NBA Wednesdays. All Star rosters with Sean and Sean + Gimme some raptor news

Sean Nguyen

Sean Edelman

Virtual coffee date with Sean Nguyen my friend from MUSC, and Sean Edelman my friend from Kenyon. Two Seans + NBA All Star game rosters + Rudy Gay trade = great NBA Wednesday.

Ken: So let's start with the all star rosters: 

East: Rondo, Wade, LeBron, Melo, KG, Jrue, Kyrie, Bosh, Chandler, Joakim, Paul George, Luol

West: CP3, Kobe, KD, Blake, D12, Parker, Westbrook, Duncan, Zbo, LaMarcus, Harden, David Lee

Nguyen: The votes are pretty accurate in terms of representing the all-stars in our league. I would have to disapprove with not having Steph Curry on the reserve.. I know they do it by position now but he has been playing exceptional and he deserved a spot. 

Ken: Between Blake, Duncan, Zbo, LMA, Lee you already have 5 big guys. I'd take Steph Curry over D12. You could also talk me into Serge or Marc Gasol, especially when you consider how fun it would be to watch Serge in a glorified exhibition game. Also, Denver is playing .600 ball don't they deserve an all star?

Nguyen: Denver is a balanced team.. no one all star.. even their star Iguodala is playing average...(on my fantasy team).. 

Blake Griffin aint bout dis life

I agree with you. I'd love to see Ibaka but for an all star game Blake Griffin at the PF is more exciting to watch. Also I agree on the notion of too many big men. I'd trade one of them for steph curry any day. But I think Steph Curry's injuries over the year have clouded the fans/media memory of him. 

D12 is the modern day embodiment of the all star game. I can still remember his superman get up for the dunk contest. I think he is a celebrity icon that has the personality to entertain the people. If the all star weekend was all talent, then we would have lebron james in the dunk contest...but sadly we do not.    

On a sidenote, I hope kevin durant can finally win the 3 point shooting contest.. he's been in it for 2 years now barely losing to k-love last year. 

Edelman: I think the issue with Denver is how rounded out their offensive attack is. They don't have any clear superstar leader with 6 players averaging 10 or more pts per game. I would argue Faried might be the best candidate off that team to be an all-star since he's averaging 12 pts and 9.8 boards per game, but he's a second year player with little name recognition. Ty Lawson could be another possible all-star but the west is just way too deep at PG to give him a consideration.

face of Brooklyn

So Brook Lopez is Rondo's replacement. Thoughts? 

I think his offensive numbers definitely deserve the nod, but it bothers me that he is 7 feet tall and yet is awful at rebounding and defense. 

Nguyen: Brook Lopez who has been doing work should've had a spot over kg.... Paul Pierce has had a semi decent year and with his team struggling I think the star scorer gets the blame so I can see how he is overlooked.

Edelman: I would've liked to see JR fill the Rondo spot, but that's my biased Knick fan opinion and JR has pretty much shot himself out of contention with his awful month of January. 

What do you guys think about Monte or Brandon Jennings as the replacement? Milwaukee is above .500 and while both are very one sided players, isn't that the nature of the all-star game?

Ken: I'd be wary of Monta Ellis, considering how much they've improved since he left.  sidenote - Rudy Gay trade just broke: 

The Raps finally replaced Vince Carter's spot with Rudy Gay, a career 18 ppg/ 6 rpg guy that outstayed his time in Memphis. If I'm a Raps fans, I'm pumped. Is this team headed to the NBA finals? Of course not, and who cares? 

Toronto, welcome to the era of
7 seconds or less

Kevin Durant and LeBron James are by far the two best players in basketball right now. The two of them will be trading titles for the next 5 yrs. 

At least this trade makes the Raps exciting. Gay-DeRozan-Ross-Lowry-Bargnani. Wow, non-stop offense.

Nguyen: The Rudy Gay trade is good for basketball in Toronto. It makes for some interesting dynamics, especially for a run and gun team. 

