Ball Don’t Lie: Steve Francis’s basketball career is over, so he’s trying to make a natural transition into the rap game. Unfortunately, he sounds an awful lot like Ja Rule (I noticed the similarity even before Yahoo! pointed it out). Hate to break it to you, Stevie, but 50 Cent pretty much eliminated the market for Ja Rule and people who sound like Ja Rule. It’s also more than probable that Francis spent more money buying sh!t to flaunt in his music video than he will make for the rest of his life.
Pro Basketball Talk: The Nets are going to have a new logo for Brooklyn, obviously, and this is supposedly it. I can’t honestly say I’m not a little disappointed, for two reasons. First of all, it’s not this, and secondly, all they really did was make it two dimensional, remove the ring, and throw in a letter “B” as if it was an afterthought. I’m a big fan of simplicity, but this is more of a strip down than a clean up. They may want to leave that blue masking tape, just to add a little flair.
ESPN: Have you ever wondered what it would be like if Kobe Bryant was Blake Griffin? Well, basically, the Lakers would probably have two players serving extensive suspensions right now, seeing as Kobe says he would’ve “smacked the f@ck out of somebody” a long time ago.
Sports Illustrated: SI recently polled 146 NBA players to find out who they feel is the dirtiest player in the league. Not surprisingly, Reggie Evans and Kevin Garnett finished first and second. Garnett was a unanimous choice amongst point guards and Europeans.
The Basketball Jones: Things of note. Based on his left forearm, it appears that Cleveland’s new leading scorer is the #1 fan of 2 Live Crew. Also, Javale McGee can still lead the league in blocks by swatting 111 shots tonight. He’ll probably come up short, but I fully expect that we’ll witness a new record for goaltends in a game.
SLAM: More Kobe Bryant. What he meant to say was “Ramon Sessions has added another dimension to our team in terms of not being Derek Fisher,” and “I think the thing that’s our biggest strength is our Kobe Bryant.”
Youtube: Serge Ibaka’s monstrous denial of a valiant Corey Brewer dunk attempt, featuring the world’s cheesiest commentators. Also, check out the halftime entertainment from this game–it was actually entertaining (at the expense of the entertainer)!
Chicago Tribune: Derrick Rose has led the Bulls back to prominence in the marketplace. It’s funny, I have something like 75 NBA jerseys, but none that are top three in popularity. Good thing I wasn’t trying to make an investment.
ESPN: Steve Nash shares his thoughts on everything..er..everyone from Dennis Rodman to Robert Horry. He also encourages you to recycle your old cell phone.
Youtube: There are few things more swaggerish than a one-handed dunk and rim hang, as demonstrated here by Shannon Brown.
