Allen and Lewis led the Sonics

 
In the 1990s Seattle was one of the elite franchises which always posted great regular season records and then battled each other in the playoffs. The highest point for SuperSonics came in 1996 when they advanced to the NBA Finals where they eventually lost to the Chicago Bulls. The last season when they were title contenders was 1997-98 and since that they had become a mediocrity. There were no huge expectations in the fall of 2004 just before the start of the regular season. In 2003-04 Sonics posted a 37-45 record and their biggest additions in summer were Danny Fortson and Robert Swift so not a very promising situation. In their first game of the season on November 4, 2004 they got beat by the Clippers and the margin was 30 points…

 

 
What was the core of that 2004-2005 Sonics team?

Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis were the leading scorers. Jerome James was their starting center, he led them in blocked shots although he saw little playing time. Reggie Evans was the best rebounder of the team and started at forward. Luke Ridnour started at point guard and he led the team in assists. Vladimir Radmanovic and Antonio Daniels were key players for the Sonics and they played more minutes than James and Evans. Danny Fortson, Ronald Murray (missed almost half a season), Damien Wilkins (missed more than half a season) and Nick Collison also contributed and played about 15 – 20 minutes every game. Then there was the reserve center Vitaly Potapenko who also saw some playing time and that’s about it.

 
At first sight – a good lineup but it lacks interior players in order to make some noise in the playoffs.

 

 
After they lost the opening game, Sonics just went nuts. They started to blow out teams. First, they defeated the mighty San Antonio Spurs by a margin of 19 points and then went on to crash Denver and Sacramento. The winning streak continued and they had won 8 out of their first 9 games. Ray Allen won the Player of the Week Award and Seattle continued to pile up wins. With shooters like Allen, Lewis and Radmanovic on their lineup, Sonics had become the best 3-point shooting team in the league. After 3 weeks played, Seattle climbed up to the top spot in nba.com power rankings.

 
Even though the Sonics were red hot, not everyone believed that they are for real but as they continued to play extremely well, haters started to shut up. The Texas road trip, during which they defeated both the Mavericks and the Spurs, converted many into believers. Seattle started the season with a 17-3 record but then cooled of a little bit and entered 2005 with 20 wins and 6 losses.

 
SuperSonics managed to defeat Shaq and the Miami Heat twice in the first 10 days of 2005. It was common that they beat the title contenders but lose to teams with subpar records – they had already lost twice to both Boston and LA Clippers. They were still one of the best teams in the league and in February Scottie Pippen picked them to come out of the Western Conference.
Long distance shooting was still the Sonics main weapon.

Go Sonics!

Ray Allen and coach Nate McMillan missed some games in February and there were some trade rumors swirling around Allen as well. There were people who thought Seattle should trade Ray Ray to make the Sonics better in future. However nothing like that happened and both Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen participated in the All-Star game. At this point it was about 99% clear that they will win the divison title.

 
As the regular season was getting older, Sonics remained the biggest surprise of the league. They didn’t break down as many expected but continued to win and they were 40-16 (3rd best record in the NBA) in early March. Both of Seattle’s scoring leaders really turned it on in March – Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen combined for seven 30-point games in that month. Jerome James was playing really good also and had the game of his life against Detroit (16 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 blocks in 25 minutes). On 25th of March Ray dropped a season-high 40 points on the Knicks and 4 days later after a win over Memphis, Seattle finally clinched a playoff berth.

 
Then Seattle started to struggle. Their record worsened from 48-20 after the game against Knicks on March 25 to 52-30 at the end of the regular season as the SuperSonics won just 4 out of their last 13 games of the regular season including a 6-game losing streak. It’s certainly not a good sign to hit a slump just before the start of the playoffs but Seattle was ready for the first round of the playoffs in which it would face the Sacramento Kings.

