Is James Harden a Star? Not according to the NBA Flopping Committee.....

         James Harden is good, there is no denying that. Ask 100 people and 99 will tell you that Harden is the best Shooting Guard in the league. However, the NBA may not view Harden as the star we think he is. Yes, he gets All-star nods, yes, he gets to the free throw line A LOT, but there is one thing about his game that makes me think his star status is not quite there yet, at least in the eyes of the NBA. 

I bring your attention to the............ 

 Corey Brewer, Lance Stephenson, P.J Tucker, Mario Chalmers and James Harden. Doesn't one seem to stick out to you? These 5 players are the only 5 players who have been assessed a full on flopping violation. In fact these 5 players all have 2 violations. Now, don’t get me wrong, these guys flop, especially Harden. Harden flails, Harden falls and Harden definitely flops. But does he do it any more than Lebron James, Chris Paul or Dwayne Wade. NO FRIGGIN WAY. 

 One of Harden’s Flops 

Lebron Flops twice on one play.


Dwayne Wade being Dwayne Wade

]

Thank G-d Chris Paul has a good insurance agent because he almost dies on every play.



Here are some videos of players who were assessed warnings.


 DJ Augustin got a warning on this play. No question in my mind he was not trying to fool any official he was just fading and his momentum carried him in the air. It was definately not worse than any of the above plays.


Yes Tucker Flops, but clearly LBJ pushes him.

So there you have it. 8 flops and only 3 penalties. 

Lebron James, Chris Paul, Dwayne Wade and Paul George all flop, but they don’t even have a warning issued by the NBA. James Harden has 2 “flops.” Now, again, I'm not arguing that Harden doesn't flop. I am however arguing that the NBA needs to be more consistent. Harden is a big star like the other players I mentioned, he should be treated that way. So either stop calling him for flops, or do what I actually want you to do and start calling flops on other star players. 

Follow me @funnyNBAguy

Andre Drummond: The Dos Doubles Guy

Today is March 10 2014 the NBA season is heading into its final stretch and there is perhaps one person this season who is not getting the love he deserves. That man is........ "The Dos Doubles Guy" aka Andre Drummond. This nickname really does have double meaning. 1) He literally gets double doubles on the regular 2) He is one of the most active and interesting NBA players on social Media.

Andre Drummond has been having a spectacular sophomore season for the Detroit Pistons. A lot of what he is doing is going unnoticed because the Pistons have not been playing up to their potential. Drummond is 2nd in the league in double doubles only behind Kevin Love, Mr. Double Double himself. This is why I have decided to crown Andre as "The Dos Doubles Man" the most interesting and exciting NBA players you don't know enough about.

Just a quick background on Andre. Andre was a dominant high school player who shocked the college world when he announced he would play at UCONN instead of attending a post graduate program following high school. Initially projected as a top 2 pick Drummond fell to number 9 in the 2012 draft due to his less than expected spectacular season at UCONN.

With the exception of the Pelicans drafting Anthony Davis, and the Blazers taking Damian Lillard, I think its safe to say that 6 teams made a HUGE MISTAKE!

Instead of typing it all up, here it is in picture.

 Andre Drummond: You better start paying attention 

Andre Drummond's Social Media Links (follow him because he is as engaging and entertaining as it gets)

Andre Drummond Twitter 

Andre Drummond Instagram

Andre Drummond Vine

THE END

About me: My name is Steven Davis and I love Basketball. My friends call me the NBA Guy. I love being creative. I am hoping one day to produce a TV Show on NBATV as well as a Sports and Health Magazine with a twist.

Follow me at @FunnyNBAGuy for more good NBA fun.

What mask should Lebron James wear?

Lebron James broke his nose against the Oklahoma City Thunder. There is no way around it, wearing a mask wont be fun for him, but I'm going to try to make it fun. Below are some pictures of Lebron, in the process of doing his famous tomahawk break away Jam wearing all different types of masks. Which is your Favorite?

"The Mask" Mask, if you saw the movie, you would understand why this works so well!

Bane Mask: You may have seen it already & you know you love it.

 Scream Mask: He leaves opponents screaming for help on the switch!

V for Vicious Jams!

