Best NBA All-Star Event: Rookies vs. Sophomores

I couldn't care less about the upcoming NBA All-Star game. Fan voting is a bunch of shit and the NBA one is just as bad as all the others'. I think the MLB game is best, but not by much, but that's neither here nor there. I like the Dunk Contest, but it lacks any real excitement or punch nowadays. The Skills competition is cool, but only goes so far. The real fun is in the Rookies vs. Sophomores game.

The NBA just released the rosters for the game and I think this year's should be a good one. The Sophomore squad is weaker than in years past and the Rookie team is stacked. Also, a most likely useless, but interesting addition is that Dwayne Wade will assistant coach the Rookies and Dwight Howard will work with the Sophomores. Here's rosters:

Rookie Team Roster
Michael Beasley (Heat)
Rudy Fernandez (Trail Blazers)
Marc Gasol (Grizzlies)
Eric Gordon (Clippers)
Brook Lopez (Nets)
O.J. Mayo (Grizzlies)
Greg Oden (Trail Blazers)
Derrick Rose (Bulls)
Russell Westbrook (Thunder)
Sophomore Team roster
Aaron Brooks (Rockets)
Wilson Chandler (Knicks)
Kevin Durant (Thunder)
Jeff Green (Thunder)
Al Horford (Hawks)
Luis Scola (Rockets)
Al Thornton (Clippers)
Rodney Stuckey (Pistons)
Thaddeus Young (Sixers)

On name recognition alone, the Rookies seem the clear-cut favorites and are projected to win, which would be a first for them in a long time. But I still think that the Sophomores are going to find a way to pull it out. Kevin Durant is the best player playing in the game and I don't see any Rookies who can stop him. Westbrook, Mayo, and Rose should run wild up and down the floor and seeing as no one plays defense in these games I don't see anyone stopping them. However, Al Horford is a great post-player, polished, and smooth, good chance he goes for atleast 15 and 15.

In the end, I see Durant leading the Sophomores to a thrilling win and finish and ending the night holding up the MVP trophy of the game. Then again, the game is being played on Friday, the 13th, so who knows what could happen?

You can't make this stuff up

I'm a big fan of Derrick Rose, but this kind of stupidity drives me nuts. Check out this AOL Sports article:

Rose missed Monday's practice after he needed 10 stitches to close a gash suffered when he said he rolled onto a knife while eating an apple in bed.

"It was a silly incident," Rose said. "I was cutting up some food and I laid on a knife getting lazy in bed. I went to go get a bottle of water, came back, forgot the knife was there, then sat down and sliced my arm."

Unbelievable. This brings back flashbacks to Brandon Marshall injuring himself by "slipping on a McDonald's bag" this offseason. I just don't understand how athletes can take such great care of their bodies, and then hurt themselves in such a ridiculous manner.

Other notable "wacky" sports injuries over the years:

• John Smoltz scalded his arm while ironing a shirt that he was wearing!
• Glenallen Hill fell out of bed and crashed into a glass table while having a nightmare that he was being attacked by spiders
• Sammy Sosa once suffered from back spasms after a violent sneeze
• Brian Griese sprained his ankle after being run over by his dog.
• Bill Gramatica pulls his hamstring celebrating a successful field goal try.
• Minnesota Timberwolves center Jason Collins suffered an elbow injury when his golf cart tipped over in the offseason.
• 300 pound defensive tackle Gabe Watson fractures his kneecap after falling off a treadmill this past April.

The list goes on and on...I'm not even going to bring up Plaxico Burress. Thats a whole different conversation.

Mike D'Antoni Proving System Over PG

Let's rewind back one year.  The Knicks were off to another horrendous start under then head coach and President of Basketball Operations Isiah Thomas.  The starting lineup on opening night was Eddy Curry, Zach Randolph, Quentin Richardson, Jamal Crawford, and Stephon Marbury.  After countless lineup changes, sexual assault scandals, and quarter pounders consumed by Eddy Curry, New York Knicks owner James Dolan finally came to his senses and dismissed Isiah Thomas as head coach and President of Basketball Operations.  In came former Phoenix Suns top man, Mike D'Antoni.  

Renowned for his offensive genius and "Seven Seconds or Less" attack, he brought the run and gun mentality to MSG.  In Phoenix, he was supplied with an MVP and an All-Star cast which helped him average 58 wins a season in his four full seasons as coach.  Running the show was MVP Steve Nash, who many considered to be the engine behind the offense, not the system itself.

One year later with essentially the same roster from the 2007-2008 season which managed to win a pathetic 23 games, here is D'Antoni again working his magic. Through the first nine games of the season, the Knicks are 6-3, tied for the fifth seed if the playoffs started today, and are three games over .500 for the first time since December 29, 2004.  Some of you may remember this date as the day Stephon Marbury boldly declared himself the "best point guard in the NBA."  The biggest offseason import was career backup point guard Chris Duhon.  With career averages of 6.9 ppg and 4.5 apg, hardly the engine and floor general he had with Steve Nash in Phoenix.  However, D'Antoni is proving his critics wrong and winning over the MSG crowd with his great basketball mind.  A look at the numbers shows this record isn't just a fluke and that his players in Phoenix did not make the system.  The Knicks are averaging a league leading 104.8 ppg and are fourth in the league at 23.2 apg.  Both numbers up from last years putrid offense which averaged only 96.9 ppg and 18.7 apg.  An enormous change from this group who were labeled as selfish last year.  

The starting lineup for this years squad is Zach Randolph, Wilson Chandler, Quentin Richardson, Jamal Crawford, and Chris Duhon.  Crawford is proving to the NBA he can be a winning player and is averaging a career best 21 ppg.  Zach Randolph has rejuvenated his career and playing team basketball for the first time in his life. Within the flow of the offense he is averaging 20.1 ppg and is third in the league in rebounding at 12.3 a game.  The man has bought in so much to what D'Antoni is preaching, he even dishes out an assist every game.  

After an offseason where D'Antoni was essentially kicked out the door by the Suns and was mocked for passing on the Chicago Bulls job, (a team who would eventually land number one pick Derrick Rose and was seen by many as the perfect point guard for his system) the Knicks were happy to embrace D'Antoni as its savior.  He is changing the culture, winning the crowd, and showing the fans of New York the changing times literally by benching Eddy Curry and Stephon Marbury for the entire season.  The season is still a long way from being over and there's a chance either of the two could still play, but the early returns show that D'Antoni's mind and basketball sense matter more than the players on his roster which is a welcomed attitude after the prior regime.