Category — Omri Casspi

A heated argument broke out on Twitter tonight about which city has the top players in the NBA. What started the discussion was an “Open Court” segment tonight on NBA TV, featuring Shaq, Barkley, Kenny Smith, Steve Smith, Chris Webber, Reggie Miller, Steve Kerr and Ernie Johnson.
Hard for any city, including that stale argument that New York produces the best players (maybe back in the day, but not now), to argue against this 5 though.
Complex.com

Do the Clippers vote David Stern a share of playoff coin if they win it all?
In a poll of 30 ESPN writers and personalities, 25 of them picked the Heat to win this season’s NBA title. Three of them picked the Bulls and 2 predicted the Thunder would win it all.
Us? As much as Miami is the safe pick, we’re rolling with our homies (Thunder). Now beam us up Scottie.
ESPN.com

The NBA lockout has come to an end, with the players and the owners agreeing to a tentative deal early this morning. The season will tip off Christmas Day with a tripleheader, including Derrick Rose and the Bulls visiting the Lakers.
N.Y. Times

Watching David Stern politic and play on the ignorance of many NBA fans who solely blame the players for the lockout, we’re reminded of a solution the commissioner chooses to ignore. It’s called contraction. The league would be better off if they contracted teams such as Michael Jordan’s Bobcats or the NBA-run Hornets, among others. Instead, Stern and his misguided owners believe strong-arming the players for millions and hijacking the game from the fans is a better tactic.
ESPN.com

The owners are closer to achieving their goal of canceling the NBA season. Michael Jordan and a small band of hardliners are intent on it.
Meanwhile, David Stern couldn’t wait to use ESPN today as his platform to tell anyone who would listen of how the players have wrecked negotiations. But if you’re negotiating with someone in good faith, you don’t issue ultimatums with each proposal. Stern has frequently done so throughout these so-called negotiations.
As much as I’d love to see some balling, I still applaud the players. They have little choice in the matter. They agreed to give back the $300 million the league supposedly lost last year only to have Stern and those greedy bastards he represents to demand more. And Stern has the gall to call the players’ decision to disband the union “tragic?” Please.

Though everyone knows who Kings’ rookie Tyreke Evans is, some NBA watchers might not know who this 21-year-old Israeli kid. But you will.
The first few times I watched Omri Casspi, I came away with mixed opinions. On some nights, he was far from impressive and a liability, but there were other nights when I’d softly whisper damn, like a January outing when the Kings visited the Lakers. Though Sacramento lost at the buzzer, when Kobe delivered one of his patented game-winners, the Kings were pushing the defending champs around as easily as a shopping cart for much of the contest. Casspi, a rookie and the first Israeli-born player to play in the NBA, was holding his own defending against Kobe. Further, he was dictating on offense and banging his chest, particularly after a breakaway dunk silenced the L.A. crowd. He finished with a career-high 23 points and 6 rebounds. After that, I was convinced this dude had skills to make a name for himself in the league.
But the return of Kevin Martin has stolen some of Casspi’s thunder. He’s still one of the team’s key contributors, averaging 12 points per game. But as Coach Paul Westphal says, sometimes Casspi’s rookie mistakes hurt him. Still, for a first-year player, the 6-9 forward has been a good addition to the Kings.
Sacramento Bee