East Rombo: The Blog with Balls

Yep, that's what this year's draft is about. The picks being switched and traded like there was no tomorrow. Some were even questionable. Well, I think they were questionable. Maybe someone can shed light into some of the moves that I thought were questionable. Here are some of them:

1. Boston - Portland trade
Boston gets:
G Sebastian Telfair, C Theo Ratliff and 2008 second-round pick

Portland gets:
Rights to No. 7 pick (Randy Foye), F/C Raef LaFrentz and G Dan Dickau

First, Telfair has skills, and to trade him for Dickau is weirder. Sure, Dickau exploded 2 years ago when Baron Davis was injured (they were still in the Hornets then), but Telfair is still young and has potential. Dickau on the other hand is growing old, but we'll see. The questionable move here is Ratliff for LaFrentz. I don't know what style of play the Blazers will be running this year, but I think they're trying to run and gun like the Suns. Three-point shooters and runners are what they're after right now, especially when they traded Foye to get Brandon Roy.

Foye made twice the number of Roy's threes (although he also attempted twice as many) so if they're running and gunning, the logical choice would be Foye, which they traded for Minnesota. Which is just weird. But it's not as questionable as the other trades...

2. Minnesota - Portland trade:
Minnesota gets:
Rights to No. 7 pick (G Randy Foye)

Portland gets:
Rights to No. 6 pick (G Brandon Roy)

Boy, Portland sure is trading in high gear right now. Minnesota's pick was one pick higher than Portland's. They should've taken advantage of this and asked Portland for more cash or a throw away player (who knows, they might get the next Boris Diaw) instead of just trading outright.

3. Memphis - Houston trade
Memphis gets:
Rights to No. 8 pick (F Rudy Gay) and F Stromile Swift

Houston gets:
F Shane Battier

Waitaminute. Waitaf*ingminute. The news said they only traded Gay for Battier. Hmm. This isn't so questionable after all, since they will also be getting Stromile Swift back (why the hell did they trade him away in the first place?), BUT the real question here is why Memphis is giving away Shane Battier. This guy can do almost everything and he is the second-option for the Grizzlies. He can rebound, block, score, steal, and all and they traded it all for a rookie? Hmm, yeah, Gay has potential, but to trade Battier for him isn't a good idea. Maybe they should've just traded Brian Cardinal for him, even if they didn't get Stromile Swift. Sure, Gay and Battier both have the same position, but Cardinal also is in that position. It would've been better to start Battier then have Gay come off the bench first.

I SURELY doubt they'll be starting Brian Cardinal next season. If they do, then I guess I'll be waiting for the offseason as early as December.

4. Phoenix - Portland
Portland gets:
Rights to No. 27 pick (G Sergio Rodriguez)

Phoenix gets:
Cash considerations

Jason, do you know anything about this? I seriously don't get the point. Cash considerations? Pfft.

Well that's all for today. I don't want to look into the late first round and second round trades. I've been shaking my head for the past 5 minutes here.

Disclaimer:
I'm no expert draft analyst or anything but I just comment on what I see and know about. So if any of you could just kindly shed some light here on these trades, then please do so.

Sources:
Yahoo! NBA

It's amazing how Shawn Marion keeps popping up in trade rumors each and every year (twice a year, even--during Draft season and towards the trade deadline). It's not like he's disgruntled about his place on his team and is asking to be dealt. As a matter of fact, he's not; the only thing that's starting to bother him is the perennial lack of recognition of his achievements as an individual player. Guess it really is tough to be the most expensive player on a squad that has yet to go all the way in the postseason.


With Draft Day '06 fast approaching, there's been a lot of noise dragging the Matrix's name around in the mix:

Chicago is one of the teams rumored to be involved in a Marion deal. Pieces involved would be Tyson Chandler and their top pick, the smokin' No. 2 overall. Yummy (the second pick, I mean), but nah. The Suns have only been an injury away from the Finals the past two seasons. I see no reason for them to start "building for the future" again. In any case, the article has also stated that Bulls GM John Paxson himself has denied any truth to this rumor.

Another rumor involves Seattle, and this one makes me a little nervous, because it actually makes sense--from a "payroll predicament" point of view, that is. This deal would send Marion and Brazilian beefcake Leandro Barbosa to the Sonics for Rashard Lewis and Danny Fortson and maybe a coupla picks (the Sonics have the No. 10 and 27 picks). Player-wise, of course, I'm not buying. 'Shard, if I remember, has been a little injury-prone of late, and Fortson... well, let's just say it might be nice to see a lot more Fortification* go in favor of the Suns, but no thanks. He's just not Phoenix Suns material, methinks.

