There hasn’t been any player movement of late but there have been a number of stories recently surrounding the NBA. Without further ado, I bring you my latest edition of Uncontested Shots, or should I say, things I was thinking about while wondering if there’s anything worse than the stomach virus I recently had in 90-plus degree weather.
And You Will Know Him By the Trail of Hatred
As if anyone hasn’t noticed, Shaquille O’Neal has burned every bridge with every one of his former employers since he first left Orlando in the summer of 1996. While Shaq has always had a [...]

 
Full disclosure: In a matter of days I will become the managing partner of the Los Angeles Clippers.   
I’m very excited about the challenge ahead of me and am quite confident that the Clippers will be a winning basketball team starting this season.   Even though I will be extremely busy, I want to assure you that I will continue to post on a weekly basis at Sir Charles In Charge. 
Although it has been a relatively slow week in the NBA, here are a few links to get you through the day:
Hamed Haddadi is a big star and the Memphis Grizzlies just don’t care.  Evidently, Chris Wallace [...]

 
Thanks to everyone who voted in the last SCIC poll.  In case you missed the results, San Antonio ran away with it by capturing 36% of the overall vote.   Our next poll question is the following:  Which team will improve the most next season?
Toronto Raptors
Washington Wizards
Los Angeles Clippers
Detroit Pistons  (After casting a vote you will be given a complimentary glass of Joe Dumars Kool-Aid) 
Sacramento Kings  (For those people who think Tyreke Evans is LeBron, MJ and Kobe rolled into one)
Golden State Warriors
Memphis Grizzlies
Other
In my mind it’s really a three horse race, but I included a few other options as well.  The poll is over on the [...]

 
The NBA off-season has slowed to a crawl and it’s a perfect time to take a look at how all 30 teams currently stack up.  Here is the second edition of the SCIC Power Rankings (prior rank in parenthesis):
Western Conference:
1)  Los Angeles Lakers (1) - Inking Odom was essential and the Lake Show is still the team to beat.  Garnered 12% of the vote in the right sidebar poll question which surprised me.  Is Ron Artest really that big of an upgrade over Trevor Ariza?   
2)  San Antonio Spurs (2) – Richard Jefferson is obviously the key acquisition and the best fourth wheel in the league.  RJ should take [...]

Free agency seems to have come to a screeching halt but there are still a couple of things worth mentioning as we get closer to the opening of training camps in October.
As always, here are Tuesday’s Uncontested Shots, or should I say, things I was thinking about while waiting for Brett Favre to go away (I’m not holding my breath).
Are We Sure This Wasn’t an NBDL Trade?
The Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors made a four-player trade that became official on Tuesday. The Bucks have acquired back-up point guard Roko Ukic as well as Carlos Delfino from the Raptors for Amir [...]

First before we get into the point guard discussion we have just one housekeeping duty. Sir Charles In Charge is now a networked blog on Facebook. We’d like to have you as followers and you can do just that by clicking here. Ok, onto the point guards!
Over the next few weeks I plan to do rankings for all positions, but I decided to lead off with point guard. This is a ranking of all the NBA point guards who I believe will be starting next year. This does not take into account any rookies though, as they have a seperate ranking.
My list [...]

Still not a lot of movement on the free agent front. The Nuggets, as expected reached an agreement with point guard Anthony Carter on a one-year, $1.35 million contract.
However, some interesting things have been coming out in recent days that are worth mentioning and commenting on. So as always, here are this week’s Uncontested Shots, or should I say, things I was thinking about while waiting for my Stouffer’s french bread pizza to cool down so it doesn’t destroy the roof of my mouth.
Waiting in Line
Ramona Shelburne of the Long Beach Press-Telegram wrote a cool little piece on what’s it [...]

Magic Johnson turns 50 today and Sir Charles In Charge would just like to honor him.
I grew up after Magic’s era of basketball, but from watching classic games and watching highlights, its quite easy to see the greatness with which Magic played the game. I don’t think there will be anyone quite like him ever again.
Its easy to see that huge smile and the joy with which he played and remember him for that. But upon further investigation, you realize what an absolute competitor he was and how often he came out on top. Five NBA titles.
And lastly, has there ever [...]

Just when I thought I’ve seen all of the highlights of Michael Jordan out there, this one pops up.

Apparently this is an exhibition game played in Italy in which Jordan was a part of some sort of Nike team. In the opening seconds of the video it shows a team picture of the team MJ was on, does anyone else recognize any of those other players? If anyone knows anymore about this, please feel free to comment.

This week’s One Game To Win is going to be a little extended, but before we get into that, let’s go over the results for last week.
In what was a quieter vote than week one, Shane Battier edged out LeBron James as the winner to question, Who would you want covering Kobe Bryant with the game on the line.
Personally I’d rather have LeBron on him for just one possession, but Battier’s defensive acumen must have been enough to sway the voters.
Now onto this weeks edition.
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For this week I wanted to go in a slightly different direction. While sticking to theme [...]