Due to the amount of requests I have had to update the blog, I figured it was about time to do it.

This will give you something to laugh about:

HAHAHA

“Like a fat person on a diet, it sucks.”——–Charles Barkley

The Chuckster said this during an interview on Inside the NBA with Ernie Johnson. He was referencing his recent gambling problems.

Hang in there Chuck.

I went to Game 4 of the Pistons-Magic series on Saturday, and I still can’t believe what I saw. Not only did the Magic completely blow a chance to tie the series at 2, they also didn’t get Dwight Howard the ball down the stretch. I mean he only had two points during the final three quarters, to finish with eight total.

How can an All-NBA first team center only have two points during the last three quarters, and barely touch the ball down the stretch? I couldn’t figure it out, until I saw a column in the Sentinel, from Detroit Free Press columnist Drew Sharp.

Sharp’s column had several good points, namely that,

“Howard didn’t get the ball enough, especially late, because he didn’t want the ball enough.”

I agree with Sharp. I don’t recall Howard ever getting extremely mad about not getting the ball. I never saw him go to the bench and yell at his teammates to give him the ball either.

And…

“Howard’s offensive repertoire remains at a rudimentary level. He’s not comfortable making an away-from-the-basket offensive move. He rushes shots, clumsily throwing up garbage and then complaining that the referees aren’t giving him a fair whistle.”

This was a tremendous observation by Sharp, and one that I have not read from the Sentinel’s columnists. Could it be that Howard didn’t want the ball in the clutch because he is still not comfortable when he has the ball in his hands?

Could it be that his teammates are still hesitant to give him the ball in the post, because he looks so uncomfortable with it when he gets it?

As I think back over the season, Howard really has dominated at points, but there aren’t many times when I can remember him getting the ball in the post, making a move, and putting it in the basket. Most of his points still seem to come off rebounds and tips, especially when he runs the floor.

I have read so many times this year about how much Howard has improved, how dominat he has become, and I think he has, but not to the point where most local media members believe. He still has a long, long way to go. Howard should want to be the most dominat player on the court. He should want the ball every time down the floor, and each time he gets it, he should score.

Defensively, his game is there. Also, he might be the best rebounder in the league, but a truly dominant player needs to take over offensively as well.

Last summer, I spent some time working out at the RDV Sportsplex, where the Magic practice. While I was there I watched a pickup game, between a few people, including Howard and Bo Outlaw. I understand that it was just a pickup game, and I understand Dwight is just a kid, playing against some 40 year olds, but I watched him dribble down the floor and heave up jumpers the whole time.

I get that he was probably just trying to have some fun, but it was still kind of strange. If I were him, I would be in the gym working on my post moves, the enitre off-season. Maybe he did, but his performance thus far, especially in the post-season shows that he needs some work.

If the Magic have any chance to get back in this series, Dwight needs to show up on both ends of the floor. He has got to want the ball.

Howard is one of the best players in the game, but there are still times when he disappears offensively. If I were the Magic, I would go find Hakeem Olajuwon and have him work with Dwight all off-season.

Another day, another questionable Mike Bianchi column. As I’ve already discussed here, I think Bianchi is one of the best in the business when he puts his mind to it. There are just some columns, like the one in today’s Sentinel, and the one from a couple of weeks ago, that leave me scratching my head.

In today’s column, Bianchi argues that Otis Smith deserves a big share of the credit for the Magic’s playoff success. I agree with him, to a point, because Smith put this team together, but what I don’t agree with is the timing of the column, and the reasons Bianchi lists as to why Smith deserves so much praise.

First of all, Bianchi wrote this column after the Magic advanced into the second round of the playoffs, by beating Toronto. My problem is that the Magic were a better team than Toronto, any Magic fan will tell you that the team they have struggled with the most in the last few years is Detroit.

Now, if they can beat the Pistons in the second round of the playoffs, I will be impressed, and I believe that is when Otis Smith should get all the credit he deserves, and then some. He will have identified what the team needed to get past Detroit, a squad that has given the Magic fits, in the last few years.