 
For the Sonics the 2005 NBA Playoffs started on April 23 in Key Arena. Seattle was in front for all of the first and the second half. They even had a 21-point lead in the second half but in the end they won only by 5. It seemed that the game was over by the time Seattle was up big in the third quarter but instead it came down to the wire. However, win is still a win and the fact was that, by taking game 1, the Sonics had taken control of these first round series. 3 days later Sonics increased their lead by beating the Kings in the second game as well. The scenario was quite similar to that of the first game – Seattle once again blew a big lead towards the end of the game but this time Sacramento didn’t come as close as they did in the previous game. Ray Allen and Jerome James were undoubtedly the two best players in those two wins. Ray combined for 54 points while Jerome also scored at least 17 points (on great percentages) and grabbed at least 9 rebounds in each of the two games. He also had 5 blocks in the first game. Everyone on Seattle’s roster was contributing and they were going to the West coast with a commanding 2-0 series lead.

 
Ray (33-5-5) and Jerome (22-9) played extremely well once again but it wasn’t good enough to win as the Kings took game 3. Mike Bibby and Kenny Thomas both had huge performances and the Sonics lost this game by 12 points. So now game 4 had become even more important because there is a big difference between going back to Seattle tied at 2-2 and being up 3 games to 1. Sacramento was up early in game 4 but Seattle fought back with Ray Allen leading the way. Allen’s brilliant performance (45 points on 60% shooting) allowed the SuperSonics to take a 3-1 series lead.

 
Jerome James had another big game with 17 points, 8 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. Rashard also chipped in with 19 points and 8 rebounds. Still this game was all about Ray Allen as he was simply unstoppable. So Seattle needed just one more win to advance to the second round for the first time in many years. The mood was great as they returned home for a game 5 against the Kings. Sonics were leading for basically the whole first half but then Sacramento made a 19-3 run in the third quarter. However, after that the SuperSonics made a run of their own and the score was close late in the 4th quarter. Ultimately, a clutch layup by Ray Allen sealed the deal and the series were over.

 
So the Sonics had advanced to the second round and everyone was celebrating. Ray Allen carried most of the offensive load and the performance of Jerome James was the biggest surprise. By the way, he celebrated the win by waving around a garbage bag after the game what seemed kinda odd. Lewis and Ridnour had their ups and downs in these series but they also played quite solid. When San Antonio Spurs beat the Denver Nuggets in the first round, it became obvious that Seattle will have to face the Timothy Duncan squad in the second round. That’s scary!

 
If Kings were a respectable playoff opponent then Spurs were something else – a real powerhouse and also NBA champs as recently as 2003. Game 1 turned out the way that it was supposed to. Spurs went in front early and never looked back to win this game by 22 points. Even worse was that Radmanovic and Ray Allen both injured themselves. Suddenly it felt that all the hopes were gone not to mention that they were already little even before game 1.

 
However, at least Ray was back for game 2 and played quite well. Rashard Lewis and Antonio Daniels also had solid performances but once again San Antonio was just too much for the Sonics. Their big three (Parker, Duncan and Manu) combined for 75 points on 60% shooting. Radmanovic didn’t play and that hurt the team because he was one of the guys who was able to produce 20 or more points if his shot was falling. It was obvious that those Sonics weren’t playing to their full capability and they returned to the Northwest being down 2 games to zero.

 
Seattle couldn’t afford to lose three games in a row so they had to turn it on this time. Unfortunately their leaders weren’t able to carry the offensive load – Allen and Lewis both shot very poorly. Fortunately it was Seattle’s defense that allowed them to finally win a game against the Spurs. SuperSonics just outrebounded and outhustled the Spurs. This game was very close for almost all of the time and the final possession belonged to San Antonio but Tim Duncan missed his shot and Seattle luckily came away with a victory. Anyways, now they were back in the series but still it was crucial for them to win the next game too. The bad news: Rashard Lewis injured his toe late in the game.

