Bway & 65th St. (aka Linkin’ Center)
With the Knicks having had last night off, we here at Buckets Over Broadway introduce a regular feature of links to interesting stuff out there on the interweb.
**Great NYT article on David Lee’s improved jump shot:
"For the previous 15 games before Saturday, Lee had been as brilliant on the perimeter as he had been at the rim, his rapid evolution on full display. Since Dec. 6, Lee had converted 53 percent of his jumpers from 16 to 23 feet, and 75 percent of his shots from 10 to 15 feet, according to an analysis provided by HoopData.com.In 35 games, Lee had converted more perimeter shots (86) than he did all of last season (82). He had hit 66 shots in the 16-to-23-foot range, compared with 51 last season and only 18 in 2007-8.… Lee’s accuracy rate from 16 to 23 feet was in the low 30s every season until this one. He was shooting 45 percent (66 of 146) in that range this season, well above the league average for power forwards (40.5 percent) and for centers (40.4), according to HoopData.com."
Another interesting thing they note is that Lee was a point guard early on in high school, so he’s got a pretty good handle (in the Houston game he caught one rebound, dribbled up the court, did a nice move on his man, and got a layup) plus he’s one of the Knicks’ better passers.
**On a sad note, the NY Post reports that David Lee’s grandfather is deathly ill. As a result, Lee may have to leave the team momentarily. They also mention:
"Lee’s grandfather, E. Desmond Lee, made a fortune in coat hangers and became a well-known St. Louis philanthropist, donating $50 million to various charities in the city."
How do you make a fortune in coat hangers? Did he have some unique design? Was he the one who invented the part on them fancy hangers that clamps down on your pants & holds ’em in place? I’m curious. Someone do some research on this. Maybe I can make a fortune in like toothpicks or something.
**This’ll outrage my Dad, a man who has a part-time gig giving people directions in NYC. TrueHoop says they’re worried about Baron Davis because in the following music video:
"He’s playing chess in Washington Square Park and then he decides to go to The Cage — the West Fourth Street basketball courts. So he takes a subway? Google maps will tell you those two places are a block apart."
Nate Robinson never would’ve let that happen. Then again, Nate couldn’t get away with BoomDizzle’s sweet shirt with a carton icon of himself. It’s gotta be the beard.
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**The Daily News reports that the Knicks refused to give tickets to Magic Johnson:
"due in part to his criticism of [Isiah] Thomas, the team’s former president and head coach, who remains close to Garden chairman James Dolan."
Whaaaat??? Seriously? We’re still supporting Isiah after his failed attempt to destroy the Knicks’ franchise? And picking him over Magic? Is there a more charismatic, nicer bball player ever? People love Jordan, but people also know the dude was cutthroat and that the marketing machine hid his darker side (which spewed out at his recent acceptance speech into the Hall Of Fame). Bird and Kareem never had much personality to get outsiders onboard. Bill Russell played before the sport became huge. Magic, besides his constant smile and the fact that you gotta empathize with any dude with AIDS, has started a movie chain empire that has helped resuscitate tons of impoverished neighborhoods. But no, Jimmy Dolan sides with a guy who after nearly o.d.ing on pills, he claims it was really his daughter who was hospitalized (despite the fact that the police report says the ambulance picked up a fifty-something black man).
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**TrueHoop says watch Jared Jeffries. They noticed what we all know: his great defense has been a huge reason why the Knicks have improved recently.
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**Interesting comments about what it’s like to sit courtside at a Laker game. This guy got to go ‘cuz his boss dished out the couple of thousand bucks for the seat (and for once I’m not exaggerating, these seats do cost a couple grand). He concludes that it’s worth it. I conclude he must have too much money for his own good and that he should give me some. He writes how up close you hear the players complaining constantly. Also:
"The extra perks of courtside seats at the Staples Center are nice, but nothing spectacular. There is a dedicated waiter who will take your menu orders off the standard menu. We happened to be there on “Free Friday’s”, which meant free food for those expensive seats. Yippee. The beers still cost $9."
A couple of thousand dollars and you only get free food on Fridays? C’mon, Staples Center, a person tosses out two large and you won’t regularly toss in an $8 weenie? Maybe it’s a huge guy and he chows down 4 dogs, 2 nachos, a large popcorn and ultra-large Coke — what’re we talking, $50 total? And in return you get TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS. I mean, I’m no longer the math genius I was in high school, but them numbers look good to me.
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**NBA All-Decade Players from Alone In The Green Room:
"1st Team:PG: Jason KiddSG: Kobe BryantSF: Kevin GarnettPF: Tim DuncanC: Shaquille O’Neal"
Pretty good choices. Kidd’s the only one you could possibly quibble about.
"2nd Team:PG: Steve NashSG: Dwyane WadeSF: LeBron JamesPF: Dirk NowitzkiC: Ben Wallace"
Again, mostly solid choices, but I dunno about Big Ben. Oh, and the reason LeBron isn’t on the first team is because he only played in 6 of the 10 years in the decade. Sounds reasonable.
"3rd Team:PG: Chauncy BillupsSG: Ray AllenSF: Paul PiercePF: Shawn MarionC: Amare Stoudemire"
This though is godawful. Start the debates. Definitely no Matrix, and ya gotta swap Allen (Ray) for Alan (Iverson). The little dude brought the Sixers to the NBA Finals with the next best players being an already old Mutumbo and who, probably Aaron McKee?
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**Speaking of A’m’a’r’e, if you haven’t seen his four Vote-For-Me-For-All-Star videos with David Spade “tutoring” him, check this out:
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**Lastly, here’s an excerpt from an upcoming documentary on the old Knicks/Pacers rivalry. Man, I miss those rough and tumble days. I know everyone says they couldn’t stand watching those defensive slugfests and they prefer the prettier bball today with more scoring (due to more hand check rules), but I loved that stuff. Watch these guys tear into each other! If this stuff happened today, it would be on front pages. And the thing is, you know all these guys (Charles Oakley, Anthony Mason, Dale Davis) owned guns, but we weren’t overly PC back then so we knew they weren’t gonna shoot each other afterward (okay, maybe Oak would’ve done it). It was just a game. They knew that. They got their aggression out, but honestly there was no genuine danger. Oh, and in the video, check out how huge Anthony Mason is today. Dude looks like he ate three small babies for lunch. I hear Eddy Curry’s been coming to Mase for veteran eating tips.