The soundless-ness of the video really gives it an extra oomph to the dunk. Actually, the "balls of Geral Wallace in Boki's face-ness" gives it the extra oomph.
Next up: Marc Stein of ESPN ranks the off-season moves of the Eastern Conference teams from #1-15. It's worth noting that I don't think there is any value in doing a similar ranking for the Western Conference. Aside from the Rockets, who added Luis Scola and three quality point guards to compete with Rafer Alston, no one in the West improved this season. Some teams - the Sonics notable - improved for the future, but no one else in the West is better than they were last year, unless you think Grant Hill is going to have that big of an impact. Now, some thoughts on Stein's column:
-The Celts top the list, as one would expect. Weird story by Stein about how Danny Ainge eating at an In-N-Out shows he's savvy, but as an east coaster, I have to say... In-N-Out lives up to the hype. Few things in life do. Treasure it, Californians.
-The Pistons are a surprise at #2, but I agree that they are the team most likely to beat the Celtics and win the Eastern Conference next season. The Pistons ravaged the Bulls if you remember (sorry, it was 3-0 before the series even began), and the main problem against the Cavs was that they were simply exhausted as a team by the 4th quarter. The Cavs pressure defense really suffocated the Pistons, who had no bench - their four key starters, as I've noted before, played over 40 minutes per game in that series. Now they have restructured their team so that Amir Johnson, Jason Maxiell and Rodney Stuckey will all get playing time off the bench, hopefully allowing the starters to stay fresh. Plus they resigned Billups, the premier free agent of this past off-season.
That having been said, losing Carlos Delfino for nothing makes me say that the Pistons' offseason wasn't all that impressive.
-The Orlando Magic are at #3, based on the signing of Rashard Lewis and the resigning of "franchise" player Dwight Howard. No way. The Magic had arguably the worst off-season of any team - only time will tell for sure, but this franchise is screwed for a long time, in my opinion.
And it's not just the Rashard Lewis signing, either - that's been discussed enough. It's not just losing Darko and Grant Hill. It's not improving the point guard situation - Jameer Nelson has to step it up this year.
But the worst might have been the Dwight Howard resigning. Sorry, but I'm not sure I buy into the "franchise player" worthiness of Howard. His "skills" right now are an amazing height/leap combination, and amazingly intellegent rebounding abilities. He reads the angles like few big men (maybe Ben Wallace). But offensively, he's slightly better than Ben Wallace. He has not developed any moves yet, or a jumper. His ferocious leaping abilities will keep the double-doubles coming, but add in a bad free throw %, and a ton of turnovers, and he's extremely overrated right now. He doesn't even block as many shots as he should (see Okafor). Now, given that most of his powers are based on his leaping ability right now... if he doesn't develop some offensive moves in the near future, he's slightly overpaid. That's all.
And if develops some sort of jump-sapping knee injury... than that contract becomes an albatross. Almost as big as Lewis' contract surely will be.
This franchise is going to compete for the playoffs this season; if they improve their point situation (or if Nelson steps up) they might jump into the top five in the East by 08-09; but soon afterwards, this team is going to decline.
-The Bucks at #4? Based on resigning Mo Williams and signing their #1 pick (Yi)? That's all it takes to get to the top 4 in off-season moves, when have the teams in the Eastern conference added a star or all-star to their roster?!? Um, no. They didn't do badly, and they should improve more than any other team other than the Celtics next season, but I don't know if they are good enough for the playoffs. Or to even pass the Bobcats.
-The Nets are at #5. They resigned Vince Carter, who, like Billups, was a premier target this season. They add a healthy Nenad Krstic. If they made it as far as the second round last season (losing to the Eastern Conference Cavs), then they have to feel good about how far they can go with Krstic, plus one more year of growth for Boki, for Marcus Williams. Also, adding Sean Williams (a defensive monster) and Jamaal Magliore might be underrated moves, as they shored-up their front court.
