NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

photo source newscom

Earlier all we heard was that Mario Chalmers and Darrell Arthur were smoking weed at the NBA Rookie Symposium. Now they deny it, but were still fined 20,000 dollars.

Security at the resort near New York where the event took place found Arthur and Chalmers in a room with two women, and the scent of marijuana was detected. No drugs or drug paraphernalia were found, but having guests in the room violated NBA policy, and the two rookies were sent home.

Arthur and Chalmers apologized but denied using marijuana. Next year they’ll have to again attend the symposium, which addresses the challenges of making the transition to pro ball.

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Where there is smoke there is fire and where there is weed smell there is … hmm.
This not the way to start your NBA career.

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NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

Why is it we all think of the NBA as a league full of pot smokers?

We don’t seem to worry too much about performance enhancing drugs, just weed.

Anyway, it has happened again. Players got caught. Rookies. Mario Chalmers and Darrell Arthur were caught at the rookie transition program.

Chalmers, who sank the game-tying, buzzer-beating 3-pointer that forced overtime in Kansas’ 75-68 championship victory over Memphis, was drafted 34th by Minnesota. He was quickly traded to Miami, where he is expected to vie for the starting point guard position after playing well during summer league. Chalmers played three seasons for the Jayhawks.

Arthur, also an early-entry candidate who played two years at Kansas, was a sympathetic figure on draft night. Roundly believed to have lottery-type talent, Arthur sank to the 27th spot after erroneous rumors of a health problem circulated throughout the league.

Then, after being selected by New Orleans, the 6-foot-9 forward was traded to Portland, then Houston, before finally settling in Memphis.

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Talk about making the transition!

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NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

LeBron James in a Cav’s uni drives on Richard Jefferson in a Net’s uni. Jefferson is now a Buck and LeBron could become a Net

Image details: Cleveland Cavaliers v New Jersey Nets served by picapp.com

The New Jersey Nets are starting over.

Heck, they have been starting over for years. Ever since they beat the Pistons in the conference finals, years ago, they have been on a slow downhill slide.

Now they want LeBron James.

The Nets need a perfect storm to make this happen once James can opt out of his Cleveland Cavaliers contract and make himself the most desirable free agent in NBA history. The Nets are counting on part-owner Jay-Z’s personal crusade to recruit his close friend to Brooklyn, but there’s nothing to discuss until the Nets remake themselves for the long run.

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During the regular season, the Nets unloaded Jason Kidd to Dallas and ended up much younger with Devin Harris.

Now they have traded Richard Jefferson with his 42.5 million dollar contract to the John Hammond run Bucks for Yi Jianlian, so they picked up size and unloaded a sizeable long term contract. Yi may never develop into much of a player, it is too early to tell, but in the New York area, he will have an audience. Meanwhile, John Hammond lands a star player with toughness for his new energized tough Bucks. It will be fun to follow John’s future moves.

In the draft they added size and shooting.

two No. 1 picks on Thursday night – Stanford’s Brook Lopez and California’s Ryan Anderson. They would’ve been satisfied with this change, but a player who they had considered picking at No. 21 – Memphis’ Chris Douglas-Roberts – dropped to them early in the second round.

LeBron James plays one more year before he is a free agent. New Jersey wants to be well under the salary cap, because if they land LeBron, they also may land one of his friends, like Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire.

If any two of those players are put together … Wow!

You can only imagine how much LeBron could make in New York compared to Cleveland. LeBron would become the global icon that David Stern has wanted since Michael Jordan moved into the front office.

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NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

Michael Beasley is shorter than listed in college, but still a lot taller than O.J. Mayo

Image details: Kansas State v USC served by picapp.com

The Chicago Bulls have the first pick in the draft and seem to have narrowed it down to Michael Beasley or Derrick Rose.

Beasley seems to have come up short, in height that is.

He measured 6-foot-8 1/4 at the NBA’s predraft camp after being listed at 6-10 in college.

“It’s a little disappointing to me to find out I’m actually a midget,” Beasley said in jest. “But it’s not a big deal to me.”

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Of course, nothing is easy in Bulls land lately, both of these players are just coming off of their freshman years, so there are questions, but there is no denying their talent.

Check out the stats on Beasley.

Quick, strong and agile, Beasley put together one of the best seasons ever by a freshman, becoming the third in NCAA history to lead the nation in rebounds at 12.4 per game while averaging 26.2 points. He had the second-most rebounds and third-most points by a freshman in NCAA history, helping Kansas State to its first NCAA tournament victory in 20 years.

He was the Big 12 player of the year, a consensus All-American and the runner-up to North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough for several player of the year awards, but there are concerns about his character and height.

Most of Beasley’s issues seem to be plain immaturity, but then do you give a guy like that all that money?

Fair or not, one of the major issues surrounding him is his character.

To that, Beasley said, “If I have character issues, sorry — I guess.”

The issues stem from Beasley’s sense of humor.

He’s a prankster, has been since he was a young child.

It was not a major problem when his targets were friends and relatives, but teachers and school administrators were not always amused.

He wound up attending seven schools in five years as a teen, and that included a stint at basketball power Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, where he was told not to come back after he and a teammate bet who could sign his name in black marker on the most objects in the school.

Derrick Rose will visit Chicago next.

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NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

Let’s back up and look at Doug Collins.

My early memories were of Doug playing for the 76er’s, swooping to the hole and making a layup or drilling jumper after jumper. He played on the great Dr. J’s teams. He averaged over 17 points a game for his career.

Doug also played on the Olympic team that the Russians beat after the ref’s kept giving them do over’s until they scored the winning basket. Ok, so that one still bothers me. You can’t let everything go.

