Grizzlies involved in three-team trade, seek payback against Thunder posted by Brad Hurt

In a development that seems to be straight from the "You Have Got to be Kidding Me" line of reasoning, the Grizzlies have reportedly agreed to send guard Javaris Crittendon to the Washington Wizards and a second-round draft pick to the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for a conditional first round draft pick they had sent to the Wizards last year.

While the Grizzlies without a doubt needed to lighten their backcourt, they needed to engineer a deal that would get them experience and scoring in return.  They do not need draft picks to prolong their endless rebuilding project. Seriously, Chris Wallace?  You think you can get by on youth year after year?  Sure, O.J. Mayo and Marc Gasol are the assumed building blocks for this franchise's future, but don't they need exerienced role models to help them develop?  Such an extreme commitment to youth is just foolish.  I'm sure there will be more moves to come this season, and Crittendon didn't exactly have enormous trade value, but he's worth at least a mediocre veteran.

On the court, the Grizzlies will try to build on Monday's win over Houston as they face Oklahoma City tonight with payback in mind.  There is no chance the Grizzlies will overlook the Thunder twice.  The Grizzlies have their focus solely on tonight's game, which they hope will be a victory, erasing the bitter taste of their Nov. 29 home loss.  Standing in their way is the fact that they sport a miserable 1-10 road record this season.  This Thunder team, however, is one they should stand a good chance of beating, even on the road.  They had victory well in hand before a complete meltdown saw them walk off the court in defeat in that earlier meeting.  They have the momentum of beating a good Houston team on their side.  The challenge will be putting together another quick start and overall performance like the one they had in that game.

posted by ucatchtrout

[quote][b]In the second night of back to back games the Trailblazers head to Washington to take on the WIzards

Gametime is four pm Pacific time.

Since this is our first look at the WIzards this season here is a video preview of the 2008 Washington Wizards
http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2008/10/17/nba_20



Projected starters
Portland Trailblazers
[img] http://assets.espn.go.com/i/teamlogos/nba/med/trans/por.gif[/img]
[img] http://assets.espn.go.com/i/headshots/nba/players/65/1994.jpg[/im
Steve Blake -PG
Brandon Roy-SG
Nic Batum-SF
LaMarcus Aldridge-PF
Greg Oden-Center





Projected starters
Washington Wizards
[img] http://assets.espn.go.com/i/teamlogos/nba/med/trans/was.gif[/img]
[img] http://assets.espn.go.com/i/headshots/nba/players/65/2994.jpg[/im
Dee Brown-PG
DeShawn Stevenson-SG
Caron Butler SF
Antawan Jamison-PF
JaVale McGee-Center

[/b]

Tuesday nights win over the Knicks was not as easy as everyone thought it would be.  Prevailing theory was that our bigs would control the paint, and we would easily score inside against a smaller New York team.  Didn't really work out that way and the Blazers struggled against a small fast 3 guard lineup.  Similar to the Don Nelson offense that the Warriors used to beat our team, the Knicks played some D and seduced the Blazers into tossing up some outside shots they probably shouldn't have taken.  After failing at making them play our game Nate went to a smaller lineup, put in Rudy and we ended up winning.
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Washington Wizards/Washington Bullets fans are used to this posted by Jyoti Mukherjee

Being a native Washingtonian, this is a painfully broken record. 

I've been living it since their last championship 30 years ago when I was 10 years old. I can still remember the literal dancing in the streets outside my father's restaurant in Georgetown. But then the lights went out.

I didn't realize that when the Washington (Bullets) Wizards moved to their new home some 11 years ago that they actually imported the very same Indian burial ground that used to exist under the Capital Centre to their new building in Chinatown. New building, same curse. MCI/VERIZON/FEDEX/WALMART Center/Arena is just as much a den of horrors as the Cap Center. 

There were some flashes of light at the end of the tunnel at various times. Chris Webber. Juwan Howard for a while. Bernard King. Moses Malone. Tom Gugliotta. 5 or 10 minutes of Georghe Muresan.

For every one of these flashes there was a  Ledell Eackles, John (hot plate) Williams, or a very old and broken down Mark Price. Anchored in the middle by a very sturdy Dave Feitl.

Sorry, Gene Shue. Sorry, Jim Lynam. And very sorry, Wes Unseld. Outside of an exorcism, I don't think that this is going to change in my lifetime or yours. Our new 111 million dollar man is out for one month to whenever. Antawn Jamison is a fine player but is getting along in age and is a walking pulled muscle. If we ever had a center that could just rebound and block shots, that would help. Don't try to sell me on Brendan Haywood, he peaked as a rookie.