 
Sonics made a nice little run early in game 4 and were leading for basically all of the first half. They were up 6 at halftime. It was the third quarter when Seattle, behind huge shots from Allen and Ridnour, extended their lead to 16 points. They closed it out in the 4th and the final result was 101-89. Great game for Allen (32 pts on 60% shooting), Ridnour (20 pts, 6 ast, 3 stl), Damien Wilkins (15 pts, 6 reb, 5 stl) and Antonio Daniels (19 pts, 7 ast). Seattle, even without their second and third leading scorers (Lewis and Radmanovic weren’t playing), was able to beat San Antonio pretty convincingly. Not many expected that the Sonics would be able to put up a good fight with the Spurs, especially when shorthanded, but they proved all the haters wrong and the series were now tied.

 
San Antonio started to show who are the favourites in game 5 by getting in front early but then the Sonics put together a very good second quarter and tied the game. Unfortunately for them, this game was all about Manu Ginobili as he played spectular – Manu collected 39 points and had a great all-around performance. No one stepped up for Seattle like that. Nick Collison provided a spark off the bench but that’s about it. Allen and Daniels both played decent but apparently not good enough. Also San Antonio took care of the ball very well – they made only 9 turnovers. Sonics lost by 13.

 
Rashard Lewis was in street clothes as game 6 tipped of. Seattle led after the 1st but then there was a lead change in the next quarter and San Antonio was leading after two quarters played. Then the Sonics got back up again and it came down to the last minute of the game. Antonio Daniels was having a great game and Ray Allen had scored 25 (just an average game for him) …Seattle knew that if they let San Antonio win, their season is over… The game was tied with 14 seconds left and it was Spurs ball. Ginobili made a nice pass to Tim Duncan who was open down low. Tim made the basket and SuperSonics were down two with just 0.5 seconds left. Then Ray shot a difficult turnaround 3-pointer and it almost went in…

This is how their season came to an end…

 

 
So how did Seattle manage to put together such a great year? 52 wins in the regular season, beating a respectable Kings team in just 5 games and giving the next NBA champions a good fight in 2nd round even without some of the key players.

Last time they had a winning record was in 2001-02. Only Lewis, Radmanovic and Jerome James remained on Seattle’s roster from then until the 2004-05 season. Sonics also never had a winning record after the 04-05 season. They didn’t even come close to 52 wins.

It is interesting that Ray Allen didn’t play his best in 2004-05. 23.9 points per game seems a lot but he averaged more points in 05-06 and 06-07 – in those seasons Seattle never won more that 35 games. Even more shocking is that he shot a career-low .428 percentage from the field. Also he has made 90% or more of his free throws every year from 2002 until now, except 2004-05 when his free throw rate was 88%.

However, 2004-05 was the breakout season for Rashard Lewis as he averaged more than 20 ppg for the first time in his career. On the other hand – Lewis played just as good or maybe even better in the next two years which he spent in Seattle.

The same here with Antonio Daniels! Yeah, it was the only season in which he scored more than 10 points a game (11.2) but scoring was the only area of his game which he improved. Radmanovic played slightly worse than he did the year before and this wasn’t the best season for Ridnour as well. Also Ronald Murray performed worse than he did in 2003-04 and in 2005-06. Even for Jerome James it wasn’t really a breakout season if we don’t count the playoffs.

 
So why did this miracle season occur? I would say – defense, hustle and heart. Also rebounding, good free throw shooting and taking care of the ball. And maybe some luck as well.

 

 
The 2004-05 season was the lone bright spot in the last few years of the existence of SuperSonics franchise. In 2008 they were moved south and transformed into the Oklahoma City Thunder. The fact that the Sonics franchise doesn’t exist anymore makes me want to end this story on a sad note.

I found this qoute on The Seattle Times

Ray Allen’s layin sealed Seattle’s playoff series victory over Sacramento in 2005.

