Let's talk about unadulterated results. Simply winning games in the NCAA tournament. That's it. No qualifiers. No situational analysis. Which coach has won more games in the tournament year-in and year-out with their squads? Last 5 years? Last 10 years?
Who'da thunk it? Coach Cal wins. In the last five years, Calipari's got a Runner-Up, a Final Four, two Elite Eights, and a Sweet Sixteen. Looks good moving into the future. His team (every single year) is in a major position to do some damage in the tournament. You can claim that he has put together a roster or two or three that's underperformed to its talent level ... but he still wins more games consistently once he reaches the postseason than any of the other coaches out there. The crazy one in this span is the fact that Coach K is sixth even with last year's championship. He'd be going on a near disastrous run since 2004 if it wasn't for that one. Calhoun is the coach that's the most bi-polar. His rosters are built to compete for championships and then completely fall apart and take a few years to even sniff competing again. The only other thing you need to note is that Bruce Weber blows.
Over a full decade's span, Roy Williams displays his dominance despite a fluke NIT appearance two years ago. Calhoun, K, and Self round out the multi-round winning elite. Calipari drops harshly from first to sixth because of his pre-Rose Memphis seasons. I calculated these by awarding a point for every tourney win and a negative point for every non-tourney appearance and averaging that crap. Technical stuff. The sad thing for this decade span is the Pitino-era in Louisville. He averages simply getting to the second round in any given year. Not very good. And I killed off Brad Stevens for this ranking since he's only coached the last four years. Sean Miller's the only other asterisk guy because he started at Xavier in '05.
Regardless ... I just wanted to add another bullet into your Coach Cal argument pistol moving forward. The championship ring is coming. It has to be. Please.
... and Free Enes.
Showing posts with label Derrick Rose. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Derrick Rose. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Consistent Tournament Success
Monday, April 18, 2011
One-and-Done Effect on Calipari's Teams
 |
| #1 pick, a coach, #1 pick |
It's not. But for this post I'll just focus on the slick-haired Italian not named Pitino who's the lightning rod for all things one-and-done.
John Calipari - Memphis (4), Kentucky (4)
(2002, #6 pick) Dajuan Wagner
(2006, #17 pick) Shawne Williams
(2008, #1 pick) Derrick Rose
(2009, #4 pick) Tyreke Evans
(2010, #1/5/18/30 picks) John Wall, Demarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe, Daniel Orton
So Coach Cal is the evil face of this system, right? He's runs an NBA farming squad that fast forwards guys right into the pros, right? Or maybe his first year at Kentucky was simply an outlier. An anomaly. A crazy happenstance. Calipari coached nine seasons in Memphis and churned out an enormous quantity of ... four freshmen NBAers. He also happened to send one early-entry sophomore and one early-entry junior, Darius Washington and Chris Douglas-Roberts, to the professional ranks. How many pros do you think he had spend a full four seasons in college? None or maybe a single random guy, right? This one-and-done recruiter can't have possibly developed players over the extent of their college careers and put them into a positive position maybe even beyond their natural capabilities, right? Five Memphis seniors under Cal have played in the NBA. Robert Dozier, Joey Dorsey, Rodney Carney, Antonio Burks, and Earl Barron.
And what about Cal's success in post-1&Done seasons? Surely if players leaving too early is such a monumental problem then it would create a noticeable correlation to the following season's detriment. Memphis went from 27-9 NIT Champions with Dajuan Wagner to 23-7 making the NCAA Tournament in 2003. They went from the 33-4 Elite 8 with Shawne Williams to the 33-4 Elite 8 in 2007. They dropped from 38-2 losing the championship game with Derrick Rose to dropping 33-4 in the Sweet 16 in 2009. Calipari left Memphis after Tyreke Evans' single season to start over at UK, remolding a team that went straight to the Elite 8 in 2010.
Then there was the 2011 mass exodus. But I've already covered that enough.
