The obligatory and homeriffic Blake Griffin article from Ed

I’ve waited roughly seven months to really write anything about the homie Blake Austin Griffin. There was only one post that vaguely dealt with the young man and truthfully, it didn’t have as much to do with him as it did for who the victim was. As you may have figured out by being a long-time reader of this site, following me on twitter or facebook, or just knowing me in real life, you’d know that there might not be a bigger Blake Griffin Stanley than Ed. the III.

However, the narrative that has been spun about Blake Griffin is one that I’ve waited for seven months to react on. The physical beastitude that Blake has displayed in his “rookie” season has been nothing short of absurd. The 40″ vertical, the willingness to rebound, and the sincere desire to dunk on people at will has made for awesome television. The Clippers have essentially become must-see television. Which has given me cause for concern. … Continue Reading

Dwight Howard has finally turned into a grown man

The first go ’round, it wasn’t even his fault. When the 2004 draft came around, it was reminiscent of the Manning vs. Leaf draft back in 1998. Two men at the top of their class, both players play a position which is the foundation of the team, and more importantly they were players that were as tough to project their future value as any we’d seen in recent memory.

Emeka Okafor vs. Dwight Howard.
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The Free Steve Nash All-Stars

The NBA is a golden era of young talent. Point guards are aplenty, there are phenomenal swingmen who are as athletic as they come, and the big men in the league are versatile in their craft.

However, it saddens me to see some of the stars of yesteryear fade to black on some of these horrible teams even though we know that they’ve still got some juice in them. They need to be unshackled from this oppressive bondage that is horrible basketball teams. Some of these GM’s are hanging onto these guys like they are going to really build around them. Do these people think we’re stupid? Don’t insult my intelligence, you neanderthal.

Please trade these people, immediately. … Continue Reading

Could you date someone who’s a fan of your rival?

Last Monday, I went on over to Sherlock’s in Arlington to take in my favorite radio show, Galloway and Company, in person. See, they have shows every now and then on location, and this was one that allowed fans to hang out all day long. Sherlock’s had Mike and Mike up there, Ben and Skin, Cowherd, and ended with Randy Galloway, Ian Fitzsimmons, and Matt Mosley.

Anyway, after about 15-20 minutes or so, I looked over my left shoulder and saw an absolutely amazing woman standing not too far at all. I mean, she was bad: nice hair, bright eyes, and an amazing smile. To see her at a sports event was a plus, because it just made it that much more of a lay-up to holla at her. However, as my eyes continued to look down to check the rest of her out, they shrieked with disgust at the name, colors, and logo on her shirt. The woman in a predominantly-dominated Dallas Cowboys crowd had on a New York Giants t-shirt. Just like that, my infatuation with this fine woman was gone.
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So Are You All Gonna Talk Bad About CP3 Too?

So the time has now come that the best point guard in the NBA (Kenny will probably not read any more of this post, but oh well) Chris Paul has decided to request a trade out of New Orleans. From CBSsports.com…

“He wants out,” said a source, who has been briefed on Paul’s strategy but spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss it publicly. “He wants to play with another superstar. He wants to follow LeBron’s model of teaming up with other great players.” Paul’s list of preferred destinations consists of the Knicks, Magic and Lakers, and members of his inner circle already have sent word to the Hornets of his desire to be traded to one of those teams, sources say. If Paul has his way, he’s played his last game in a Hornets jersey.

For all of you who went in and talked down on LeBron for making the move to the N.W.O. Miami Heat, are you going to talk crazy about Chris Paul too? My dude Bryan Crawford of SLAM says that Chris Paul would just be a follower. if My question is two-fold…does this show the true power of LeBron James in enabling these NBA players to essentially make power moves? Moreover, can we blame Chris Paul at all for wanting to get out of New Orleans?

What we’ve seen with LeBron James and his power move to help formulate the Tremendous Three in Miami is nothing outside of fascinating. Instead of waiting for his organization to hopefully put it together and put a championship team around him, he went and did it himself. Can you blame him? This is the same NBA that as Brother Kenny put it, has only fielded 8 championship franchises in the last 30 years! So, if you’re on one of these teams that have horrible management, a lackluster fanbase, or ownership that could really care less if a team wins…you should just sit there and just hope for the best?

The thing is, up until this season most players and fans have accepted this as being okay. LeBron has flipped the script and is not having that anymore, and for a player like Chris Paul who is cool with LeBron and sees what’s going on in Miami, to see what’s always going on in Boston with their Big 3+1, what’s always going on with the league’s highest payroll with the Los Angeles Lakers, there are teams that are doing things and there are teams that simply aren’t.

New Orleans has no hope to be a contender in the current state of the NBA, they have an owner that is now openly trying to sell the team. They are in a city, New Orleans, which is a financially depleted city like most of our cities in the rust-belt Midwest. They are a team in the Hornets, that have made some of the poorest player management moves I’ve seen in the last 3-4 years. Couple of quick examples…

- Peja Stojakovic is the highest paid player on the team this year, $15.3M in 2010-11
- The Hornets traded Tyson Chandler (who is in the last year of his deal) for Emeka Okafor has 4 years and $52 MILLION DOLLARS remaining on his contract. Fail.
- Their 2nd best player, David West, is the 4th highest paid and they can’t sign him.
- James Posey is getting almost $7 MILLION over the next two years to be the 7th or 8th man. Fail.

There’s no hope for this team at all, how are they going to win at all? We’re talking about Chris Paul, the league’s best point guard, who basically has no one to pass to. If he’s being a follower and walking in LeBron’s shadows, then I’m all for it. He’s controlling his future, and I can’t blame him. Isn’t that what we all strive to do, controlling our future? So leave that man alone, and let’s hope and pray that he can get traded out of New Orleans.

-Ed.
www.edthesportsfan.com

P.S. As a reminder, checkout the livest sports talk (and hopefully on the radio soon) show around, “The Unsportsmanlike Conduct Show” as we are live Wednesday’s at 9pm Eastern at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/edthesportsfan! Download our podcasts if you missed the live show as well!