Some delightful discombobulation!

check out the ghetto league pass: atdhe.net you can watch low quality feeds of any NBA game, any night.

you also sometimes get some interesting sound bytes during the breaks

Celtics vs. Bulls, first quarter break.

Doug Collins's headset apparently having problems:

"i'm all discombobulated"
"when you talk to me i don't like how it sounds"
"testing testing...123"
"doesn't sound the way it normally does"

And he goes on like that, while Kevin Harlan coughs and tries to placate.

Good teamwork!

Butler's back

Butler is playing with fire now with Arenas gone...coincidence?

Wizards look spry, playing against a Magic team struggling but still powerful.

The blown out, grease-stained, out of date Hibachi

It seems a cruel thing to kick a Gilbert when he's down. At least, I won't mention the guns in a closet and the indefinite suspension and the millions he will lose and even the chance at jail time. Again, I won't mention them again.

All D.C. fans are disappointed; the season of promising turn around has gone downhill since an opening 'W' in Dallas and now taken a nosedive with Arenas's foolery. Some are not surprised (Arenas is the NBA's leading prankster) while still disappointed. And then there are the many, many Wizards fans who are disappointed with the team and with the $14+ million a year star player while being EXCITED by the prospect of potentially losing that star forever.

The obvious argument is that, if Arenas's mega contract is voided or the Wizards are able to trade him for expiring TMacs or other players, D.C. will jettison an injury prone clown unfit to take the court in an NBA game. This doesn't, however tell the whole story.

Even before Arenas blew his knee out, he wasn't worth the kind of money given to him by Abe Pollin. Sure, he was a top 5 scorer, fast and strong, and a self-described "layup artist" who could shoot from anywhere on the floor. Anywhere. He had his share of buzzer beaters, the two that stick in my mind being a playoff game winner against the Chicago Bulls in 2005 and the 3 pointer against Milwaukee in the regular season where he famously turned around and began walking away BEFORE the ball dropped through the net. He scored 60 against the Lakers after which the Black Mamba himself said "Gil doesn't have a conscience."

Sexy? Very. His talent was always through the roof. But it's not the injury and his recovery from it that gives me pause, because he's obviously working his way back from a long time off and he has indeed shown flashes of his old Agent Zero self. It's not the off the court stuff. The reason he wasn't worth the money is because Arenas was not a good point guard, on the floor team leader, gave poor defensive effort, and had horrible shot selection.

A franchise player he is not. The best player on a team has to give that team a persona. Kevin Garnett is the howling wolf (sorry Minnesota), defensive minded, passionate player who influences everyone on that Boston team. Even though he can't play like he used to (I miss that unstoppable turn around on the baseline, the jumper released almost behind his head as he fell away) he is that team and he maximizes what he does so that the Celtics can win games. Want a younger example? Brandon Roy, the Lebron James Lite who gets his teammates involved, takes over in the 4th, and plays both ends. Ok, the list of overpaid, max-contract NBA players has more than a few names that stand out, and only in the past year and half have teams began to get really thrifty. But Arenas is not a franchise money guy. He doesn't put a stamp on a winner like the aged KG, nor is he able to harness his prime time skills like Roy, James, Kobe, Wade. Don't even get me started on the fact he's not a point guard.

Back in 2006 I watched Arenas in Orlando. The game was indicative of the Wizards during their "Big 3" "heydey": the Wizards' combo of matador D and 3 streaky scorers meant they could lose or win on any given night. Jameer Nelson made a couple nice plays, including a drive and score on Arenas. There was some jawing. Arenas proceeded to take bad shot after bad shot, driving wildly, not getting calls, isolating on Nelson and firing away early in the shot clock, complaining. The score, which had been back and forth in the first half and beginning of the 3rd, grew for Orlando as the Wiz watched Gilbert one on one them to death.

I was reminded of that game when I caught some of a Phoenix route of Washington last month. Arenas 's shot selection was like a bad Japanese bistro buffet. Shitty raw oysters, old deep fried chicken with sweet sauce, and sushi rolls all rice no fish. He seemed as determined to shoot himself, Butler, and the rest of the squad in all their feet as he was determined to average 20 and 10 at the start of the season.

So those good old days for Washington fans? Compared to those lean years featuring an aging Mitch Richmond and Rod Strickland they must have been like winning a championship. However, when you really look back at them, Charles Barkley was right when he said that team could never really compete on an elite level. And while it wasn't all his fault, Arenas was a huge factor. Sure, the Hibachi could get red hot now and then. Sure, those buzzer beaters were great. But time and again Arenas and the Wiz put themselves in holes they needed to come back from, or let leads slip away. These things that wouldn't have happened had they defended better and been more efficient offensively.

