, 4-2

West
(1) Phoenix over (8) Golden State, 4-2
(4) Utah beats (5) Houston, 4-3
(2) Dallas defeats (7) New Orleans, 4-2
(3) San Antonio beats (6) Denver, 4-1

Conference Semifinals (2nd Round)
East
(1) Chicago over (5) Cleveland, 4-3
(2) Detroit defeats (3) Boston, 4-3

West
(1) Phoenix beats (4) Utah, 4-3
(3) San Antonio beats (2) Dallas, 4-3

Conference Finals
East
(2) Detroit defeats (1) Chicago, 4-2

West
(3) San Antonio over (1) Phoenix, 4-2

NBA Finals
San Antonio defeats Detroit, 4-3

So when it comes down to it, it's a repeat of the 2005 Finals. Confetti rains in the Alamo City once again. I actually wanted to see which other teams had real championship hopes-mainly to not be a homer-but I couldn't see anyone beating the Spurs in a seven-game series. I thought Dallas might match up best with them, though.
Caveats: At this point, I feel confident that some of these predictions will absolutely be wrong. For example, don't expect Chicago to be in the conference finals. Now, I would pick Boston to go against Detroit, with Orlando as the most likely party crasher. Besides that, it's a pretty safe bet that not every 2nd-round series will go the full seven games. And, the homer that I am, I almost took the Spurs in 5 over the Suns.

Haphazard NBA projections

Alright, so I wanted to do an NBA season preview. I believe the word preview has something to do with seeing things before they happen--at least trying to do so. Now that the season has already started, I think I will do a sort-of preview anyway.

Division standings (playoff seed in parentheses)

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division
1. Boston Celtics (3) - The Big Three will make Boston tough to compete with in this division (I'm a rocket scientist, I know).
2. New Jersey Nets (6) - Tough pick for second place between the Nets and the Raps, but I stuck with Kidd, Carter, Jefferson and Krstic. Maybe I've been drinkin' a little too much of the ESPN Kool-Aid.
3. Toronto Raptors (8) - If All-Star Chris Bosh stays healthy, Bargnani continues to develop and the role players buy into the team concept like last year, this should be a playoff team.
4. New York Knicks - Plenty of talent (even ask Steph), but they may be on the outside looking in once again come playoff time.
5. Philadelphia 76ers - Won't make the playoffs. And Andre Iguodala got robbed in the 2006 dunk contest.

Central Division
1. Chicago Bulls (1) - You mean I just picked against Detroit? Well, they do have Deng, Gordon, Hinrich, Nocioni, Wallace and a cuppla recent lottery picks in Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah.
2. Detroit Pistons (2) - They still have one of the best starting lineups in the league. Are they hungry enough for a championship after being unceremoniously bounced out of the Eastern Conference Finals by Wonder Boy and the Cavs?
3. Cleveland Cavaliers (5) - The aforementioned LeBron needs Sideshow Bob to sign and something (anything) productive from Irishman Larry Hughes.
4. Milwaukee Bucks - They actually have some good pieces in place. Michael Redd is their scoring star, former No. 1 draft pick Andrew Bogut is improving, Mo Williams got some All-Star consideration last year, Desmond Mason is back, The Eyebrowless Man should be in an old movie with Charlton Heston and Yi Jianlian is a big "?"
5. Indiana Pacers - Last year, they missed the playoffs for the first time in a decade. They won't make it back this year, and their star, J.O., has been on the trading block.

Southeast Division
1. Miami Heat (4) - Wade begins the season hurt, Shaq is often injured and past his prime (but he can still dance), and somehow I am picking them to win their fourth straight division title.



2. Orlando Magic (7) - They made Rashard Lewis the most overpaid player in the Association and the perimeter complement to emerging big man Dwight Howard. Howard is a beast and Jameer Nelson is solid, too.
3. Washington Wizards - They have a good Big Three of their own--Agent Zero, Jamison and C-But (sorry for the nickname, Caron). They aren't especially adept at playing defense--or even wanting to play defense. That and their lack of an inside game will be their undoing when they lose in the first round or miss the playoffs entirely.
4. Atlanta Hawks - Like the Knicks, the young Hawks have plenty of talent; however, they will remain playoffless in the new millennium, at least through 2008.
5. Charlotte Bobcats - Injuries to May and Morrison hurt (no pun intended), but they still have Okafor, J-Rich, G. Wallace, Felton, Brezec and Fabio. They still have dues to pay, though.

Western Conference

Southwest Division
1. Dallas Mavericks (2) - Everyone says they are a regular season team and that they can't win the big one and Dirk isn't a real superstar in crunch time. This may be unfair to a team and a player that have had plenty of success. Still, they'll have to hear it until they prove otherwise.
2. San Antonio Spurs (3) - Yeah, it took some deliberation here, but I figure the Mavs have more motivation than the Spurs to win now--but look for the Spurs to go further in the postseason than Dallas.
3. Houston Rockets (5) - You could say it's a three-team race for the division title now that the dreaded Texas Triangle is tougher than ever.
4. New Orleans Hornets (7) -At the tender age of 22, Chris Paul is one of the top point guards in the league. If Peja can make a comeback, the Hornets could snag a playoff berth.
5. Memphis Grizzlies - If nothing else they have some of the most interesting names in the NBA: Darko, Pau, Stromile and Gay. They'll definitely win more than last year, though, when they had the worst win-loss record in the game.

