Guess who's back, back again

And no, it's not Eminem, but that mofo should stop fattening himself up and release another album, preferably one that does not suck. And I listen to Talib Kweli, The Roots, Mos Def, etc, so no bashing of my hip hop taste; I just like it when a white guy can lay down some tracks.

Anyway, what was I talking about? Oh, it's been a while since I wrote. The last time I had a gap it was because I was so pissed off about the Philly game, but I'm over that now. This time, fittingly, it's because I had to go to Philly for work. I got back yesterday, but had no time to write up anything. That time off gave me a bit of writer's block, but I figured I'd just start typing and see what came out. I apologize in advance.

In my absence Dave has become rather prolific in his writing. I figured I should weigh in a bit on some of them:

First he put up a Jordan vs. Hakeem thread, but what he really meant was who wins Houston's title's if Jordan was still playing. To which I say, fuck you if you think the Bulls would have won the second one because I don't care what you say, Michael was back. If he is so great (and he is the best player in NBA history so he is) a layoff wouldn't mean anything. He didn't need to get back in game shape, he's Michael Freaking Jordan. Bottom line is that the Bulls didn't have it that year, so get off your high horse they didn't make it and they weren't going to no matter how many games Jordan played that year. For the first one, Dave has documented it pretty well. The Rockets would have won. I ran a what if scenario and Hakeem averaged 44 PPG and 15 Rebounds and the Rockets win 4-2. I gave them homecourt advantage because they won 58 games in 93-94 to the Bulls 57 in 92-93. Anyway, I'm sure you can run the scenarios and get a different output, but still, I'm sticking by the one I got.

Next up Dave tried to call out one of my two liked Chronicle sports writers (There are a few guys I'm indifferent to) in Jerome Solomon. I have personally read him call for Rafer's head in round about ways before, but this is the first I can remember him just flat out saying it. Props to you Mr. Solomon, good job.

I did not get to see the Rockets games with the Warriors, apparently no NBA game was worthy of air time in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. I did box score watch though and was not too excited to see a 20 point lead lost completely, but I was excited to see us close it out at the end. Great game by Yao it seems from the stats and what Dave told me.

Scola is going to the young guy's challenge. And if he and K Smoove get hot, they could actually win this thing. Here are the rosters:

Rooks: Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Al Horford, Mike Conley, Juan Carlos Navarro, Yi Jianlian, Sean Williams and Jamario Moon

Sophomores: Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Rajon Rondo, Daniel Gibson, Jordan Farmar, Rudy Gay, Andrea Bargnani, Ronnie Brewer and Paul Millsap.

No one is going to play defense, so Roy and Gay could both score 40. But if neither takes it seriously, which is more likely in Gay's case, then it could happen. Who am I kidding, Roy takes everything seriously, there really isn't much of a chance for the rookies.

Next up Dave tackled the All Star backups. First I'd like to say, I really like TMac, but no one thought he was getting in as a backup, so that's not really news man. Since the team has already been announced, let me give you my snubs, and I'll put who they should replace:

East:
Snub - Jose Calderon is a guy I would have on there, he's played extremely well on a young team
Who he replaces - Jason Kidd. He's a great player, but come on, do you really think he's had an All Star year?

That's it for the East, I just don't see too many guys out there having great years.

West:
Snub - Deron Williams
Who he replaces - No one, it just sucks that he can't make it as bad ass as he is. He's having a better year than any guard in the East, but is the fifth best in the West. Well, actually I think he's better than Iverson, but that's more because I'm not an AI guy than it is necessarily true. I don't like AI enough to look at the stats.

Snub - Manu Ginobli
Who he replaces - Again, no one, there isn't anyone that got in that shouldn't have.


That's it for the West as well. I'd put Al Jefferson on there if I hadn't seen him play against the Rockets and was just going on stats. Josh Howard is also a great player that could have made it, but I just can't find a way to get him in.

In Dave's most recent post, I actually got in on some questions to Tom over at Indy Cornrows. Good answers all around and I really miss Reggie Miller.

So today I'm back in the game. I'll get up a preview a little later this afternoon or maybe this morning if I'm feeling saucy.