I do not know how I feel about Memphis' ability to contend now. I know Tayshaun and Ed Davis are perfect for the system but I am still hesitant that they changed their dynamics too much. I do agree that Rudy Gay was a ball stopper in Memphis and that killed their flow. I do not think Toronto will be any different without a change in defense. You're surely not going to get it out of DeRozan and Gay.  To me, I feel like this a very similar team to the Nuggets and to some extent Golden State. 

Edelman: I love the deal for Memphis. Gay is one of the most overrated players in the league. Yes he does score a lot of points and can be an offensive force, but he's like melo on a bad day, incredibly inefficient and stops the flow of the offense. Tayshaun Prince is an obvious upgrade defensively for them, but in my opinion he's also a better offensive player for their system. 

all in

The strength of the Grizzlies offense lies down low with Zbo and Gasol and they benefit from having players on the wings who can hit 3-point shots when the defense collapses inwards. Prince is an complete upgrade in that regard as he's a career .370 3-point shooter who's shooting an absurd .434 this season. Gay, on the other hand, is a career .344 3-point shooter who's only shooting .310 from behind the arc this season. Add in the addition of Ed Davis, who's still a big question mark with plenty of upside, and the Grizz look like winners on this one.

I agree with Ken that the Raptors have now become a really fun to watch team. All offense and no defense, reminds me of Amare's first season with the Knicks. That being said, I think Toronto isn't done making trades yet this year. I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to move Barg to a playoff-contending team in need of an extra wing scorer.

Ken: Ok that's all for this week -

See you on the other side,

from ken

taking requests for future blog posts. please comment or email.

Wingspan Wednesdays: Rondo out for season

Emergency virtual coffee date with Amulya Iyer to analyze the Rajon Rondo injury:

Ken: After I jinxed Rondo with this RIP 2012-13 Celtics post, I felt like we had to analyze the situation.

Amulya: 

Ken: Wow.. Although, I love that the lightest shades of red are in New England. 

What direction do the Celtics go in? I saw Jalen Rose tweet a half-baked trade: KG for Tiago Splitter/Steven Jackson. Wow. KG + TD. Arguably the two best power forwards of all-time, on the same team. 

Amulya: Honestly - I think the C's pull a 96-97 Spurs. Just tank the season, make a play for the #1 overall pick, and start giving the young guys a chance to play. In 2 years the team will have Rondo at full strength, and hopefully a young, exciting core to surround him with. Right now without Rondo they are basically the Atlanta Hawks - a mediocre team with nobody really exciting to watch. I'd much rather they be the Cavs or the Wizards next year - a team that loses a lot but is really fun to root for and exciting to watch.

K: As far as tanking goes, KG has a no trade clause and trading Pierce would be really hard to swallow. The rumor is no big moves, but isn't that what they said before Perk/Green? That's where this whole Celtics team started going bad. They should have fully committed to go for it and keep the Perk/KG/Pierce/Allen/Rondo core intact for one last run, or start rebuilding for the future right away and not resign KG/Allen et al. Also, Jeff Green 4 yrs at 36 million.. what?

A: Yeah - they were definitely trying to hedge their bets by trying to get younger but also stay competitive. I guess it didn't work.

Although they would have been screwed with this Rondo injury regardless of what the rest of their team looked like. ACL is tough. We'll see how Rose comes back from it, but except for Adrian Peterson everyone who comes back from ACL injury loses explosiveness, which means Rondo's entire career will look different. I wonder if he will even come back at 80% - quickness, agility is a huge part of his game.

K: He's a pretty cerebral guy, he could use this time to transform his game. Any chance he could just shoot free throws non-stop for the next 8-12 month? 

The downside is, I feel like he should be trying to play like D Rose, but this takes him in the opposite direction.. The upside to this injury is, we'll get to see what Courtney Lee/JET have to offer. The JET signing might have been the most overrated move of this offseason.

A: It was probably only overrated in Boston. I'm sure every other team knew this would be bad because he could only get 3 mil a year or something. Right?

