Top 5 NBA players having HUGE breakout seasons VERY quietly

These are the guys I think are getting glanced over as hugely important cogs in their respective machines. These are the players who we held little or no expectations for being impact players this season. For this criteria, I've excluded guys like Kevin Martin and David Lee (sorry Preacher) because they started showing definite signs towards the end of last year. Many times, an emergence is caused by coaching and/or personnel changes which is not unimportant to consider. With this in mind, I've ranked the following players in order of who I can see maintaining and building on their currently unexpected success...

5.) Jason Kapono (Miami Heat) - As far as Kapono goes, I'm putting him on this list based on what he's done in the past month. The Heat have been ravaged by injury and have been forced to start and play him about 32 minutes a night. I saw the very beginning of this surge in person when the Heat played the Bulls on December 27th. I was amazed at his ability to move in transition, create space for himself and constantly hit open jumpers. For me, Kapono has always been one of those UCLA standouts (much like Ed O'Bannon and Dan Gadzuric before him) that seemed destined to ride the pine in the NBA. I've always thought UCLA fields competitive teams without having next level superstar talent (Baron Davis being the notable can't miss exception). Well, Kapono has made the most of his recent opportunity and might have me turned around on my whole theory. In the past month, he’s averaging 2.3 treys, 14.4 ppg, 3.4 rpg while shooting .553 from the field and .833 from the line. Not half bad.

4.) Leandro Barbosa (Phoenix Suns) - We've all been aware of the OTHER point guard in Phoenix for a couple of years. You know, the guy from Brazil with the quicks? Well, he's finally cemented himself as the most recent breakout star for the Suns. He's the new Raja Bell, hitting 2 treys a game. He's the new Boris Diaw, the utility man filling the lanes. I'm fully aware that Little Stevie Nash is a huge reason why Barbosa is blossoming into a fully realized PG, but I also think we’ve also got to give him credit for his improved stroke from downtown. This year he's having the best year of his career averaging 16.4 ppg, 4.2 apg 1.1 spg. I think it's going to be real interesting to see what he could command on the open market or if he realizes that being Nash's backup/backcourt mate is a pretty cushy job. Either way, I think he's made his splash as a viable NBA commodity.

3.) Monta Ellis (Golden State Warriors) - I remember this guy primarily as the high school kid who arrived in the Bay Area around the same time I did in the summer of 2005. The Warriors took a flyer on him late in the draft even though early estimates projected him as a late first round pick. Mike Montgomery was then hesitant to give him any meaningful minutes early on. I remember him looking undersized and unsure of himself in his sparse playing time. However when Baron Davis went down in February, Ellis logged more time on the court and played decently at best.

While I'm not a huge Don Nelson guy, I do applaud him for getting the most out of his players. He came in during the off season and surmised the talent on his roster accurately (as manifested in last weeks robbery of a trade with the Pacers). Matt Barnes and Andris Biedrens have both emerged from the bench to become solid role players, which is to Nellie's credit, but his finest job was handing the keys to Ellis when BD is off the floor. You can see the confidence growing with each passing game as he carves through the lane either scoring, distributing the basketball or getting to the charity stripe. He's averaging 17.7 ppg, 4.2 apg and 1.3 spg all the while shooting .471 from the field. I believe that if he can cut down on turnovers and acquire consistent outside range, he's a potential All-Star down the road.

2.) Brandon Roy (Portland Trailblazers) - Since the Pacific Northwest is about as far away from my basketball consciousness as possible without leaving the country, it goes without saying that I didn't know much about this Washington star. I've always gotten him mixed up with Randy Foye for some reason. So naturally, I gave up when then they both got drafted right next to each other in June. (On a sidenote, the same thing happened with me for Jason Richardson and Richard Jefferson. It took me two years to get them straight.) Anyways, Roy was injured for over a month to begin the season while a young Trailblazers team struggled for its identity. Since his return, he's been the steadiest and most promising part of that team. Despite starting only two of his first 22 games, he’s averaging 14.7 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 3.0 apg and 1.3 spg. I’m guessing it's going to be a lot easier to remember him after this rookie campaign.

