you did what?

james dolan, you are retarded.

how you about to give an extension to sans doubt the league's worst gm? he got picutres of you with a dead girl and a live boy? seriously isiah is fucking retarded. i guess less this year but since because he's been trying to save his damn job. maybe it's nice of dolan to give the nice boy another chance to fix the situation that he messed up so memorably. at this point though please; big snacks is getting run on the court?

nvm that it's mind blowing that he even got his fat ass paid in the first place. DUDE HAD ONE GOOD GAME IN LIKE 1,000. why do people insist on looking at tiny sample sizes and trying to assume that that shit will happen on the regular? clearly that was a spectacular game, not the rule. people don't figure shit out suddenly like lightning bolts hitting them in the head. tim thomas ain't going to suddenly become motivated as shit, jerome james ain't about to drop the pig feets and start hitting the gym. shit, kwame brown ain't about to grow a damn brain even if you handed him an instruction manual like THIS IS HOW YOU PLAY BASKETBALL STOP ACTING RETARDED.

people who are bad for protracted stretches of time and then have one good game or one good series or one good playoffs are not suddenly this jesus figure that realized "oh, i've been doing this all wrong this whole time and now i know what to do, can somebody give me my damn cash please?"

EVER HEARD OF A CONTRACT YEAR BUCKO?

ironic that isiah puts together this virtuoso performance (which, news flash they're still five games under .500 are you stupid james dolan?) and hoodwinks his boss just like he got hoodwinked by just about everyone on his damn roster. memo to everyone in the league: you are in an abusive relationship with players who put together one good year or whatever. it's time to stop.

ERIC DAMPIER IS GETTING PAID MORE THAN CARON BUTLER. IT'S HONESTLY NOT THAT HARD TO REPLACE A BIG DUDE WHO CAN KIND OF BLOCK SHOTS AND REBOUND. literally go to any major college anywhere and you can find someone intimidating. like damp is somehow better than dj mbenga? bitches, get your shit together.

Hustlenomics

Observe the wonderment before you read on.

Now that we've gotten our brief moment of wonderment at the Italian Stallion out of the way, we can move onto the real true subject of this post.
Let it never be said that Lamar Blogom didn't tip its cap to the hustlaz on the block. By that I mean all the real bangers floating around the league, the Patron Saint of which would have to be either Charles Oakley or the entire Bad Boys Pistons roster sans Isiah.

For all of my enamorment with the flashy O, some solid rebounding and general bad-dude stuntin gets my juices flowing almost as much. In most cases, shit goes overrecognized by announcers and sports columnists, and occasionally general managers (see Rose, Malik), but I would be completely in the wrong to dismiss hustlin' as a Right-Way-only facet of the most beautiful game.
Hustling, as a rule, creates the anti-stars sports writers slurp up like milk when they feel particularly vengeful towards the YB+F folks that create their profession. Feel like the star's mistreating you? Go talk to the grimy hustle dude at the end of the bench who sees the floor only to clean the glass. There's a reason that they're described as workmanlike; they're basically overpaid janitors.

But here I am blasting the very same people I promised to glorify with this shit. Let the beatification begin now.

I said earlier that hustling typically creates anti-stars who then become stars in their own right because they aren't paid a hundred million dollars, but then they get silly multi-year contracts for big bucks when their entire use in the first place was that they were cheap. I say that because it's like 90% true. However, the notable exceptions do exist.
Emeka Okafor and Dwight Howard are the most noticeable of these exceptions, at least in the current NBA. In both cases, neither is overburdened with especially silky post moves on which to fall back on (Chris Bosh). In both cases, they aren't such physical specimens that they become unguardable at least in part to their sheer physical size or strength (Shaq-fu). In both cases, they score a majority of their points on plays where they make a concerted effort to get the ball in a position where they can scratch their way to success.

In Howard's situation, the lack of a polished post game can be at least partially attributed to his overall rawness; he's basically a colt out on the court. I guess some of his success is indeed due to his physique, but a lot of it happens simply because he wants it more than the next dude. A great part of watching his development into a truly unstoppable force is watching those unsanded corners evolve into the smooth curves of one truly in tune with his given position. Now that I'm saying this I realize that he will probably become a nemesis when he sheds his youthfulness.

