Category Archives: Jeremy Lin

2014-15 NBA Team Preview: Los Angeles Lakers

I wonder if Kobe Bryant ever wonders if he should have retired after blowing out his Achiilles’ tendon? I’m sure it crossed his mind a few times in-between the gym and the bank…where he cashes those huge checks. He now finds himself trying to play with Swaggy P.

The Lakers are expected to be near the bottom of the NBA standings. Does Kobe have a little magic left in him? If things go bad, how does Kobe handle losing?

We will be posting a team preview for every team up until the start of the regular season.

Here is the 2014-15 NBA season preview for the Los Angeles Lakers.

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Jeremy LinRON: The Smartest Guy In The Room

The New York Knicks made everyone anxiously wait for their decision on Jeremy Lin. I haven’t seen so many will they/won’t they moments since Ross and Rachel sucked the life out of “Friends”.

New York finally made their decision and opted not to match the offer sheet that Jeremy Lin signed with the Houston Rockets.

Lin, 23, will receive $25.1 million over three years, a price the Knicks couldn’t see as the correct value for the point guard phenom.

Houston was sneaky and their offer sheet included a back-loaded contract that would have paid Lin $14.8 million in the third year of the contract. The Knicks would have been over the luxury tax and cost them nearly $43 million in salary + “repeat offender” luxury tax.

Lin came out yesterday and said that he would have loved to finish his career as a member of the New York Knicks. It’s the politically correct thing to say, but it was sincere. Lin was a borderline NBA player before he found himself in New York.

Jeremy Lin didn’t need his Harvard education to know that signing Houston’s offer sheet was the smartest decision he could make. No one can blame Lin for signing it. He had a very exciting six-week run last year before injuring his knee. He had a few moments of vulnerability, most notably a 1-11 shooting night against the Miami Heat. A $25 million dollar offer might not be there in a few seasons.

Carmelo Anthony’s comments earlier this week about Lin’s offer sheet being a ‘ridiculous’ amount of money didn’t help the situation. Lin had most of his success when Anthony was injured and one would have to believe that jealousy could have lead to that comment. If Lin had stayed, he would have taken away from Anthony’s spotlight.

The Knicks wouldn’t have been able to pay him near the $8 million annually that Houston will pay him. His marketability will be hurt by not staying in New York, but Yao Ming did very well as a member of the Rockets.

Goran Dragic and Kyle Lowy already out of town. The core players on the team are very young. Royce White, Terrence Jones, and Jeremy Lamb will be contributing right away as rookies (if they aren’t moved in an escalated attempt to sign Dwight Howard…ugh).

The Rockets will be Lin’s team. I look forward to watching them in 2012-13…they will be a lot of fun.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

2012-13 NBA Off-season: Free Agent Tracker

If you’re looking for NBA free agent information, you want everything, we have everything!

The Miami Heat didn’t win the championship with only three guys, they needed to fill out their roster with competent players. The players who sign and appear on the last page of the sports section are just as important.

Players can officially sign with a team starting on July 11th. The listings below are the confirmed contract agreements so far. Bookmark this page, since I will be updating this post daily as the official free agent signings start rolling in.

Check out who your team has signed and other available free agents for the 2012-13 NBA season.
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2012-13 NBA: Top 10 Most Overpaid Free Agents

There is one theme that stands out early in the 2012-13 off-season…NBA GMs are spending a lot of money on guys who may end up as deadweight. Free agents are not able to sign with teams until July 11th, but the confirmed agreements have been rolling in already.

Middle-of-the-road teams are offering inflated contracts to restricted free agents who are tied to teams that lack salary cap space. Due to the new collective-bargaining agreement, the luxury tax raises to a point where it will cost owners a lot of money to go over. Players will still need to sign those offer sheets, but talent could find the money too difficult to resist.

Which players have already been overpaid this off-season? Here are the top ten most overpaid free agents so far this off-season.