Who wouldn't want to bring back the Power Rangers?

His stats will haunt opposing fantasy owners.

So many believe he plays for the Dark Side

He is Royalty.....

Leave a comment or hit me up on twitter.

About me: My name is Steven Davis and I love Basketball and being creative. I am hoping one day to produce a TV Show on NBATV as well as a Sports and Health Magazine with a twist.

Follow me at @FunnyNBAGuy

Stop Hating on Dwight Howard, He is an NBA Nice Guy

         I know this is going to hurt a lot of Lakers and Magic fans but Dwight Howard is not a bad guy. I am a hardcore Lakers fan, and I have no problem saying that, in fact, Dwight Howard is a great guy. Am I saying that from personal experience? Well, Yes. In my wild NBA fandom, I used to go to a lot of basketball games. I would go very early to try to get autographs and/or to just interact with players. Often times players would wave, smile or take the occasional  picture with the hot girl. Even rarer was when an opposing player would take the time out to autograph things, and more often than not, the only stuff that is autographed is stuff being held by that really adorable 5 year old kid.

           

Enter Dwight Howard. The day was December 8^th, 2008. That day happens to be Dwight’s birthday. The Magic were in LA to face the Clippers and I like most of the Basketball World was a big fan of Howard so, I bought a basketball and went to the game as early as possible. We watched howard warm up, and by the way, that alone was worth the price of admission.  About 30-45 minutes before tip players generally would wave and run into the locker room, not Dwight. There was easily a group of 30-40 people who wanted autographs, pictures, high fives, you name it, they were there and Dwight Howard obliged ALL OF THEM, Included in them was me, a 23 year old guy (older than Howard). Howard not only autographed the ball for me, but he also took a picture with my best friend who was 25 years old at the time.

 (Just to note this picture is of what I consider to be the greatest missed dunk ever, you can see me in the picture my mouth open on the right side of the net, next to the kid in the red sweatshirt) 

Here are the highlights from the night, At the end during the interview you will notice me and my friends hopping up and down behind Howard.

Conclusion 
So deep down to the core, Dwight Howard is a really nice guy. He doesn't feel better than anyone else, like many of the other NBA players I have interacted with. He loves his fans, he loves to be happy, he loves and wants to win. 

The Orlando Magic Need to Give it a rest.

I recently saw the Orlando Magic's 25th anniversary Media Guide. Here is the cover.....Tell me if you notice anything strange.

First off you must realize the obvious, Jameer Nelson never played with Penny, thats a joke of course, Dwight Howard is not on the cover! That is insane!! Now if you want to say it is because he left the team, then why is Shaq on the cover, did shaq do more for the Magic than Dwight? For G-d's sake they have several people that they are trying to portray as legends and they left out Dwight. Inexcusable. 

Review this little illustration below.

Now in no way am I saying that Dwight deserves the spot over Shaq, what I am saying is that if you are going to put Shaq on, how do you leave off Dwight. Dwight's accolades match Shaq's and even more-so he played with the Magic twice as long. I know Shaq revolutionized the team, but so did Dwight, The Orlando Magic were relevant in the 90's because of Shaq and relevant in the 2000s because of Dwight! Not to mention that Dwight Howard was almost always in the top of the list of Jersey Sales. 

Now, say they were really upset about how Dwight left the Magic. I think its completely overblown. Dwight Howard loved Orlando and his team and was torn, he stayed an extra year when he should not have, and why? BECAUSE HE IS A GOOD GUY and didn't want to upset people in Orlando. When he did finally leave, what the Magic got in return was way more than what they got when Shaq left. 

One area of this whole situation that needs to be understood is that every NBA players goal is to win a ring, Dwight Howard was/is no different. The Magic were in a situation where Dwight's best years would be wasted, and Dwight needed to move on. I think the way he did it may have hurt a lot of people, but that only happened because Dwight didn't want to hurt anyone (if that makes sense.)

