Just finished watching the New Jersey Nets fall to 0-17 with their loss on the road to the Lakers. It goes without saying that this Nets team is terrible, but on this particular night it takes the cake. Coming on the heels of the news that the longest tenured coach in the eastern conference, Lawrence Frank, had been fired, I was hoping for a spirited effort from New Jersey but was let down.
Right from the start, the Nets lacked energy, enthusiasm and were simply out classed by a Lakers team that seemed to be in cruise control.
At 0-17 the Nets [...]

The NBA has now kicked into second gear and it’s time to update the monthly SCIC Power Rankings.  Please note that the prior month’s rank is in parenthesis.  Away we go…
Eastern Conference
1)  Boston Celtics (1) – Only injuries can keep the Celtics from a division crown and top three seed. 
2)  Orlando Magic (3) – Rashard Lewis will be back shortly and the Magic are absolutely loaded.  Without question, this is the deepest team in the league.   
3)  Cleveland Cavaliers (2) – It’s too early to grade the Shaq Experiment, however, the big fella has definitely been in the spotlight (mostly for off the court antics).  Wives, fiances and girlfriends apparently aren’t off limits…just [...]

The 2009-10 NBA season is almost two weeks old and already there are some things that have come as a surprise (The Cavs are 2-2 at home) and a few other things that shouldn’t be considered shocking at all (Allen Iverson is unhappy in Memphis).
Be that as it may, here are five things I’ve learned about this season so far:
The Miami Heat Will Bring It Every Night
It’s not just that Dwyane Wade and Co. are 5-1 this season. It’s that they’ve done it by only scoring over 100 points one time this season. They’ve only surrendered an average of 90.7 [...]

We hear it all the time about how regular season games don’t matter—especially a game on opening night.
And for the most part it’s true.
What happens in October really doesn’t have any bearing on how a team ultimately performs or how far they go in the playoffs.
But like every rule there are exceptions.
This particular off-season saw a lot of roster tweaking amongst the teams at the top. The rich got richer at the expense of the middle-class and lower-class teams and as a result, we’re headed for what could potentially be not only one of the greatest postseasons but also one [...]

5. “We started the season 0-4 and then barely beat the Timberwolves at home.  Man, Mike Dunleavy really does suck.” – Blake Griffin
4. “Um, maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to bring Allen Iverson to Memphis.” – Michael Heisley
3. ”Nellie is a lunatic.  If Mikki Moore is taking Anthony Randolph’s minutes right now then maybe Acie Law is going to get mine.” - Monta Ellis
2. “First it was Andrew Bynum and Rihanna, then Lamar and Khloe Kardashian and now Sasha and Sharapova.  Wait until I reveal that I’ve been hooking up with Tara Reid for the past month.” - D.J. Mbenga
1. ”Hey Agent Zero, noboby gives a better rim job than your [...]

A moment of silence please…the Joe Alexander Era in Milwaukee is over.  On August 6th here is what I wrote about John Hammond while counting down the ten worst NBA general managers:
4)   John Hammond -  Hiring Sourpuss Scott Skiles, drafting Joe Alexander, dumping Richard Jefferson for eighteen cents on the dollar and failing to extend a qualifying offer to Charlie Villanueva are just four of the dubious decisions Hammonds has made as GM of the Bucks in a span of less than two years.
Hammond’s selection of Brandon Jennings certainly looks good right now, but BJ will need to capture the ROY to erase the colossal blunder of drafting Alexander.   Just a horrible draft [...]