Jeremy Lin: Knicks/Rockets – 4 years / $29 million
The Houston Rockets offered Lin this contract and the New York Knicks can match it. ESPN’s Marc Stein tweeted that the Knicks will match any deal he is offered. Darren Rovell would say that this contract is a bargain. The sheer merchandise sales should exceed $29 million dollars. I agree that the Asian market will support Lin, should the Rockets or Knicks be worried about giving this much money to a guy who had a nice three week run last season? If he doesn’t play well or gets injured, he won’t earn the team anything. Yao Ming was injured for most of the last three seasons he played and I doubt Houston got their money’s worth.

Omer Asik: Bulls/Rockets – 3 years / $25.1 million
The Rockets are really trying to piss off teams near the luxury tax. The Chicago Bulls aren’t in a position to match Houston’s offer of three years for $25.1 and shouldn’t. He played some key minutes for the Eastern Conference champions, but paying Asik $8 million a year for 3.1 points and 5.8 rebounds per game is very steep. Rockets GM Daryl Morey is a smart guy, but he is making some questionable offers early this off-season.

Jeff Green: Boston Celtics – 4 years / $36 million
Green is coming back from major heart surgery. His health is a major concern, but he never meshed with the team when he came over in the Kendrick Perkins trade. He doesn’t have a set position, plays defense poorly, and doesn’t rebound well at any position. Boston is taking a huge gamble by giving him a four-year deal. I worry that this will be a regrettable contract by this time next year.

Michael Beasley: Phoenix Suns – 3 years / $18 million
At first glance, $18 million dollars isn’t much money for three years in the NBA. Beasley has had limited success in the league, but he has yet to live up to his college hype. He is undersized for his position with off the court issues. The Suns aren’t going anywhere as an organization and Beasley is known to disappear in games. I don’t see this signing working out for either party.

Nicolas Batum: Trail Blazers/Timberwolves – 4 years / $45 million
Before I go on a rant on how this contract is bad, I just want to add that this deal could be worth as much as $50 with bonuses. Batum has as much potential as any young free agent available this off-season. Minnesota is offering him ridiculous money knowing that there is a small chance that Portland will/can match it. Portland is currently in the hunt for Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert and can’t overspend to keep Batum. Minnesota’s offer for Batum assures they have little faith in former #2 overall Derrick Williams. They are currently trying to trade him, but has yet found a suitor. I hope Batum lives up to the deal, but he may never live up to this big deal.

Steve Nash: Los Angeles Lakers – 3 years / $27 million
The Lakers had to trade two first-round picks and two second-round picks for the opportunity to overpay the 38-year old Steve Nash. The lauded Suns training staff has resurrected the careers of Shaquille O’Neal, Great Hill and has kept Nash looking fresh. Unless the Lakers have another move in line, say a trade for Dwight Howard, I don’t get this contract. They played well with Ramon Sessions and they could have re-signed him for half of Nash’s contract and wouldn’t have needed to trade draft picks. It will be interesting to see how Kobe and Nash will handle the last five minutes of a close game. Both players need the ball in their hands to be effective.

Landry Fields: Toronto Raptors – 3 years / $20 million
The Raptors couldn’t sign Nash, so they made a hasty decision and offered Fields an inflated contract. If Nash broke up with them, Fields is their rebound. Fields was a second-round pick and exceeded expectations. $20 million is a lot of money to offer a guy who has yet to score more than 9.7 points per game and saw a drop in every major offensive category in 2011-12.

George Hill: Indiana Pacers – 5 years / $40 million
As a Pacers fan, writing Hill’s name in this column stings a little. I think Hill is a good player and believe that he deserves to be the starting point guard over Darren Collison, but this deal feels bad. He is a local Indianapolis product and even went to college at IUPUI (Indiana-Purdue Indianapolis), but he doesn’t put butts in the seats. The Pacers had the second-worst attendance in the NBA for a team who had the #3 seed in the Eastern Conference. If they lose Roy Hibbert to Portland, this money can’t be used to sign a marquee player to fill the hole in the frontcourt.