Lakers Fans need to Relax

I am a Laker fan, and I saw it coming. Dwight Howard was never going to resign with the Lakers and he never should have. It should have been clear to Laker fans that Dwight wouldn't stay when he publicly said he wanted to play in Brooklyn. Additionally Laker fans owe some sort of thank you to Dwight. He was playing injured all season. If he was really this bad guy everyone tries to convince us he is, he would have made excuse after excuse to not play one game. Fact of the matter is that in the short time that he was with the Lakers he still lead the league in rebounding. He was unhappy and in a place he didn't want to be, and in my eyes never threw in the towel.

But he left the Lakers??!! Wouldn't have you? I know they are the greatest franchise in the NBA but they wont be great for a while now, with or without Howard there. Kobe is injured, Nash is old and Howard is not a superhuman, even Lebron needed Bosh and Wade, Dwight needed help and was man enough to admit it.

More reasons to Love Dwight as a Person and Player

-He still operates his charities in Orlando
-In 2009 he took 50 kids on a $20,000 shopping spree
-Dwight Howard Charitable Foundation
-D12 Foundation
-He is active on Twitter +Dwight Howard (he often does Q & A's with fans)
-He just wants to make everyone happy 
-He still throws down ridiculous dunks
-He was already a star when he participated in the Dunk Contest (ehem Mr. Lebron James) again proving he wanted to make fans happy.

Just stop the Madness

If you haven't already picked up on it, Dwight Howard is a nice guy. He deserves the respect of all of the fans of the Magic and of the NBA. He deserves to be on the cover of the Media Guide and he even should have his number retired by the Magic (sorry Tobias Harris.) Because he wants to win does not make him a bad guy, no one complains about Charles Barkley going to the Rockets. 

While you try to convince yourself that this whole article is garbage and that I am wrong, do yourself a favor, buy some tickets to the next time Dwight comes to your hometown, buy a ball and get to the game early. Let me know what happens next.

About me: My name is Steven Davis and I love Basketball and being creative. I am hoping one day to produce a TV Show on NBATV as well as a Sports and Health Magazine with a twist.

Follow me at @FunnyNBAGuy

2014: The Summer of the Orlando Magic

We have all heard it; "This year's NBA draft is going to be the greatest of all time." I must say, I believe it will definitely rival the draft of 1996 and 2003. The draft class is stacked. There is no team in the League that is hoping for this Draft class to be epic, more than the Orlando Magic. If the Draft lives up to its billing, and the ping pong balls fall the right way, The Magic may be at the top of the east sooner than anyone could have imagined. 

The Magic have 2 first round picks in this years draft; their own and the worse of the Knicks or Nuggets picks, which as of now will definitely still be in the lottery. As of now the Magic have (in a perfect ping pong ball world) the 3rd and 13th pick. With those picks, they would pick up a potential superstar at the #3 pick, assuming Embiid, Parker, Randle and Wiggins come out.

Now, there is obviously a chance that the Draft: 
A) Ends up not being what we expect
B) The magic get screwed in the draft lottery and end up with two late lottery picks, assume the last two 13 and 14.

In scenario A, the Magic would stay at the Bottom of the East and continue to get high draft picks and eventually lure a free agent to play with the potential of the young promising team.

In Scenario B, the Magic wouldn't be that bad off. In that scenario they may end up with 2 guys like Tyler Ennis from Syracuse and Kyle Anderson from UCLA. Either way, everyone believes this year is full of real prospects so while they may miss out all perrenial all stars they could potentially draft guys that a solid position players in the league for a long time. Still an okay scenario considering that as of now they are in Position to have a pretty competitive team in any possible draft day scenario. 

Most Realistic Scenario

(Franchise Rises to top of east in 3-4 Years)

The Draft Lottery is a beast of its own, ping pong balls deciding the future of a franchise. Generally the pre-lottery order stays pat, but rarely do the first 5 picks go the way they should. For arguments sake, lets assume the Magic both move up from 3 to 2 or 1 or they stay at 3 or fall ball to 4. Either way they will pick up one of the 4 above mentioned players. They have 3 positions that need improvement; Point Guard, Small Forward and Power Forward. I believe the Magic will do what it takes to keep Oladipo, Afflalo, Tobias Harris and Vucevic around, as they should. Afflalo may have some trade Value down the road but as of now, they should and I believe will hold onto him.