Danny O’Neil, Seattle Times staff reporter

 

 
Technorati tags:
nba, seattle supersonics, ray allen, rashard lewis, luke ridnour, jerome james, nate mcmillan

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• Best 3-point shooters of all time | Dale Ellis

One of the best “catch and shoot” players of all time, Dale Ellis dropped a lot of long distance bombs on opposing teams throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

 
3-pt field goals made: 1719 (3rd all time)

3-pt %: .403

 
When Dale Ellis entered the NBA in 1983 shooting from downtown was way less popular than it is now. The 3 point shot was introduced only a few seasons ago and it took a while for it to gain popularity. Dale Ellis was one of the first players who started using three ball as one of his main weapons.

 
Dale wasn’t known as a shooter while playing for University of Tennessee but he always had the 3 point shot in his arsenal – he was just forced to play center as a youngster because of his height. He spent his first 3 seasons in Dallas and never averaged more than 10 points per game. In his 2nd and 3rd season he combined for 1175 points and 315 of them came from 3-point shots. In those two years only 3 players (World B Free, Bird and Hodges) hit more threes than Ellis.

 
In 1986 he was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics and it turned out to be a career changing trade for him. He had suddenly become one of the league’s top scorers as he averaged almost 25 PPG. It didn’t come as a surprise that he also won the NBA Most Improved Player Award that season. Surprisingly, Seattle went all the way to the Western Conference Finals after missing playoffs the previous year.

 
Next season Ellis was one of three Seattle players who averaged more than 20 points (Ellis at 25.8 ppg, McDaniel at 21.4, and Chambers at 20.4). It was the first season when Dale made more than 100 threes but still he proved that he has become a much more versatile scorer – only 16% of his points came from threes. Unfortunately, SuperSonics lost to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs.

 
1988-1989 was probably his best season. He made his only All-Star game and won the 3-point contest. Only Micheal Jordan and Karl Malone averaged more points in 88-89 than Ellis (27.5 PPG). That season he made 162 3-pointers while having an outstanding 0.478 percentage from behind the 3-point line. Sonics made it to the second round of the playoffs in 1989.

 
He played only 55 games in the following season and then he was traded to Milwaukee. Dale’s playing time was significantly reduced there but it was still solid – close to 30 minutes per game. His minutes went up again when he was playing for the San Antonio Spurs from 1992 to 1994. Dale was a very effective scorer in San Antonio shooting nearly 50% from the field but he wasn’t getting any younger.

 
After these two seasons in San Antonio, at age 34, he signed with the Denver Nuggets. Many players retire when in their mid-30s but Ellis still managed to put together a string of 3 solid seasons in Denver. In 1996-1997 he averaged almost 17 points every night and that was his second best scoring season since leaving Seattle in 1990. However, he wasn’t shooting very well – 0.414 from the field. Dale really fell in love with the three ball that season as he made career high 192 3-pointers.

 
In the twilight of his career, Ellis returned to Seattle to play there for two seasons. Dale was just a couple of years removed from his 40th birthday but he was still good for 10 points every night. 1999-2000 was his last season in the NBA.

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Every week one player from each conference gets awarded. Awarded for being the best player during that 7 day time span. I guess it’s unnecessary to say that only the very best are able to stand out enough to be recognized as the best players of the week. It doesn’t really award consistency because as few as 3 great consecutive games might be enough to get rewarded, but still, if a player wins that award frequently, it shows what kind of a player he is – a dominant player.

 
The first NBA Player of the Week Award of the previous decade was given to Chris Webber on January 2nd 2000. Then after the 2000-2001 season NBA started to reward two players every week – one from the Western Conference and one from the Eastern. Last awards of the decade were given to LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, less than 2 months ago.

 

 
Who didn’t make the top 10?

16.-18. Ray Allen, Gilbert Arenas, Chris Paul (7 times)

15. Steve Nash (8 times)

12.-14. Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter (9 times)

 

 
10./11. Dwyane Wade (10 times)

Dwyane entered the league only in 2003 but that didn’t stop him from making the top 10. He won the award 10 times and he would probably manage to do it a few more times if not for his injuries. Wade is one of the best shooting guards of the decade and his most important accomplishment is the championship he and the Miami Heat won in 2006. Not to mention that Dwyane was the leader of that Heat team and his importance couldn’t be overrated. Still he’s often overshadowed by another stud from the 2003 draft class. Although not everyone agrees that DW isn’t as good as LBJ.

