With less than a month left in the regular season, it’s time to start focusing on the awards. For NBA Rookie of the Year there are many worth candidates. Here’s a look at the top five candidates to take home the 2008-09 NBA ROY award:

5. Eric Gordon, Los Angeles Clippers
Once given a starting spot, Gordon took off. Although he doesn’t have great height for the shooting guard position, he’s built like a tank and his strength makes him dangerous anywhere on the court.

4. Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder
Early on, it appeared as if Westbrook could be a bust. But he gradually got better and right now he might be playing better than any rookie in the NBA. Next to Kevin Durant and Jeff Green, Westbrook could become a star.

3. Brook Lopez, New Jersey Nets
The best bigman in the 2008-09 rookie class appears to be Lopez of the Nets. He has very good nice and understands the game extremely well. Going forward, he’ll be a double-double machine.

2. OJ Mayo, Memphis Grizzlies
Scouts weren’t convinced Mayo could make a successful jump to the NBA. But after his rookie year, most scouts agree that he has star potential. Mayo can score and his defense is underrated.

1. Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls
The number one overall pick of the 2008 NBA Draft has a great chance of winning the Rookie of the Year. Despite inconsistency and struggles here and there, Rose has likely done enough to win the award.

Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls - NBA Rookie of the Year (Image: Newscom)

Anybody with a pulse has probably been keeping up with what’s been going on at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

The United States basketball team destroyed Spain today 119-82 to advance to the medal round. This should come as no surprise. The U.S. has been abusing the competition since they got off the plane in Beijing and will no doubt bring home the gold and make up for the sins of the 2004 team that had to settle for the bronze.

Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Carmello Anthony and other members of the “Redeemed Team” are showing the rest of the world that you don’t mess with the U.S. when it comes to basketball.

Ok, so we’ve sent our best professionals to go and beat up on countries like Spain, Greece, China and Angola.

Big deal!

We used to send our best college players to do that. We did for decades and were very successful. But after we came home with the bronze in 1988 with college players, the powers that be thought it was time to send in the big guns and create the ultimate “Dream Team”. That team featured the likes of Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, John Stockton, Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan. It may have been the biggest one-sided battle against the world since the U.S. invaded Grenada 25 years ago.

The U.S. has always been a basketball country and always will be. Having said that, I think that if we went back to sending our best college players to Beijing we still would come back home with the gold.

Imagine a college Dream Team or Redeem Team featuring Kevin Love, O.J. Mayo, Michael Beasley, Derrick Rose, D.J. Augustin, Brook Lopez, Joe Alexander, Brandon Rush, Tyler Hansbrough, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Roy Hibbert, and I’ll even throw in George Hill.

Do you agree that this team would not be able to challenge the rest of the world? They may not destroy the field as the current team is doing, but they are certainly good enough to win the gold.

If we are so determined to send in our professionals, then why not add a few college players or go half pro and half college? After Beijing we would have made our point. We’re the best and everyone knows it. It’s now time to reconsider allowing some of our best amateurs back in the Olympics.

If you like studying the NFL combine numbers and all, you’ll get a kick out of the NBA Pre-Draft numbers gathered in Orlando last week.

Thanks to rushthecourt.wordpress.com for bringing these numbers to my attention. And much thanks to draftexpress.com for their up close and personal work from Orlando last week.

You can see all of the numbers aka player heights, wingspans, body fats, verticals, etc here

Now on to some musings that may or may not completely correlate to the numbers

The no shoes height number is interesting to look at and all, but basically I wouldn’t worry about whether a guy is only 6’7.5 without shoes, because he’ll likely be 6’9 in shoes and after all, NBA basketball players do wear shoes when in competition. And even if the NBA adopted a no shoe policy, the difference would still be essentially the same.

I think many analysts, and even fans especially, just look at the no shoes (and to an extent, in shoes) stat to further rip on and prove why so and so will not make it in the league. Petty. Sometimes a guy can just flat out play and an inch here or there in height means nothing.

Brook Lopez, now this is a legit 7 footer with some athleticism (30.5 vertical) to go along with his nice frame. I’d bet a lot of coin that Jason and Jarron didn’t have half the athleticism Brook and Robin have. Something tells me both Lopez’s will have better statistical rookie campaigns than any of the campaigns Jason and Jarron have put up in the league. And by looking at the numbers, it shouldn’t be too difficult to pull off, well, at least for Brook anyway.