In the best case scenario the Orlando Magic will end up with their 3rd pick and a 10-13 pick. Assume they pick up Wiggins OR Parker OR Randle and Tyler Ennis.

In that Scenario where they select Wiggins/Parker and Ennis, their team backbone would look something like this. 

PG                    SG                  SF                       PF                C
Nelson             Oladipo        Wiggins/Parker       Nicholson     Vucevic
Ennis               Afflalo             Harris                 Maxiel

They may of course take Embiid or Randle

PG                    SG                  SF             PF/C
Nelson             Oladipo           Harris        Vucevic
Ennis               Afflalo                         Randle/Embiid
                                                             Nicholson 
                                                               Maxiel

In either Scenario the Magic will have 4 positions filled by players that should be mainstays for a While. 



That being said, in the summer of 2015 there are free agents that can impact a team in a serious way. The Magic will have some money free and Maxiel and Nelson come off of the books. Vucevic will become a FA as well but the Magic should resign him, and that shouldn't be difficult bc of the promise of the team and they can offer him the most money.

Best Case Scenario 

(Franchise Altered Immediately)

As I said before, the draft has produced some interesting scenarios, most recently the Cavaliers acquired the First overall pick (from the Clippers) which turned into Kyrie Irving. Their second pick (the 4th) was used on Triston Thompson (fail.)

Lets pretend the Magic are just as Fortunate and are able to somehow land two of the top 4 picks. Well in that case, the Magic will be in a position to pick up 2 marquee players, even with the possibility of Pairing ip fellow Kansas Jayhawks, Wiggins and Embiid. In any scenario they will immediately be better off for the future, they will be in a position that is unlike anything we have seen since the OKC thunder, and while the Thunder were forced to trade Harden, the Magic should be able to keep Oladipo, the 2 draft Picks, Vuceviv and a future free agent because Orlando, believe it or not, is a pretty well off franchise. Their owner Richard Devos, according the Forbes, is only the 60th wealthiest person in the USA and wants to win! 

Why will free agents come?

Orlando is a beautiful city, they have a state of the art stadium and training facility (summer league is held there.) Their young pieces are promising Additionally, they have already done it before proving they are not afraid to PAY UP TO WIN!

Rashard Lewis signed (albeit a bad deal for the Magic) a 6 year $118 million contract.

Either way, the Magic are set for a franchise changing year in 2014. I am excited to see it happen, the city and the fans deserve it. In addition, they are in the ever weak East whose top teams the Pacers and Heat will all be falling in 3-4 years when the Magic will be peaking.

About me: My name is Steven and I love Basketball. I have recently changed careers and am hoping one day to produce a TV Show on NBATV and a Sports Magazine with a twist.

Follow me at @FunnyNBAGuy

Old NBA Plays you must watch now!!

Let's face it, the NBA is full of highlights, but you may or may not have enough time to watch them all. More so, there are probably many top plays from yesteryear that you probably missed due to the fact that coverage was not as widespread, you were too young to care or because YouTube didn't exist yet.

In this short Post I am going to post some of my top plays from the past. If you are an avid NBA fan or an frequent NBATV viewer some of these may seem familiar, if not prepare to be entertained!

First up is JR Rider. This play has special meaning to me because when trying to describe it to my buddy I reenacted it, and MADE it. Still to this day one of the craziest hyped up moments of my life.


When I say Eddie you say Jones. Eddie!! Jones!! (This was the old Lakers in game chant. Had Kobe Bryant never came into the picture, Eddie jones would have gone down as the second greatest SG ever (behind Jerry West.) He was a freak! This may be the furthest in game dunk ever.

The next play is by Keon Clark, the man I still think owns the record for longest arms ever.

   

On this play, you can see in slow motion, Bradley is moving Clark away from the basket and Clark's freakishly long arms still allow him to throw it down!

 Next up Kobe, just watch.  

To this day one of my favorite plays of all time.

Next Up is a play from a player that was in the league for a minute, Mike Taylor of the Clippers. I was sitting behind the Clippers bench this game and I told him that he would get in. He said if he did he would do something special. He did.