 

 
10./11. Dirk Nowitzki (10 times)

Dirk was one of the most consistent players of the 00’s. He rarely missed any games and always delivered. He has been a perennial All-Star since 2002 and won the MVP in 2007. Nowitzki has never won the Player of the Week award more than 2 times in a single season but his consistency lets him jump in to this top 10 (top 11)

 

 
8./9. Shaquille O’Neal (11 times)

He has accomplished much and if this article would be called “top 10 players of the decade” than Shaq would definitely be higher, probably top 3. Big Diesel was absolutely dominant during the first few seasons of the decade but then his game slowly started to fade. 2005-2006 was the last season in which Shaq averaged at least 20 ppg and the last time he won the Player of the week award was in December of 2004. Still his career has been nothing short of amazing as he is 5th on the all-time scoring list.

 

 
8./9. Jason Kidd (11 times)

Jason has been playing in the NBA since 1994 and he’s already 36 years old. Just like O’Neal, Kidd played his best ball at the beginning of this past decade and is probably going to retire some time soon. He managed to be the best player of the week for 11 times from 2000 until 2010, including 3 times in 2001-2002 which could be his best season as he finished second in MVP voting that year.

 

 
6./7. Paul Pierce (12 times)

I don’t know about you but I’m a bit surprised about this. Not that Pierce hasn’t been good, he has been great but I didn’t expect him to be higher than Dirk and Shaq. I guess this is just a proof of how underrated he has been. For a large part of this decade Pierce wasn’t recognized as one of the NBA’s elite players but his game was up there with the elite. Paul got rewarded in 2008 when he finally lead the Celtics to NBA championship.

 

 
6./7. Tracy McGrady (12 times)

T-Mac’s career has been affected badly by injuries. When he was putting up MVP-like numbers at the beginning of the 00’s, many thought he will become an unstoppable force for years to come. He averaged 32.1 (!!!) points per game in 2002-2003. Unfortunately Tracy fell short of the expectations. He was an All-Star caliber player but he missed a lot of games and never got pass the 1st round of the playoffs. He won the NBA Player of the week 4 times in 2004-2005 season.

 

 
5. Kevin Garnett (16 times)

From season to season Kevin Garnett continued to put up monster numbers for the Minnesota Timberwolves but he got pass the first round only once. For 13 times he was recognized as the best player of the week from the year 2000 until he was traded to the Boston Celtics. He then won the award 3 more times in 2007-2008 and finished the season off by winning his first NBA championship ring.

 

 
4. Tim Duncan (17 times)

Tim is arguably the best player of the decade but he made his name mostly by winning championships not Player of the Week Awards, yet he still managed to win 17 of those during the past 10 years. His best two years were 2001-2002 and 2002-2003. He won a staggering amount of 11 Player of the Week Awards in those two seasons and also was the NBA Regular Season MVP in both of these seasons.

 

 
3. Allen Iverson (21 times)

One of the best scorers in NBA history. Iverson has averaged more than 30 points per game several times in his career. AI isn’t the 3rd best player of the decade but he’s certainly top 10 material. He is in the twilight of his career now but Allen still averaged 26 ppg as recently as 2008.

 

 
2. LeBron James (22 times)

Nowadays it seems that LeBron is named Eastern Conference player of the week at least once every two weeks and it is not very far from the truth as he won the award 7 times in 2008-2009 and 5 times this season already. LBJ is arguably the best player in the NBA right now, although still without a ring, he’s in a good position to win one this year.

