Funny Photo of the Day

Carmelo? Who needs that guy? Ladies and gentlemen, the Denver Nuggets are now 2-0 since trading away their two best players, taking down the Memphis Grizzlies and Eastern Conference Leading Boston Celtics in back to back games.  Who knows, maybe these new guys are the real deal.  Fortunately for everyone, there's a funny photo thats surfaced since the trade deadline featuring new Nugget Wilson Chandler and here it is.  I call it "Hungry Eyes"  Enjoy.

Florida Basketball....Fantastic! (Once Again)

Its been a long, hard road for Gator fans these past few seasons...well sort of.  Ever since the 2009 SEC Title game where we were embarrassed by Alabama, who not only cut short our undefeated season as well a a shot at back to back titles, but also sent Urban Meyer to a hospital because he stressed so hard, we have yet to taste even remote glory.  I know what all you non-Gator fans are thinking: Shut up! You won four national titles in four years (2 basketball, 2 football in case you didn't know...), stop your whining, and to an extent, you might be right. The fact of the matter is, Gator fans had become accustomed to winning, maybe a little too much (Some people didn't even bother to watch the 2007 NCAA Basketball Championship because they assumed the outcome would be favorable).   As a result, the sting of defeat was extra hard to take as the red carpet was so quickly pulled out from underneath the feet of our entitled fan base.

Since that fateful football game in 2009 against Bama, I think it's safe to say that we have not had a significant win in football OR basketball.  We won (most) of the games we should have won, but whenever the Gators were faced with a marquee game, they always seemed to come up a little short.  This was evidenced ten-fold in basketball over the last few seasons. After the departure of the "Oh Fours" (Noah, Horford, Green and Brewer for those of you who care) UF Basketball found itself back at square one with a complete rebuilding job in store for Billy Donovan.  You have to give this guy credit, he turned down a lucrative NBA deal with a contending team to come back and start over at Florida (I'd like to overlook the fact that he flip-flopped on the Orlando Magic, leaving them high and dry).  Gator fans hardly even blinked.  We had the #1 recruiting class coming in and the swag of winning back to back titles, who really cared if we were starting four true freshman? We were the Gators and winning was in our blood.  Think again...

After beginning the 2007-08 season with a cupcake non-conference schedule, the Gators began conference play with an inflated record and the inflated egos of its' young players.  These guys expected to walk out of the season unscathed, with at least an NCAA tournament bid, but all that changed once the competition got a little more real.  The young Gators (recruiting class that included NBA draft pick Nick Calathes, Chanlder Parsons, Alex Tyus and eventual transfer Jai Lucas) finished with a losing conference record (7-9) including losses the final four conference games, punching their ticket to the NIT for the first time since the mid 1990s and ending Donovan's impressive streak of consecutive tournament appearances.  Things didn't get any better the next two seasons (a second NIT appearance in 2009 and a first round NCAA exit in 2010 at the hands of BYU and Jimmer Fredette in a double-OT thriller), but finally, this 2010-11 Gator team, full of experienced players that have felt the ache of defeat for the last couple of seasons, has started to give Gator fans something to be excited about again.

This year's Gator basketball team has been impressive all season, winning big games at home (Kentucky, Tennessee, Vandy), on the road (Tennessee, Georgia, Florida State), and on a neutral court (Kansas State) and rarely losing when they are supposed to win...we can let that overtime loss in January to Jacksonville slide, I suppose.  Not only has Florida(22-5, 11-2 SEC) locked up its first SEC regular season division title since the "Oh Four's" era (and one win shy of clinching the SEC regular season title outright), but they are poised to be a top seed in this year's tournament. Yes, the Gators have been winning games again, and they have been doing so in exciting fashion.  Six of the team's wins have come by five points or less and four games have gone into overtime this season, including a double overtime barn-burner at Georgia where Erving Walker sent the game into a 2nd overtime by hitting a half-court shot as time expired. They are also winning games because of solid defensive play.  Florida is among the top teams in the conference defensively, allowing a paltry 61.1ppg.  No longer are they living and dying on the three-point line (although that's still a big part of their game).  Battle-tested would be an understatement, these guys are battle-proof, and the experience that comes with winning close games is what deep tournament runs are made of.

Head coach Billy Donovan deserves a ton of credit for the transformation of this team.  You look at his recruiting approach and he never goes for the flashy one-and-done types like Derrick Rose and John Wall.  Instead, Donovan wants recruits who buy into his coaching philosophy and are willing to stay multiple seasons for a chance to really develop and fit into his system.  It doesn't always pay off initially (as we saw in the first 2-3 seasons of his rebuilding process) but now Billy D's Gators are one of the most experienced units heading into March Madness.