Gary Payton with the play that pretty much made everyone think they could save a ball from going out of bounds


The Title says it all

Fast forward to the end of this Video, watch the game winner. 7:52. Notice the fan reaction, this game was in LA.


Stephon Marbury with an Alley oop that looks like he flies in slow motion.


Kobe with one of the most difficult Alley Oops Ever


Anytime Chick Hearn Yells, you know you have a good play.


My best friend and I practiced this play for a full week, and did it at the park. Shut it down.



Hope you enjoyed a little highlight blast from the past.

About me: My name is Steven Davis and I love Basketball. I am hoping one day to produce a TV Show on NBATV and a Sports Magazine with a twist.

Follow me at @FunnyNBAGuy

The Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets are on Their Way to the Top

This NBA season is full of surprises. For one, many teams that we thought would be good, are great. Many teams we thought would be great are just good. Oh and the Knicks stink. But for me the biggest surprise is the Charlotte Bobcats. Currently the Bobcats are the 7th seed in the east, and while that does not mean they are playing great, it does mean that they are playing better than they normally do, and something tells me they will continue to get better.

The biggest reason why I think the Bobcats will get better is because they are rebranding themselves. Growing up in the 90s there was one team that was everyone's second favorite team; these guys.

The Charlotte Hornets were just the coolest team. They had Larry Johnson, Alonzo Mourning and the ever famous Mugsy Bogues. They were fun to watch, fun to root for and best of all, they had the coolest jerseys, hats and apparel. That purple and teal looked good on just about everybody.

 Plus there was this...

To sum it up, THE HORNETS WERE COOL.

The Bobcats, however, are not as cool. They have been synonymous with losing, bad draft picks and the inability to attract any real free agents (minus Al Jefferson this season.) With the name change, the Bobcats are not only changing the colors of their jerseys, they are changing the attitude of the fan base, NBA world and in my opinion free agents to be.

The soon the be Charlotte Hornets play in Charlotte, North Carolina. North Carolina, for those of you that don't know, is home to some of the biggest basketball fans and most successful basketball programs in the country. Duke, UNC, Wake Forest & North Carolina State are all in North Carolina. Much like Oklahoma, this State is dying for a professional team that they can root for. We all see it, the Thunder have some of the most die hard fans in the league. The Hornets will be no different.

Why will free agents come?

There are several things that would attract free agents to any team.

1) Money
2) A chance to win a ring
3) Weather
4) Influence by people associated with the team.

plus.....

RICH CHO

Money

With the leagues new Salary Cap Restrictions, being a big market, richer team does not have the same impact that it used to. Charlotte should be able to keep up with the rest of the teams in the league, especially since their owner happens to be pretty wealthy himself.

A chance to win a ring 

Just by simply being in the Eastern Conference, Charlotte will have a exponentially better shot at making the playoffs and making it further into the playoffs, thats just the unfortunate truth about the Eastern Conference. Will they win a ring, potentially, but realistically there are usually only about 6-8 teams each season that have a real shot of winning, and those are the big city teams.

Weather

North Carolina has an upside that much of the Eastern Conference teams do not have, pretty good weather. Here is the Average weather for Charlotte vs New York vs Los Angeles. (credit weather.com)

       

Influence by people associated with the team

The Charlotte Hornets have a wild card. That wild card?
This guy. 
Its Michael Freaking Jordan.

Why does that matter? For several reasons. One, for the remainder of our lives, or at least for the next 20 years, Michael Jordan will be known as the greatest player of all time. Players still love this guy, they still want to wear his shoes, they still emulate his play. Can't you see a young shooting guard or Small forward wanting to learn from this guy?

Michael Jordan has relinquished control of the team, which means he wont be making any bad picks, but he will still be there to be, well Michael Jordan. 

You would be naive to think that Michael Jordan has no influence. His Shoes company makes over 1.25 billion yes BILLION dollars a year.

He will grab someone big and get them to come to the Hornets. 

Rich Cho 

For those of you who don't know, Rich Cho is a basketball genius. He was the assistant GM during OKC's rise to the top and he will bring the same thing to the Hornets, he has already started.

My prediction, The Hornets will make the ECF in the next 6 years or less. Next Season they will have some money to play with and in 2015 they will be real players in the FA market.