Links to The Present: November 25th, 2009
2009-11-25
Just a few quick links because I’ve got a paper tonight:
-A quick tour of my awesomely functional new template;
-I can now post headlines with capital letters in them. This was not a stylistic decision. The blog made all capital letters into lowercase ones and I could never figure out why. So there’s a win right there.
-There is now a retweet button. Use it liberally, please.
-Again, no more hidden malicious code. Whoever infected my blog, I hate you a lot. That is all.
-Commenting is much more clean and the template no longer appears to mysteriously swallow comments-a bunch of comments on older posts got freed this morning, so comment away, please.
-It’s still early in the season, but “Kobe works with The Dream” appears to be absolutely destroying “Rondo works with Mark Price” in the “training camp stories that make fans drool” race.
-I am genuinely happy that the Wizards got a win for Abe Pollin tonight. RIP to one of the game’s class acts and great owners.
–50 best dunks list. LeBron’s highest appearance is his flush over Damon Jones at number 16. With Shaq over Chris Dudley at number 9, LeBron isn’t even the highest-ranking Cav. Wade’s flush over Andy comes in at number 6. Not trying to hate, and these lists are obviously subjective, but when the 12th-best dunk makes me think “Man, Amare doesn’t have the hops he used to,” there might be an issue.
-Shaq is reportedly hoping to come back to the lineup on Wednesday.
-Very interesting article by Sports Illustrated’s Chris Ballard about why LeBron should take the minimum salary next season. Not going to happen, but interesting.
-Cavs get to face John Kuester and Ben Wallace tomorrow night! I honestly have missed pre-injury Ben Wallace at both ends of the floor this season. Full post on this possible, but I’m really happy that Ben is continuing to have success in Detroit.
-Another one of those things I went and forgot I’m supposed to care about: the LeBron mural controversy. My thing is that I just don’t like that whole reptile-skin thing or whatever it is. Hated that Adrian Peterson ad, don’t like it on a mural. Makes LeBron look like a character from V. If there’s going to be a mural, let’s have it be for a cooler ad campaign.
-From the “I completely and totally agree with Brian Windhorst” files:
“One problem that is clear right now, though, is West and it has nothing to do with off court issues. There isn’t a place for him in Brown’s rotation at the moment. The coach is facing the matter of whether to reduce others’ playing time to integrate West back in or move on without him because he can’t be trusted to be there.
This is a tough one. In my opinion, the Cavs are going to need West near his old self to get where they need to go. He’s too important defensively and to versatile to think he’s only a part-time player. But how do you even consider getting him back to that level without committing to playing him at least 25 minutes. It isn’t fair otherwise.”
I mean, all of that is absolutely and completely correct.
-It’s not looking good for LBJ’s public image in terms of the “I want to retire MJ’s number and wear Bill Russell’s” thing. My best argument is that MJ is identified by his number more than any other pro athlete, and certainly more so than Russell, but it’s tough to make a particularly compelling argument as to why his is the only jersey that should be retired. #99 in hockey is a decent precedent, but #42 in baseball is a much better one, in my opinion.
-Steph Curry won the game for a short-handed Warrior team down the stretch tonight. Is it wrong that I already think of him as the poor man’s Brandon Jennings?
-Alright, that’s all for tonight. Game tomorrow, get excited.
It appears as if the Cavs (Mike Brown) have already decided to move on without Delonte, which makes me believe that someone like Stackhouse may be on the horizon for the Cavs.
I really think they have to do a trial by fire with Delonte at this point the same way they did with Hickson. Start him instead of Parker. Parker is enough of a professional and a veteran (hopefully) that he can deal with coming off the bench, which he was intended to do anyway, I think. LeBron is the best person Delonte can be on the floor with to get his confidence up. It’s just like we have seen the reverse happening with AV and what we saw with Z when he was on the bench – LeBron makes the… Read more »
Windhorst’s point is spot on. Delonte is really important to this team when he is at his best, but whose minutes are you going to take away when the guys in front of him have been playing well, and Delonte hasn’t really when he has gotten in? I always thought Mike Brown struggled with finding a good rotation, but this is a really tough situation. Can’t wait to see what happens when Leon Powe comes back….
alright! i can access the site from work again. nice new scheme and retweet button. i second the hatred for the malicious code-bringer.