Danny Ainge is a good guy? No, that is not what is being said here.

So Danny Ainge is a bad guy? No, you are just putting words in my mouth.

Danny is Danny, a Celtic for life. He played on those great Boston Celtic teams with the Chief, Bird, McHale, and Dennis Johnson. Every year it seemed they battled the Los Angeles Lakers of Kareem, Magic, and Worthy. Those were some great ballgames.

Now Danny is the GM of Boston and already has a NBA title to his credit and wanted another one last year, but his superstar, Kevin Garnett, had some leg problems and sat out the playoffs. No Kevin, no title, it is that simple.

This year Boston should be favored to win the Eastern Conference and do battle with the Los Angeles Lakers, who else? It is like basketball has restored itself to normalcy. Is that a word?

Earlier this year Danny Ainge had a heart attack and to listen to him tell it, it was pretty scary.

Ainge woke at home with pain in his chest and his left arm in the early hours of April 16, two days before playoffs began. He thought it might have been symptoms of a flu virus he had been battling for a few days. His wife, Michelle, knew better and rushed him to Massachusetts General Hospital. Doctors found a clogged artery and inserted a stent.

“When I got that news, early in the morning, it scared the hell out of me,” Rivers says. “When you hear that someone has had a heart attack, your next thought is, ‘Oh my God. And what?’ That brief moment before you hear he’s OK, you’re thinking the worst.”
source

As much as Danny Ainge loves being the GM of Boston he has to stay in shape and try and reduce stress which is almost impossible with his job. There questions about Garnett, questions about the Celtics chances, and lately questions about Rajon Rondo.

It seems that everything gets twisted around in this blogging internet world. Danny spoke out on Rajon, saying how he had to get better and all of the sudden rumors were out there that Ainge didn’t like Rajon, not true, and that he would not be getting a good contract, not true, and that he was not good enough for the job, also not true.

Danny Ainge will resign Rajon Rondo

Sure there are areas that Rajon can improve on, mostly his shooting and consistency, but there are plenty of nights where he is darn near unstoppable.

Danny plans on staying the course now that he has a good heart!
Photo source Newscom

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Magic is celebrating 50 years of life. Sure you will read all about Magic Johnson and how his real estate and business empire is worth over 1.5 billion dollars, you will read all about Magic and how he lifted the Lakers to the NBA title with Kareem in his rookie season, you will also read about how Magic had those magnificent battles with Larry Bird and the powerful Celtics, but what you may not read about is Lansing Michigan.

Magic and Bird first faced off in the NCAA finals

Earvin grew up in Lansing Michigan and attended Michigan State University at the same time as Kirk Gibson went there and at the same time your humble author was gaining his MSU degree. We knew even then that Magic was born for greatness and yet he always took time to be everyone’s friend. He is special beyond just magic and deserves every ounce of love that he gets from the Lansing area.

Magic still comes back to Michigan State Spartan basketball games every year to see Tom Izzo and all the Spartan fans that remember how Magic and Greg Kelser brought an NCAA title to Michigan State University.

Magic also played in Jenison field house, the home of the Spartans before they built the Breslin center, while he was in High School and drew over 11,000 fans, your humble author lucky enough to be one of them. The battle that day was between Jay Vincent, two time scoring champ at MSU, and Magic Johnson. Jay won the day that day, but Magic managed to beat him on the way to the Class A High School title that year.

Nobody knows how he does it, but Magic Johnson just seems to continue to draw the love everywhere he goes and he deserves it. It is hard to believe there are basketball players today with no memories of Magic playing basketball.

We’re into the second generation of his influence now, the players who grew up watching the players who grew up watching Magic, something that didn’t dawn on me until I asked 24-year-old Trevor Ariza about Johnson and he said, “Baron looks up to him a lot, and I look up to Baron.” The notion that there are adults without a direct recollection of Johnson in his prime is jarring to those of us who were around to see it. To Johnson, it’s actually reassuring, a sign of lasting impact, the closest thing to immortality.
source

You see, Magic always did the little things and made them big, like passing to the open man instead of having to score. In his prime, everyone wanted to be a passing point guard. It did not stop there; he did the little things in all parts of his life. He used to come home from Los Angeles and advertise for the local Quality Dairy store where he worked as a kid. It is a small convenience store chain, but Magic never became too big to help them out.

Magic never became too big for anyone. He is always just Magic!

Image: Zuma Press

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Magic Johnson is always smiling

This is a world gone bonkers. Two conservative radio talk show hosts are accused of saying that Magic Johnson faked AIDS.