So Calipari hasn't won a championship. If that's your end-all-be-all argument, then you win. If all of Derrick Rose, John Wall, and Demarcus Cousins came back for multiple follow-up seasons, then yes, Calipari probably would've claimed a title by now. But then again, maybe not since proceeding recruits might've looked elsewhere for more prevalent playing time. Then there are always freak injuries, chemistry problems, and situational transfers ... so ... there's no guarantee either way. Calipari has milked pretty much every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears out of his roster every year. I honestly think the only underachievement you can mark him for is his first Kentucky squad not at least making a Final Four. But even with that, you're talking about a team with a brand new coach who's starting three freshmen with a single returning contributor from the previous season. So it's strictly off talent and will that they were a favorite at all.
Bottom-line: There have been two seasons where a one-and-done departure has seriously affected a John Calipari team. 2009 without Derrick Rose and 2011 without Wall, Cousins, Bledsoe, and Orton.
The 2008-2009 Memphis starting five could have hypothetically been Derrick Rose/Tyreke Evans/Antonio Anderson/Robert Dozier/Shawn Taggart ... but is that even a guaranteed championship contender in a year with Hansbrough's Tar Heels stomping the field? The 2010-2011 team would've hypothetically been an all-time juggernaut if any two of the four departures would've stayed ... but then you don't know who stays healthy or if Brandon Knight and Terrence Jones wind up here at all. And we made the Final Four as constituted. Sooo ...
Calipari's career in summary
19 years coaching [8 at UMASS, 9 at Memphis, 2 at UK]
509-152 (77%) record [193-71 (73%) at UMASS, 252-69 (79%) at Memphis, 64-12 (84%) at UK]
13 NCAA Tournaments [5 at UMASS, 6 at Memphis, 2 at UK]
9 Sweet Sixteens [3 at UMASS, 4 at Memphis, 2 at UK]
7 Elite Eights [2 at UMASS, 3 at Memphis, 2 at UK]
3 Final Fours [1 at UMASS, 1 at Memphis, 1 at UK]
1 Championship Game loss [Memphis]
... and Free Enes.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
The Lost Recruits: 2009
All of the given rankings are according to Rivals and all the stats are displayed as points/rebounds/assists blocks-steals with percentages given as (field goal/three-point/free throw)%.
#8 (SG) Xavier Henry
NCAA - Kansas (2009-2010): 13/4/2 0-2 with (46/42/78)% at 28 MPG in 36 games
NBA - Grizzlies (2010-2011): 6/1/1 0-0 with (44/22/70)% at 21 MPG in 16 starts
In a year where Coach Cal seemed to be picking his recruits straight off the factory line, Xavier was the single one who actually got away. Which is kind of weird because he already had his commitment to start off. X and Demarcus Cousins were the flagship guys that Cal already had signed to play for him at the University of Memphis, marking his first dual superstar class to one-up his Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans recruitments. Once Calipari took the Kentucky job, Henry immediately de-committed from Memphis and proceeded to have one of the most confusingly indecisive recruitments ever. On any given day, Henry was reported to have committed to Kansas or to have switched his verbal to Kentucky or to have been told by either of his parents to attend opposite schools. This went full circle through the media rounds two separate occasions before he finally suited up for the Jayhawks, drawing the ire of UK fans who minutes before were pleading for him. He tore our heart strings out twice and was probably amongst the most hated humans out there last season for the Wildcat faithful. Before we quickly forgot that he existed, of course. After an early bounce from the NCAA tournament, Xavier proceeded to bolt from KU right for the league (as was always expected) and was selected 12th by the Memphis Grizzlies. His NBA career started out with a rough PR patch when he held out from signing his rookie contract for a significant amount of time over the small wiggle percentage that NBA teams are allowed to finagle under the rookie scale. His play on the court was never an issue, but prima dona claims have followed him due to weirdness of his recruiting journey and certain statements he's let slip publicly.
Bottom-line: Miss. Henry possibly could have been the missing piece to a championship season last year as he would have been an immense upgrade over Darnell Dodson and redefined the team as the probable starting shooting guard, relegating Eric Bledsoe to a 6th man role. As an outsider, though, he could have created chemistry problems due to not connecting early with "The Three Amigos" of freshmen John Wall, Cousins, and Bledsoe.
