NBA Rookie Report Cards: Grading Ricky Rubio, Jimmer Fredette and More
The rookies are out the gate. As always, however, some have been slowed due to erratic minutes or a staggered acclimation to the pro game.
This has not just been the case for the lower selections, but also for a few lottery picks.
It’s a little to early for a mid-term grade for these graduate students, it’s more like a progress report at this juncture of the NBA’s truncated season.
Here, I examine the progress of five of the more high profile first-year players in the league.
I issue a letter grade for Ricky Rubio, as he is quickly taking over in Minnesota, Jimmer Fredette, as he looks to find the range in Sac-town, and a few others.
Check out my assessment of five hot rookies in the video.
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ACC Basketball Year-End Report Cards for All 12 Teams
Heading into the conference season some ACC teams are surpassing their preseason expectations while others are disappointing their fans. Let’s take a role call alphabetically (these are supposed to be “Report Cards” after all) and grade each school while selecting their best win and worst loss to date.
View full post on Bleacher Report – College Basketball
Kardashian Christmas Card: Holiday Cards Just Another Smart Move by Kardashians
‘Tis the season for another brilliant Kardashian marketing move.
You can hate this family of seeming self-indulgence. You can even decry that they stand for all that is wrong about this country. You could also say that they are just a bunch of brilliant people who know what it takes to make a buck in Hollywood.
The Kardashian Kard, as it is adoringly called by fans, has now hit the Internet. Kim Kardashian released a photo of the card that is every last bit somber, classy and silly all in one. Only this family could throw such a medium into a blender and make all three things click.
The card was first seen on the official blog of Kim Kardashian, and from there it spread like wild fire. Every last fan and enemy of the first family of reality TV had an opinion.
You see, this is a family business, and no family venture ever made it without a great product to sell. The Kardashians have themselves to package and deliver to the masses as business continues to boom for them.
Here’s the thing, the cards do their part. In the well-oiled machine of hype and melodrama, the Christmas cards are just a way to keep the Kardashian discussion going.
The family subsists on talk and gossip. So if you love their picture, awesome. If you hate it…better yet. Call it self-indulgent. All it does is fuel the fires and makes the Kardashians the one thing they needs to be to remain rich, and that’s relevant.
There is no other family that could take a photo as profoundly silly as that and actually polarize people. It’s the remarkable genius that is the Kardashian clan. They may seem vapid, but there is a whole lot of substance there.
There is a reason they do what they do. The Kardashians are in the market of being famous, and they are extremely good at it.
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Siva’s layup lifts No. 6 Cards in OT
Peyton Siva drove through the middle of Vanderbilt’s defense for a layup with 1.4 seconds left and No. 6 Louisville rallied to win Friday.
View full post on USATODAY.com Collegebasketball
Rally gives Pitino 250th win with Cards (AP)
Kyle Kuric scored 16 points and Gorgui Dieng grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds to lead to No. 7 Louisville to a 59-54 victory over Ohio on Friday night in the Global Sports Invitational. Rick Pitino’s 250th victory as Louisville’s coach was in doubt until the final minute. Ohio held a six-point lead with under 4 minutes to play before the Cardinals rallied.
View full post on Yahoo! Sports – NCAA Men’s Hoops News
Second Drew-Goodman rematch in the cards?
The Washington D.C.-based Goodman League has until Sunday to accept a pro-am exhibition rematch in Los Angeles with the Drew League.
View full post on USATODAY.com Nba
The Upper Deck Michael Jordan-Dominique Wilkins Mix-Up (Error Cards)
Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins are both two-time NBA Slam Dunk Champions. Michael Jordan was the first player ever to win the title back to back in 1987 and 1988. Dominique Wilkins won his first title in 1985 followed by his second title in 1990. Upper Deck commemorated these feats by printing “In Your Face” Slam Dunk Championship cards in the 1992-93 basketball card set. Below are two error cards that were printed with the set. The Michael Jordan card on the left incorrectly states in the upper right hand corner that he won the slam dunk championship in “1985, 1990″ and the Dominique Wilkins card on the left incorrectly states that he won the slam dunk championship in “1987, 1988.” These are both errors. The correct version of the cards are on the right and correctly state in the upper right hand corner that MJ won the title in “1987,1988″ and Dominique won the title in “1985,1990.” DISCLAIMER: All cards that I post…
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NBA Draft 2011: The Top 50 Prospects Report Cards Pre-NBA Lottery Update
NBA Draft 2011: The Top 50 Prospects Report Cards Pre-NBA Lottery Update
The 2011 NBA Draft lottery will be held tomorrow evening. After all the ping pong balls are plucked, we’ll finally have the official order of June’s draft.
You can find the official lottery odds here. The team with the best shot at the top overall pick is the Minnesota Timberwolves. After them are the Cleveland Cavaliers, Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards.
Once we know the order of the draft, it will be a lot easier to guess where these prospects will land. Here are the top 50 prospects in this year’s class, complete with report cards…
Check Out the Top 50 Prospects HERE
You can follow Andy Bailey on Twitter @_Andy_Bailey
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NBA Report Cards: Grading How Each Team Did in the 2010 NBA Draft in Retrospect
It is March, and that means everybody is watching college basketball. That means we are watching players like Jared Sullinger, Kemba Walker, Derrick Williams and Harrison Barnes.
Last year, however, we were watching the likes of John Wall and Evan Turner.
They ended up being drafted first and second by the Washington Wizards and the Philadelphia 76ers respectively.
Almost every other team in the league was involved in the draft as well. They combined for the standard 60 draft picks, and 45 of the drafted players are in the NBA as of right now.
Armed with the knowledge we have gathered from watching the season play out, we can now grade each team’s draft more accurately.
Let’s get to it.
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2011 NBA Mock Draft: Is Kemba Walker in the Cards for the Charlotte Bobcats?
2011 NBA Mock Draft Will See Kemba Walker Go Off of the Board, But Will He Be Heading to Charlotte?
Since the Big East Tournament, Kemba Walker has played his best basketball of the season.
Walker has reminded us of how special of a talent he is and how dynamic of a player he can be at the next level. The Connecticut guard has a great clutch gene and has put the Huskies on his back and has carried them all the way to the Final Four.
Charlotte is going to have a pick towards the top of the first round and that’s going to give the Bobcats a great shot of landing the guard. D.J. Augustin has been a solid point guard for the Bobcats, but he’s not a gamechanger and Walker is in every sense of the word. He’s the type of player you want holding the ball in the final seconds, and more times than not, he’s going to make the shot and give you the win.
One of the knocks against Walker is his size, and that’s going to be something that’s going to hold him back from being one of the top picks in the draft, keeping him where the Bobcats can snag him. I have a hard time putting a huge amount of stock into size when it pertains to guards because we’ve seen players at those positions come through the league and dominate, regardless of their size.
Walker’s the type of player where you can give him the ball and watch him go to work as he slashes to the rim for the bucket or kick it out to his teammates. He’s aggressive, and sometimes that hurts him, as he forces bad shots and tries to make things happen when there’s nothing there. He also needs to improve his jump shot, but all of the tools are there for Walker to be the type of player who can consistently carry a starting role for years.
I don’t see him being a franchise player, but he’s certainly a piece to the puzzle and he could thrive in Charlotte, knocking down big shots and sparking a team as Michael Jordan puts a squad around him.
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