Five and Dime, Beast Bay.

Went to GSW open practice today...shhhh...I was supposed to be working, oh well. I stayed for about an hour, watch for a bit and took some vid.

Starters and bench scrimmaged for about an hour and a half. Stax and Monta shot the ball pretty much everytime they touched it, which is to be expected. The Anthonys both look good. Randolph had a monster dunk, and Morrow was hitting shots from pretty much everywhere. Steph Curry didn't shoot too much, pretty much was the guy looking to initiate the offense and get people the ball. Still, defensively, he looks leaps and bounds better than Monta.

Had a look at Acie Law and CJ Watson, both of whom are battling for bench minutes. CJ and Acie are both non-traditional points who can score. I'm unconvinced that either of them will get much PT behind Monta, Steph and Morrow, all of whom will be splitting the guard spots (not to mention 'Buke). Someone is probably going to be cut though.

At the end of the open scrimmage, 'Buke did a 'stay in school' spiel for the elementary school kids in the crowd, and Steph Curry was forced to sing Happy Birthday to Monta Ellis. Lucky for him the kids in the crowd lent a hand.

Happy Bday Monta.

Even though you are a fricking bish.

Don't Give Me No Bammer Weed

Parental Advisory!! Explicit Lyrics.

Good ol' Bay Area hip-hop.

Perennial also-rans, the Los Angeles Clippers have one of the most talented rosters in the league this year. Usually, the Clippers aren't even the second best basketball team in Los Angeles. Despite history being against them, I think that this year's iteration of the team may actually reach the lofty title of "Second Best Team in LA". The Paperclips managed to finagle bonafide stud Blake Griffin in the draft, Chris Kaman and Baron Davis will both be returning from last year's injuries, and Eric Gordon and Al Thornton will be entering their sophomore campaigns as seasoned veterans. Mike Dunleavy enters his seventh season as head coach of this beleagured franchise.

While LA is excited about Blake Griffin, this team will only be as good as it's on-floor leader, Baron Davis. If Davis can harness his dilettante nature, shelving his aspiring movie and music mogul interests, keep his weight in check, and arrive to games as if he is actually interested in playing, well the Clippers will be a dangerous team. If Davis shows up as his petulant, out of shape, disinterested self, well we will see a repeat of last season. A rudderless ship. I've seen Baron Davis at his best, and at his best, he is probably one of the top five game changers in the league. Sebastian Telfair is a suitable back up at the PG position.

Eric Gordon flourished in Boom's absence last year. I'm pretty excited to see them playing the back court together. It should be electric. Rasual Butler comes off the bench for 3 point action.

The front line: Al Thornton, Chris Kaman and Blake Griffin are as talented as any other team in the West. At least on paper. With Marcus Camby and DeAndre Jordan coming off the bench, the Clippers are deep, deep, deep at the forward and center spots.

Best case scenario? Clippers come in 2nd in the Pacific Division and narrowly make the playoffs where they are a first round flame out against the Spurs or Lakers.

This year marks the fifteenth anniversary of Chris Cohan's ownership of the Northern Cal Clippers Golden State Warriors. Back in 1994, Don Nelson was the coach. The team had a .311 winning percentage and missed the playoffs. The Warriors were led by a mercurial, multi-talented scoring small forward by the name of Latrell Sprewell. This year, Don Nelson is the coach. The team had a .357 winning percentage and missed the playoffs. The Warriors are led by a mercurial, multi-talented scoring small forward by the name of Stephen Jackson. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The Warriors front office reminds me of the little Dutch boy trying to plug holes in the leaky d!ke with his finger (yeah skip the jokes, it's too easy). The weak hearted, but fan favorite Marco Bellineli was traded to Toronto for cash and Devean George. The failed pursuit of Amare Stoudamire was followed up with the signing of ineffective journeyman Mikki Moore for the veteran's minimum of $1.3 million. The aborted Jamal Crawford experiment resulted in a trade one guard for two: Acie Law and Speedy Claxton (his second tour of duty with the Warriors). This makes a third of the GS roster converted point guards 6'3" or under. Speedy, Acie, Steph, Monta and CJ Watson. CJ was about to bounce, but an eleventh hour contract offer kept him with Golden State.

Not only is the front office in disarray, but significant player dissent is forming. Moped afficianado Monta Ellis is reportedly upset at the stockpiling of additional combo guards, particularly one rookie who's skillset is markedly similar to his own. His BFF team captain Stephen Jackson has vocalized similar dissatisfaction by offering his services to the New York Knicks. You know that your franchise is in trouble when someone would rather play for the Knicks.

The only bright spots to be found are the emergence of Anthony Randolph as an up-and-coming young buck, the sharp shooting of Anthony Morrow, the steady play of Andris "Beans" and Ronny Turiaf, and perhaps the play of Stephen Curry.

At best, this team repeats last year's non-playoff performance and hovers around 29 wins, give or take. This team has five point guards, and everyone else is named Anthony. This does not bode well. I predict they slide into a 4th place finish in the Pacific.

We've got about 30 days until the beginning of the NBA season, so I am going to try and use this time to profile each of the 30 teams until opening night. Today, we begin with the Sacramento Kings.

Last year's 17-65 record had nary a cowbell ringing in Sacramento's Arco Arena. Paul Westphal enters his first year back as an NBA headcoach after a moderately successful stint in Phoenix (92-96) and a somewhat less successful run with the now defunct Supersonics ending in 2001.

The Kings' efforts at futility failed to yield the top pick in the draft, but they still managed to address one of their most pressing needs (point guard) in Tyreke Evans. Unlike some of the other point guards in this year's draft, Evans appears to have the right combination of size and skill to begin contributing immediately. His summer league play should slot him as the defacto starter, replacing the woeful Beno Udrih. Seriously, the stat line does not fully illustrate how terrible Beno is as a starter. The Sacramento Kings will see immediate benefits by reducing his playing time from thirty minutes a game, down to about five.

While Sacto was able to address some player dissent about minutes in last year's trade of John Salmons and Brad Miller, there is still somewhat of a logjam at the SF position. Fifth year man, Francisco Garcia and Andres Nocioni will continue to split time at the 3.

Center Spencer Hawes should continue to develop nicely now that he is not looking over his shoulder at Brad Miller. Hawes is sort of like the poor man's Mehmet Okur, able to stretch the floor with his 3-point shooting while still contributing to his big man rebounding and blocked shot duties. Wunderkind Jason Thompson should also continue to flourish. The 6'11" power forward came on strong after the first half of last season and will also benefit from increased playing time this year.

Winners aren't made overnight. I suspect that the Sacramento Kings, while increasing their win total slightly, will still be ranked at the bottom of the Pacific Division. Speaking of bottoms, I found this great photo of some Sacramento Kings dancers. I guess they are the Queens?

On the NBA's opening night, the Miami Heat plan on retiring Tim Hardaway's #10 jersey in perpetuity. I have some fond memories of Tim Bug. His UTEP two-step popularized the crossover on blacktop courts across America. He was part of Run TMC, Don Nelson's first (and more successful) stab at helming the Golden State Warriors. Tim, Mitch (Richmond) and Chris (Mullin) had a run-and-gun offense that was exciting and fun to watch. Watching Tim shoot knuckleballs from behind the arc gave every weekend warrior hope to make it to the bigs. Hell, if a pro could be successful with terrible form, why couldn't I? I even owned a pair of his Nike outdoor court sneakers, the Air Raid. Hell, even Spike Lee gave up wearing Jordans for a minute to sport a pair of Air Raids.

After leading a high profile thirteen year career, Hardaway retired. He left a mark on two franchises in particular, the Golden State Warriors, and the Miami Heat. As a relatively new franchise, the Miami Heat does not have an entrenched history or tradition. Few Miami natives are going to laud the playing days of Rony Seikaly and Bimbo Coles. So when it comes time to generate a little marketing hoopla, they go to the age old tradition of retiring a players number.

The first guy that I think of when I think of "historic" Miami Heat players is probably Alonzo Mourning. But Zo's number is already retired. So who's on deck for this accolade? How about Glen Rice who led the fledgling Heat to their first playoff series? Nope. Instead, we have Pat Riley stalwart TIM HARDAWAY. I suppose I'm in the school of thought that retired jerseys are for special players. You know, those guys who are locks for the hall-of-fame. Players who you see, and just KNOW that they are something special. I guess being a Lakers or Celtics (nah, the Celtics will run out of jerseys to retire next year) fan sets the mental bar higher. Two things that franchises should adhere to: 1) you don't raise conference championship banners in your arena 2) you don't retire just ANY guy's number.

And what do I mean by a special player? Well, a once in a lifetime player makes his mark on the court. He shouldn't make his mark in a 2007 nationally televised news broadcast espousing his hatred for gays. "You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known," Hardaway said. "I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."

I guess there are a couple issues here. I mean, do we just want our teams to retire any schmoe's number? Where is the benchmark? Does the player have to bring a championship home? Play his entire career in one city? Have an indelible moment playing for that team? And where do we separate the accolades? By retiring a player's jersey, do we honor their playing skills and set aside their personal foibles? What if Tim Bug said something else? What if he said "You know, I hate white people, so I let it be known, I don't like white people and I don't like to be around white people. I am a bigot. I don't like it." Where would we be then?

I hesitate to call Hardaway's statement a verbal blunder, because this is clearly an ingrained belief that he had instead of a slip of the tongue, but clearly he understands that he made a major media error. I guess he doesn't hate gay people as much anymore because his Tim Hardaway Foundation has sponsored a SoBe fundraiser for the Trevor Project, a suicide prevention hotline aimed at LGBT youth.

So is this a jersey that should be retired? Or should the NBA and it's teams pay tribute to civil rights in sports and shun this kind of outlandish speech?

Let's take a moment to reflect on this day, eight years ago. Let's put aside jingoistic patriotism and political differences. Let's set aside sports, personal problems, and work. Take a moment to reflect on the lives lost and how our lives have changed in the past eight years. It seems like it was just yesterday, and at the same time, an eternity ago.

Where were you at 8:46am EST ?

September 11, 2001 was a Tuesday. I was starting my second day at a brand new job. I remember waking up at five in the morning so that I could get ready for work. I showered up, grabbed some clothes and went downstairs so that I could iron a shirt. I turned on the TV and flipped on the Today Show on NBC.

What the f......World Trade Center with a gaping hole, billowing out smoke.

I flipped channels, more of the same on every station. I kept ironing my shirt. I mean there was no news at all as to what was going on, just that an airplane had hit one of the WTC buildings. And then I watched footage of a plane crashing into the South Tower. I remember feeling a giant pit grow in my stomach. How many people were watching what I was seeing? I mean, West Coast time you know?! It was barely light out, just past six.

I sat on the couch in my living room and just watched the news for another hour thinking about all the people that were probably trapped in the WTC. Next thing I know, the South Tower just implodes. Floor after floor falling into a giant cloud of paper, dust and debris.

It's crazy, but I left for work. I mean, second day on the job, I didn't know what else to do, so I just started driving. I listened to the news all the way to work. The North Tower collapsed while I was on the freeway. Thoughts just start running in your head. NO WAY THIS IS HAPPENING. This is madness.

When I got to work, it was pretty quiet. My boss told us that we could go home if we wanted to. I stayed at work, glued to CNN.com and checking an e-mail listserv of college friends. The listserv was flooded. A lot of acquaintences and friends worked in the financial district, some at the WTC. Every e-mail thread was "HAVE YOU SEEN ____???" By the end of the day, everyone I knew there was accounted for. Some of them had crazy stories. Like staying at home that day telecommuting, working out of a sattelite office, or being late to work that morning. Incredible.

My phone didn't ring the entire work day. I left early, went home and just watched the news for the rest of the day.

Sometimes, in the throes of daily life, I forget about what happened on that day. It sort of just dissolves in the background. Like white noise, just a small buzz above the din of our normal life. And then it hits just how much this world has changed.

In memory of the victims of 9/11/2001.

'cause this is a test, yo.

hmmm.."please include more content in your post" warning when i try and submit this. interesting to know.

apparently there is a minimum character limit hidden here.