K: We should've known it was a bad omen when he did this:

A: Is that seriously tattooed on the JET?? Wow. How is that not more well known? That's the worst omen I have ever seen. I'm surprised KG and Pierce haven't torn their ACL's yet. Wow.

K: Yeah, I like bold predictions... but that was crazy. 

A: How long do you think he waited to come up with that? Like even before he signed his contract he was like - I'm definitely getting this tattoo? Is that the second championship trophy he has tattooed?

K: Just spent the last ten minutes research JET's tattoo. He got the trophy tattooed before the 2010-11 season when they won it all, when he signed with Boston he added the celtics leprechaun. sidenote - here's Paul Pierce's tattoo:

A: HAHAHAHAHAH there should definitely be a follow up to your tattoo running diary of NBA players tattoos. There must be something interesting there.

That is a bit much Paul Pierce...

K: Just read this stat, this blew my mind. 

Celts are -1.5 with Rondo on the court and +0.8 without him. I'm sure there's an explanation for this: minutes, not playing against starters, whatever. But it has to count for something, right? KG is +4. For what it's worth: KD is +15, LeBron is +14, John Wall is +14, and Darko was -31.

This gives me hope.

There has to be something wrong with a point guard that shoots a career 24% from 3 and 62% from the line. 

Here's my game plan post Rondo:

Try to see if Barbosa/Terry can take over the role as primary ball handler. I just can't give up on JET, he has to be salvageable. He was the #3 6th man of the year last season and has scored 15+ points for 7 straight seasons. Plus I just have such great memories of him from the 2011 run.

My opinion of Jason Terry has changed in so many different directions.. we should stop.

Let's end with this:

See you on the other side,

from amulya & ken

taking requests for future blog posts. please comment or email.

Virtual Coffee Date with Sean Nguyen: midseason NBA notes from two league pass watchers

Sean Nguyen

Sean is my fellow M1 from MUSC - we're the only Asian guys in our class, so naturally we had to be friends.

Ken: So we'll start with an easy one: who are your eastern/western conference finals teams?

Sean: As of today, I would say the thunder vs spurs and Heat vs Knicks.

I am hesitant about the clippers, the lack of free throw shooting from their bigs will hurt them down the line as you have seen in the last couple games.  So I'm kind of half and half between spurs and clippers.  "fundamentals" vs "flashy".  But make note of the nuggets, ty lawson, iggy, manimal and company could have a run.

The east seems more predictable. the knicks and the heat are the most dominant and will remain that way through the playoffs.

I am sad to say that I do not think anyone can dethrone the heat without an unpredictable run like the mavs in 2010-2011 during the playoffs.  Lebron is playing at his best and is almost averaging a triple double every game.  The team chemistry is high with the trust they have amongst each other. (Ray allen taking the go ahead basket or even shane battier).  I'd still bet biasly on my thunder though.

Ken: Yeah, the xmas Heat-Thunder game was really telling.  The Thunder just didn't quite have the composure of the Heat.  

Sean: Westbrook looked out of control Xmas day so until that's fixed... Rings will be on hold. Although, he has developed well over the post season.

Ken: sidenote - favorite dunk?

Sean: My personal favorite is harrison barnes over pekovic but as of last night, I think JR smith's reverse alley hoop had me stunned.

Ken: So what about the Celtics, are they hopeless?

Sean:  One name. Avery Bradley. I think he will spark the teams defense again given his perimeter d. He is playing second game tonight after rehabbing double shoulder surgery. The team is quite new so I'm expecting a couple more streaks to get them in the playoffs. 

Ken: Bradley helps, but they need a big man. Wilcox/Bass/Sully aren't getting it done. Where do you stand on Rondo?  I just don't see him as a bonafied franchise player.  He can get to the hoop at will, but if he's not willing to get fouled, it's hopeless.  

Sean: I think Big sully will get into his game.  He is still young but he can bump and grind in the paint.  He is just missing some experience.  Rondo is impressive (on my fantasy team), but I agree he is not a franchise "Star" player.  I think he is an exceptional player like westbrook but i don't think he is a cp3, drose type of player.  He needs a scorer but I do not think his attitude and composure will allow another star to fit that role.  