According to a partial transcript and audio clip posted on a media watchdog site, mediamatters.org, the remarks came after a caller asserted that health care isn’t a basic right. Perry responded by asking about treatable diseases that a person can live with for a long time “if you just get some basic drugs.”

Baker responded, “Like Magic Johnson?”

Perry replied, “Like Magic with his faked AIDS. Magic faked AIDS.”

Baker said, “You think Magic faked AIDS for sympathy?”

Perry replied, “I’m convinced that Magic faked AIDS.”

“Me too,” Baker said.

Johnson was diagnosed with HIV in 1991 and then retired from the NBA at 32.

source

These guys are idiots. Magic has the HIV virus. He is extremely competitive and yet had to retire early from the NBA because of the virus. Earvin is now a very successful business man worth millions of dollars.

Magic is a huge hero at my school Michigan State University, where he led the team to an NCAA Basketball National Championship as a sophomore. There is a statue erected outside of the stadium of Magic. He is remembered in the area, because he grew up there and has family roots there. He has never forgotten where he is from.

He is an outspoken spokesperson in the battle against AIDS.

After announcing his infection, Johnson teamed up with his physician Dr. Lynn Montana to help educate the world’s youth about the risks associated with HIV.[14] Johnson also set up the Magic Johnson Foundation to help combat HIV,[75] although he later diversified the foundation to include other charitable goals.[76] In 1992, he joined the National Commission on AIDS, but left after only eight months, saying that the commission was not doing enough to combat the disease.[75] He was also the main speaker for the United Nations (UN) World AIDS Day Conference in 1999,[76] and he has served as a United Nations Messengers of Peace.
source

Photo source Newscom

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It is the Clippers.

It is the Clippers, still.

Yes, Baron Davis, one of my favorite players to watch has come to town, but it is still the Clippers.

Baron Davis shooting over Andrew Bynum of the Lakers

Image details: Golden State Warriors v Los Angeles Lakers served by picapp.com

Clippers fans have to be bumming. They lost Elton Brand to the 76ers, because the Clippers upset his manager, David Falk. They lost Corey Maggette to the Golden State Warriors, can’t remember why. Maybe money.

Anyway, even with the signing of Baron Davis the Clippers will suck. Baron cannot carry them on his back all by himself.

It sucks to be a Clippers fan when the Lakers are just across town. Just off the top of my head the Lakers in my lifetime have had Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kobe Bryant.

The Clippers in my lifetime have had…the Clippers have had…well, uhh..oh..Elgin Baylor! Not as a player, though, but it still counts doesn’t it? Elgin is vice-president of basketball operations and very good at his job.

NBA Elgin Baylor factoid – From the 1960-61 to the 1962-63 seasons, Baylor averaged 34.8, 38.3 and 34.0 points per game, respectively. His 38.3 point per game season average is the highest for any player other than Wilt Chamberlain. Baylor, a United States Army Reservist, was called to active duty during that season, and being stationed in Washington state, he could play for the Lakers only when on a weekend pass. However, despite playing only 48 games on the season, he still managed to score over 1,800 points.

The 71 points Baylor scored on November 15, 1960 was a record at the time. The 61 points he scored in game 5 of the NBA Finals in 1962 is still an NBA Finals record. An underrated rebounder, Baylor averaged 13.5 rebounds per game during his career, including a remarkable 19.8 rebounds per game during the 1960-61 season — a season average exceeded by only five other players in NBA history. Baylor was a 10-time All-NBA First Team selection and went to the NBA All-Star Game 11 times.source

Baron Davis

Baron is one of the great penetrating guards of today. Somehow he can muscle inside or move fluidly inside for easy baskets, but he will miss big Elton Brand.

“Before you ask, there was never an underground handshake with Baron Davis,” Brand said Wednesday, addressing speculation that he’d given Davis some kind of commitment to return to the Clippers.

Today, we’ll find out if Davis feels the same way.

Davis is a two-time NBA All-Star (2002 and 2004). He averaged 21.8 points (12th in the NBA), 7.6 assists (6th in the NBA), 4.7 rebounds and 2.33 steals (3rd in the NBA) while playing in all 82 games for the Golden State Warriors during the 2007-08 season. Davis was just one of four players in the league last season to average 20+ points and seven+ assists (Allen Iverson, LeBron James, Chris Paul) per game.

Entering his tenth NBA season, Davis brings career averages of 17.1 points, 7.2 assists, 4.1 rebounds, 1.95 steals and 35.5 minutes per game.

source

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Oh my, you have to watch this. Dwight Howard is unreal!