 

 
1. Kobe Bryant (27 times)

Wasn’t very hard to guess the winner eh? The start of the decade was extremely successful for Kobe – 3 consecutive championship titles. The middle part of the decade was tough for him (rape allegations, Lakers not making it further than the 1st round for 3 consecutive years) but now he has returned to glory. During his illustrious career he certainly has been a “love me or hate me” type of player.

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Is Jamison going to Cleveland?(picapp.com)

The Washington Wizards had high hopes entering the 2009-2010 NBA season but so far it has been just another disappointing year for them. Injuries, chemistry issues and Arenas gun case – there were a lot of distractions that stood in the Wizards path to glory. Their veteran power forward Antawn Jamison has been playing very good as usually (20.6 PPG; 8.9 RPG) but as Washington is nowhere near to being a contender, it’s probably time to rebuild and that could/should include trading Jamison away.

 
Earlier this decade Washington was making the playoffs almost every year but as those days have come to an end they should consider going for a fresh start. Antawn Jamison isn’t getting any younger at age 33 and maybe Wizards could get something valuable in exchange for him that would help them to start the rebuilding process. He’s making a lot of money and he’s not an expirer so probably only contending teams looking for a last minute help would consider signing a deal with the Wizards. That’s why Cleveland Cavaliers is the most likely destination for Jamison. But do they need him?

 
Cavaliers are really doing very well right now and they are arguably the best team in the league right now (11 game winning streak). Do they really need to change anything? J.J. Hickson has been playing good for them and the most likely of all trade scenarios is Hickson, Ilgauskas and maybe a 1st round pick for Jamison. First of all, they should be loyal to Big Z who has dedicated his career to the Cavaliers franchise and it would be really sad if the Cavs trade him away and then after just a few months they win the championship trophy without him. In other words – it would be a classless move on the part of the organization. And you can argue that Cavaliers current chemistry is just too good to be disrupted. But still Jamison could be a very valuable asset for a championship contender like Cavs so it’s really hard to say if Cleveland should or should not go for Jamison.

 
Jamison has seen very little team success over the course of his career and I think that he deserves to have a chance to win a championship but what seems quite strange is that Antawn says he wants to stay in Washington: “A lot of people here would like to escape, try to find a better situation, but I signed a contract to be in Washington for four years and I want to finish here,” he said. “I plan to be here for two more years after this one.” Also those GM’s who have talked with the Wizards front office say that the team is reluctant to move Jamison. So if it’s true than the Antawn Jamison trade talk will remain to be nothing more than rumors and we won’t see a trade go down. Maybe Wizards just hate Cavs so much that they don’t want to help them in any way?

 
nba, antawn jamison, washington wizards, cleveland cavaliers

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If you have been following the NBA and particularly Ron Artest for at least a few years, you probably have noticed that this guy loves to have a new jersey number every time he goes to a new team. In fact he also has changed uniform numbers “Kobe style” (switching your number while playing for the same team). If Kobe changed his number in order to sale more new uniforms than Ron had different reasons…

 

 

#15
This number didn’t have any weird logic to it and he was wearing it for many years. This was his uniform number in college, in Chicago and in Indiana. He was wearing it in honour to his father. So why did he change it? Here comes the funniest part – he was wearing it for many years until his dad told him that he in fact wore a different number (#51). I guess they don’t talk very often.

 

 

#23
So after Ron Ron found out that he has worn #15 all those years for nothing, he chose to honour Micheal Jordan. That’s obviously a very popular choice and many players wear number 23 on their jerseys. Back then he just wasn’t as creative as he become later.

 

 

#91
Ron was still playing for Indiana when he chose to change his number for the second time. This time he decided to wear number 91 in honour of Dennis Rodman. This number suited him for obvious reasons – Rodman was the bad boy of the 90`s and Ron was his descendant. He sticked to his image and got into a brawl.