Ken: Yeah some days I wish they would deal him, but ultimately I love him for being this guy: 

So I guess I'm willing to play it out a few more weeks.  

Sean: Teams are starting to peak. I'd give it another two weeks before determining who is hot and has a playoff run.  The lakers actually looked good vs the clippers yesterday.  Dwight and kobe playing exceptional with nash giving good dimes.  (although pau was garbage) Their intensity looked great but it was a rivalry game.

Ken: Yeah, the next couple weeks will be telling.  Anyways, we'll end here.

See you on the other side,

from sean and ken

taking requests for future blog posts. please comment or email.

Newton/Noguchi tackle theology: Why do bad things happen? pt 2

Heath Newton loves Texas, basketball, and winning.  He also loves people and relationships, but those topics are not quite as interesting.  We met at the Agape Church of Christ in Portland, watched lots of basketball, and analyzed life’s big questions along the way.  

This is part 2 of a virtual coffee date with Heath.  [pt 1 here]

The topic: Why do bad things happen?

Ken: Interesting – what about Africa taught you the “suffer together” point?

there's something special about people you suffer with

Heath: One day (and sadly many days, this just happened to be the first of its kind) we went to a village and a family was in mourning because their child had just died. Their customary way is to have guests sit with them. Just sit with it. Just feel heartbreak together.

The level of connection in that moment was immense. To simply sit with someone as humans. As people who experience things in similar ways.

We did not ask for bad things to happen, but once they did we were bonded by a shared experience because we were with each other and we have the capacity to feel what others feel.

They also have a phrase of mourning that I always think of when I'm in a situation of immense suffering. I don't know how to spell it so I won't attempt it, but it was an actual word that translated to "oh no." Most of the time it was difficult to even muster up that word, but it was the only one that was ever appropriate beyond simple groaning of shared pain.

what's the point of having friends?

K: Powerful story - regardless of who we are, we are all human and we all fundamentally feel the same emotions.  I once read somewhere, maybe in an Anne Lamott book, that chicken little already proclaimed the sky was falling, so we needed to spend the rest of our time comforting each other about it.  

This is definitely a powerful plug for your job as a counselor - would you say this idea of being with other humans is a strong driver for you being a counselor?

H: I wouldn't necessarily call in comforting. I would call it validating. People sit across from me, knowing I have nothing at stake or reason to comfort them (I guess you could argue money), and when they are validated because I can grasp, understand, and perhaps share those "bad" feelings its a powerful thing. To know that you are heard and to feel that someone gets that. I think it shares the burden and allows you to not have to hold the weight of the badness, which itself may not be understandable or controllable. 

Maybe that's one reason why pain and suffering bonds us together so well. We are forced to say we are not in control. And when others bear that truth with us, we can cope better with a truth that is hard for us to swallow. By the way, I'm thinking out loud and I'm not sure if I will believe any of this in 5 minutes.

K: Money - I love the idea of validating way more than comforting.  I wish I had thought of that.  Empathy is so much more powerful than sympathy.  And maybe that's why relationships are so important, so we can share the truths and struggles of life?

We didn’t even break into the God stuff, but we’ll wrap up here.  Thanks Heath!

See you on the other side,

from ken and heath

Why do you think bad things happen?  Please share!

Newton/Noguchi tackle theology: Why do bad things happen? pt 1

Heath Newton loves Texas, basketball, and winning.  He also loves people and relationships.  We met at the Agape Church of Christ in Portland, OR, watched basketball, and analyzed life’s big questions along the way. 

Wouldn't have survived Portland without him

So here’s one big question I posed to Heath:

Ken: Why do bad things happen?

Heath: So here's my short on why bad things happen. Because they must. If we understand ourselves as free agents or people with free will, there must exist the possibility of bad things happening to good people or we do not have free will. 

However, I'm not completely sure if I believe we have freewill. And that's another conversation, but its a huge part of the equation. 

