Hibachi!

Gilbert Arenas. Sixty points. Staples Center.

HIbachi!

Enough said.

21 for 21

Sports Illustrated just came out with its list of 50 highest-paid active players in the NBA.

Topping the list is Minesotta's Kevin Garnett, who is being paid $21 million this year. As the Timberwolves' fans know, he's worth every penny. He plays hard every night, doesn't complain, and is a consistent double-double guy.

A winner who, unfortunately, hasn't really won anything, Garnett is nonetheless the stuff David Stern's dreams are made of-- a great player, decent human being, and a source of great PR.

I really hope TWolves GM Kevin Mchale gets his act together. Go get Iverson. Go get anyone who'll help KG win a championship. He already has the cash. Just get him the bling.

1,000

Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan got his 1,000th win yesterday at the expense of one of the best (if not the best) games in the L-- the Dallas Mavericks. A great way to get it-- against a great team in your home court.

Sloan is the longest-tenured coach in the NBA, with good reason. I think he's only missed the playoffs once or twice as head coach of the Jazz, but both times I believe they had a .500 record. Despite this, and bringing the Jazz to the NBA Finals two straight years, he's never won the Coach of the Year (COY) Award. A real crime.

Today the Jazz are one of the L's hottest teams, playing with a consistency that other teams are desperately searching for. If they win 55 plus games this year, count on Sloan bein named COY.

It Takes Five

It's rare for sports advertising campaigns to really harp on the good values of the game. Most of the time, sneaker companies are bent on selling their star players, and, as a consequence, their shoes. You watch Lebron James' Nike commercials, and you see they're all about him-- not the next, as the ad says, the first.

Adidas has gone the completely opposite direction with its "It Takes Five" campaign. They still have the requisite stars selling sneakers-- Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Tracy McGrady, Gilbert Arenas, and Chauncey Billups. But the thrust of the campaign isn't the stars themselves, but a concept these stars are selling-- that it is team ball, not individual greatness, that matters.

Hats off to Adidas and TBWA\Chiat\Day San Francisco for such a cool, relevant ad campaign.

The Sixers Want Greg Oden

Forget the playoffs. Forget that they're literally giving away Allen Iverson for less than his true worth. Forget about being competitive this year. The Philadelphia 76ers have given up for this season. They have a great reason to, and his name is Greg Oden.

Is He The Answer?

For a lot of teams, probably not.

Allen Iverson is a great player, a fierce competitor, a true warrior. He earns every dollar paid him whenever he steps onto the court. Yeah, he doesn't like practices. And yeah, he's a head case. But you can't deny that he is one hell of a friggin' player.

Where should he go, now that Philly doesn't want him? Boston wants him, but the Sixers would be crazy to trade him to a division rival. I mean, can you imagine AI going back to Philly in a Celtics' uniform? He's going to shove it to the Sixers. He's going to make them pay for treating him like crap. So giving him to the Celtics... suicidal.

About the only team with a coach who can handle him is the Lakers. I mean, if Phil Jackson can handle the likes of Dennis Rodman, and the ego of Michael Jordan, he can handle AI. I guarantee it. I don't know if an Iverson-Kobe backcourt will work out, but if anyone can make it work, it's the Phil Jackson.

God, that would be such an ill backcourt.

The Basketball Jones Podcast

One of the advantages of owning an iPod, aside from being able to lug around your whole music collection with you (as well as the music collections of others, he he), is being able to subscribe and listen to podcasts-- radio-shows-on-demand that you can listen to when you want to.

There are thousands of podcasts out there, which tackle every conceivable subject. One of those topics, of course, is basketball. The NBA being as popular as it is, it's not surprising that there are dozens of podcasts there that talk about the L.

The one I listen to? The Basketball Jones, hosted by J.E. Skeets and Tas Melas. It's one of two podcasts I subscribe to, and with good reason. One, they're funny. Two, they know their shit. Three, they're funny. Oh, and did I mention they're funny?

Even if you don't have an iPod, you can listen to them. First, download the latest version of iTunes. Once you have it up and running, go to the iTunes store, which you can connect to using iTunes itself. (Just make sure you're connected to the internet. You can't do this if you're not online. Just making sure. He he.) When you do this, type "The Basketball Jones" in the seach dialog box at the upper right corner of the iTunes window. When you see the podcast's logo, click subscribe, and you'll be able to automatically download episodes of TBJ every time you open iTunes. You can listen to it on your PC, or transfer it to your MP3 player.

Nothing beats the iPod, though. If you're thinking about getting a Zune, forget it. You won't be able to subscribe to ANY podcast.

Just so you know. :)

Grant "not-yet-over-the" Hill

You'd think that after years of dealing with one injury or the other that Grant Hill would call it quits. After all, the guy's made millions practically doing nothing but going in and out of physical rehab.

When I heard that he was going to come back (again!) this year, I thought that he was nuts.

So far, I've been proven wrong.

I watched him against the Suns today and I was impressed. He still moves like he did when he was in Detroit (his best years, in my opinion). Very slick. I mean, his layups just look the same. Good handle, great body control; you know, someone whose game just screams "fundamentally sound."

I just hope his comeback isn't cut short. It would be a darn shame. Grant Hill is one of the NBA's real good guys, and Lord knows, it needs more of them.

First Blood

Recently received an e-mail from NBA Bloggers, a site that "hopes to bring basketball bloggers closer together." The invitation was for my first blog, and although I do blog about the NBA a lot, I felt that putting a blog which tackles various topics-- from the political to the inane-- may turn off readers who go to this blog expecting stuff about the NBA.

To avoid this, I decided to to make a blog exclusively devoted to the L.

I love the NBA, the game, the players. So here's hoping that'll get me blogging about it on a consistent basis.