NCAA - Cincinnati (2009-2010): 12/5/3 0-1 with (44/22/66)% at 28 MPG in 34 games
NBA - Pacers (2010-2011): 3/2/1 0-0 with (33/0/79)% at 10 MPG in 12 games
Lance had his fair share of image issues in high school that left him as the last beauty pageant contestant on the runway. Before Cincinnati accepted him an entire month after the last day of the late signing period, not a single flagship program was willing to take a chance on Stephenson's elite talent after Kansas, St. John's, Maryland, and Arizona all severed ties after he floated them as his "finalists." He was an ineligibility risk at one time due to his involvement in a documentary following his high school basketball exploits. Beyond that, his personal reputation was sullied to begin with due to being suspended as a high school senior for fighting with a teammate as well as facing a misdemeanor sexual assault charge in the same year. Before his first season as a Pacer even started, he was arrest for third degree assault in an incident involving his girlfriend. Lance was always slated as a probable one-and-done guy and he upheld that by bolting for the NBA right away, being selected in the second round by the Indiana Pacers with the 40th pick. Just months earlier he told reporters: "I don't think I have had an NBA season this year so the best choice is for me to stay."
Bottom-line: Great pass. It's undeniably a good thing we skipped giving "Born Ready" a chance. His rap sheet reads as every problem people thought Demarcus Cousins would be. Great talent, but an eligibility risk and would have caused chemistry problems for the single season he would have spent at UK. He also was a mediocre long-range shooter and would have required the ball to be taken out of John Wall's hands.
NCAA - Minnesota (2009-2010): did not play, left team
NCAA - Iowa State (2010-2011): did not play, sat out due to transfer
Royce was originally a Tubby commit who never suited up for Minny due to a mall arrest because of shoplifting and misdemeanor assault on a security guard. This was followed up with him being mentioned in the case of a stolen laptop from a dorm. White left the team after the hard stance Minnesota took with him, though he claimed to know nothing about the laptop. All of this has temporarily stymied the basketball career of a McDonald's All-American who was renowned as a monster rebounder who can score from anywhere on the floor as a combo forward. White originally vowed that he was quitting basketball altogether because of the way he was treated at Minnesota, but Coach Cal highly considered adding him to UK's 2010 class once he reneged and started looking for a school to transfer to. In later interviews, White said that he felt Iowa State was a better fit than Kentucky even though Calipari offered him a scholarship. However, it's contrastingly been reported that Kentucky pulled back on its pursuit of White before he committed to the Cyclones.
Bottom-line: To be determined. White could have been an invaluable frontline addition to create a legitimate big man trio with Terrence Jones and Josh Harrellson in 2010-2011, but his ability has yet to be shown against collegiate competition and his possible character issues could have plagued the team through media scrutiny. Once he hits the court and stays out of trouble, we'll see if we actually missed out on a ball player.
NCAA - Baylor (2009-2010): 2/1/1 0-0 (44/29/50)% at 8 MPG in 25 games
NCAA - Baylor (2010-2011): 2/1/0 0-1 (41/23/50)% at 8 MPG in 15 games
Dennis was supposed to be great slasher with a solid shooting stroke coming into the collegiate ranks. Calipari obviously agreed by making Dennis part of his broken-up Memphis class (along with Cousins, Henry, Darnell Dodson, and Will Coleman). Everyone out of that class except for Coleman bounced to another team, with Dennis heading to Baylor. He's barely made a ripple of an impact since, only hitting his career high of 10 points in two separate games and not even stepping on the floor for a large percentage of the games beyond that. There's always room for him to carve out his role as an upperclassman, but he simply hasn't shown his talent as of yet.
Bottom-line: Irrelevant. Maybe Baylor's just the wrong system for Dennis and he could've made a bigger impact under Calipari, but the evidence is that he's just not that good yet. He probably would've never seen rotation minutes at the off-guard position over Bledsoe/Miller/Liggins in his freshman season, nor Liggins/Lamb/Miller this season. He might've been an all-world bench cheerer a la Stacey Poole, though.
If you can think of any other 2009 guys, let me know. I don't expect there were many more since Cal had to completely gut his inaugural UK roster just to fit in the six newcomers of (#1) John Wall, (#2) Demarcus Cousins, (#22) Daniel Orton, (#23) Eric Bledsoe, (#40) Jon Hood, and (#130 in 2007) Darnell Dodson. Next time I'll tackle the super-messy class of 2010 ... where Cal pretty much swung for everybody in the top 15.