 When you look at the starting lineup this year, you begin to see the synergy and camaraderie  that had been lacking since our 2006-07 Championship team.  Chandler Parsons, Alex Tyus, and Vernon Macklin, all seniors, have really matured and Parsons is shoring up his NBA draft stock every game.  This kid is a triple-double threat every night, like a larger, more athletic Evan Turner.  He stretches out defenses like Corey Brewer once did with his outside shooting and hustles to the rim after every shot, often times flying from beyond the arc to grab an important game-changing rebound.  He is the heart of this team (and front-runner for SEC conference player of the year), and the guy whose hands you want with the ball in a big game moment (as evidenced by his two game winning shots last season, one of which was a 3/4-court buzzer beater against NC State).  Then you look at the two underclassmen in the lineup, the sharp shooting duo of junior Erving Walker, and sophomore Kenny Boynton, who can score in flurries at any given time.  These guys have been together for two years now and are finally starting to gel, to understand each others' strengths and weaknesses and to trust each other in close games.

I know it isn't even March yet, but I see big things in store for this Gator team.  They have the experience and a great coach to guide them through the rest of the regular season. The next stop may prove to be the most difficult. This Saturday the team is off to Rupp Arena to take on a struggling Kentucky team that's hungry for a signature win.  The Wildcats has won 32 straight at Rupp and have no intentions of losing on Saturday. This would be yet another huge statement game for the Gators.  A win would effectively say to the rest of the Nation, "We are here, and we aren't going anywhere."  If healthy,  expect those Gator boys' to do some serious damage both in the SEC and NCAA tournaments, and don't be surprised if they are the one's holding up the crystal basketball in April.

Funny Photo of the Day

March Madness is upon us folks and its shaping up to be one of the toughest- to-predict tournaments in recent history (and some random chick will probably end up winning your office pool because she picked the teams based on the color of their jerseys).  In honor of this wonderful time of year, today's photo features a pair of players off of an up and coming team.  I'm talking, of course, about the Florida Gators (who else?).   I like their chances this year, well...as much as a like anyone else's chances anyway.  Who better to represent Billy-D's squad in today's photo other than Winter Park's own Chandler Parsons.  I call today's photo "Dancin' The Night Away."  Enjoy.

Mel-Content.

I think we can all Finally breathe a sigh of relief now that the media-dubbed(and cleverly, might I add) "Melo-Drama" has come to a close. At around 10:00PM last night, after months and months of trials and tribulations, a deal was finally made between the Nuggets, the Knicks, and sort of the Timberwolves.  This blockbuster deal involved 12 players and 3 draft picks...maybe more to come if the Nets get involved.  I don't think this trade could possibly me any more confusing.  I'll just make it easier for you, here's a look at exactly who get's who:
  
Denver Nuggets: G-Raymond Felton, F-Danilio "The Situation" Gallinari, F-Wilson Chandler,C-Timofey Mozgov, 2014 1st Rd Pick, 2013 2nd Rd Pick(From Warriors), 2012 2nd Rd Pick(From Warriors), $3 Million Cash

New York Knicks: G-Chauncey Billups, G-Anthony Carter, F-Carmelo Anthony, F-Corey Brewer, F/C-Shelden Williams, F/C-Renaldo Balkman

Minnesota Timberwolves: C-Anthony Randolph, C-Eddy Curry

 ...and exhale.  There it is, in writing, so we can all see exactly how this deal is going to shake up the league.  Who are the winners?  Who are the losers?  Those are questions for another day.  Since everyone else has decided to focus solely on the Knicks' side of the deal, I am going to do all you Denver fans out there a solid and break down exactly what this trade means to you.  Denver fans; come on, we all knew this outcome was inevitable. Sure, it would have been nice if Melo had stayed in those UCLA-ean blue and yellow colors, but I think that if that were a possibility, Denver would have been all over it.

As disappointing as his departure is, I think we need to look at the silver lining in all of this.  I mean, if the Nugs had decided not to trade the guy, they would essentially have let him walk at the end of the season while receiving nothing in return.  By trading him before the deadline, they ensured that they would at least be getting some useful pieces that could either be used to rebuild the team, or in trades to get other desired players.  Personally, I think the Nuggets' front office deserves a kudos for getting this deal done and here's why.

Raymond Felton has all-star potential.  Is he as good as Melo? Heavens No! He's far from it, but look at what he has done since being traded from the Bobcats (one of the lowest scoring teams in the league) to the Knicks (one of the highest scoring teams).  Since the beginning of this season, Felton has averaged 17pts, 9 assists and nearly 2 steals per game.  Pretty impressive numbers, and if it weren't for a loaded Eastern Conference, he very well could have made the All-Star team this season.  You know who else is a high scoring team? The Nuggets.  In fact, the Nugs lead the NBA in points per game with 107.  Not only should Felton assimilate well to Denver's fast-pace offense, but he is also significantly younger than former point guard Chauncey Billups.  Don't get me wrong, it's a shame to lose Billups, the guy played high school, college and professional ball in Colorado.  He will be missed not only for his clutch shooting and skills on the court, but for his leadership ability off the court. Regardless, I feel that Felton should be able to more than compensate for the loss of Chauncey and is someone who can help anchor our team for many years to come.