1.) Deron Williams (Utah Jazz) - I'll admit, I've liked this guy since that 2004-05 Illini basketball season. Just a competitive SOB who has great floor vision, toughness and a knack for hitting big shots. I think I'm not alone here which is why his breakout sophomore season is probably the least quiet thing on this list. But let's be completely fair, how can you not buzz about 16.7 ppg, 9.1 apg and 1.2 spg? Since he's in Utah, people love drawing the Stockton comparisons and I don’t think that's entirely out of the question. Both play a stellar, physical brand of defense in the back court. Both are great shooters with great range. Both have/had a chip on their shoulder. I honestly believe that if Williams stays healthy and Utah keeps that Boozer, AK47 and Okur nucleus... they might be hoisting #8 in the rafters in 20 years.

File This Under: In Case You Missed It

I don't really have anything to add to this. Just one of those videos you gotta share...

The Day After...

Since there will be two weeks of non-stop coverage for Super Bowl XLI and it seems entirely possible that it could drive me absolutely insane, I figured I’d just say a couple things now and just do my best to put it out of mind until Feburary 4th. So this is all I’m going to write about the Bears until then. I’m obviously excited. I’m obviously grateful. I’m also obviously going to grow a mustache for the Big Game. These are givens. But what seems just out of reach, what I can’t really wrap my mind around is how everything went down the way it did. The sack on Brees as the fumble squirted down the field. Robbie Gould making things count. Reggie Bush taunting Urlacher before leaping into the endzone. The Safety. The snow falling as it began to sink in. Bernard Berrian rolling backwards into a touchdown. Everything about it is crystalized in my memory. The most complete Sunday afternoon of them all.

I decided to watch the game over at Bauer’s place a couple of blocks away. I figured in the event that we lost, I could just turn my phone off and sulk back to my place, turn off the lights and remain in the fetal position for a few days. On Sunday morning, I woke up at 7:30am and just watched the snow fall for about an hour. Silent. It was possibly the most anxious I’ve ever felt when I didn’t have something important I was actually going to be doing (after all, I’d just be sitting and drinking for the lion’s share of the day). So even though I only got 5 hours of sleep, I felt good. Ready. As I brushed my teeth, I turned on the radio and I’m informed of these three facts: The Bears have practiced all week outdoors. The Saints have practiced all week indoors. It’s going to be 20 degrees at kickoff with high probabilities for snow and freezing rain. I watched my Bears 85 tape and did some breathing exercises. I played Madden. Virtual Grossman looked ready. That was a good enough sign for me.

To be honest, the actual game felt like a lucid dream. It felt like it took 30 minutes to play even though my mind knows it took much longer, the same way a dream plays with your ability to accurately recall time once you wake up. I was emotionally drained after the final seconds ticked off the clock. I spent the next hour flipping between the Pats/Colts game and the Bears Postgame show. Nothing seemed real. I had a head full of good beer and bourbon and a couch to myself. I melted into the moment. After Asante Samuel did a pick-6 to put the Patriots up 21-3 before the end of the half I began to nod off. I dreamt about a Super Bowl XX rematch and how great it would be to vanquish New England again. To roll them up again, a lot to a little. To stamp out the dynasty once and for all. To put an end to the well documented Brady/Belichick big game genius party. I woke up in the 4th quarter to a tie ballgame, rubbed my eyes and then watched the Colts finish ‘em off.

So here I am, a day later. Still not sure what to do with myself. And now I gotta grow a healthy aversion for Peyton Manning out of a pre-existing casual indifference. It’s really too bad. He seems like such a nice fella in all those commercials. Such is life.
Go Bears.

