Friday, February 25, 2011

GQ Magazine goes all FreeDarko on Our Asses

GQ Magazine decided to hop on the hottness that is NBA Bandwagon (BlakeGriffin) and highlight some of The Association's stars who are under 25 years old. 25 sounds pretty young until you realize that someone can be a six year vet when they turn 25.

The best part on these pieces are the Free Darko art of Jacob Weinstein who has his art plastered all up in Free Darko Book #1, Free Darko Book #2, and a billboard in LA.

Everything else is pretty basic so that the neandrathals who read GQ can understand good.
Charles Barkley on the Abusrdly Explosive Blake Griffin
Blake Griffin is everything a number one pick should be. He's come in and immediately improved the team and energized the franchise. He brings a certain amount of intensity from his college days that guys in the NBA aren't used to seeing. He's still out there like he's playing Texas on a Friday night, even if he's playing Golden State. The one thing he has to watch, and this comes with that competitive nature, is the technical fouls. There's no reason for him to be staring down Mario Chalmers. He can't get sucked into that. The real question is, can he do for the Clippers what LeBron did for the Cavs? Blake is definitely doing his part; he's made the Clippers popular again. Now it's up to the Clippers to do their part. We'll see if they can.
Reggie Miller on the Sweet-shooting Stephen Curry
Everybody's different when it comes to jump shooting—it's almost like fingerprints. People talk about his quick release: Stephen was pretty much born with it. Dell, his dad, probably had the quickest release of anybody I ever played against. It's nice to have good genes, but it also helps, when you're 5 or 6, to go to a shootaround with your dad or sit on his lap while he's watching game film. Steph has probably seen more drills and more situations than most players ever will. So I don't think a lot rattles him, which is very unusual in a young player. Not many three-point shooters can create their own shot without running off a series of screens: Ray Allen can, Kobe can, and Steph can.

Isiah Thomas on the Pint-size, Crazy-quick Brandon Jennings
Brandon sets the league on fire with his ability to shoot the three-ball, stretch the defense, pass off the dribble, and penetrate into the lane. His first year out of high school, he played in Europe instead of in college, which turned out to be a great decision: By the time he came back, he was able to combine European qualities with his American game. The rules have changed to favor the point guard, and guys like Brandon are fully exploiting them. He's got an incredible personality, too, and that flair puts people in the stands. But I think to win championships, he has to decide—like LeBron did—do you want to win, or do you want to be liked? He's going to have to do some things that make people a little upset before he can get there.

Moses Malone on the Ball-hawking Kevin Love
Everybody wants to shoot three-pointers. But getting the rebound? That's a man's world, baby. Kevin Love is a tough guy, and he wants the rebound. That's what I like about him. You got guys that are afraid of rebounds; we should kill them. Put 'em in prison. Come on, man! How many centers do you even figure they got in the league now? When I played, we had about twenty-eight, twenty-nine centers. Now they got three or four. The way I look at it, when you're a great rebounder, you're doing a lot more than a great scorer. Without the ball, them little bitty guys that want to shoot it ain't got an opportunity. Kevin also shoots the three, opens up the floor. He's got a nice jump shot; he's a great passer. And the main thing is: He's still learning.
Gary Payton on the Terrifingly Unstoppable Derrick Rose
He's scoring at will; no one can stop him. He jumps so well at six three that he can dunk over you. His first year, I didn't really think that he played very well. But he's learning: getting to the free-throw line and hitting the midrange jumper—if he didn't, he'd be mediocre to me—and sometimes hitting the three-point shot. Is he relying too much on his natural athletic abilities? He's doing that because he can do that. I would love for him to distribute the ball more and play lockdown defense; that would make him more complete. I think he can be like a Steve Nash. He's a young guy, a hardworking, smart kid, and he hasn't gotten to his full potential. If anybody thinks he's gotten to his full potential, they don't know nothing about basketball.

Black Mamba: Kobe's Nike Movie

This movie short is pretty stupid, if I do say so myself. But for those Nextians who haven't had a peak yet please try and enjoy Kobe killing villians with his basketball skills so that he doesn't have to give his shewz to Kanye.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Candid NBA All-Star Questions by TBJ

With the Lockout looming, NBA Players consider what their second jobs could possibly be. You gotta love the photoshop skills of The Basketball Jones:


TBJ LA: NBA All-Stars' Lockout Jobs from The Basketball Jones on Vimeo.

Also enjoy the new Player Frangrances. I'm looking forward to paying $88 for a bottle of "Numb#rs" by Kevin Love:

TBJ LA: Scent of an All-Star from The Basketball Jones on Vimeo.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Slam Dunk Contest

With the 2011 Slam Dunk Contest looming, I have a feeling the young Blake Griffin will provide some much needed awesomeness that's been lacking in this event for many moons. Dwight Howard and Nate Robinson have been pretty good, but not great like the old days. Give us something we like that brings us back Blakey, you Mulatto son-of-gun!