As for the rest of the newcomers,  Danilio Gallinari and Wilson Chandler should be able to provide instant offense for this now-rebuilding squad.  Gallinari is a guy who is capable of going off for 30 points on any given night.  His game is similar to Wizard's PF Rashard Lewis.  Gallinari measures in at 6-10 but he has the outside shooting skills of a small forward. The result is a player who keeps defenses honest and creates some space in the low post.  When playing along side a dominant center like Nene, it creates plenty of opportunities to score high percentage shots.  Speaking of dominant low post guys, how about the final acquisition in this trade, 7-1 center Timofey Mozgof.  This guy has played professional basketball in Europe for the past six seasons and has shown signs of dominance in limited minutes off the Knicks bench. No matter which way you cut it, every team could use more big men and Mozgov not only adds height to the Nuggets lineup (if he plays with Nene down low), but also can be used off the bench to give Nene rest, something we really haven't been able to do this season.

So where does this trade leave us?  I think that it will still be a rough road to recovery for the Nuggets.  The scoring will still be there, but this is a young team that will often be over-matched by teams vying for playoff position.  Unfortunately, it looks like the Nuggets will be missing the postseason this year, but with all of the draft picks they've received, along with middle-of-the road picks of their own, I think it is only a matter of time before they are competitive once again...and drafting another Carmelo wouldn't hurt either...

On a final note, now that this saga is over with, let's look at whose "decision" was ultimately worse.  The way Melo handled this situation heading int free agency was the polar opposite of the way Lebron James decided to bolt Cleveland and head to Miami.  Each decision has their pro's and cons, but in the end, both made unnecessary spectacles of themselves.  I think in the end I'd rather be on the Melo side of things.  I mean, at least he was honest with Denver fans for the most part.  He made it very clear from Day 1 that he wanted to play for the Knicks over anyone else, so can you really blame him for the media frenzy that it created.  Lebron, on the other hand, straight blindsided Cleveland.  He refused to let the organization or the fans know his intentions until the absolute last minute.  As a result, Cleveland was left high and dry and out of the race for any of the other highly touted  free agents in a loaded 2010 class.  What happened next? Cleveland went on to lose a record 26 games in a row and has the worst record in the NBA this season.  Fortunately, this wasn't the case for the Nuggets as they were able to land some key pieces that should help them in the long run.

#6

Happy President's Day O's fans,  and welcome to another installment of Reasons for Optimism.  If we end up having a strong season, we may have a shot at one of next year's top free agents.  Specifically, I'm looking at Mets Shortstop Jose Reyes.  This guy is just a beast.  His defense is solid, he can hit and hes speedy like his name was Gonzales...but its actually Reyes.  Don't be too surprised if he bails on a New York Mets Organization that just got caught up in this whole Madoff ponzi scheme (and may not even have enough money to field a team next season...) for an up-and-coming Orioles squad.  We need a shortstop...I mean, J. J. Hardy is alright, but a guy like Reyes could give consistency to the top of the order and steal a ton of bags.  Keep your fingers crossed O's fans, Reyes could be on the horizon.

Funny Photo of the Day, Partner

Alright people, in honor of Sergio Leone's renowned 'The Man With No Name" films, which are  an awesome Western trilogy starring the utterly badass Clint Eastwood, I thought I'd give you a Gun-Slingin' Hoot of a laugh with today's photo. For those of you who've never seen a western movie, get yourself started off right and check out these movies immediately. You can catch them this month on AMC...yea, shameless promotion is making a comeback on this blog! Seriously,  for your manhood's sake, give these bad-boys a fair chance.  Don't be surprised if you get the sudden urge to sip whiskey out of a shot glass while smoking hand-rolled cigarillos.

Today's photo is titled: "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly,"  it's up to you to figure out who's who.  If this is how the Mavericks planned on expanding their market, they must have had to go back to the drawing board a couple of times.  Fortunately, they haven't been a laughing stock on the basketball court...only in this pic, and I reckon they wouldn't last long in the wild west.  Again, captions are encouraged:

Un-Blake-Able

It's back Baby, the dunk contest is back! Finally, I think its safe to say that the NBA Slam Dunk Contest has re-established itself as the All-Star Weekend's premiere event.  Blake Griffin lived up to the hype in what was the most surprising and exciting dunk contest, maybe of all time (that's right I said it.). Fans of the game saw some memorable jams, and that's an understatement. Believe it or not, it wasn't just because of Blake Griffin either.  With some of the great past contest winner's from Clyde "The Glide" Drexler to Dominique Wilkins to the original Slam-master himself Dr. J looking on, all four of this year's events competitors brought their A-game, and each one delivered their own special brand of dunk that we wont soon be forgetting. My biggest complaint of the contest, besides JaVale McGee getting hosed (I'll get into this later) was that all four contestants didn't make it into the final round.  With the way they each performed, believe me, they all could have been winners in their own right.

