I am so done with the Detroit Pistons. This may be a dumb question, but Why did the Bulls sign Ben Wallace and trade away Tyson Chandler? Lock it up: The Hornets are going to the Playoffs! Lock and load, baby, LOCK AND LOAD!

-Lakers in the short shorts was hot. Bynum putting up a stinker against the Celtics, despite f-ing up KG, was not.

-T-Mac loves to be healthy.

-Miami…wow, holy crap!

-Mehmet Okur needs to go away for good. I have a disease, and the only cure is MORE MILLSAP!

-70+ points at halftime the other night for the Nuggs against Baron and Company. LOTS of defense being played there.

-Love how the Spurs just motor along…so quiet, yet so good.

-Go Hornets!

-Cat’s Hawks are looking pretty solid. Joe Johnson is the man.

-Aaron Gray sighting recently…that’s scary if you’re a Bulls fan.

-Can’t get enough of the Celtics. The Boston Three Party is sweet. That tackle last night of Sweet Baby Ray Ray was sour, though.

I was a gigantic fan of the Charles Oakley-led Knicks teams of the 90s who were always in battle with Indiana and especially Miami. Following the 95 season Pat Riley left the Knicks to become President and HC of the Heat, and immediately traded for Tim Hardaway and Alonzo Mourning. By the next season (96-97)they were surrounded by Voshon Lenard, PJ Brown, Jamal Mashburn, and Dan Majarle. I hated them, especially after they dethroned the Knicks in the Atlantic and fell behind 3-1 in the playoffs right before PJ Brown slammed Charlie Ward and half the Knicks got suspended (Starks, Houston, LJ, Ewing, Ward). The Heat won the series and got beat by a Bulls team that the Knicks were ready to crush (in my opinion). The Heat won the division again the next year (97-98), but the Knicks beat them in 5 in the 1st round (without Ewing), including the game 4 LJ-Mourning fight. The next year (98-99) the Heat landed the #1 seed, and also another 5-game series against the Knicks, who had a weird up-and-down season. Allan Houston’s series winner in game 5 was the greatest moment of my NBA life. Next year (99-00) the Knicks finished them in 7 in round 2. After the 2000 olympics Mourning’s kidney ailment was discovered.

Between 1997 and 2000 the Knick and Heat faced off in 4 consecutive playoff series with each going to a decisive final game, the only such occurance in NBA history. In my opinion those 24 games were the most physical, intense, and agonizing wars of the 90s. I can’t imagine a stretch of games between two team, including the regular season ones, possibly being any closer. Tons of comebacks, constant 4th quarter lead changes, and hellacious defense and brutal fouling the entire time. I don’t think 100 points were ever scored and they were usually in the 80s or less. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knicks-Heat_rivalry).

Anyway, throughout this time I despised the Heat, particularly Hardaway and Mourning. But because they played the Knicks constantly, and I watched every single game, I’ve seen them play a million times. Usually when your team eliminates another from the playoffs every time they meet you stop hating/fearing them as much. But that never happened, in fact in hindsight I barely remember that the Knicks wiped them out 3 stright years. And the main reason is that Mourning is a fucking animal. Not only is he a competent center, which is rare, but he was one of the few players who actually lived up to the cliche- “willed his team to victory.” Feroucious rebounding and defense combined with respectable offensive skill that definitely seemed more a result of effort than talent. Also the veins in his head were always about to explode which was a plus. While I’m on the topic it should also be noted that Hardaway was more of a thorn in the Knicks side than any player is to any team in the league today 100 times over. But this is about Mourning. That Miami team never quite got enough done to be remembered today by the casual fan (mainly because of the Knicks), but in my mind is one of the greatest, toughest teams of the era, and Mourning was its identity. If he were in his prime right now he’d eat every big man in the league. Maybe not shut them down, but he’d maul them physically and mentally until they faked a knee injury. Then he’d box out his replacement into the first row.

So to summarize:

1. I’m a huge closet Knicks fan. I have Knicks jersies, I’ve gotten Knicks tickets for Christmas, I pretended to be Oakley in high school basketball practice, etc.

2. Mourning is the man.

PG: Baron Davis
SG: Ray Allen
SF: Larry Bird
PF: Danny Fortson
C: Marcus Camby

PG: Brandin Knight
PG: Bobby Hurley
PG: Tyus Edney
PG: Sean Miller
SG: Tom Pipkins
PF: Chevon Troutman
PF: DeJuan Blair

Wow, tough to try and pick a team. Some guys I left off include: Jeff Capel, Charles Smith, Ricardo Greer, Richard Hamilton, Ricky Moore, Lou Roe. Just as Haver loves big men, I, apparently, am somehow completely enamored with guards.

PG Felipe Lopez
SG Ron Mercer
SF Glenn Robinson
PF Tyler Hansbrough
C Hakeem Olajuwon

SF Jamal Mashburn
PF Larry Johnson
PF Rasheed Wallace
PF Corliss Williamson
PF Joakim Noah
PF Antawn Jamison
SF Tim Thomas

So tough to pick a starting lineup. Because of the lack of guards I’ve ever liked Lopez and Mercer automatically get the starting nods. More could be added as I think of them but right now these are the 12.

Tough to imagine Emeka not bein top 50.

Not even a mention of Marvin Williams???? Cmon!

Just when I’m ready to flip that I’d much rather have Kevin Martin that Monta Ellis I do think twice about the contracts they each have. Still not sure if I’m willing to put Ellis in the top 50 just because he has a great contract. Not to mention I don’t think he has many years left on it which means you’ll have to resign him to big money soon.

Maybe Raymond Felton shouldn’t be in the top 50, but by the end of the year he better be.

Tayshaun Prince really is so solid.

Still can’t believe Boozer and Redd could be on Cleveland with Varejao (and LeBron). And Diop could be there, too!

Simmons gotta talk more about Chandler. Cmon. If you see the words “Tyson Chandler” the following paragraph should include at least one of the following. Beast. Animal. Monster. Rock. Mountain. Badass.

I think Iverson is too high.

Chris Kaman at 35 seems ridiculous and then you realize 18.6, 14.2 and 2.7 blocks. Wow.

I could be wrong, but I feel like Chandler (40th) should be higher than David West (29th).

I know Billups is PERFECT for the Pistons and he did say how close it was, but I think the Pistons consider Arenas for Billups more than the Wizards do.

The 5 man group of Horford, Oden, JSmoove, Bynum and Al Jefferson really is sweet. So up and coming. I feel like tons of people make jokes about how Kevin McHale should be GM of the Year….for the Celtics for GIVING them KG and a title shot. I don’t think any of those people are paying attention to Al Jefferson’s stats right now (21 and 12). In about 2 years when the Wolves are able to clean house, let the kids grow and add a few more lottery picks to the mix they should be ready to rumble.

If Bynum and Kwame for Joneal was really on the table for the Pacers and the Pacers held out for a first round pick they should be ashamed of themselves.

I’d have Parker over Manu. Those two seem too high, but the success of the Spurs is tough to argue.

Baron Davis really is high. Not sure if I’d trust him enough. But it really is nice to see him playing like he is and like Simmons mentioned.

Kobe at 10 seems low. I mean, do the Hornets really not trade Paul straight up for Kobe? Jazz and Deron? Maybe I’m wrong. Kobe at 10 just seems low.

I think I’d have Yao lower than 9th. But the whole China thing probably does make his value higher than if he wasn’t Chinese.

Was shocked with Paul and Deron at 4 and 5 but they really are the future at point guard.

I can’t argue with the top 3 at all. Would have exact same.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/071218