Like in 1988, when the best basketball players in the NBA would join the contest. Friggin' glory days I tell ya....why aren't D-Wade, LBJ, Josh Smiff, etc. doing this shit again? Lazy dicks! I still don't think Jordan should have received a 50 for a repeat dunk at the end, but who cares. This is the best dunk contest in history with legends throwing down dunks that had never been seen:




The 1988 contest was never close to being matched until the year 2000, in my opinion. Vince Carter brought the house down dunk after dunk, and I remember dancing around my living room in disbelief ala Shaq and Kevin Garnett:



Vince has my vote for the best "dunks" ever in the contest, but you can't deny that rawness of the '88 contest when throwing it god damn down was in its infancy, making it the best "contest" ever. Blake, can you add another epic moment to this list. Make Bilbo dance around in his living room this weekend!

Alvin Attles Interview; 1975 Championship

After posting the entire Game 2 of the 1975 NBA Championship I thought that this Tim Roye interview with Alvin Attles was a good one. Attles is a former Dub player and was the Head Coach of that Championship Team.

The Flying Dubs

Hey Nextians: Get to know your Flying Dubs! The sad thing is that many of the guys were influenced by Thunder who is no longer allowed to be the Warriors Mascot. Fcuking Clay Bennett. Name your terrible uniformed team something else.

Get 2 Know Your Warrior Girl: Michelle

Her favorite move is the fistpump.  Nice.

Monday, February 14, 2011

LeBron is a Robot


Please figure out a way to enlarge this picture (hint: click on it).  Enjoy LBJ's arm-tats, phoney baloney Power Balance wristbands, and receeding hairline-covering headband.  Now view his chest.  Look at and enjoy his nipples (again).  Be thankful that he's wearing Nike crashpad technology on his ribs.  But then look at that hexagon-shaped thing poking through his jesey right unerneath the "Miami" logo.  What the heck is that?  A six sided symbol proclaiming that he is illuminati?  His Deceptacon logo/weak spot?  His robot on/off button?  I'm going with robot.

Thanks for your time.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Cam & Bilbo Weekly Chat: THE Melo to Lakers Discussion

Bilbo likes beards


Cam likes beer

Bilbo: Doood, I’m hearing rumors of Melo going to The Lakers. My first reaction is how could this possibly work? Where do Anthony’s 20+ shot attempts come from? Gasol and Bynum already bitch about Kobe’s reluctance to feed the post, so adding a second wing player with the same mentality is the solution? Remember Melo had 50 points and ZERO assists the other night! And then there is the alpha dog issue. On one hand you have Kobe, the perceived clutch time hero who will never play second fiddle to anyone. On the other hand, you have Melo, who if you look at the numbers is actually the better crunch time play. He is younger than Kobe and is used to being the number juan option on the Nuggets. So who runs the team? You would think Kobe, but when Melo starts outplaying him and the other players start deferring to him rather than The Mamba, things could get ugly quick. The only reason The Heat work is because LeBron and Wade are part of the new generation of superstars who try to have fun and want to collaborate with other superstars to win championships. Kobe is the last of a dying breed from the Jordan era. Juan superstar, juan sidekick and a bunch of good role players. So what if The Lakers make the move anyway without Kobe’s consent? Am I wrong to think it would be a delicious disaster?

Cam: I think it would eventually work out just fine. Gasol has fit in very nicely and Melo could only help them with his superior juan on juan skillz. I’m sure that they’d figure out the shot distribution but it would be hilarious to hear Melo and Kobe gripe at each other through the media during this figure-it-out phase. What I would be the most interested in is if Phil Jackson and the Lakers could get Melo to use his incredible abilities to actually play solid defense. He has all the skillz to play great D but chooses not to. This is the most frustrating part of all that is Melo. But I love your point about who would take the crunch time shots. Kobe has a terrible crunch time field goal % and lovers of his nutsack say that it doesn’t matter because the 20% of heaved 35 footers over quadruple teams while Gasol stands wide open on the wing that he does make are so awesome to re-watch on youtube. If the goal is winning games, you’d go with Melo who shoots a great crunch time percentage yet still would pass to an open man if it meant winning the game. I would love for this trade to happen, but I say there’s no way. Lala and Melo want to go to the Knicks and there’s going to be a February 24th deal worked out for him. Knicks GM Donnie Walsh hasn’t had his contract extended by Owner/Excellent Singer James Dolan unless he lands Melo. They’ll figure it out because Nuggets GM Masai Ujiri doesn’t want to let Melo go in Free Agency. But the bigger point is that I think Melo would deny a trade with the Lakers.