This Othello Hunter guy will probably prove me to be a chump after it’s all said and done. Othello has a 7’3’’ wingspan, and a 34.5 vertical leap while being 6’7.5’’. Now all he needs to do to become Ben Wallace is to just work on his strength (just 7 reps of 185 lbs, Ben can do about 150 reps of 185 lbs). Although I’m sure Othello would like to pass on the “undrafted” part of Big Ben’s resume.

Staying on the Big Ten front here, I’m mildly shocked at the wingspan of Michigan State’s Drew Neitzel. When you’re just a hair under 6’1 and don’t possess a ton of athleticism, it would be nice to have at least some long arms or something. But Drew, unfortunately, only has a 6’2.5” wingspan. Compare that to 6’2.25’’ DeMarcus Nelson’s 6’10 wingspan and you’ll understand where I’m coming from. But Drew Neitzel indeed had a good showing at the camp and as far as I’m concerned will eventually make a roster because of his ability to handle the ball like a point guard and shoot like a 2 guard. And the fact that Chris Quinn and Travis Deiner are still in the league bodes well for Neitzel too.

The recently updated/renovated Spartans Weblog will surely keep you up to date on the goings on of Neitzel and not to mention the 08/09 season outlook for the Michigan St. Spartans as well, a team that should produce at least 3 or 4 more NBA caliber players in the near future.

Any comments, questions and beefs are always appreciated.

Here are some closing thoughts as this Saturday is winding down:

- Oh how I wish I could have watched Washington State take apart Notre Dame. That is an impressive win. Notre Dame can ball it.

- Marquette deserved a better fate than they got against Stanford. Lopez’ last second baseline leaner was a lucky shot. He was heading out of bounds and wasn’t very square with the hoop. But those are the breaks.

- Xavier looked very impressive against a very good Purdue team. I have Xavier going to the Final Four in a couple of my brackets.

- UCLA should consider itself very lucky to have survived Texas A&M. A&M had the Bruins right where they wanted them, and they let them off the hook.

- Somewhere in Bristol Connecticut, Bobby Knight is weeping - his pick to win it all, Pittsburgh, just bombed out against Michigan State. I was hoping for more from the Panthers.

College basketball returns from its holiday hiatus with some great games this week. Here are a few games to keep an eye on…

Thursday January 3rd: #5 UCLA at #20 Stanford - the Pac-10 conference wars start up as Stanford’s Twin Towers (Brook and Robin Lopez) host freshman phenom Kevin Love and the UCLA Bruins. This matchup will give the winner an early leg up in the battle for the Pac-10 crown.

Saturday January 5th: Oregon at #21 Arizona - Oregon is slumping a bit after two consecutive road losses (at Nebraska, at Oakland) and a narrow home victory over Mount St. Marys. If the Ducks are to re-establish themselves as a contender in the Pac-10, they need a good game against the Wildcats, which is easier said than done. The McKale Center is never an easy place to play.

Sunday January 6th: #1 North Carolina at #19 Clemson - Tyler Hansbrough and the Tar Heels face a stiff ACC test when they travel to Littlejohn Coliseum to face K.C. Rivers and the Clemson Tigers. Clemson looked absolutely awesome in dismantling Alabama 87-61 on New Year’s Day, and they definitely have the firepower to hang with Carolina. Can anybody stop the Tar Heels on their quest for a national title?

#13 Pittsburgh at #16 Villanova - a top notch Big East battle is on tap as the Pitt Panthers travel to The Pavilion in Villanova to face the Wildcats on Sunday. The Panthers have been decimated by injuries to starting guard Levance Fields (broken foot) and Mike Cook (torn ACL), and they only have 9 scholarship players on the roster. Can head coach Jamie Dixon rally his team and keep them from falling apart during the tough Big East conference battles? Don’t expect the Wildcats to take it easy on the Panthers, as every win in the Big East is critical.

Things have gone from bad to worse for Stanford Cardinal sophomore forward Brook Lopez. Earlier this month, Lopez was ruled academically ineligible for the fall quarter. Now, the Cardinal have suspended Lopez indefinitely for a violation of team rules. Read more