Archive for September, 2009

Could this be true?  Has our beloved Chris Kaman adopted this new ‘do?  Made-up word is that even though he enjoyed his short hair he still kinda missed his old long stringy look.  As a compromise it seems he has grown back only selected strands and shaped them into horns.  Word is that after he got this new cut he apparently mumbled something like, “Eat that, Chris Anderson.  Wait’ll ya see how many little Clipper kids will start wearing their hair like me.”

Okay, some people just call ‘em Power Rankings or Team Rankings, but I ain’t some people.  I’m just one people.  Er, person.  Anyway, the reason I’ve phrased it as such is ‘cuz I definitely think some teams will take a bit to round in shape (like how the Spurs regularly gear up in the second half of the season), versus others will come out & steadily play the same throughout the season.  And of course there obviously will be injuries and trades throughout the season, so who knows how things will end up?  Thus this is just my view of [...]

I sit right now in New York City’s lovely JFK JetBlue airport terminal with several hours to kill.  Several things contributed to me missing my flight, but the most annoying one which served as the final blow is that apparently TSA security protocol has changed in the last month or so.  My name’s officially Alexander, but no one calls me that.  Even when I was a bad little boy, my momma never called me by my full name.  So everything in the world has me listed as Alex, including my bank account, bills, airline tickets, whatever.  Except my driver’s license.  [...]

Hoopsworld has a good Clippers 2009-2010 Preview: The Los Angeles Clippers are coming off a miserable 19-win season. The so-called Baron Davis-era was a bust in year one. Fortunately for L.A., the lottery balls bounced their ways and they landed athletic forward Blake Griffin with the top pick in the NBA Draft. With Griffin in – out went Zach Randolph as General Manager and Coach Mike Dunleavy looked to round out the roster with capable role players. Reports have Baron in great shape this summer, hungry to repair his reputation and lead the Clippers to the playoffs. Are the Clippers [...]

Skinner, just months after refusing the option on his contract to stay with the Clippers, has decided to… sign with the Clippers.  Talk about returning with your tail between your legs.  The dude must’ve incorrectly thought that in this depressed economy there’d be more money for him out there.  I’m hoping he wanted out because he wanted to play with a contender, but then after seeing all the moves the Clips made, he realized they now were a contender (that is a contender for the playoffs — I’m not having delusional visions of us being anywhere near the top o’ [...]

Interesting short article from Mathletics on how Sebastian Telfair is underrated: We believe a player’s value is based on how he helps the team play well or poorly; not his individual box score statistics.  [...] For example, when stud center Al Jefferson was in the game with Telfair, the Wolves played 2.35 points per game better than an average NBA team. However, when Jefferson was in the game and Telfair was out, the Wolves played 4.89 points worse than average.

[Unrelated Note: I'm off in NYC working on creating the East Coast Branch of FullyClips so there may not be that many posts over the next week.  But maybe I'm lying and there will be.  We'll see.  Just giving a heads up.  I now return you to your regularly scheduled post:] Before we get started, lemme state outright: I’m a big Baron Davis fan (okay, truth is I’m a short Baron Davis fan).  I love Boom Dizzle on and off the court (I don’t think any player in the league has had that cool funky style since Walt “Clyde” Frazier [...]

Good analysis of Boom Dizzle by John Krolik on SLAM ONLINE explaining why Baron Davis is in the Top 50: At the risk of getting fired, this is what makes lists like this one so frustrating sometimes: 43 is probably about the right place on this list for Baron Davis. At the same time, there’s almost no way that Baron Davis will be the 43rd best player in the NBA this season. Some people will say that Baron should be much, much higher on this list based on his talents and past exploits. Others will say that his abysmal season [...]

I don’t really have much, if anything, to add to this, but I’m psyched.  Last season, the first time Novak ever got to really play (he was basically a practice player his first 2 years with Houston), his outside shot was scorching.  Yes, he’s a one-trick pony, but he’s got that trick down better than most of the ponies I’ve seen around the league in recent years.  There was a game last year when the opposing team had to switch up their D ‘cuz Novak was killin’ em.  They made one guy just stay glued to Novak rather than that [...]

There’s an article in Hoopsworld about who’s ready to break out: Every year in the NBA a handful of guys make the leap from role player to big time contributor like Devin Harris and Jameer Nelson did last season. As we approach the 2009-10 NBA season, HOOPSWORLD takes a look at some of the players we expect to see break out this year in the NBA. And the first person they mention is none other than the Clips’ own Eric Gordon. Steve Perrin of Clips Nation comments on that article (plus another about the King’s Kevin Martin efficiency as a [...]