I also think we learn the most and connect closely with others through pain and suffering. I feel like most people would not reject the hard time because those times have made them who they are.

My final point for now would be ... well I forgot because I got sidetracked ... but this might have been it. I grew up in a sheltered and loving home so I typically wear rose tinted glasses, at least more than the average person it would seem. So that is an important piece of my context and lens. What do you think Ken?

on top of a rock,
probably thinking about life

K: Bad things must happen.  I love that, it's simple but it gets to the point.  

You once asked me the biggest problem the world faced, and I think there are lots.  But one is that we have a misconception of what life is supposed to be.  Maybe things aren't bad, they're just things.  

These bad things provide an opportunity for bonding.  I feel like this week - test week at school - has been super stressful but at the same time a real point of bonding for me where I've been able to start developing relationships.  

H: I certainly agree with your idea that bad things usually provide unique and special opportunity for growth. There are a lot of examples in nature where this is the case ... forests must burn down as a natural part of the cycle of things comes to mind.

Also my Africa experience left me with a couple top lasting messages as far as me evaluating what I provided and what were the most important things I did. They were:

1.     Be there - Woody Allen said that some high percentage of life is all about showing up

2.     Speak their language - beyond anything we said, the fact that we were saying it in their native tongue was probably more important

3.     Suffer together - to your point

K: Before we transition into Africa I’ll cut it off and send it to a part 2 next week.

See you on the other side,

from heath and ken

Thoughts on why bad things happen?  Please comment.

Iyer/Noguchi on med school admissions: Virtual Coffee Date pt 2

ken and amulya

Here with Amulya Iyer, current med school applicant.  A continuation of last week's post, analyzing and critiquing med school admissions. 

Ken: Another half-baked idea to build on the intangibles: in the NBA, teams send scouts out to check out top college players.  Why don’t med school do the same?  Send some faculty out to the local colleges, observe students in class, chat with other students, read the school newspaper, get the pulse of the school. 

At this school, which students matter? 

If you’re a school like Stanford – intentionally trying to recruit the future leaders of medicine – wouldn’t you want the students that matter?  Can you tell that from a resume, where everyone looks the same?  Nah.  Can you tell that by going to a school and talking to the dean, the department chairs, a handful of students?  For sure. 

--

Amulya: Love this. It sounds difficult logistically, but I doubt that it really is. Let’s get some stats in here courtesy of University of Michigan. Thus far in the application process they have made 117 interview offers: 54% of these interviews were made to students from just 9 undergraduate institutions.

A school like Michigan could benefit enormously from sending an ‘MD scout’ to each of those 9 schools for a week or two and seeing the students in action in the classroom or with their friends. If it works for the NBA, why not use it in medicine? When a player retires from the NBA, they become a scout. When a doctor retires from practicing medicine, he should become a scout.

--

md scout home base

Ken: True.  Wouldn’t retired doctors love this?  This blows golfing out of the water. 

If you’re an MD scout, what are you looking for?

--

Amulya: Hmmm, tough question. Just off the top of my head, if I was a scout chilling in the back of a classroom discussion I'd look for:

1.) Works well with others and functions well in a group setting.

2.) Shows intellectual curiosity.

3.) Respected by peers and teachers.

Just like I don't think it's fair to judge an MD applicant based on their paper application alone, they shouldn't be judged just on the MD scout. Instead, the scout should serve to single out candidates that wouldn't necessarily be noticed otherwise. I imagine the scout sitting in the classroom, meeting with Dean's and professors, going to sports practices, etc. with a list of pre-med students and then flagging some of those students as 'studs'. And it could also serve the opposite purpose - if someone is clearly selfish, then those tags can work against them.

--

If I was MD scouting at Kenyon in 2012 here is what I would look for.  

#1 - I would survey every science major to name the best student.  I'm a huge huge fan of respect by peers.  If someone's a beast, who better to know than the people always around them?

#2 - I would go to watch honors thesis presentations and pick out the students with the best presence. People with good stage presence are good with people - thus they'd be good doctors.  

people who go big, will keep going big.
true or false?