In the first round,  up-and-coming second year player Demar Derozan kicked off the contest with his best Vince Carter impression (Carter had perhaps the best 3-dunk sequence of all time in his 2000 slam dunk winning performance) splitting the ball between his legs and around his back for the one-handed slam.  The only difference was that this time, the ball was lobbed off the side of the base of the basket.  Not to be out-done, the next contestant, Congo native Serge Ibaka one-upped Dr. J and slammed the ball from behind the foul line (needless too say, Irving, who was in attendance, wasn't too happy).  Ibaka was robbed by the judges, as this slam should have yielded a perfect score but was given a mediocre one.  The 3rd contestant, Washington's own JaVale "Up-phreys" McGee performed what many are calling the dunk of the night.  Although it took a few attempts, McGee brought out a second basket and proceeded to dunk two balls simultaneously, one off of a self alley-oop. Similar to a dunk pulled off long ago by Larry Nance, the jam received a perfect score and a finals appearance for the 7 footer was a near certainty.  Finally, not to be outdone by the unknowns, Contest favorite Blake Griffin delivered a 360 degree one-handed tomahawk jam that was just incredible.

The second round was more of the same.  DeRozan received a perfect score for his second dunk, which was a self-lobbed one-handed up and under the basket jam, an incredibly difficult move to pull off.  And oh yeah, he got it done on his first try too.  Ibaka's second dunk was one of the weaker of the contest, which is saying a lot.  After a strange skit to set up his dunk where a child wanders on to the court crying that he "lost" his stuffed animal above the rim. Ibaka comes to the rescue by snagging the animal off the rim using only his teeth while simultaneously slamming the ball.  I guess the point was to show how high he could get (mouth level with the rim).  Blake Griffin's wasn't much better.  His original attempt,  if he'd been able to get it off, would have been something to write home about, but after 7 failed attempts (he was trying to lob the ball to himself off the side of the backboard, and 360 while reverse jamming to the other side of the rim), he decided to go with a more traditional side-of-the-rim tomahawk of a lob.  It was enough to get him into the finals, but just barely.  McGee decided to stick with the theme of multiple balls, this time simultaneously dunking 3-balls (a first for the dunk contest) at once, one off of an alley-oop from teammate (and Rookie/Sophomore game MVP...dude had 22 assists, a record!), John Wall.  This set up a Griffin vs McGee final in what was sure to be an instant classic.

Blake Griffin decide to take yet another page out of Vince Carter's book for his first dunk of the final round.  Again paying homage to the 2000 slam dunk champion and the original innovator, Griffin slammed the ball along with his entire forearm into the basket off of a self-lob, hanging on the rim for a good 5-7 seconds before lettering go.  The kid bruised the hell out of his arm to boot.  JaVale McGee fired back by running the length of the baseline and cradling the ball one-handed underneath the rim, and into the basket.  It was neck in neck as the two finalists prepared for their final dunks,  that's when things really started to get crazy.  What you've probably noticed about this yeas dunk contest, was that presentation was everything.  The showman's aspect of the contest really didn't take shape until 2009, when eventual Champion Dwight Howard entered a phone booth (a la Superman) before Dunking on a 13 Ft rim (a normal rim is 12 feet) in what was his final dunk.  Well, Blake Griffin's final dunk was just a flashy.  The rookie not only brought out a choir to sing "I Believe I Can Fly" during his final slam, but he wowed everyone has he dunked over the hood of a car off of a lob through the sun roof by teammate Baron Davis.  It was showy, and enough to give Griffin the 2011 Slam Dunk crown.

Even though Griffin gave a phenomenal performance and was definitely deserved of the title, I still think McGee was robbed.  He had some of the most innovative dunks ever performed in the history of the contest. Two balls! Three balls!  Dunking like a guard even though he's a 7-footer?!  He was certainly a showstopper but his last dunked lacked the luster that it needed to put him over the top.  I think that if he saved his multiple ball dunks until the end, the outcome may have been different.  Or maybe not...Griffin is infinitely more popular than McGee and the winner was decided by the fans.  Griffin received 68% of the votes (Really?!) so maybe it was a forgone conclusion to think Up-phrey's could have pulled off the upset.  What I do know is this:  Regardless of the outcome, these guys all made their mark in dunk contest history and brought this of late unheralded event back to prominence as it once was in late 90's/early 2000's.  Sleep easy slam dunk fans, this event isn't going anywhere anytime soon.