What scares me about these rumors is that:

• Suns Managing Partner Robert Sarver might just be inclined to consider his payroll in the coming seasons, taking into consideration the likely re-signing of...
• A very all-around (just like Shawn) and young (not much quite like Shawn) Boris Diaw, who was originally intended to be a backup guard, but is now a part of...
• The now rather crowded frontline on the Suns roster. (I think it's a little crowded for a team that thrives on small balls.) The yet unanswered question of coexisting and sharing playing time for the big guys might convince the Suns organization to make some moves. Diaw's emergence last season might put a hurt on Marion's state on the team, but I know that's just crazy talk.
  

As always, I place my trust in Coach Mike D'Antoni (who I believe has also taken over GM duties for Phoenix; am I right?) to make the right decision--i.e. keep Marion, dammit. But also as always, I remain very concerned. D'Antoni, at least, is saying the right words so far by publicly stating that the Suns intend to hold on to Marion, despite being open to listening to offers.

Here's hoping for the best.

GO SUNS!


* Read more about getting Fortified here and here.

As I was reading some articles. I came across this line from Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan from an article regarding Isiah Thomas having only one year to fix the Knicks.

Dolan acknowledged that the team "made a mistake" hiring Brown.

It sucks to be Larry Brown right now. However, how about all thosee moves the franchise made? Getting numerous players who want to be superstars, weren't those mistakes too? I guess we'll all have our answers after next season.

I hate you, I hate you very much
I hate the way you play, I hate the words you say
I wake up everyday, thinking you are gay
Not a homo you might say, just lame in every way

I hate you, I hate you very much
I hate it when you lie, I hate it when you're high
I see the shit you try, and watch it til you cry
It's fun I will not lie, I'll love it til I die

I hate you, I hate you very much
I hate the names you choose, I hate the girls you use
I like it when you lose, get bitches and some booze
You might just blow a fuse, cause Mamba hates the blues

I hate you, I hate you very much
I hate the L.A. Lakers, I hate you bunch of fakers
I used to hate the others, Horry, Fox and Fishers
But then they left the Lakers, now they're like brothers

Nothing, actually. Until you check the caption from its original source.

Aw, what the heck, I'm posting it here anyway--before they edit it. Look closely. (Just click it to biggie up.)

Taking a break from work and armed with lower box tickets, Virgil and I trooped to Araneta Coliseum for Game 4 of the ongoing quarterfinal round between Ginebra and Red Bull.

The game was so horrible, I could only come up with the following case points:

Case Point #1: Red Bull's Big "D"
From an 11-12 Red Bull lead by the time we arrived at the Big Dome, the lead bled up to 10... 20... and even for God's sake 30! Red Bull has finally put on the clamps on the receipients of the best players of the week Mark Macapagal and Eric Menk, who prior to the game were averaging 21 points and 28.5 points in the Gin Kings' back-to-back wins. By the end of the 1st half, Macapagal and Eric Menk had three points each. By the end of the third quarter, each had 10 points but stopped producing in the fourth. Eric Menk had 12 points, Mark Macapagal with 10 still. Aside from that, Red Bull's back-court press forced Ginebra into a lot of horrific turnovers, which the Bulls converted into baskets to pad up their lead. :( The Kings couldn't even pass the ball to Eric Menk at the post.

Case Point #2: Ginebra's horrific shooting
Allan Salangsang, is 0 out of 8 from three point land. Macapagal is 1 out 7 from beyond the arc, and 1 of 3 from the two-point area. Eric Menk was horrible also with 3 out of 11 baskets made. In fact, Eric Menk played so horrible that he had to be benched in favor of a faster Ginebra line-up with Mike Holper manning the paint. Mark Caguioa, once a consistent free throw shooter, missed 3 out of his 8 attempts. In the end, Ginebra was 17% from the three point distance, and 47.6% from two points, resulting into 38% field goal percentage on 35 out of 92 attempts. Ugh. Ginebra's bench contributed only 27 points. Trigger-happy Mark Caguioa tried to rally the Kings with his 39 points, but was eventually benched when the 25+ lead couldn't be brought down midway the fourth quarter.

Case Point #3: Red Bull's awesome field goal shooting
6 Bulls in double figures (you may add Rich Alvarez if you round off his 9 point production to 10). Mike Hrabak, Mick Pennisi, and Rich Alvarez firing treys. Topex Robinson hitting his jumpshots (aside from grabbing 4 offensive boards). Lordy Tugade scoring like his usual self (with a poker face after each basket made). Junthy Valenzuela hitting his fade-away shots. Ugh. 40 out 81 shots made, producing a 49.4% field goal percentage. (Larry was shooting airballs though! yay!) Leo Najorda scoring on perimeter shots. Enrico Villanueva making his free throws (9 out of 10!). Cyrus Baguio making his first baskets in the first quarter. WTF. All 12 Red Bull players fielded in produced points. WTF. WTF. WTF. Ginebra was just practically trading baskets with Red Bull as they couldn't defend Red Bull's field goal shooting.