... and Free Enes.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
2010-2011 Chicago Bulls
So the Bulls missed out on LeBron ... boo hoo. They'll prolly have a better team with this ridiculously balanced squad than they would have with LBJ and scraps. Shoot, they got four different high-quality ball players from the salary they would have hypothetically used on James. And you already have Derrick Rose, so I wouldn't technically want somebody to stunt his development by taking the ball out of his hands for 80% of every possession. So regardless of how much Bulls fans wanted an MJ 2.0, they'll just have to get over it and enjoy this incarnation of a contender. The miserable days of Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler are long gone ...
2010-2011 Chicago Bulls
Point Guard: Derrick Rose/C.J. Watson
Shooting Guard: Ronnie Brewer/Keith Bogans
Small Forward: Luol Deng/Kyle Korver/James Johnson
Power Forward: Carlos Boozer/Taj Gibson
Center: Joakim Noah/Kurt Thomas/Omer Asik
This team's gonna be a lockdown defensive squad with Tom Thibodeau at the helm with a full complement of defensive workhorses like C.J. Watson, Ronnie Brewer, Keith Bogans, and Joakim Noah. Plus they have some outside shooting which was completely nonexistent last season. Headlined by all-world shooter Kyle Korver, Bogans and Watson can also spot up and knock in their share of threes to go with Rose's improved range. Being mentioned in both of those categories, I really like Watson to have a moderate breakout campaign off the bench to spark the offense as a back-up to Rose (as well as paired with him in a mini-Ben Gordon-like role). That's a backcourt with a lot of explosiveness as both are sick athletes with ability to finish at the rim.
The facet of this team that's completely nuts is the fact that they added three members of last year's Utah Jazz team independently through free agency. Why didn't they just coax Jerry Sloan into coming back as the Bulls head coach again? Boozer was obviously the near-max talent who was the fallback option from acquiring James or Chris Bosh, but Korver and Brewer are equally pivotal. They should all have an essentially seamless transition to figuring out their roles on their new team because ... they'll have the same roles. Booze is the dump down post force who can step out with a ceiling-scraping midrange jumper, Brewer fills the lanes and gets the defensive assignment on the opposing team's best perimeter guy, and Korver runs off screens and spots up at every opportunity. Even better is that they have a similarly elite, big-bodied point guard in Derrick Rose to smooth the switch from Deron Williams. What do they have to get used to besides being on the winning side of the Bulls-Jazz highlight tapes now?
I also love the Kurt Thomas signing. He's been roaming at half speed for the last six years of his career and still been a presence, so what's there to lose? Joakim Noah can hold his ground on the majority of bigs in the league, but he's got Kurt behind him now who's even more of a tree trunk and able to be relied on to make the right decisions on the court in whatever playing time he's provided. So for this Bulls squad in general, you know what you're getting from the new guys. The big question mark is how and where the returning players improve and make their presence felt. Can Luol Deng go through another year of trade rumors every other night and try to stay healthy? Can Noah keep up his newly formed impact game or will he revert to an essentially unproductive scrapper? Can Rose shake off his shaky World Championship outing and continue his meteoric rise to All-Star (or potentially All-NBA) levels? The answers to those questions are gonna be what either relegates the Bulls to 4th-team status in the East or what's gonna make the Miami-Boston-Orlando triumvirate sweat come playoff time. I personally think the Bulls are gonna be absolutely great and one of the most fun teams in the league to watch, but it's still a season or two too early to throw them right in the mix with the other guaranteed NBA elite. They'll bow out to the Heat when they get unfavorably matched up with them in the second round. It's up to Derrick Rose to prove me wrong.
Prediction
Regular Season: 56-26
Playoffs: Eliminated in Eastern Conference Semi-Finals
... and do the John Wall.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Wall Expectations
2009-2010 with Kentucky Wildcats
34.8 minutes, 16.6 points (46.1% FG, 32.5% 3PT, 75.4 FT%), 4.3 rebounds, 6.5 assists, .5 blocks, 1.8 steals, 4 TOs
Our basketball savior. The guy who made it cool to be a Wildcat again. The guy who calls LeBron James and Drake whenever he's bored. The guy who President Obama name drops about. No, I'm not talking about John Calipari. I'm talking about John Wall. That guy.