It is definitely an accomplishment to be playing in the second round, but if the Magic can’t get past Detroit, what have they really accomplished?

My other problem with this column are the reason Bianchi lists as to why Smith should be praised. His words are in quotes, mine will come after those.

*We critics said Smith was crazy for believing in point guard Jameer Nelson and signing him to a lucrative extension during the offseason. Well, in the first round of the playoffs against the Toronto Raptors, Nelson averaged 17.2 points and outplayed perhaps the best point guard tandem in the league.

It’s true that Nelson played very well in the first round, and outplayed Toronto’s point guard tandem of T.J. Ford and Jose Calderon. The problem though, is that Nelson has never struggled against smaller guards like Ford, and slower guards off the dribble like Calderon. He’s struggled against big, physical guards, specifically, Chauncey Billups, whom he will face in Round 2, when the Magic play the Pistons.

For years, Billups has dominated Nelson, continually posting him up in the blocks on offense, and getting into his head on defense. Again, if Nelson and the Magic can get by Billups and the Pistons in the second round, then this column would make a lot more sense. Otherwise, how can you justify that giving Jameer Nelson a 6 year, 36 million dollar contract before the season was a good move?
If they don’t beat the Pistons, then why does Smith deserve any credit?

*His critics said Smith was insane for signing free agent Rashard Lewis to a $118 million contract during the offseason. Lewis (27 points and 13 rebounds) carried the Magic in Game 4 against the Raptors and his steadiness and unselfishness have been key components to the franchise’s breakout season.

Lewis played very well in almost every game of the first-round series, but Smith will probably still be viewed as insane by his peers, if the Magic don’t win a championship. Again though, that’s my problem with this column, the Magic have made it to the second round of the playoffs, if they go and get beat by the Pistons, and they are still on the hook for almost 140 million to Lewis and Nelson over the next six years, then where do they go? For better or worse, this is the team the Magic will be playing with for the next few years, because of their salary cap situation. If they can’t beat the Pistons, then they’ll be right back where they were before, on the outside looking in.

*His critics claimed Smith was asleep at the wheel for standing pat while other teams like Dallas and Phoenix were pulling off high-profile deals ( Jason Kidd and Shaq) at the trade deadline. Guess what? The Magic are still playing while the Mavs and Suns are out of the playoffs and either firing their coaches or on the verge of it.

Out of all of Bianchi’s claims, this one made the least sense to me. This is like comparing apples and oranges. The Magic play in the Eastern Conference, the Mavericks and Suns play in the Western Conference. The Magic didn’t have to make any moves to get out of the first round in the Eastern Conference, they were the better team, they were supposed to win. The Mavs and Suns had to try and make some moves, because they wouldn’t have made it out of the first round with they way they were both constructed.

A good GM is like a good gambler — you have to know when to hold ‘em (standing pat at the trade deadline) and know when to fold ‘em (dumping Francis). Smith doesn’t make moves just to make moves. He doesn’t just look at talent and technique; he looks at chemistry and camaraderie.

Again, how can Bianchi claim, right now, after the first round, that the Magic were smart to stand pat at the trade deadline? How can he claim, as he did in the column, that it is “easy to overlook Smith’s questionable draft picks,” when you make moves like he has. Consider this: How good would this Magic team be if they hadn’t selected Fran Vazquez and J.J. Redick in the NBA Draft? Or if they hadn’t traded away their pick in ‘07 to get Darko Milicic?

The part of the column that stood out the most to me, were the last few paragraphs.

He regularly walks the halls and asks everyone in the organization, “What have you done to make the Orlando Magic champions?”

If we were to ask the same question of Otis Smith, he’d probably answer, “Nothin’ much.”

But we know better.

We know he’s done just about everything.

Done just about everything? Seriously? After the first round of the playoffs? Look, I have no problem praising general managers, but the praise should at least be deserved. If the Magic can find a way to beat the Pistons, and advance in the NBA Playoffs, then people should praise Smith, but not after a first-round win over the Raptors.

I just finished watching the Sports Media Special on HBO that was hosted by Bob Costas. I thought the show, as a whole, was extremely well done. My biggest complaint is that there wasn’t more time for each panel to discuss certain issues, but, as a sports fan, and a person who is extremely interested in all of these issues, I’ll take what I can get.