Larry Hughes took the curse with him to Philadelphia, thank goodness. 

The Ups and Downs of the MLB Playoffs posted by Karol Kudyba

With the MLB playoffs set to begin, there is a subtle difference in the air compared to start of any other postseason. In the NHL, fans can potentially look forward to a great Canadians/Bruins series that is not only exciting, but has a historical kick to it. Likewise basketball fans always have the chance to see if the Suns can finally get past the Spurs and football fans love seeing the rivalry of the Eagles Vs the City of Philadelphia when the Eagles so much as get tackled for a loss.

The MLB playoffs reward the team that did the best over the long baseball season and consistently wins over a long period of time. Even a team that ‘backs in’ had to have been a dominant team in their division for 5+ months and being that good for half a calendar year unless their division was a mess. And although there may be no wildly anticipated matchup that involves throwing batteries, there is logic behind the current system. You have to earn your way to get a chance at the multiple-flags-on-a-block-of-wood trophy and it doesn’t come easy.

But because of the long season combined with the lack of playoff teams, there are no playoff rivalries in baseball. The system simply doesn’t allow it.

If all teams were equal, the odds of any team making the playoffs for each major sports league from the outset are: 

League

# of teams

# of playoff teams

%  of teams in the Playoffs

MLB

30

8

To All Bloggers posted by Z.V. Sanders

Hello Everyone!

If we haven't talked yet, my name is Zach "Z.V." Sanders and I have been writing here since May.

This past January I set up another sports site called 24/7 Sports Stop as a side project of mine. My current writing staff has gotten lazy and stopped posting, and I am looking to add new writers.

I was wondering if anyone writing here would be interested in contributing to the site by posting their work onto the site? The posts would go to the blogspot version of the site, as well as the main site. Think of it as another way to gain exposure and share your work. Along with your single posts, we do collaborations as a site. These include but are not limited to Draft Previews and Playoff predictions.

If you are interested please send me a message or shoot me an email. I do not expect a lot from a blogger on our site, but at the least I would like around 2 posts a week from our writers.

ThanksContinue reading "To All Bloggers"

Little Wing? posted by David Trageser

Did you miss me?  Sorry for the extended hiatus once again, but I was busy being cooped up in a metal box for days on end, plus I had to go ahead and lose all of my money to various undeserving casinos and their patrons, so I've had no time to reflect on the world of sports.  Many of you are probably expecting to read (or at least skim) some bitter, semi incoherent rambling post about Tom Brady's left knee and the dirty Chiefs and the especially classless fans of the NFL who actually had the gall to celebrate and commemorate a horrific injury to the league's best player, but I've gotta leave something for Simmons to do, so that will not be a part of my post today.  Instead, I'm going to hide from my problems inside the twisted world of the NBA, where my beloved Boston Celtics are still champions, and my mistresses, the Portland Trailblazers are looking better than ever and are brimming with talent and potential.

I just read a report today stating that Sam Cassell intends to return to the Celtics to play one more year before becoming an assistant coach for the team.  That comes as news to me (and just about everybody else), and almost seems too presumptuous of the human gun aka the crystal skull (happy yet, Tyler?) aka Sam I am to assume, especially after his stink fest in the playoffs last June.  Ultimately we won, so it doesn't matter, but Sam seems so sure that he's part of the plan, I'm beginning to suspect that he put some LSD in Danny Ainge's drinking water and told him that he'd have the Queen of Hearts decapitate him unless Ainge agreed to bring back Cassell for one more tour of championship bandwagonnery (apologies to basketbawful for jacking his term, but imitation is the highest form of flattery, you know).

How to use social media websites (MySpace, Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon) to promote your blog posts posted by Earn Money Blogging

You may have noticed the small icons at the bottom of your blog posts linking to MySpace, Facebook, Digg, Stumble Upon and other social media websites.  These icons allow you to quickly link your blog post to these sites.  You should be using these links a lot.  Submitting to social media sites is free and easy and can really increase the traffic to your blog.  Consistently using them is the easiest way to build a following and increase your traffic.
Using the Facebook and MySpace links:
Assuming you have an account on MySpace or Facebook (it's free to join so if you don't sign up now) click on the icon below your blog post for the site you want to submit to.  It will take you to a submission page where you simply put in a brief description about your blog post.  Then, a link to your blog post will appear on your Facebook or MySpace profile. It's that easy.  If you have a large following on either of these sites it's an easy way to get people to your sports blog.  So make sure you submit links to your best sports blog posts.
Digg, StumbleUpon, BallHype:
These social media sites are a little different than MySpace and Facebook.  You create an account on these sites (it's free to join), you submit interesting content (i.e. your sports blog posts) and you vote on content submitted by other people.  As you click around the sites looking at interesting content you'll also be trying to build a friends list, which is important because people will find your submissions based in part by how many friends you have.  This is a simplistic overview of the sites, but it should be enough to get your started.  There is quite a bit of complexity to each of these sites and they all work a little bit differently.  The only real way to learn them is to use them so sign up with them today and start using them.
Continue reading "How to use social media websites ..."