Case Point #4: Bench
83 points scored by the Red Bull bench against 28 by the Ginebra bench??! WTF. Hmm... I wouldn't be surprised though, because Ginebra's scoring load is REALLY concentrated on their starters, and Red Bull's line up is so flexible, any player can be inserted at the starting line-up any time. Caguioa was fielded in almost the entire first half and played 43 minutes. Macapagal played 35, Menk played 33, Ferreria with 31, Holper with 29. Ginebra only fielded in 8 players (it was a surprise Manny Ramos didn't play), with Sunday Salvacion playing in pain. As contrast to Red Bull who fielded in all their 12 players, each played at least 20 minutes. The effect of the injuries on the key Ginebra players are finally kicking in. :( Sadly, we didn't see bench players Salangsang, Salvacion, Sotto, and Echavez stepping up (I have to note that at least one of the bench players in Ginebra plays big). This is really getting depressing. The bench will definitely play a role in game 5 tomorrow.

Case Point #5: Ginebra has won all Game 5 games and knock-out matches except twice since the 2004 season.
With the series tied at 1 apiece, Ginebra won its semi-final match against Talk 'n Text back in the Fiesta Conference in 2004. Tied at 2-2, Ginebra won game 5 against San Miguel in the Philippine Cup back in January 28, 2005. Also, tied at 2-2 in the best of 7 finals against Talk 'n Text back in February 9, 2005, Ginebra scored a victory in double overtime. In this year's Philippine Cup, Ginebra clawed their way back in order to defeat Air21 Express in that knock-out wild-card round.

They lost however, two important knock-out matches against ironically, Red Bull. Red Bull, armed with a twice to beat advantage, clawed their way from a 24 lead by Ginebra to win by one, 89-90 back in June 11, 2005. Red Bull likewise killed Ginebra back in Game 7 in February 5, 2006. Ugh, painful losses still in my head.

They have to f*ckingly beat Red Bull.

Case Point #6: Never-say-die spirit coming back
Losing Eric Menk to injury, the undermanned Ginebra squad defeated a revamped Talk 'n Text squad back in May 12, 2006. Without Jayjay Helterbrand, Ginebra won against Air21 in that knock-out wildcard round. They're clearly the underdogs this time, but Mark Telan has something fitting to say about Ginebra.

"Ginebra yan pare, walang disadvantage-disadvantage diyan."

Case Point #7: Keys to Ginebra win on Game 5
The trio of Caguioa, Macapagal, and Menk have to deliver the goods. If the defense will be concentrated on them, at least one or two bench players HAVE TO step-up. Aldric musn't watch the game live. The curse of the Ynares Center shouldn't be there! please oh please oh please.

As for defending Red Bull... err... I'm just praying Red Bull would lose their touch from the field. Play good defense on Red Bull's perimeter shooters, and get Villaueva in foul trouble!

That's it. I'll sleep now and watch the game this evening [darnit, I wasn't allowed to take a vacation leave for this day].

Pagbigyan nyo na ako... paminsan-minsan lang ito... gumaan ang naghihingalong pusooooo...

***
G: kumampi ka sa Ginebra, bertdey ni Caidic kahapon!

It's been mentioned many times before; this year's NBA Finals is a battle of the NBA of the old vs. the NBA of the new.

Heat vs. Mavs

Riley vs. Johnson

Power vs. Finesse

I believe it was Mr. Sportsguy himself that suggested that if either the Mavs or the Suns made it all the way, the emerging winner would pretty much change the face of the game in the NBA. I believe that is true.

The Heat seem to be the only winning team that is as orthodox as they are. They have a dominant big man in O'Neal, pure points in J-Will and Payton, a hussling PF in Haslem, (somewhat) versatile SFs in Walker and Posey, and a slashing SG in Wade. I could run through the whole team and describe how much this team resembles the prototypical championship team in the NBA for the past 50+ years. And with Pat Riley running the show, you can be sure that he'll be playing his team the way the NBA has played most of its champions the past few decades.

Then these Mavs come along. They used to be known for their offensive explosions, but with newcomer, Avery Johnson, at the helm, they've started to play some serious D. Who wudda thunk it. To add to the mix, this team is far from prototypical. When it comes to their regular bigmen, one was barely in high school when Shaq was named one of the 50 greatest players of all-time, and the other is as inconsistent as... umm... can be (?). No pure PG in the entire regular rotation, and no pure SG or SF either. After the centers, almost everyone else can play at least two positions. We won't even have to discuss how unique and utterly awesome Dirk Nowitzki is.

I won't be giving out a prediction (because the Mavs will win in 6), but I do want to point out that the future of the game of the NBA is at stake this year in the Finals.

