Welcome to The Basketball Chat. Every week, Mike Slane, co-founder of ElevationMag.com and myself will chat about the latest news in the NBA. We'll take a look at players and teams, as well as any trades, suspensions, and other NBA happenings.
Dennis: Happy New Year, faithful readers! The Basketball Chat is back in the O-7 and we're going to come at you stronger than ever before! I'm Dennis, my partner is Mike Slane from ElevationMag.com and NBA.com and like MC Hammer used to say back in the early 90's - Let's get it started!!!
With the new year comes the old ball. Yes, folks, the new old balls are back and gone is the composite basketball many of the players were using for the past two months. How much will this switch affect the game, if at all? What do you think, Slane?
Mike: I think that the NBA should have kept the composite balls around at least until the end of the season. I don't think the switch will affect players for more than a few games or practices, but just the fact that players have to adjust twice in one season is pretty ridiculous. But like I've said before, if going back to leather makes the players happy and will stop the complaining, then it was the right decision. However, I am now hearing complaints about switching back. There's never a point where everyone is going to be happy with everything in this league.
Dennis: Yeah, all I have to say is Doc Rivers - get over it!!! He's been the most vocal about the old switcheroo because the Boston Celtics were the first team that needed to adjust with back-to-back games on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. We're talking about professional players here that get paid millions of dollars and they'll do what they have to.
As far as the switch itself, I think it was the right move to do basically right away after a lot of complaints from the players. And I still think that while they would complain, the players would have played the whole season with the composite ball if need be. But, it makes sense to change right away if you're going to use the leather ball not only for the rest of this season, but the seasons moving forward. At the very least there defiinitely needed to be a consistent feel by the time the playoffs come around. So, despite the DOC in the BOS, I'm happy the change happened, but not as much as players such as LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal.
Okay, Mike, since this is a new year there are resolutions that will be made and probably broken next week when hunger pangs become unbearable and nicotine dependence makes one shake. How about we talk about five teams and the resolutions that WE have for them. I'll let you go first and we'll go back and forth like a tennis match. Serve.
Mike: The New York Knicks. As the loyal readers probably know by now, I can't stand Isiah Thomas and what he's done to the team. So I'd have to say that the Knicks' resolution should be to avoid a losing streak to start the new year, and, if or should I say WHEN their playoff hopes are officially dead, give Isiah the boot. Also, the Knicks should consider playing David Lee more, especially alongside Eddy Curry. Curry isn't the best rebounder, so Lee needs to pick up the slack, which he has.
Dennis: Yeah, I'm a big fan of David Lee, a New York kind of guy. In any case, someone that I'm NOT a big fan of anymore is Carmelo Anthony. After his sucker punch in the media capital of the world, New York City, Anthony will need to work HARD to build his rep again, but it'll be the second time he'll be doing it. Can he do it again? Well, you know what makes everyone forget about scandals and bad behavior? Winning. So, for the Denver Nuggets sake, as well as 'Melo's, the resolution I have for them is that Anthony and Allen Iverson can co-exist successfully in the high altitudes of Denver. Because if they can and J.R. Smith remains a consistent perimeter shooter as he's shown before his suspension for his part in the MSG Brawl, the Nuggets could go very high and very far in the playoffs.
Mike: If 'Melo and Iverson can coexist in Denver, people will forget about the punch. The Iverson trade alone made some people already forget about it.
Let's move on to something positive, and what's more positive this season than Gilbert Arenas and the Washington Wizards? The rate Washington is going right now, I could see the Wizards finishing the season with the best record in the East. So my resolution for Washington is to continue playing at the same level in the new year and that Arenas gets some fair MVP considerations.
Dennis: You know what, let's continue with the positivity and this team I'm about to mention REALLY needs all the positivity it can get. I'm talking about the Charlotte Bobcats. They've pretty much gotten some HUGE wins and have been giant-killers, beating the San Antonio Spurs, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Utah Jazz, Los Angeles Lakers, Indiana Pacers, and the Orlando Magic when they were going good. My resolution for them is to get everyone healthy and play up to their talent level... against everyone. There are some good things to look forward to for the Bobcats, such as a high pick in the draft in June and getting a chance to take Greg Oden or Kevin Durant, but seriously, this is a young team in a season or two that can become a pretty damn good team.