Here's the scary thing about Wall at the next level: I believe he could possibly be playing at the level of a slightly altered version of Dwyane Wade within two years. He's got the same kind of size and left for the pros a year before Wade. He's got all the same effortless skills (blinding speed, sick hops, paint penetration at will, incredible court vision, reliable mid-range jumper, and cold-blooded scoring mentality in dire situations) that made Dwyane so special coming in. All Wall needs to do is build on those skills in his arsenal already. He's as quick a learner and willing adjustor as I've ever seen in college basketball. John would identify the situations where his team needed him to force the action and do exactly what needed to be done. It was shown most blatantly in the Stanford, UCONN, and (loss at) Tennessee games. Dwyane even started his rookie year attempting the point guard role before he was slid over to his natural 2 spot, but it's obvious that Wall will be pegged as a point for his whole career and put up better stats than Dwyane's, still exceptional, assist numbers. In the reckless way that both attack the basket and are adept at finding some amazing way to finish the play at the rim and draw fouls, I honestly do think John can come close to being as feared a scorer as Wade. Dwyane is probably the third best player in the entire league today and a guaranteed Hall of Famer when it's all said and done. That's the kind of potential that John has.
Dwyane Wade - 6'4", 220 lb.
2008-2009 with Miami Heat
38.6 minutes, 30.2 points (49.1% FG, 31.7% 3PT, 76.5% FT), 5 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 1.3 blocks, 2.2 steals, 3.4 TOs
To exemplify the unworldly expectations of John in the pro ranks, I think the absolute worst he could do as a youngster is replicate Derrick Rose's numbers in a Rookie of the Year-type performance. It's way too easy of a comparison to make, so I'll focus on the differences. Wall's and Rose's 3-point marksmanship were nearly identical in college, both in makes and percentage, but I see Wall as having a little more range in his early career and already has a head start in becoming a more proficient shooter. Where Rose really took the NBA by storm was in his rookie playoff debut, notching 36 points (12-19 FGs and 12-12 FTs), 4 rebounds, and 11 assists all while pulling off the upset. That's winning time. And that's where John Wall has to re-prove himself at. Sure, he hit a game winning 15-foot jumper in his NCAA debut and knocked down every single clutch free throw he ever needed, but he has to prove it again in the national spotlight. His tournament numbers weren't as outstanding or prevailing as Rose's, so it's up to Wall to prove that was a fluke and that he can lead an underwhelming team into playoff contention right away ... like Rose. What better measuring tool is there to compare two insanely talented and freakishly athletic freshmen point guards who played under the same head coach within a three year span? I guess lightning does strike twice, albeit once in Memphis and once in Lexington.
Derrick Rose - 6'3", 190 lb.
2009-2010 with Chicago Bulls
36.8 minutes, 20.8 points (48.9% FG, 26.7% 3PT, 76.6% FT), 3.7 rebounds, 6 assists, .3 blocks, .7 steals, 2.8 TOs
Here's the bottom line: John Wall is guaranteed to be a stud. He was simply already an NBA caliber player his senior year in high school. His style of play is tailor-made for the more wide-open pro game with limited zoning. He's got as quick a first step as you can find and he always has purpose with the ball. I know he has a turnover problem; everyone knows that. But so does Steve Nash, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Kobe Bryant. So the TOs aren't an indication of any sizable flaw in his game; he just has to figure out how to utilize his teammates the right way over time and those lost possessions will naturally shrink. While obviously not against the greatest competition, Wall averaged 23.5 points, 7.8 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 2.5 steals in four summer league games. That's a sick pro platform to jump off of.
Now all that remains to be seen is how Flip Saunders tries to mesh Gilbert Arenas and Wall in the offense together. The entire guard rotation comprises of the two aforementioned players plus Kirk Hinrich and Nick Young; so John's going to get heavy clock from day one, most likely starting every game unless something terrible happens. I swore off believing in Arenas' ability to be a quality teammate in the future, but I'm forced to root for him being a positive influence in the career of UK's first number one overall NBA Draft pick ever. Everybody's eyes are gonna be on Wall in the nation's capital. He's gonna have to balance putting in the time practicing his 3-pointers with all of Barack Obama's personal texts, but he'll make it work. He's made for this.