America's Team lives in Chicago

Alright. Friday is finally here and I can't hold back any longer. I've spent that last five days pacing around my studio apartment slowly going insane. The Bears are about to play in their most important game since I was 8 years old and I've tried everything to distract myself. I wrote about the Seahawks game to take my mind off it. I've watched every Bulls game this week for good measure. I've surrounded myself with friends every night (when I'm usually most comfortable just relaxing by myself with a movie most nights). I promised myself I wouldn't listen to sportstalk radio, but found it decidedly impossible. Now, just 48 hours until "The Game"... I think I can finally talk about it.

I am so sick and tired of hearing about how shitty a quarterback Rex Grossman is. He's not shitty, he's INCONSISTENT. That's what happens when you're still green (one full season under his belt), have a great deep ball but not great decision making with underneath throws and you play in an icebox with swirling wind. He's not Joe Montana or John Elway, but he’s also not Rick Mirer or Jim Miller. But that's the beautiful thing about the media scrutiny facing NFL quarterbacks, it's unapologetic and mostly for shit. The media has an agenda of turning fresh faces into football royalty after only 4 or 5 games. Just this season we had Tony Romo, Phillip Rivers and Rex Grossman. Each have good-to-great defenses, strong running games and solid coaching staffs. Um, can we hold off on the Hall of Fame comparisons? You know, just until something happens.

I almost fell off my barstool when John Madden compared a Rex Grossman TD pass on Sunday Night Football against the Seahawks as, "Something a young Brett Farve woulda thrown". IT WAS WEEK FUCKING FOUR!!! STOP COMPARING HIM TO FUTURE HALL OF FAMERS!!! I'm a huge stickler for this when it comes to hoops. I'm OK with an announcer saying a play or performance was "Jordan-esque", but under no circumstance can you directly compare the two. It's reckless. It creates unnatural expectations. And it's exactly what happened to Rex this year.

I suppose I should be a little more game specific and not bitch and rehash old sentiments, but I think it ties in nicely with how I feel about the upcoming game. For as much attention as the Saints get on offense, what gets a little lost is their defense. They allowed 128.9 yards a game on the ground this year. In their division, only the Falcons had a decent running game (and I stress decent). They’re just numbers, I know. But here's what I feel. The Bears have gotten over that hump and finally won their first home playoff game since the Ditka years. They have a very formidable one-two punch of their own in the backfield and a quarterback that loves dropping the deep ball into the soft hands of speedy receivers on rushing downs. If the Bears can successfully establish a running game, I think the field opens up for Rex and that makes a huge difference for him. Spot the Bears defense a ten point lead in the second half and I’m supremely confident, no matter who they line up against.

So, after some reflection. I think Rex will have a good game (230 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT) and Urlacher and Co. will do the rest. Bears 31, Saints 17.

Lovie-fest?

Others would have you believe that Chicago is the capital of the sports universe.

We haven't set foot outside of the Loop in the infancy of this blog. Honestly, it's hard to argue this when the Bears are hosting their first National Football Conference championship game since Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. topped the Billboard charts. And no, I'm not gonna DOOO, what you think I'm gonna DOOO, and discuss what it felt like the last time the Packers hosted the game.

I can't blame the kid. There's nothing quite like carrying the knowledge that one home game separates the [insert your favorite here] from an immediate opportunity to compete for a prize as coveted as the Vince Lombardi Trophy. The first two days after the divisional round is still a time for accepting tangibility and reality of the damn thing. Then, more and more, you find yourself visiting that place in your conscious thought. You retreat to the depths of your mind, nurture those feelings. Caress them. Without knowing how, by the time Thursday evening, you've transformed from Smaegol to Gollum. The thoughts consume the entirety of your being. Your constant companion.

It is in the throes of this remarkable transformation that my counterpart communicated to me a phrase that crystallized what a Chicago Bears fan, any Chicago Bears fan, is sensing at 4:08 p.m. on Wednesday, the 17th day of January, 2007: "I meditate a lot to forget about the physical realm."

Where you must mentally prepare for any result, except a tie. "A tie," the AOL Instant Messenger prophesied "is unacceptable."

Cold reason alternatively competing with the essence of irrationality. Or maybe it is the other way around.