Northwest Division
1. Utah Jazz (4) - I pick them to repeat their division championship because Coach Sloan won't let them slack off (too much). However, Boozer and D-Will need to bring their A-games all season long and AK-47 needs to pull his head out of the trash can. Or something like that.
2. Denver Nuggets (6) - These cats are a popular pick for the division title, in large part because of their two phenomenal scorers, 'Melo and AI. Kenyon Martin returns from injury to join Camby and Nene on the frontcourt.
3. Portland Trail Blazers - Losing top draft pick Greg Oden is huge, but fellow youngsters LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy, last year's ROY, should help carry the load for a team with a bright future.
4. Seattle Supersonics - No more Ray Allen or Rashard Lewis, but the team is building around No. 2 draft pick Kevin Durant and No. 5 pick Jeff Green. And they might move to Oklahoma City.
5. Minnesota Timberwolves - Yeah, the team's not that great, but at least they have a bona fide superduperstar in KG. What? You mean he got traded?

Pacific Division
1. Phoenix Suns (1) - This is by far the easiest division champ to predict--even more so than Boston. Nash. Stoudemire. Marion. Barbosa. Bell. Hill. Diaw. But they still won't get by San Antonio if they meet in a seven-game series.
2. Golden State Warriors (8) - They traded away J-Rich for a youngster named Brandan Wright. Hmm...We'll see if they can match their 2007 playoff run. I'm a bit skeptical.
3. Los Angeles Lakers - What will they do with Kobe? Either way this team is first-round playoff fodder at best.
4. Los Angeles Clippers - With Elton Brand down for maybe the whole year, it figures to be a long one for the Clips.
5. Sacramento Kings - Oh, how the mighty have fallen. In 2002, Sac-town was thisclose to winning a title. That was also the year the Raiders were AFC champs. Go figure.

Why it's good to be a Spurs fan: Reason No. 9-Tony Parker

The Wee Frenchman (another nickname from ptr), who actually isn't that wee at 6'2", has been selected to play in the last two NBA All-Star games, and deservingly so. Tony also won the 2007 Finals MVP award. He was deserving of that, too. Parker is one of the quickest players in the league; no one can dribble down the court faster than he can.

Unfortunately for Tony, he loses a few points on my list because he seems to be the one Spur who cares about the limelight. Maybe I'm blinded by the fact that he has a Hollywood wife, or the fact that he makes ridiculous rap videos where he takes himself too seriously (I love the dancing fool on the right side of the screen of the Tony Parker Freestyle video at the '05 championship celebration), but it seems he cares more than other Spurs about getting recognized. It shows in his comments about being devastated during the years he didn't make the All-Star team. It shows when he pads his point totals late in a game that's pretty much out of reach. It shows...OK, maybe I'm just hatin' at this point.

Tony's had to take some tough love from Reason No. 10 (by the way, it's only coincidence Tony is Reason No. 9 and jersey No. 9), but that discipline has been a big part of his development. Hey everybody makes mistakes, but check out Pop's reaction after this play:

Priceless. For everything else, there's MasterCard.

Why it's good to be a Spurs fan: Reason No. 10-The Coaching Staff

Starting off my countdown of the Top 10 Reasons to be a Spurs Fan, I've got the man who ridiculed me in front of reporters back in 2006: Coach Pop.

No one in major North American sports has come close to the coaching success of Gregg Popovich over the past decade. In that time, his teams have won more than 70% of their regular season games and nearly 65% of their postseason games. And then there's that little matter of the 4 championships.

And, as Stephon Marbury said of Isiah Thomas, "he can see the light."
Even shooting coach Chip Engelland has made a big impact. Before last season I would literally cringe when I would see Tony Parker line up a jump shot. Now I don't think it's such an unreasonable court decision when The French Layup Machine (thank you poundingtherock.com) fires away from 15 feet.

This takes us to number 9 on our Spurs countdown...

Welcome to Provo

I currently reside in the town of Provo, Utah. Provo–especially BYU-has parking shortage problems. This may not be news to those of you who live in the town. You may have paid the $50 boot fee or the $121 fee to have your car unceremoniously dragged for two blocks. Not that I would know about that.

So anywho, on Wednesday night, I came home and my old car had disappeared. Because the car is in bad condition and I had bought a (slightly) newer ride, I hadn't driven the car for several weeks. I thought maybe someone had noticed that and called to tow it, but that would still have been a bit strange considering it was in one of my house's parking spots, which is on a lot that is basically part of a gravel backroad.

I called the towing company that had signs posted nearby and told them what had happened. They told me to call back in 20 minutes. I called back. They said they had the car. I told them it had been parked at my house. Their records said it was parked at an apartment complex nearby. They also said I could call the next morning and talk to Nancy, who handles such and such type of complaint.

The next morning I called and told them what had happened. Their phone answerer said sorry and that she thought they had already brought my car back that morning. I looked outside, and lo and behold, they had brought it back!

To make a long story short, be careful about where you park in the P-Town--even if it's just at your own home. They might tow your car!

Today's video: cool sunglasses trick

Once in a while I'm going to put up a "video of the day." It won't be every day, it won't be every week and it won't even be at any regular interval. This kind of thing needs no structured schedule.

Anyway, today's video is a bit unusual: some guys catch sunglasses with their faces. Not a bad trick.