... and do the John Wall.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Potluck Post 6/12/10
I thoroughly enjoy Thank Me Later. I wrote a pretty harsh column on the notion of Drake ruining a good thing by becoming popular. And while many of those points still ring true in the contextual sense of commercial reception, I've had a personal 180 on my opinion of the dude. My roommate at school has met Drake four separate times and still holds that the kid is a genuinely nice person. What further standards can I act self-righteous enough to hold another artist to? Drake has his style and raps about what he wants to rap about. He doesn't try to hide that he intentionally makes certain kinds of records. He has the arrogant boi-1da street banger. He has the Kanye-helmed 808s-esque singing joint. He has the career(-so-far)-reflecting album closer. But he still goes out and makes music. And at this point, I'm just glad that the album doesn't feature Gudda Gudda or Lil' Twist. "Fancy" is the only cut that I'm inclined to say outright sucks, but that might be more so because of my utter distaste of all post-DMX Swizzy. So while Thank Me Later may not strike me as perfectly as Man on the Moon did a year ago, I've still spun this leak endlessly with genuine enjoyment and will be shelling out a purchase on opening week. After seeing him in concert and having a crazy good time, I have a legit investment in his career. So here's hoping that he throws a great pre-Draft party for my UK boys.
Speaking of the future greatest point guard ever ... I hope John Wall saves the Wizards. It's guaranteed that they will take him with the very first pick and though I'm inclined to believe that a Wall-Arenas backcourt wouldn't be optimal, John'll make it work. I just think Gil is kinda the one player in the entire league who wouldn't be content deferring at times to a player of Wall's magnitude for the good of the team. He's kind of annoying like that. All future Wizards decisions must be made knowing that the ball needs to be in J's hands as much as humanly possible, whenever he wants, so he can get NBA-adjusted in the first 15 or so games of the season. I don't know if they have enough talent to compete for the playoffs after their roster implosion last year, but I wouldn't be surprised if John found a way to sneak them in there. It is the East after all. And staying with the Cats ... whoever doesn't pick up Demarcus Cousins in the proceeding draft picks after J will innately regret it down the road. His body is the perfect NBA big man prototype that you can never find with an aggressive attitude mixed in. He will not only be an immediate contributer, but he'll be an all-star within three years with KG, Duncan, and the last remaining '90s bigs on their ways out. Neither Favors nor Monroe nor anyone else from this class who was not a Kentucky Wildcat will be able to compete with Cousins' career. If an NBA GM is dumb enough to skip over Boogie because of his perceived attitude problem, then they won't matter anyways because they'll be promptly fired once he hits his professional stride. That's a guarantee in my book. Quote me.
I cannot believe we got Terrence Jones. When dude came for a visit forever back for the Blue-White game, I sat at a table with him and John Wall (who was destroying way too many crab legs from Hooters) while we watched the Bulls and Spurs play on TV. That's the first time I understood why J came to Kentucky hands down (he sweats Derrick Rose like none other) and the time that I gave up on TJ committing to UK. The kid was as nice as possible and became a personal favorite of mine after admitting he was a Laker fan even though he lives in Portland, but I could just tell how insanely homesick he was just from spending a single weekend that far away from his home. He was talking about all of his other scheduled visits and he wasn't even looking at another school that wasn't plastered right on the Pacific coastline. So I had him pegged for Washington and told everyone confidently so for that day forth. Little did I know the commotion that would come due to that decision so many months later. From now on I'll just firmly entrust all my recruiting worries in Coach Cal's hands. He's infallibly great at selling his offensive system, the tradition of the school, and his professional track record. No one thought this 2010-2011 roster could possibly look so great after our mass early departures, but Coach Cal had his plan all along. Since every single potential LeBron destination is filling out its coaching position without a genuine Calipari scoping (no matter what Adrian Wojnarowski keeps making up), it's safe to say that our all-time 2011 recruiting class will remain intact as well and we will see an unprecedented level of talent funnel through my great University. It's a good time to be a Wildcat fan. There will be no violations on our books. There will only be similarly immaculate 3(or less)-loss seasons.