#93
Ron was traded to the Sacramento Kings in the 2005-06 season and that meant it was time for a new uniform number. This time Artest chose #93, as a tribute to his roots. Artest was born in one of the toughest NY neighbourhoods – Queensbridge. He thought number 9 looked similar to letter q and number 3 looked similar to upper case B. Well there are some similarities between 93 and qB but still it’s a strange choice. There are also other theories. Once in an interview Ron Artest said that he chose this number because of the hip-hop album Souls of Mischief- “93 ‘Til Infinity!” as the album was a symbol for unlimited future. I have also heard people saying that he had the number because he signed a deal with the German shoe brand K1X, founded in ‘93. You can just choose the explanation which you like the most.

#96
When Artest left the Kings he went to Houston. Of course he wanted to change his number once again. This time he took number 96. This is also linked to his native projects of Queensbridge. Apparently it was the numbers-letters thing again as the 96 looks like qb. Or maybe number 96 symbolizes the number of buildings in the Queensbridge Projects? Or maybe he just loves the 96 bulls very much? He had already worn #23 and #91, so now he just grabbed the #96 which represents the whole team.

#37
Last summer Ron changed his jersey for the fifth time as he joined the Los Angeles Lakers. We all expected he will come up with something new, not Queensbridge related when choosing his new uniform number and he didn’t dissapoint. Micheal Jackson had recently passed away and he wanted to honour him and so he chose to wear number 37. I guess even for hardcore Micheal Jackson fans it would take a while to figure out how number 37 is associated with their idol. It turned out that Micheal’s album “Thriller” was on top of the pop charts for exactly 37 weeks. That’s a very strange tribute indeed.

 
So that’s the story and let’s hope Ron Artest will change his jersey number at least a few more times because he makes NBA more fun. Not just this jersey thing but also his other activities (you know, running naked around the town and stuff). Keep it up Ron Ron!

 
P. S. Special thanks to thesportcount.com!

 

 
nba, ron artest, indiana pacers, sacramento kings, houston rockets, los angeles lakers

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Chris Paul injured his knee just a few days ago against the Bulls by colliding with a camera. In fact his knee was already hurt before that and it didn’t withstand the second bang. Now Chris will undergo arthroscopic surgery for a cartilage tear in his left knee.

 
The first impression after hearing these news could be that Hornets can already forget about contending this season. Maybe they should think more about the lottery balls. But everything is not as bad as it seems!

 
Chris will only miss 2 months maximum so that means he will be back before the playoffs. Usually when I hear that someone will undergo a surgery the first thought is that he will have to miss a lot of time, at least some 6 months or so. If that would be the case with Chris than the Hornets would obviously be in a lot more trouble than they are now.

 
Also some good news for New Orleans – rookie point guard Darren Collison who is replacing Paul is playing really really good. He scored 17 points and dished out 18 (!!!) assists in his last game. Collison will have to play a lot more minutes than he did before Paul went down and he has suddenly become a key player for the Hornets.

 
If we can’t be a contender than let’s go for more lottery balls – that’s a philosophy that many fans hate because obviously everyone wants to see their team win and Hornets certainly shouldn’t give up too fast. They can still sneak into the playoffs even with Paul out for 1 or 2 months.

 
David Stern will have to choose a replacement for Chris for the Western Conference All-Star team roster. Chauncey Billups is the best candidate followed by Aaron Brooks, Monta Ellis and Tyreke Evans. That’s if Stern is choosing a guard to replace Paul which is very likely.

 
Here’s a video which displays how Chris Paul hurt his knee.

 

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• Who should play in the Western Conference All-Star team?

WESTERN CONFERENCE:

Starting five:

C – Amar’e Stoudemire

 
Even though in his NBA.com player’s profile page he’s listed as a forward in the All-Star balloting he’s a center. While I think he’s a power forward that’s definitely a smart move by the NBA because the competition among West centers is really weak.

Stoudemire continues to be one of the league’s premier big men and his impact on the game is huge. Of course, Amar’e deserves to be an All-Star. He’s great!