It's the NBA Finals!

And our teams are all out of the running! (I think.) Coincidentally, no one's been posting anything here as of late. Ain't it funny? Haha.

Oh well, I'll go out on a limb and predict that the winner of this NBA Finals Series will be...

... whoever gets to four wins first! (Because whoever gets to five wins would just be stupid.)

Go Suns!

Ugh.

The Suns simply died in the second half. Again. Tough, tough, tough way to go out.

Call it an excuse--or me, a whiny loser--but hey, injuries couldn't have caught us at a worse time, for the second consecutive year (remember Joe Johnson from last year?)! I firmly contend that had Raja Bell not been out for two games in this series, Phoenix would have been the team closing it out today. Oh, well. Sayang lang talaga, kasi ang ganda sana ng chances ng Suns laban sa Heat.

Props to the Mavs for taking the series. Can't say I'll root for you in the Finals (because I want to spoil Antoine Walker and Gary Payton's bid for a title. Heehee), but I can't say I won't (because Dwyane Wade kicks ass).

Ooh, by the way, remember this? I won't go into something like that anymore, but I'll have to say this has been an even better Phoenix Suns team. Let's not forget that we're still missing a certain Amare Stoudemire in the mix, and yet the team ends up one win better than last year's Conference Finalists. If that's not impressive, I don't know what is. Let's just hope we can find enough room for Amare, Boris, Kurt, and Tim Thomas (gotta re-sign him first, though) next year. And for the love of all that is sunny, enough with the Marion trade rumors already! Baka magtampo pa yan, kayo din...

GO SUNS!


P.S. Hindi wrong grammar ung title ng post na 'to. Trust me.

In light of the little debate going on from one of the previous posts, and a little conversation I had with my mom while watching this morning's game between Phoenix and Dallas, I found myself wondering once again what it would take for Philippine basketball to become a competitive force internationally.

And I don't mean stuff like more height, or better athleticism - these are things we just can't help. Unless the country starts some kind of immigration and "inter-racial marriage" program to infuse the athleticism of people of African descent or the height of the Caucasians, we won't be getting any bigger or faster any time soon.

What I believe we need is a change of style of play. In the international scene, we would generally be considered to constantly playing small-ball because of our obvious lack of height. Why don't we take that to heart? Instead of keeping our 6'5" "bruisers" on the ground deep in the post as our official "big men", we need to start the trend of making our "big men" more like Euro big men - versatile with finesse. There's no possible way most of our bigs will win any shoving matches.

Look at Phoenix. Coach D'Antoni has successfully brought in the finesse/run-and-gun game of Euro-ball, and infused it with the amazing athleticism of NBA players. BOOM. Instant contenders.

Obviously, copying the Suns offense isn't very applicable. We don't have a Marion or a Stoudemire. We're more like a team of James Jones, a Raja Bell here and there, perhaps one Barbosa, and one Steve Nash... at best.

All I'm simply suggesting is that we should stop using the kind of half-court basketball that exposes our weaknesses once our game is brought to international competition. Filipinos aren't exceptionally athletic nor big, but I'm sure some basketball genius out there can find the right style of play that'll make RP basketball explode just like the Suns have learned to do.

Heat or Pistons? Mavericks or Suns? Who will meet in the NBA Finals?

In this exciting playoffs, almost any team can get in. Miami? They need a win in their next 2 games to advance. Detroit? They play their best when 'their backs are against the walls' - just look at their recent win over Miami. Dallas? They have showed toughness and beating the defending champs makes them a force to reckon. Phoenix? Like the Pistons, they can jump back at you even in a 3-1 deficit.

So who will advance and who will win?

I'm rooting for Dallas and Detroit in this one. With Detroit winning Game 7. But Dallas is slowly making me a fan, with Josh Howard and Dirk being almost unstoppable when they're in the zone. Plus, the only reason why I hated Dallas back then was because of Steve Nash, so there's no reason anymore hehe.

As for going against Miami, I'm very impressed with Dywane Wade, but that's just it. Only he and Shaq are doing most of the work, with their iconsistent teammates alternately having a good game. In theory, as long as 1 or 2 of their teammates contribute well, they can win, but what if none of them do? That's the problem with this team - consistency.

I am rambling again here, with my actual point just two paragraphs above, but bear with me. For the scenario above to happen, Detroit MUST stay focused, with Sheed stopping his trash talk and doing what he should do - make his shots.

As for Dallas, since I am a stat whore, look at the Dallas win-loss ratio when Josh Howard gets 20 or m0re points - 24 wins - 0 losses(counting their recent Game 5 win over Phoenix today) So my suggestion for Dallas: give the ball to J Ho til he gets 20 pts, sit him, and then let Dirk and Jason Terry take over from there.