I have said it before and will hold to the fact that I think Kobe Bryant is the greatest basketball player of all time. The NBA Finals is currently tied 2-2, but I fully expect the Lake Show to pull it out. Kobe's skill set is so vastly superior to any player ever, plus he adds to it unrelentingly on a yearly basis. His long range prowess is what notches him above MJ in my book. Here's exhibit A. He still can be a slasher whenever it's in the game plan, but his midrange game and the billion ways he can get a quality look off is where his natural dominance has lied in the last seven or so years. But I don't need to regurgitate everything you already know about Mr. Bryant. I just wanted to remind you that he is now one of the ultimate and prolific winners in NBA history. Besides his late game heroics (having that reputation cemented with seven game winners this year) in general, he's now made his way to the Finals for the seventh time representing the Western Conference. And in case you haven't watched any professional basketball since Michael Jordan retired, the West has been the far stronger conference in each of those instances. In hopefully capturing his fifth title within the next week, how can anyone deny Kobe's resume? Do you actually remember that there was a discussion as to whether Kobe or T-Mac was the premier wing in the league only five years ago? It was a misguided argument back then that has turned into a psychotic one now. Kobe's run of playoff vengeance this year has been nothing short of brilliant and awe-inspiring. I'll be watching the next two or three games praying that he finishes off his first hand in rings finally.
Lastly, I just wanted to say that the Kanye West comeback will be epic. There's no way around it. This guy is most prolific commercially viable rap artist ever. With his new single "Power", he's continued his constantly evolving sound that never ceases to impress and push boundaries. He's completely unpredictable and no one but the G.O.O.D. Music family and certain guys like Premo know what to expect from his full-length return to rapping, A Good Ass Job. I just know it will be great. His catalogue ensures so. He literally cares what no one thinks about the next direction he takes because he knows the masses will eat it up. It's encoded in his DNA. The man is a legend. Now and for as long as he graces us with his creative genius.
... and do the John Wall.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
You Don't Know What You're Talking About
Alright, now I'm pissed. This story has been so slanted and misreported that my neurons are in a tizzy. Now I just gotta flex poetic on the subject for a minute and get all this crap off my chest, because I gotta let you know that I've probably followed the story closer than you have. And as long as Pat Forde is spewing bull ish on the world wide leader of sports about every subject he can have an ill-conceived opinion over (besides Rick Pitino, of course), you've been misinformed.
John Calipari did literally nothing wrong in his dealings with Derrick Rose, nor anything different than any other coach in the country would have done with the information he was given. And you're a gun-jumping prick if you think you know otherwise.
Now let's also set the general record straight. The University of Memphis didn't even do anything wrong in their dealings with Derrick Rose. You got that? The entire burden of blame should be placed solely on the NCAA Clearinghouse and they should have reported their actions and ruling timelines in a more clear and distinctive fashion than the general accusatory press reports that were actually released. I'll now make my individual points.
1) Derrick Rose was never even proven to have cheated on his SAT exam. It only came under investigation after it was found that he strangely signed up to take the national exam in the city of Detroit after failing it in his hometown of Chicago three times as an underclassman. His reason for taking it in Detroit was that he was already planning on going to the Palace of Auburn Hill to see his hometown Bulls play against the Pistons in 2007 and he was running out of opportunities to take the SAT before college deadlines. Even then, there was only a single handwriting guru who questioned the legitimacy of his test, not a panel who explicitly invalidated it. Rose, though already in the NBA and free of any personal consequences were he to admit anything either way, maintains that he himself took the test and here's his official legal quote: "It is satisfying to see that the NCAA could find no wrongdoing on my part in their ruling. It is important for people to understand that I complied of everything that was asked of me while at the university, including my full cooperation in the university's investigation of this issue, and was ultimately cleared to play in the entire 2007-08 season by the NCAA Clearinghouse and the university. I look forward to putting this behind me." So let's get this clear in everyone's mind ... there is no actual proof that Derrick Rose had another person take his SAT for him.