Gerald Wallace: Brooklyn Nets – 4 years / $40 million
The (then) New Jersey Nets got themselves in trouble by shipping a lottery pick to Portland for 20+ games with Gerald Wallace. If they didn’t re-sign him, the trade would have went down as one of the most lopsided deals this decade. He had all of the cards and the Nets had to overpay him in order to not look like fools. Money will be tight for Brooklyn since they also re-signed Deron Williams and acquired Joe Johnson from the Atlanta Hawks in a trade.

O.J. Mayo: Unknown – Too Much Money
Mayo has yet to sign with a team and he has plenty of suitors. The Pacers, Bulls, Suns, and Celtics are among the favorites to land him. They will have to pay a premium price for a player who hasn’t lived up to his potential (see: Michael Beasley). NBA GMs believe that he has yet to be pushed and would respond positively. Mayo did improve his numbers last season, but if he were to go to, let’s say the Pacers, he would be coming off the bench. Paul George should be entrenched as the starting shooting guard. Mayo will be receiving starter’s money this off-season.

Others candidates rumored to be overpaid
Courtney Lee
Chris Kaman
J.J. Hickson
Shannon Brown
Marcus Camby
Boris Diaw
Raymond Felton
Randy Foye
Lou Williams
Gerald Green
Jordan Hill
Josh Howard
Kris Humphries
Carl Landry
JaVale McGee
Anthony Randolph
DeShawn Stevenson

I’m sure there will be other free agents signing outrageous contracts during the 2012-13 off-season. The GMs will slowly bankrupt teams with dumb contracts on teams whose amnesty clause has already been used. There is nothing the fans can do to stop them from spending the salary cap money so freely even though we’re the ones who pay for it in the end with higher ticket prices.

Yay!

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

(Fake) NBA Player "Walk-Up" Songs

I was watching the L.A. Lakers vs. Denver Nuggets playoff game last night. At the end of the game, just like any other basketball game, there were a lot of free throws. After a player is fouled, there is a minute lull in-between the foul and the free throw attempt. What if each individual NBA player had their own personal “walk-up song,” like in baseball? I tweeted this out and many agreed that this needs to happen. I instantly started to think of either humorous or fitting walk-up songs for random NBA players. You have to follow basketball pretty close to get all of the references. Most of the walk-up song references are very easy to get, but a few of them are a bit obscure.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment or email me. Enjoy!

*I included a YouTube link that will open in a new window*

Kris Humphries – Ben Folds Five – “Song For The Dumped”
Serge Ibaka – Matt & Kim – “Block After Block”
Kevin Love – Bon Iver – “Skinny Love”
Lebron James – Motion City Soundtrack – “Can’t Finish What You Started”
Delonte West – Cypress Hill – “Insane In The Membrane”
Gordon Hayward – “Olive Garden Jingle”
Kevin Durant – Childish Gambino – “Backpackers”
Chris Bosh – Mandy Moore – “Cry”
Lamar Odom – Sam Cooke – “That’s It, I Quit, I’m Movin’ On”
Josh McRoberts – Haystak – “Whiteboy”
Blake Griffin – Van Halen – “Jump”
Steve Nash – Tenacious D – “Rize of the Fenix”
Michael Beasley – Kid Cudi – “Marijuana”
Drew Gooden – “Ducktales Theme Song”
J.J. Redick – Collective Soul – “Gel”
Metta World Peace – Pretty Boy – “Throw Bows”
Glen Davis – Justin Bieber – “Baby”
Amare Stoudemire – Orgy – “Stitches”
Gilbert Arenas – M.I.A. – “Paper Planes”
Brian Scalabrine – Average White Band – “Pick Up The Pieces”
DeMarus Cousins – Gnarls Barkley “Crazy”
Dwight Howard – Say Anything – “I Want To Know Your Plans”
John Wall – Troop 41 – “Do The John Wall”
Ricky Rubio – El Chombo – “Chacarron Mocaron”
Patty Mills – Men at Work – “Land Down Under”
Anthony Davis – Rise Against – “Savior”
Kyrie Irving – Nelly – “Number One”
Joe Johnson – Fitz & The Tantrums – “Moneygrabber”
Derrick Rose – Blink-182 – “Miss You”
Greg Oden – Social Distortion – “Bad Luck”
Tyson Chandler – Silverstein – “Defend You”
Tony Parker – Joey + Rory – “Cheater, Cheater”
Tyler Hansbrough – Snoop Dogg – “Tha Shiznit”
Dirk Nowitzki – Rammstein – “Der Meister”
Matt Bonner – Perv One – “Counting Money”
Josh Howard – “Star Spangled Banner”
Boris Diaw – Kanye West – “New Workout Plan”
Shaun Livingston – Sleigh Bells – “Comeback Kid”
Kenyon Martin – Trina – “Single Again”
Chris Anderson – Nelly Furtado “I’m Like A Bird”
Earl Boykins – Skee-Lo – “I Wish”
Brad Miller – Nsync – “Bye Bye Bye”
Eddy Curry – Weird Al Yankovic – “Fat”
Jeremy Lin – No Use For A Name – “Fairytale of New York”