Dwight Howard Superman 2008 Dunk

Two things.

1. The Superman Dunk is thrown in, not dunked. It is unreal.

2. The dunk after the Superman dunk by Dwight Howard is even more creative and amazing!

NBA Basketball Fan Question Is Dwight Howard truly the Superman of Dunks?

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Pau Gasol brings scoring to the Lakers

The Lakers essentially traded less than nothing to the Lakers for Pau Gasol.

In an unbelievable pickup the Lakers are right back in the hunt for the NBA Championship.

Wait a minute, is Pau that good?

No, but that is the beauty of it all, Pau Gasol does not have to be that good.

Right now he is a fill in for Andrew Bynum. When Bynum gets back you have a Pau Gasol that can put up points in the triangle offense, get some rebounds, give the Lakers more length, and present a mismatch on the floor at all times.

Have you ever seen this guy play?

He has a funky release on his jump shot, but it consistently goes in. Pau can knock down mid-range after mid-range jump shot with that funky release.

Other GM’s in the league are shaking their heads.

Around the league, the reaction of executives and coaches was unanimous: What a nightmare for us. When reached with the news, one Western Conference executive said simply, “Are you kidding? (Expletive) me.” source

They just realized that you will not get Kobe in a trade from the Lakers, he is going nowhere now and that the Lakers are for real. Suddenly Lamar Odom is a distant fourth option on this team.

Kobe celebrated by putting up 47 points on the Raptors.

David Stern

Think of the wild thoughts going through the Commissioner’s head right now. He has the golden memories of all those Boston LA series with Larry Bird of the Big Three vs. Magic Johnson and Kareem Jabbar.

Now, Stern is thinking Kevin Garnett of the Big Three (Ray Allen, Paul Pierce) vs. Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum.

Stern is smart enough to see he role the Pau plays in this and also to see the immense marketing dollars.

Funny how a single trade of a guy that no one was talking about can change things so quickly.

As for Memphis? They are just unloading salary and cleaning house. They are pathetic and know it. Time to start over.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Has Mitch Kupchak delivered?

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 Your humble author disagrees, but not for the reason you are thinking.  Wait, how can anyone know what you are thinking?

 Oden has to be the number one pick, because the two players were rated so close, but Centers are just hard to find and true Centers are even harder to find and Greg Oden is a true Center.

 Still you could not go wrong by picking either player (except this year with Oden being injured).

 Now what about that changing the game stuff?

Well, get this, the Supersonics (and isn’t that the perfect team name for Durant to play for) have decided to play Durant at shooting guard.

The second overall pick in June’s draft was on the outside looking in during the first practice of his NBA life. He was a shooting guard.

It seemed to fit.

“It’s the same system we ran at Texas, so I’m comfortable in it,” Durant said with a smile.

For now, he’s in the same “2″ spot that All-Star Ray Allen held in Seattle from 2003 until he was traded to Boston for Szczerbiak, Delonte West and fifth overall choice Jeff Green, moments after the Sonics drafted Durant.  source

Is Kevin Durant the next Magic?

Remember Magic Johnson coming into the league and playing point guard at 6′ 9″ tall and everyone said that wouldn’t work?  Ok, maybe you don’t remember, but your gallivanting author does remember and it did change the game.

“In my opinion, that’s where he’s best suited right now,” said new Sonics coach P.J. Carlesimo, who Tuesday ran his first practice as an NBA head man since Golden State fired him in 1999. “Because of the way he shoots the ball, the way he handles the ball, and the fact that he is not as physical right now as he’s going to be before he’s done.

“He’s like — he’s not like Magic Johnson at all — but he’s like Magic in that you can play him probably any of four positions, if not five. Playing the 2, he’s not going to get beat up, box to box, the whole game.”

vs. MSU

Kevin Durant played against my Michigan State Spartans last year while he was at Texas.  Our star freshman, Ramar Morgan, guarded  Durant and did a great job.

 All in all, Morgan was great in that game and MSU pulled out the victory, but Kevin showed moves that only a small man should be able to make and he showed range on his shot  that was beyond 3 point land. 

Kevin did it all with an ease that showed what a star that he can be.

How will you guard Kevin Durant?

Ramar was a 6′6″ fast, strong, live body freshman that excels in defense.  Ramar did a great job, but he didn’t stop Kevin.

If your shooting guard is only 6′ 5″, what is he going to do?  If your shooting guard is 6′ 9″, will he be quick enough?  Probably not.

Yes, Kevin Durant will change the NBA game!

 NBA Basketball Fan Question  Have you had a chance to see Kevin Durant play?

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