2) Derrick Rose was cleared by the NCAA Clearinghouse who looks into and validates all incoming college athletes as being eligible to play. What John Calipari and the University of Memphis athletic department knew from the NCAA going into the actual season was that there was a pending investigation to take place looking into Rose's SAT matter. But since Rose maintained that he was innocent and that nothing would be found of his guilt if an investigation was even to occur, Calipari decided to play him. So what happened was that Rose played the entire season and the NCAA never mentioned another word about the situation. The Memphis Tigers played out the season up until April 7, 2008, when they lost to the Kansas Jayhawks in the NCAA Championship game. The Tigers couldn't make free throws, fans were pissed, and Calipari was disappointed that he let another chance at a title slip away. It was only then that something funny happened. Rose's final attempt at the SAT exam, and his only passing grade, was canceled by the NCAA's Educational Testing Service. In May of 2008. After the entire season was over. The University of Memphis then got an official notice that Derrick Rose, the point guard who had already waived the remaining three years of his college eligibility to enter the next month's NBA draft, was now ruled academically ineligible. Does anybody see the slight issue of culpability there?
3) Derrick Rose was ranked by Rivals as the third best prospect in all of high school basketball and Scout as the fifth best. Both had him as the consensus top point guard. Something that was also consensus was that Rose didn't care about earning his college degree. He was labeled as a one-and-done player from the get-go who would have gone straight to the NBA if he was allowed to. Yet he was forced to either play one season of college basketball or, as then unprecedented, go overseas into a professional league. Rose, like fellow incoming freshmen Michael Beasley, O.J. Mayo, Kevin Love, Eric Gordon, Jarryd Bayless, Donte Greene, and Bill Walker, decided to sweat it out one season in the collegiate ranks and see how far they could spark their respective rental ball clubs in the 2007-2008 season. Now boggle your brain for a second and ponder if your respective team's coach could land a top five recruit with whom he knew the clock was ticking on his stay there, yet would have the audacity to not play him over a non-solid investigation sitting on the NCAA's desk that they may or may not even look into and rule on before your player has his name called as the number one overall draft pick in the pros. Do you think your coach would choose to not play maybe the most talented player in all of college basketball after the NCAA Clearinghouse has officially declared him eligible and continually allows him to suit up and play every single game of the entire season? Do you? Seriously, answer that.
4) The charges from here on out became a legal wording formality that the NCAA selectively chooses to enforce. Though Rose was never proven to have actually cheated on his SAT, the mere fact that it was canceled (even a year later) meant that Rose was retroactively ineligible to play. And by NCAA rule, no matter when it's processed, the games that a player who is found ineligible plays in have to be stricken from the record books. As Rose stood by his innocence in the matter, the University of Memphis could have acted in no other foreseeable way. They treated him as the legitimate student athlete that he was ruled as for his entire one year tenure. But this is where the bothersome hypocrisy comes into place. The NCAA has ongoing investigations on other student athletes from prominent colleges that they've either not enforced the same rules or inexplicably left open with no imminent consequences. Corey Maggette from the hallowed Duke University has admitted that he took large cash payments from a former AAU coach and crack dealer during his one and only year in college in which he played in the national title game. Even the man who gave him money admitted so under oath. Yet Duke's 1999 Runner-Up banner still waves with no sign of ever coming down, even though accepting cash in that fashion explicitly rules that player as ineligible to play in college athletics whatsoever. Then there's the case of former Kansas Jayhawk Darrell Arthur who was recently confirmed to have had his grades changed on the eve of two high school state championship games to prevent his record from showing that he was failing out. He was never even academically eligible to graduate from South Oak Cliff High School if it weren't for the instantaneous, adamant rewritings of his transcript. Yet he still played two entire seasons in college, including the championship game opposite Derrick Rose, and Kansas is in no danger of ever suffering any ramifications from it. Shouldn't he be retroactively ineligible since he had a falsified high school diploma which would have prevented him from entering any university in the summer that he did? I'm not here to tell you if the rules are right or if they're wrong, but I am here to share with you that the NCAA pretends that these kinds of issues are black and white when, in fact, they favor certain situations, programs, or players over others of the same.
I'll prolly do another whole post about Calipari's history that's been labeled as "shady" and how he supposedly jumps to bigger and better jobs as soon as things get rough or an allegation comes up. All I have to say without delving into it any further at this moment is that this man spent eight and nine years respectively at his only other college head coaching gigs. Come on now. The dude ain't Larry Brown, yet.
... but do take my word for it.
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