It was refreshing though to hear what some of the titans in each industry had to say, in an open forum. A few quick thoughts, before I go into each specific subject that was discussed in the special.

Bob Costas is the best sportscaster in the business. Period. He knows everything, and has the clout to pull off something like this.

Why in the heck wasn’t there a panel discussion on newspapers? I guess the Internet portion was supposed to cover that, but still, why couldn’t the producers have fit in 10 minutes for a panel discussion on where newspapers, specifically sports pages, are headed.

I liked the idea of a town-hall style forum, but I always thought the point of a town hall style forum was so that people in the audience could say something. Not only did no one in the audience get to say anything, but it seemed pointless to even have an audience, a lot of the stuff they did on the show could have been done in a studio.

Now, a quick thought on each topic…

Sports Radio: I think that sports radio, except in the large markets, is on a serious decline. The money just simply isn’t there. More and more stations are going with national programs all the time. In many cities, there is just the drive time host, and that’s it.

Now, this isn’t to say that sports talk radio can’t be profitable, because I believe it can. The difference is, I think that the Internet will become more and more important to sports-talk radio. A host, especially in a local market, must be able to use the Internet to his or her advantage, and draw listeners, readers to that station or that site in other ways.

Internet: Blogs are here to stay. That’s why I finally started one of my own. I think any writer, young or old, would be stupid in this day and age not to keep a blog. I didn’t always think this way, but in the last few years, I have realized that most people my age, (myself included) get their news from blogs, and websites…not newspapers.

If this portion of the program taught me anything, it was that newspapers, specifically sports pages in those newspapers, are going to be obsolete in lots of markets across the country in the coming years.

Television: I felt like I got some good information out of this part of the program, but all I kept thinking was how pompous and arrogant Joe Buck, Dan Patrick, and to a lesser extent Mike Tirico seemed. All three men are extremely smart, and like Costas, well-versed in a lot of topics, but it felt like they were afraid to say something they were going to regret.

Bottom line here, ESPN is massive, and until someone figures out how to compete with them, which I don’t think will happen for a while, that is not going to change….like Don Ohlmeyer said…”They have all the gold.”

Athletes and the Media: I agreed with a lot of what was said during this segment, specifically when it came to writers being nice to an athlete one second, and then ripping them after they walk away. For that reason, and probably many others, athletes don’t trust the media. But, as Selena Roberts pointed out, athletes now have handlers and a wall between them and the media these days, which makes it harder for writers/reporters to connect to them on a personal level.

I’m not saying I blame the athletes for wanting some protection, in the form of a PR person, or a marketing guru, I’m just saying that there are some journalists who would just like the chance to talk to you as human being, and are not trying to make you look bad all the time.

Race and Sports: I thought Cris Carter said it best when he said that people don’t want to talk about race. I agree with him. You just can’t win when you talk about race right now in America.

There is something that has really bothered in the last few weeks when it comes to the draft coverage on all the networks. Everyone keeps mentioning that there is not a “franchise quarterback” in the top three, but how does any “draft expert” know that?

I mean seriously, nobody truly knows how any of these guys, (quarterbacks or otherwise) are going to turn out. Was Akili Smith a franchise quarterback? Tim Couch? The list could go on and on, but, please whatever you do, stop saying there isn’t a “franchise quarterback” in the top 3. Nobody knows who will turn out to be the best quarterback in the draft right now, and we won’t know for at least another five or ten years…

Maybe Chad Henne or John David Booty becomes the next Tom Brady. The same Brady who was a sixth round pick, oh by the way.

I think Matt Ryan has the chance to be good, if he gets picked into the right system. I stood in the pouring rain in Blacksburg a few months ago, and watched as he led a mediocre BC team past the Hokies.

My sleeper pick of the weekend, a total homer pick I know, but still…..Kevin Smith…RB UCF

The guy is a workhorse and will make some team very happy in the 3rd or 4th round…..

Leave your thoughts in the comments as to how you think the draft might go…..