He's a dangerous gun to have, but he's no sheriff...sorry that was terrible. I mean, he can't even holster his weapons properly. He's not even a deputy. He'll go somewhere else and hopefully provide a long range attack next to a true superstar, and while Washingtonians won't want to see the business end of his jumpers, they're eagerly anticipating the Wiz brass running him out of town

The Dream Shake

“The Dream Shake…they know you’re going to turn…but they don’t know where, and when.”

-Hakeem Olajuwon

If you had to use one word to describe basketball, you ought to use ‘creativity.’ The sport has been described as jazz. There is no other popular sport that offers the chance for so much manipulation of the ball, free wheeling movement, and thus a chance for players to put their own stamps on the game. Mid-air creativity a la Dwyane Wade is gorgeous, and spontaneous. The pinpoint dishes of Steve Nash and Chris Paul are passes perfectly designed no matter the hurricane of bodies swirling around them. But one move stands out the most to me, a move crafted and honed and multi layered: the Dream Shake.

You don’t have to be a Houston Rocket fan to love the Dream and his signature move. The fakes, the swaying fall-away jumper, pivots, the whole “go one way and then sweep back around and THEN sweep back AGAIN” for an open layup? No one since Kevin McHale made so many big men in the NBA look so foolish. Not by dunking on them for a poster shot, but by making them the unwitting (and unwilling) partner in a graceful dance they didn’t know the steps to. Hakeem’s defense is also legendary (all time blocks leader) and if you look at his playoff versus career numbers you can see that his points, rebounds, blocks, assists, and percentages all rise from great to better when the games count the most.

Of course, numbers are numbers (and Wilt holds them all) and there have been many great big men who could fill it up, or change the game on D, or both. The thing with Hakeem, though, was the style with which he did it, and that’s why we named the website Dream Shakers.

At the beginning of the 94-95 Western Conference Finals, the NBA awarded the regular season MVP to David Robinson, who had led his Spurs to the best record with these averages: 27.6ppg, 11rpg, 3apg, 3.2bpg, 53%fg, 77%ft. The Spurs were 62-20.

Hakeem had averaged 27.8ppg, 11rpg, 3.5apg, 3.36bpg, 52%fg, 76%ft. The Rockets were 47-35.

Comparable individual numbers, yes. But it was a no brainer when you looked at that one number: the teams’ records, clearly David Robinson deserved the award as he’d led his team to the best record. When the teams met in the playoffs, this happened:

Robinson: 23.8ppg, 11.3rpg, 2.7apg, 2.2bpg, 45%fg, 79%ft

Olajuwon: 35.3ppg, 12.5rpg, 5apg, 4.2bpg, 55%fg, 82.5%ft

The Rockets won in 6 games and went on to sweep the Orlando Magic in the Finals. Bill Simmons has described in detail the significance of Hakeem, in subsequent seasons, vanquishing his rivals (Ewing, O’Neal, Robinson) who make up some of the best centers of all time. Drexler said in the interview that it was awe-inspiring to watch Hakeem’s performance in that series, particularly with the pressure and stakes involved. Isn’t that, then what the real greats do? Jordan destroyed anyone and everyone who was ever conceived by pundits and fans as a worthy rival. That included Drexler. There’s a quote in that youtube clip that reads something like: “Rockets drafted Hakeem ahead of Jordan, and you know what? Not an ounce of regret from Houston on that one. Great player.”

One thing I left out was David Robinson’s dominance on made and shot free throws- he made 55 to Olajuwon’s 25. The reason for this is a prime example of Hakeem’s wonderful playing rather than a knock on his game: Robinson and the Spurs couldn’t touch the Dream.

Today, more centers are built for power, size, and athleticism. Some have a move. Dwight Howard has the faceup and drive, a quick spin after he takes a step, and the finish with the dunk or short shot. Dwight has correctly been called a man without a go to move because all of the above are not something he can utilize effectively when his team really needs a bucket. His bullying style is successful because he’s so big, strong, and athletic: he often can get a good look close to the rim or get fouled. But that lack of a soft touch and a dependable post move hurt him: he’s all bayonet, no rifle. Hakeem, on the other hand, had multiple weapons applicable in many situations: “He’s got about five moves, then four countermoves…that gives him 20 moves.” Shaquille O’Neal, the modern day most physically imposing center in basketball, deadpanned that. Dwight Howard, in some ways a more athletic splicing of Shaq and Robinson but as good as neither, makes the highlights with dunks and blocks unleashed with ferocity. These things, however, are replicated by Josh Smith, Amare Stoudemire, Chris Bosh, LeBron James, Chris Andersen… and the list goes on. At best, he can dunk and block more than anyone, good but not great.

The fluidity, the smoothness, the cleverness, these were the aspects of the shake. They made Hakeem, holder of numbers and awards to rival most NBA stars throughout, something special.

{sources- nba.com, basketball-reference.com}