-The Bulls at #6? They did nothing but resign Nocioni (at a good price, admittedly) and add Joaquim Noah. I have to say, given what I've written about this Bulls team in the past, and how they missed the bus by not dealing for Gasol or something... I'm not too sure I see them making it past the second round this season, either. But I do believe they will make a deal by February.
-The Wizards at #7? They didn't do anything this offseason, period. That's sufficient to say they had a better off-season than the Raptors, Knicks, and Bobcats, all of whom got better?!? The Wizards were the #6 seed last season, and it's hard to see them making the playoffs again this season. They'll have to beat out the Heat and Magic to make the playoffs, because we just don't see two teams coming out of that division. They probably will.
-The Raptors at #8... yeah, they didn't "do anything splashy, except add Kapano and Delfino". And you know what? Given the track record of Colangelo, those two moves will probably turn out to be some of the best moves of the offseason. Kapano is a cheap role player, the kind that you know what to expect from (high 3PT%), and who will give you that. Anything else (and he does bring some good elements) is gravy. Delfino is an untouched talent, but he have questionable mental understanding of the game. If he can get it together, especially playing in a more internation-oriented squad (the kind he's used to), Carlos Delfino can be a big player off the bench.
-The Bobcats come in at #9... despite having their first big offseason in years. Stein has some questions... here are the answers:
1. Yes, the Bobcats have given up on Morrison, beyond some off-the-bench shooting. Big deal - if he improves, he'll work his way back into the mix. If not, then Richardson and Wallace are studs on the rise, and Morrison can always come off the bench as a three-specialist.
2. Because, unlike the Magic, who rushed to get Howard an extension, the Bobcats want to see what kind of numbers Okafor can put up. If he puts up Elton Brand numbers, no worries - the Bobcats have lots of cap room, and can out bid anyone for Okafor, anyway. If he doesn't improve dramatically, they can probably get Okafor to sign a better deal for them than Howard's deal, and have a lot of flexibility going forth, while having a great base of Felton, Richardson, Wallace, and Okafor. That's two seasons away (and a nice bench away) from being a legit top-four or five team in the East. Let Felton get some experience, and we'll re-evaluate.
3. Who cares? This isn't a team that is a playoff-lock, anyway. If they make the playoffs this season, they have exceed expectations. Period. This is an off-season that made the team better for the now, even better for the long term, and puts them in the right direction.
-The Knicks are at #10. Why? Well, despite admitting "it would be pretty cynical to find fault with the acquisition of a proven 20-10 guy who's only 26." with regards to acquiring Randolph, Stein worries about his off-court problems, and whether he can share the ball with Curry. As if Curry wasn't used to sharing the ball, with Crawford, Marbury, Q-Rich already on this team!
Then he throws this into the mix: "Stephon Marbury's sanity is being publicly questioned after a string of statements and displays that "could generously be described as odd or goofy or perhaps erratic," in the words of the New York Times' Howard Beck, except that "no one has been that generous."
Agree. Those "displays" should be described as "odd or goofy", or zany, just like one would describe Gilbert Arenas' comments, or Clinton Portis. Instead, the local media has suggest drug use or some other nefarious suggestions for Marbury's behavior, when "born again" would suffice.
But yes, the biggest questions with the Knicks this season are 1) Is Marbury focused on balling? and 2) Can the Knicks share the ball?
But since this column isn't a season preview (unless Stein really believes the Bucks are the 4th-best team in the East), shouldn't you be ranking based on offseason moves? If so, the Knicks acquiring Randolph for cheap, trading Franchis, picking up two expiring contracts (Fred Jones and Dan Dickau), and adding two draft picks who have looked great in summer league... shouldn't they be ranked a little higher? Or should we wait until they pull the trigger on the AK47/Artest trade down the line?