Okafor, on the other hand, has no excuse as readily available as Howard's youth and lack of college experience. Dude was a 4-year senior who played big minutes in the big time well before he crossed some state lines into Charlotte. Despite his experience in a great program and starring in the Big Dance, Okafor was all hustle (baby.) Typically those types of players crash and burn if they're expected to shoulder any kind of load at all on an NBA team, regardless of location or status.
But Okafor once again beat the odds. He's generally recognized as a franchise-type defensive player, and maybe-kinda-sorta getting there on offense. But, watch a Bobcats game (hard, I know) and you will see a man totally defined by his will to live. A truly low-rent version of Okafor is available in Los Angeles, who goes by the name of Ronny Turiaf, although he might fit more in the Dennis-Rodman-mold than the Charles-Oakley-type.

Don't never blink

Step away for a moment and look at what you miss:

1. Kobe goes for 45 and AgentZero explodes for 60 on the same court. Lamar (the blog + the person were rightfully ecstatic.
2. Brawl @ MSG.

As a subhead to Item 2, Melo gets slapped w/15 games, JR Smith w/10, and NateRob w/10.



All these suspensions represent a concerted effort by Stern + co. to make a move away from the gangsta-ism repped so heartlessly by A.I., Melo, and even Isiah in his playing days. The brawl itself seems like pretty minor spat; the only thing even vaguely remarkable was Melo pimp-slapping Mardy Collins then backpedaling away from Jared Jeffries for the length of the floor.

I don't particularly understand why Melo got hit with such a large suspension when it was clearly Napoleon complex'd NateRob that pushed the whole damn altercation to a level that passed what would have been appropriate for the foul. JR was clearly restrained and everything was on the verge of calming down when NR came in and blew that shit up.

If anything, Melo's suspension is justified for the sheer stupidity of it. How do you smack the worst player on the Knicks for yapping at you? Point up to that Jumbotron and remind him not only do you (a) earn more money in a single year than he will in his life (b) just ran his squad off the court and (c) starred in a ridiculous "Stop Snitchin" gang video straight out of Ballimore.
To be honest, this whole thing was more than a little disappointing. The Nuggets have arguably the best brawling squad in the NBA, bar none. Perhaps the 04 Pacers could give them a run for their money, but the Nugs have some serious bangers, which fall into a few main categories:

1. Hood: Melo, JR Smith, K Mart (when healthy)
2. Foreigners: Eduardo Najera, Nene (seems like a monolith. a badass monolith.)
3. Guys Not Particularly Dangerous on the Surface but Make You Vaguely Nervous: Marcus Camby, Earl Boykins

Name another team with a lineup that can even pretend to compete w/them. Simmons says the Wiz come close, and I guess I buy that just b/c Gil seems like he has only a vague idea of what's happening at any given time and so could be superdangerous. Even if he decided that the fight was the perfect time for a powernap.

I Never Though You'd Be A Junkie Because Heroin is so Passe

Since blaming Isiah Thomas for Knickerbocker woes has gone the way of bellbottoms, Starbury shoulders most of the abuse.

In the words of Tony Wilson: "You're just fucking wrong."

To put it bluntly, Starbury is perceived as a cancer; a shoot-first point guard in a world where that role is regulated to the trash heap designated for other Next Jordan candidates. That Starbs occupies the same space as Franchise is an experiment that is every bit as valid as the PHX.

The experiment was doomed to failure from its inception with the hiring of LB to coach the Knicks; as soon as Franchise was traded, Starbury correctly assessed that they needed to play one style only--run and gun.

His statement is a testament to an intelligence rarely attributed to ballers, especially those from the streets.

Zeke should not attempt to control this monster, as LB did, but rather let it run its course. Put five guards on the floor, don't be constricted by the social norms that dictate the way that basketball should be played.

It worked at Villanova, and we know the normal stuff sure as hell didn't work last year, so why not allow Starbury to control his own fate? Steph is not the one to blame for the NYK debacle, nor is Zeke.

Isiah has built a team designed to destroy, but to destroy in a very specific way. LB did not unlock the secret. Maybe Zeke can, but I have a feeling that the keyholder might be suiting up in #3 for them next Fall.