NBA 2011-2012 season retrospective

The lockout-shortened 2011-2012 NBA season has ended. LeBron James has won his first Larry O'Brien trophy, and the long wait for next year has begun.

Some of my thoughts about the last few months:

1. A lot of NBA is about help and circumstance. If LeBron starts his career in Los Angeles with Shaq in 2000 he wins several rings by this point. If Kobe gets drafted by the Cavs in 2004, he has zero. LeBron needed the contributions of Wade, of Bosh and even the help of Mike Miller to win it all.

2. Durant will get his rings, assuming he gets similar help. Dude averaged 30 points per game on 54.8% shooting (!) and six rebounds in the Finals. It's not really his fault Westbrook was largely bad (absent one amazing performance) or that Harden couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Trade supporting casts and I think Durant wins Round 1 of this budding rivalry.

3. The Lakers are done. Kobe is too much an alpha dog, and getting paid way too much money ($27 and $30 million the next two seasons) to take a backseat and let someone else lead the team. He simply doesn't have it in him to be the leader of a championship-level team anymore. And so he'll keep shooting 40%, taking 25 shots a game and submarining his team's chances to win.

4. As impressive as Chris Paul was this season, I don't think his style of offense where he controls the ball 95% of the time is viable for a championship squad. Derrick Rose tried it with the Bulls last season and the Heat just shut him down and that was it. Basketball needs more ball movement to work, in my opinion.

5. Deron Williams very quietly averaged 21 points and 9 assists for New Jersey. The Nets went 22-44. I wonder if Utah looks any better now.

6. Speaking of the Jazz, I have no idea what to expect from this team this fall. So much depends on the development of three super young players in Favors, Hayward and Kanter. CJ Miles is not under contract, which is good, in my opinion, but I think the team needs another legit shooter, game in and game out.

7. The Celtics are done, and I don't think the Rose-lead Bulls are getting past the Heat anytime soon. Barring a sudden upswing in Atlanta or Orlando or somewhere, it's Miami's conference to lose for the next bit.

Anyway, it was a great season with some highly entertaining playoff basketball to cap it off. Here's to another one in a few weeks.

Michael Jordan

Great commercial from ESPN.

In case you missed it

This happened last night.

The Clippers are bad

Don Ryan / Associated Press 

As part of my New Year's Resolution to only watch NBA games if I'm on my new elliptical machine (boy can I stand to lose some weight), I watched the Clippers/Blazers game while working my quads last night.

And boy are the Clippers not great.

This doesn't feel like news, considering the Clippers have been terrible for as long as I can remember (save the 2005-06 season where they made the conference semifinals), but with the talent they have this season, it's weird.

Blake Griffin flying around, blocking shots and dunking on people's heads, DeAndre Jordan doing much of the same, with Caron Butler holding it down with shooting and defense and Chris Paul directing the offense? Add in an older Chauncey Billups and you have a pretty decent starting five, if not great.

But instead, they're bad. I can't tell if Paul is just injured, but he recorded only three assists last night. I have no idea how you can play with The Blake Show and get three assists, but wow.

As my Quote of the Week indicates, Simmons believes the problem is with Clippers head coach Vinny Del Negro, who has a stellar 46% winning percentage for his career. From my vantage point, it did seem that the Clippers' offense was stagnant and involved poor ball movement, but my understanding was that Paul was the entire offense in New Orleans, so why can't he just run the show now?

It's a conundrum. Of course, with the season being as jam-packed with games as it is, we may already be seeing the effects of fatigue on some players. Combine a short training camp with weeks where you play five games in seven nights, and problems may arise.

It's be something to watch for sure this season.

Retro post: Star Wars: Episode 1

This trailer was a big stinkin' deal in 1998. It's one of the first trailers I ever remember downloading from the interwebz, and I must have watched it 300 times with my brothers. The trailer represented so much promise, so much awesomeness and a whole lotta lightsabers to the 14-year-old me.

The today me sees this film for the pile of rotten that it is. Terrible acting, simplistic plot, Jar Jar Binks, etc. etc. etc.

The 1999 me saw Episode 1 eight or nine times in theaters.

In theaters!

Anyway, watching the trailer today, it's apparent that there are some really good pieces in there. That the execution was so poor is just a huge testament to Lucas' ineptitude as a director.

Anyone else remember watching this as a kid?

BYU vs. Tulsa bowl highlights

BYU vs Tulsa Armed Forces Bowl 2011 from Furious Monkey on Vimeo.

First half was ugly, but a come from behind win is always fun.

Jimmer in the NBA

It looks like he'll stick around. Jimmer definitely struggles defensively, but when he can consistently hit deep shots, and has a quick trigger to go with it, with good handles and passing, he'll be a commodity for most NBA teams.