#3 - I would figure out who won these three awards: Anderson Cup, MLK Award, and the Humanitarian Award.  Basically, this tells you who mattered at Kenyon that year.  If they mattered at Kenyon, they'll probably keep mattering in med school.  

#4 - I would ask the athletic director to pick the top 10 athletes.  There should be more points for athletics in the admissions process.  If you have an average premed student that spends a ton of time training to be D3 Nationals caliber swimmer, what does he do when he's done with competitive swimming?  Probably training to be an excellent doctor.

If there's any top athletes with any of #1, 2, or 3 I would offer them admission on the spot. 

Anyways, we’re getting long we’ll cut it off here.  Let me know if you have any ideas to make the med school admissions process any better.

See you on the other side,

from amulya and ken

Imaginary Coffee Date pt 1: Metzger/Noguchi

I wanted to start a series of posts where I exchanged emails with a friend on a topic we would usually bullshit about over coffee or beers.

Basically, I wanted to copy Bill Simmons:

Hope you like the first one.  And let me know if you want to have an imaginary coffee date posted on sidenote!

lauren and I, repping UNC blue

Lauren Metzger and I met at Kenyon College five years ago, we were breakfast buddies.  Lauren is currently an MSW student at UNC-Chapel Hill, and is a top notch triathlete.  In about a month, Lauren and one of my best friend’s Kaleb Keyserling are getting married!  She made time in her busy wedding planning schedule to have this email chain with me:

The topic: what we miss about Kenyon. 

Ken: There's a lot I miss about Kenyon - the convenience of living in Hanna and walking one minute to class, healthy all-you-can-eat meals at Pierce, but #1 is a sense of purpose.

I woke up every morning knowing I had to get up for 8:10 AM class, so I got out of bed and got to work.  Post-college it’s real vague.  I could be in lab at 7 AM.  I could also go in at 10 AM.  Odds are my boss won’t care, and I definitely won’t be seeing any report cards.

Lauren: Two things stood out to me - the first, food!  I miss walking into the dining hall and having so many options at my finger tips.  Not having to grocery shop and having local food was great- loved the turkey burgers! (I think those were local)

The second thing I miss are the people and structure. The xc team was such a source of stability, something I could always count on. I miss having teammates to run with. I could have enjoyed the people more if I had let myself. I was so worried about doing well academically and I think I was also a little socially anxious - worried about rejection.  

xc teams are apparently models of structure

Ken: I totally agree - there's so much pressure to do more and more.  I know I sacrificed several relationship for grades or to pile on more extracurriculars.  That said.. I don’t regret it.  As much as I love relationships - if I hadn't made those sacrifices I wouldn’t be in med school, and I can't imagine not being a doctor.  

Thoughts on work/play balance, post-Kenyon?

Lauren: Interesting - I was reading an article about women sacrificing top careers for family (which is a huge complex relationship).  The balance is very tricky. 

Post-Kenyon, the distance between friends only grows! You can't just text them and say "hey middle ground coffee?"  It becomes "hey can you buy a plane ticket to come see me for a weekend that may already be really busy and sorry I forgot you can't afford that plane ticket...."

lauren and kaleb

It was nice to have friends so close, but now everyone’s all over the country. It’s so much effort to keep in touch, and let’s face it - I like to be lazy and think my life is way busier than it actually is. 

Hmmm, career success....it depends on the field.  Medicine is hard, I was talking to kaleb about how he’s going to balance spending time with his family (a.k.a. me) while being a doctor. Don't think we’ve figured it out yet.

I know my balance will come with a flexible job, like academia, being a student all over again.  I HATE unpredictability. I felt like everything was so predictable at Kenyon. So structured in a way that I miss. 

Ken: Yeah, and we’re back to the structure.  It’s weird that our favorite thing about Kenyon was structure.. sometimes it felt like there was no structure and everything was a blur.  Or maybe that was just us going at blur speed within our structured schedules.  Either way, good times at Kenyon.

See you on the other side,

from ken