ItsTheBlog™

Jason Kidd rumors are the latest to be swirling around the NBA just weeks before the NBA's trading deadline. In what has seemed like an incredibly boring trade-season thus far, it's hard not to remember what happened just before the season started. Let me remind you.

Kobe asked to be traded. Kobe backed off. Kobe asked to be traded again. Kobe backed off, but didn't rescind his demand. Rumors were hot. Nothing happened, just as I predicted. And, at this point, everyone would be incredibly surprised if anything did happen, especially in light of the Lakers' early season success.

Another hot topic suggested that Jermaine O'neal would be moved. It's February, and J-O is still a Pacer. Similar rumbles surrounded the Phoenix Suns and their desire to move Shawn Marion and the Utah Jazz with Andrei Kirilenko. No such move.

But Kidd's name has perhaps been being dangled around the longest. Last year about this time, the big news was that Jason Kidd was being offered to the Lakers in exchange for relatively unknown Andrew Bynum.

What looked like an incredible offer back then for the Lakers to jump on, Mitch Kupchak and Co. refused, holding Bynum as part of the the Lakers future. Kobe criticized in the now infamous video in the parking lot of a random strip mall. Now, you know the story. Bynum breaks out. Lakers have early success, and everyone (including Kobe) seems happy. Unfortunately, a Bynum injury has the excitement back on hold for a while.

Fast forward to this season, and the Kidd to the Lakers rumors are still running. At least one ESPN blogger thinks that the Lakers could (or should) still be a player in the sweepstakes, this time with Lamar Odom as the centerpiece of the deal. The LA Times suggests that the Lakers won't be a player in the negotiations.

Instead, it's the Mavericks, ironically the team that drafted Kidd, who are looking to acquire the 34-year old point guard. Several strange packages have been mentioned, the most popular involving the help of a third team--the Portland Trail Blazers. Young guys like Channing Frye, Jarrett Jack, and Travis Outlaw are likely to be sent to New Jersey, while the Nets send Kidd to the Mavs, who send Devin Harris and likely Brandon Bass to the Blazers. Jerry Stackhouse could also be involved.

The other kink in the chain in LeBron James, who is quietly lobbying for Kidd to come to the Cavs. Neither situation sounds half bad for Kidd. Playing with Dirk or playing with LeBron.

My thoughts? I hope he's moved. Kidd deserves another chance at success, and unfortunately it's not going to happen in New Jersey. After taking to the Nets to the Finals twice, they've dropped off severely.

But, it seems that Kidd in Dallas, Cleveland, or even Los Angeles would turn any of those teams into an instant contender. I'm going to guess that Mark Cuban sees this and tries pretty hard to get Kidd as much as he can, if Kidd moves at all.

Lakers are out and the Cavs are a long-shot. Expect it to take a week or two, but I'm going to guess that Kidd moves to Dallas before the deadline.

Labels: Bynum, Jason Kidd, Kevdog, Kobe, LeBron, Mavericks, NBA, New Jersey Nets

As I was sitting one of my amazingly entertaining classes today at the beautiful California Baptist University, I heard an interesting dialogue between two young lads sitting behind me. We'll call them Lad #1 and Lad #2...

#1: "Did you see the football games this weekend?"
#2: "Nah, I don't watch football, just basketball and baseball."
#1: "Ahh... You're one of those guys huh? I heard they're all gay."
#2: "Actually, they're not. In fact, they're pretty freaking awesome. I do fantasy basketball and baseball."
#1: "You know there's fantasy football too right?"
#2: "Ya, but that's gay."
#2: "Actually, have you ever heard of ItsTheBlog?"
#1: "ItsTheWhuttt???"
#2: "ItsTheBlog. Seriously. It's a group of geniuses that decided to get together in like June of '07 and started writing about sports and what not. It's really great."
Random guy #3: "Oh yeah, I've heard of that! People talk about it all the time!"
#2: "See... fag."

Bottom line guys: We need to bring ItsTheBlog back to its greatness, myself included. The world misses us, gentleman. Let's give the people what they want.

Despite being America's golden child of basketball, LeBron can indeed get in a little bit of trouble himself.

On December 30, LeBron was pulled over just south of Cleveland on Interstate 71 (I drove I-71 this summer heading from Cleveland to Columbus/Cincinnati!). He received a ticket.

Big deal, right?

Wrong.

The King was going a cool 101 MPH. That's quick.

Granted, it was 2:43 A.M., but the last thing you'd want to hear is that the world's most famous basketball player was killed driving 101 MPH down the freeway because he thinks he's invincible.

LeBron had his attorney enter a "not guilty" plea, and a hearing is scheduled for Feb. 11.

Just another candidate for the "Idiot of the Week" award. But, in LeBron's defense, at least he wasn't drunk too...

Labels: basketball, Cleveland, idiot, Kevdog, LeBron, NBA

Yes, they lost to the Bobcats, but they're still 30-4.

In the spirit of posting videos, if you haven't seen some of ESPN's commercials featuring the Big 3, they're pretty hysterical. It's good to see these guys having fun with life and win at the same time. (Though some may disagree.) Enjoy.





Also, another of my personal favorites, though its only tangentially Celtics related in that Bill Walton played for them a long time ago.

Bill Walton may be the worst commentator in basketball history. Watch him get over-excited about Boris Diaw (Who? Exactly).



"When I look at Boris Diaw, I think of Beethoven and the age of the romantics. This guy has got it all."

Wow, thanks Bill.

Labels: basketball, bill walton, boris diaw, Boston Celtics, idiot, Kevdog, NBA

So the NBA decided that the Hawks and Heat will have to replay the final 51.9 seconds of their Dec. 19 game in which the Hawks won 117-111.

With 51.9 seconds left in OT and the Hawks leading 112-111, Shaquille O'neal "fouled out" with just his 5th foul. For whatever reason, this was not caught, and the Shaq-less Heat went on to lose.

The Heat, after figuring out that the center only had 5 fouls, appealed to the league, who made the decision today to have the game be replayed. When you go to ESPN.com archived scores and click on December 19, it shows that 51 seconds are remaining in the game. In other words, whatever stats were accumulated in that final time frame have been eliminated from the record books.

My question? What impact will this have on fantasy teams? Will the stats retroactively change? I guess it's not a huge deal, but strange nonetheless.

The game will be replayed in March, when the Heat visit the Hawks again. Interestingly, as the NBA was likely trying to re-create the scenario of the game, Shaq is always a question mark and may be injured, as he is currently. If Shaq isn't healthy in March when the time comes, will the game still be replayed? It would appear so, but what's the point? Perhaps I'm missing something.

Anyway, it's incredibly interesting, and this is the first time since 1982 that a portion of a game has had to be replayed. In 1982, I heard that the team who filed the complaint did indeed come back and win.

Both teams records have been temporarily changed, with the Hawks being stripped of their win, and the Heat not being handed their loss quite yet. Pretty strange scenario, but it will definitely be interesting to watch.

With that, in the wake of some scorekeeper's stupidity for thinking Shaq had 6 fouls, I leave you with one of my favorite videos exhibiting some NBA player's stupidity. Namely, Allen Iverson.

If you haven't watched this before, you'll enjoy it.

Labels: basketball, hawks, heat, iverson, Kevdog, NBA, shaq