Headlines Widget updated to include your blog posts posted by Earn Money Blogging

We've added some additional functionality to our " Headline Widget" so that our bloggers can now promote their blog posts through the widget.  Simply go the "Headline Widget" page, type in your username in the appropriate blank, and copy the HTML to any webpages (i.e. your MySpace profile page or your personal blog) where you want your blog posts to appear.
 
The " Headline Widget" can be customized to display in any color and it comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. 
 
Important: The widget is geared towards displaying headlines and blog posts for a particular sport or team, so if you want the widget to display all of your blog posts no matter what the subject of the blog post is, be sure to choose "All Sports Headlines" for the first customization option.
 
This widget is a great way to promote your blog.  Get as many people as you can to put the widget on their webpages.  For example, tell your friends with MySpace and blogs to paste your widget into their pages.  Or contact other sports bloggers and see if they would put the widget on their blog page.  The widget is simply HTMl code, so any page where you're allowed to post HTML is a good place to post the widget.  We've had local television stations use this widget on their website to get up-to-date information about the local professional sports teams so there's no telling who might find your blog posts interesting and be willing to post your widget on their website.  Email the webmasters of any websites you visit regularly and see if they would be willing to post your widget on their website.
Continue reading "Headlines Widget updated to include ..."

Inbound link contest winner announced! posted by Earn Money Blogging

A big thanks to everyone who participated in the "Inbound Link Contest".  We have a winner!  A big congratulations go out to Marija.  Thank you for all your hard work on this.  While we had a lot of people participate, Marija was able to win with only 4 links!  So it wouldn't have taken a lot to win this contest!  We'll be having another contest soon so stay tuned.

The whole purpose of this contest was to get our bloggers networking with other webmasters and to start to build up their inbound links which will help their traffic.  Even a few links can help you with the search engines as they will see you as more of an authority on your topic the more inbound links you have.

To learn more about marketing your blog check out this post: http://www.nbabasketballonline.com/sports_content-rev_share_faq.html#my_faq_2971

Marija's blog can be found here.  If you're a Knicks fan, check it out: http://www.newyorkknicksnews.com/marijak

The original post announcing the contest can be found here: http://www.nbabasketballonline.com/bloggers/weblog/2984.html

And if you're not already signed up with Google AdSense and making money from your blog, check out our Revenue Share FAQ page: http://www.nbabasketballonline.com/sports_content-rev_share_faq.html

Isn't It Poor Taste for USA Players to Discuss Playing Overseas during the Olympics? posted by Missari

    First the U.S. loses a bunch of nobodies to foreign teams, now some of our prized NBA players are saying they'd consider offers from International teams.

    My God, the American team is supposed to be playing for the Gold, and LeBron and Kobe are talking about possible lucrative deals to play elsewhere. This might just be more inappropriate than showing George Bush on television after each American victory.  

    These men should be honored to be playing on the USA team, and yet here they are (some, not all) expressing an interest in leaving the basketball association that has made them recognizable throughout the world. 

     As far as the socialization/ cultural factor- perhaps Kobe, who speaks multiple languages would be able to assimilate well in another country, seeing as though he did such growing up. But LeBron... Mr. Overgrown/Please don't stick a mic in my face because I won't know how to put my thoughts into words my want to stay right there in Cleveland after these Beijing Games.  

    Oops was that rude? Was it? Good. Don't get me wrong- I don't mind watching LeBron play. It's not often that we get to see basketball players who've been hyped up and televised since middle school play as professionals, but I'm honestly beginning to feel like the Wizards' DeShawn Stevenson... LeBron is overrated, and the fact that he's now talking about fleeting the NBA for more money is disgusting. 

    Doesn't he know that his rims, bling, Dolce shades, and LV luggage won't make him the big man in other parts of the world? His sketchy free throw shooting and poor shooting range will be exposed more anywhere other than America... 

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