I envy completely such a football fan.

That said, Chicago, this Sunday the New Orleans Saints will be the Copernicus to your Aristotle. And you thought this blog was going to continue to be a strange combination of "Tuesdays with Morrie", "Field of Dreams", and "Fever Pitch" (the movie that sullied a World Series 86 years in the making).

He is the Walrus

I haven't always loathed the Seattle Seahawks. In fact, some of my earliest memories of watching football involved the gun slinging and entirely likable underdogs of the AFC West led by Dave Kreig, Steve Largent, and Curt Warner. My Pop Warner team was even nicknamed the Seahawks.

Notwithstanding any residual nostalgia of my youth, it's been personal since January 8, 1999.

It's not about the decision to transform their uniforms into something that is FUBAR. It's not about their post-realignment move to the NFC. It's not about pawning off one of the most cherished college football traditions as their own (in a stadium named after a horizontally integrated communications company in the Pacific Northwest, no less). It's certainly not about Matt Hasselbeck (bless his soul, the act isn't even comical anymore, its just irritating at this point).

The YouTube video featured in a previous post may actually have a little to do with it.

But mostly, the seminal event of my hatred is the day that Mike Holmgren resigned as head coach of the Green Bay Packers to accept a position as Head Coach/General Manager/Vice President of Football Operations with the Seahawks. I think they even threw in some canned sardines and a belly rub.

I know, I know. I'm well aware of the depth of my ingratitude. After all, the man put the "Title" back into Titletown, USA.

The one thing that I can't and won't ever forgive is the opportunity to make the Packers of the late 20th Century a historically significant team. Instead, we became the flock without a shepherd. He abandoned us. He abandoned Brett Favre at the peak of his remarkable career. He is directly responsible for the appointment of Mike Sherman as the Packers general manager (I have no doubt the Packers brass did this to spite Holmgren after his departure).

I remember his return to Lambeau Field the following season on a Monday Night in November. To see him on the opposing sideline, wearing another team's colors, is something that still, almost eight years later, induces mild nausea. The Packers were soundly beaten that night, 27-7, in a fitting summation of what it was like to have Ray Rhodes holding the clipboard.

"See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they fly."

It is for this that I delight in their failures (see: Holmgren's embarrassing post-Super Bowl tirade at the refs). I actively pull for their opponent every week of the season. Even this week, I back our oldest rivals, the Bears. This Sunday, I look forward to watching a wide-open Jerramy Stevens drop perfectly thrown passes. I will toast Brian Urlacher when he separates Matt Hasselbeck's helmet from his head. And I applaud any Bears fan that embarks to Soldier Field and brings with them fresh mackerel and chum. Mike might get hungry on the plane ride back to the aquarium...umm...Seattle.

Matt Hasselbeck and the Hawks: Assclowns on Parade

I chose to jump off with this clip (which I watch at least twice a day to pile on my contempt for the Seahawks) because Benny and I have some common ground here. We both think Matt Hasselbeck is a huge Sally. Now, as a quarterback, he's entirely adequate. He had a career year in 2005 because Shaun Alexander was stacking up touchdowns, kicking down doors and smacking babies at they Christening. But I feel like people forget this because LDT one-upped him this year for the season TD record and Alexander struggled with injuries. The point is, Hasselbeck was picking apart each secondary he faced because that's what they were giving him. Eight men in the box, stop the TD machine, make Hasselbeck beat us. And it happened to the tune of a 13-3 season.

Thing is, that was LAST YEAR. This is a hugely inferior team to the one they put on the field just 12 months ago. Honestly, they limp into the playoffs (losing 3 of 4 including a loss to division rival 49ers AT HOME) and win their Wild Card game on a flub. And while it's a wonderful story that they went to the Super Bowl last year, I seriously doubt running out two hobbled wideouts and handing the ball off to Alexander 50 times on Sunday is going to advance them down the road. In conclusion, Hasselbeck is wildly overrated even though he "wants the ball and he's gunna score".