Bilbo: Great point about Melo’s lack of enthusiasm on D. I don’t think going to the Knicks will help him in that regard considering their style of play. And I know this is just a rumor and fills a lull in NBA news at the moment, but it is fun to imagine “what if”. In other news, what do you think of The Lakers next year without Phil Jackson? Do you think they could get Eric Musselman to coach them?

Cam: Thanks. That was a great point. But now that you’ve stroked my ego I’m going to smack you. Why do you, dear Bilbo Baggins of The Shire, care so much about the Lakers? Do you secretly love them? Maybe we should talk about Los Spurs. They do have the best record in the Association. Their “Big 3” have no real ego and are OK with sitting out half the game while their reserves get the W. Everyone on the squad seems to be on the same page and focused on the same goal. They’re a gem to watch to see how they pick apart teams. 43-8 is one of the better starts in NBA history. Thoughts? Feelings? Level of give-a-fuckedness about Los Spurs?

Bilbo: Come on, you know I love The Spurs. Every year I pick them to go to the WCF in your playoff pool and you and Maaatt make fun of me. But I think that should be a separate post….and to answer your question, I love to hate The Lakers. They always give you something to talk about, good and bad. They have one of the most polarizing superstars to ever play the game, the coach with the most rings, one of the craziest players of all time in Ron Ron, and really, really stupid fans who don’t know shit about the NBA outside of The Staples Center. What’s not to like (love?)?

Cam: Alright, I get where you’re coming from regarding the Lakers. I know that you battle a lot of Lakers-Only fans in your personal life so your focus on anything that can go wrong with them is heightened. That being said, should the Warriors trade Monta Ellis for Bynum? Give me your thoughts on possible big men the Warriors can trade Monta for to balance out their team? Don’t make them “really bad trade ideas that you actually kind of like” a-la Ryen (with an “e”) Russillo on the NBA Today podcast. But actually trades that could possibly work for both teams. For example, trading Tim Duncan for Aaron Afflalo and Louis Williams is something Los Spurs would never do but it will totally work for my Fantasy Team.

Bilbo: Of course I'd like a trade of Monta for Bynum.  That's exactly what the Warriors need!  But do you really think that Laker-only fans wouldn't freak over a Bynum for Dwight Howard trade?  The Bynum love is too strong to actually trade this guy.  I'm pretty sure they'd rather get rid of Gasol since he hasn't been a purple blooded Laker from the start.  And this, my friends, is why Laker-only fans make little sense.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Game 2, 1975 NBA Finals Warriors/Bullets

The Warriors won game 1 in Washington and come back home to the Cow Palace. Their home court was the Coliseum in Oakland but for some reason there was a "scheduling conflict" so they played in the Cow Palace. Here is game 2 thanks to Youtube Uploader DownsA530:

Part 1 (enjoy the awesome intro)


Part 2 (Dubs start off a little slow but pick it up)


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5


Part 6


Part 7 (Halftime Show)


Part 8


Part 9


Part 10


Part 11 (video starts to get bad)


Part 12


Part 13 (video quality isn't very good)


Part 14

The Jupiters: All Star Raps over the Years

Inspired by The Ultramagnetics 1989 homage to the NBA All-Star Team (peep it here), a little group called The Jupiters put forth their own efforts.  These tunes are usually mentioned every year on this here blog but now I've had a chance to compile all their efforts into one post.  At first I was frustrated because FreeDarko used to host these songs. Thankfully, The Jupiters have them stored elsewhere on the interwebs.

I wish I had time to do my own Ultramagnetics All-Star themes as that is what I would deem "happiness" in life.  Here's to hoping The Jupiters are hard at work on 2011's theme as the reserves were just announced yesterday.

2010 The Jupiters All Star Rap
NBA All Star Jam 2010 by dwschrashun

2009 The Jupiters All Star Rap
The Jupiters - All Star Jam 2009 .mp3
Found at bee mp3 search engine

2008 The Jupiters All Star Rap
The Jupiters - NBA All Stars 2008 .mp3
Found at bee mp3 search engine

2007 The Jupiters All Star Rap
The Jupiters - NBA All Stars 2007 .mp3
Found at bee mp3 search engine

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Justin Bieber: All Star Celebrity Game 2011

By now you all have probably heard the news that Justin Bieber is playing in the All-Star Game. Well, the Celebrity All-Star Game at least. Can Bieber ball? If you give a rats ass, please watch him take it to Shaq:

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

All Star Weekend 2011: The Dunk Contest

I agree with many talking heads who say that the Dunk Contest must be expanded. Let's pit the best dunkers in the NBA vs. Euro Dunkers, Streetball And-1 guys, whoever wins the NBA D-League Dunk Contest, and the winner of the Slamball Dunk Contest: