Upset Special

This just in from Jay Bilas following a suspenseful Selection Sunday.

"I really like the chances of Golden State advancing as a 14 seed underdog. I think the way they match-up with Baylor is really going to give them an advantage. The way they can stretch the floor with their shooters and cover ground on defense with their length will be hard for Baylor to overcome. I also think Stephan Curry will be a great pro prospect going somewhere in the second half of the lottery. The kid can really shoot the ball."

Thanks Jay. Golden insight once again.

Reconciliation

The Black Converse has been creeping along as of late. For this we sincerely apologize. Sometimes Bruce Wayne has to take the cape off and attend board meetings. Its not that he would rather sit in meetings as opposed to fight crime, its just that crime fighting doesn't pay the bills.

Moving on...

With less than 20 games to go in the season, its time for a little reconciliation with the story lines this NBA season. We've let ourselves go a little, so its time to hit the gym.

Boston Celtics Countdown to 10 Losses: We knew that storyline was going to be over somewhere between Christmas and Groundhogs Day. And it was. The more fascinating story will be to see if Ra'Sheed can lose 10 pounds before the playoffs.

Sixers Glory Days: Remember when Iverson was on the team for a second time? Those were the days...

Toronto Raptors "Canada's Team": Are they still playing? I thought the NBA Season stopped for the Olympics.

Tales of Bango the Buck: He has got to be liking his job as of late. The Bucks seem to be the only team with a full stadium judging by the highlights.

The Atlanta Hawks: Keefe or Dominique They really haven't been either the last couple months. I'd say they are stuck somewhere around Steve Smith or Kevin Willis.

The Charlotte Scrap Heap: Yes they added a couple more to the pile at the trading deadline. They added Ty Thomas in exchange for career scrap-heapers Flip Murray and Acie Law. Also, they are solely in the hands of His Airness. I'm not sure what that means but I thought it was worth a mention.

Washington Bullets: We had to put these to rest after someone took our demands a little to seriously.

Dirk as Sandra Bullock:Mavs on a tear just as Sandra wins her first Oscar. Coincidence? We like to think it isn't.

Morey Smart Points: Last year's overachievers are sinking a little. But he did get rid of T-Maq. He will always have that shining gold star at the top of his report card.

Spurs Typical Season: Its been typical in that we haven't thought about them even one bit since January. Other than that, I think they are getting too old. (Which is they typical response every year) And they got a steal in the draft. (Wait...that always happens too) I guess there is nothing new here.

Trailblazers: The Hold Steady or The Animal Collective: They are in the same boat as the Hawks. Not great but not terrible. Kind of like the new Beach House album.

There you go. Now we are up to speed on the season (save a few story lines). I hope when I wake up from my bracket-filling-induced coma that the Heat are no longer a .500 team. I'll take .515 or even .508. But come on, this .500 business is killing me.

The Clippers Stink, Futility

Anyone who has ever followed a team on the fringes of mediocrity knows that you always look ahead on the schedule and try to predict wins. You see games against Minnesota, New York, Sacramento, Indiana, New Jersey and Washington and pencil in wins in an attempt to predict a rise in the standings for your team. You hope your team can feed off of futility and not be one of the 20 wins for the other team.

This brings us to our next look at how the Clippers might get rid of the stink and the losing ways. Two nights ago the took the court against the lowly Nettes. The 3-40 New Jersey Nettes. The first line of the AP article on the game starts "The crowd was on its feet and clapping. The players were standing near midcourt, happily waiting for the final buzzer to sound." Too bad the game was in East Rutherford. It wasn't the Clippers feeding off the bottom. It was the Nettes taking advantage of the losing ways of the Clippers. It appears it wouldn't matter if the Clippers played the Nettes every night.. They still might only be a .500 team having split the season series with the Real Housewives of New Jersey.

The letters guessed on this edition of Clipper's Stink Hangman were N-E-T-T-E-S. (or just N-E-T-S for those hardcore rule hounds). Below is an updated Hangman board, red letters showing the newly guessed letters. Looks like we might be inching a little closer to the answer.

Half Way Home

Most of the NBA teams have passed the half way point of their season, with the exception of those who are going on to the playoffs of course. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to get more involved in the analysis of my NBA team; the Miami Heat. Last I checked in with them, I was thinking NBA Finals when then unbeaten Phoenix came to town. Both teams were 3-0 so it was a little premature to say the least. Since then I have never quite had a chance to get too high on them since their longest winning streak of the season has been 3, and that has only happened twice. After last nights 39 point drubbing by the Scrap Heap, I have a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth. So excuse me if this feels a little "glass half empty".

Trying to assess my feelings about this team is hard. My feelings fall into three places. Beasley. Wade. 2010. Everything else, like the Dorrell Wright Experience, the point guard carousel and the $22 Million Man are points of question and fury, but this team hinges on the other three components.

One game Michael Beasley seems like a legitimate NBA player which convinces me that he would be a good asset to keep around. Then the next game it becomes blatantly obvious that Udonis Haslem is a saint for coming off the bench behind the Beas. UD could out hustle Beasley even if he were on crutches. So when Beasley's value is high, I want to keep him. When it is low, I want him dangled in front of every GM from Colangelo to Kupchak. Beasley needs to give this team something on a regular basis, we all know that. The question is whether its him maturing and finding consistency with the Heat or turning into someone who will. If I had to make a list of the top 5 guys filling Beasley's role (a great third option...lets face it, he is not a second banana) he would probably be fourth on the list behind a real legitimate big man like Bosh or Bynum. There is no way Toronto makes anymore trades with the Heat and the Lakers don't need another versatile big man after Gasol, Odom and Artest.

Next we have Wade. I feel like I'm in an abusive relationship. One day I feel extremely confident that Dwyane is a lifer. The next day he gives us a Vince Carter Special Delivery leaving me to think he is on the first train out of town come July 31st. Is it too late to be a Thunder fan?

Finally 2010. Someone is going to be the bride without a groom. There just isn't enough LeBron, Wade and Bosh to go around. I've had this t-shirt in my shopping cart about 5 different times, but never pulled the trigger because I was afraid to jinx the whole thing.

In the end, is 2010 the answer? Aren't there just too many missing pieces? Outside of Wade and Haslem, who is there on this team who can be considered a building block to a championship team? I guess I'm glad its not 2007-08 all over again. And I can still see the confetti falling onto the floor in 2006.

T-Maq is Baq

When I saw that the Rockets had finally allowed Tracy McGrady to play last night, the knee jerk reaction was to revoke all of Daryl Morey's smart points. They guy is a basketball genius. Not the kind like Magic or Legend who who show their IQ on the hardwood, but the kind who seems to evaluate his team and his talent better than anyone and pull the right strings from behind the scenes. Inserting T-MAK back into the an aggressive and overachieving Rockets team seemed counterintuitive. Why put in a guy who is notoriously lazy, ruins the rhythm of any offensive team and plays no defense? Are you all of the sudden thinking the John Wall sweepstakes is worth it?

Then I came back to reality. This guy is smarter than that. I realized that there are two obvious scenarios. The first is that David Stern would rather McGrady get voted into the All-Star game as a starter rather than having to stuff the ballot box himself for Chris Paul or Deron Williams. The second scenario is that Morey is going to parade McGrady around the league in order to trick someone into trading for him.

Scenario 1
Currently the second leading vote getter as a guard in the Western Conference, t_maK making the All Star team would be almost as infamous as the 2002 MLB All Star game in terms of blunders. It would be even worse if he hadn't played a single game all year. So the Commish undoubtedly made a call to Morey's office and made a deal with him that was about as one-sided as a game between the Lakers and the Sparks. "Play McGrady." You don't question the Commish.

Scenario 2
Morey is trying to get his 1993 Corvette out of the shop and parade it around the neighborhood a little bit in order to get some sap in the midst of a mid-life crisis to offer him something, anything, for it. (The Corvettes of the late 80s and early 90's are by far the worst of any Corvette made. Every Corvette from that era all seems to be the same terrible maroon color. No car should ever be that color, but certainly never a muscle car. I like comparing McGrady to a crappy 90's "muscle car" because he is that era of muscle car. He is the NBA player people like who don't know anything about the NBA just like that Corvette is the car people get when they don't know anything about muscle cars. To them its a Corvette, or someone who scores a lot of points. Never mind the fact that he hasn't won a single thing in his career.) The timing is just right if you are going to parade him around the league, like bringing out the Corvette during the first warm day of the year with the top down. People get envious. Lets look at the teams/GMs coming up on the schedule between now and the trading deadline on February 18th. (note: all games mentioned are road games because that would all but guarantee that the other owner/GM will see him play)

Dallas - Cuban is always buying right?

New Jersey Nettes - His name is Tracy.

Cleveland - Just in case they want to add one more washed up All-Star or buy LeBron insurance

Charlotte - He would fit real well on top of the Scrap Heap

Memphis - Do I really need to spell this one out?

Miami - Rumors are building for this one, heaven help us. Dwyane might as well pack his bags now if the rumors continue.

Milwaukee - Last chance to see him before he is shipped out of town or back to the DL, could be the last time we ever see him in the NBA

There you have it. My guess it that both scenarios are true and that with any luck we can finally be rid of T-Maq for good. If you're listening Mr. Morey, it will be worth 50 TBC Smart Points.

Assault on Timberwolves History, part 2

Nothing but taillights for Terrell Brandon. A little like Springsteen's character in Highway Patrolman, minus the brothers angle. Here we are again, looking at Al Jefferson's ascent of the Timberwolves All-Time records.

T-Wolves All Time Points

8. Tom Gugliotta 4,201
9. Pooh Richardson 3,698
10. Anthony Peeler 3,622
11. Al Jefferson - 3,254
12. Terrell Brandon - 3,157

Meanwhile, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the Wolves can run production on those Tom Gugliota bobbleheads. Jefferson could pass Googs when one of his (Googs') former teams, the Warriors, comes to town in April. Jefferson has 363 points through 22 games, an average of 16.5 per game, which is well under his normal clip of 20+ per game. What better way to celebrate the long, storied history of the Minnesota Timberwolves and the great career of Tom Gugliotta than by having Googs himself in house, on Bobblehead Night, against a former team of his, while Al Jefferson eclipses him on the All Time Scoring list?

Assault on Timberwolves History

Much has been said about the storied franchise that is the Minnesota Timberwovles. (Googling....nothing....searching...still nothing....Wikipedia....KG something....nothing) Okay, fine. So not much has been said about the long history of the Timberwolves because there isn't much of one. Aside from JR Rider going between the legs, KG giving it his all, and Kevin McHale's sweaters, (it appears all evidence of his terrible wardrobe choices have been eliminated from the internet but I know I've seen him in this sweater on more than one occasion) it's slim pickings.

Flashback to 2+ years ago: Al Jefferson arrives in the Twin Cities as the savior of this franchise. Since then he's been skyrocketing up the franchise's All-Time charts.

Just this past week, he moved up to 7th all time on the rebounding charts. Who did he pass? Doug West and Joe Smith. There's a bit of irony with the current icon in 'Sota passing one of its past, prematurely revered icons. In case you forgot, Doug West was a huge pickup for the T'Wolves, being compared to the likes of Jerry West. As for Joe Smith, well who hasn't he played for and gotten about 1,500 rebounds? Heck, half of his rebounds were probably KG's but since they looked so much alike on the court, they just gave every 5th rebound to Smith.

T-Wolves All Time Rebounds

7. Al Jefferson - 1,582
8. Joe Smith - 1,561
9. Doug West - 1559

Congratulations Al. Look out, Terrell Brandon, you're up next...where ever you are.

76ers - Glory Days

To start the season, we really loved the Sixers going back to their old logo and uniforms. In fact, we loved it so much that we were going to sift through the Sixers history and bring back more of the Glory Days. Then Andre Iguodala got on board doing his own artistic Glory Days impressions. The Sixers haven't stopped. They are fully embracing the Glory Days theme.

Glory Days is obviously a reference to one of the Boss' better songs. Some would argue that Springsteen is a prophet of sorts. You be the judge.

"My old man worked 20 years on the line
and they let him go
Now everywhere he goes out looking for work
they just tell him that he's too old"

Long Weekend Roundup

Sacramento Kings Wins: 6, 7, 8

The plate of crow, and the cost of seats, is getting a bit outrageous.

Bango the Buck

Lucky for Bango, he doesn't have to go on road games. The young lefty looking to upstage the most exciting thing in Milwaukee does. Advantage: Bango.

Actual conversation had between Spike and Charlie T.

CTH: "Did you see Brandon Jennings?"

SW: "No, what happened?"

CTH: "Double nickel vs Golden State and an 8-3 record."

SW: "Who else have they played?"

CTH: quickly googling the Bucks schedule and seeing teams like Minnesota, Knicks, GS, Nettes, Bobcats, Grizz "Uh, nobody really. Some real tests coming up though...@Spurs, @NO, Orl."

SW: "Well there is your answer. Talk to me in about a week."

Anybody on the Jennings bandwagon knows how that stretch played out.

Jay Bilas All-Stars: Anthony Randolph

My fantasy team (which is leading my league with a 27-9 record, a 6 game cushion over the second place team and coming off a 9-0 week all thanks to taking D-Wade with the first overall pick) is in a dilemma. I log on today to calculate my lead over the rest of the league and I see a trade has been proposed to me. Derrick Rose (on my roster) for Anthony Randolph. Straight up. No filler, nothing. Just Rose for Randolph. Its an easy decision really, unless your league gets points for upside, second jumpability, length, and freakish athlete. You know what, I'm not so sure he even outmeasures Rose in most of those categories anyway. Sorry Chazzmichaelmichaels, The Adam Keefes are keeping Rose and his fantasy points. Good luck with those length points.

A League of Their Own

The Nettes are rewriting the history books with every game this year. First, they were to the first team to make jump from the WNBA to the NBA. Then they tied (and should break) the record for most consecutive losses to start the season. Now they are in search of a new coach and could really be trendsetters there too. To help out the record setting Nettes, we have prepared a list of the top coaching candidates who are more than qualified to lead the Real Housewives into battle on the hardwood for the rest of this season.

10. His/her ability to relate to both genders on the team cannot be overlooked

















9. Couldn't hurt to stack the deck a little more for the 2010 bonanza
(obviously its the person on the right)



















8. Lawrence Frank was bad, but she has one of the greatest videos of all time
(also, cannot be overlooked that she is sleeping with management)




















7. Has the WNBA pedigree and looking to break into the Association in a leading role


















6. Whose name would look the best next to other "hot girl names"?



















5. Probably the closest to the job on this list













4. Seeing this after every win would put people in the seats for sure...on second thought we would never get to see it
















3. The best college coaches always go pro at some point



















2. This is our favorite...only so we can watch our TNT doubleheaders in peace

















1. Ladies and Gentlemen, the new coach of the New Jersey Nettes....Jimmy Dugan

TeeMAK Denied

TBC Smart Points for Daryl Morey: 6
That is 6 smart points for the season, up from 1 before this story broke. I really don't think this story has anything to do with him not being physically ready to play. It has to do with the 5-man symphony that the Rockets have on the court at any given moment. They don't need a guitar solo right now, nor ever.

The Charlotte Scrap Heap

This is what happens when you take trade advice from your main man Ahmad Rashad and Spike Lee.

Trips to the Island of Misfit Players this season: 1

The only way we could think to describe the Charlotte Bobcats at the start of the season was as a scrap heap made up of players from the Island of Misfit Players. With the addition of Stephen Jackson (6 teams in 10 years) and Acie Law (3 teams in 3 years) the scrap heap just got bigger. It is a shame that they had to send of Raja Bell, but he is the ubiquitous "throw in guy" in the NBA the last several years. Needless to say there is still room for improvement in the scrap pile.

910 Conversation: Atlantic Division

BOSTON CELTICS

There are plenty of storylines this year with Boston. How is KG? Really, how is he? How healthy are the old-timers? Do the Big Three have on more Big One in them? How will the offseason's soap opera affect Rondo? Have they done enough to keep pace with the movers and shakers of the East? If so, do they have what it takes to beat L.A.? Mainstream media will pay plenty of attention to those questions and more, so we’re simply going to focus on one number: 10.

Rasheed Wallace, that shrinking violet, reportedly predicted 72 wins for this year’s Celtics. For a team that nearly everybody (both of us included, southern California media excluded) likes to follow, we’re keeping it simple. We’re gonna countdown those 10 losses.

NEW JERSEY NETTES

Confession: I used to be a NJ fan. I have a blue and red 1994 hat. Drazen Petrovic is one of my all-time favorite players. I loved Mookie Blaylock, Keith Van Horn, Jason Kidd. I even sort of held on during the VC phase. But, like Snoop Dogg’s marriage, it fizzled. Maybe that doesn't make me a true fan (but what are the governing rules of allegiance for picking your second or third team? I mean, I'll always be a Jazz fan first. After that, it's been the Dominique era Hawks, the Drazen era Nets, etc. I think you're allowed some whims and crushes for anything after your main team.)

Looking over the roster, there are certainly players with potential: Harris, Lopez, Simmons, Lee…I even liked Douglas-Roberts at Memphis. But, zzzzzz.

What really struck us was the concentration of girls’ names on this roster:

Courtney

Brook

Bobbi

Chris

Devin

Is this a basketball team or a spirit squad? So, we’re dubbing them the Nettes (or Real Housewives of New Jersey) and keeping tabs on how this A Team Of Their Own fares with the rigors of being a WNBA team in the NBA. Also, we’re hoping they can lure Stacey Augmon and Dominique Wilkins out of retirement.

NEW YORK KNICKS

As a Utah fan, I have one and only one reason to care about the Knicks this year:

Utah owns the Knicks’ 2010 first round pick.

Please let them suck in epic ways. Please give the New York Post all sorts of “Not In The Knick Of Time” and other crappy headline puns on blowing it. All season, we’ll keep track of how Utah’s draft chances look and who the top prospects are.

PHILADELPHIA 76ers

As well-documented Springsteen fans, we’ll call this season Glory Days. We’ll check in with current and former Sixers to see how they view this season in contrast with past seasons (both players AND the franchise).

TORONTO RAPTORS

A team on the brink of losing its superstar in the gag-inducing hype of 2010 free agency tries to assemble a cast that’ll keep him there. But we’re after the story that’s really concerning the Raptors’ front office:

HOW CAN THE RAPTORS BECOME CANADA’S TEAM?

We’ll watch the power rankings of polled Canucks and their team preferences, as the Raptors fluctuate up and down. Will they end the season at the top? Or will they have Canadians asking, “NB, eh?” Stay tuned. Especially you, Chris Bosh.

910 Conversation - Southwest Division

DALLAS MAVERICKS

Looking back over the last several seasons, not necessarily in any kind of scientific/wikipedia/Google way but in more of a "this is what I remember" way, it seems as if the Mavericks have a formula. The formula is: take Dirk, your franchise player, and bring in one guy to complement him. Just look– Jason Kidd last year, Shawn Marion this year, Jason Terry or Jerry Stackhouse or Josh Howard from years past. These might not seem like big moves in retrospect, but at the time there was quite the buzz going around them.

Now, by the same token, go check Sandra Bullock's IMDB page. There's a very similar philosophy/formula happening. That formula? Bring in some male lead who's getting a lot of attention and do either a romantic comedy or a suspense/thriller. There are some exceptions; Crash, Speed, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. But, think about it it's largely the same formula as the Mavericks have used for Dirk Nowitzki.
And, not surprisingly, the results have been very similar. Huge box office success but never really making anything memorable. Nothing that's gonna stand up to the test of time. So much so that we pretty much know what we're getting from a Sandra Bullock movie before we even see the preview just like we can guarantee what we'll get from a Dirk-led Mavericks team. What we at the Black Converse have decided to do as we semi-follow the Mavericks throughout the year is thus Bullocked: determine which Sandra Bullock movie this season parallels the most.

Cue Will Arnett's wonderful pitchman voice: Sandra Bullock is Dirk Nowitzki in the 2009-2010 Dallas Mavericks Season

HOUSTON ROCKETS

The Rockets are starting to become a team you can't write off before the season. That's all thanks to the man behind the curtain, Houston's own Oz (the movie, not the show), Daryl Morey. This is no revelation. So what we've decided to do is award Mr. Morey with "TBC Smart Points" every time one of his moves pays off. We also reserve the right to take them away every time Tracy McGrady plays a minute this season. Also, if Smarties or Smartfood or Smartcars want to sponsor this portion of the blog, you know where to find us.

MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES

You might have expected us to contrast the Morey Smart Points with Chris Wallace Idiot Points. There are two reasons why that didn't happen: 1) We'd have to follow the Grizzlies too closely, something we cannot and will not commit to doing, and 2) they signed Allen Iverson to a rock bottom, one year rental agreement which was a really smart move in our eyes.

The more we dug into our vast NBA analytical databases, we discovered that any number in the thirties has the potential to play a large part in this Grizzlies season. They signed a thirtysomething Hall Of Famer, they might win thirty games, they could have thirty fans and they have a starting lineup in which each individual is consciencelessly capable of taking thirty shots per game. The theme of this Grizzlies season for us is Thirtysomething. We'll track anything related to thirty- losses, shot attempts, failed trade offers, you name it.

NEW ORLEANS HORNETS

CP3 is the new KG. A great player who is overly committed to a lousy team that would win about 4 games if he ever left. Don't believe us? Just watch this blog and we will be sure to point out all the instances this season that parallel KG's torturous run in the Land O' Lakes.

SAN ANTONIO SPURS

Charles Barkley has famously given Tim Duncan the nickname Groundhog Day. A great nickname by all standards and possibly Sir Charles' finest moment outside his foot race with Dick Bavetta and his golf swing.

Looking at the movie Groundhog Day, we see a lot more similarities with the Spurs as an organization and not just with Timmy. Bill Murray and Gregg Popovich have a similar facial complexion. Manu Ginobili debates every spring whether or not he wants to come off the injured list and actually play, much like Punxsutawney Phil. And every Spurs season seems to play out very similarly to the previous one with only slight deviations. So we wonder this year, how will this season deviate from a typical Spurs season?

910 Conversation - Southeast Division

Atlanta Hawks

Every season starts with plenty of expectations that cloud our view of reality. As a fan, your team is always going to win about 10 more games than they actually do and you never expect them to do worse than they did the year before. (Trust me, I talked myself into the Heat making a run at the playoffs about 5 different times during their incredible 15 win season.) Inflated expectations are a tough thing to manage throughout the season but they at least can give you hope before you finally succumb to reality. Lets be clear, overachievers do not have to worry about expectations. Its the achievers that have more and more to live up to each year (see: James, LeBron)
There was a heavy debate between Spike and myself about this Hawks team. They took a huge step in managing the expectations following their coming out party against the eventual champion Celtics two years ago by making it to the second round. Now their expectations have been raised so high that they will have to equal the greatest Hawks team (the one lead by the Human Highlight Film himself Dominique Wilkins) and make it to the Conference Finals.
So will this Hawks team live up to expectations or will they weight be too much to bear? Will a team that keeps adding interesting pieces (Jamal Crawford) and continues to retain vital ones (Mike Bibby) continue their climb into the Eastern Conference elite? Or will this just be another ho-hum Hawks team in the vein of those led by Adam Keefe?
Only time (and us) will tell...expectations vs reality...Adam Keefe or Dominique.

Charlotte Bobcats

Look at this roster. Is there any actual direction to the addition or subtraction to players on this team? When I try and figure out how this team came to be all I can picture is MJ, and whoever else has been involved, taking a boat out to the Island of Misfit Hoopsters and loading up on whatever was on sale at the time. Boris Diaw, Tyson Chandler, Larry Brown, Vladimir Radmanovic, the list goes on. The Bobcats are as close to a scrap heap as you will find. The only thing we find remotely interesting about this team is the looming possibility of another trip to the Island of Misfit Hoopsters. Stay tuned.

Miami Heat

As a longtime fan of the Miami Heat, I will be following their every move. Every twitpic of Michael Beasley, every 2010 rumor, every Dwyane Wade 50 point game to put away a team they should beat without Wade. And I will comment as I see fit, with no rhyme or reason other than this is the team I am interested in.

Orlando Magic

Would the Nets have traded Vince Carter to the Magic for Hedo Turkoglu straight up at any point during last season? Yes. Would the Magic? Doubtful. So what makes Vince Carter so appealing to the Magic fresh off a run to the Finals? We are not sure. They guy has shown up to a grand total of one dunk contest, a few college games and one Olympic Games. (on a side note, I wish Carter and Gary Payton would bring back the mini-afros they grew that summer) Other than that he has racked up quite the postage bill mailing in performances from around the globe.
We have all heard how he will be extra motivated because he will get to live in the house he owns just down the road from Tiger Woods, but nobody really believes he will actually show up for every game of the season. He will mail some in. Its just that simple. So we have decided to track the postage bill that he accumulates during the year. For example, first class postage for a 12 oz package from Oklahoma City to Orlando? $3.09. Maybe he just sends a postcard from Minnesota, $0.28. How he choses to send his "mailed in" performance depends on how big of an envelope he needs to pass the stink bomb onto the hometown fans. If he crack $20.00 worth of postage, Magic fans might want to start looking for a paper sack and some matches.

Washington Wizards

The Wizards have failed to live up to expectations since they tried to distance themselves from the the name Bullets and DC/Baltimore area crime. The reason they haven't lived up to those expectations is because of injuries, injuries and more injuries. They have yet to play any real big stretch of games with all their guys healthy on the court. Some call it bad luck, but we know different. You can try and leave a life of crime but it just won't let you. We call this The Curse of the Baltimore Bullets. The bullets, and injures, are going to keep flying until the Wiz make amends. Many professional analysts have the Wiz making a return to prominence and the playoffs. We've got them dealing with more injuries.

Introducing: THE 910 CONVERSATION

The long, dead summer is over. Now, we at The Black Converse like us some baseball–Charlie T the still-in-it Phillies, me the disappointing Red Sox. But, we got into this to blog about a mix of the NBA and music. Or to blog about them independently when the mix isn’t working. Kind of like Chris Cornell and Timbaland. Or Chris Cornell and the RATM dudes. Or Chris Cornell and short hair. Or Chris Cornell and anyone but Soundgarden or a home 4-track*. Whatever. The point is: The Black Converse dry season is over and NBA Opening Night is next week.

Which makes a fine segue into introducing THE 910 CONVERSATION. (Or 910 Converse-ation, if you're into hyphens and overselling the pun.) 910 because it's the 09-10 season. Conversation because obviously we, the Converse, will use this format to discuss the season. It's essentially a team-by-team criteria we've concocted for talking about the upcoming season, unique to each team. We're fully aware just how genius the title is. It took us a mere 20 minutes to come up with it. Give us a half hour and we'll be pulling Pulitzers.

See, we’re not hoop experts or statisticians, so we don't venture into the usual sportsblogger predictions. And we’re not hyperfans, so we won’t be breaking any news or giving any ultra in-depth insights or talking about how this offense doesn't suit that player or how this matchup should dictate that lineup shift. Please. We can admit to our limitations as normal NBA fans and, frankly, think that that’s what makes us readable anyway. We are the Chauncey Gardener/overweight sitcom schlub/Everyman of the hoop blogging world. Even if saying so seems pretty pretentious. Moving on.

True to the iChat roots of this blog, we've spent the past month or two IM’ing about every team- angles, new players, drama, degree of our interest, media oversaturation, stars, off-court life, and more. Eventually, for each team, we settled on (some would say compromised, others might say surrendered to) a storyline that we’re inclined to follow this season. Some teams (Bucks, Nets) interest us so little that we’ve chosen purposefully obscure non-stories that may only surface once all season. Other teams will get more regular coverage. And two teams (Jazz for me, Los Heat for Charlie T) will get the unabashed personal bias and unrepentant skewed focus of fans (There, I outed us. Now all the Carlos Boozer posts make sense. I feel a huge weight lifted.). We're hoping that THE 910 CONVERSATION will give us one thing that many NBA predictions don't have: accountability and legs. So many writers make predictions only to a) ignore them when it's convenient (aka: wrong), b) remind us of them when they're right (aka: rarely), or c) revise them when bandwagons and/or hype machines dictate.

Charlie T will introduce you to our Central, Southeast, and Southwest Division storylines and I’ll introduce the Atlantic, Pacific, and Northwest (incidentally, my favorite parts of the country) Division storylines. After that, we’ll both be posting whenever the spirit strikes us. So, just like every other sports blog, let's roll out the 2009-2010 preseason stuff.

NOTE: All of these storylines will be searchable by the following tag: “(Team) 910”

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