After retiring as a player, Doug went on to coaching. He got his first walking papers as Michael Jordan’s stubborn coach.

“We knocked heads early,” Collins said at the time. “I was 35, had never been a head coach before, was going to roll up my sleeves to show everybody that I could get the job done. I wanted to do things my way.”

Collins was fired and replaced by Phil Jackson, whose first team also lost to Detroit in the conference finals, 4-3. The following season the Bulls broke through, sweeping the Pistons 4-0 and going on to the first of six championships in the 90s with Jordan and Scottie Pippen leading the way. In 1995-96, they finished 72-10 as what many consider to be the greatest NBA team of all time.

Collins accepted his second head coaching job in 1995 and worked 2 1/2 seasons with the Pistons, going 46-36, 54-28 and 21-24 before he was let go amid reports his style caused friction with some of his players.

He was 37-45 in both seasons in Washington but couldn’t get the Wizards into the playoffs. He was fired shortly after Jordan was denied a return to the front office.

Collins’ overall record is 332-287 and 15-23 in the postseason.

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Here is a YouTube breaking the Chicago Bulls news of hiring Doug Collins.

Now being a huge Piston fans, the early Chicago years were followed and the Piston years were followed. Doug was tough, demanding, and a my way or the highway guy. He could make a weak team strong, but could not make a good team great.

Speaking of great, after a while Doug grated on you and you did not want to play for him anymore.

Now after Chicago experienced the tough, demanding, my way or the highway Scott Skiles, why would they sign Doug Collins?

The Bulls and Collins, who coached a young Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen before the 1990s dynasty took off, acknowledged Thursday discussing a return engagement. The sides also said there would be more talks once Collins’ obligations with TNT ended, which happened when the Los Angeles Lakers eliminated the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference finals that night.

And Collins was adamant during a pregame interview with TNT: “I have not been offered. I have not accepted.”

On Friday, general manager John Paxson did not return a call to his cell phone, and Collins’ representative John Langel declined comment. A message seeking comment was left Friday night on Collins’ cell phone.

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The Bulls will have the number one pick in the draft, probably Derrick Rose of Memphis.

Does this sound like a do over of young Michael Jordan and Doug Collins?

Only Derrick Rose is not Michael Jordan and young Doug Collins had better not be old Doug Collins!

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NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

Take a look at these prospects for the NBA.

Derrick Rose, Freshman PG, Memphis
Expected to go: 1 or 2 | NBA comparisons: Baron Davis, Dwyane Wade, Devin Harris
Talk to me: “Rose has done everything humanly possible to make a case for himself to be considered the #1 overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. While just a few weeks ago it was virtually a guarantee that Michael Beasley would claim that spot, Rose has now, at the very least, given NBA GMs plenty to think about before deciding to pass him up. Depending on which team lands the top pick, and what their point guard situation looks like, it’s not ludicrous at all to suggest at this point that he might even be the one.” — J. Givony, DraftExpress

Derrick Rose scoring easily for Memphis on my Michigan State Spartans

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Watching this guy destroy my Michigan State Spartans was actually fun. What a spectacular athlete. How easy he scores.

Of course he had help with Chris Douglass-Roberts a lanky junior that easily gets into the paint and scores with a silky jumper.

Or how about Kevin Love (played against my Spartans early in the year). Kevin establishes himself on the blocks and you cannot move him. Scores in a variety of ways.

Think of Tyler Hansbrough. They say he is not a great athlete, but every time you watch him, he is blowing by someone with a fancy move and taking it to the rack.

The list goes on.
Darrell Arthur, Kansas
Ty Lawson, NC
Brandon Rush Kansas

This is a star studded final four.

NBA Basketball special comment The NBA scouts will be salivating over these games.

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NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

How can this be?

It is a reach even for 7′ 6″ Yao Ming to win 11 in a row.

Tracy McGrady playing consistently good?

Houston even trades two players away, do not suit up the guy they get and still keep winning!

How can this be?

Well, admittedly, most of the teams they beat were pretty bad teams, but they did just knock off Chris Paul and the Hornets (sounds like a 60’s rock group) and there were a couple of close scrapes with the Cleveland PreWallace LeBrons led by Cavalier LeBron James, which the Rockets managed to pull out.

Still… They are winning!

And get this, they have not lost in February and finish the month with games against the Big Ben-less Bulls, the Wizards minus Agent Zero, and the Pau-less Grizzlies (get it, paw-less Grizzlies, ok, bad joke).

Sounds like 3 more wins and an undefeated month to me.

Side Note: Your intrepid author was pretty harsh on Houston a while back and is currently flogging himself.

It seems the Rockets are worthy.

When both Yao and T-Mac are on, they are pretty hard to beat. In fact, they will kill you from inside and out.

But there is a new element Read more

NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

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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NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

Andrew Bynum - the Lakers key hurts his knee

What a way to pull defeat out of victory.

Kobe Bryant was on to his usual outstanding performance and the Lakers machine was once again humming along as it has done so recently with victory after victory. Kobe ended up with 37 points.

The Lakers defeated the Grizzlies 100 to 99 with unlikely hero Kwame Brown taking his 38 percent free throw shooting percentage to the line and making the first one to give the Lakers their game winning point with 9.2 seconds left.

So the Lakers won the game, but it was what happened earlier that has players and fans concerned.

Unfortunately, in the 3rd quarter, Andrew Bynum went down with a knee injury.

Bynum is a player the Lakers can ill afford to lose. He has been averaging a double double and giving the Lakers size inside. Without Bynum, Read more