Also, check out Projectshanks.com for some of my other work.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.

Amar’e Stoudemire Hates Fire Extinguishers

When an athlete is able to play at the highest level in their sport, it can be hard to lose. You are used to dominating at every level, then you hit a wall and can’t seem to get over the hill. Players deal with their frustration differently. You can hit the gym, talk it over with teammates, or forget it and move on. If it was only that easy for a certain member of the New York Knicks. A moment of frustration could end the season for Amar’e Stoudemire or Amare Stoudemire (for those who lack an apostrophe on their keyboards).

I promise that no fire extinguishers or their cases were hurt in the writing of this blog post.

The New York Knicks lost to the Miami Heat (104-94) in Game 2 of their best-of-seven playoff series. This is the second defeat in a row. They were dominated in the fourth quarter with ease. Most say that this was a “must win” game for the Knicks. They now face an an incredible challenge to come back in this series.

Yahoo! reports that while exiting the court, Stoudemire punched the glass of a fire extinguisher case. He cut his hand and later left the arena with a heavily bandaged hand and his arm in a sling. It was reported that there was a great deal of blood in the Knicks locker room and that a paramedic that to assist in helping him with his injury. Stoudemire later tweeted, “I’m so mad at myself right now, I want to apologize to the fans and my team, not proud of my actions, headed for home for a new start.” The extent of his injury has not be reported yet, but due to the amount of blood and the bandage/sling medical equipment, it could be substantial.

It is unknown if Stoudemire is healthy enough to play in the rest of the series or if he will receive any discipline for his destruction of the arena’s property. He was just recovering from a back injury and he would join Jeremy Lin, Iman Shumpert, and possibly Baron Davis on the injured list. Davis missed the first-half of this game after his own back injury flared up on him. It is unknown if Lin will be able to play in this series and Shumpert will be out until next season with a torn ligament.

The Knicks have a nearly improbably task ahead of them. If they win one game in this series, I would consider it a moral victory. Carmelo Anthony can only do so much and he’s already maxed out. I will continue watching this series for Steve Novak, a “White Boy of the Year” nominee. They can go into the 2012-13 season with a decent draft pick in a very deep draft, a healthy Jeremy Lin, and either Mike Woodson or a new coach. They will be a better team next year, if they can stay healthy…and Stoudemire stops trying to fight fire extinguishing equipment.

Photo credit goes to Timothy Burke for his hilarious Photoshop talent. Go to Deadspin for his awesome photo and video work.

A Sports & Entertainment blog that focuses on absurdity in sports, snarky banter, updates on Tim Tebow’s virginity, and decent sports gambling advice.