-The Hawks at #11. They are like those other teams that did nothing but sign their draft picks. The difference is, they had their best draft in years. First off, not losing their pick (had it been the #4 pick or worse, the Suns would have gotten it) was a stroke of luck. Then, getting Al Horford and Acie Law IV to add to a team that needs a PG and a PF badly, is good fortune. This team won't make the playoffs just yet, but history will show that this was a huge offseason for the Hawks.
-The Cavs and 76ers are at #12 and #13, respectively. Agree - neither team did jack this offseason - the Cavs didn't even have a pick; the 76ers drafted poorly at #12, but got quite a steal later in Jason Smith. Still, neither team improved a whole lot. The 76ers are just filling out time, waiting for some cap flexibility. The Cavs, on the other hand... maybe they think LeBron can win the Eastern Conference by himself every year?
-The Pacers are at #14. Considering they screwed themselves (they being Larry Bird) at the trading deadline last year, and that Bird's GM career in Indy is atrocious (he wishes he had Isiah Thomas' track record, that's how bad it is)... this team is going nowhere right now. They need to trade Jermaine O'Neal for something, anything, and start again. But even then, they can't pull a decent offer from the Lakers or Nets!
-The Heat at #15 - they went from winning the title in 2006 to having to fight the Wizards to just make the playoffs this upcoming season. They lost Kapano, Posey (the Celtics underrated pickup), Eddie Jones... and added Penny Hardaway, Smush Parker and Charlie Bell. Ugh.
Okay, one last link and opinion, as promised, on Andrei Kirilenko:
We saw that AK47 demanded out of Utah... well, here's Deron Williams on his teammate:
Referring to teammates Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur, Williams said, "You see Booz after practice shooting for 25 or 30 minutes. You see Memo shooting for 20 minutes. You see, you know, all the rookies. The young guys. You saw [Rafael Araujo] in there working. [Then] you see Andrei being the first one out the door."
As the Jazz's quarterback, Williams admitted he has looked for other targets with his passes because of Kirilenko's approach to the game last season.
"If he's coming off a screen on one side and Matt [Harpring] is coming off a screen on one side, who do you think you're going to pass to?" Williams said.
"You think you're going to pass to the guy you see working every day in the gym or are you going to pass to the guy who never works on his shot but yet wants to shoot 'em every time?"
Asked if Kirilenko's work ethic was a problem, Williams said, "I would say so."
It's been said over at The Starting Five, but... if AK47 were Terrell Owens, he would be getting ripped for being a sully, spoiled athlete. He's got a max deal, and is overpaid by most people's estimates, yet no one is ripping him for demanding a trade... Vince Carter, anyone? I'm sure if Vince had blamed his coach, a Hall of Fame coach who has won with everybody his whole career... I'm sure Vince would have been "understood" by the media, and gotten the free pass that Andrei Kirilenko has gotten. Double standard? F*ck yeah.
Anyway, nah, I don't want him on the Knicks - we have Balkman already, who's maybe already at 75% of Kirilenko, but without the "think I'm bad ass" attitude, the one that tells AK47 it's okay for him to be gunning jumpers when he can barely hit a free throw. If anything, the Knicks should use him to get leverage from the Kings for Artest... I'll rather have Artest, who can defend as well as AK47, but with a smaller contract (in length), and far better offensive skills, too. If the Knicks can pry him loose from the Kings for Nate Robinson and Q-Richardson, or something meager like that... hell, yeah. If it costs them David Lee... hmm... maybe, but probably not.
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I really liked the Bobcats offseason too, you can just tell that they're gonna be relevant in this league soon. I was surprised how many people bashed the J-Rich deal, he immediately forms a good 1-2 punch with Wallace and gives that team a chance.
Love the Delfino and Kapono signings in Toronto too. If Bosh plays the way he did last year, they're going to be around 45ish wins again.
Overall, I just think the East got alot better this offseason. You're talking about Washington not even making the playoffs, and they really aren't a bad team. None of these teams are dominating, but it'll be a very competitive conference this year. Should be exciting.