 

 

 

 

F – Dirk Nowitzki

 
Somehow I feel that Dirk is still a bit underrated. His Mavericks are at the high end of the Western Conference playoff pack and he has been their MVP as always. He’s averaging more than 25 points and just recently entered the 20 000 point club.

 
Nowitzki is probably the best power forward in the Western Conference this year. Yeah, he wasn’t voted in by the fans but I think that he deserved this starting spot more than Tim.

 

 

 

F – Carmelo Anthony

 
This is really a no-brainer. Carmelo is having a career year so far and leads the league in scoring by dropping 30 points per game. He works on his game a lot and it pays off – this is by far his best season in terms of free throw shooting (87%)
 
His team is doing very good as expected and Carmelo helps the Nuggets not just by scoring points – he also rebounds well and gets a lot of steals.

G – Kobe Bryant

 
If you are arguably the best player in the league then you are definitely a deserving starter in the All-Star game. His Lakers as many expected have the best record in the league and Kobe averages more than 28 points per game.

G – Steve Nash

 
Nash proves that if you have excellent basketball IQ than it doesn’t matter how old are you. At age 35 (turns 36 this February) Steve is having a stellar season. He averages more points than he did the last two years and is second in the league in assists (11.1 APG). Steve has never shot better from the field and from the free throw line than he’s doing it this season.

Phoenix got of to a very hot start but has slowed down since then and the Suns can’t afford to play bad if they want to make the playoffs in the ultra-competitive Western Conference.

 

 
F – Kevin Durant

Durant deserves to play in the All-Star game. He already is one of the elite scorers in the league.

 
F – Tim Duncan

Tim will start the All-Star game and while I think that Nowitzki deserved the starting spot a bit more, Duncan still was the second best choice. It’s close.

 
G – Brandon Roy

He’s the main reason why Portland Trail Blazers are the team that they are.

 
G – Chris Paul

He leads the league in assists and besides that he has improved his 3-point shot.

 
G – Deron Williams

Deron has been snubbed from the All-Star Game too many times now.

 
F – Carlos Boozer

I believe that both members of this terrific tandem deserve to be All-Stars.

 
F – Zach Randolph

Memphis deserve to have one representative in Dallas. Randolph has been playing out of his mind.

 
The potential injury replacements would be Chris Kaman (just missed the roster), Monta Ellis (I’m sorry Monta, I see that you’re averaging 26 ppg but don’t forget that you’re also leading the league in turnovers and your team is one of the worst in the league) and Pau Gasol (Pau has missed a lot of games this season)

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Unfortunately LeBron James didn’t keep his promise and he wont be dunking at American Airlines Center on February 13th. Many already expected that and I guess that last year he just got too excited while watching the contest.

 

 
But still this contest is going to be a lot of fun.

 
The 2010 NBA All-Star game dunk contest participants are:

Shannon Brown, Gerald Wallace, Nate Robinson and DeMar DeRozan or Eric Gordon.

 
I hope that the winner of the Dunk-In will keep the best dunks for the real contest. Not really sure about Eric Gordon but DeMar DeRozan is surely one of the best dunkers in the league. We’ll see what they both have to offer.

 
I don’t think that Nate  Robinson should participate. Don’t get me wrong I loved many of his dunks but I don’t know if he can come up with anything we haven’t seen from him yet.

 
I guess Shannon Brown is an obvious choice – guy has some serious hops.

 

 

 
I also like Gerald Wallace but he could be more of an ingame-dunker, like Rudy Gay. Also he probably doesn’t jump as high as he used to.

 
In my opinion this is one of the most impressive dunks of all time. I wonder if he can still throw it down like that.

 

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Jan 5th 2010 – Sundiata gets called up from the Idaho Stampede of the D-League to join the Utah Jazz.

Jan 6th 2010 – He plays in his first NBA game against Memphis and scores his first points. He also dishes out 5 assists.

Jan 14th 2010 – In his 5th NBA game Sundiata Gaines scores 9 points in the fourth quarter against the Cavs including this amazing buzzer beater

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